Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/144

 virtue have been wrought, must in justice be raised to participate with the soul in the consequences of its acts, is of any value, then the resurrection of all that has been put off will be necessary, and, if so, we shall have men forty or fifty feet high, with proportionate breadth; for that, under such circumstances, will be the bulk of one who has lived to the age of promise. All this is sufficiently perplexing, the reason is because the premises, out of which it arises, are not true.

It may be said, "With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible." This indeed is true; but when it is said with God all things are possible, the meaning is, all those things which are consistent with His Wisdom and His Love. If it could be shown that He has taught the doctrine of a physical resurrection, that would be a sufficient inducement for us to accept it. But this we have not seen, and certainly we cannot find it in the Scriptures. The revival of the dead man who was brought into contact with the bones of Elisha, the raising of Lazarus and the restoration of the widow's son, do not bear upon the subject; they were miraculous events for special ends; and though the bodies of the parties were returned to life they were not decomposed, and they died again.

But it will be proper to advert to some of the leading passages in which this doctrine is supposed to be taught.