"The First Resurrection."
By W. Leask, D. D.
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. The sublimity and magnificence of the resurrection are perfectly overwhelming to the imagination. The very idea is glorious; its truth is demonstrated by the simple fact that it is revealed. It needs no argument. It stands apart and unapproachable in its own splendor. To attempt to prove it is superfluous now; for the thing has been done, both in fact and pledge, by the resurrection of the Son of man. As the miracle of miracles, it remains to be accomplished. It resolves itself into omnipotence. It rests for performance solely in the mighty power of God. Human reason never reached even the base of this mountain mystery in the purposes of the Almighty. The oracles were dumb on this gigantic theme. Imagination had not soared so high; and among the rich treasures of intellect, there was none so valuable as to be labelled with the word resurrection. The Doges of Greece laughed merrily at the little Jew (Paul) from Palestine, when he mentioned it—it was the last joke of the season. The news retailers of Athens were eclipsed by the insignificant looking foreigner. The philosophers wished to hear the babbler again. Such is the vaunted, worshipped intellect of man, in the presence of his Creator's decrees. Such is the haven to which an unbaptized philosophy would pilot us, after the storms of the passage. And such is the deplorable darkness amidst which the whole human race would have been left, but for the light and immortality which have been brought to light by the gospel. And truly, we need this gospel; and if we are not so terribly deceived by that sin, which is the parent of death, as to shut our eyes to its supernatural glories, we shall seize it with all the energy of resolute decision, and welcome it to our hearts with all the warmth of intelligent gratitude. Where, also, can we find a faithful friend in the time of calamity; a wise guide across an untrodden desert, or a clear expositor of the mysteries of being? To whom but the Christ of God, can we look, when sin alarms the conscience, or darkness surrounds the faith, or profound apprehensions crowd the unexplored future. Where is the teacher, the anointed prophet excepted, who knows the mind, and can unfold the decrees of Jehovah? And what are we, that we should presume to find our way out of this labyrinth unaided, or quarrel with the eternal plan when revealed, if it tally not in every particular with our childish pre-conceptions? When we see the masters of mind, the very195geniuses of our human brotherhood, so totally unable to forecast the purposes of God, respecting this planet, as to turn the idea of a resurrection into ridicule, we may all pause, and ask ourselves whether we have given to revelation that cordial welcome which its generous spirit, its noble character, and its sublime predictions so richly merit. How is it that the humble laborer's wife can instruct her child in lessons, grander far than ever were taught by the world-renowned sages of ancient Greece? How is it that our common schools are illuminated by a brighter light than ever shone upon the Areopagus of Athens, until the traveller of Tarsus stood there? And how is it that whilst the illustrious philosopher wearies himself with a thousand laborious speculations, the intellectual Christian can sweep the great future by a single movement of the eye of faith, and see the dead of all ages stand alive at the bar of God, whilst a "new heaven" and a "new earth," where dwelleth righteousness, bound the luminous horizon? But have we really seized all the treasures which God has placed within our reach in the broad field of revelation? Are there not great gems of celestial light lying there unappropriated? Have we not adopted the traditions of men, instead of the verities of God? And with all our vast accessions of knowledge, and immeasurable superiority over the wise men of heathenism, are we as rich in holy information as our Lord has made it possible for us to be? We pity the ignorance of a proud philosophy, and shrink with horror from the Parisian infidelity that, with an intoxicated atheism, wrote on the cemetery gates of Paris, "Death is an eternal sleep;" but have we come up to the holy oracles, and listened with profound emotion to its sacred utterances? You readily admit that "the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God and live." But have you learned the vast distinction, both in time, and privilege, between the first and second resurrections? Paul saw a mighty difference between the resurrection of the just and the unjust; a vast difference in time, and an astounding difference in circumstances. To rise when his Lord should come was the object of his holy ambition. With the coming of Christ and the first resurrection, he associated all that was grand, imposing, joyful, and glorious. To the time when the dead in Christ should arise, the apostles and early Christians looked forward with earnest expectation; they looked for a kingdom and spoke of a world to come; and they knew that the full redemption of the church and the complete realization of their desires, depended entirely on the coming of Christ, (in connection with the first resurrection,) when he should descend from Heaven with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God.