word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." And then he added, as if intentionally combining the spiritual and bodily resurrection, as mutually illustrating one another:-" Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." (vs. 24, 25.)

It is with reference to this view, the righteous are said in the Scriptures, to rise in a peculiar sense,-a sense in which the wicked do not. Thus our Saviour is recorded in the Gospel of Luke, as having spoken to the Sadducees, who questioned him of the resurrection, that they might entrap him, of those "who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead." (Luke xx. 35.) And it is in this sense, probably, that the apostle Paul affirmed to the Philippians, that he counted all things but dung, and suffered the loss of all things, that he might know Christ, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death; if by any means he might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. (Philip. iii. 8–11.)

Enough is said, in the Bible, to show that the wicked as well as the righteous, the unjust as well as the just, shall rise, and rise to enter on the second death. But, in comparison with that of the righteous, their rising again is barely mentioned, as if the sacred penman dreaded to write of it!

Not improbably, their very bodies, though immortal, shall be different from those of the righteous, and be adapted to their character and state!--being inlets to the unhappy influences of that world of woe into which they shall depart.

3. This doctrine is strongly adapted to encourage all Christians to stability, and persevering zeal in their Christian duty.

This, indeed, is the great use made of it by the apostle Paul in that celebrated chapter of his first epistle to the Corinthians, in which he directly treats of the resurrection.

There, after having shown, with great power and beauty, the reality of the resurrection of Christ, and the connected and consequent reality of our own resurrection; and having, in the most sublime and eloquent words, exulted in man's entire freedom from the sting of death, and triumphant victory over the grave, through Christ, he sums up all he had been saying with one of his own characteristic and emphatic expressions, and says:-" Therefore my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." (1 Cor. xv. 58.)

He had before declared, that "if Christ be not risen, his preaching was vain, and their faith was vain ;" and that he and his fellow-apostles were false witnesses of God. He had said also, with reference, doubtless to the self-denial, and even suffering, to which true Christians, in the performance of duty, would in this world

ever be exposed, that if in this life only we have hope, we are of all men most miserable.

But raising his eye of faith beyond the grave, and looking into the eternal world, and remembering that we shall rise again, he animated himself and others by the conviction that he and they should not labor in vain; but that in eternity they should receive, through grace, a glorious and eternal reward! So should Christians now, and ever, comfort one another with these words. Our natural desire of immortality, and a true frame, requires thus to be sustained.

4. Our subject also gives great comfort to all Christians in the death of pious relatives and friends. A Christian friend once said to me, being troubled in thought respecting the form assumed by departed souls previous to the resurrection of their former bodies, How, on your theory, can I satisfactorily conceive of one whom I love, who has left me, and gone hence, to be here no more?

But our subject, presented in the light of the word of God, need not, and will not, exclude the idea of form as connected with departed souls, adapted to their present state of being, even as form must have appertained to Moses and Elias as they talked with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration to the eyes of Peter, and James, and John. (Matt. xvii. 2; Mark ix. 2.)

It is form, we have reason to believe, therefore, suited to their state, but not yet so developed or exhibited as to be fully adapted to ours, nor to be thus developed or exhibited until the resurrection; even as the brilliant bud, sweet to think of, and beautiful to behold, and fragrant to the senses, may not have yet bloomed into the splendid flower.

But, it is beginning to bud, and it shall soon bloom and blossom. And so, each lonely Christian mourner, "concerning them which are asleep," must “ 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." (1 Thess. iv. 13, 14.)

Yes! yes!-may each mourner confidently say:-Thou parent! husband wife! brother! sister! child! relative! and friend! thou art not lost, but gone before me! I can, by faith in Jesus, think of thee now! I shall hope to see thee then, "in that day!" And when I meet thee, no embarrassment shall arise to oppress us, from any kind of past relations, necessary in our present state, for among them who shall be accounted worthy of that resurrection, they neither "marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God." Every such mourner may appropriately exclaim, in the words, which, in seasons of death among us, are often cited:—

"Break from his throne, illustrious morn!

Attend, O earth! his sovereign word;

Restore thy trust, a glorious form

Shall then arise to meet the Lord!"

5. In conclusion, this subject adds to the solemnity of the day of judgment, and increases our obligation to prepare for it.

And here I would especially allude to the theory of the judg ment's being carried on in this life, and solemnly recognize its truth, in a proper sense, as I would avoid it in a false one.

There is a sense--a most solemn and important one-in which the judgment of this world is now. As old Simeon blessed the parents of Jesus, and said unto Mary, his mother, "Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against,"-" that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed," (Luke ii. 34, 35)--so now the exhibition of Christ in his gospel as the Redeemer, personally present, died aforetime, tries the human heart. And the preaching of his gospel, in every congregation-in this congregation now-is a savor of life unto life, or of death unto death. So that,

"'Tis not the whole of life to live."

