and motionless, and corruption begins to assert its empire over them.
Our nearest and dearest friends hasten to throw them into the dark
and silent grave, where they return into their original dust. Then,
indeed, our bodies are "sown in dishonor." But when the fulness of
time shall have come, these same dishonored bodies "shall rise in
glory."

* 1 Cor. xv. 43.

This word _glory_ is one of great and manifold meanings in Holy
Scripture. In this particular place and connection it means
excellence and beauty, accompanied with a shining splendor.
Wherefore, our bodies rising in glory, means, first, that they shall
rise perfect in beauty and symmetry of form, and totally free from
the defects and blemishes entailed by sin. This perfect beauty of
form is evidently involved in the promise of rising conformable to
the glorious body of our Blessed Saviour, "who, will reform the body
of our lowness, made like the body of His glory, according to the
operation whereby he is also able to subdue all things unto
himself."*

* Phil. iii. 21.

The human body was created perfect in the beginning. It was the
masterpiece of God's power and wisdom in this world. But sin
dishonored and disfigured it. It gave birth to a host of infirmities,
which mar its original beauty, and in some cases change it even into
a monster. Still, in spite of sin, it yet retains, in many
individuals, much of its primitive comeliness. But how perfect soever
in form and feature any one may be, there is always some deficiency;
some member, organ, or feature is slightly distorted, imperfect, or
out of proportion with the rest.

On the resurrection day, all these defects and blemishes disappear,
and the human body is again, far more than in the beginning, a
masterpiece of God's creative power, wisdom, and love. For every
member, organ, and feature will then be exquisitely shaped and
proportioned, so as to harmonize into a perfect whole of surpassing
beauty, without defect or deficiency of any kind. Oh! with what
rapturous delight will the soul reunite herself with that beautiful
body, and make it her temple forever! It was the companion of her
sorrows and her joys in this world. But it was, too, a body of sin
and death, and she had, perhaps more than once, sighed and prayed to
be delivered from it. But now that it is purified, beautiful, and
glorified, she re-enters it with joy, because it is become the fit
companion of a beatific spirit. The fond mother meetin