not die; one thing which will cleave and cling to us for ever; which we brought with us into the world; which, whether we will or no, we must carry out; which, for good or for evil, haunts every man at all times, abroad and at home, in the busy throng of men, or in the dead stillness of solitude; which shall be with us in the hour of death, and stand by us in the day of judgment;— each man's own imperishable self; the immortal spirit of life, which, with all its capacities of good or ill, in the beginning came from God, and, with the stamp it has here taken, must return to God again.1

Therefore, brethren, make sure your standing in His sight, and all things shall fall into their place; all parts of a Christian's life are in harmony,-time with eternity; his own soul with God. You will not joy the less, nor weep the more; the happiness of your home will not be clouded, nor the burden of your sorrow be freighted with a heavier load. No; to the true Christian the cares of life shall be an easy, tolerable yoke, and all the joys of his heart shall be deeper and more lasting. If we take all things as from God, and behold all things as in the light of the brightness of His coming, all shall be well. In a little while all will be unravelled, and the

snares and

1 Eccles. xii. 7.

bonds of life be broken, and we shall be where no man can be entangled, or offend, or fall any more. A little while, and the veil which hangs between heaven and earth shall be rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and all that you have here held of God and for God you shall carry with you into the holy place; and all that is gone before you shall be found perfect, at the feet of our great High Priest, who standeth before the eternal throne.

SERMON XXV.

THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY.

ST. LUKE xxiv. 39.

"Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."

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WHILE the apostles and the two disciples who had returned from Emmaus were speaking together of the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, He came and stood in the midst. They were 'affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And He said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." He assured them that He was the same Lord with whom they had so long conversed; that He was no bodiless spirit, but the same man Jesus Christ.

From this we see that the very body which He took of the blessed Virgin, in which He "in

creased in wisdom and in stature," which was also nailed upon the cross, was likewise raised from the dead. It was not another body like it, nor a mere appearance of His incarnate form; but the very same substantial and palpable frame which they were bidden to handle and see, in which He did "eat and drink" with them "after He rose from the dead." It was a body capable of all the energies of life, susceptible of all the perfect affections of our manhood, but impassible and deathless: for it was no longer a mortal body, but an immortal; and yet it was a body still: as the "natural," or animal body, of which St. Paul speaks, is a true body, not a disembodied life, so the " spiritual body" is a body, not a disembodied spirit. Therefore he says, "It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body: there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." Either way, both before and after the resurrection, it is a true body. So here it was the same in all its identity; only a change had passed upon it: death had "no more dominion over" it: "Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more." His manhood was thenceforward under the powers of "the spirit of life;" and in that human form He passed the closed doors, vanished out of the sight of Cleopas, and afterwards ascended into heaven.

1 Cor. xv. 44.

Now from this we may learn, in some measure, what shall be the resurrection of the flesh. We are told plainly, that it shall be the very same body we now dwell in, once more reorganised; purged of its earthly taint, and raised to the conditions of a spiritual life. To all questionings about the manner of this mystery, St. Paul answers, "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." St. Paul does not more intend to silence a disputatious objector by a natural mystery, than to assert that the great laws of the natural world have their counterpart in the spiritual; that our dissolution is in order to our resurrection; and that the body which is buried is the seed and principle of the body which shall be raised. The ear of corn is not more contained in the seed than the spiritual body in the natural : in both there is identity of being, and development from weak beginnings to more perfect forms of life. It is therefore as plainly and as strictly true to say, that this very body shall rise again, as that this very seed shall spring into an ear; and that the glorified flesh of the saints is the very same

1 1 Cor. xv. 36-38.