Each one of us, under the gospel, is preparing a character for eternity is being tried-yes, in this sense is being judged.

The last judgment, when the dead shall have been raised, will be but the formal consummation, of what has been practically, and unchangeably decided here. And it has been, in this view, as truly as it was strikingly and solemnly said, "Our sentence, in truth, is passed before our graves are dug."-(Bush.)

So that, this revelation to us of an hour in which all that are in the graves shall hear Christ's 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,-with all the stupendous scenery of the coming judgment,-mingle with the discipline of life, the invitations of the gospel-a Saviour's love-the testimony of conscience, and the stirrings of the Holy Spirit, in urging all of us, and every one of us, to prepare to meet our God. Especially do they urge us to fly to the Saviour, to make the Judge our Friend.

XX.

DUTIES OF HEADS OF HOUSEHOLDS.

BY REV. JOSEPH F. TUTTLE,

PASTOR OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ROCKAWAY, N. J.

"For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him."-GENESIS xviii. 19.

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."-JOSHUA XXIV. 15.

"For I have told him, that I will judge his house forever, for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not."-1 SAMUEL iii. 13.

In each of these passages, the responsibilities of parents to their children stand prominent, and in the first two those responsibilities are extended to all composing the household. The Lord commended Abraham because he would enjoin his children and household to keep the way of the Lord, and Joshua boldly declares that his house as well as himself, shall serve the Lord. The honor of these eminent men, did not consist in doing more than their duty, nor did the curse on Eli's family arise from neglecting a work of supererogation, but one of highest obligation and necessity.

These facts in sacred history furnish a theme of immense importance, viz. the responsibilities of the heads of households.

By the head of a household, I mean, primarily, any one who stands at the head of, and has control of a family, who, by the laws of God and man, is placed in this relation to a family.

In commending Abraham it is to be remarked, that the name of Sarah is not mentioned, and also that Joshua does not qualify his vow so as to depend on the aid of his wife. So also the wife of Eli is not mentioned.

A household, according to the Scripture, and common use, may consist of a wife, of children, and of those in the employ or under the guardianship of the head, residing in the family. Children, wards, servants, apprentices, and other laborers connected with the family, are all embraced in the definition of the household. Here, as in all other relations, responsibility is coëxtensive with obligation. And in examining the responsibilities of heads of households, I may remark, First, that whatever those responsibilities may be, the Scriptures make no exception in favor of the age or any other circumstances connected with members of the household. The fact

of having attained legal majority, or the fact of being of a different religion, or even that of the dependent being older than the head of the family, are nowhere mentioned as exceptions. The only question to be considered is this, Does the person belong to the household in such a sense that he is under the control of its head? Abraham had a great household, yet the text no more exempts from the general law, the gray-headed servant, than the young herdsman; the steward Eliezer of Damascus, than Ishmael or the child of promise. All the household were included without one specified exception. The same unqualified law is seen in the vow of Joshua, As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." In the fourth commandment, the obligation to keep the sabbath is not only imposed on the head, but the household also. Nor is it made a general obligation, resting on each individual, for which each one is himself responsible, but the obligation to enforce that law on all the household is imposed on the head. He was not even to consider his duty bounded by the limits which embrace the son and daughter, the man-servant and maid-servant, the ox and the ass, but as extending even to the stranger who might be holding a temporary relation to the household.

This is an exceedingly important view, since it is common among pious men to relieve themselves of some part of those obligations which God has fixed on them. Some parents seem to feel that they are not bound to look after the conduct of their children who may have attained the age of sixteen, eighteen or twenty years, much less when they attain their majority, although still members of the household. Others entertain the same erroneous opinion concerning their domestics and laborers. They sometimes excuse themselves, by saying, the man or woman is of age, or of a different religious belief; or he is so ignorant and low-minded as to have no religious sentiment, or some other excuse. To such an extent is this true, that some domestics are suffered to live years in pious families, without the heads of those families insisting on an undoubted right, the presence of all committed to their care at the regular worship of God at home, and publicly.

I cannot forbear enlarging on a topic which is becoming practical in this country. A large number of families rely on colored or foreign laborers. The latter are especially to be pitied, because so many pious employers regard themselves as favored with a special exemption from the rigid principles on which God has constituted the household. These laborers, in many cases, believe things which are likely to prove fatal to their salvation. We need not go so far as to say that nò Romanist can be saved, but that the most of those who make up our laborers, are in great ignorance of the way of salvation through Christ, and in many cases, with all their devotion to their religion, they do not consider profane swearing, drunkenness, and other vices as inconsistent with that religion. They know more about confessing sin to a fellow-sinner than to God, about the