| 674 The brute beasts will then become perfectly peaceable, and harmless, or the enmity be taken away. To prove this we insert the following: "And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young loin, and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the loin shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Isa. xi 5-9. The enmity between beast and beast shall be taken away, and they will eat vegetable food, and no more devour the inferior beast to satisfy their appetite. This surely will be a glorious work, which can be brought about in no other way, but by the power of God. Having shown the restoration of the earth, &c. we will now show the precise restoration or resurrection of the saints.
Paul while reasoning upon this subject says: "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now: and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit; even we ourselves, groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body."-Ro. viii, 22, 23. It is evident from the above, that the saints were waiting or looking forth for the resurrection of the body. We have before stated our views with regard to the literality [literally] of the resurrection; therefore, we shall not particularize upon the subject; but only to show some of the ideas of the prophets with regard to the manner that they shall be brought to enjoy the great rest, which they have the promise of enjoying. The reader will remember that the Lord promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that they should have the land of Canaan for themselves, and their posterity for an everlasting possession; yet Stephen said, that Abraham never possessed so much of that land, as to set his foot upon. The apostle Paul says: "Abraham sojourned in a land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise." We are informed in the scriptures that the Lord is not slack concerning his promises therefore, we must look for this promise concerning them to be fulfilled, and they made to enjoy their inheritance in the land of Canaan. Ezekiel is very precise in telling how they shall be made to possess their inheritance. "The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, and caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were not very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were dry. And he said unto me, son of man can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest."
"Again he said unto me prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, behold I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live: and I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied there was a noise, and, behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, prophesy unto the wind, and say to the wind, thus saith the Lord God, come from the four winds O breath, and breathe upon these slain that they may live. So I prophesied, as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army."-Ezek. xxxvii.1-10. The above is a full and precise description of the resurrection of the body. But we have often heard it applied to a revival in religion, and also to the conversion of the heathen; but if we take the Lord's interpretation in preference to that of the learned divines of the present age, we are bound to believe that it is a minute description of the resurrection. The following is the Lord's interpretation: "Then he said unto me, son of man, these bones are the
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