COMPOSITION OF THE MILLENNIAL

POPULATION OF THE EARTH.

SECOND

CONFERENCE.

"God hath made of one blood, all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth."

"The earth hath he given to the children of men."

Our INQUIRER began the present Conference by observing, that, he had from his first acquaintance with the subject, been particularly struck with the mixed and incongruous character of the millennial and post-millennial populations of the earth; and, in regard to the former, thought it exceedingly improbable that saints in spiritual bodies, and saints in animal bodies should subsist and mingle together; or at least, be brought in some undefined, and, perhaps, undefinable manner, into juxta-position with each other; and with similar feelings of surprise, as to this point, his mind now naturally recurred to the following verses, in the fifteenth chapter of St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians:

"As is the earthy, such are they also that are

earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption."

Now (continued our Inquirer) as it appears from this passage, that the spiritual body is adapted to heaven,* and the natural, or animal body is adapted to the earth, it is exceedingly improbable, that the saints in spiritual bodies and the saints in natural bodies will ever unite together in social intercourse, or inhabit a common region; that, as corruption doth not inherit incorruption, so neither is it probable that incorruption will inherit corruption. He thought also, that the language of the Apostle warranted the inference, that from the spiritual body is excluded whatever is peculiar to the mere animal organization of the human body, as being obstructive to the free action of the immortal spirit, and movements of the spiritual body itself; and that whatever may be found in it that partakes of

*As our Lord's body and the bodies of Enoch and Elijah, if not also that of Moses, are already glorified, our Inquirer uses the present tense.

the animal body, is only what comes strictly under the designation of "essential conditions of the combination of mind with matter,"-and, consequently, that it is very unlikely the personal intercourse, to which he had adverted, should ever take place.

Our INQUIRER also further observed, that as sound depends on vibrations of the air, and the capacity of the ear to receive and propagate the corresponding impulses, and articulate intelligible sounds, as to man, (beside the just-mentioned causes) on the structure of the mouth and parts adjacent, it appeared to him very improbable, that the spiritual body should be endowed with such a material organization as would fit it for being the medium of intelligent intercourse on the earth, with mankind as at present constituted.

His MILLENNARIAN FRIEND then said, that the principal passages in the Old Testament usually supposed to refer to the resurrection of the dead, appeared to him, on the point in question, to favour the views of the Millennarians rather than the opinions ordinarily entertained on the subject. He then quoted the following passages of Scripture:

"For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me." Job. xix. 25--27.

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Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." Isa. xxvi. 19.

"And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Dan. xii. 2.

Our INQUIRER said, admitting all the passages now quoted by his Millennarian Friend, to have reference to the present subject (that in the prophecy of Isaiah is, to say the least, doubtful) it should be remembered, that the doctrines of a resurrection and a future state, were under the ancient dispensations very dimly revealed. Life and Immortality were brought to light by the Gospel. Christianity invested them with an efful

gence which they did not previously possess. All that was revealed to Job, touching the first-mentioned doctrine, appears to have been the resurrection of the body, and his language is strictly conformable to that expectation. He seems not to have been aware of the interesting transformation revealed to St. Paul, viz. that, although his body would be sown a natural body, it would be raised a spiritual body. It is, however, highly probable, that the words "Yet in my flesh shall I see God," were designed to mark the identity of the body which would be raised, with that which he then possessed; as those which follow do the identity of the future animating mind or spirit, with that which then dwelt in it.

As to the passage in Daniel, our Inquirer said, he thought the language of the original by no means limits the resurrection to a part of the human race. The word "many" or "multitude" may be used concerning the whole human race in reference to the resurrection in the same manner as the phrase, "the many is used by St. Paul to indicate the whole of the same race as having become sinners by virtue of their federal connection with Adam, as their original and sinning progenitor. Inasmuch, however, as the resurrection, to which the passage refers, embraces the two