This

we shall be, when we are called forth from the dark and silent grave. The Redeemer is now in heaven, in his glorified humanity; for that body which died on the cross, ascended up to the throne of God. In him dwelleth all the "fulness of the Godhead bodily;" and all the glorious rays of his divinity will shine forth from that humanity on the redeemed of the Lord. Col. ii. 9. was the case, in some measure, when he was transfigured on the mount; for then his disciples beheld his glory, "the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." John i. 14. Happy world, where humanity is so highly exalted! A world where every human being, that has been saved by grace, will be like his Lord; and that, not only in his spirit, but in his glorified resurrection body!

319

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD.

The resurrection of the dead has not been discovered by human reason-But it has been made known by divine revelation-There are some difficulties which human reason cannot solve-But every thing must bow down to the wisdom and power of Almighty God-The subject is highly important, as a source of joy to holy men, and a source of terror to the unholy-General observations.

THE resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust, has ever been a standing article of faith in the Christian church; and it cannot be overturned, by any art or sophistry, while the resurrection of Jesus is acknowledged.

I. But the resurrection of the dead has not been discovered by human reason.

Unassisted reason, in its most vigorous state, would deem it utterly impossible for the dead to rise. The human frame, after death, returns to dust. It has lost all its vitality, and has no more life than a stock or a stone. The parts of which it was composed are scattered abroad, and mingle with the clods of the valley. In every point of view, death appears to be the destruction and final dissolution of man; for it does not leave, as far as we can judge, any seed or germ from which a new body can be formed;

and if God had not revealed the resurrection by his holy Prophets, it would never have entered into the heart of man. Seed is quickened, and vegetation is renewed, by the solar rays; but did those rays ever quicken a mortal body after its dissolution by death? We attempt to illustrate the resurrection by the revival of vegetation in the spring; but the one does not resemble the other, for that vegetation was not dead. If it had been dead, like the withered leaf of a tree, no natural influence could have restored it to life. In the economy of nature, the seed which is sown is not quickened except it die; but that seed has a germ which is fed and nourished by the corruption of the dying seed; and, in this case, death goes before life. But who has discovered a germ in the human body? It has been imagined; but was it ever proved? When the Apostle Paul says that the seed is not quickened except it die, does he not mean that we must die to live; and that the resurrection will follow death, in due time, as certainly as the germ grows and follows the death of the seed? Both are the works of God; the one in the ordinary course of nature, and the other in a miraculous display of his almighty power.

II. The resurrection of the dead has been made known by divine revelation.

All things are known to God, whether past, present, or to come; and what he has revealed in his holy word, should be relied on with un

shaken confidence, whether we fully understand it or not. If we can prove the resurrection of the dead by the written word, we are bound to believe it, though it be mysterious and incomprehensible. "Thus saith the Lord," is the highest authority that can be named. On this foundation we build, as on a solid rock that cannot be removed; and we boldly say, "Let God be true," but let " every man," who presumes to contradict him, be "a liar." Rom. iii. 4.

The Lord raised the widow's son, by the Prophet Elijah; a plain proof that he has power to raise the dead. 1 Kings xvii. 22. Job, looking forward to future ages, says, "In my flesh I shall see God." Job xix. 26. The Prophet Daniel says, " Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Dan. xii. 2. With these proofs we do not wonder that many of the Jews, long before the days of the Messiah, believed in the resurrection of the dead.

But we turn to the New Testament, the last revelation of God to mankind, for a full confirmation of this doctrine. There it is taught with that clearness which is sufficient to satisfy every reasonable man, and to remove every doubt. Only let us understand what is said in a plain grammatical sense, without any silly allegorizing; for by allegory we might attempt.

to prove, like Hymeneus and Philetus, that "the resurrection is past already." 2 Tim. ii. 17, 18.

That Jesus will raise the dead, is positively asserted in the following words: "Marvel not at this for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." John v. 28, 29. Can words be more plain, or more directly to the point, than these of our Saviour? The same truth is taught in his address to Martha, the sister of Lazarus, whom he raised from the dead. "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die." John xi. 25, 26. His body may die, but he shall rise again, and live for

ever.

The resurrection of the dead is stated by the Apostle Paul, in a style that cannot be misunderstood by the most illiterate reader: "Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep; but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." 1 Cor. xv. 51-53. Allow that the Apostle was divinely inspired, and the doctrine is established: