ions, it must be evident to all who are not deeply prejudiced, that neither the justice nor the sovereignty of God can be magnified by them.

PAGAN VIRTUE.

In the early settlement of Whitestown, N. Y. a gentleman made a visit. to the Meadows on Fish creek, for the purpose of procuring salmon. On his arrival, he was gratified to find a party of Indians, (Oneidas), with a large number of salmon-but was very much astonished, that they would sell none. He repeatedly urged them---proffered the pay, and insisted that out of so many, they could readily supply him with all that he wished. To this one uniform reply was made-"by and by, you buy."

The only alternative was, to wait their pleasure. In a short time, a number of the largest and best fish were marked; and the natives sat down quietly to smoke their pipes. At length several small boys (natives), arrived, and by direction of one who appeared to have some authority, they took the fish which had been marked, and carried them away. When this was done, they informed the gentleman that they could now furnish him, by saying "now you buy."

After having procured as many as he chose, he inquired why they had at first refused to sell, and why so many of the best fish were sent away? One who could speak a little English, proceeded to inform him, that they had widows among them,-that the boys were their children, none of whom had arrived at an age which enabled them to provide for their parents;

and that it was their custom to set apart for them, a certain portion of all they obtained before any sales were made. The white man saw that men by nature are not totally

AWAKING TO SHAME AND EVERLASTING CONTEMPT.

"And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and contempt." Dan. 12: 2.

The reader will notice, that the text speaks of a partial and limited, not a general or universal resurrection; "Many of them," not all of them a general resurrection into the future world is not alluded too.

The reader will notice again, that in the context we have a prophecy of the time of its fulfillment. Daniel says, "And at that time shall Michael (Christ) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people, and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be written in the book. many (that is, at that time) of them. that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." And in a subsequent chapter, the time is again stated to be "when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people (the Jews) all these things shall be finished."

And

Christ says: "When ye therefore

shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth, let him understand), then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains; let him which is on the house top not come down to take anything out of the house; neither

let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes; but pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day; "For then (mark the very words of Daniel) shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be."

Thus Christ establishes the fact, that the prediction of Daniel had its fulfillment in Judea, and is now past. It referred to the time when the power of the holy people (the ancient people of God, the Jews) should be scattered, and the abomination (the) Roman army) that maketh desolate should be set up in the holy place (Jerusalem). That time did come, and the text in Daniel was long since fulfilled.

The phrase "sleeping in the dust of the earth need excite no surprise; when we reflect that Ezekiel declared the Jews in their graves when they were captives in Babylon, and gave them the assurance that they should be brought up out of their graves, and reinstated in the land of Judea. Ezek. 37th chapter. Isaiah called upon Zion, or the ancient church of God to arise and shake herself from the dust of the earth, that is, to arise from her slumbering and degraded condition. The whole house of Israel thus slept in the dust of the earth, when the Son of God came to execute judgment upon the Jewish nation. And while some came forth at the sound of the Gospel to the enjoy ment of that everlasting life which consists in the knowledge of God and his Son Jesus Christ-others arose to the judgment of condemnation, and to the suffering of shame and everlasting contempt.

John 5: 28, 29, "Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming (the Greek here, means, soon coming, near at hand), in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and

The

shall come forth, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation." idea that our physical bodies are to be brought up out of the literal grave, after they have decomposed and passed off and are reorganized into other forms and substances, is about as intelligent, as the idea that this world is flat and permanently motionless.

When a resurrection from the grave or graves is spoken of, that term is positive proof that the passage is to be understood figuratively as in Ezekiel 37th chapter.

This text in John has evidently the same meaning as the one in Daniel already explained. The learned John Butterworth, in his concordance says, "The word dust is often put for a low estate," and refers in proof to Nahum 3d 18th, "Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; thy nobles dwell in the dust; thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them." The word graves in the text means the same, a low degraded condition. The word "Anastasis" translated resurrection, as explained by the Lexicons, signifies to arise, as from the ground, to arouse, to. excite, to awake from sleep, to raise or erect buildings, to rise from a seat, from inaction." Dr. George Campbell says, "Anastasis is the common term by which the resurrection is denominated in the New Testament; yet this is not the only or the primitive import of the word. It denotes simply being raised from inactivity to action, or from obscurity to eminence.

