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form of a law, but is now proposed as a matter of fact, divested of the form of law; bringing out, as we are given to understand, the third grand exhibition of the enmity of man to God. This system, however, forgets to reconcile this matter of fact, this unconditionality, this rejection of such a scripture as So run that ye may obtain," with its avowed belief in a future resurrection of dust, an end of the world, a new heaven and new earth, cum multis aliis, altogether inexplicable, and utterly inconsistent with such unconditional statement of divine truth. However, (we may say,) we are not so circumstanced. We are believers in the finished and complete rest of the kingdom of God, and we affirm as follows: If this rest have appeared, is manifested, and doth now remain for the people of God, a rest in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, into which all his ransomed family are ushered at the moment when they enter upon an earthly existence; how then can there, by any possibility, be any labouring to enter in? how can there be the least danger of failing to attain that which is already our own? What is the use of an exhortation to strive for what is already in possession; and why should I ask God for that which he has already given me? Is he a man that he should lie, or the son of man that he should repent? Hath he said, and did he not do it? hath he spoken, and is it not come to pass? Or again-If the race hath been run, and the prize gained, by those specially appointed to the work; if the crown of life which was promised hath been bestowed; if this prize and crown, appearing in the Apostles' day, in the distant prospect, with a weary wilderness and, to many among them, a Jordan of death between, is now the fulfilment of a promise which was then laid up in store-why then (the promise being fulfilled,) are we to be exhorted to look for its fulfilment again and again, and so exhorted to doubt the faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God? Let the words, "So run that ye may obtain," be confined in an application to the resurrection of the dead; if the resurrection of the dead be the end of the race, and if the resurrection have transpired, would it not strike the mind of a child of seven years old, that it is an absurdity to exhort now to run a race, for the obtaining of that which is already obtained; and, if the resurrection of the dead have not transpired, would not the same child perceive at a glance that there must have been some misapprehension in Paul's mind, when, eighteen hundred years ago, he confidently declared that he was pressing toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, if by any means he might attain to the resurrection from the dead?. Misapprehension, indeed, there must have been, seeing that Paul, on the common opinion, is still striving for the mastery, still pressing toward the mark, still desiring to be clothed upon with his house that should be from heaven, still groaning being burdened, and groaning as he is now unclothed, but not yet clothed upon, for, according to the common opinion, mortality (this mortal) is not yet swallowed up of immortality and life. It is idle to tell us that we are quibbling by using this argument; the shoe is on the other foot; it is our opponents who are the quibblers. It is equally idle to tell us, that when Paul spoke of attaining to the resurrection of the dead, he meant merely the knowledge of that resurrection; for this exposition does not accord in the least with his expressed wish in 6th Hebrews, that the

Hebrew believers should leave the word of the beginning of Christ; the first principles of the oracles of God, among which is enumerated the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. No, it was not the knowledge of the resurrection as a mere matter of speculative science, but it was this:- Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ, and be found in him—that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection;" for, "being reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life, seeing that our life is hid with Christ in God, and when Christ our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory."

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Having developed at some length the nature of the resurrection, under the Apostolic figure of a change, we need not travel over the same ground again, but we may proceed at once to an exposition of the scriptures which contain the doctrine of the second resurrection. The first scripture that we shall examine will be found among the passages quoted in page 93, under the head of the Body to be changed. Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto the body of his glory." (Philip. iii. 31.) As a minister of the Church of England, I have read these words many a time at the graveside of poor perishing dust and ashes. And here let me be allowed to revert again to the wide distance which separates between us and seceders from the Establishment who have preceded us. We do not object, for instance, to the Burial Service, because a minister who may entertain (as the Church of England entertains,) the doctrine of election, is obliged by the law of the land to thank God that he hath taken the precious souls of all whom he (the minister,) inters, to himself, though that same minister may have no hope whatever of the salvation of many of them. No-we object to the Church of England Burial Service altogether, for all and for any; we believe in our consciences that it is a gross perversion of Scripture which reads 1 Cor. xv. over dust and ashes. We protested against this while ministering in the Church of England, from her pulpit, and before her face, and therefore cannot now be accused for repeating the protest behind her back. We abjure and renounce the common practice of employing the sacred word of the Almighty to support that which that word, without man's tradition, condemns. We profess to be Protestants in something like a reality-Protestants against Protestant Popery-Protestants against Protestant idolatry, Protestants against Protestant impiety; and as in innumerable other instances, so here in the passage before us, where we read, "For our citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change the body of our humiliation, that it may be fashioned like unto the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue even all things unto himself." Now it may be thought that strong language has been used in the paragraphs immediately preceding; but let it be remembered that, in the exercise of our judgment, we are only speaking conscientiously of the doctrines of the Church of England, with something of the freedom wherewith the ministers of the Establishment speak of the doctrines of the Church of Rome. We, like

