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Page073

THE PRAC- TICAL' CHRISTIAN.


De v 0 t e ( I to , T ~ 11 t It and Rig It teo 11 S n e S s ,


VOL. - I . MENDON, !\ lASS. , FEllRUARY 1, 1841. No. ] 9.


THE'P RA OT I OA L OHRISTIAN


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Regular Contributors to the Work,- ADIN


BALLOU, ( Editor and Publishing A~ ent;) DA. VID


R. I. AMsON, GEORGE \ V. ST.,- CY, DANIEL S.


\ VHITNEV, \ VILI . IAlIl H. FISH, SAMUEL J.


l\ IA Y.


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we solicit no person to subscribe who i~ not willing


we should uuer all our 1II0rni conviction s as freely


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and see if any good thing can come out of Naza­reth,


~ '


EXPOSITION' OP PAITH.


CHAPTER IV.


COllcenling Ihe Fu/ lII ' e State.


I heli eve that the soul ofmnn is immortul ; that


th ere will ' lJe a resurrection ' of th e hody ;


that there is an Iutertncdiate State ; and that


there will be a future righteous retribution.


SECTIOIi 1.


I believe that the soul of' man is inunortnl ;


nnd that there will be a re surrectiou of the


body..


" 0 ( leath, where is Ih.' 1 sling ? 0 grave, lohere


i.! thy victoril ?" 1 Cu r. 15: ~ 5 .


' f pr ofess til helieve iu the imlll ~ rtality ofth e


sou l. ' Vhnt is the sonl ? The int ernul ClIn­~


c i o ns muu- lhe illlnllltcriulmol'lliagent with­in


th e body- thai incol/ lpre1~ e7lsible tsSf7l Ce


", hid. percei ve;;:, Ihi!, k ~, rem emher.., reasons


mltl wi lis. This eSSCllCIJ is II 1I01l/ e created 1111­ttlI'll,


e'lI1lla iliing witllill il th e vital prillciple of'


IiIi,. This vital principle is 1111 elllullation ( i'om


God- a particle from tlte foulltain of Deity. ­'


l'uke tltis away and the soul itself must he­COIIIC


eXlillc t. Dill the Creator Itas incorpo­ral


c,, 1 this principlc with the ess enclI of tl' e


80111, 1I11d renllered Ihilln Olie indivi, sible spirit­,


lIul clllity. Hence the SOIi I' S immortality. ­


· T he soul is immortal, not necessarily, hut by


the inspi~ alion allll will of God. Its illllllor­fll!


ity is a derived, conferred imlllortality- de­)


lcluJent on Him who / dolle huth inherent illl­mortality.


God is ubl e to decompose and an­nihilllte


the so1l1 ; IJlIt no other heing cun. So


long liS HE pleases, the so1l1 is indestnll: tihl e.


\ V e kllO\ Y of no ( Iurpose on his pnrt to chunge


tlte constitutioll of the SOli I from imlllortal 10


IIlortlll; therefore we contemplate it ns ' ubso ­IUicl


y" illllt1o'T-' tal for eternity, to all intents and


purposes.


From thi s it follows, that the soul sUI'\' ives


the body, aod exists in a separate con sci ~ u15


s tute. ' Vhat its precise lIIode 01 exisiCIIl: e ' ill


that state is, alHl how it mllintains int erc ollrse


with other souls th ere, we hllve no di stinct


revelatiou. \ Ve are left with the nuked facts


thllt it oo es exist, in such u stllte, that it com­mune"


to sOllie extent witl. other soulB, ulld


tllllt it is hllppy or miseruble, uccol'lling to itll


moral character. Tho rest remains to he


kuown in its purticulars wh en lye become in­IlIIbitants


of the s( tirit land. It seems certain


that the mode of existence and communica­tiou


in that world, . is ofsuch a nature that th ere


can he no intercourse between souls iu the


flesh nlld souls disembodied, exc; pt b)' ' mira ­cle,


at the pleasure of the Almighty. lVe


who are in the body cannot penetrat~ the re­gions


of the d ~ p/ lI · teu- nor they return to in ­form


us what dread realities exi st Ihere.


, The doctrine o~ tllll soul's immortlliity is


either intimated, or taken for g..~ nted in many


' passages of the Old Testament, ' but is more


distinctly and nnequivocally declared in the


N~ w. I shull content myself with ' re fe rr ing,


to aJew texts in the latter tiS conclusive proof.


