that is not substance of one kind or another? But by substance, I would repeat, let me by no means be understood as meaning necessarily matter: may there not be various kinds of substances, material and spiritual—just as there are, as the apostle Paul affirms, "celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial?" In the next place, can the mind conceive of the existence of any thing real, without some shape or form? And lastly, can man's spirit,-the spirits of our deceased friends who have left their natural bodies, and this natural world, possibly be conceived of, as existing in any other shape or form than the human form? I think not. It seems to me, that no sound and reflecting mind can come to any other conclusion. And if there be any here, who have dearly loved and still love a departed friend, their own hearts will assure them of the truth of this doctrine; they will feel, without instruction, that the loved and lost one is still living in a complete human form. Such is the testimony of man's reason and man's heart, to the truth of this important doctrine of the New Church.

But we shall not regard even this testimony as final and conclusive: our last resort, and main dependence, in regard to this, as to all other Doctrines of the New Church, is the Word of God-the inspired volume. To that alone we trust implicitly; on that we rest in peace. Consider first, then, the text: "There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." "There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial."* "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom

* 1 Cor. xv. 40.

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of God." * These passages from the writings of the apostle Paul, bear direct testimony to the truth of the doctrine that has been laid down. Moreover, whenever spirits and angels are mentioned in the Scriptures, they are described as being in the human form. In the tenth chapter of Acts, for instance, where Cornelius, the centurion, is describing to Peter the angel who had appeared to him, he says, in the plainest terms, Behold, a man stood before me, in bright clothing." Here an angel is described as a man. So, again, in the twentieth chapter of John Mary Magdalene is spoken of as looking into the sepulcher, after the Lord's resurrection, and seeing "two angels in white, sitting the one at the head, the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain." What other idea can be formed of those angels, than as being in the human form, when they are thus described? But in Luke, in mentioning the same circumstance, it is said plainly, "Behold two men stood by them in shining garments."+ And in Mark, it is said in a still more striking manner, "And entering into the sepulcher, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment." Who, after reading these express declarations of Scripture, ought to doubt, or can doubt, that spirits and angels are men; that is, not airy and shapeless existences, but real living beings, in a complete human form? They are not, indeed, in a material human form, but in a spiritual substantial human form. That there can be a human form which

* 1 Cor. xv. 50.

† xxiv. 4.

+ xvi. 5.

is not material, is evident from the fact, as recounted in the gospels, that the Lord, after His resurrection, came into the midst of the disciples, "the doors being shut." It is plain, that, had the body of the Lord been material, it could not so have passed through the doors. Neither was it merely spiritual, as the Lord expressly declared to his disciples, when they were affrighted, and supposed that they saw a spirit. But, as is affirmed by the doctrine of the New Church, it was a Divine Substantial body, differing both from matter and spirit; in agreement with what was before said, that there may be Divine Substance, as well as spiritual substance, and matter.

With that Divine and glorified body too, the Lord was taken up, as it is written, before his disciples into heaven; and, as it is said immediately after,— 'they worshiped him."+ And so ought we to worship him, as did the disciples; and so ought all Christians to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, clothed as he still is, and will ever be, with the same Glorified Body, in which he rose from the sepulcher, and ascended into heaven.

* John xx. 19.

† John xxiv. 52,

SERMON IX.

THE RESURRECTION.

"Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth-they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."-JOHN v. 28, 29.

THIS passage has been supposed to teach the doctrine of a future general resurrection of the dead,—their resurrection, too, in the material body. And, at first sight, this may appear to be its meaning. But a little reflection, accompanied by a comparison of this with other passages of Scripture nearly allied to it, will make it evident that such a meaning was not intended to be conveyed by the Divine speaker.

In the first place, that a distant future resurrection was not meant, will be manifest, if we but refer to a passage, contained in a verse just preceding, which is a passage nearly parallel with this, and evidently intended to express the same idea: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." Here the phrase "now is" shows

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plainly, that the Lord had not reference to any future resurrection, such as it is supposed is to take place at the end of the world. But the resurrection, whatever it might be, was to take place immediately, and indeed had already commenced; for the expression, "the hour is coming, and now is," implies that the work had already begun, and was to go on. Moreover, as no general resurrection of the dead out of the grave had then begun to take place, nor has since taken place, though more than eighteen hundred years have now rolled away, we may infer that it was not literally a resurrection of the material body out of the tomb, that was meant by the Lord in speaking these words.

Reasoning, then, from the expressions contained in this parallel passage, we may fairly conclude that the doctrine of a future general resurrection was not intended to be taught in the words of the text; nor yet that of the resurrection of the material body. The Divine speaker had another meaning in his words, more consistent with true and spiritual religion, and more in accordance, too, with the facts of science, and the deductions of sound philosophy. What that meaning was, it is my purpose presently to explain. But, in the first place, I wish to avail myself of the opportunity, presented by the consideration of the text, to make some general remarks on the doctrine of the resurrection.

The idea has long and generally prevailed in the Church, that, at some future day, there is to be a general resurrection of the dead,-of all who have died since the beginning of the world. And moreover,