what duty is, induce obedience to God; and in that obedience, the rest and peace, so frequently spoken of in the Scriptures, may be found. Those instructions are exactly fitted to our wants as intellectual, moral, and social beings. And, as such, prove that he who uttered them, is the Christ, the Son of the living God, who gives to his followers the purest, the most constant happiness which man can enjoy.

It is a fact then, that Jesus is the pure Foun tain, whose waters pour through every community with refreshing power and influence. He is the Strength of that civilization which distinguishes Christian from Pagan nations. His doc. trine is the Light which illumines the dark places of life, and shows us the sovereign mercy of God at work there-Light which fills, with its brilliant rays, the tomb itself, and enables the eye of faith to see the glorious land beyond.— He is the spiritual Ruler who will subdue the iron soul, warm the frozen feeling, kindle the energies of holiness in the long-abused mind, and reconcile the world to God. He is the perfect Example, upon whose soul there was not a stain; upon whose character there was no pollution of sin; upon whose confidence in God there was no doubting; in whose love there was no revenge; in whose devotion to men there was no mixture of selfishness; in whose precept and practice there was no contradiction; and whose whole history centers in the fact,that he is indeed the beloved Son of God.

Of vast importance, then, is the Savior to us. And surrounded, as we are, by temptations to carelessness, forgetfulness, sin, and abandonment of truth; liable as we are to be affected by passions, and led into ungrateful conduct in

regard to the cause of truth; with what pathos and tenderness falls upon our ears the inquiry of the Savior," Will ye also go away?" Group around this inquiry all the suffering, the persecution, the mock trial, the cry of a revengeful people to crucify him, the death of the cross, and all that divine love for men which enabled him to pray for the welfare of his infuriated foes, and how much more does it appeal to our feelings, our judgment-how much more do we appreciate the heart-felt answer of Peter, "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." As beings who should make an impression on their day and generation by virtue and usefulness; as beings who know that this earth is not their abiding place; who know that the ties and joys of this world must be broken up, and all men must leave it; we owe it to ourselves to answer the question faithfully in our souls, to whom shall we go? Happy shall we be, if believingly and practically we can say with the apostle, "WE BELIEVE AND ARE SURE, THAT THOU ART THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD."

SERMON III.

THE RESURRECTION.

"And Jesus answering, said unto them, the children of this world marry, and are given in marriage; but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; neither can they die any more; for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living; for all live unto him." (Luke, 20: 34—38.)

My attention has been particularly directed to this passage of Scripture, by the sentence, "They which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead." The peculiar form of this sentence has undoubtedly given rise to the idea, that it refers to two parties of individuals; one of whom will be accounted worthy to attain another world and the resurrection, while the other party will not be deemed worthy to reach this sublime destiny. The design in pursuing this investigation is to show that this idea is not a legitimate conclusion from the language of the Savior, and to reconcile it with the resurrection of all the dead, and their ultimate reception of unending felicity.

In the examination of the subject, I shall endeavor to develope the important doctrine contained in the entire passage, and, in the progress of the development, attempt to prove that the idea of

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one party of men being worthy and another party being unworthy to attain the resurrection and another life, arises from a misapprehension of the language of our Savior and of the circumstances under which he uttered the text.

The language of the text was spoken by our Savior as an answer to a certain querie proposed to him for consideration by a number of Sadducees, who did not believe in any resurrection. This fact is shown in the twenty seventh verse. "Then came to him certain of the Sadducees, which deny that there is any resurrection." In their unbelief, they framed a question which they thought our Savior could not answer; andby his failure to answer it, they calculated that his doctrine of the resurrection would be falsified, and they would be sustained in their scepticism. Admitting their opinions to be correct, the querie was ingenious. There were seven brethren, said they, one of whom was married. In process of time, he died. The second brother then married the widow, and died; and so on with the seven brethren. Then the woman died. Now, supposing that our Savior believed that the future state was like the present, and that analogy drawn from the present life proved marriage to exist there as well as here, they asked the question, Which of the seven brethren shall have the departed woman for his wife in the other world, since it is clear, that but one can have her? This question was embarrassing only on one point. If the Savior founded the reality of the resurrection on the analogy drawn from the present life, then his doctrine must fail; since the analogy of the case they proposed, could not hold good; for while each of the seven brethren had his wife in the present life, but one could have her in the other life, and the remainder would be wifeless.

But the main difficulty was, that our Savior did not admit, nor did he believe, that their supposed case applied to the future life; for that life will not be like the present. Hence he said to them, "The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage; but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage." In this answer, the Savior showed that the question of the Sadducees was based on false premises-that there would be no marriage in the future world-and consequently there could not be the conflicting claim among the seven brethren, which the Sadducees supposed. Thus, their ingenious difficulty was disposed of at once.

But our Savior did not rest satisfied with simply disposing of their cavilling speculation. He proceeded to show them the truth of the resurrection, as a necessary conclusion from a passage recorded in one of the books of Moses, whose books they admitted to be genuine and of divine authority. And he also pointed out the nature and character of the subjects of the resurrection.— He thus demonstrated the fallacy of their scepti cism, in their denying the glorious truth which he cherished, and which he afterwards proved and established more clearly by his own resurrection.

At this stage of the subject, the sentence, "But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead," properly comes up for consideration. What truth does this sentence convey? Does it teach the idea, that our Savior referred to two parties of men, one of whom is worthy and the other unworthy to attain the blessing of which he was speak.