Mortal and Immortal Elements of the Human Body

MORTAL AND IMMORTAL ELEMENTS
OF THE HUMAN BODY

A PHILOSOPHICAL OBJECTION TO THE RESURRECTION, REMOVED

By Miss Eliza R. Snow

Woman's Exponent 2:99, December 1, 1873

The subject of the resurrection of the dead, although of inexpressible
interest to all of the human family, is very little understood by man in
the flesh, and will not be explained until he who holds the keys pertaining
to it for this dispensation, shall develop its principles.

Although we cannot penetrate the cloud of obscurity which envelops this
subject; knowing, as we do, that death is certain, it is natural that we
should inquire in the depths of our souls, What and where is our future?
Shall the spirit and body again be united? Who, that does not altogether
ignore the idea of a resurrection of the body, but experiences at times, a
bewilderment of thought concerning it?

Realizing that, in accordance with established laws of nature, the
substances which now compose these bodies of ours, will, after death,
become identified parts of innumerable other human bodies, also be
incorporated into the bodies of beasts, insects, fowls &c. and through them
bequeathed to others; the question naturally arises, "How can they be again
restored to us? And, if restored to us, from what source will the
deficiency be supplied to other bodies?"

This is a problem which neither the rules of science nor the wisdom of man,
unaided by revelation, can solve--a problem which infidelity very plausibly
applies as a settled refutation to the doctrine of the resurrection--one in
which the worldly wise philosopher finds a palpable inconsistency, and one
which in the face of sound reason amounts to the impossibility of a
reorganization of a human body: for what reflecting mind does not see that
the laws of nature which apply to the decomposition of the elements which
constitute the living body, preclude a possibility of the same material
being restored, at one and the same time, to all bodies of which it has
comprised component parts in millions of instances, at different times;
and, believing God to be a consistent Being, and acting in accordance with
eternal, unchanging laws, and admitting that these laws are harmonious--that
the higher operate in consonance with, and are never antagonistic to
those of a lower order, is it a matter of surprise that thinking people of
a highly intelligent class, in many instances, yield to infidelity and
adopt the humiliating conclusion that the resurrection is only a phantom of
the brain: while others, with little or no reflection, content themselves
by admitting that, "with God all things are possible," without questioning
in what manner, or by what means the result will be effected.

His communications to, and the dealings of God with man, so far as they are
made known to us, are characterized as those of an intelligent Being
conversing and dealing with intelligent beings of the same order, but in a
vastly lower state of development.

In His works, order is every where strikingly apparent, and we find law, or
rather codes of law regulating and governing, not only every department of
life, but also every grade and variety of matter. From the smallest speck
that glitters and dances in the bright sunshine, to the glowing galaxy
above us, representing system on system of worlds in the mighty distance,
order is everywhere manifest. Each department, whether of life or inanimate
matter, is governed by laws particularly adapted to the peculiarities of
its own identity, and in regular gradation from the smallest atom and the
most diminutive animalcule to the highest intelligences above; and all,
whether assigned to different localities or intermingling in countless
varieties--all operating in harmony, and not interfering with, or
trespassing on each other.

Just so far as those laws are developed to our understandings we pronounce
them natural principles; and what, with us constitutes a miracle, is
nothing more nor less than our ignorance of the process or law by which the
result is produced: for instance, when our Savior in Cana of Galilee,
changed water into wine, it is evident that he manufactured the wine
through the agency of chemical laws of a higher order than those taught in
the schools, hence the people were filled with astonishment, for to them,
the performance was a miracle, they probably being as ignorant of the laws
through which the result was obtained, as we now are concerning the
resurrection of the dead.

In relation to the objections urged against the reorganizing of the human
body, we are in possession of a very important and beautiful principle
which pours a flood of light into the mind--obviates a heretofore
insurmountable difficulty, and disarms infidelity of its strongest plea
against the resurrection, and puts impossibility to silence.

By this we are instructed that the resurrection of the body is independent
of all gross, divisible and transferable matter, and this removes every
rational objection against the reunion of body and spirit, based on the
incontrovertible laws of nature pertaining to the decomposition of the
body, and the subsequent transformations and reproductions of the material
of which it was composed. These are substances borrowed for this
probationary use--to subserve the necessities of this mortal existence--to
render us tangible to gross tangibility, and for which, after death, our
bodies will have no further use.

As soon as the spirit leaves the body, and frequently before, nature's
great work of decomposition commences, and continues till every particle of
gross, volatile matter is disengaged and natural laws of affinity passes
into other forms, combining with other substances through an affinitude of
changes; and co-operating in an endless variety of reproductions: as, for
instance, the grass that grows over the grave incorporates a portion of the
gross substance escaping from the decaying body beneath: the cow, the sheep
and the goose devour the grass which, through the natural laws of
nourishment produces flesh--people eat the flesh of the cow, sheep and
goose, and thus we may trace the same identical matter, perhaps divided and
sub-divided into infinitesimal particles and passing into every form of
human, brutal, insect, vegetable and atmospheric existence--going onward
from generation to generation.

But thanks to God for the key which solves the mystery. Every organized
human body, independent of the spirit, (which is a separate organization)
is composed of two distinct classes or grades of matter, and in such mutual
combination as to subserve the purposes of this lower existence. One is
gross, volatile--subject to change and decay through a precarious union of
earth, air, fire and water--tangible to mortal sight and touch, and subject
to all the laws of decomposition. The other is pure, invisible, intangible
and capable of resisting every law of infraction or dissolubility. This,
when the spirit leaves the body, remains INTACT--never being incorporated
with other bodies or substances. This is the precious material that will be
resurrected in perfect form, and compose the immortal tabernacle of the
immortal spirit.

It is well understood that resurrected beings are invisible to these gross
organs of sight except when they are quickened by immortal vision--that if
the dead were brought forth within viewing distance of us, we should not
see them. Why not? The resurrected body being composed of this pure
material, can only be seen by organs of sight formed of the same pure
matter, unclogged with gross substances.

While the gross portion is disorganizing and reorganizing, being
perpetually changing and in motion--while the disembodied spirit is
associating in the world above; the pure substance, the precious germ of an
immortal tabernacle, the jewel's casket, quietly sleeps in the bosom of
mother Earth, awaiting the eternal mandate, which, in accordance with the
higher code, the celestial law, shall reunite it with the joyous spirit
filled with eternal intelligence, no more to be separated.

The Earth also, combines in its present organization, both of the above
mentioned classes of elements; and, as well as man, will yet experience a
process of purification before it can become the habitation and everlasting
inheritance of resurrected, immortal, embodied intelligences. "The elements
shall melt with fervent heat." After having passed the purifying ordeal of
fire, and having been cleansed from all combustible and volatile
properties, the earth will pass from its present orbit, to the position
among the creations of God, from which it has fallen in consequence of
man's transgression; and then will that prediction of our Savior be fully
realized--"The meek shall inherit the earth."

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