Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/205

Rh distant day, be re-united with its cast-off material body, and thereby reach its perfected state, regain its human form and attain a substantial existence.

And this resuscitation of the material body, or its re-union with the soul, is what Christians of that day understood by the Resurrection which the Bible speaks of. It was a purely materialistic doctrine, but in complete harmony with the sensuous philosophy and carnal conceptions prevalent at that period. And although this doctrine is still to be found in the creeds, and is often taught from the pulpit and in religious books, it is beginning to be rejected by the more thoughtful and intelligent classes in nearly all the denominations. It is openly denied by not a few religious journals and teaching ministers of the "evangelical" school. To one who allows himself to think or reason at all on the subject, this old doctrine of the resurrection cannot but seem most unreasonable, and wholly inconsistent with all that is known of the laws of divine order, as well as with all that is suggested by the analogies of the material universe. There is nothing throughout the domains of nature, that bears the slightest resemblance to it. The crawling worm passes through successive states in the progress of its development, and finally emerges from its chrysalis, a beautiful butterfly, sporting among flowers and buoyant as