Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/126

 is the scene of its execution; then it will follow that the resurrection of the material body is no necessity, and that the doctrine which prevails concerning it must be a mistake. We will, however, proceed to inquire into the nature of death and the phenomenon of the resurrection, with a view to ascertain what the Scriptures teach, and what philosophy sanctions upon those subjects.

Resurrection implies a death; to have a clear idea of the first we must have some definite information concerning the second. Our conceptions respecting the coming of the Lord to judgment will be considerably enlightened by means of true views upon these points.

In this life death is the one great certainty. Every day is furnishing us with examples of the mortality of the body, and thus forcibly teaching us that this world is not our abiding place. Those who have gone into the other life have only started upon the journey a little while before us: and the Divine providence, by sparing us here, is mercifully giving us the opportunity to make further preparation for a state of blessedness hereafter, in which we may live for ever. Still we know not what a day may bring forth, and we are told by Him who is "the resurrection and the life" to be ready, for the Son of man cometh in an hour which we think not. Death is the term which denotes that natural mode by which we are removed hence; the coming of the Son of man expresses the spiritual side of that momentous event. Death is that stern fact which most men fear: they fear it because they have not sufficiently cultivated a knowledge of spiritual life; because their faith in immortality is not enlightened: because their belief in the life hereafter is lamentably obscure; because their reliance upon the Divine teaching is feeble and hesitating; because they have