Church in the burial service.

There is nothing melancholy in the chapter, although the occasion, upon which it is read, may tend to make it so; on the contrary, it glows with those beautiful sentences, which are the most likely to bring that lost peace to the soul, when she almost refuses to be comforted, because her friend, perhaps her only friend, is not. In the chapter we read, "that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven, or corruption inherit incorruption;" that it is absolutely necessary for us, to return to the earth, from which we were taken, before we can bear the image of the heavenly and become fit for the kingdom of God. That our bodies cannot be quickened except they die; that as the seed, which the husbandman commits to the ground must rot, so our bodies must moulder away; that they must be " sown in corruption," before they can be "raised in incorruption;" that they must be "sown in dishonour," before they can be “raised in glory;" that they must be "sown a natural

1

More is intended than the idea which our version conveys; that which is rendered the natural body, owμa

1

body," before they can be "raised a spiritual body." This is the process, which God has ordered to take place, and which, as a consequence of Adam's transgression, must be fulfilled. But let us more particularly examine the nature and extent of this death we are told, that Jesus Christ hath obtained a complete victory over the grave; yet we witness our brethren becoming the victims to the grim tyrant, till scarcely one is left to shed a tear for the

rest.

Now the death which men were sentenced to suffer in the person of Adam, immediately after the fall, is not the same as the death, to which we should be looking forward now. The first was to be an eternal death, a death, which brought with it eternal misery; the second, a death which will but separate for a time the body and soul. God threatened Adam with death upon rebellion, but the Son of God inter

yuxuòv, is clearly the body animated by the soul; whilst in opposition to the human soul, pure spirit is declared to be the animating principle of the glorified body-owμa πνευματικόν.

ceded with the Father and the eternal death was cancelled, although we must pass through death's gloomy vale, ere we can attain to the glories to be revealed. Had not the Saviour taken upon himself the sin of man, we verily believe, that man must have gone down hopeless to the grave and become an eternal sufferer. But now, God having accepted the sacrifice of his Son, man is to rise from the dead, Christ having become "the first-fruits" of them "that slept." "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead." Thus when we consign our kindred to the tomb, when we witness the earth close over the departed, we possess "the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life." With this faith, our misery, which depresses us for the time, can never suffer us to despond "as men without hope;" or cause us to entertain the notion, that there is no resurrection. The faithful Christian becomes satisfied with the loss, which he is suffering; he feels comforted by the assurance that that friend, whom he is committing to the earth, shall arise, Jesus

Christ having conquered the death, and obtained the victory over the grave. Yes, he feels that it is but a separation not of an eternal but simply a temporary nature; he knows right well "that the corruption shall put on incorruption, that the mortal shall put on immortality, and that death shall be swallowed up in victory'." He looks forward with joy, it may be through the tears which dim his eyes, to the time, when the trumpet shall sound, animating the corruption, and summoning together the scattered particles,-to the time when "the dead shall be raised incorruptible," and the spiritual body shall, upon eagle pinions, scorning the low grovellings of earth, rise to its God and enjoy the redemption gained by Jesus Christ. Thus at the time of the resurrection, the victory will be most perfectly gained, because then the grave cannot any longer hold the slumbering myriads, that are contained in it. We know, we have felt, that we are made to despond

1 Michaelis proposed a conjecture from the use of the word in the Hellenistic dialect, that Victory here should be rendered Eternity.

when we lose those whom we love in this life; but what is our despondency before the hope, that the then unconscious thing shall throw off as with a giant's strength, all that is earthly and sordid? We say, what is our despondency before this hope? it is even as the chaff before the wind, which is driven to unknown regions, and lighter than dust in the balance. It is this hope, which animates the dying spirits of the Christian, and rekindles the mouldering embers, till they burst forth into the pure and holy flame. Yes! it is this trust in the resurrection, which enables us to walk with a firm tread, and a heart of joy rising out of woe to the grave of our friends, looking forward to that time, when the complete victory over the grave shall be felt. To that time, to the time of the resurrection, when the graves shall be opened, when the captives shall be set free, when each in a spiritual form shall emerge from the low prison house in all the joy and beauty of loveliness, with no longer a case about the soul subject to mortality; with no longer a body liable to sin and misery, but a glo