question has been settled long since; Christ rose again, therefore for us also there will be a resurrection and recognition!
2. Will this hope perhaps deceive us? Never! An unhappy mother knelt by the grave of her darling, a boy about ten years old. She remained kneeling there for hours; she wept until her eyes were red; she sighed and prayed until her voice failed her; yet, as the poet tells us:
When for the loved one lost our tears o'erflow
The mourning heart is bowed with bitter woe,
This thought into the heart with solace steals :
He is not dead whom now the grave conceals.
Assuredly, "he is not dead whom now the grave conceals"! An inner voice tells us this, and the same voice is heard by all those nations who honor the last resting-places of the dead. Everywhere, even among the most uncivilized nations, we find the hope that the sleep of the grave will not last forever, but that the day of awakening will dawn.
But we, as Christians, have no mere vague presentiments concerning this resurrection and recognition, but the most complete assurance. For Jesus Christ, who is Himself the Eternal Truth, says, in clear and solemn accents: "I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in Me, although he be dead, shall live."
3. And there must of necessity be a resurrection
