5 Shall we the foul impostor's name
Attribute to such men as Paul,
And say for worldly gain or fame,
They gave their fortunes, lives, and all!

Would they be faithful to the end,
And glory in a Savior's cross?
And nothing but a cheat defend,
With stripes, imprisonments, and loss

7 Or has the whole of sacred writ
Been form'd long since the Savior's day,
New model'd, chang'd by art and wit,
As though there were no better way?

8 Believe all this, and you'll receive

More than a Christian eye can see;
For want of faith you will believe
What reason says can never be.

LECTURE V.

Delivered October 24.

ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE HUMAN

RACE.

1.

LUKE XIV. 13, 14.

But, when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

2.

LUKE XX. 35, 36.

But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.

3.

JOHN v. 28, 29.

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.

4.

ACTS xxiv. 15.

And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.

5.

ROMANS viii. 11.

But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the

dead, dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

6. 1 Cor. xv. 20-24; 35-44; 51-55 ine. But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order : Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and power.

But some man will say, How are the dead raised up! and with what body do they come? Thou fool! that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die. And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat or of some other grain. But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial bnt the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars, for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead: it is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

•

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. For this corruptible must put on

incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written; Death is swallowed up in victory. O death! where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?

7.

1 THESS. iv. 13, 14. 15, 16, 17. But I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

8.

PHIL. iii. 21.

Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

IN these passages of the divine testimony, we have the idea clearly expressed, that there will be a resurrection from the dead. Of this we have a physical evidence in the example of our divine Head. "Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept." This evidence is additional to that dictate of inspiration, which affirms the doctrine to be true. Respecting

the reality of the fact, therefore, however wonderful and mysterious, there can be no doubt in the mind of any person who believes in revelation. But respecting the process and manner of the resurrection; the form and power of the bodies, and the moral situation to which it first introduces them, our ideas may be very inadequate and faint. It is what our eyes have never seen. It is where our experience has never led.

The analogy of temporal things, used to prefigure it, would undoubtedly give us lively impressions of its process and nature, if we already possessed some just ideas of the operation, which, concerning it, is described. But this privilege is not ours at present. Perhaps the situation of our mortal state, would not admit it.

Under these embarrassments we must pursue our subject, if we pursue it at all, and acquire what we can learn from the written testimony of Jesus, and his Apostles. If it were ever proper for one to introduce apologies, for undertaking to discuss a subject beyond his understanding, I might make a multitude for engaging in this; but as I conceive they could be of no valuable use to my auditors, I shall therefore omit them.

Perhaps a better method we cannot more conveniently adopt in laboring this subject, than in seeking in the passages before us proper answers to the following questions :

1st. What are we to understand by the resurrection ?