thanael, whofe character he clearly difcerned before any perfonal intercourfe had taken place: Before that Philip called thee, when thou waft under the fig-tree, I faw thee." Here it is reduced to a general propofition of high moment. "The Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son" and he is qualified for the difcharge of this all-important office, by a perfect knowledge not only of the actions of a man's life, but of the motives from which he acted, and of the end at which he aimed. May it be engraved on the living table of our heart, that God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given affurance unto all men, in that he hath raifed him from the dead.".

1

LECTURE XX.

CORINTHIANS, XV. 35-44

But fome man will fay, How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come ? Thou fool, that which thou: [aweft is not quickened except it die. And that which thou fowe, thou foweft not that body that fhall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of fome other grain: but God giveth it a body as it hath pleafed Him, and to every feed his own body. All flesh is not the fame flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beafts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terreftrial: but the glory of the celeftial is one, and the glory of the terref trial is another. There is one glory of the fun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the fars; for one star differeth from another far in glory. So alfo is the refurrection of the dead: it is fown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption: it is fown in difhonour, it is raised in glory: it is fown in weakness, it is raised in power: it is fown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a fpiritual body.

AFTER ADMINISTERING THE LORD'S SUPPER.

O him who believes in the life and immortality which arebrought to light by the gospel; to him who has the witnels of death every day prefented to his eyes, and who feels it continually in his own frame, can it ever be unseasonable or unprofitable to hear of the ground of his holy faith, of his glorious privileges, of his exalted hope? Does the worldling ever tire in calculating his gains, and of reckoning over his hoard? Is the eager heir ever cloyed in contemplating his fair and ample expected inheritance? When were the praises, the reported fucceffes, wifdom and virtue of a darling child, a burden on the liftening ear of parental affection? When was the eye fatigued in furveying the beautiful and majestic fabric of nature, or turned away from it with difguft? Wherefore, then, fhould it be apprehended that the difciple of Jefus, who has fled for refuge.

refuge to the hope fet before him, whofe brightest prospects open beyond the grave, who is rejoicing in the promife of his Mafter's coming "the fecond time, without fin, unto falvation;" wherefore fuppole that fuch a perfon could fay, "What a weariness is it!" when the preacher's theme is the complete reftoration of man's fallen nature, the refurrection of the body, the perfect resemblance of all the members of Chrift to the glorious head, the final and unfading triumph of redeeming love? No, well-pleafed you withdraw from the purluit of temporal pleasure and profit, from furveying the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them, from contemplating even the more glorious wonders of the ftarry heavens, to expatiate over the blissful regions of Emanuel's land, to drink of "the pure river of the water of life," to eat of the fruit of the tree of life, to feast on the promife of "new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteoufnefs," where there is no more death, where the curfe is not known, where God himself shall wipe away all tears from all eyes.

Previous to the breaking of bread, in commemoration of our Saviour's dying love to perifhing finners, we were led to med ́itate on the final confummation which the ordinance has directly in view. "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do fhew the Lord's death till he come ;" an event which involves in itself the fate of angels and of men; an event which fhall exhibit the grandeft difplay of the divine power and wisdom, of justice, goodness and truth; an event which is at once, the object of just terror, and the pureft fource of joy. One, and that not the leaft interefting, confideration connected with the profpe&t of that "great and notable day of the Lord," is that which conftitutes the fubject of the apostle's reafoning in the paffage which has been now read, namely, the refurrection of the dead. The ground of belief respecting this is the truth and certainty of Chrift's refurrection, on the third day after his paffion, conformably to frequently repeated, well-known, and minutely particular predictions refpecting this illuftrious event. These were the subject of the preceding Le&ture. “Jefus and the refurrection," were the great theme of Paul's preaching at learned Athens, and of his epiftles to the churches, particularly to the Corinthians, in this chapter. This is the fure foundation which God hath laid in Zion, and lo, What a ftructure is Providence rearing upon it!

