r^w t^ $:/r^ m ^^ ^^vC »-r.% ?^r -^_ -■5^...' !-■ ^.iA^- :*?% ^^ ^Hf v> I THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, | Princeton, N. J. w"' * «9^ Bequeathed by the Hon. E. BOUDINOT, LI^.D. Case. Division ., Booh\ ., 6 M B Vol. 3 ,f •"^^/ -y ■ m.::. i DISCOURSE. I CORINTHIANS, 15. 53. For this corruptible must put on incorruption^ and this mortal must put on immortality. THE hope of existing after the present life A\'as not utterly lost, from among mankind, even a- midst the darkness and corruptions of paganism ; but the prospect was so obscure and the hope so un- certain that it could afford but small consolation in their last moments to the wisest and most virtuous men of the heathen world. And, to all others, it was so blended with the melancholy phantoms of ^ superstitious imagination that it served rather to op- press than to shed any comfort on the hour of death. But, in the gospel of our blessed Saviour, the doubt- ful expectations of nature are rendered clear and certain ; the obscurities of reason are enlightened ; and to the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, there is added a principle which the human mind had never dared before to conceive ; I mean, that of the resurrection of the body, and its future and eternal re-union with the soul in a happy state of existence. This doctrine, which is peculiarly precious to man, inasmuch as it brings our future existence more within the comprehension of the mind, and gives it a stronger interest in the heart, was re- ceived at first Avith astonishment and incredulity equally by Jews and Greeks. Against the objections or the doubts of the one and of the other, the apostle, in this chapter, demonstrates both its pos- sibility, and its conformity to reason, and pointy out the unspeakable consolation which the pious hope, that this corruptible shall put on mcorruption^ and this mortal shall put on immortalitij^ is fitted to impart to every true believer, amidst the variouS trials and sorrows of this life. Let me invite you, therefore, to employ witli me a few moments, while we are here assembled in the presence of Almighty God, in meditating on the resurrection of the body — the certainty, and importance of the doctrine, its practical uses, and its spiritual consolations. And may it im- part to us those holy comforts, those blessed sup-' ports under all the distressing vicissitudes of the world, and finally, that victory over the fears of death, which amidst labors, and persecutions, and the certain anticipations of martyrdom for the cause of his Redeemer, formed the joy aiid triumph of the apostle himself! In the first place, let us contemplate the evi- dences of the resurrection of the body, notwith- standing the insurmountable objections which the laws of nature are said to oppose to it. It has been at all times, as well as in the age of the apostles, an objection to this doctrine — With what bodies do they come? Can these corporeal systems, after they have been long dissolved into their orginal elements, and variously dispersed by winds and waves in a thousand different direc- tions ; after they have successively passed perhaps into a thousand different bodies, be again collect- ed, and re-organized in the same body which per- ished at death ? If it were possible, would it be a reasonable object of desire, in that spiritual and immortal state, that the soul should be again united to a sluggish mass which might be regarded as its former prison, which impaired its active powers, and was, perhaps, the seat of all the er- rors of reason, and of all the disorders of the passions ? The sacred writer, who presents these objec- tions, answers them by a beautiful analogy, taken from the grain which the husbandman casts into the earth. It seems to perish ; it becomes a mass of putrefaction, like the body laid in the grave ; but still there is a delicate and almost impercepti- ble germ which survives, and presently assumes a new and much more beautiful form. Can Ave doubt but that the stalk, the foliage, the flowers which display such beauty to the eye, and the fruit with which the tree is loaded, were all included in that minute and invisible particle which receives a new life in the midst of death ? And, may not the soul, (it is the suggestion of an ancient pliiloso- pher) in parting from its present abode, carry along with it that material principle which shall become the germ hereafter, of a new and more glorious organization ? Shall we deem this impossible, be- cause the fineness and sul>tilty of this principle at present, eludes our perceptions ? But, are we not constandy surrounded with forms of matter not less imperceptible to sense ? Is that mysterious power obvious to our sight or feelings, which points the needle to the pole; or that mightier influence which binds to one centre the vast orbs that compose our system, which, however, is constantly operating within us and around us ? Learn another lesson on the Resurrection from the numerous transmutations of the insect tribes which daily pass under our view. A deformed and sluggish grub weaves a tomb for itself. It seems to become extinct ; but, in a little time, we see it mount into the air in a new form, disporting with active wing, and adorned with the most beau- tiful colours. Of spiritual and celestial objects, which are so far above the reach of our present faculties, frequently wecanjudgeonly by analogy. And although such analogies can never convey adequate images of those things which eye hath not seen^ and of which it hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive^ yet they serve to throw some feeble rays of light upon subjects, otherwise so