Agreeably therefore to the original import rising from a seat is probably termed anastasis (resurrection); so is awaking out of sleep, or promotion from an inferior condition." Note on Matt. 22d, 23d.

The words, resurrection and grave do not prove that the text in John 5: 28, 29, has any reference to a future immortal state of existence, and as there is no physical substance in a literal grave to be conveyed into the future state, the text gives evidence that it does not refer to a future world. Paul very clearly teaches that the bodies we have here are not the bodies we are to have hereafter-there we are to have spiritual bodies. Let the reader notice, the text reads "They that are in the graves shall hear." Can a literal dead body hear? Can the sense of hearing exist in the body independent of the soul? If not, then those who apply this text to a literal resurrection, and a future state are bound to believe that the soul is in the grave. In the language of Mr. Lock: "According to this interpretation of these words of our Saviour (i. e., that they relate to a resurrection from the literal grave into the future state), no other substance being raised but what hears his voice; and no other substance hearing his voice, but what, being called comes out of the grave; and no other substance coming out of the grave, but what was in the grave; any one must conclude, that the soul, unless it be in the grave will make no part of the person that is raised, unless it can be made out that a substance which was never in the grave, can come out of it, or that the soul is no substance."

Christ says: "He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed (is raised) from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you the hour is coming and now is, the dead (not the literally dead, they know not anything, and cannot hear) shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live.

when

Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming (is near, and will soon come) 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 those that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation."

All

It will be seen that Christ represents the dead as hearing his voice at the time he spoke: "the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear;" those who were dead in trespasses and sins, not those who were literally dead, they cannot hear. And again, he represented those who believed on him as having already passed from death, darkness, unbelief, unto life, truth and faith. this was figurative; a spiritual death, and a spiritual resurrection to a spiritual life. Then he proceeds to declare that greater things than these would come; for the period was approaching, near at hand, when not only the few whom they saw coming forth as his followers, but all who were in their graves, all who were in darkness and unbelief, throughout Judea would hear his voice and would come forth; those who had been faithful, and would obey that voice, to life, the spiritual life of truth and faith; but those who had been evil who would refuse to obey his voice, to damnation, or condemnation. Dr. Lightfoot, a learned English commentator, says: "The passage may be translated and glossed thus: "And they shall come forth, they that do good, after they hear his voice in the Gospel, to the resurrection of life; and they that do evil, after they hear the Gospel, unto the resurrection of condemnation."

The Saviour clearly explains the nature of damnation or condemnation, as these words are used interchangeably and mean the same thing, are properly one and the same word.

Christ says: "He that believeth on him is not condemned (or damned), but he that believeth not is condemned (or damned) already." John 3: 18. Again he says: "This is the condemnation (or damnation) that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil." The rejection of the true light, willful blindness, constitutes damnation. While he that believeth on Christ who has a vital living faith, "hath everlasting life and shall not come into damnation, but is passed (resurrected) from death unto life." Let all then who hear Christ's voice in the Gospel, obey that voice, follow the Master, imitate the Master, and believing "rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." REV. B. HUNT.

"MEET LIZZIE AT SIX.”

That was all the dispatch contained -Four little words; yet what excitement they caused in the household at Maple Cottage; the quiet, sober household, whose members, at the moment of its reception, were on the point of going to rest for the night." "Meet Lizzie at six!" was our darling indeed so near us? Two years and three months had passed since our eyes had been gladdened with her girlish beauty, since her voice had mingled with the bird music that floated all the long summer days among the maples. Two years and three months she had been buried among books, in a far away city, bowing her sunny curls over Algebra and Geometry, Grammar and Philosophy, Astronomy and Botany, French and Latin; patiently at first, because her parents desired it; afterward cheerfully, to please the teachers she learned to love; and. at last, zealously, from pure thirst for the treasures these studies unlocked to her. But it was over now-these

toilsome years-and she was on her way to us once more-our Lizzieour pet and pride-we should meet her at six.

