RESURRECTION PLANT RETZSCH. 



359 



these misfortunes? The question hardly deserves an 

 answer. Experience in the present world makes it 

 plain that all such things are mere accidents, in no 

 case and in no degree affecting the substance of things. 

 The human body may undergo the most serious 

 changes either for the better or the worse without at 

 all affecting the conscious identity of the person. And 

 it is fair to conclude that the same fact will hold good 

 in the future life. The body, the apostle says, is to 

 be raised in glory, which must at least mean that 

 whatever in the way of defect or deformity would tend 

 to unfit it for the activities and enjoyments of the 

 heavenly state will be left behind, and all its orpins 

 and members be exalted to the highest pitch of excel- 

 lence. Yet the difference, great as it may be between 

 the old and the new, the earthly and the heavenly, the 

 natural anil the spiritual, will not at all affect the fact 

 that it is the same body and belongs to the same person, 

 any more than the difference between the small acorn 

 that is planted and the stately ami widespreading oak 

 into which it grows interferes with the identity of their 

 existence. 



The embarrassment which many feel on this point 

 arises from confusion of thought. They assu-u-i that 

 the same law holds in regard to living organized beings 

 and to inanimate substances. The identity of a stone 

 lies in the identity of the particles of which it is 

 composed. Take away any considerable portion of 

 those particles or substitute others in their place, and 

 it is no longer the same stone in any proper MOM, 

 But this is not the case with a plant or a human 

 body, as all observation shows. In them we neither 

 seek nor find any numerical sameness of the constituent 

 atoms. These may differ from time to time in number, 

 in condition, in quality, but they agree in their mutual 

 relations, and in their association with one central, 

 formative prinsiple. This constitutes the special indi- 

 viduality of any particular plant or animal. And no 

 one has any doubt of its identity in any or all stages of 

 its existence. The same consideration applies to the 

 resurrection body. Of whatever sort itd constituent 

 particles may be, or whencesoever they are derived, 

 they stand in intimate vital union with the same for- 

 mative principle, and so constitute one and the same 

 in lividunl being. The new body thus constructed is a 

 fas-simile of the old one. It has the same characteristic 

 expression. It is recognized by its possessor, and it is 

 capable of recognition by all who knew him on the 

 earth. Every man has his personal character pecu- 

 liarities of mind and heart which distinguish him from 

 every other man, and this character is more or less 

 clearly revealed by the form, the features, the air, the 

 carriage of his body. There seems no reason to doubt 

 that this will continue in the life to come, and that the 

 revelation of the outw.ir I by the inw ard will be more 

 exact and informing in heaven than it has been or can 

 be here on earth. It was a sight of surpassing splendor 

 that John saw in Patmos when the glorified Saviour 

 stood before him with a face shining like the sun, eyes 

 like aflame of fire, and feet like unto brass burning in 

 a furnace, but still the apostle recognized the form as 

 that of the Son of man. Although thus transfigured, 

 it w is still the same Jesus who was born at Bethlehem 

 and died on Calvary. Herein the .Master is the pattern 

 of the disciple, for it is written that he "shall fiahioo 

 anew the body of our humiliation that it may be con- 

 formed to the body of his glory. ' ' "As we have borne 

 the image of the earthy we shall also bear the image 

 of the heavenly." 



The sum of what has been said may be stated in the 

 following particulars : 



1. The resurrection of the dead is a doctrine of rev- 

 elation, and as such is neither affirmed nor denied by 

 physical science. 2. Properly understood it involves 

 nothing that is unreasonable or fanciful. 3. It is of 

 very great moment in connection with the remedial 

 system. 4 It means that redemption is not merely 

 pardon, or deliverance from spiritual suffering, but 



takes in the whole man, the body as well^Rie soul. 

 5. It is a constituent part of the great consummation 

 when Christ comes to wiud up the present system of 

 things. 6. It meets a deep-seated longing of our 

 nature. 7. It does justice to the dual constitution of 

 man as composed of both material and immaterial ele- 

 ments. 8. It lays a basis for the future recognition of 

 those whom we have known and loved in the present 

 life. 9. To the bereaved it dissipates the dark shadows 

 that hangover the grave. 10. It makes more lively 

 and satisfying the conceptions we are authorized to 

 cherish concerning the eternal blessedness of the re- 

 deemed. 



The literature of the subject will be found in the Appendix 

 to W. R. A Iyer's Doctrine of the Future Life, by the lute Ezra 

 Al>bot. Tins bibliography, wliich has also been issued 

 separately, is wonderfully copious and accurate, mid leaves 

 nothing to desire. (T. w. c.) 



RESURRECTION PLANT. This name is given 

 to certain plants possessed of peculiar habits which 

 seem equivalent to a return from death to life. The 

 principal of these is Anastatica IHerochiintinn, called 

 fancifully the Rose of Jericho, a plant of the mustard 

 family which is found in Northern Africa, Syria, and 

 Arabia. It is an annual, with very short stems and 

 branches radiating from its summit to the length of 

 several inches. In the period of dry weather which 

 follows the flowering season the branches curl inward, 

 till the plant looks like a curious ball of wicker work, 

 at the top of the short stem. The root now decays, 

 and the plant, torn up by the winds ; is carried long 

 distances over the level country. If it reaches water, 

 or is lodged where rains can fall upon it, the moi.stuml 

 branches unfold and expand, and the pods open and 

 disperse their seeds, the whole arrangement being one 

 of nature's methods for the wide dispersion of seeds. 

 The phenomena of curling and uncurling may be in- 

 definitely repeated by successively drying and moiatur- 

 ing the plant : hence its common name. 



Closed. 



Eesurrection Plant, Open. 



Another plant of similar property is the SdafftruSa 

 ]fpidfrpJmUa, a cryptogamons plant allied to the 

 Lycopodiums, or club mosses. It is found in the 

 arid districts of Southern California and New Mexico. 

 and consists of a tuft of flattened branching stems, of 

 fern-like aspect, which are found clinging to rock 

 xevices, the stems curled into a nest-like ball. In the 

 rainy season they uncurl, and the plants appear as beau- 

 tiful rosettes of brilliant green. When quite dead they 

 will still expand if moistened, and they arc frequently 

 sold under the name of resurrection plant. (c. M.) 



RKTZSCIT, MOIUTZ (1779-1857), a German artist, 

 was born at Dresden, Dec. 9, 1779. He studied art at 

 the academy there, and devoted himself to paintinp 

 mythological subjects and illustrating the works of the 

 great poets His outline etchings of Goethe appeared 

 Brst in 1HI2 and an enlarged edition in 1834. In 

 1816 he became a member of the Dresden Academy, 

 and in 1824 he was made professor there. In _ 1828 

 he commenced a series of illustrations of Schiller's 



