indeed," saith unbelief, "if it be true." "What," saith the Atheist and
Sadducee, "shall all these scattered bones and dust become a man? A man
drowned in the sea is eaten by fishes, and they by men again, and these
men by worms. What is to become of the body of that first man? Shall it
rise again?" Thou fool--for so Paul calls thee--dost thou dispute
against the power of the Almighty? Wilt thou pose him with thy
sophistry? Dost thou object difficulties to infinite strength? Thou
blind mole, thou silly worm; thou little piece of creeping, breathing
clay; thou dust, thou nothing, knowest thou who it is whose power thou
dost question? If thou shouldst see Him, thou wouldst presently die. If
He should come and dispute His cause with thee, couldst thou bear it? If
thou shouldst hear His voice, couldst thou endure?

Come then, fellow-Christians, let us contentedly commit these carcasses
to the dust, knowing that prison shall not long contain them. Let us lie
down in peace and take our rest; it will not be an everlasting night or
endless sleep. As sure as we awake in the morning when we have slept out
the night, so sure shall we then awake. What if our carcasses become as
vile as those of the beasts that perish, what if our bones are digged up
and scattered about the pit brink, and worms consume our flesh, yet we
know that our Redeemer liveth, and shall stand at the last on earth, and
we shall see Him with these eyes.

The third part of this prologue to the saints' rest is the public and
solemn process at their judgment. O terrible, O joyful day! Then shall
the world behold the goodness and the severity of the Lord--on them who
perish, severity; but to His chosen, goodness. Then, fellow-Christians,
let the terror of that day be never so great, surely our Lord can mean
no ill to us.