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By
Julius Eckman
I.
If the idea of the Resurrection of the human body
from death to life, is not contrary to either the
explicit or implied word of God, but if,
on the contrary, it owes its foundation to both;—
II. If this belief does not militate against ideas
which we have of God, but if, as we shall show, it
is in consonance with our ideas of His attributes of
benevolence, justice, and omnipotence;—
III. If our observation of the established laws of
nature does not only not weaken this our belief, but
if, on the contrary, certain formations and
transformations in nature,—if certain analogies in
the vegetable as well as in the animal world,
confirm us in such a belief;—
IV. If this idea, independently of the evidences of
Scripture, <<149>> independently of its admissibility
on the ground of the attributes of God;
independently of the analogies in nature, receives
additional assent from reason;—
V.
And lastly, if our belief in a Resurrection does not
weaken our reverence towards the Deity, our respect
to ourselves, and our attachment to our
fellow-beings; but if, on the contrary it cultivates
feelings of awe and reverence, of piety and
gratitude towards our Creator; if it renders us more
happy in life, and in the awful hour of death; if it
is calculated to render us more moral in our dealing
towards our neighbour;—it will be the duty of every
good man to encourage this belief, and of the
sceptic and infidel to allow their doubt to prey on
their own minds—and leave others to enjoy
their own opinions.
As
long as mankind have not reached anything like the
summit of virtue, humanity, and charity—and who dare
pretend that we have?—as long as we lack so much of
practical moral and religious virtues: the
virtuous, humane, and charitable man will not
confuse the mind, and disturb the harmony of pious
believers, by abstract queries, by dogmatical
questions; but will allow such questions to rest on
their own evidence; and surely they thus rest
firmly enough; but he will use his utmost
efforts, by word and by deed, in theory and in
practice, by instruction and example, to animate and
to rouse man to practical religion, to
beneficent actions. He is the best man, who
acts best. “The actions of the
righteous lead to life; but the production of the
wicked is—sin.” Prov. x. 16.
But unto those uncalled-for disturbers, and those
unhallowed teachers and preachers in every sphere of
knowledge, religious and secular, of philosophy and
divinity, who do but teach what we may omit, without
showing us what we have to commit; who do but show
us death, but can inspire no life,—of
such the prophet says:
“I
have not sent those prophets, and they came running;
I did not speak unto them, and yet they
prophesied. If they have stood in my counsel,
let them proclaim unto my people my words, that they
might bring them back from their evil ways, and from
their iniquitous actions. (Jerem. xxiii. 21, 22.)
“The faithful messenger proclaimeth healing,” says
Solomon.
Now, my dear <<150>> brethren of the House of
Israel, allow a friend, who thinks that all tenets,
observances, and institutions among ourselves and
without us, as far as they do not militate against
any truth, and may lead to advance moral and
religious feelings among mankind, ought to be
respected and considered sacred; (for everything is
sacred that has been or is the means
of reminding man of his duties to God and his
creatures, and we must not lay sacrilegious hands
on what was or is sacred to man, in order to defend
one of our own tenets, when the other is embraced by
millions of men and considered by them true and
holy,) allow him to lay before you, in a plain and
popular style, some of the grounds on which we have
to believe in a future resurrection of the body,
when it will be reunited with the soul as it was
before their separation by the violent hand of
death; when it will exist in a purer and sublimer
nature, when it will be no more subject to frail
physical and moral corruption, but will be restored
to its pristine purity, as was that of Adam* before
the doom was pronounced, “Dust thou art, and to dust
shalt thou return,” when the earth will again be
redeemed from the awful
ארורה “Cursed be she
for thy sake,” and when we shall be free from all
noxious influences from within and without.
This belief has been maintained for ages immemorial;
it is received in all our liturgies, without
exception; and he who does not believe it, dare
never use the sections in which this belief is
expressed; for this would be an affront to the
majesty of Heaven, and an act of gross profanation.
Hence the importance of the examination; and as we
firmly believe that such hopes are held forth, 1st,
in Sacred Writ; 2dly that they are in accordance
with the ideas of the benevolence, justice, and
omnipotence of God; 3dly, that we are encouraged in
our hopes by analogies in nature; 4thly, and
supported by reason; and 5thly, that this tends to
inspire feelings of gratitude to God, and
consolation to ourselves: we think it a sacred duty
to use our humble efforts to lay before the House of
Israel the following considerations.
<<151>>
The belief in the resurrection as founded on
I.
The Word of God.
It
is known that the sacred book is given to us,
chiefly for practice. It therefore nowhere says:
“This thou shalt believe,” but “Thus thou shalt
act.” It is for this reason that we find so little
mention made about the essence of God, about the
human soul, about immortality, &c.,* yet there are
sufficient incidental expressions about all these
sublime ideas to show them to us, as through a veil,
and he who has understanding will comprehend. The
same is the case with regard to the hopes held forth
in the sacred writings about the resurrection.
