Dear——
——'s notion is nothing new; it is held by many mystic evangelicals in a somewhat different shape, perhaps, but it is only a notion.... The general notion I have alluded to is, that there is a kind of essence or germ of the body which remains, and is glorified, which would involve the exuviæ. But I have a horror of all notions, they are not Christ, and His unsearchable riches, and if the soul is full of Him, notions do not rise or suggest themselves. 1 Cor. 15:38 answers it: "God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him," and what 18 sown in corruption is raised in incorruption, and what is sown in dishonor is raised in glory; and if we pretend to go further, we go beyond what is written, and are in danger of being designated a fool. There is no such minuteness of comparison as this notion would find: it takes it to show generally a resurrection in incorruption and glory, out of the grave of corruption and dishonor; but the exuviæ is a thought man's mind adds; but, as has been said of old, we are to bring ideas from scripture, not to it. It was a natural body, and becomes a spiritual body. When the living are changed there are no exuviæ: Christ could show His hands and feet pierced. It is a change; the corruptible puts on incorruption, and what is mortal, immortality. These notions are the product of men's minds, and not what flows from the fullness of Christ, and that is the evil; and if we harbor them, it tends to shut Him out. But we have to bear with idle notions, and not strive. The best thing is to bring in Christ, and they fall or collapse by their own emptiness.
——-has begun to break bread.——is greatly troubled: I cannot say it did me. I could not ask them to go to A. H. till they gave up their false position, and I could hardly expect them to abstain forever, and if they acted in starting with precipitation after the action of A. H., there was no way out but one God might open. But there was not the sober weighing of all before God that we ever need, and there was in some degree the pretension to start something extra.- wrote to me of a prayer-meeting they had in London: but I answered that I had nothing against a prayer-meeting; but I could not be a party to a party, even to resist evil. But it will all get right, but as to men, I fear their seeking their own ease, not simply waiting on God for all.
The Lord be with you! He it is who works, and His Father too. May we lean constantly on Him!
Belfast, June, 1880.