In the 10th v. el' 1le of the 28th , c hapter' of


Matthew, Christ. sllys: " Fear not them which ,


kill the horly, hut nre not able to kill the soul;


Lut rathel' fear him which is ahle to destroy


h oth soul and. body in hell." According to


th is I'ltSSlIge men limy k ill the body of a fel - '


I


low mnn, but cannot kill the soul: ~ IIAT is


imrnorlal. In the 17th chapter of Mau., the


9th of Mark, and th e 9lh of Luke, we have an


account of the j runsfiguration of Christ in the


presence of Peter, James and John. It is said


-" He was trans6gured before them: and his


face did shine liS tile sun, lind his raiment was


white as the light. And behold there appea. · ­ed


unto them Moses and Elia~, 1 talking with


him." Matt. 17: 2,3. Luke ( 9: 31,) says they


" spake of his- decease which he should aCCOIll­plish


at J erusalem." Now neither Moses nor ,


Elius had attained to the resurrection of the


body; 1' 0r Christ, afier thi s, was the first 10


rise from the deud bo~ ily. Paul declares him


to have becn th e " first begotten from th e


dead"-" the first fruits of th em that s l e p l."~


Mos es died in Mt. Nebo and WIlS buried . Eli­jah


was trnnslated- his bod y no doubt deeom­posed


by the fire, in a whirlwind of whi ch he


is said to have been carried into heaven, Th ey


mu st 11ll\'( J heeu th e d isembodied souls of Mo­ses


und Elias, that appellre~ 1 on ihe ruuurlt und '


conversed with Christ, Therefore the soul is


immortal. The parable of the Ri ch man nud


Lnznrus, in the 16th cha pte r of Luka. assumes


th e iunuortnlity lind se pa rate existence of th e


. sou l, It pro ceed s upon thi s ground through­out-


c- necording to the then prevalling views


of the soul and its ., tnte after death. Neith er


th e rich man, nor Lazarus, is represented as in


th e resu rr ection stute ; but in opposite Harts of


Hud es, the region of departed sp irits, , T His is


furth el' coufil'mcd by Ahl'llhnlll's answ er to


the ullhappy Div es , IIpon his request rlllIt, oll e


might be sent to his five hr etllrell in th e flesh,


with nwnrninl( of th eir dlll! g er. TI; at tillswe..


was-" lftlley heur not !\ loses nnd th e proph­ets;


neithel' will th ey be persuaded thollgh on e


t: ose ( i'om th e ' dead." FOI' one to go frolll


lI ades to lIIen j n th o fle![ I_, !! o us to COIIIlTI\ I ! J!:


I~ ate \ vith th ell i, he lIlust ' r ise fi'om the r1 cad . ­But


those ill Hudes hnd 1I0t risen from tho


deull ; , they were in a sepnmte disemhoclfed


stllte. They cOllld not leave th~ t stUle for all­!


lthe r withom a resurreclion fl'OlII the dead­1II,


le~ s indeed hy the miruculous power of Goe\


~ pec'ially exereis ed, liS in the cuse of Moses


a llil Elias. This, th en, is au otller testimollY


to th e ,:: .. eat truth oflhe SOlll's immortality.


The case of the pen itent th lef or mal efactor


affo .. ds another . liTo duy," said our LOI'II,


" shult thou be \\ Ohh me in purnrlise." Luke 23:


44. He could not hnve meant merely thnt


himselfund the thiefshould he out of hodil y


pain Ihut lla~' , in th e jn sen sibility ofth e · cor pse.


Flir if this were all, what hett cr offwollid th e


penhellt tI, iefbe th an the impenitent on e. He


too wonld he in parndise,. if insensibility to


physicnl pllin were parad'i se.'~"" Cllrist cOlild


not thus hllve trifl ed with the feelings of the


clying suppliant. He me/ lilt something more.


Pal'adise was the well understood designation


of the hnppy pnrt of' Hades. It was there that


Abrallllm received his worthy sons to his ho ­SOIl1.


Every Jew kn ew the meaning of suc h


language. This declaration of Christ fiJlly


assured the penitent malefactor of divine fOl'-,


giveness and a blessed futllrity. It can have


impor ted nothing less, thuu that the souls of


tlie Iwo should that dlly repose tog ether ill th e


hlissful part ofl/ ades- the region of depllrted


sjlirits: This was not Christ's resurrection


state j for that took pla ce on tile third day af­tcr


his d ece/ l~ e. Ulltil his resurrection Christ's


so1l1 was in Hades. It went there immediate­lyon


leaving his body ; lind that \' Cry day the


soul of the penitent malefactor weut to the


same peaceflll abode. Thus \,,: as the promise


verified- liTo day sllOl~ thou be with me in


parnelise :" ,


The following is unothel'. pertient testimo­ny.


