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It is, indeed, said, "That which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again." This is one of those texts which the materialists would press into their service: but all that the pen of divine inspiration intends here is, only to inform us that all material bodies, favoured with animal life, are liable to dissolution, that the body of one dies as certainly as the other, and that as they were both originally made of the dust, so to the dust they must return. But there is a remarkable difference made between the man and the beast in the following words: "Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth ?" Here we may remark, that at death the soul is separated from the body, and immediately enters into the invisible world, the residence of departed spirits, to have its final destiny fixed.

RESURRECTION. These graves shall be opened, and the dead shall rise to life. The resurrection of the dead, so mentioned in the Scriptures, is to be understood only of the body, because that is the only part of man that dies, while his soul continues active and alive. God, speaking of himself, says "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob," long after they were dead: yet our Saviour says to the Sadducees, that "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living:" therefore Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were, in a certain sense, living-they were so as as to their souls, though their bodies were dead. A sensible proof that the soul subsists, after the death of the body, was given in the case of Moses, who appeared with Christ at his transfigu

ration, which was long after his body was buried "no man knew where." The souls of all men, departed this life, subsist after the death of the body, and are happy or miserable in the invisible world, according as they lived well or wickedly while here. To press this on our attention, was the design of our Saviour, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The resurrection, I say, is to be understood only of the body.

The resurrection is of the same body. The body that dies shall be raised again: this the word resurrection implies. For if God should give to the soul at the last day a new body, this could not be called the resurrection of the body, because here is no reproduction of the same thing that lived before: this would rather be a creation than a resurrection. The Scriptures declare, in plain and express terms, the resurrection from the dead of the same body; "Though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." St. Paul says, "This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." Again; "He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." Nay, this is what the exact justice of God requires.

The resurrection of the dead to life is one of the great mysteries of the Christian revelation, which the Athenian sages derided, and atheistical persons to this day ridicule. A mystery, indeed, it is, that the same body which is laid in the grave, and moulded into dust, and that dust dispersed, perhaps, far and wide, should be raised again! Some men dying at sea, their bodies are thrown into the ocean, are eaten by fishes, these fishes are eaten by others of larger size, these again are eaten by men, and these men are eaten by worms-yet, every such body, undergoing so many changes, shall be raised again, and re

united to the soul that dwelt in it, and actuated it in a state of trial. This is, indeed, a wonderful mystery, which the light of unassisted reason can not discover, much less comprehend. Hence that saying, so common with the heathen philosophers, who would be esteemed oracles of reason, There is no restoration of the same body after its total corruption and dissolution. And because the doctrine of the resurrection of the same body seemed contradictory to this, they judged it to be contradictory to common sense, and exploded it as ridiculous and impossible. Hence, says the apostle, Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead ?" However great a mystery it be, the thing itself is plainly revealed, and therefore must be believed on pain of contracting that great guilt which the apostle mentions, "He that believeth not God, hath made him a liar." Whatever seeming impossibilities may be found in the way of the resurrection, we ought to believe it on the testimony of God, whose veracity is infinite.

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The resurrection of the dead is a work of almighty power; none but God can perform it. And, indeed, nothing less than a full conviction of his ability to accomplish the Scripture doctrine of the resurrection, can remove all prejudice against it; as Christ intimated, when he stated the errors of the Sadducees, in denying it, to be the result of their "not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God." Infinite wisdom and knowledge attends all the exercises of almighty power, and must of course, the resurrection in particular. Accordingly, the consideration of God as performing this work, is often spoken of in Scripture as the firmest ground of faith in his omnipotence, and as its surest relief in cases of the greatest apparent impossibility. Thus Abraham believed

God "who quickened the dead," that he should have a son according to the promise, notwithstanding the natural impossibilities of the case were such, that it was a "believing in hope against hope." When he had received this son of promise, and was afterwards called to offer him for a burnt-offering; which had the most shocking appearance of defeating the promise of what that son should be; yet he readily attempted it at the command of God: and the only ground on which his faith rested, with respect to the accomplishment of the promise, was, "that God was able to raise him up even from the dead.” And when St. Paul, and others with him, "had the sentence of death in themselves," and could see no way of escape, they "trusted in God who raiseth the dead," as infinitely able to deliver them, if he judged right. So that we may say, that raising the dead gives us the most exalted apprehensions and satisfying demonstration of omnipotent energy.

JUDGMENT. We read in the Scriptures of two signal appearances of Christ; the one is past, the other is to come; and how great soever the distance of time may be between these, they ought to be united in the view of the Christian. That the Lord Jesus Christ will come again, is no less certain than that he came the first time, and dwelt among men ; but the time is a secret to us, and to all intelligent creatures. "Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father:" but the thing itself is most certain. He will come again, at the time appointed in the counsels of Heaven; as Peter observes, in one of his first sermons, after the descent of the Spirit, "whom the heaven must receive until the times of the restitution of all things." At the very instant of his ascension, his disciples were expressly assured of it by two angels;

"This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Our Lord himself often spake of it to his disciples, and with the fullest certainty of the event. "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” But he never acquainted them with the time of his coming again, because, for wise reasons, that is kept secret ; and therefore he frequently exhorted them to watchfulness and circumspection-" Watch, therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” "Take heed, watch and pray, for ye know not when the time is." "Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching." But though the time is unknown, the second coming of our Lord is no less the object of God's people now, than his first coming was of the righteous under former dispensations; and the fulfilment of ancient predictions in his first coming, confirms the hope of his appearing again; and, indeed, the great design of his first coming into the world is not yet accomplished; he will, therefore, certainly come once more to complete the work he has begun.

The second appearing of Christ will be very different from his first, in a variety of circumstances. At his first coming, he appeared in the form of a servant; when he comes again, it will be as "God over all, blessed for ever. He will appear to be quite another person than men considered him, while he dwelt among them. At his first coming, he was "made sin for us," and offered himself to God an atoning sacrifice; but, at his second coming, he will "appear without sin unto salvation." The second glorious appearing is what every sincere lover of him rejoices to think on, and is ready to exclaim,

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