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2s6
ESSAY
TOP:
A.tD
THE
[SECT.
u.
the
ha,aads
pr
c
ìj'e
of
Christ,
Uecause
the
life
of
a saint
is
paid to
be
".bill
with
Christ
in,
Gód,;
".,L;of..iii.
8,
that
.he
might
restore
it
at
the
resurrection, 'and raise
him
to.
life
again.
it3ut,
I
think,
this
is
an
unnatural
force
put:
upon
these
words,
contrary
to
their
most
obvi.ozis
meaning,
if
we
consider the context
:
for
Stephen here had
.a
.vision
pf
the
son
of
man,
or
Christ Jesus,
"
standing
at
the
right hand of God,
and the glory
of God near
him
;"
see
verses 55, 56.
Whereupon
Stephen, being conscious
of
the
existence
of Christ
in
that
glorious
Mate,
desired,
that
he
would
,receive his
spirit, and
take
A
to
dwell with
him
in
his
Father's
house
:
not
to lie
end sleep
in heaven, for
there
is
no
night there, but
to
behold the glory
of
Christ,
according
to
the
many promises
.tlant
Christ
-had
made to
his
disciples, that
he
"'
would
go
and
prepare
a
place for
them
in his
Father's
house, and
that
they should be
with
him
there to
behold
his
glory
;"
John
xiv.
2.
and
xvii.
24.
which
I
shall
have occasion to speak
of
afterward.
/?
z.
viii.
r0,
11.
"
And
if
Christ
be
in
you,
the
body
is
dead
because
of
sin,
but
the spirit
is
life
because
of
righteousness
;"
that
is,
if
Christ
dwell in you,
by
the
sanctifying influences
of
his
spirit,
it
is
true indeed,
your
body
is
mortal,
and
must die, because
it
is
doomed
to
death, from the
fall
of
Adam, on
the
account of
sin,
and
because
sinful
principles
still dwell
in
this fleshly-body;
but
your
soul
or spirit
is life,
or,
as some copies
read in-
stead
of
i;wn,
your spirit
lives when
the
body
is
dead,
and
enjoys
a
life
of
happiness, because
of
the
righteous-
ness
imputed
to you
;
that
is,
your
justification
unto
life
:
Rom.
v,
17,
18,
21.
I
know
there
are
several
other
ways
of
construing the words
of
this verse
by
me-
taphors; but
the plain and most
natural
antithesis,
which
appears
here between
the
death
of
the body
of
a saint,
because
of
sin
or
guilt, and the
continuance
of
the spirit,
or
.soul,
in
a
life
of
peace,
because
of
justification, or
righteousness, and
that
even when
the
body
is
dead,
gives
'a pretty clear
proof;
that
this
is
the
sense
of
the
apostle.
This
is also
further
confirmed
by
the next
verse,
which
promises the
resurrection
of
the
dead
body in
due
time.
-"
If
the
Spirit
of
him,
that
raised up
Christ
from
the dead,
dwell
in
you-;
he
that
raised up Christ
from
the
dead,
that
is,
God
the Father,
shall
also quicken your
mortal;
bodies, by his
Spirit,
that
.dwellcth in you."
The