excited some objections as to its physical possibility: "How are the dead raised up and with what body do they come?" This physical difficulty has laid at the foundation of all the doubt that has ever existed upon this subject. But after all, nothing can be more idle and weak, when viewed in the light of that very philosophy, which raises the objection. No possible state of the soul can seem antecedently more improbable, than that in which it now exists, in connexion with the body. How that which is immaterial can come in contact with that which is material, how the brain, which is itself senseless, inert matter, can convey feeling to the soul, apparently a thing without parts, extension, or solidity, and be its organ of thought, memory and volition, is just as difficult to be conceived as the exercise of those powers in a disembodied state. All must ultimately be referred to the will of God, with whom all things are alike possible. He, who could first create the soul, endow it with its wonderful powers and capacities, and place it in such incomprehensible relations to the body, and with the universe, could continue that existence under any circumstances, which would seem best to his infinite wisdom.

The answer then of Paul to the objector is perfectly legitimate and conclusive; "Thou fool, that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body which shall be, but bare grain; it may be 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, and 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. 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. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast and unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

This Epistle, which is chiefly one of admonition and reproof, did not produce its full effect. In it he told them that he should visit them shortly. But soon after this, there arose a great excitement at Ephesus, caused by the silversmiths, which terminated in the

riot at the theatre. This detained the Apostle, and prevented his fulfilling his promise, and gave his opponents an opportunity to say, that he was fickle of purpose. After those troubles were over, however, he sailed to Macedonia, but was still unwilling to go to Corinth, before his first Epistle had had time to reform and pacificate the church. He therefore wrote them another letter,' which we have as the second Epistle to the Corinthians, in which he merely reiterates his former admonitions, and reasserts in stronger terms, his Apostolic authority, which they were disposed to call in question. In them both we have the effusions of a strong and full mind, ready sympathies, and a noble heart. The impression is every where conveyed of entire sincerity of conviction, and deep earnestness of purpose, scrupulous delicacy of character, and absolute disinterestedness. They contribute to throw an air of reality over the whole narrative of the first planting of Christianity, and so weave together sacred history with profane, ordinary with supernatural events into a consistent whole, that they plant the whole in our faith as among the unchangeable records of the past. They show us the Christian church just struggling into existence, in the first process of purification from the ignorance and pollutions of idolatry, and the Gospel vindicating to itself on the very threshold of its existence, the character given it by its most zealous

Apostle, as "the power of God unto salvation." We see, that from the first, it encountered the same difficulties, which have beset it in every age, the corruption of its simple doctrines by human philosophy, and the resistance of human passions to its pure and holy precepts. They show us that Christianity is a religion and not a philosophy, is founded on fact and not on speculation, not resting on argument but on authority, and to be propagated, not so much by the artifices of human eloquence, as by a simple, serious, devout and earnest spirit. To be studied with profit, they are to be read, not in detached parts and isolated sentences, but after having obtained a general idea of the purpose of the whole, we may take up the parts, one after another, and passages at first dark as midnight, become clear as the noon-day.

Lecture XVIII.

ANALYSIS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

1 COR. 15: 13-15.—But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen. And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God, that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.

IT is the purpose of this lecture to analyze the New Testament into its constituent elements, and then to arrange those elements in the order of their importance to the Christian faith and life.

An analysis of any thing is the separation of it into parts, drawing the real distinctions which exist between the parts, and then the arrangement of the parts in the order either of their magnitude, or their importance, or some other quality in which we compare them with each other. The success of the attempt at analysis is to be judged of, by the fact, whether the analysis exhausts and embraces the whole, whether the distinctions drawn between the parts are real and important, and whether they are