the full-grown and ripened peach or orange existing in the germ of that fruit soon as the flower has fallen; or of these qualities becoming fully developed there, without a corresponding growth and development of the germ itself. Far more reasonable is it to believe that the Lord has made provision for the growth of the spiritual body after the material has been sloughed off, that the soul may not be arrested in its development by the mere incident of bodily death. The body grows on earth to the full stature of manhood by the steady accretion of material substance; what should hinder its growth in heaven to the full stature of angelhood by a similar accretion of spiritual substance? The spiritual body while yet in the flesh, grows with the material,—indeed it is the growth of the spiritual which causes that of the material; what then is to hinder its continued growth after it leaves the flesh? It is not natural but spiritual substance that feeds the soul while in the natural body; and will it not have the same food, and the same means of growth therefore, after this body dies?
It is clear enough, then, what the verdict of reason is on this subject. Now listen to the testimony of him whose spiritual eyes and ears were opened, and who was able, therefore, to testify "from things seen and heard."
