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 am aware of
the emotions the doctrine advocated in these pages will excite in
the minds of many of my beloved Christian brethren. -With what
delight have we cherished the assurance that our loved ones, who are
no longer with us, are even now in the presence of God, where is
“fullness of joy.” How has the sorrow of the chamber of death been
alleviated, and its gloom dissipated by such a faith! Who will take
away this cordial for the hour of our grief? Who will throw the pall
of darkness over our bright scene, by affirming that “the dead know
not anything?”
To the soul-thrilling question, “Do they love us still?” the writer
is now, by the force of truth, obliged to give the scriptural
answer, Ec 9:6. He now believes it to be the revealed and
righteous decree of the HOLY ONE, that MAN, the entire man, shall,
for transgression, be subjected to the dominion of death, and that
hope of all future existence must be founded on the glorious
doctrine of the resurrection from the grave.
No one believing the popular theory of the soul’s independent and
never ceasing consciousness, can possibly appreciate the importance
and glory of the doctrine of the resurrection as it is set before us
in the oracles of God. Indeed this theory has, in the minds of many,
induced an entire rejection of this doctrine. Where this is not the
case, the doctrine is held in a sense entirely incompatible with
that forcible question of inspiration, “If after the manner of men I
have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the
dead rise not? Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.”
1Co 15:32.
In our researches after truth, conscious of our liability to err, we
should lift our hearts to our Father in Heaven, earnestly imploring
the guidance of the promised spirit. There is indeed danger, not
only of adhering to error, but also of departing from truth. May we
be graciously preserved from both, and finally be presented
“faultless before the presence of the glory with exceeding joy. To
the only wise God our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion and
power, both now and ever, Amen.”
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