or in the midst of the city's crowded cemetery, or far away
amid the alien and stranger in some foreign shore, our dust shall be
startled by that omnipotent summons. How shall we hear it? Would it
sound in our ears like the sweet tones of the silver trumpet of Jubilee?
Would it be to gaze like Lazarus on the face of our best friend--to see
_Jesus_ bending over us in looks of tenderness--to hear the living tones
of that same voice, whose accents were last heard in the dark valley,
whispering hopes full of immortality? True, we have not to wait for a
Saviour's love and presence till then. The hour of _death_ is to the
Christian the birthday of endless life. Guardian angels are hovering
around his dying pillow ready to waft his spirit into Abraham's bosom.
"The souls of believers do _immediately_ pass into glory." But the full
plenitude of their joy and bliss is reserved for the time when the
precious but redeemed dust, which for a season is left to moulder in the
tomb, shall become instinct with life--"the corruptible put on
incorruption, and the mortal immortality." The spirits of the just enter
at _death_ on "the inheritance of the saints in light;" but at the
_Resurrection_ they shall rise as separate orbs from the darkness and
night of the grave, each to "shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of
their Father." However glorious the emancipation of the soul in the
moment of dissolution, it is not until the plains and valleys of our
globe shall stand thick with the living of buried generations--each
glorified body the image of its Lord's--that the predicted anthem will
be heard waking the echoes of the universe--"O death, where is thy
sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" Then, with the organs of their
resurrection-bodies ennobled, etherealised, purified from all the
grossness of earth, they shall "behold the King in his beauty." "The
King's daughter," all glorious without, "all glorious within"--"her
clothing of wrought gold"--resplendent _without_ with the robes of
righteousness--radiant _within_ with the beauties of holiness--shall be
brought "with gladness and rejoicing," and "enter into the King's
palace." This will form the full meridian of the saints' glory--the
essence and climax of their new-born bliss--the full vision and fruition
of a Saviour-God. "When He shall appear, ... we shall see Him as He is!"
The first sight which will burst on the view of the Risen ones will be
_Jesus_! _His_ hands will wreath the glo