"Now, if Christ is preached that he hath been raised from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither hath Christ been raised: and if Christ hath not been raised, then is our preaching vain, your faith also is vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we witnessed of God that he hath raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that he did not rise. But if the dead are not raised; neither hath Christ been raised: and if Christ hath not been raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most pitiable."—1 Cor. 15:12-19. We commemorate to-day the resurrection of Christ from the dead. We shall see that the resurrection of Christ was a resurrection of the body of Christ, that it was not merely the indwelling Spirit of Jesus Christ, clothed upon with a new and entirely different body, that appeared to the disciples on the first resurrection day, but that it was the body that was buried, raised again, and that this involves for us not merely the immortality of our souls, but the resurrection and eternal continuance of our bodies. Yet there are many who call themselves Christians and who say that they believe in the Bible, and who consider themselves perfectly orthodox Christians, who do not believe in the Resurrection of the Body, they merely believe in the immortality of the soul. I. THE FACT OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY OF CHRIST AND OF OUR BODIES We shall consider first _the fact of the resurrection of the body of Jesus Christ and of our bodies_.