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them, may affirm that our charity rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; and whose charity appears most to resemble truth, would quickly be determined by any unprejudiced man of the world. If any of the clergy of the Establishment should deign to peruse these pages, (and I hope many will, and answer them also, if they can,) I would solicit of them to weigh their Burial Service in the balance of what may be (to say no more,) a scriptural exposition of the texts from which that service is compiled. And, first, of Philippians iii. 21. The first thing in this scripture which ought to arrest the attention of the most careless reader, is the remarkable usage in which "body" is employed in the singular, coupled with the plural pronoun "our." We are nurtured from earliest infancy in the dogmas of creeds and catechisms to say, "I believe in the resurrection of the body," or surely, among the numbers who hear and read this verse times without number, there must have been many before now who would have arisen to question the common interpretation. On the common interpretation, we confess our inability to conceive a reason why the plural, "bodies," should not have been employed, as in the passage, "shall quicken your mortal bodies." This," says Mr. Bush, “ may appear, at first blush, a criticism of little weight; but we are persuaded it is one of prime importance, and that we are entitled to demand some rational solution of the problem involved in the phraseology." Nothing, certainly, would be more natural than the use of the plural, if Paul were speaking of the physical resurrection of believers. As it is, we cannot doubt that the term is to be taken in a collective sense, for the mystical body of Christ; so that "our body," in this connexion, is merely another phrase for the body to which we belong, for "we being many members, are one body." If this "our body" be not a collective, corporate body, there is a difficulty, on every other explanation, in accounting for the plural pronoun joined to a singular noun; whereas if the phrase our body" be taken as applying to a number of individuals incorporated together, then the construction is according to usage, and is correct. Mr. Wilkinson, in his work on the "Last Days," illustrates the usage so appositely, that I shall take the liberty of transcribing a portion of his remarks. He writes" A few proofs from the Scripture will best explain the meaning of this phrase: Genesis xxxvii. 26, "What profit is it if we slay our brother?" Matt. vi. 9, "Our Father, which art in heaven :" 1 Thess. iii. 9, "Now God himself, and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you." If it were admitted that by the term "our body," may be understood the bodies of individual believers universally, then “ our brother," 66 our father," our God," our Lord Jesus Christ," would mean many brothers, fathers, Gods, and Lords, whereas the contrary is the fact; and the same is true of the passage under consideration, our vile body:" it does not mean many bodies, but one only, and therefore it relates to the church only, in its collective character, as one body." (See Ephes. iv. 4.) The same is true of that place, Rom. viii. 23, "Waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body," where the Apostle is speaking, first, of the heathen world, "the whole creation," waiting to "be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God:" he then pro

