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    The next direct proof of his change into a state of invisibility was presented to the two disciples , with whom he joined company in their way from Jerusalem to Ernmaus $ from whose sight at supper , after an interesting intercourse for a considerable time ,

    he disappeared . 3 . The same evening ** the doors being shut , " he was found standing in the midst of the apostles , after such an inexplicable manner , that though they were previously convinced that he was alive , they now imagined that they saw

    only the spirit or apparition of a dead man . 4 . He again appeared to them in precisely the same manner seven days afterwards , Thomas being present , and afforded him exactly those proofs of the reality of his

    person , which he had required in his apparent absence . 5 . It is evident tkat he was not usually visible to his disciples during the interval between his resurrection and ascension , but that he occasionally resumed his

    former corporeal state , for the purpose of mxiriifesting himself to them . To these occasional appearances the apostles constantly appealed as the evidences that he was really risen , and their narratives uniformly imply that though he was occasionally , he was

    not | utiiformly nor generally present in a visible form . Yet his appearing at the most suitable junctures , and discovering an acquaintance with what passed in his apparent absence , proved that he must have been invisibly or mentally present . 6 . His ascension

    may justly be considered as a gradual representation of the change from this mortal state to a state of immortality ; his body which had just been represented to his disciples , in its usual

    state previous to his resurrection , diminishing in specific gravity as it ascended , till at length , probably both from its height and its tenuity , it disappeared from their view . 7 . From this time forward he has remained in

    a state of invisibility , with only two recorded exceptions ; viz . his appearance to Stephen to encourage this first Christian martyr in his dying moments , and to Saul in effecting his conversion to the Christian faith . S .

    That there was a very great change effected in the body of Christ at his resurrection , from a corruptible to an incorruptible , from an animal to a spiritual state , as there will be of all

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    his disciples , is the express doctrine of the Apostle Paul . ( See Cor . xv , 31—53 , particularly verses 42 , 44 and 50 . ) Now the change from a dead , animal , corruptible body , to a living , spiritual , incorruptible one , being far greater and more inconceivable than any changes which can happen to material bodies in the course of

    nature , it is evident that the sameness of the renewed being could not depend on any sameness of materials in the composition of his body . It must depend wholly on the restoration of life and consciousness by that power from which all created existence

    originates . If therefore from the dead body of Jesus , an invisible , immortal person was produced , possessing the essentials of the same intelligent being who had previously lived in the common state of humanity ; we may

    safely confide in his assurance that our race in general will be restored to life in like manner , by the same power alone , after that the materials of which our present bodies are composed have been wholly dissipated and lost . The bodies of mankind in

    general are rendered invisible by the gradual dispersion of their particles ; and we may conceive of the possibility of the same identical particles being collected together , so as to form a body composed of the very same materials . But how the material

    body could be suddenly rendered wholly invisible , and at the same timje , the same life and consciousness imparted , which before were so intimately united with that body , are two most extraordinary facets of which we can find no analogy in nature . They are presented to us in evidence and illustration

    only of one of these events as applicable to our race in general ; viz . that after their material bodies have been lost by a process with which we are well acquainted , renewed life and consciousness shall be in like manner imparted . In proportion therefore as we are satisfied , that a man like

    ourselves is now existing in a state so entirely different from this in which we remain , as an ^ earnest of our common destination , we may regard it not only as a direct proof but a case in point strikingly illustrative of that event .

    It is true , indeed , that according to the received ideas , concerning matter and spirit , those things must ap-

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    140 Difficulties on the Subject of the Resurrection .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1816, page 140, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2450/page/12/