graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and shall come forth." Our heard which feign that the old fathers did look only for transitory promises." Again the seed deposited in the earth Saviour rehearsed to the Sadducees the speech shall teach us; the acorn shall be our in- of the Almighty, when an Angel of the Lord structor. A stranger to its nature could im appeared to Moses in a flame of fire in a perfectly foresee the produce of a thing so bush. He proclaimed himself "the God of small and insignificant. He would little Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of think that that which he held lightly between Jacob;" and "God is not the God of the his fingers contained the germ of a mighty dead, but of the living." The souls of these tree, the monarch of the woods; that, after patriarchs were only component parts: the rotting in the earth, it would spring up the raising of their bodies was essential to the giant oak, which from generation to genera- being perfect men. The translation of Enoch tion should defy the teeth of time, and stand and Elijah is the same doctrine taught in in fresh beauty and n.agnificence. And you, action. The glorifying of the flesh is the farmers and labourers, in your planting and natural inference of these miracles. We are your sowing, have a like witness ever before told expressly that Abraham acceded to the you. Is it not this, that, "except a corn of offering up of Isaac, because "he accounted wheat fall into the ground, it abideth alone; that God was able to raise him up even from but, if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit"? the dead." Of certain suffering martyrs And what is this but an emblem of the event antecedent to the time of Christ, St. Paul upon which we are discoursing? "That gives this assurance: "Others were tortured, which thou sowest is not quickened, except not accepting deliverance, that they might it die; and that which thou sowest, thou obtain a better resurrection." Isaiah exults, sowest not that body that shall be, but bare"6 Thy dead men shall live, together with my 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." "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory." The same truth is taught us by the insect. The mean caterpillar changes its condition into the chrysalis, and then bursts out the beauteous creature, which, full of life and elegance, lives joyously in the sunbeam. The thought it suggests is obvious. Man, the "worm of the earth," shall burst his graveclothes and the tomb, and come forth again to open day full of life, and rich in beauty. Christ "shall change our vile body, that it may be like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." Thus have we touched on nature's testimony to the doctrine of a resurrection. She has spoken in the same voice from the beginning. A revelation from God, however, was necessary to teach the truth effectually. Plato could advance no farther than this statement following: "Those that are purged sufficiently by philosophy live for ever without their bodies, and are received into yet more admirable and delicious mansions, which I cannot describe." We have learned a fact beyond him, that there is a consummation of bliss, which without the body is unattainable. We know that not the spirit alone, but the flesh, shall be glorified; and this was the faith of the saints of God under either dispensation. "They are not to be dead body shall they arise awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." The language of Daniel is explicit and unmistakeable: "Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." We end our Old Testament witnesses with the expectation of the text. The words, which Job wished written with an iron pen in lead, and engraven ineffaceably in a rock, have been traced by the finger of God in the imperishable record of his word. The patriarch knew that his Redeemer was living, the Redeemer of his body so filled with disease, and with the sentence of death; that this Redeemer in the last great day would stand upon the earth; and that, though his skin were broken, and his body would be eaten with worms, in his flesh, raised up again at that Redeemer's call, he would "see him as he is;" that himself should see him, and his eye behold him, and not another for him, though his reins, or vital parts, were consuming rapidly, and all his powers of life departing. O beloved, this is the solace of the Christian, when "the outward man decayeth," "when heart and flesh fail." This staunches the fount of weeping when the "dearly beloved of the soul" is gone. With what triumph meet we the funeral in its grave solemnity! How in the moment when his seems the triumph, his the victory, do we glory over death! How thrillingly sound these words, as a message from God on angels' lips, when we proceed to the laying of those who "sleep in Jesus" in the bed which once he occupied: "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and, though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another." ,, Clearly, however, as the doctrine is stated by the old fathers, we have, if possible, more striking witness than of Isaiah, Daniel, or of Job: "Life and immortality are brought to light by the gospel." This truth sparkles so repeatedly in the later scriptures that it is like a profusion of stars in a Christian firmament. We cannot name, for time would fail us, all that we observe therein. "The trumpet shall sound; and the dead shall be raised.' "We shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.' Jesus said, after describing the arresting fact of his appointment to the judgeship of the world, "Marvel not at this; for the day is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and shall come forth." It is useless to say more. The doctrine rests on a foundation which is immoveable. What nature led us to anticipate, the mouths of the holy prophets and of the incarnate God establish. that love him." 66 discovery! But what can equal in point of The effect also upon the risen saints will be a blessed transformation. All their de fects and infirmities will be rectified. The same persons will reappear, but how perfected their condition! When I would contemplate it, I think of Christ upon Mount Tabor. He took with him his three disciples, Peter, James, and John. He was transfigured before them. His