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diff --git a/32830-h/32830-h.htm b/32830-h/32830-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..abf74fe --- /dev/null +++ b/32830-h/32830-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1738 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= +"text/html; charset=us-ascii"> +<title>The State of the Blessed Dead</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + body {font-family:'Bookman Old Style', 'Book Antiqua', 'Garamond'; text-align:justify; margin-left:3em; margin-right:3em} + p.pnn {margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0} + p.pn {text-indent:1.5em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0} + p.pns {text-indent:1.5em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em} + p.p0 {padding-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; margin-top:0.6em; margin-bottom:0} + p.pb {padding-left:2em; font-size:83%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0} + ol.uroman {list-style-type: upper-roman} + li {margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0.3em} + .sc {font-variant:small-caps} + .dc3 {font-size:4.3em; float:left; line-height:0.9em; padding-top:0.01em; padding-right:0.1em; letter-spacing:-0.005em } + .f10 {font-size:83%} + .f11 {font-size:92%} + h1 {text-align:center;margin-top:3.0em;margin-bottom:1.5em;font-size:125%;font-weight:normal} +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The State of the Blessed Dead, by Henry Alford + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The State of the Blessed Dead + +Author: Henry Alford + +Release Date: June 16, 2010 [EBook #32830] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STATE OF THE BLESSED DEAD *** + + + + +Produced by Keith G. Richardson + + + + + +</pre> + +<p class="pnn">The State of the Blessed Dead</p> +<ol class="uroman"> +<li><a href="#I">The commencement of their state</a></li> +<li><a href="#II">The termination of their incomplete +condition</a></li> +<li><a href="#III">What shall befall them after the +resurrection</a></li> +<li><a href="#IV">Their final state of bliss</a></li> +</ol> +<p class="pn"><a href="#works">Other Works</a></p> +<hr style="margin-top:6em;margin-bottom:16em"> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:129%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:1.5em"> +The Blessed Dead.</p> +<hr style="margin-top:15em;margin-bottom:2.8em"> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:117%;letter-spacing:0.15em;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:1.5em"> +THE STATE</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:67%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:1.8em"> +OF THE</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:183%;letter-spacing:0.2em;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:1.8em"> +BLESSED DEAD.</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:67%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0.6em"> +By</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:117%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0.4em"> +HENRY ALFORD, D. D.,</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:67%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:2.0em"> +DEAN OF CANTERBURY.</p> +<div style="text-align:center"><img alt="Graphic" src= +"images/pic.jpg" style= +"width: 5.5em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0.9em"></div> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:88%;letter-spacing:0.2em;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0.1em"> +LONDON:</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:88%;letter-spacing:0.2em;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0.2em"> +HODDER AND STOUGHTON,</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:67%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:1.5em"> +27, PATERNOSTER ROW.</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:67%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:1.5em"> +MDCCCLXIX.</p> +<hr style="margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:14em"> +<p class="pn f11"><i>The following Discourses were delivered in +Canterbury Cathedral during Advent,</i> 1868, <i>and appeared in +the</i> “Pulpit Analyst,” 1869.</p> +<hr style="margin-top:14em;margin-bottom:8em"> +<h1><a name="I" id="I">The State of the Blessed Dead.</a></h1> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:117%;margin-top:3.0em;margin-bottom:0.5em"> +I.</p> +<p class="pnn"><span class="dc3">I</span> <span class= +"sc">have</span> already announced that during this Advent season +I would call your attention to the state of the blessed dead. My +object in so doing is simply that we may recall to ourselves that +which Scripture has revealed respecting them, for our +edification, and for our personal comfort. And I would guard that +which will be said by one or two preliminary observations.