33-35). At this time these words spoken, "I am," &c.

(iii.) What the words meant.

What might the Lord have done if He had been there sooner? Martha knows (ver. 21); Mary knows (ver. 32); the Jews, even, know (ver. 37). The fever would have been driven away; but by-and-bye illness would come again, or old age, then death after all. What did Jesus do at the grave? (ver. 38-45.) Wonderful power as well as pity! His voice reached where? Into the world of spirits. Lazarus came back; but only for a few years. (Tradition that Lazarus asked after he came back whether he would die again, and that after he learned that he must, he never was seen to smile again.) What then Christ's words mean, "I am the," &c.? Two kinds of death; (1) Death of body; cold, white, cannot feel, hear, act. (2) Death of soul; to sin without feeling it, to be heedless of God's love; this is spiritual death (Eph. ii. 5). Christ came amongst us as Man to give us (1) new spiritual life, raise up our souls from death (St. John v. 24); (2) one day new life for our bodies, that they too should live for ever (St. John vi. 40). Martha and Mary need not then fear death so much; again family would be united. All were yet alive in God, would walk in a more lovely garden together, meet in a better home. Never again to part or be sick (Rev. xxi. 3, 4).

What then? Death.

Two pictures.-1. In a cemetery at Hanover a tombstone unusually thick and heavy. On it the owner had written, "This grave is for eternal time, and must never be opened." But into a little cranny in joints of the stone a tiny seed had been blown or carried by a bird. It sprang up, and by quiet force of its life and growth it had wrenched out the iron bolts which held

stones together and upheaved the mighty slabs, wrecking the tomb. This a picture of the power of Christ to destroy all death and break open all graves. "Resurrection and the Life." (2 Tim. i, 10.)

2. We go into the wood. A November afternoon, bare branches, dripping with wet, ground strewn with dead leaves, crush them under foot as you tread; a gloom, a shiver; glad to get in to the fire. Go again, late February: same picture of death, but brush aside leaves a bit; look close down. What ? There is something at work in all this wood; cannot feel it, hear it, see it; cut up the trees, would not find it. But it is mysterious, powerful, will change the whole wood in few weeks. All will be so gay, so beautiful; birds glad to come and sing. What is it, then, at work? Life. Down there is a sign, forcing the tender green up amongst dead leaves. Now mark. Christ amongst men is just that. He is our life. Spiritual life for souls, resurrection life for bodies (Col. iii. 4). But the stick which you broke off the tree and idly threw down. Will that be beautiful with the rest? When all else covered with bright colour, that will have no beauty; separated from its tree it loses the life. That is our lesson. Everything before you looks so bright and blessed, your hearts should be full of joy, all so glorious one day-in Christ. But don't let neglect of prayer, carelessness, sin, separate you from Him. Who acts thus is like the stick broken off. What hope for such? (see St. John xv. 6.) One day the Sacrament of Holy Communion will be open to you, that you may get more of the Christ life in you. Meanwhile put into every day both praying and God-pleasing, and you will have a glorious, neverfading, bird-singing summer before you (St. John vi. 54-58).

III. THOUGHTS

1. At the close of the Creed, man, redeemed, sanctified, honoured, stands out conspicuously. It is hardly fanciful to see in the later clauses expressions of belief which correspond, severally, with the three parts of man's nature. For his body there is the resurrection, for his soul forgiveness of sins, for his spirit the communion of saints; for the whole man the life everlasting. Many questions of profound interest and importance (such as teachers, especially, will

FOR TEACHERS.

be brought in contact with) arise in connexion with the statement "I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting." Some of them are touched upon here.

2. What is the nature of the resurrection and of the spiritual body?" Most difficult, indeed, it is to . . . understand how this poor body, our companion for so many years, nay, rather, part of our very selves, is to be first wrenched from us by death, and then restored to us, if

we will, transfigured by the glory of the Son of God."

66 The grovelling worm Shall find his wings, and soar as fast and free As his transfigured Lord-with lightning form And snowy vest; such grace He won for thee, When from the grave He sprang at dawn of

morn,

And led through boundless air thy conquering road, Leaving a glorious track, where saints new born Might fearless follow to this blest abode." (Canon Liddon.)

3. "A waterspout, or a column of sand traversing a desert, are both produced by the same cause. There is an eddy, a spin of wind, which passes over sea and land. As it sweeps along the ocean it catches up the water, and whirls it up in a pillar to the clouds, and there it stands, an opaque trunk like that of a gigantic palm tree between the sea and the sky. It passes on till it touches the land; then there is no more supply of water to feed it, and at once it dies away to the eye, and discharges itself in a torrent of rain. Is it gone altogether? No. It moves on, but is invisible. The same windy spiral sweeps further inland, and now it crosses a desert. At once it draws up the light particles, and in a minute is again visible to the eye, now as a red-brown pillar stalking over the waste. It travels beyond the verge of the desert, and at once vanishes again but it is there still, and the line of its course is traceable by the havoc it works. We may, I think, take this as an illustration, not a perfect one . . . of the spiritual body and its relation to matter life here is but

the catching up of elements, the assimilation and sifting out of the earthly atoms, which give us a visible existence. As long as we eat and take our material to raise the column of visible body, so long we may be said to live in the world; but at length the spiritual electric current sweeps on to other soil, and then the sandy pillar crumbles away, and all left of the living carnal body is the little heap of dust in the churchyard. The spiritual body still lives, but it is passing over this tract of immaterialism. It takes up no more earth, and therefore is no more seen of men. Whenever God gives the word, the spiritual body will gather about its substance once more and again become visible, palpable, substantial. 'I lay down My life that I may take it again.' What becomes of the spiritual body at death we cannot say with certainty. It may be that it rests just as it rests in the seed till awakened to

activity. The spiritual body will be clothed with a glorious robe of regenerate matter, that has gone through the final fire and been purified."-(S. BaringGould.)

