3. Why has God hidden from us the time of our death?
1. That we may so much the more honor and fear Him as the Supreme Lord of life and death; 2. That we may keep ourselves every moment prepared for death;1 and 3. That the dread with which we are seized when we think of death as at hand may be moderated.
1'Be you then also ready; for at what hour you think not, the Son of Man will come' (Luke xii. 40). Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matt. xxv.).
4. How are we to keep ourselves prepared for death?
We should carefully avoid sin, and lead a godly life.
5. How long will the body remain in the earth?
The body will remain in the earth till the day of judgment, when God will raise it again to life, and reunite it for ever to the soul, from which death had separated it.
'The hour cometh, wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And they that have done good things shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment' — i.e., to hear the sentence of condemnation (John v. 28, 29),
6. What do we call this raising of the bodies to life?
The resurrection of the flesh or body.
7. But how can the bodies, when reduced to dust, rise again?
By the Omnipotence of God, our bodies, reduced to dust, can as easily be raised again to life as they were once made out of nothing.
Parable of the grain of wheat (1 Cor. xv. 35, etc.).
8. Why shall our bodies rise again?
1. That, as the body was a partner with the soul in the performance, of good or evil works, so it may also be a partaker of the reward or punishment (2 Cor. v. 10); and 2. That the victory of Christ over death may be perfect.
'When this mortal hath put on immortality, then shall come