obscure, and to offer some foundation on which the mind, exhausted by its efforts to conceive them, can rest. Look round thee then, O man ! who think - est that the dead cannot be raised from the dust, and from that profound oblivion in which they seem to be forever lost ; and does not all nature teach thee important lessons, and present thee with im- pressive images of the future resurrection of the saints ? Behold the resurrection, the new creation, which every vernal season produces ! Do we not see plants and flowers of every species ; in a word, all the glories of the year, springing, if I may speak so, from the tomb of winter ? These images, in- deed, are only imperfect illustrations, adapted to the weakness of our senses, of that great object of faith ; the only solid and immovable foundation of a christian's hope is, the infallible promise of the spirit of truth : But now is Christ risen^ and become the first fruits of them that sleep* The time is coming when all they who are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of man, and shall come forth, they that have done well to the resurrection of life and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation. Another objection against this doctrine is drawn from the ills and inconveniences, to which the soul is subjected by its union with the body in the present life. This sluggish and unwieldy mass of matter, is supposed to be rather the prison than the helpful companion of the active spirit, to cloud and darken the clearness of its preceptions, and to oppress and enchain the activity of its powers. Although this should be true of the present gross and disordered bodies which we inhabit, yet such is the nature anil order of human spirits that it is only by being united to some corporeal and organized system that they can receive any ideas. And at the resurrection of the just, all that is gross, all that is disordered, all that is impure, shall be forever separated from the bodies of the saints raised to hiimortal life ; and their powers, their activity, and glory shall correspond with the exalted rank which the soul shall hold in the scale of being in her <:elestial state. Do you ask, then, if they can be the same bodies which we inhabited here, which shall assume such a different and glori- ')us appearance ? My brethren do ^^T not continually behold the same elements capable of receivint^ the most various forms ? What resemblance is there between those beautiful and active tribes which fill the air with their harmony, and the lifeless egg from which they have s})rung ? Do not the same elements compose the unsightly clay which we trample beneath our feet, and the resplendent diamond which glitters in the crowns of princes ? The lightning which in its destructive course, rends oaks and rocks to pieces, and the mild and glorious rays of the sun that give life, and health, and beauty to the whole universe ! Accordingly the apostle hath said, all flesh is not the same, in its outward form and visible appearance ; there is one flesh ofmen^ and another of beasts ; there is one glory of the sun and another glory ofths ?noon^ and another glory of the stars, though all proceed- ing from the same light. Not less difference, O believers ! may you expect to find between your present tenements of clay, which, at death, re- turn to their original dust, and those celestial tem- ples in which the glorified spirit shall dwell for- ever. Raised to heaven by the power and love of your Redeemer, to inhabit those glorious worlds of hght above, this corporeal system will be con- formed in beauty and perfection to its immortal habitations. This eo?'rupti/)le sliall put on incor- ruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality. Soivn in weakness it shall he raised in power ; sown in dishonor, it shall be raised in glory ; sown a natural or gross and animal body, it shall be raised a spiritual body ; that is, a body infinitely refined and purified from the dregs of matter, and possessing, at once, both the rapid energy and the imperishable nature of spirit. It shall there be in- vested with new powers and be fitted with new organs, adapted to its celestial state ; and, having attained its highest perfection, shall shine with undecaying lustre in the kingdom of God. The doctrine of the resurrection of the body, therefore, as it is explicitly taught in the holy scriptures, so it contains nothing which violates reason, and which is not even supported and ren- dered credible by the course of nature. Let us then in the next place, take a brief review of the importance of this doctrine. I mean not merely the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, but that of the resurrection of the body, and its immortal existence in re-union with the soul. In the first place, it meets, in the best possible manner, our ideas and hopes of happiness. Spi- rits there may be of a superior order, which have no connexion with any material system, and are not dependent for their knowledge or their enjoy- ments on any sensible organs. But of their modes of existence, and their sources of happiness, we can frame no conception. All our ideas, and all our pleasures come to us through the medium of sense. Our spirits are of such an order, as has been before remarked, that their knowledge, their felicity, their perfection depend on their con- nexion in some way, with a corporeal system; every thing connects us with the body, every thing attaches us to the body ; even the severest afflic- tions, the keenest pains, do not quench in the soul this strong and inextinguishable love of its com- 10 panion, unless guilt, by creating despair, has first induced a dread of