4. On what arguments chiefly (apart from Holy Scripture) do we base our belief in the immortality of the soul?

(i.) There must be a future state, in which the inequalities of the moral government of the present will be redressed. The wicked man often dies in great prosperity, the saint sometimes dies the martyr's death by violence. If death terminates man's existence, where is this to be set right?

(ii.) "(a) The... soul of man knows itself to be capable of . . . continuous development. A tree or animal soon reaches a point at which it can grow no longer... it reaches its limit, it can do no more. (b) The spirit or mind of man is conscious of and values its own existence. The animal has practically no past, nor does it look forward. Man, as a spirit, reaches onward into future time. (c) Unless a spiritual being is immortal, such a being does, in a very important respect, count for less in this universe than mere inert matter. Matter

does not perish, it only changes its form." (Canon Liddon.)

5. Does immortality belong to all men, whether in Christ or not? Do the wicked live for ever? With this is bound up the question of the eternity of punishment, a question which has occupied much attention. It is safe to say (1) That we acknowledge the profound difficulty which surrounds the subject. Are the blessed and merciful purposes of our God, in the case of so large a portion of our race, to be defeated for ever? Is there to be for ever in God's universe a region of endless misery? It is an awful mystery: the New Testament word "eternal" really means "age-long," not "everlasting," that very little is really disclosed to us concerning the final condition of those who die in unforgiven sin. (2) That enormous loss and grief must be the lot of those who here obdurately and continuously neglect God's mercy. Even though none perhaps are saved by the preaching of hell," it is our duty to make very clear that awful punishment awaits the impenitent sinner in the world to come. (3) That God is love, and His dealings with men, the evil as well as the good, will ever be in harmony with this attribute. "When the Church is asked

SO

whether the punishment of the lost will endure for ever, she can only reply that God has not told her of any end or limit to it, and that where He has not spoken, she cannot speak."-(Mason.)

6. The difficulties surrounding the subject of eternal punishment are by some thought to be removed by teaching "conditional immortality." The Rev. E. White, in "Life in Christ," a book of great interest, sets forth this doctrine at length. It is therein advanced that we are only immortal, i.e., only possess life everlasting, by being united to Christ; that those not so united perish; that the wicked rise and come to judgment and live on till they have suffered the due punishment of their deeds, and then that they cease to be. Is the thought of annihilation preferable to that of damnation ? Canon Liddon writes:- Man is an immortal being, just as he is a thinking and feeling being, by the original terms of his nature. God has made him immortal whether for weal or woe. Whether a man is redeemed or not, whether he is sanctified or not, he will exist for ever."

7. Eternity. "Add together ages of ages, multiply them by the leaves on

the trees, the sand on the sea-shore, and the dust of the earth; still you will be no nearer the termination of Jehovah's existence than when you first began your calculation. And let us remember that the duration of His existence is the only measure of our own. We are all as immortal as Jehovah Himself."—(Dr. Payson.) In the Consecration Service of the Primitive Church the candidate for the office of a bishop was exhorted to have eternity in all his thoughts. Once, on the occasion of the consecration of an Archbishop of Canterbury, the people standing on either side, as he passed, cried, "Remember eternity." Shall the humblest Sunday-school teacher be less mindful of eternity as he sits with his little class around him imparting to them the words of eternal life?

"To live that when the mighty caravan,

Which halts one night-time in the vale of death,

Shall strike its white tents for the morning march,

Thou shalt mount onward to the eterna hills. Thy foot unwearied, and thy strength renew'd, Like the strong eagle's, for the upward flight." Collect-the last in the Burial Service (adapted).

231. Where and when were the Ten Commandments given ?

The Ten Commandments were given from Mount Sinai, to Moses and the Israelites, shortly after the deliverance from Egypt.

232. How did God give the Commandments?

God gave the Commandments (1) by voice; the Israelites heard His voice out of clouds and thunderings and lightning; (2) in writing; on two tables of stone which were kept in the Ark (Deut. v. 22).

233. What motive for keeping the Commandments did God specially put before the Israelites ?

The motive for keeping the Commandments which God specially put before the Israelites was gratitude: "I brought thee out of bondage" (Exod. xx. 2).

234. When does God give us the Commandments to keep?

God gives us the Commandments to keep when we are baptized and set on the way to our promised land.

235. How many Commandments tell us what we are not to do?

Eight of the Commandments tell us what we are not to do.

236. Give a rule for explaining these eight Commandments.

When God tells us not to do a thing, He means us to do the opposite thing. 237. Where do we find the Commandments explained?

We find the first four Commandments explained in our "duty towards God," and the last six in our "duty towards our neighbour."

238. In what service do we hear the Commandments read in church?

We hear the Commandments read in