their campaigns, their enterprises, their pleasures, and their counsels, and lie down in their native dust.

But how glorious is the thought, that this body is to revive, and bid defiance to the power of disease, and death. That to those who rise to the resurrection of life, hunger and thirst, pain, dissolution, and corruption, are bounded by the tomb. And not only will the body be raised incorruptible, but immortal. This mortal shall put on immortality. That is, it shall not only be exempted from internal decay, but also from the external power of annihilation, for ever and ever.

2. The body will be raised in glory. It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory. In this world, the body is frail, and imperfect, and debased. But at the resur

rection, this vile body, says the Apostle, is to be changed like unto the glorious body of the Saviour. Of this glorious body, we have an account in his Transfiguration on the Mount, as it appeared to Peter, James, and John. He was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment became white and glistering. In the Revelation, we have a similar, but more detailed exhibition of the Saviour's glorified body, at the supreme splendour of which, St John records, And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. St Stephen, at his martyrdom, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And St Paul, at his miraculous conversion, saw a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, and this intense effulgence enclosed the Saviour. How overpowering is it to our present faculties, to conceive of our earthly bodies being raised to such ineffable glory.

3. The body will be raised in power. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. While in our present body, how feeble, how very limited, are our faculties, our endeavours, and our performances. But in the future body, we shall be able to act out our conceptions, without cessation, or exhaustion. Our Saviour declares that, in the resurrection, the righteous will be like unto the angels; that is, will possess kindred attributes. Those, who are now styled in Scripture but worms of the dust, shall hereafter revive to range through the heavens; and perhaps,

like Moses and Elias, if they are thus holy, be permitted to visit other worlds, in company with the Saviour.

4. The body will be raised a spiritual body. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. Flesh and blood, that is, the natural or animal body, says the Apostle, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. What a spiritual body may be, we cannot, while in the carnal body, distinctly comprehend. Some of the Ancient Fathers supposed it to be a body, which, having no need of the animal functions, was preserved in life by the mere inhabitation of the mind.' St Paul, after declaring that there is an animal body, and there is a spiritual body; observes that they, who are earthy, are like the earthy Adam; and they, who are heavenly, like the heavenly Adam; and that, as we have borne the image of the earthy, so we shall bear the image of the heavenly. But whatever may be the spiritual body, we may well rejoice, that it will resemble the ever-glorious body of the great, and lovely quickening Spirit in the Heavens.

From a thorough examination of this grand, and mysterious event, the future resurrection of the dead; although we are obliged to confess, that as yet we are allowed to see but as through a glass darkly; there have usually been inferred, from what is revealed, the following particulars, viz:

First, That we shall have bodies; and that these bodies will not be bodies of flesh and blood.

Secondly, That the body will be greatly superior to our present body; and be suited to the superior state of life upon which it is to enter, agreeably to the universal law, that the body of every being is adapted to its state, and that, when it changes its state, it changes its body.

Thirdly, That its organs of perception, and of enjoyment, will be of a far purer and nobler nature, than those of the earthly body; none of them proving temptations to sin, but all of them helps to holiness.

Fourthly, That, whether the body be a new body, or the same body under a new form; no change, however great, or even entire, will hinder us from feeling a consciousness, that we are the same persons, both in ourselves, and in relation to others.

Fifthly, That whatever change the dead are to undergo, the living who remain to hear the trump of the Archangel, will experience the same change; and that the change in both the quick and dead will be made in the twinkling of an eye.

Lastly, That, after this mighty and glorious change, as we shall know ourselves; so also may it be inferred, that we shall know, and be known by, our former friends.

Such are the animating results drawn from a discussion of the future Resurrection of the Saints.

REMARKS.

1. It appears, so far as our knowledge extends, that the Creator has made but three sorts of intelligent beings. Angels, who are pure spirit. Brutes, which are purely animal. And Man, who is a compound of the spiritual and animal nature. Of these, the middle rank, that is, man, is the most wonderful, whether considered philosophically, or morally. It is more difficult to conceive of the union of two such opposites, as spirit and matter, than to conceive of spirit and matter existing separately. In a moral view also, man is perhaps the most interesting; being destined to exist in two distinct worlds, in two distinct natures. Man is the only creature, unto whom pertains the resurrection from the dead. Angels never die. Brutes never revive.