The apoftle introduces an unbeliever cavilling at the dostrine of the refurrection, and triumphantly demanding, as one defying all poffibility of reply, "How are the dead raised ➡? and with what body do they come ?" Grafping at mere pham

M

toms of worldly hope, credulous as children in admitting "the unreal mockery of a heated imagination, men doubt and difbelieve only when the God of truth speaks; they are careless only where their fpiritual and everlafting'interefts are concerned: they reject that which reafon and religion concur to prove, which the conftitution and frame of nature, in her unceafing reproductions, ftamp with ftriking marks of probability, and which a revelation from heaven has rendered infallible. The objection of infidelity proceeds on the "fuppofition that there is nothing apparent in the fyftem of the Univerfe which is analogous to the refurrection of the body; that it is inconfiftent with all knowledge and experience. The apoftle goes on to demonftrate that this change, wonderful as it is, has its coun-' terpart in nature, and is perfectly confiftent with appearances which fall every day under every man's obfervation, and which are level to every human capacity. He refers the infidel to the univerfally known and under flood progrefs of vegetation, which is a conflant reprefentation of death and the refurrection, of corruptibility and corruption. One of the most obvious and ordinary operations in hufbandry daily prefents the image of this great mystery of godlinefs. The feed, O man, which thou cafteft into the ground, is furrendered to lofs, to putrefaction, to death. It disappears, it feems for ever gone, its form and fubftance, 'all, all is diffolved. No, Sir, it dies but to be quickened. Indeed it could not have been quickened, unless' it had died. What dropped into the earth, a fingle, folitary grain, fprings up out of it, increased thirty, fixty, a hundred fold. Had the little feed never known corruption, where would have been that goodly tree laden with golden fruit? It fell naked into the ground; it rifes thence clothed with a new, verdant, transparent covering. It every day unfolds fome latent beauty, it affumes a more majeftic form, it expands an unknown excellence. Its temporary deftruction is its perennial eftablishment.

IN

"So alfo is the refurrection of the dead." The body was emaciated by difeafe, it withered by reafon of age, it was loft in the grave it became a mafs of corruption. But does it fol-* low that it fhall remain forever a prey to corruption? Does it follow, that it fhall rife again with the felf-fame qualities which it formerly poffeffed? No, it is the glory of God not to raife up again weaknefs, mortality, corruption; but out of weak-' ness to raise power, to clothe corruption with incorruption, to fwallow up mortality of life. But how is this done ? I cannot tell. O man, thou knowest not what is the way of the fpirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even fo thou knoweft not the works of God who mak

CA

eth

eth all." Who is able to tracé and to defcribe the common process of vegetable naturé ? Where is the man that préfumes to explain that which is feaft? Is it any wonder, then, that limited faculties are loft in the inveftigation of that which is reateft? Can the clown tell how the handful of " bare grain" which he fcattered along the furface of the ground, has been transformed into a multitude of ftately, fair and fragrant plants ? No, and neither can the philofopher. But the fimpleft clown is a philofopher too enlightened to doubt, or to difbelieve what uniform obfervation and experience have confirmed to' him. He is too wife to folpend the operations of his ufeful and necellary art. till he has difcovered ilie how and the wherefore of it. Can the philofopher then arrogate to himself the priife of wisdom, who refufes the information, and denies himfelf the confolations of Chriflianity, because he cannot penetrate into every myftery, refolve every difficulty, and difpel all the obscurity which it prefents? What one art or fcience has been carried to its higheft poffible perfection? Do men therefore neglect to avail themfelves of the progrefs which has been made in'!cience ? And fhall the moft profound of all feiences, but which has, of all others, been moit fuccefsfully inveftigated, whofe difcoveries are more far in number, and in their nature infinitely more important than all the reft, be laughed to icorn, be defpifed and rejected, because it prefents" fome things hard to be underflood," becaufe lome of its grander difcoveries are referved to a future exhibition, because there' are times and feafons" interpofitions, relations and dependencies" which the Fa her hath put in his own power."

Again," God," it is faid," giveth to every feed his own body." "Thou fool," argues St. Paul, "that which thou foweft is not quickened except it die. And that which thou fowelt, thou foweft not that body that fhall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of foine other grain: Bur God giveth it a body as it hath pleafed him, and to every feed his own body." This implies, that the change produced by the refurrection is not arbitrary or contingent, but established by a certain law, conformably to the nature and qualities of each diftinct fpecies. What was wheat, continues to be wheat, after it has rifen again. What was any other kind of grain, when caft into the earth, riles up that fell-fame kind of grain, and no other. The individual fubflance is indeed changed, but the eflential properties, the fpecific and diftinguifhing qualities remain. The fame vital principle animates it in every state; when it fprung up in the germ of the parent feed;" when it became naked, dry grain; when it lay buried under

the