</p> +<p class="pn">With Death as an object of terror, with Death from +the mere moralist’s point of view, as the termination of +human schemes and hopes, we Christians have nothing to do. We are +believers in and servants of One who has in these senses +abolished Death. Our schemes and hopes are not terminated by +Death, but reach onward into a state beyond it.</p> +<p class="pn">Again, with that state beyond, except as one of +blessedness purchased for us by the Son of God, I am not at +present dealing. It is of those that die in the Lord alone that I +speak.</p> +<p class="pn">And this being so, it is clear that the first point +about them demanding our attention is, the very commencement of +their state at the moment of death. And this will form our +subject to-day.</p> +<p class="pn">We shall be guided in its consideration by two +texts of Holy Scripture. The one is that where Our Lord answers +the prayer of the dying thief that He would remember him when He +came into His kingdom, Luke xxiii. 43: “<span class= +"sc">Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with Me in +paradise</span>.”</p> +<p class="pn">And the other is an expression of St. Paul, Phil. +i. 23, not improbably taken from those very words recorded in the +gospel of that evangelist who was his companion in +travel—“<span class="sc">to depart and to be with +Christ</span>.”</p> +<p class="pn">Now in both these one fact is simply declared, +viz.: that the departed spirit of the faithful man is +<span class="sc">with Christ</span>. It is as if one bright light +were lifted for us in the midst of a realm brooded over by +impenetrable mist. For who knows whither the departed spirit has +betaken itself when it has left us here? One of the most painful +pangs in bereavement by death is the utter and absolute +severance, without a spark of intelligence of the departed. One +hour, life is blest by their presence; the next, it is entirely +and for ever gone from us, never to be heard of more. One word, +one utterance—how precious in that moment of anguish do we +feel that it would be! But we are certain it never will be +granted us. None has ever come back who has told the story. Where +the spirit wakes and finds itself,—this none has ever +declared to us; nor shall we know until our own turn comes. Now +in such a state of uncertainty, these texts speak for us a +certain truth: The departed spirit is <span class="sc">with +Christ</span>.</p> +<p class="pn">I shall regard this revelation negatively and +positively: as to what it disproves, and as to what it +implies.</p> +<p class="pn">First, then, it disproves the idea of the spirit +passing at death into a state of unconsciousness, from which it +is to wake only at the great day of the resurrection. If it is to +be with Christ, this cannot be. Christ is in no such state of +unconsciousness; He has entered into His rest, and is waiting +till all things shall be put under His feet; and it would be a +mere delusion to say of the blessed dead, that they shall be with +Christ, if they were to be virtually annihilated during this time +that Christ is waiting for His kingdom. Besides, how then would +the Lord’s promise to the thief be fulfilled? What +consolation would it have been to him, what answer to his prayer, +to be remembered when Jesus came in His kingdom, if these words +implied that he should be unconsciously sleeping while the Lord +was enjoying his triumph? Therefore we may safely say, that the +so-called “sleep of the soul,” from the act of death +till the resurrection, has no foundation in that which is +revealed to us.</p> +<p class="pn">It is perfectly true, that the state of the +departed is described to us as “sleeping in Jesus,” +or rather, for the words are a misrendering, a having fallen +asleep <i>through</i>, or <i>by means of Jesus</i>. But our texts +are enough to show us, that we must not take such an expression +for more than it really implies. Sleeping, or falling asleep, was +a name current among Jews and Christians, and even among the best +of the heathens, for death, implying its peace and rest, implying +also that it should be followed by a waking: but apparently with +no intent to convey any idea of unconsciousness. It is a term +used with reference to us, as well as to the dead. To us, they +are as if they were asleep: removed from us in consciousness, as +in presence. The idea also of <i>taking rest</i> tended to make +this term appropriate. But it must not be used to prove that to +which it evidently had no reference.</p> +<p class="pn">The spirit, then, of the departed does not pass +into unconsciousness. What more do we know of it? It is +<span class="sc">with Jesus</span>.