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then baptized for the dead? And why stand we in danger every hour? I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If according to men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what doth it profit me, if the dead rise not? Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Be not deceived; evil communications corrupt good manners. Awake as is right and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God; I speak this to your shame.

But some man will say, How are the dead raised up ? and with what kind of body do they come? Foolish man, that which thou sowest is not quickened,* except it die. And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but mere grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him; and to every seed his own body. All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars ; for one star differeth from another star in glory.

So also is the resurrection of the dead: it is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption : it is sown in dishonor, 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. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and after

* Quickened. Made alive.

wards that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.* As is the earthly, such are they also that are earthly; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

Now this I mean, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 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 trumpet; (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. O Death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 1 Cor. xv.

[The apostle Peter teaches us which Christians derive from the in these words :-]

one of the blessings resurrection of Jesus

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the

*The Lord from heaven, or according to a large proportion of the ancient manuscripts which have been examined, The second man from heaven.

resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.1 Peter i. 3-5.

[Paul also teaches the power of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus in delivering Christians from the power of sin, as follows:]

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is absolved from sin.* Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: knowing that Christ, risen from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died unto sin, he died once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. So do you reckon yourselves also to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, so as to obey it in the lusts thereof: neither yield ye your members as instruments of iniquity unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive

* Absolved from sin, literally justified from sin.

from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Rom. vi. 1—13.

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: for which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience.* In which ye also walked sometime, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech out of your mouth, Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free but Christ is all, and in all. Put on therefore, as the elect+ of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any; even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Col. iii. 1-13.

*Disobedience, or unbelief. † Elect, or chosen.

End of No. I.-New Testament.

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