face did shine as the sun. His garments were white and glistering, so as no fuller on earth could white. In the transfigured Saviour we see a pattern of our revivification."He shall change our vile body, that it may be like unto his glorious body." We look for the resurrection of the dead, but not as halt, or maimed, or blind; not sowed with the seeds of decay and dissolution; not with the same propensi ties or properties; for "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." We look for the rising of the same nature; but "that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be." That which was sown in weakness shall be raised in power; that which was sown in corruption shall be raised in incorruption; that which was sown in dishonour shall be raised in glory; that which was sown a natural body shall be raised a spiritual body. "God shall quicken our mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in us"; and, though flesh unchanged and unspiritualized cannot enter heaven, yet "I know that my Redeemer shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, and that in my flesh I shall see God, who shall redeem me from the power of the grave." The threat O this day of wonder and marvellous will be fulfilled, and the benefit will be mine: II. We proceed, now, to speak of the character of our blessed hope. We can give no full description of that of which holy men of God, who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, confessed their insufficiency of knowledge. Justly may we say of this, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But this we know, that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." From the things which are revealed we are foretold that the resurrection will be distinguished for suddenness and universality. The tongue, that said, "Let there be light, and there was light," which "made all things of nothing," shall speak the word, and it shall be done. "Like as the lightning which shineth out of one part of heaven reacheth even to the other part of heaven, so also shall the coming of the Son of man be." "I know that my Redeemer shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and then all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump." "O death, I will be thy plague! O grave, I will be thy destruction!" III. We have dwelt upon the certainty of a resurrection, and shown that it is an event which will occur upon sudden, and everywhere at once, throughout all lands and seas, and that the bodies of those that sleep in Jesus will rise perfect, spiritual, glorious. We would now address you on your privilege and duty with respect to it. There are among you those who are living in God's fear; who have not the form alone of godliness, but the power also; who treat religion as no fiction, but as a reality, solemn and very glorious. The thought of the resurrection should afford you comfort in all your troubles. It was the great consolation of the holy patriarch. Afflicted, bereaved, misunderstood, and misrepresented, his head was raised up with hope above the waters which would have drowned him, by the blessed consideration expressed in the language of the text. He knew that his Redeemer lived, and that he would "stand at the latter day upon the earth"; that he should "see him as he is"; that "he should be satisfied when he awoke up after his likeness"; and that, although men 66 judged of him before the time," Jesus Christ would reverse then their judgment, and give the decision in his favour. In all your sufferings and sorrows think of that on-coming day which will "restore all things," and then shall every man have praise of God." Again: let this hope take off your attachment from the world, and stimulate you to ardour in your Christian race. "Time is short: it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none." "The fashion of this world passeth away"; and let the effect produced upon St. Paul have its correspondent in yourselves. "What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I might win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness, which is of God by faith; that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." O, be ye not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. "We must We desire to reach the consciences of those whose days are being spent as though there were no God to serve, and no soul to save. Of the certainty of a resurrection you have been assured, and its blessedness has been set forth; but we are solicitous that you should consider that there is a resurrection of the just and of the unjust." all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in the body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." Some shall awake from the dust of the earth" to everlasting contempt." "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all his holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on his left. O the ravishing accents, "Come, ye blessed!" O fearful sentence, "Depart, ye cursed!" There is no blessedness in a resurrection to those who are unprepared to meet their God. Good were it for such had they never been born. How merciful the mountain that would hide them, or the hill that would cover them! "To those that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish"- their bodies shall revive more keenly susceptible of anguish : their worm shall not die, nor their fire be quenched. "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life; for without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." Many of you are young. Your hearts are brimming with joyous expectations; but O learn to seek abiding happiness in the friendship of "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." Joy without compass and without end will be on the head of the redeemed; but "how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation"? O that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ would raise us all from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness, that when we depart this life we may rest in him, and that at the general resurrection in the last day we may be found acceptable in his sight, and receive that blessing which his well-beloved Son shall then pronounce to all that love and fear him, saying, "Come, ye blessed children of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world"! Grant this, we