future existence. Hence the apostle has said ; JFe who arc in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not that we would be un- clothed ; not that it is the object of these anxious desires to be disembodied, but clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven ; with that celes- tial, that regenerated body which shall be freed from all the pains and imperfections of this mor- tal flesh, and which is only our present nature exalted to its ultimate perfection and glory. The earnest expectation of the creature, continues the same apostle, waitethfor the manifestation of the sons of God, at the resurrection of the just. The whole creation groaneth, and even those who have received the most precious gifts of the spirit groan within themselves, waiting for the redemption of the body. What, indeed, would be the pleasure of existence to the soul, if we can suppose it con- scious of existence, deprived ofaR^ion, and the aids of the senses, which are at present, the only inlets of its knowledge, and the chief sources of its enjoyments ? The christian doctrine of the resurrection, then, corresponds w ith the dearest hopes and wishes of the human heart. It assists, likewise the percep- tions of faith. We are not now left in total uncer- tainty and darkness with rea:ard to the nature of our future being. Some conjectures we can frame concerning it, without the hazard of being lost entirely in the unsubstantial regions of fancy.. A fuuire existence is no longer an inscrutible mys- itn-. Althoup-h it offers to our hoi)es, a condition 11 of being inconceivably improved above the pres- ent, still we can discern between them some points of resemblance, which present to us ideas on that subject, at once intelligible to reason, and infinite- ly precious to the human heart. There, believer ! your faculties will be employed as here, but with an activity and vigor, inconceivably augmented, in searching into the wonderful works of God ; in admiring the order, the beauty and harmony of the universal system ; in adoring, and with the angels, endeavoring to penetrate the astonishing myste- ries of divine grace to man. Blessed and eternal sources of knowledge, and of happiness! The fa- culties which you now feebly exert in the search of truth, in the love and service of your Creator, your Redeemer, and your fellow men, will be new created in celestial vigor, and raised in a state of undescribable excellence and perfection. All the obstacles to your advancement in knowledge, at present, arising from the narrowness of this corpo- real sphere ; the imperfection of these mortal pow- ers, the inactivity and sluggishness of these gross and earthly organs, will be forever removed. — That carnal and disordered mass which now ren- ders the body the seat of impure passions, and im- pedes the holy aspirations of the soul, will be re- fined and purified. A body of celestial and incor- ruptible light ; a spiritual hody^ as it is stiled by the apostle, that is, a body, active and unembar- rassed in its movements, like spirit, rapid as im- agination and thought, will, in heaven, be the fit instrument of the glorified soul in its sublime and blissful employments. i2 From the doctrine of the resurrection of tht same body results another happy anticipation, the future knowledge of our pious friends with whom we have been connected on earth ; the re-union in the highest felicity, of the same hearts which have been united here in the tenderest affections. Delightful and ravishing hope ! What pictures may imagination frame of friendships renewed in heaven ; of the mutual joys of pious friends who meet on that hapjjy and eternal shore, escaped from all the ills and dangers of life ; of their sweet intercourse, purified from all the passions and weaknesses of the flesh which disturb the harmony of this world ; of the range they may be permitted to enjoy in each other's societ}^ among the innu- merable glories of the heavenly world to nourish their devotion, and to diversify their happiness ; of those flights which they may be allowed to take together into distant provinces of the universal empire of God, to collect the knowledge of nature, or to admire and adore him in the astonishing operations of his hands ; or of the rapture with which every ray of the Sun of righteousness will penetrate their hearts when they turn their faces towards the heavenly Zion, the more immediate re- sidence of the divine glory to raise their common devotions to the Father of the universe, and to re- cognize at the foot of his throne, their mutual and boundless obligations to redeeming love. But re- straining all unlicensed excursions of fancy ; ex- quisite, and now ineflable, must be the felicity, springing from a thousand different sources w^iich you shall enjoy from meeting, iu those blissful 13 afid everlasting habitations, the friends whom you have most tenderly and aft'ectionately loved upon earth. Oh ! how is the religion of our ever bles- sed Saviour adapted to the best, and most excel- lent feelings of human nature ! How is it fitted to cherish the noblest and sweetest sympathies of the human heart! Away with that cold philosophy tvhich would destroy these precious consolations ! which, at death, would devote our existence to eternal oblivion, and hopelessly rend asunder those delightful unions which form the dearest portion of ourselves ; the chief joy of our being ! Yes, christian friends ! beloved relatives ! though you may be separated by death from those whom you have most loved ; although you may often be clothed ^vith tlie emblems of mourning w^hich but feebly express the deep affliction which penetrates 3-our hearts, religion points