There was once a very complicated engine, that did a very wonderful work. No engine in the world was like it, and no other engine could turn out such marvellous products. One day, all of a sudden, this engine stopped.
The engineer, though he was very familiar with the engine and had worked with it all his life, could not see what was the matter. Over and under the great machine he peered, investigating all the wheels and pulleys, the axles and cogs, oiling carefully here and there, and all in vain. Then he called the foreman of the establishment, but the foreman could do nothing.
At last, after many hours, the owners came to see what was the matter, and then all the friends of the owners came. They called in the skilled mechanics of the town, and many were the consultations, and much advice was given, but no one could see what was the matter with the engine. At last they sent to other cities, and all men who were wise in machinery took turns in trying to better this machine and set it to going again, but they could do nothing.
At last it occurred to some one,—these people were very foolish, you see, or they would have thought of it before,—it occurred to some one to ask who was the maker of the wonderful machine, and to suggest that they send for him. They did that at once, and when the maker came, he simply gave a glance at the machine, put his finger on a part that was not noticed or understood by the mechanics, and at once, as soon as the power was applied, the great machine began to move, and to do its work even better than before.
Have you ever thought, children, that our bodies are the most wonderful machines in all this world, and that they do a work more marvellous than any machine that men can contrive? And have you ever thought, too, that when these wonderful bodies of ours stop their work partly, through sickness, or at last stop it altogether in death, the same great Maker who manufactured our bodies in the first place will be perfectly able to set them going again?—indeed, to give us bodies that are far better than those he has made for us in this world, bodies that will permit us to do wonderful things that our earthly bodies cannot even attempt.