beseech thee, O merciful Father, through Jesus Christ, our Mediator and Redeemer. THERE can be no doubt that it was intended that there should be a resemblance between the trials which our Lord underwent in his human nature and those which his followers should be called to endure. They who are called to follow in the footsteps of the "Apostle and High Priest of our profession," and more especially the ministers of religion, the priests of the sanctuary, will find the same kind of enemies opposing them as fought against him. As to the great foe of human salvation, and his agents and instruments, and their opposition to the ministers of God, on this point there is no room for question: "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness (or wicked spirits) in high places." But in regard | also of every form of opposition encountered from man, the remark holds equally true that it was designed there should be a resemblance between the experience of God's servants-his ministering servants particularly-and that of our divine Redeemer considered as man. Now there was one species of trial which our Lord had to encounter, which seems to have formed a peculiarly bitter ingredient in that cup which the Father had given him to drink-that which arose from the treachery of professed followers. He had enough to encounter from the opposition of open and avowed enemies; but that which he had to encounter from the masked enemy seems to have wounded his meek spirit beyond almost every other kind of trial. It cut him to the heart. There are no passages in the Psalms (which are admitted to breathe the sentiments and spirit of the Saviour) which are indicative of more intense feelings of anguish and bitterness of heart than those which declare what he endured from this species of trial. "For it is not an open enemy that hath done me this dishonour; for then I could have borne it. Neither was it mine adversary that did magnify himself against me; for then peradventure I would have hid myself from him. But it was even thou, my companion, my friend, and mine own familiar friend. We took sweet counsel together; and walked in the house of God as friends. Yea, even mine own familiar friend, whom I trusted, who did also eat of my bread, hath laid great wait for me." "They daily mistake my words: all that they imagine is to do me evil." And there can be no question that the most faithful and devoted of his servants, who have followed in his steps, and borne his cross, have been destined to suffer from the same cause, and that amongst their worst adversaries they must be prepared to find those who, under the mask of followers, or perhaps friends, do the work of the deadliest ene mies. This leads me to the enumeration of a class of persons (I hope a small one) which beyond question are to be found in the outward and visible church, whom I would designate "the treacherous" and "false-hearted." It is in vain to deny their existence. Some of the most eminent servants of the Almighty in the church have spoken of them. I have myself heard distinguished ministers of God speak of them, and with a pain and abhorrence which shew how deeply they have been tried by them. I allude now to those (for such do exist) who pursue the faithful and devoted ministers of the sanctuary with a persevering malignity and hatred which seems at first scarcely human: it is almost diabolical. I could give a long list of examples*. Every age supplies its quota: the present could supply many were I at liberty to mention them. It is difficult to account for this thing. I have heard the subject debated by men of God, and various causes attempted to be assigned for it. I have, for example, heard it ascribed to a shocking malignity of natural disposition, which some have disguised by an outward show of piety, which delights in doing mischief of any and of every kind. I have heard it imputed to a disposition naturally bad, being soured by disappointment, losses, or trials of some kind or other, which not having been received in a Christian spirit, or not having been sanctified to them, have produced contrary effects, soured and embittered and envenomed them; or I have heard it imputed to the workings of a little, narrow, spiteful, vindictive, selfconceited, implacable mind, smarting under the sense of some wrong which a weak morbid imagination has framed to itself. These various causes have been assigned; but they do not fully explain the matter: they do not satisfactorily ac count for the desperate malignity of disposition which seems to actuate the breasts of those of whom we now speak. I fear that another cause which we have heard assigned gives a truer key to it, and that is the desperate hatred of godliness and of goodness of every kind which characterizes the apostate's and hypocrite's heart-in other words, that malignant hatred of the good which is conceived by those who once knew the truth, and loved it, and followed it, but who departed from * I might commence with the reformers Luther, Calvin, &c., against whom the most shocking calumnies that ever the hellish imagination forged were gravely and deliberately I might come down to a later age, and quote the great charged. I have them at this moment in a book before me. revivers of religion, nearly every one of whom was said to be stained with every vice which excites horror. Even Baxter, one of the holiest and most ascetic of men, was charged with the foulest crimes, believed till his accuser died defrom the present age, the best, the most devoted men and spairing and acquitting him. might take many instances ministers of which have been blackened and charged with every thing that is most detestable. Indeed this has become so proverbial that it was the common saying of an eminent minister of religion, now gone to his rest, "I am happy to useful until I had lost it." This weapon has done tolerably say I lost my character long ago. I never became properly good service to Satan; but it is to be feared it may at last come to be what the cry of "Wolf, wolf" was in the fable. it, and went back to their sins as the sow that we washed to her wallowing in the mire, and whose after hate is commonly proportioned to their former love. But whatever be the cause, as to the fact itself no doubt can exist. We see the individuals of whom we speak pursue the object of their hate with