--would scarcely be worth
working for or possessing, unless they were accompanied with the
promise of incorruptibility. Indeed, of what use would be the rising
with the bloom of youth and health on our cheek, and in perfect
beauty of form, if time could again destroy them--as in this world!
But there is no danger that the destroyer will ever enter our
heavenly home. Listen to St. Paul. Speaking again of the body, he
says: "It is sown in corruption, it shall rise in incorruption."*

* 1 Cor. xv 42.

Our bodies, as now constituted, are corruptible by their very nature.
The elements of matter which compose them are held together by the
laws of life, and not by their natural affinities. Hence, from the
very first moment of our existence to our death, there is a continual
struggle between the laws of life and those that govern inorganic
matter. For a time, vigorous young life claims the supremacy, and the
body grows to its degree of beauty and strength attainable in this
world. But full soon the laws of decay and corruption begin to assert
their empire. Beauty of feature and form gradually fade away;
elasticity of limb gives way to the decrepitude of old age, and
finally the whole frame becomes a burden under which nature groans
and totters, until it falls into the gloomy grave, where corruption
destroys every remaining vestige of beauty, and even of the human
form. On the resurrection day, we not only shall rise in splendor and
perfection of form, but we shall also be transferred to another
world, whose laws are in perfect harmony with the laws of life, and
into which corruption shall never enter.

In the present world, we already see things which, as far as we know
nature's laws, are incorruptible. The diamond, for instance, is the
most incorruptible of all known substances; and unless the now
existing laws of nature should change, the splendid Koh-i-noor and
other diamonds will glitter as brilliantly as they now do, when the
angel sounds the trumpet to announce to the world that time shall be
no more. These beautiful gems are therefore a faint image of our
glorified bodies, which shall not only rise in perfection of form,
but shall also be totally incorruptible. They shall forever be beyond
the reach of death, decay, or corruption, resplendent in themselves,
and increasing the very beauty of heaven, as sparkling gems enhance
the beauty of a royal crown.

Yes, this vile and corruptible body must be changed into an
in