</p> +<p class="pn">We have now to consider what this implies. And in +doing so we shall have further to make certain that which we +think we have already proved. For first, it clearly implies more +than a mere expression of safe-keeping, or reserve for a future +state of blessedness. “The righteous souls are in the hand +of God, and there shall no harm happen to them.” This is +one thing: but to be with Christ is another. We might again +appeal to the spirit of the promise made to the penitent thief, +in order to show this: we might remind you that in the other +text, St. Paul is comparing the two states—life in the +midst of his children in the faith, and death; and he says, +“I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is +far better:” better than being with you, my +Philippians.</p> +<p class="pn">So that more must be meant than mere safe keeping +in the Redeemer’s hands. We may surely say, that nothing +less than conscious existence in the presence of Christ can be +intended. And if that is intended, then very much more is +intended also, than those words at first seem to imply. Remember +the contrast which this same Apostle elsewhere draws. “We +know,” he says, “that while we are present in the +body, we are absent from the Lord: for we walk by faith, not by +appearance: we are willing rather to be absent from the body and +present with the Lord.” That is, if we follow out the +thought, this present state of dwelling in our home the body is a +state of severance from the Lord; but there is a better state, +into which we shall be introduced when this house of the body is +pulled down: and from the context in that place we may add, much +as we wish to be clothed upon with our new and glorious body +which is from heaven, yet even short of that, we have learned to +prefer being simply unclothed from the body, because thus we +shall be present with the Lord.</p> +<p class="pn">So that we may safely assume thus much, my +brethren: that the moment a Christian’s spirit is released +from the body, it does enter into the presence of our Blessed +Lord and Saviour, in a way of which it knows nothing here: a way +which, compared to all that its previous faith could know of Him, +is like presence of friends compared to absence.</p> +<p class="pn">Now let us take another remarkable passage of Holy +Writ bearing on this same matter. St. John, in his first Epistle +says, “Beloved, now are we children of God, and it never +yet was manifested what we shall be; but if it should be +manifested, we know that we shall be like Him: for we shall see +Him as He is:” for this is the more accurate rendering of +the words: meaning, if any one could come back, or come down, to +us, and tell us what our future state is to be, the information +could amount for us now only to this, that we shall be like Him, +like Christ; because we shall see Him as He is. And in treating +these words at considerable length last year, I pressed it on you +that this concluding sentence might bear two meanings: either, we +shall be like Him, <i>because in order to see Him as He is, +we</i> <span class="sc">must</span> <i>be like Him;</i> or, <i>we +shall be like Him, because the sight of Him as He is will change +us into His perfect likeness</i>. For, our present purpose, or +indeed for any purpose, it matters little which of these meanings +we take. At any rate, we have gained this knowledge from St. +John’s words, that the sight of the Blessed Lord which will +be enjoyed by the Christian’s spirit on its release from +the body, will be accompanied by being also perfectly like +Him.</p> +<p class="pn">Now, here, my brethren, are the elements of an +immediate change, blessed and joyous beyond our conception. Let +us spend the rest of our time to-day in dwelling upon it.</p> +<p class="pn">And I will not now insist on the deliverance of the +spirit from the infirmity, or pain, or decay of the body; because +this is not so in all cases. Many a Christian’s spirit is +set free from a body in perfect vigour and health. Let us take +nothing but what is common to all who believe in and serve the +Lord. Now what is our present state with reference to Him whom +all Christians love? It is, absence. And it is absence aggravated +in a way that earthly absence never is. For not only have we +never seen Him, which is a case perfectly imaginable in earthly +relations, but also, which hardly is, we have no absolute proof +of His existence, nor of His mind towards us. Even as far as +this, is matter of faith and not of appearance. We have no token, +no communication, from Him. I suppose there hardly ever was a +Christian yet, living under the present dispensation, entirely +dependent upon his faith, who has not at some time or other had +the dreadful thought cross his mind—overborne by his faith, +but still not wholly extinguished, “What if it should not +be true after all?” And much and successfully as we may +contend with these misgivings of unbelief, yet that frame of mind +which is represented by them, that wavering, fitful, unsteady +faith, ever accompanies us. The distress arising from it is known +to every one who has the Christian life in him. Only those never +doubt who have never believed: for doubt is of the very essence +of belief. But some poor souls are utterly cast down by the fact +of its existence—shrink from these half-doubting fits as of +themselves deadly sin, and are in continual terror about their +soul’s safety on this account: others, of stronger minds, +regard them truly as inevitable accompaniments of present human +weakness, but of course struggle with them, and evermore yearn to +be rid of them.