an unrelenting malice that looks diabolical; for we see nothing in the ordinary course of things that resembles it. It looks as if some infernal hate were infused into their soul-as if the wicked spirits had been invoked to fill them top-full with direst malice and cruelty. They are bent upon the ruin of their victim. His piety, his excellence, his amiability, his usefulness, his tenderness, and even his kind intentions towards themselves only exasperate their hatred and malice the more the very excellency of his character affords them more food for their malice to glut itself upon. His patience, forbearance, and meekness only inspire them with fresh hatred, scorn, and contempt. Were their power equal to their will, they would crush and destroy him at once. But, as God hinders this (for his providence has mercifully ordered it that deep malice and hate is nearly always impotent), their next object is to do all the mischief they can; and their imagination from morning till night is exercised with an activity that knows no pause to devise some mode of injury. No artifice, no contrivance is stopped at. Aware that an enemy in the camp can do more mischief than an open foe, they worm themselves amongst friends, as Satan appeared amongst the sons of God (Job i. 6). They join their society; but it is only to do mischief, to sow the seeds of dissension, to disparage, to lower the minister in the eyes of his people, to undermine him, to weaken his hands, to ridicule him-in short, to deal the more deadly blow at him. They attend the church, take part in the services, listen to his words; but it is in the same spirit in which we might suppose the author of evil would do so if he were incarnate. Swollen with malice and personal dislike of him, it is with the intention, by look and manner, of defeating all the good that he is doing, of hindering, as far as in them lies, the good effect of his word-of letting all on whom they have any influence perceive the dislike, the scorn, the suspicion with which they listen to what is said. Does the preacher's word touch the consciences of others, does it move and melt, they openly sneer. Does he solemnize others, they smile, they laugh, and turn it into ridicule, though it be the words of God himself he is repeating. They have but one object in view-to throw contempt upon all that is uttered, to weaken his hands, to create suspicion and distrust, to make all who are under his ministry and who come to be instructed, to be enlightened, nourished, fed, to believe that they are listening to the words of a deceiver, a blind guide, a hollow hypocrite, a bad and wicked man. In fact, they do the very work which scripture has ascribed to the author of evil. "Then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away the word out of their hearts." They seem to look with the same jea lousy and hate upon any good effects which might result from his instructions as we may imagine would inspire that destroyer of souls. Alas! there is something very fearful in all this. The iniquity of it is shocking-not (I mean) as an act committed against the individual himself. It is bad enough indeed when viewed in that light. But the offence is not committed against man only: it is an insult to God: it is a combining with Satan to hinder and destroy the work of God. If that minister, who is the object of their hate, be the appointed delegate of God; if he be sent by him, and owned and honoured by him as ar. instrument for the conversion of sinners; if God have given him the commission and the ability, and blessed his exertions to the good of many; if he be a man of prayer, of faith, of zeal; if those addresses, which he delivers to sinners, be prepared in a spirit of supplication; if the aid of the Holy Spirit be implored by him day and night; if his object is to be faithful to God, and to "fulfil the ministry that he has received," then there is something dreadfully criminal in endeavouring to frustrate the efforts of such a man-to throw scorn, contempt, and ridicule upon them; to hinder and destroy the usefulness of that man by injuring his reputation; to endeavour to neutralize his words by surrounding him with a cloud of odious, mean, hellish suspicions; to try to place him in a fallen position; to destroy all confidence in him; to make him be regarded as one of the basest of the earth; to rob him of perhaps the only thing he bas-his reputation, and to reduce him to the lowest state of degradation and wretchedness; to cast him on the world bankrupt in fame and fortune, ruined himself, and those dependent on him, to encounter the worst of all fates. Ah! with what force must the prayers and remonstrances of such a one ascend to that almighty Being who sent him on his sacred errand! How fearfully must his solemn appeal tell against them that are "adversaries without a cause," when he says, "Lord, thou knowest my simplicity :" "My witness is in heaven :" "My judgment is with the Lord." Can we wonder that such conduct should draw down the special anger of the Almighty on such as are guilty of it?"They that hate the righteous shall be desolate :" "I will plague them that hate him :" "Touch not mine anointed: do my prophets no harm." It seems scarcely credible at first that such iniquity as this should be found within the bosom of the church; for we look almost in vain for its parallel even amongst the most guilty and profligate. There is still some sort of reverence for holy men and sacred things commonly found amongst them. But it must be borne in mind (for there is no use in dissembling the fact) that more desperate wickedness is to be found within the pale, the bosom of the professing Christian church, than is to be met with in "them that are without." Iniquity, when it exists there, grows to a maturity which it never attains in the corrupt soil of the world itself. There are causes which foster its growth in this, the pale of the professed disciples of the Lord, which are not in operation in the case of others. We must remember that the very means of grace when abused can make one ten times worse than he would have been without them. We must remember that nothing ripens the soul so fast for destruction as that very gospel (if men reject it, and harden themselves against it), which is the salvation of thousands. That gospel may be (for such is the unspeakably |