body of which it had no possible connection of any importance.25

In conclusion, it may still be asked, whether the scriptures do not speak of the resurrection as an instantaneous work, to be effected solely by the power of God? If they do convey this idea, when properly interpreted, then the general theory I have advanced must be given up. The revealed word, if clearly understood, must of course be final authority in the case. I know of no passage, however, of this kind. I have already shown that many scriptures seem necessarily to imply the moral process I have maintained; and I do not think these would force us to adopt a sentiment that other passages especially contradict. I can call to mind but one even, having an immediate bearing upon this point, that would seem to need an explanation. It occurs in 1. Cor. xv. 52. "We shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump," &c. I have no hesitation in admitting that these words do appear, at first sight, contradictory to the theory I have suggested; still I think it is possible, nay, even probable that their true import has been mistaken. The apostle, in this chapter, had evidently in contemplation the period of the final winding up of the present order of things. Many would be living at that time on the earth. What could be done with them? "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." "Would they also die like those who have gone before them? How would they become divested of flesh and blood?" "This problem the writer now proceeds to solve. As he had just intimated the im possibility of entering on the future life with the present body, he here advances to the explanation of a mystery, that is, the disclosure of a secret, the purport of which was, that those who should be alive at that day would undergo

25 If the reader will turn to the first article in the Quarterly, for April, 1847, he will find several points I have suggested here, treated in a most profound and lucid manner. The propriety and necessity of analogical reasoning, on topics of this kind, is most convincingly argued; and especially is it shown with a discrimination and force seldom equalled, that no change of the moral and spiritual character of man, can possibly be anticipated, that is not gradual in its progress and the result of our own, no less than the divine agency.

a change that should fit them, as well as the dead, for entering into the kingdom of God." "We shall not all sleep (i. e. die,) but we shall be changed (i. e. all who are then living) in a moment.” "This he calls the showing of a mystery;' by which is meant simply, according to scriptural usage, the explanation of an Old Testament type, symbol, or emblem. The allusion is probably to the translation of Enoch and Elijah, which the apostle would represent as a mystical foreshadowing of the fact of a similar change to he wrought on a large scale on those who should still be living" at the final winding up of all earthly affairs. This momentary change then, that was to be as sudden as "the twinkling of an eye," was by no means the anastasis, but merely the fitting of those then alive for this process by a change equivalent to death. Then mortal existence would be finished. All souls alike would have passed from the earth, and the great moral process of ruising them would follow in accordance with our foregoing representations. This interpetation, to my mind, seems more rational than any other. It appears to harmonize far better with the general tenor of the New Testament upon this subject, and is consonant with the teachings of sound philosophy.

I have not the vanity to suppose that my views upon this topic are perfect. Doubtless, like all others, they are liable to objections. I trust, however, that no one will reject them merely because they are not generally received. They are not necessarily untrue on this account, though it should subject them to a fair and full examination. I have designed to be modest in their assertions, for I have so often had notions that I thought were firmly established, swept away in the light of further investigation that I begin to consider dogmatisin as rather premature.

Little more than one thing seems certain, and that is, we are, here, enveloped in a world of mystery, and can do no better perhaps, than gratefully to accept what little light we can gather, and wait patiently the promised period when we shall see as we are seen, and know as we are known.

26 Anastasis, Page 189, 190.

M. B.

ART. XVIII.

The Elements and Results of the Social Revolution now in progress through our world.

That a new and better age is opening upon our world, is coming to be the belief of all thoughtful minds, of all who have carefully noted the signs of the times. We are slowly sweeping forth out of the shadows into the glory of a day brighter than has ever yet dawned upon the earth. Confessedly there is something nobler and more worthful for our race in the future, than past or present have revealed unto us. The evils, physical, social, moral, political, which have so long darkened our life, and hedged in the path of progress, are not in the nature of things. Ignorance, want, suffering, selfishness, dissension and conflict are not the hard necessities of our being. There is something above and beyond these, yet in store, for us.

