tory, where we will find a complete correspondence between the appearance and functions of the spiritual bodies of angels and the spiritual body of the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. The spiritual body is a body possessing flesh and bones, capable of being seen, heard, and handled, and of assimilating both animal and vegetable food.

Such, in the first place, was Christ's spiritual body, as appears from the following passage, to which allusion has already been made in a previous chapter:-" Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honey-comb. And he took it, and did eat before them" (Luke xxiv. 39-43).

The appeal which Christ made to their bodily senses, and especially to their seeing Him eat before them, gives a validity to the testimony of the senses in all other cases where there is a doubt regarding the materiality of the bodies of angels, more especially if it be accompanied with the observation of the person eating. Two instances, therefore, those of the three angels in Mamre, and the two angels in Sodom, eating the flesh of the kid with the unleavened bread, &c.,-form a complete counterpart to this passage in the life of Christ after His resurrection.

It will be observed that our Lord asserts the fact that His body had really flesh and bones, as its appearance indicated. He does not say blood also; but it is perhaps refining too much to suppose that the blood was not there. Paul, indeed, says that flesh and blood cannot

inherit the kingdom of God; but when placed alongside of our Lord's assertion, that He had flesh and bones, we are forced to the conclusion that Paul meant not the flesh and blood of the spiritual body, but the flesh and blood of the mortal body, because he adds, "neither doth corruption inherit incorruption " (1 Cor. xv. 50).

2. The spiritual body is possessed of the power of rising from the ground in opposition to the force of gravitation, of existing in regions where there is little or no atmosphere, and passing with great rapidity from one star to another.

In regard to our Lord's resurrection body, we find this faculty exhibited at the time of his ascension from the Mount of Olives:

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So then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God (Mark xvi. 19).

And he led them out as far as to Bethany; and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven (Luke xxiv. 50, 51).

9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

10 And, while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;

11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven (Acts i.).

That the resurrection bodies of the saints will be possessed of this power is proved not only by the general promise of their likeness to Christ, but by direct statement:

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess. iv. 17).

*

We are not to suppose, however, that this faculty of the spiritual body implies the absence of gravitation; *See Appendix H.

for without gravitation we should not be able to walk, stand, or sit-all of which both Christ and the angels were able to do. How this faculty will be possessed, we have no means of knowing: it is one peculiar to the spiritual body; and, until we know something by experiment or experience of its nature, we need not attempt to speculate on the subject further than to know that the fact is certain.

That the angels are possessed of this faculty is proved by the very circumstance of their visiting the earth and returning from it. The angel that appeared to Manoah and his wife ascended in the flame of the altar, nearly in the same manner as our Lord ascended from the Mount of Olives (Judg. xiii. 20); and Gabriel being commanded to fly swiftly, arrived at the time of the evening sacrifice, on the day set apart by Daniel for humiliation and prayer (Dan. ix. 21).

3. The spiritual body has the power of passing through solid substances, and appearing or disappearing at pleasure.

The three angels that appeared to Abraham in Mamre did not approach gradually from a distance, as two of them did that same evening to Lot, but suddenly stood by him as he sat in the tent door, at mid-day.

The angel that appeared to Gideon was first seen sitting under an oak, which was in Ophrah (Judg. vi. 11); but after the interview, he suddenly went out of his sight (ver. 21).

The angel Gabriel appeared to Zacharias as he was offering incense in the temple; his coming and his departure must have been unseen.

The angel that rescued Peter from prison must have

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passed through the walls or gates of the prison, in order to reach him (Acts xii. 7).

The spiritual body of Christ was possessed of the same power. A careful examination of the history will shew that the body of Christ came out from the sepulchre before the angel rolled away the stone. The angel descended from heaven and rolled away the stone to shew that He was risen, not to release him from captivity.

At Emmaus, after discovering Himself to them in the breaking of bread, it is said that he vanished out of their sight (Luke xxiv. 31). "The same day at evening also, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus, and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you" (John xx. 19). "And after eight days, again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you" (ver. 26).

Taking into consideration the manner in which these incidents are related, and the circumstances connected with them, we cannot suppose that these actions of our Lord's spiritual body were, strictly speaking, miraculous,they were natural, and characteristic of the body which he now possessed. True miracles are never wrought except for the purpose of proving something not previously revealed, and when the miracle has been wrought, the proof is so complete that no doubt can remain in any candid mind. If these extraordinary powers, now exhibited in Christ's spiritual body, were miraculous, they could prove nothing that was not known before. only thing to be proved at this time was the reality, the power, and the glory of the resurrection body. But so

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far from these wonders being calculated to prove the reality of His resurrection, they produced the very opposite impression, for the disciples imagined that they saw a spirit and not a material body. It was even necessary for him to draw their attention to the grosser qualities of matter, "Handle me and see," said He, "for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." This shews where their doubts really lay, and if any miracle had been needed to convince them, it would not be such miracles as coming through walls, and appearing and disappearing from their sight. He would, no doubt, desire that His disciples should have sensible evidence of the superior power and glory of the resurrection body, which they themselves were to possess, and no idea would have been conveyed by Paul's language, when he said that our bodies are to be fashioned like unto His glorious body, if the only natural acts of that body were nothing different from those of the bodies which they already possessed-eating, speaking, walking, and being handled. If our bodies, which are sown in weakness, are to be raised in power, what illustration would Christ's resurrection body give of that power, if their actions were not according to its ordinary and natural capabilities?

What a glorious prospect does this present of the future state of the blessed! The whole universe of creation is thrown open to us, and we are made capable of knowing and enjoying it, in the service and communion of our Father its Creator.