November 29

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THE DOCTRINE OF THE RESURRECTION.

"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." — John 5:28, 29.

REVELATION casts a gleam of brightness over the shadows of death, and irradiates the darkness of the sepulchre. Let us contemplate

THE DOCTRINE OF THE RESURRECTION. It is evident from

The power of God. Many, because they are not able to explain it according to the principles of reason, have pronounced it false. But is it fair to deny a fact because we cannot understand it? Shall we deny the being of a God, because we cannot comprehend his nature and essence? or refuse to believe the twofold nature of man, because we cannot explain the tie by which his mortal and immortal being are united? Can you understand the precise process of the little seed you hold in your hand; how, after it is put into the ground, it springs forth, first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear? and yet that transition is true. "Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?" Think of that omnipotent power, which in the beginning gathered together in one united, harmonious, and stupendous system, the myriads of atoms which compose the material universe. Think of the divine fiat which brought light out of darkness, and beauty and order out of the chaotic mass of confusion.

The testimony of Scripture. How plainly is this glorious doctrine revealed, both in the Old and New Testaments! See Daniel 12:2; Matthew 22:31; 1 Cor. xv. Paul, when among the learned philosophers at Athens, preached Jesus and the resurrection. "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable:" it is no enjoyment to feel the chisel of the celestial sculptor, if I know when I am completed, the statue is to be shivered into a thousand fragments.

The resurrection of Christ. This is the argument Paul uses in that chapter in which he describes, in such glowing and lively characters, the resurrection of the dead. "Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept." The resurrection of the Saviour involves in it the principles of our immortality. It was said of him, and must be said of each of us, "He is not here; he is risen:" "for all that are in the graves shall hear his voice."