, Christ after his resurrection suddenly


IIppeared in th e midst of his chosen di sciples,


" sllying Pence unto you." " But th ey were '


terrified and affrighted, and supposed that


they hnd seen a , s pirit. And he said Ullto


rhem, Why are ye tro.~ bled? And why do


thoughts nrise in )' our hearts? Behold my


hand:! and my feet, that it is I myself: handle


me nnd see; fOI' a spirit lIath not flesh anll


bones, as ye se e me hllve." Luke 24: 37- 39:


Here the plaiu natural distinct; oll is made be-tween


II disembodied spirit, and the whole


man, body and soul together. ,


Again. St. Paul says, ( 2 Cor. 5: 6, 7, 8,)


" Therefore we are always confident, knowing


that, whilst we are at home in the body, are


absent from , the Lord. " " " ' Ve are


confident, und willing rather to be absent from


the 1J0dy, lind to be, preilent with the ~ ord." ­It


is the soul, of course, that is here spoken of,


us being present 01' ab sent from th e body. It


mu st therefore be immortal . ' Peter says that


Christ having been Hut to death in the flesh


wus quickened ' by the s p ici t-~ By which also,


he went and preached to the spirits in pri son,


which sometime. were di sobedlent , when


once the long suffering ofG od waited in the


days of Noah," & c. I Pet , 3: J8- 20. . I have


seen sundry forced int erpretutions of thi s pllS­sage,


designed to nusw er the purpose of po­lem


jcs, but I canno t make common sen se of it


without uuderstanding it to refer to di sembod­ied


son Is in Hades. The same ideas are pre­se


ured with c(( l1II1 force in these words: " POI',


for this cau se WIIS th e go spel preached also to


them that are d ead, th at they might bejudged


ac cording to men in th e flesh, but live accord­ing


10 God in th e spirit.," 1 Pet. 4: G.


The Rev elat or says : " I saw under' th e al­tar


the souls of th em that were slain ' for the


word of Go rl. und for the testimony whi ch th ey


held. And they cried with II loud voice say­ing,


How long, 0 Lord, holy and true, dust


thou nut judge and avenge our blood on them


tlllIt dwell ou th e earth ? And white rohes


werc given unto every one df th ~ m ; and it,


was sai, l unto th em that tbey should rest yet


fi, r a lillie seasou, uutil their fiJllow se l'vunts


also and th eil' brethren, thllt shoulli be kill ed


liS th ey wele, sh ould he fulfilled." R ev. 6: 9­11.


These we i'e di semuodied sonls of mill' ­t


yr~. Theil' uodies hlld been sla iu or kill ed,


but th ei r soul s stilllivcd, res liug under th e al ·


tal' of God. " I I


These passages of S cripture seem to settle


th e qu estiou of th e ' soul's immortality. They


dem on slmte thi s to be a cl early llIught doc­trin


e of lh e gos pe l. , ' Vhll! the most enlight­clled


alld rlllionul philosophy luul lIIailll ained


011 cOlljecu , re fi'olll allal og.)', lhe gos pe l IJrings


c1eurl y to ligld, li S a g lorious item of di vin e


truth . I cnllllot lIS a Chl'istiau doulJt th e illJ-IIlorlnlity


of th e soul. \


I IIlso lJelieve in , th e resurrection ofth e hody;


thntthe bodies of all ; lIankind which hav e not


alrelldy risen, wiil ri se ( j'om th e grave and be­cOllie


glol ' jous in / III immortal cons tilll tio n :


that ' qwel · Y. soul anrl bOlly will finlllly be reu­nited


for eternity. But wllllt do ( mean hy


the resurrection of th e hody? Do I meau that


ullthe, particles of th e groSll ' body'whieh dies


will be reorganized in exactly the- sallie form


untl consistency Ill! before or at death? No j


this is not necessnry to my proposition. It - is


ouly neces& u'y to heli eve that the ' most subtle


' and refined essence of th e hody will he COil­centrated


lind reor;: anized in such a mnnner


lind form, liS to be recognized by its own 1I0ul,


alHl be lthe proper organ of that soul. Each


man, 1' 0111 and hody, reconstituted in an inde­strnctible


con stitution, will then know himself,


lind be known by other s, as the identical be­ing


who existed here on earth . He will per­ceive,


think, rem ember, reason and will- with


, the undoubling consciousness that he is the


same being~ lhough in so many re spects al­tered


from what , he was. The substunce of


the risen body muy consiH of particles finer


than light and hent- bllt it will be a body, Dnd


the organic vchide of on incompnrnhly more


subtle, es~ en e e than itself- that of tI, e so ul. ­lly


lIleans of this immortal body th e souf will


be able to enjoy and communicate inconceiv­ably


higher degrees of gooil than in its rlisem­bodied


8tllte. It will be able to hold COllvel' 1le


with millions of immortal ' fe llow being8, to


pass with imporc eptible rapidity from region


to region ofspace, and to ex plore the mysteries


of th e universe', through an endless progress


of knowledge and feli city. The entire heing


wiU be capacitated for'the service a f the Cre­ator


i ~ office! J of mer cy und jud gm ent, of


which we ean now form no adequate con cep­tion


. From death till the resurrection the


soul remains und~ r a certain necessary re­straint


of condition- within II certain limited


sphere ofaction, a kind of action mostly in


and UPOIl itself: ' But after the resurrection,


reunited with its lmmorlaliz~ d body, its pow­ets


and capacities for outward action and


communlcerion become vastly enlarged. ­Those


Christiuns who are' inclined to doubt


the resurrection of the body, usually urge that


they cannot understand the necessity or use of


such a resurr~ ction- believing tha t the powers


and capncitles of the immortal soul are perfect


' without it- and moreover that in the nature of'