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ceeds to say, "And not only they (the heathen world,) but ourselves also, (of the Jewish nation,) which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." And to this amount is Ephes. iii. 6, "That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise by the gospel."-This interpretation of Phil. iii. 21, is substantiated by the context, in which occurs the passage already commented upon, "If that by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." It is not unworthy of notice that the Apostle writes in the first person singular throughout the chapter, until he arrives at the citizenship; and even supposing that the term, our vile body," did include the believers whom he was addressing, still it could not be proved that the plural "our" was affirmed only of himself, inasmuch as the Epistle opens with these words, "Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons." But it will be asked, How was Christ's body the church to be called a body?" Does not the Apostle say that the church was changed from glory unto glory? and did they not all with open face behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord? This is very true. It must be granted that the body then beheld the glory of the Lord, and was changed into the same image from glory unto glory. But then it must at the same time be admitted that this most important scripture of 2 Cor. iii. is a sword which cuts two ways. Let it be assumed, for one moment, that this passage is an obstacle in our path; is it not equally so in that of an objector? Is it not a fair challenge to call upon those who entertain the commonly received opinion, to reconcile Paul's statement here, that believers were changed into the same image, with his apparently counter statement in 1 Cor. xv., "As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly ?" Do not the popular opinions lead to the adoption of two images of the heavenly? and if so, then we ask for what has never yet been given- for an explanation of this twofold character. And while religious systems are adding the above to the already long catalogue of problems proposed for their solution, we will proceed to unfold our views on the subject in debate.

We conceive that there is much by way of exposition conveyed in the Apostolic description of the nature of the sight which believers then enjoyed, "Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord." But more especially will this appear, if we compare this with another scripture, where we read, "Now we see through a glass darkly, (iv aivíyμato, in an enigma,) but then face to face." The result of the comparison will be, that believers in the Apostolic day beheld the glory of the Lord only darkly, and through a glass; that the body of his glory, or his glorious body, according to the likeness of which they were to be fashioned, was then but as a dim and indefinite picture. And this perfectly accords with the language of another of that company, which was led into all truth, seeing eye to eye-the Apostle John, where he records his testimony, Beloved, now are we the sons of God, (and if sons, then heirs,) and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like

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him, for we shall see him as he is." (1 John iii. 2.) Without stopping to notice, that, according to the general interpretation of this verse, it doth not even yet appear what we shall be; let us observe that the words, we shall see him as he is,' seem to imply that, at his ing again the second time, they should not only have an altered apprehension, but also that his appearance should be changed; or, in other words, that the image of Christ, into which they were said to be then changed, was diverse from that of the change which was still future, or that the body which then was, was not that body that should be. This would make the glorious body to be then future likewise; or, in other words, it would, if the expression may be allowed, place Christ and the church, the Head and the members, in the same position. And this we believe to be scriptural, and therefore true. It is a view supported by numerous passages, as for instance, "When he doth appear, we shall be like him." Now the likeness is not a likeness to an absent one, but to one present. But Christ was then absent; he was the forerunner entered within the veil; he was hid from believers within heaven itself, exercising his mediatorial office; he was the advocate with the Father, the high priest "touched with a feeling of infirmities." This was his image then; this was also the image into which believers were then changed. They were priests, lifting up holy hands, knowing that the inwrought, energetic prayer of a righteous man availed much; yea, and if the Romish doctrine, or any doctrine of Apostolic succession, beyond the fall of Jerusalem, be true, Romanism has a valid plea for its doctrine of the invocation and intercession of saints. Believers, in the Apostolic day, were thus "predestinated to be conformed to the image of the Son;" and in this predestination, as they were then justified, so they were also then glorified, changed from glory to glory, so that the vile body was at the same time a glorious body. This reference to Rom. viii. reminds us that we need not have travelled from Philip. iii. for a view of the vile body.' Paul testifies to the vileness clearly enough in verse 10, "That I may know the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death :" that is, that he might be conformed to the death-image of the Son: for, "when we were enemies," saith he, "we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life," "for our life is hid with Christ in God." And that the Apostle was thus conformable to Christ's image in the fellowship of sufferings, he testifies very forcibly in writing to the Colossians, where he makes mention of filling up the afflictions of Christ in his flesh for his body's sake, which is the church." (Col. i. 24.) This view of Phil. iii. 21, as considering Christ and the church to be at the same time in the same position, is set forth in many scriptures: Christ was the heir, and Paul speaks of the church as joint-heirs with Christ; and then, as though connecting the heir and joint-heir, he proceeds to say, "if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together; for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." And again, "if we suffer with him, we believe that we shall also reign with him." Let it be said, that Christ was then king on his throne: this was equally true of his people; but that there was a future appearance of the kingdom, and a

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