</p> +<p class="pn">Now if what we have been saying be true,—and +I have endeavoured not to go beyond the soberest inferences from +the plain language of Scripture,—if so much be true, then +the moment of departure from the body puts an end for ever to +this imperfect, struggling, fitful state of faith and doubt. The +spirit that is but a moment gone, that has left that well-known, +familiar tabernacle of the body a sudden wreck of inanimate +matter, that spirit is with the Lord. All doubt, all misgiving, +is at an end. Every wave raised by this world’s storms, +this world’s currents of interest, this world’s rocks +and shallows, is suddenly laid, and there is a great calm. +Certainty, for doubt—the sight of the Lord, for the +conflict of assurance and misgiving—the face of Christ, for +the mere faith in Christ—these have succeeded, because the +departed spirit is “with the Lord”—companying +with Him.</p> +<p class="pn">Before we follow this out farther, let us carefully +draw one great distinction. We must not make the too common +mistake of confusing this sight of the Lord which immediately +follows on the act of death, with that complete state of the +glorified Christian man, of which we shall have to speak in a +subsequent sermon. Though greater than our thoughts can now +conceive, the bliss of which we are speaking to-day is +incomplete. The spirit which has been set free from the body is +alone, and without a body. This is not the complete state of man. +It is a state to us full of mystery—inconceivable in +detail, though easily apprehended as a whole. We must take care, +in what we have further to say, that this is fully borne in mind. +And, bearing it in mind, let us proceed.</p> +<p class="pn">This sight of Christ, this calm of full unbroken +assurance of His nearness and presence, what does it further +imply? As far as we can at present see, certainly as much as +this. First, the entire absence of evil from the spirit. It would +be impossible to be with Christ in any such sense, unless there +were entire agreement in will and desire with Him. It would be +impossible thus to see Him as He is, without being like Him.</p> +<p class="pn">Let us imagine, if we can, the effect of the total +extinction of evil in any one of our minds. How many energies, +now tied and bound with the chain of sin, would spring upward +into action! How many imprisoned yearnings would burst their +bonds, and carry us onward to higher degrees of good! And all +these energies, all these yearnings, can exist in the disembodied +spirit. It is in a waiting, a hoping state: the greater the +upward yearnings, the greater the accumulated energies for God +and His work, the higher will be the measure of glory to be +attained after the redemption of the body, and the completion of +the entire man.</p> +<p class="pn">Well—as another consequence, following close +on the last, all <i>conflict</i>, from that same moment, is at an +end. Conflict is ordained for us, is good for us, now. If it were +to cease here below, we should fall back. We have not entered +into rest, it would not be good for us to enter into rest, in our +present state. Here, this little platform, so to speak, of our +personality, is drawn two ways, downward and upward: and it is +for us who stand thereon, to keep watch and ward that the +downward prevail not; but from that moment, the dark links of the +downward chain will have been for ever severed, and the golden +cord that is let down from the Throne will bear us upward and +onward, unopposed. So that as to conflict, there will be perfect +rest.</p> +<p class="pn">And let us remember another matter. If the departed +spirit were during this time dwelling on its own unworthiness, +casting back looks of self-reproach, weighing accurately +God’s mercies and its own requitals during life past, there +would of necessity be conflict: there would be bitter +self-loathing, there would be pangs of repentance. It would seem, +then, that during the incomplete and disembodied state, this is +not so; but that all of this kind is reserved for a day when +account is to be given in the body of things done in the body: +and we shall see, when we come to treat of that day specially, +how its account will be, for the blessed dead, itself made a +blessing.