|The Bodies of Believers.| “You know, my dear,” was the reply, “that the body of the believer is not taken to heaven at the hour of death. It is laid in the tomb. You remember too well that sad day when your little brother was laid in his grave in the churchyard. His happy spirit, I believe, is now in heaven, joyful in the presence and love of God; but his full state of glory and blessedness will not be complete until his body is raised again on the resurrection morning. Perhaps I should tell |Purchased by Christ.| you that the body, as well as the soul, is part of the purchase of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every particle of the saints’ dust is redeemed by His blood. The Apostle speaks of ‘our bodies and our spirits’ as ‘not our own,’ but ‘bought with a price.’”
“But how can this be?” inquired Emma; “do you mean that the bodies of those who have been buried for ages will come all to life again, and the soul be once more united to these?”
|Raised from the Grave.| “Yes, my dear, it is indeed a wonderful thought. But what cannot the power of God do? He has said that He will raise us up at the last day. Do you remember any of the words of Jesus about this?”
Emma thought a little, and at last turned up her Bible to the verses, and read them: “Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” “But how,” continued she, when she had finished, and once more repeating her question of surprise—“how, grandmamma, can this be?—does not the dead body crumble into dust? How can the particles that have for hundreds and thousands of years been mixed with the earth come together again?”
“God can do anything, I answer once more,” was the reply of the other. “We should always remember that what is impossible with man, is possible with God. We are not without examples, my child, in the natural world, of the wondrous changes which the power of God can produce in smaller |The Doctrine of the Resurrection probable from Analogy.| things; and this shews us (from what is called analogy) that we have no right to question the doctrine I am now speaking about, however strange and apparently impossible it may seem to be.”
“What instances, grandmamma,” said Emma, “may I ask, do you refer to in the outer world? I should like to understand better what you mean.”
“I like to hear you asking for more information, dear Emma, and I shall try to give it to you. Well, then, I know you have often seen the bright and beautiful butterfly with its golden wings and rings of silver. Can you believe that that lovely insect was once a little grub or caterpillar? I see you are astonished, my dear, at what I now say; but it is the case. During winter, these little worms lie in what is called a chrysalis state. During this time there is nothing in the least beautiful about them—I would say rather the reverse; but all at once, when the summer sun shines out, the little insect bursts its coating, and is changed into a lovely butterfly or moth, with expanded wings, flying up into the blue sky, or ranging at large amid the garden flowers.”
“Oh how wonderful is this!” exclaimed Emma; “and I see now, grandmamma, what you mean. This little creature teaches me to understand how the same mighty power of God, that changes the caterpillar into a butterfly, can bring about the still more wonderful change in raising our vile bodies from the grave.”
“You are right, my child,” said her grandmother. “I am glad you have understood me; and if I had time, I might give you other instances of a similar kind. You have seen, for example, the farmer put the little grains of seed into the ground; could you ever have expected that the small pickles thrown into the earth would spring up into the rich fields of yellow corn you have seen waving at harvest time?”
“Oh no,” replied Emma; “I have often thought how curious this is, and also that the little annual seed I sow in my own garden‐plot should spring up such lovely flowers. The seed looks so small and withered like, and the flowers are so beautiful in colour, and have such a sweet smell.”