times when the Bible was kept back from the people. The Protestant Reformation was mainly effected by translating and circulating the Bible. The churches whicli are most flourishing at this day, are churches which honor the Bible. The nations which enjoy most moral light, are nations in which the Bible is most known. The parishes in our land where there is most true religion, are those in which the Bible is most studied. The goclliest families are Bible-reading families. The holiest men and women are Bible-reading people. These are simple facts which cannot be denied.
Let these things sink deeply into our hearts, and bear fruit in our lives. Let us not be ignorant of the Bible, lest we fall into some deadly error. Let us rather read it diligently, and make it our rule of faith and practice. Let us labor to spread the Bible over the world. The more the book is known, the better the world will be. Not least, let us teach our children to value the Bible. The very best portion we can give them, is a knowledge of the Scriptures.
We learn, in the last place, from this passage, how differ- ent will be the state of things after the resurrection, from the state in which we live now. Our Lord tells us, that " when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage ; but are as the angels which are in heaven."
It would be foolish to deny that there are many dif- ficulties connected with the doctrine of the life to come. It must needs be so. The world beyond the grave is a world unseen by mortal eye, and therefore unknown. The conditions of existence there, are necessarily hidden from us, and if more were told, we should probably not under- stand it. Let it suffice us to know that the bodies of the
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saints shall be raised, and, though glorified, shall be like their bodies on earth — so like, that those who knew them once shall know them again. But though raised with a real body, the risen saint will be completely freed from every thing which is now an evidence of weakness and infirmity. There shall be nothing like Mahomet's gross and sensual Paradise in the Christian's future existence. Hunger and thirst being no more — there shall be no need of food. Weariness and fatigue being no more — there shall be no need of sleep. Death being no more — -there shall be no need of births to supply the place of those who are removed. Enjoying the full presence of God and His Christ — men and women shall no more need the marriage union, in order to help one another. Able to serve God without weariness, and attend on Him without distraction — doing His will perfectly, and seeing His face continually — clothed in a glorious body — they shall be " as the angels which are in heaven."
There is comfort in all this for the true Christian. In the body that he now has he often " groans, being burdened/' from a daily sense of weakness and imperfection. (2 Cor. v. 4.) He is now tried by many cares about this world— -what to eat, and what to drink, and what to put on — how to manage his affairs, where to live, and what company to choose. In the world to come, all shall be changed. Nothing shall be lacking to make his happiness complete.
One thing only we must carefully bear in mind. Let us take heed that we rise again in "the resurrection of life," and not in " the resurrection of condemnation." (John v. 29.) To the believer in the Lord Jesus, the resurrec- tion will be the greatest of blessings. To the worldly, the godless, and the profane, the resurrection will be a