you to a source of di- vine and eternal consolations : You are separated for a moment, only to be restored to each other in a most blissful and eternal union. A tear, a pang you are allowed to give to nature ; but it is the command of the gospel, weep not as those wlw hove 110 hope. Jesus! Saviour! Who art the first fruit of the resurrection from the dead ! Who art thyself the resurrection and the life ! We adore and bless thee who hast given this consolation to suffering humanity ! The doctrine of the resurrection of the body seems also 10 be intimately connected with our ac- countable state in this world, and with our future judgment. In this view it will have the most im- portant moral influence upon the conduct of man- 14. kind. If the soul were not to be re-united to tb(* body, not being the same persons hereafter, that we are here, might we not lose the consciousness of a former existence, and of our accountabihty for the actions of a being, in all respects, so dift'e- rent ? But believing in the resurrection of the bo- dy, in the completeness of the same person, in the consciousness which each one shall have of all that he has done in a previous state of existence, then every action, every word, every thought, becomes important in reference to eternity ; and is continu- ally impressing some colour, or some shade of co- lour on our everlasting destinies. The body which shall be raised being included in the present, be- ing of its substance, having the same orgaiTTzation, the vvhole man shall preserve the same dispositions, habits, and affections, which form the character in the present life. These shall decide our condition in happiness or in misery, on which the judgment of heaven shall fix its everlasting seal. What we have been, we shall be forever. The impressions which we receive, the piu\suits in which we have been engaged, the inclinations which have been created and cherished in the heart, in our proba* tionary existence shall form the basis of our char- acter throughout an immortal duration. What, then, are the conclusions, what are the ex- h.ortations we should derive from these serious and interesting truths'? The same which the apostle has already urged on all christians. Let not sm 7'eign ill your mortal bQcIic,^. Purify }-.ourselves liom all Jilthbwss of the fesh and spirit. Dishonor not your bodies by intemj)t;rance and lust, for tlieij 15 are the temples of the living God. And never let. it escape your memory, and attention, in whatever you undertake, or do, in necessary business, or in lawful amusement, in the plans of deliberate design, or under the impulse of more sudden passion, that we shall all appear before the Judgment seat of Christy to receive according to ivhat we have done in the body^ whether it be good^ or whether it be evil. Christians ! What sublime, and glorious pros- pects does our holy religion present to the imagi- nation ; what blessed and delightful hopes to the heart ! I speak of sincere believers. For although the doctrine of the resurrection applies also to the wicked who will rise to shame and everlasting con- tempt ; yet the apostle in this passage, confines his reflections wholly to the destiny of the righteous. But what tongue of men or of angels, can describe the heavenly Jerusalem, the celestial Eden, the paradise of God, those scenes of everlasting peace and blessedness, those mansions illuminated by the eternal splendors of the Son of righteousness, those bodies of light, those souls of fire ? It would re- quire the eloquence of heaven to speak of them as they deserve ; to understand them fully would require the ripened powers of immortality. Far eye hath not seen, nor hath ear heard, neitfier hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things ivkich God hath prepared for those who love him. Christians ! disciples and servants of the Lord Je- sus Christ! are you destined to such glory and happiness ? Have you the same foundation for this precious hope as for your religion itself? Let it 16 prove to you tlie most powerful motive to culti* vate in your hearts those aftections of piety, in your lives those habits of holiness, which will prepare you for your eternal existence in the heavens. By temperance, by purity, by the exercise of every virtue, endeavor to assimilate more and more these perishing bodies, to that pure and celestial nature in which you shall hereafter behold the glory of God. Listen, christians, to one reflection more on this interesting subject ! The hope of the resurrection strips death of its greatest terrors. Death is no longer what it appears to be — -the destruction of our being. It yields to the grave only the gros- sest parts of these mortal bodies. The finer esr sence shall still cleave to the soul, and be improv- ed with immortal vigor and glory at the resurrec- tion of the just. The stroke of death shall cause no intermission in the consciousness of a happy existence. Even if the soul itself, according to the opinion of some good men, should sleep till the revivification of universal nature, there is no perception of time in the insensibility of sleep. The moment of our dissolution shali touch on that of our restoration to life. The grave, sanctified by the death, triumphed over by the resurrection of our blessed Saviour, is now, to all his disciples, only the gate to a new, a glorious, and immortal existence. This corruptible shall put on incorrup- tion^ afid this mortal shall put on immortality. O Death ! where^ then is thy sting ? grave ! where ■is thy victory F Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord ! Amen ! ^ " -^^ I %F m •I* ^ 2 wmm* &- •#-;|:&. -3^^\^ f' ^v^ r'''^ "t^^. ^ ^^r'^-^'-