Page:TheYoungMansGuide.djvu/104

 question has  been  settled  long  since;  Christ rose again,  therefore  for  us  also  there  will  be a  resurrection  and  recognition!

2. Will  this  hope  perhaps  deceive  us? Never! An unhappy  mother  knelt  by  the grave of  her  darling,  a  boy  about  ten  years old. She remained  kneeling  there  for  hours; she wept  until  her  eyes  were  red;  she  sighed and prayed  until  her  voice  failed  her;  yet, as the  poet  tells  us:

When for  the  loved  one  lost  our  tears  o'erflow The mourning  heart  is  bowed  with  bitter  woe, This thought  into  the  heart  with  solace  steals : He is  not  dead  whom  now  the  grave  conceals.

Assuredly, "he  is  not  dead  whom  now the  grave  conceals"! An inner  voice  tells us this,  and  the  same  voice  is  heard  by  all those nations  who  honor  the  last  resting-places  of  the  dead. Everywhere, even among the  most  uncivilized  nations,  we  find the hope  that  the  sleep  of  the  grave  will  not last forever,  but  that  the  day  of  awakening will dawn.

But we,  as  Christians,  have  no  mere  vague presentiments concerning  this  resurrection and recognition,  but  the  most  complete  assurance. For Jesus  Christ,  who  is  Himself  the Eternal Truth,  says,  in  clear  and  solemn accents: "I  am  the  resurrection  and  the life;  he  that  believeth  in  Me,  although  he  be dead,  shall  live."

3. And  there  must  of  necessity  be  a  resurrection