2. It has been made a question, What is the nature of the intermediate state, between the death of the body and the resurrection? That is, Does the soul remain insensible; or is it detained in a separate place, called the place of departed spirits; or does it enter into the supreme Heaven, or ultimate Hell; previous to the resurrection of the body? Respecting these inquiries, there has ever been much debate among even the most profound divines. That the soul is to sleep until the resurrection, was the belief, among others, of Milton. This however is not the general belief. Nor is it of much moment in itself. For if the soul remain for that time unconscious,

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one hour and one thousand years will be to it all the same. It will never know it has waited. As to the places, where the dead will reside, between their departure from this world, and the final judgment; it must be acknowledged, says the late President Dwight, that the language of the Scriptures furnishes a foundation for some difference of opinion. Several expressions, found in both Testaments, seem to indicate an intermediate place, as well as an intermediate state of existence, between this world, and the final scenes of retribution. After a considerable examination of this subject, says he, and an examination of several able commentators, who have handled it to some extent, I am obliged to confess myself not altogether satisfied; and to say, that hitherto I have found difficulties on both sides.' These difficulties arise from the different significations of the Hebrew word Sheol, the Greek Hades, and the Latin Orcus; commonly rendered Hell, or the Grave, in our translation, but which do not properly signify either; but always the place of departed spirits. There is also a manifest difference between the word Hades, and the other words Tartarus, and Gehenna, used in Scripture, and sometimes translated the same. sides, our Saviour said to the thief on the cross, this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise. But that this did not mean the supreme Heaven, is inferred from his own declaration Thou wilt not leave my soul in Sheol, or Hades; whither his soul went, when he gave up the ghost on the cross. 'But whatever may be true concerning an intermediate place of existence, there can, I apprehend, be no reasonable doubt concerning an intermediate state.' Although the full amount of happiness or misery will not probably be awarded previous to the resurrection; yet it is believed, that good men, at death, immediately begin to enjoy, and bad men, to suffer. Lazarus died, and was comforted; Dives died, and was tormented. When the Saints are absent from the body, they are present with the Lord. But when the spirit again assumes the body, the felicity of the saint, and the misery of the sinner, will be more complete.

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3. As the precise nature of the intermediate state, between the death of the body and the resurrection, has been

a subject of debate among the most learned and pious divines, in all ages; so is it another question, not altogether settled, Whether the Saints, after the resurrection, and judgment, are to enter into the supreme Heaven of Heavens, already created; or to inhabit the New Heavens and the New Earth, which are to be created, after this earth is burnt up? Behold, says God, speaking by his prophet Isaiah, I create new heavens, and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. And again, in another chapter, For as the new heavens, and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord; so shall your seed, and your name, remain. St Peter says, Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. And in the Revelation of St John, we read, And I saw a new heaven, and a new earth, that is, after the judgment, for the first heaven, and the first earth, were passed away: And He, that sat on the throne, said, Behold, I make all things new. Some of the above passages are perhaps only figurative; while others appear designed to be understood literally. St Peter teaches us, that the things shaken, and removed by the conflagration, are destroyed, to make way for a new creation. From the declarations of Scripture, it is obvious, says President Dwight, that such a change will hereafter take place in the creation of God, as will in the proper sense verify this prediction.' Again, 'The first heaven and the first earth were intended to be the theatre of temporary scenes; and when these are finished, are declared to pass away. The new heaven and the new earth are destined to eternal purposes; and are therefore formed to endure forever.' The new creation, which is designed to be the residence of angels and redeemed men, will perhaps resemble what this world would have been, if Adam had not fallen. In it, 'the air, the trees, the streams, the fruits, will all be informed with life. This divine principle in the glorified bodies of the blessed, will warm the heart, kindle the eye, and play around the aspect with youth and immortality.' In fine, Christ will be the light, and the joy of this fresh, and blessed Paradise of God, the New Jerusalem,