as unspeakably to exceed every thing splendid upon earth. And, as has been well observed, it will not dazzle the eyes which behold it, only because they are the eyes of beings, themselves complete in purity and in blessedness.

The future body of the saint, we are told, is to be a powerful body. The vigour of all its faculties will be perfectly matured. Its whole frame will be nerved and supported by a strength, whose capabilities it is impossible for us to calculate. It will be qualified to go along with the mind, in the contemplation of the mightiest and the loftiest subject. It will be fitted to perform the services of the heavenly temple, day and night, with unwearied activity. It will be able to range untired through an universe of sublime and interesting wonders, and feel it neither difficult nor toilsome to gather the fruits of knowledge, purity, and joy, crowded upon it at every step of its grand career. It will be adequate to sustain without fainting and without fatigue, the burden of "an exceeding and eternal weight of glory." And, as in its other attributes, so in its vigour, its energy, and its power, it will doubtless be continually advancing towards a higher and higher perfection, throughout all the ages of immortality.

The future body of the saint, we are told, is to be a spiritual body. Though still consisting of matter, it will be completely refined from

the dross of its present materialism. It will be divested of every carnal susceptibility. It will be quickened and sublimed into a state of purity of which we can form no just idea. It will have a sacred direction imparted to all its powers and propensities; and instead of being, as is now too frequently the case, an incumbrance upon the spirit,—instead of proving any longer to the heart a means of temptation, and of hurrying it into sin,-instead of ever again disturbing the peace of the soul by its unlawful desires or its immoderate excitements, it will become to it a willing, an active, and a perpetual instrument of holy exertion and holy joy. It will be perfectly freed from the organs and senses required only in the present state; and will probably possess the remaining ones in much greater perfection, together with new faculties of perception and enjoyment, far nobler, far more exquisite, and far more acute and penetrating than any which now belong to it. In a word, the raised body of the true believer, it would seem, will be so light,-so pure, so unwasting, and, in its general attributes, will exhibit so close a resemblance to those of the mind, as to render the epithet, "spiritual" not only a legitimate, but the most suitable description of its nature.

We find it also specified respecting the future body of the saint, that it is to be like the body of the risen and exalted Redeemer. Every thing

will really and substantially belong to it, which can enter into the idea of glory as attaching to Christ's visible person. What that glory with which he has become invested is, our most vigorous conceptions are inadequate to comprehend. But still, the promise of such an assimilation is obviously calculated to carry the views we take, and the hopes we entertain, of the incorruption and immortality to be put on, when the morning of the resurrection brightens, to the highest elevation which it is possible for them to reach.

There is one other circumstance revealed, in connection with the re-animated bodies of the righteous; and that is, the existence of variety amongst them. As one star differeth from another star, and each has its peculiar and distinguishing radiance, so likewise shall it be in the resurrection. All will be incorruptible and immortal;-all will be glorious;-all will be powerful;-all will be spiritual, up to a state of perfection, but some will excel. That diversity which we discover now in every department of the works of God, and which he has evidently adopted as one mode of beautifying them, and of manifesting his own perfections by them, will prevail in the heavenly world; and as the countenances and characters of men on earth, exhibit endless and interesting varieties,-in like manner shall endless and interesting varieties be dis

played in the divine aspects and properties of the persons of redeemed and beatified immortals.R

Such, Brethren, we humbly concieve to be the doctrine of the scriptures, in reference to this great and momentous article of our religion. They teach us the certainty of the resurrection, by a number of plain and indisputable announcements. They relate many of the circumstances, with which it is to be attended. They supply us with arguments to prove it, which every believer in revelation must feel to be perfectly conclusive, and altogether incontrovertible. They assure us that the resurrection of the just is reserved for the last day, and that the resurrection of the just and the resurrection of the unjust are to take place co-temporaneously. They give us to understand, that the raised body will, in some respects, be the same as that committed to the grave, while in other respects, it will be vastly different. And, so far as relates to the body of the believer, they impart to us a variety of interesting general ideas respecting the changes destined to be undergone. We shall now therefore,

In the Second Place,-Endeavour to establish and illustrate the proposition, that THE DOCTRINE

OF THE RESURRECTION THUS EXPLAINED, OR WHEN VIEWED IN A SCRIPTURAL LIGHT, SO FAR FROM BE

81 Cor. xv. 41-44, 49. Phil. iii. 20, 21.

ING ABSURD OR IMPROBABLE, DERÍVES COUNTENANCE AND SUPPORT FROM SOME OF THE MOST POWERFUL SUGGESTIONS OF ENLIGHTENED REASON, AND IS A DOCTRINE CALCULATED TO APPROVE ITSELF TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF EVERY HONEST AND IMPARTIAL

MAN.

It has indeed been objected against what we now propose, that to attempt the defence of any doctrine of Scripture by abstract reasoning, is at once unnecessary and must prove injurious, since it implies the idea of insufficiency attaching to revelation. Such, however, we would hope, is not the impression upon any mind in this assembly. You can all, we trust, perceive how possible it is, for much good to be done by collateral evidences, from whatever quarter derived, without even the slightest reflection being thrown upon the Bible's truth, or the Bible's authority In the opinion of many, the resurrection of the dead is nothing better than a questionable dogma. In the opinion of others, it is a thing altogether incredible. By not a few, it is regarded as an utter impossibility. And so long as these ideas continue to be entertained, a cordial assent to its truth, can never be expected; but the rejection of it as a part of Christianity, or the rejection of Christianity itself, must be the consequence. If, therefore, we can make it appear that no reasons exist, which ought to render this article of our creed a questionable dogma ;—if by

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