These considerations bring eternal retributions very near. It is but a breath, a vapor, that separates us from them. These immediate consequences invest death with an amazing solemnity. It is not the pains, the groans, the dying strife; not the parting with all the possessions and friendships of earth; not the narrow house of gloom and corruption, awaiting the body, that imparts the shrink, the dread at death;-it is the fact that the undying spirit is about to open its eyes on the tremendous scenes of eternity. The curtain that has hitherto hung before the eye of the probationer, is about to rise, and all that is glorious in an eternity saved, or awful in an eternity lost, is about to burst upon the excited vision. What an hour is this! Here is an awful pause. Nature's last struggle is over. The gates of mortality open. The spirit has departed. Was it a spirit unsaved? He that is filthy is filthy still. No welcome voice of love falls upon the ear of such a spirit. He cannot soar and sing with an. gels. He does not see that glorious face which illumines the heavenly world. No sweet remembrances of the past, or anticipations of the future cheer him, and he sinks knowing the unutterable woes that await him in eternity. Again; was it a spirit washed in the blood of the Lamb? He that is holy is holy still. His pure and strengthened sight descries the far-rolling worlds of brightness, all radiant with the glory of God and the Lamb. An innumerable company of angels and spirits made perfect invite him with their hallelujahs to the sweets of paradise. While our tears may be falling, he is in the midst of sweet and delightful visions, where Christ wipes away all tears. While our ears hear sobs of grief, his ears are delighted with the melodies of that blissful region, and he is beginning to learn the notes of that new song which no man on earth can learn. He has now his foretaste of that blissful eternity where he shall be "forever with the Lord." I therefore conclude from the language of Christ to the. penitent thief; from Paul's desire to be absent from the body and present with the Lord; from the account of the rich man and Lazarus; and from many other scriptures, that the doc. trine of an intermediate state of conscious existence between death and the resurrection, is established beyond all grounds of reasonable doubt. CHRIST'S SECOND COMING. The scriptures teach that Jesus Christ will really and visibly appear again. That as he was seen by his disciples to go into heaven, so he will come in like manner. That he will appear in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, with the holy angels, the voice of the archangel, and with a great sound of a trumpet. This is his "glorious appearing." It is neither figurative, spiritual, nor mystical; but real, literal and visible. Jesus Christ taught his disciples this truth before he ascended to heaven; and often, in the most impressive manner, enforced it upon them as a truth of great importance to themselves personally, and also to be inculcated upon the minds of others. This doctrine was deeply imprinted in the minds and feelings of the Apostles; and they often alluded to it both in their preaching and writings, and sometimes described the scenes of that day in vivid and glowing language. The Revelator presents the scene as having already taken place, because future things were revealed to him as then present, inasmuch as he was transported in the spirit down to that sublime and glorious day. The coming of Christ is spoken of in the divine record in connection with the end of the world, the dissolution of the elements, the day of Judgment, the immortal glory of the righteous, and the punishment of the wicked. It is an event certain, with the time of the event uncertain, and is accom panied with warnings to be always ready, and always looking, prepared to love the appearing of the Lord of glory. As the Lord's supper carries us back to the procuring cause of our salvation, so the doctrine of the second appearing of Christ carries us forward to the day when this salvation will be consummated. His first coming prepared the way for us to enter the straight gate and to walk the narrow way; his second coming will introduce his followers into the fulness of glory for which they have been prepared. Our prayers and exertions should all have reference to that great and glorious event. RESURRECTION. During the ministry of Christ many mighty and wonderful. works were performed, which caused the gazing multitude to marvel with great surprise. There was lying at the famous pool of Bethesda, waiting the angelic blessing of the waters, among the blind, the halt, the withered,one who had been bowed under infirmity thirty-eight years. Christ saw him; and his case touched his compassion. By his divine power, (which will eventually quicken all the dead,) he commanded the disease to depart, and made the infirm man whole, and bade him take up his bed and walk. This was an astonishing work. It called forth a discourse upon his mighty power, and Jesus said, "Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth." The healing of the infirm man is unworthy of astonishment compared with the power and act of raising the dead, which will be witnessed hereafter. With the same power that healed the sick man, Christ will hereafter raise all the dead. The resurrection of the dead is. emphatically taught in the New Testament. It is a clear doctrine of the New Covenant. In the Old it was but faintly shadowed forth. Christ himself was the person to rob the tomb of its prey. Thus he became the first fruits of the slumbering myriads,-the first that came from the dead to die no more. The glorious doctrine of the resurrection took firm possession of the Apostolic mind. When Christ arose from the dead a stream of light came from the chambers of death; a new world opened upon the Christian mind. Death to the Apostles was no longer death; the gates of the grave lost their terror; the sting was lost, and the victory sure. Against the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead as understood by the immediate followers of Christ, philosophy has urged her objections. She tells us that the bodies of the dead have passed through endless transformations,-that their fluids now are exhaling in vapors, or descending in raindrops, are becoming alternately the juice of vegetables, or the sap of forest trees; that their solids are passing at one time into the bones of other animals; at another into the stones, or timber, or furniture of our dwellings; at another time into the lightest dust, and flying upon the wings of the wind in every direction. After a time both solid and fluid again unite in some other form of organized life. Notwithstanding the above teachings of philosophy, two things should be distinctly remembered. First, there is no annihilation of matter. Every particle that shall compose the body when entombed, or dead, will be in existence on the resurrection morning, and the eye of Jehovah, the Omniseient, will know where it can be found if he should desire it. Secondly, the same power which could mould this matter into so many earthly shapes, and make it subservient to so many earthly purposes, can transform it into celestial bodies, and make it subservient to the purposes of immortal spirits. The doctrine of the resurrection may be thus defined: "At the end of this world the Almighty power which has been given to Christ, will transform the dust of all the dead into immortal or deathless bodies. These bodies will be spiritualized; not strictly immaterial, for then they would not be bodies. They will be made like unto spirit as distinguished from the grossness, clumsiness, sensuality, and decay of these earthly bodies. The bodies of the saints will be like that of Christ, of ineffable and transcendent glory." The proof of this doctrine is all-important. It should be considered in the light of science; for it is a question of no little importance whether science is in favor of the doctrine; for by some the contrary has been confidently asserted. But to the scriptures we appeal for the conclusive proof of the doctrine. It is a clear doctrine of divine revelation. An argument from science would be needless, but for the fact that the utter incompatibility of the doctrine of a literal resurrection with natural philosophy has been so strenuously maintained, as to force a figurative or secondary meaning on those scriptures which teach the doctrine. It will therefore be necessary to show that sound science proves nothing against the doctrine, but so far as she speaks at all, she declares in its favor; and secondly, I will endeavor to show that those scriptures which are supposed to teach the literal resurrection of the body, are of such a nature as to admit of no other meaning. 1. What may we learn in support of this doctrine from the teachings of science? It is said there is a law of mind which creates a proneness to believe that things will be as they have been. Past experience of nature is made a prophecy of the future. What has occurred in nature in time past, is expected to occur again in years to come. In the spring there is an expectation of summer, with its burning sun; a succeeding autumn with its golden harvest; then a winter with its frost and snow; and again, another spring. This expectation is created by what we know has been the course of things in time past. This confidence or faith rests upon the supposed consistency of nature. It is not until the |