If the prophecies of divine men; if the teachings of religion; if the instincts of our nature, and the moments of half-inspiration which come to us all, when we seem to catch faint glimpses of a far off splendor - if these do not all deceive us, there is surely before us an era of light and love, such as the poet saw and sung when

when

"Love took up the glass of Time,
And turned it in his glowing hands,

And ev'ry monent, lightly shaken,
Ran itself in golden sands."

"Love took up: he harp of Life,

And smote on all its chords with might;
Smote the chord of self, that, trembling,
Passed in music out of sight."

As I have said, the world seems conscious of this approaching era. All men feel that one of those great changes is opening upon us, whose results are wrought out

in a gradual reconstruction of the social world, and the establishment of a new order of things, a new order of thoughts and principles, and individual and general aims. Such a change has already begun; and slowly passing over the face of the earth, it is destined to restore it again to its primeval beauty. It is destined to do more for our race than the wildest dreams of the enthusiast have ever promised. It is my purpose to ask attention to a brief investigation of the elements and results of this social revolution, now so manifestly in progress, and every day gathering greater and greater strength and importance.

1. The first element in this regenerating movement, is the quantity and quality of Thought in the world.

There never has been a period in the history of mankind which has presented a more general mental activity than the present; never a time when there was so much thinking, and thinking of the right kind. Hitherto the means, and almost the right of thought, have been denied the masses. Johnson says of the men of little more than a century ago, that such as did not profess learning," were not ashamed of ignorance; and in the female world, any acquaintance with books was only distinguished to be censured." And a recent writer says, that "books, pictures, and statues, were prohibited, as calculated to mislead the multitude, and withdraw them from their prescribed province-so full of alarm were the privileged classes at the mere idea of educating the poor." And were it not so, the millions, who have always been at close struggle with hunger and cold and nakedness, could have had no time for thought of any thing beyond the narrow circle of their own physical wants. Of necessity, therefore, the masses have had no time, no means of thought. From age to age they have gone to their unloved tasks, silent and dogged; and at nightfall, have hurried, weary as an overworked beast, totheir straw pallets, and gotten such rest as might come to them.

But the last half century has, brought about a great change in this respect, and has prepared the way for a still greater one. The diffusion of education among the people; the rapid increase of publications of all sorts, books, pamphlets, newspapers, reviews and tracts on every subject, and at a price which throws them into the hands of

the multitudes who have until now hungered in vain for mental food; the immense increase of the facilities of intercommunication among men and nations; the magnificent steamers that have brought Europe and Asia, and Europe and America so close that we can alinost stretch out our hands and grasp those of our brothers across the waters; the railroad, the magnetic telegraph, the system of cheap postage - all these are like so many electric conductors of thought; the nerves that convey impressions to the cominon brain, and life to the common heart.

Everywhere, among the humblest and poorest, the leaven of thought is at work; and light is entering in to guide and bless, to instruct and elevate. The people are beginning to interpret the oft repeated saying, that Knowledge is Power;" and to see that only through its agency, can they hope to rise up to the destiny which is shadowed forth as their God-given heritage in the burning pages of inspiration. They have learned the value and the blessedness of it, and seen how even toil and suffering may be beautified through its ministries. They are beginning to feel the pulse of a new and higher life. The soul within them expands daily beneath the sunshine of a large acquaintance with God, with man and nature. They are beginning to understand more fully the relations existing between themselves and those who have controlled their destinies; to see more clearly the great and momentous truth of human brotherhood, and equal rights; and that though "the world was made for Cæsar, it was made for Titus too." They are beginning to believe that this is God's earth; and that, some way or other, all his children, even the poorest and weakest, have a right to so much of its soil and water and air, as shall sustain life under such circumstances as to unfold and develope the attributes and faculties of the whole man, physical, religious, social, and intellectual.

All this is getting to be understood now in the outset; and with a fearless courage, and a patience and perseverance nothing can overcome, the people are investigating, studying and looking into the very heart of things. Nothing is taken on trust; nothing is believed now because it has been believed. Nothing that is not just and right and needful, is tolerated because it may wear the hoary rime