She had left B- in the morning, had journed without stopping all day; this was guessed at once; and at eight in the evening, finding a hasty opportunity, she had telegraphed to us the words above. At six, the Eastern train arrived at our station; Lizzie was to ride all night, for the sake of reaching home thus. early. It was like her, impulsive, warm hearted child that she was. How little we slept that night; what slight sounds aroused us; how early we were all astir-even the baby, and the white haired grandfather! "Meet Lizzie, eh!" he said; "aye, indeed will we!" And the old man's voice caught a youthful tone, and his crutches an elastic movement, as he hobbled about the house, giving orders, as if all the responsibility rested upon him, to be sure. There was Hannah, too, bewildering the mother about breakfast, "Did Lizzie like coffee or cocoa best?" And, would she make biscuits or waffles? And the mother smiling all the time, nodded her head to everything, and went hurrying about, with the gridiron in one hand, and the egg-boiler in the other, coaxing Fanny to curl the baby's hair, and looking at the clock every five minutes. But Fanny, with mysterious apron-fuls of something, was flighting up stairs and down, leaving a book here, and a flower there, a picture on the table, or a rosy-cheeked fall apple in the window-something for Lizzie to see and smile at. Only the father seemed undisturbed. We noticed, to be sure, the dimples in his cheeks, which Lizzie always said she made with her fingers when she was babe, looked deeper when he smiled, and that was a little less steady,

a

when he told Thomas to bring the horses: but he said he did not like to be considered a demonstrative man, so we only looked significantly at each other, and said nothing. Still waters are sometimes very deep. At last the carriage came around, and we got in; two of us beside the father, who was to drive. There was room for more; but it was quite out of her line, the mother said, to go on a dashing drive before breakfast; so we left her on the piazza, with the pickle-dish in her hand and wiping her eyes with her apron.

It was half a mile to the depot, and the sun not quite risen when we started. How balmy and pure the air was, that soft September. We thought, egotists as we are, in our happiness, that nature sympathized with us. It seemed as if there never had been so fair a sun-rising before, as if half the glory of the morning would have been wasted, had Lizzie not been coming home. The cars had not yet arrived when we stopped at the station, but we heard the whistle of the locomotive, not very distant; and those few sweet waiting moments-what a world of blessed anticipation they held. The sun was rising—ah, Lizzie! Lizzie! At last the train came up-stopped-We looked at the windows; only a row of sad faces! Lizzie must have sat on

the other side. A few passengers came out solemn-faced and silent. We passed forward-so did those who were going out on the train. The conductor appeared, and waved everybody back, then motioned to some one in the cars. Two men came out, and slowly decended the steps, bearing the lifeless body of a woman--hər features covered by a veil. They bore it into a saloon, and laid it reverently upon the sofa. Still the conductor waved the crowd back-except our party! He knew

us, and turned away his face as we approached. Then we knew how it was; all except the father; he could not believe! Firmly he raised the veil from the dead face. Oh, God! All merciful! Is it thus we meet thee, Lizzie darling, our best beloved, idol of our heart! In a brief time we learned the story-learned how the angel of the Lord had "met Lizzie" before us, in the still twilight of that autumn morning, and after one pang, terrible we know, but brief, had wafted her gentle spirit to those who waited for her in the home of angels! At the very last stoppingplace, Lizzie had left the car to procure some food for a little child, who had fretted all night in the arms of a wearied mother. The train stopped but a moment; it was dusk and none of the officials had seen her leave it. She returned hastily to find it moving, made a mis-step, fell forwardand the rest-it is a common tale, such as newspapers chronicle every week. The beautiful head with its sunny curls was what we saw it at the station house! We shed no tears at first, though it seemed as if a drop could save our hearts from bursting -it would not come. Not even when one who, we afterward learned, was on his way to a wedding party, and who, journeying with Lizzie but a few hours, had yet learned to know her good as beautiful, came up and laid, in tearful silence, a boquet of pure white rosebuds upon her bosom. We buried them with her the stranger's kindly offering of sympathy and respect.

Blessed be God for tears! They came at last; came when we saw the mother. That scene is too sacred for detail. But the old grandfather's mind wandered when he heard the tidings, and all day he sat in his armchair on the porch, listening for the whistle of the train, as his dull ear