The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-04-24

self. the masterpiece in Gods creation. l have received from Him the promise l of new life, possess in his frail body the germ of immortality. And in truth
 in the light of this well founded nope death loses It's sadness; can we still call
 1t an evil, when it frees us from sor-
 row and grief and restores to us the
 liberty of life eternal?
 | After our forefather Adam had for he ate his bread in the sweat of his
 brow, thorns and thistles, the earth bore to him; he witnessed the fratri- eide of Cain; he witnessed the terrible
 ravages of sin and evil among his chill dren and children's children; he had before his eyes continuously the awful consequences of his sin in Paradise Not one happy moment did he enjoy
 during all the days of his life; death
 was a redemption for him; he longed
 for 1t, he desired 1t, and when 1t at last appeared he praised God Almighty
 for taking him away from the world
 of sin and misery.
 King David, the royal prophet could
 easily count the days of his happiness; they were so few One of his sons committed an unnatural crime, the oth-
 CT revolted against him, and died the death of a rebel; a third son, God took
 away from him as a punishment for his
 sins: Turn not away thy face from
 me. oh Lord.' he exclaims in his grief
 for my days have declined like a shad-
 ow. and I am withered like the grass tPsalms, 107.)
 | You all know, how much misery and misfortune has been the share of the great sufferer Job. Let the day
 perish wherein | was born, the day,
 which for me, was the beginning of misery, of all evil.' (Job. B. He cursed Nf r; I<t,-t., hn
 sidered 1t the origin of all evil. he
 wished it to perish, in order to behold
 the other day, the day of Resurrection.
 Behold the life of our Redeemer; l from the first moment to the last, It
 was full of suffering, sorrow and grief.
 He longed for death; and when at last he was sentenced to die on the cross. he embraced the cross; he kissed it., because now, in his last struggle, in the most momentous period of his ca- reer, he would redeem by his death all
 mankind; dying himself, he would van- quish death. and render 1t sweet and hopeful for men. For he who beholds the triumphant. death of Jesus on the | cross, sees in him the eternal resur- rection of man, and therefore will not fear death, knowing that he will rise again.
 And the Resurrection is cer- tainty Reason and historical fact proves it. Our reason argues: Soul and body are most intimately joined together to form one human individual; the one therefore cannot exist forever without the other; their separation means death to the body, and the soul in this unnatural separation longs and craves to be united again with the body for which 1t was created; there- fore there must be resurrection or the flesh. Whatever good the soul has hV h0dX. whatever evil the soul has committed. was committed through the agency of the body, and therefore when man Is cited before the throne of God at the general judgment he must appear as a complete human being, soul and body united again, to hear the sentence or eternal happiness or eternal damna- tion.
 "Resurrection is confirmed by the laws of nature The series of genera tions, tine changes and successions, the setting and rising of the stars, the end of day and the end of night, they are | so many pictures of nature in the state | of death, and of life. What shall l sneak to you of the fruit of the tree, 1t falls to the ground in autumn; there if remains awhile until it is decom- | posed, when the earth will receive Tn | her bosom the small seed; but as soon as the milder temperature of spring 1 h1niSheS l the vapors of the earth to rise, that little seed begins to germinate, begins to grow; and when the tiny little llade appears above ground, then nature pro- tects 1t against the cold. by surround | ing it with a stalk. and against the heat of the sun, by letting fall upon IL | the dew of night Soon it begins to sprout to blossom. and foliage covers | it as with a beautiful garment. O, this blossom of nature, 1t is the picture of inc immortality of our risen bodies! o. | this germ is the image Of a hopefui | resurrection. Why do you wonderT IT the earth gives life to the small seed, shall it not restore our bodies aiter lt has swallowed them up? Therefore It | ia evident that the resurrection Of our | hodies is not against but according to nature. Listen to what St. Paul re- | marks on the resurrection Of the body: | It is sown in corruption, 1t shall rise | in interruption; 1t Is sown in dishonor' if shall rise in power; 1t is sown a nat | ural body. 1t shall rise splFltual DouS' | q. Cor. 43. 44.)
 | "But Is 1t possible that our bodies rise again, after all its particles are l disseminated over the world; after our ashes have been scattered to the four | winds of the earth; shall the ocean re-
 turn those it has swallowed? our | hodies at the day of resurrection rise l | are now, so that the elect can speak of | himself With this body have ob- | served the law of God, with this body
 I have done good, and therefore with
 this body I shall enter life eternal | and likewise the wicked; this is the | body. whose sinful lust l have grati- | fled: this Is the body for whose sake | I have forgotten God. and therefore
 with this body I shall suffer eternal | damnation. And still the substance l which compose that in body need
 not be the same; for even now, while
 we are living, our bodies are subject
 to A continual change, and 1t Is af'
 hrned by science that after certain
 period ftime, no more of the former
 substance will remain; they will al
 have been replaced by new ones, ant
 still we are tn esame today that WI
 have been twenty, thirty, forty years
 ago.
 Behold here a continual decomposi' | ton. and therefore a continual death
 and consequently also a continual res
 urrected even during this life Wh! then shall we doubt the reality of th' resurrection of the flesh?
 'Behold the heavens, behold th' earth. Whence are those beautltu
 stars, whence the glorious orb Of th' ann with its resplendent rays, whence the moon that illumines the night Whence are the summits of mountains whence the large and small rivers tha irrigate the lands, whence the deel waters of the ocean? Whence Is mal himself? (St Ambrose.)
 God has called forth all this iron nothing; for He spoke and they were | ~,oda. IJa commanded and they ap