Taken to Pieces, but Not Destroyed
By Adelaide D. Wellman
MY watch having failed of late to keep accurate time, I take it to a reliable watchmaker. I do not fear to trust it to his care, for I know him to be not only an honest man, but also a capable workman. He may take the watch apart utterly, but I am not at all solicitous, for I know he is fully able to put it together again. Some part may be broken or worn out, but the repairer can supply the lack. True, I must forego the use of my watch for a while. That is inevitable. But I console myself with the thought that the time will not be long. I never before so much appreciated that little piece of machinery as after having been for a few days without it. These bodies of ours are sure to become impaired eventually, but the most skilled practitioner is a bungling workman to be trusted with the repair of so intricate a machine. And when once its action ceases, only the Maker is capable of restoring it. But, happily, He is able.343When, like a watch, the body of a dear one is reduced to its elemental components, there is no occasion to fear that he can not be restored, though we must be for a time without his presence. Some who would fain comfort us, declare that the one who has been taken from us is not really dead — that the soul lives on, and will be near us still. But the Scriptures of truth do not beguile us with such statements, and we know, as did David, “I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” Yet we are by no means without comfort; for “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day” — the day when our disintegrated bodies shall be reorganized, and resume their functions of brain and muscle, not as old machines repaired, but in the fulness of a new life.