frame is burnt at the stake or on the pile, or corrupts in the grave, the eye of sense, it is true, may reduce the whole to a process of chemistry, as interesting to the cold research of science as revolting to the delicacy of taste and the tenderness of human feeling. But who shall assure us that this exhausts the strange marvel of death? To the spiritual eye it is far more,— the struggle of two rival powers, the issue of a long and bitter conflict, where the gifts of nature are vanquished by the deadly blight of sin, and sin itself by the might of redeeming mercy. Those scattered remains, on which science may look so coldly, and tell us that they are common dust, are watched with deep interest by the holy angels. For now they are the prey of death, the trophy and prize of God's mightiest enemy, the sacraments and signs, spread through our world, of an universe not yet redeemed, and where the powers of darkness are still mighty. Science, with its dull, cold eye, sees but a little way into the heart of this deep mystery. The bones of Joseph did not lose their interest, either with men or angels, when the living spirit had passed away. An oath of the patriarch, nay, a solemn oath of God himself, ensures their preservation, and bears witness to the preciousness of the remains of all His

people. The same pillar of cloud and fire guides their journey, as that of the living camp of Israel, while they travel to their earthly restingplace, one step onward to their final recovery, when death and the grave shall for ever yield up their prey. There is a relation, strong as love can make it, and therefore stronger than death itself, between the spirits of the faithful and their separated and lifeless remains. Sorrowing hearts can feel it now; and joyful spirits, no longer widowed or lonely, shall rejoice in it hereafter, when the mystery of God is finished, and His promise fulfilled. What is the relation? It is that of a costly and curious tabernacle, now broken down by the hand of the cruel spoiler, to the tenant, who grieved at its fall, and rejoices in the hope that it will be built up anew. It is that of a rich prize, which an enemy seized upon, until the Redeemer shall appear, when the prey shall be taken from the mighty, and the captive of the terrible one shall be delivered. It is a relation which neither subtle metaphysics nor death itself can dissolve, for it is formed out of the deepest affections of sorrowing hearts, the countless memories of the immortal spirit, and the direct and solemn promise of the Most High,—a threefold cord which can never be broken, and ensures the reunion of the body

to the soul, in the final resurrection of the sleepers in the dust.

But it is urged, further, that the resurrection is only of a spiritual body, and this cannot be formed of material elements. No resuscitation of that which dies-the natural frame-can satisfy, it is thought, the words of this statement. This, however, is a gross and evident misconception of the true meaning of the phrase. The two words, natural and spiritual, describe clearly the nature of the life, in either case, which animates the body; but the body is equally real, equally material, in each instance. They are borrowed from that other verse,-" The first man, Adam, was made a living soul; the last Adam was a quickening spirit." The natural, in the original, is a soul-informed or soulquickened body, one animated and controlled by that natural life, of which the first Adam is the source and fountain. The spiritual, is a spirit informed or spirit-quickened body, possessed, moulded, and animated by that Divine life, of which the Lord from heaven, the second Adam, is the true and eternal fountain. If the spiritual body is not body, but spirit, then also the natural body is not body, but soul. But since the natural body is true, real, and substantial, such also is the spiritual body. The

substance is the very same, but the form is more glorious, the controlling law higher and more heavenly, the taint of corruption is done away; and the body now obeys freely, and like the lightning flash, every impulse and volition of the immortal and glorified spirit, that dwells in it as the living temple of its lasting abode. Thus our Lord rose from the dead with a spiritual body, that appeared and vanished even as the lightning. Yet could He say to his disciples, when they doubted its reality because of its mysterious power,-"Behold my hands and feet, that it is I myself: handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." It was body, and not spirit; yet beyond all doubt a spiritual body; and those of the saints hereafter, being fashioned in His glorious likeness, shall be the very same.

One more objection remains, hardly worthy of reply, or suited for grave inquiry in the house of God. It is made a crowning difficulty, that part of the same substance, in the course of ages, may belong to different individuals of mankind. So that here the fool's question is supposed to acquire an unanswerable force,-How are these dead raised up, and with what body does each of them come? Yet, vary it as we may, it is still the question of mere

M

folly, and not of true wisdom. It puts a maybe and peradventure, that we can never prove, against the sure promise of God himself. The case supposed might never occur; for there can be no proof that any body at death contains even one particle found in the dying body of another. If such were the purpose of God, the difficulty accounted so formidable might never actually arise. But, even on the low ground of chance, and of human science only, it may be proved clearly that this fancied argument is quite worthless. Its utmost effect would be to require that a small and imperceptible share of common substance should be restored to its first owner, far less than the change in one single week's history of the living man. How pitiable, that such poor and childish cavils should be brought against the word and the sure promise of God, and the most glorious hopes revealed to us in the Gospel!

II. But it is time to rise out of these mists of human folly, and to enter a higher field of thought, more profitable and holy. Let us proceed, then, to consider, in the second place, THE NECESSITY OF THE RESURRECTION. It is not merely possible in its own nature; it is a certain and inevitable truth, sealed to us by the oath and covenant of God. "This corruptible must put