“It is a long time,” said Emma, running to her grandmother’s side,
“since you were last able to tell me those nice things about Bible
doctrines. I have been longing much for you to be able to speak to me
again about them.”
“I feel better and stronger now,” said old Mrs Allan, who had been for
many weeks laid aside, “and I am as happy as my little Emma can be, to
find myself once more in my old oaken chair, with her at my knee.”
“Thank you, grandmamma,” said she, clinging affectionately to her
withered hand; “and what are you going to speak to me about to‐night?”
“Our last conversation, my child, if I remember well, was on the
intercessory work of the Lord Jesus. I think you would like to hear me
speak of the final great act of His mediatorial reign, when He will come
at the [Sidenote: The Resurrection and Judgment.] resurrection to judge
the world.”
“Oh, yes!” said Emma; “I should like much to hear of that awfully
glorious day. I often tremble when I think about it.”
“It has no terrors, my child, to God’s own people. It is to them a very
joyful day—the happiest of all their lives; for then they shall be
brought to the full enjoyment of God for ever.”
[Sidenote: Souls of Believers at Death.] “But, dear grandmamma, I
thought, when believers die, they go to heaven at the very moment of
death; that the angels of God are waiting by their pillows to carry them
into Jesus’ bosom.”
“True—most true, my child,” replied the aged lady; “the moment the saint
closes his eyes on this world, he opens them in heaven. The souls of
believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do
immediately pass into glory. You perhaps remember some of the things the
Apostle Paul said in the prospect of death?”
“Yes,” said Emma; “‘Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ,
which is far better;’ ‘Willing rather to be absent from the body, and to
be present with the Lord.’ I remember, too, of Stephen, when his wicked
murderers were stoning him, how he cried out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit.’”
“Quite right, my dear; and that other saying of the Saviour to the poor
thief on the cross is more to the point still, when He said to him,
‘Verily I say unto thee, _To‐day_ shalt thou be with me in paradise.’”
“But then, from all these verses,” said Emma, “is not heaven begun at
the hour of death?”
“It is, my child,” replied her grandmother. “I have already told you
that, at the moment of death, the soul of the saint is made perfectly
holy, and happy too, beyond what we can now conceive; but its state of
final and complete glorification will not take place until the day of
judgment.”
“What is it,” said the little inquirer, “which will then add to its
state of glory and blessedness?”
[Sidenote: 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 [Sidenote: 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?”
[Sidenote: 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
[Sidenote: 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.”
“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
[Sidenote: 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?”
[Sidenote: 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 [Sidenote: 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.”