This belief is a matter of pure revelation;† it can
only be effected by the miraculous interposition of
the Almighty, blessed be He. Reason would perhaps
never have suggested it. It therefore has always
been bitterly opposed by pagans,‡ with the
exception of those whose origin extends to the
remotest antiquity, who, perhaps, received it by
tradition.§ But we, who believe in a revelation and
in miracles, can find no difficulty in admitting the
miracle of a second formation of man by the Divine
creative <<152>> power, as we, of necessity, must
reasonably admit the first; and we shall show
hereafter, that it will be even less miraculous. Now
had we no scriptural grounds at all, we might have
considered it a matter of speculation, with all the
extraneous evidence of its reasonableness. But, as
there are many passages in Scripture which we cannot
explain figuratively without meeting even with
more difficulties than by admitting them to have a
literal meaning, we ought candidly to examine them,
and if they should not be able to confirm
everything, they ought, at all events, to prevent us
from judging harshly. The subject is sacred, and
ought to be treated with proper deference and
reverence, and not haughtily, not to say,
sneeringly.
As
we cannot adduce all the passages containing implied
and explicit reference to our subject, we shall
confine ourselves to a few, which, combined with
other arguments that we shall produce, cannot but
make an impression on every unbiased mind, or on
those in whom the Light of God is not yet
totally extinguished. In the last solemn address of
Moses to his people, in which his divine spirit
foresaw and foretold events, which only the Almighty
could have revealed to the man of his choice, he
says,
“I
doom to death, and I cause to revive, I wound and I
heal,” Deut. xxxii. 39. If taken literally, the
parallelism is not correct. After wounding follows
healing; but how is it, that revival or causing to
live again follows after committing to death? The
parallelism wins strength and correctness, if we
take it as a “hint,” I kill, but I shall revive; I
wound (by death), but I shall heal.
Whoever has in any way penetrated into the spirit of
the sacred authors of the Word of God, knows that
such hints are of considerably deeper import than
broad expressions. Having premised this, I will be
more brief on similar passages.
“I
know that my Redeemer is living, and that at the
last he will rise (in judgment) against dust (man),
and after my skin is mangled thus, yet even from my
flesh shall I see God,—whom I shall see for me (in
my favour), and my eyes shall behold him, and not a
stranger,* though my reins be consumed in me.” Job
xix. 25-27.
<<158>>
From the text, as well as from the solemn and
impressive manner in which these words are
introduced, we cannot, well suppose that he speaks
here of a temporal deliverance, the hope of which we
see from several passages before. this, had totally
left him; see chap. vi. 11 vii. 7, 8; x. 20; xvi.
22, and xix. 10, 11.
3.
“As to me, I shall behold thy face in
righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake
in thy likeness,” (or image in which Adam was
created). Psalm xvii. 15. This passage teaches
surely a resurrection; חזה,
to behold, is applied to prophetic visions,
referring thus to the higher enjoyment of the souls
of the righteous: “to awaken in the image of God,”
is again a reference to the primeval state of man,
when created בצלם אלקים.
4.
“Like sheep are they laid into the grave; he (death)
feedeth on them (the wicked);* but the righteous
shall rule over them on that morning.” Here
is the definite article of great stress; “that
morning,” the day of the resurrection, is called
שחר, morning;† for
their Tzurah!‡ is (destined) to swallow
(overcome) the Sheol (abode of death), which is no
habitation for them (for the righteous). Psalm xlix.
14.
5.
“Therefore my heart (mind) is glad; and my§ glory (honour
or soul, in David’s, Solomon’s, and others’
writings) rejoiceth. For thou wilt not leave my soul
in the Sheol (abode of the dead, Hades), neither
wilt thou suffer thy pious one to see Shachath,||
Thou wilt make known unto me the path of life,”**
Ibid. xvii.
<<154>>
6. 1 Sam. ii. 6 : “The Lord consigns to death, and
reviveth again; He causeth to descend into the Sheol,
and he will bring up.” My dear sisters, Christian or
Jewish! this hymn is sung by one of your sex; it was
a pious mother who composed it on presenting her
only dear, long longed-for infant to God. Read this
over and over—contemplate; it is prophetic; mind the
expressions, “He causes to descend low (into the
grave), but he will also exalt.” In verse 8, dust,
dunghill; in verse 4, the bow of the mighty; verse
5, they who are satisfied, and the hungry; verse 9,
and the wicked shall be silent in darkness,
דום, Sanscrit,
Tama, spirit of darkness; δαιμον, demon, doom, dumb.
Verse 10. “As to the Lord, those who contend against
him shall be utterly broken to pieces; from heaven,
he will thunder upon them : he will give strength
unto his King, and exalt the power of his Anointed.”
(To be continued.) |
