I HAVE seen the sun set in the west, and the shades of night shut in the wide horizon; there was no color, nor shape, nor beauty, nor music; gloom and darkness brooded around.
I looked, the sun broke forth again from the east, and gilded the mountain tops; the lark rose to meet him from her low nest, and the shades of darkness fled away.
I have seen the insect, being come to its full size, languish and refuse to eat: it spun itself into a tomb, and was shrouded in the silken cone; it lay without feet, or shape, or power to move.
I looked again, it had burst its tomb; it was full of life, and sailed on colored wings through the soft air; it rejoiced in its new being.216Thus shall it be with thee, O man! and so shall thy life be renewed.
A little while shall thou lie in the ground, as the seed lieth in the bosom of the earth: but thou shalt be raised again; and, if thou art good, thou shalt be happy evermore.
Beauty shall spring up out of ashes, and life out of the dust.
But who is he that cometh to burst open the prison doors of the tomb; to bid the dead awake, and to gather his redeemed from the four winds of heaven?
He descendeth on a fiery cloud; the sound of a trumpet goeth before him; thousands of angels are on his right hand.
It is Jesus, the Son of God, the Saviour of men.
He cometh in the glory of his Father; he hath received power from on high.
Mourn not, therefore, heir of immortality; for the spoiler, the cruel spoiler that laid waste the works of God, is subdued: Jesus hath conquered death: heir of immortality! mourn no longer.—Selected.