“Well, my dear, does not God give us proofs in these smaller things of what He can do in greater things. The body laid in the grave is like the seed laid in the ground, ‘it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory.’ I should like you,” continued the old lady, “to take your Bible and read all that striking and beautiful passage of the Apostle Paul on |Testimony of St Paul.| this subject.” Emma immediately opened to the 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians, 42d verse, and read aloud as follows:—“It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.... Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump (for the trumpet shall sound); and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“What a wonderful scene that will be!” said Emma, as she closed her Bible. “Dear grandmamma, can you tell me when it will take place?”
|When the Resurrection will be.| “No, my child,” replied she; “the Bible tells us that ‘Of that day and hour knoweth no man; no, not even the angels that are in heaven.’ God seems purposely to keep us in the dark about the time of the coming of Jesus, that we may be always ready for it. It matters little how long or how short it may be, provided we are now living as we would wish we had done when we hear the trumpet sounding.”
“And what sort of bodies,” said Emma, “will they be that will then rise from the graves?”
“All that I can tell you,” replied her grandmother, “is, that they will be glorious |Glory of the Resurrection Body.| bodies, fashioned like unto Christ’s glorified body. They will be no more subject to decay, and weakness, and disease, and death. It is said of them, ‘They shall be like Him’ (like Jesus), and also, ‘Neither shall they die any more.’ And surely no blessedness can be greater than this—to be like Jesus, and never to die.”
“Oh, grandmamma!” exclaimed Emma, “I feel as if I would not be afraid to go to the grave, after all that you have been now telling me.”
“True, my child, the lowliest grave in yonder churchyard, if it be the grave of a true believer, is holy ground. Perhaps angels are watching over it, and Jesus himself counts its dust precious. The grave of the wicked is a prison house, where they are detained in captivity until the day of awful vengeance; but the grave of the saint is a casket holding a precious jewel. It is a bed of rest, where he gently and peacefully ‘sleeps’ till awakened on the happy morning of immortality.
“But I must here, my dear, pause for to‐night. We have been speaking so much about this wondrous doctrine of the body’s resurrection as to render it necessary that I should wait till another Sabbath to speak as I promised about the day of judgment.”
SEVENTH NIGHT.
“You promised, grandmamma,” said little Emma, as she found herself once more seated by the old oaken chair, “to tell me to‐night |The Last Judgment.| about the Day of Judgment. I long to hear you speak about so solemn a subject. There is much about it I do not understand.”