s life shall lose it;
and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it;" that
is, whosoever, for the sake of saving the life of his body,
shrinks from the duties of this dangerous time, shall lose the
highest welfare of the soul; but whosoever loveth his lower life
in the body less than he loves the virtues of a consecrated spirit
shall win the true blessedness of his soul. Both of these passages
show that the soul has a life and interest separate from the
material tabernacle. With what pathos and convincing power was the
same faith expressed in his ejaculation from the cross, "Father,
into thy hands I commend my spirit!" an expression of trust which,
under such circumstances of desertion, horror, and agony, could
only have been prompted by that inspiration of God which he always
claimed to have.

Christ once reasoned with the Sadducees "as touching the dead,
that they rise;" in other words, that the souls of men upon the
decease of the body pass into another and an unending state of
existence: "Neither can they die any more; for they are equal with
the angels, and are children of God, being children of the
resurrection." His argument was, that "God is the God of the
living, not of the dead;" that is, the spiritual nature of man
involves such a relationship with God as pledges his attributes to
its perpetuity. The thought which supports this reasoning
penetrates far into the soul and grasps the moral relations
between man and God. It is most interesting viewed as the
unqualified affirmation by Jesus of the doctrine of a future life
which shall be deathless.

But the Savior usually stood in a more imposing attitude and spoke
in a more commanding tone than are indicated in the foregoing
sentences. The prevailing stand point from which he spoke was that
of an oracle giving responses from the inner shrine of the
Divinity. The words and sentiments he uttered were not his, but
the Father's; and he uttered them in the clear tones of knowledge
and authority, not in the whispering accents of speculation or
surmise. How these entrancing tidings came to him he knew not:
they were no creations of his; they rose spontaneously within him,
bearing the miraculous sign and seal of God, a recommendation he
could no more question or resist than he could deny his own
existence. He was set apart as a messenger to men. The tide of
inspiration welled up till it filled every nerve and crevice of
his being with conscious life and