things, the risen hody must restrict rath er than


enlarg e, the advnntages of the soul. 1' 0 this I


reply, that such re asouing-. however specious, '


proceed too much in the dark to be trusted. ­We


know too littl e of the nature of the soul


and of itS connexiun with th e 1J0dy, to pro­nounce


with an y degree of warrantahle ussur­ance,'


what is or is 7101 necessnry to Ih ~ per­fection


of its existe nc e and capaci ties. lVe


cunphilosophize and speculute, like th e sag es


of old, but as Christlaus our fhith must fOIl! J\ V


the testimony of divine revelation . We must


adhere to the- doctr ine of the N~ w Testament


and not doubt th at infin ite \ Visdom knows


better than llJe CAli know what is nec essary in


this case. We lire not at liberty to reject the


doctrine oftheresurrection ofthe 1J0dy, mere­ly


becau se we cannot understand its nececes­sity,


We ar~ poor judges of su ch malt ers.' ­We


are al together too ignorant of'tl. e princi­pal


fact s to decide th e q~ esti on . Divine light


ill onr dep enden ce. Htlle New T estnment os


plainly and positively teaches the resurrection


of the body, as it do es th e immortality of the


soul, we lIlay safely believe jn both, without


calling in qu estion th e necessity 01' propriety ,


of either. I nndertuke - to show that th e Nit\\'


Testament do es clearly lind uueqnivocally


teacll th e r" sun'ec tion of the " ody.


I commence with Christ's resurrection. ­This


is set' forth ns the great sump/ e and ~ ledge


of the resurrection of all _ men. lIence the


' npostle says :- " llut now is Christ ~ I'i se n fro/ ll


the dead, and become the first fi'uits of them


that ~ Iept. 1.' 01' since by man came death, . by


. man came also the resurrection of th e dead.


For as iu Adam nil ' lie, ~ ven so in Chr ist sliall


nil be made aliv e.' " 1 Cor. 15: 20- 22. Again


he ~ ay s : " 1': 01' our conver sat ion is iu heaven;


frolll whence also we I\ lok for the S a\' ior , the


Lord J esu s Ch rist, who shall ch nn ge ou'r vile


body, that it \ IIUY be fushioned like IInto his


rilost gl orious body, accorJing to t1w working,


whereby he is IIhle even to subdue all things '


unto himself." Phil. 3: 21.


I '


Now that tile body of Cht'is t arose ftom tlae


, dead , no ChristilllJ can doubt . We are' taught'


positively that his so1l1 \ Vent to Hadel!, 10, Par­adise,


and to th e s pi rits in prison; and as pos ­itively


is jt declared, that his hody Was buried,


thnt it bel: ome a living bolly again on the '


tJlird day, that it was seen, handled and veri- .


fied beyond a douht- and that fi'lIIl1y it as­ceuded


in , a cloud. This body of Cilrist re­tained


for a time its tangible properties, thnt


it might be identified by his disciples, even the


most doubtfu l'ofthem, beyond all possibility


, of deception. Du t at its ascensiou it was UlJ


doubt perfectly rarified and elherialized, so a9


to lJe no longer subject iu any degree to the


gre'at physical laws which govern all coporeal


lIlalter. J need not quote texts to prove the


resnrrection of Christ's body. It is believed


und granted by all who follow th e Scriptures.


If then his resnrrection is a sllmple and pledge


of man's resurrection universally, os is gener­ally


admitted , Hnd as I have shown by two


passages from S t. Paul, how can we avoid the


conclusion that th ~ re will be, fir st or last, a res­urrection


of all human bodies? How are our


vile 1J0dies to'be changed and fashioned like


unio his rilOst ' glorious hody, with out s uch a


resurre ctio~? F or some good ' reasou Christ's ·


body was raised and immortalized : God saW


fit that his soul sh ould come out of Hail es anel


his borly out of th c'" sepulchre, to be reuiiited


in an illu; lOl'Ial co ns titution. , H is resurrection


is the sUlllple aud plcdge ~ f our's. , Ther efore


th ere mo st ue a resurrection of the 1J0dy. · U ·


I could IJring nothing further in support of


"

Page 73 of Volume 1 from The Practical Christian 1840-1841

Ballou, Adin

1840