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form, as well as the qualities of his mind, contributed to render him the chief of all the Creator's works, and to make him stand forth as the noblest example of creative wisdom which is to be found amongst the productions of the first six days of the history of our world. That form, the outlines of which were drawn by a divine hand, was faultless in the eyes of the almighty Maker, and pronounced by him to be "very good." And if it was so originally at its formation, when it was evidently fitted for immortality, what reason have we to suppose, that it will exhibit a different conformation when it shall be restored, at the resurrection, to the honours which it had lost by sin? There is, at least, nothing revealed to warrant such a supposition. The circumstances of the case, on the other hand, not only suggest, they seem strongly to. favour the opposite one.

Besides, the Son of God, when he came from heaven to deliver men from the effects of sin, assumed a body like to that which we now wear; and by that wonderful act of condescension put an honour upon the very outward form of humanity, which leads us to believe, that it will be carried forward to that more elevated state of being for which his mysterious incarnation was designed to prepare the human race. After he returned from the mansions of the dead, his external appearance was unchanged; and although his body undoubtedly underwent a complete transformation when he ascended to the upper world, it still retains, amid all the splendours which invest it,

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the visible form which it exhibited while he dwelt upon earth. To be convinced that such is the case, we have but to read the description of his appearance which the apostle John gives in the first chapter of the book of the Revelation :— I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And, being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the breasts with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword; and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength." There are as many particulars enumerated in this description as to enable any one to perceive, at once, that the external form of the Saviour's glorified humanity, as it is now displayed on the throne of the universe, is not materially, if at all, different from what it was previous to the change which was effected upon it.

This fact appears to me greatly to strengthen the supposition; because it is expressly intimated, that the future bodies of the righteous are to exhibit a conformation similar to his; that his, indeed, is the pattern according to which they are to be fashion

ed:"As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly."

For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." Now, if the material structure, which the divine Redeemer has carried with him to the right hand of the Majesty on high, resemble, in its exterior conformation, the animal economy in which he suffered and his appearance on the isle of Patmos indicated that it does so-some will be disposed, perhaps, to consider the affirmation as something more than mere conjecture, that the mould in which the human frame was originally cast, will be used again on the morning of the resurrection; and that the materials of the present organization, which will be collected at the great day by Omnipotence, shall assume an external conformation similar to that of the corruptible bodies which we now wear.

CHAPTER IV.

ON THE FUTURE ABODE OF THE RIGHTEOUS.

ALTHOUGH the scriptures contained no information whatever upon the subject, we might consider it as probable, if not almost certain, that human nature, after it is renovated and freed from all its imperfections, both corporeal and spiritual, shall have some particular locality assigned to it as a habitation; some material world where its powers will be exercised, and where the ultimate purposes of Heaven respecting it will be gradually unfolded. The future body, although different in many important particulars from the animal frame which forms a part of our nature in this world, will nevertheless be a material structure, and must of necessity have a material dwelling-place. The sphere on which its capabilities shall be developed, will possess solidity and extension as really as does the globe on which we tread; and may, for aught we know to the contrary, exhibit objects and scenery, bearing no faint resemblance to those which we now behold. But whatever may be the nature of the objects, or the appearance of the scenery which may diversify the different parts of its surface, it will be a piece of materialism; and will be

the theatre of a higher and more glorious economy than any of those which have yet been connected with the history of our race.

To suppose, as some seem inclined to do, that redeemed men in the next stage of their existence, will be suspended in the sky, and permitted to float for ever in the aerial regions, without having some substratum on which to rest, some fixed locality, or permanent abode suited to their nature assigned to them, is absurd in the extreme, and utterly at variance with the revelations of scripture respecting the nature of their engagements and their pursuits. We read of "the land that is very far off"-" the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world"—" a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God"-and of " new heavens and a new earth." Materialism-if the phrase may be allowed-pervades all these declarations. Indeed, the very language in which they are clothed is inseparably connected with the most substantial forms of matter; and the use of it leads us at once to conclude, that the place to which they relate, resembles, at least in its primary qualities, the solid frame-work of our earthly habitation. With respect to its secondary qualities, we can speak with less certainty; but it will, beyond doubt, be in every way worthy of God, and fitted to yield the highest gratification to its inhabitants.

The apostle John, who, with a prophetic eye, beheld a representation of the future abodes of the righteous, thus describes it :-" And I saw a new

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