</p> +<p class="pn">Again, as all evil will be at an end, and all +conflict,—so will all labour, “Blessed are the dead +which die in the Lord: even so saith the Spirit, for they rest +from their labours.” Now labour here is a blessing, it is +true: but it is also a weariness. It leads ever on to a greater +blessing, the blessing of rest. Christ has entered into His rest; +and the departed spirit shall be with Christ: faring as He fares, +and a partaker of His condition. Any who have lived the ordinary +term of human life in God’s service (for it is only of such +that we are now speaking) can testify how sweet it is to +anticipate a cessation of the toil and the harassing of life: to +be looking on to keep the great Sabbath of the rest reserved for +the people of God. What more may be reserved for us in the +glorious perfect state which shall follow the resurrection, is +another consideration altogether: but it clearly appears that the +intermediate disembodied state is one of rest.</p> +<p class="pn">And let none cavil at the thought, that thus Adam +may have rested his thousands of years, and the last taken of +Adam’s children only a few moments. Time is only a relative +term, even to us. A dream of years long may pass during the sound +that awakens a man; and a sleep of hours appears but a second. +What do we know of time, except as calculated by earthly objects? +Day and night, the recurrence of meals,—these constitute +time to us: shut up a man in darkness, and administer his food at +irregular intervals, and he loses all count of time whatever. +Surely, then, no cavil on this score can be admitted. In that +presence where the departed spirits are, one day is as a thousand +years, and a thousand years as one day.</p> +<p class="pn">Let us conclude with a consideration, to a +Christian the most glorious of all. The spirit that is with +Christ in nearest presence and consciousness, knows Him as none +know Him here. Here, we speak of His purity, His righteousness, +His love, His triumph and glory, with miserably imperfect +thoughts, and in words still more imperfect than our thoughts. We +are obliged to employ earthly images to set forth heavenly +things. The revelations of Scripture itself are made through a +medium of man’s invention, and are bounded by our limited +vocabulary. But then it will be so no longer. The Apostle +compares our seeing <i>here</i> to that of one who beholds the +face of his friend in a mirror of metal, sure to be tarnished and +distorting: and our vision <i>there</i> to beholding the same +face to face,—the living features, the lips that move, the +eyes that glisten. That spirit which has but now passed away, +knows the love that passes our knowledge; contemplates things +which God has prepared for them that love Him, such as eye has +never seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of +man to conceive.</p> +<p class="pn">Therefore, beloved, let us be of good cheer +concerning them that have fallen asleep through Jesus: and let us +be of good cheer respecting ourselves. Good as it is to obey and +serve God here, it has been far better for them to depart and to +be with Christ; and it will be far better for us, if we hold fast +our faith and our confidence in Him firm unto the end. If to us +to live is Christ, then to us to die will be gain.</p> +<h1><a name="II" id="II">II.</a></h1> +<p class="pnn">W<span class="sc">e</span> stand to-day at this +point in our consideration of the state of the blessed dead. They +depart, and are with Christ. “This day,” the day of +the departure, they are consciously, blissfully, in His presence. +Their faith is turned into sight: their misgivings are changed +for certainty: their mourning for joy. Yet, we said, their state +is necessarily imperfect. The complete condition of man is body, +soul, and spirit. The former of these three, at all events, is +wanting to the spirits and souls of the righteous. They are in a +waiting, though in an inconceivably blissful state. Of the +precise nature of that state,—of its employments, if +employments it has, we know nothing. All would be speculation, if +we were to speak of these matters.</p> +<p class="pn">Our concern to-day is with the termination of that +their incomplete condition. When shall it come to an end? We have +this very definitely answered for us by St. Paul, in a chapter of +which we shall have much to say, and in a verse of that chapter +which we will take for our text, 1 Cor. xv. 23. Notice, he is +speaking of the resurrection of the dead: and he says, +“<span class="sc">But every one in his own order: Christ +the first-fruits: afterward they that are Christ’s at His +coming</span>.”</p> +<p class="pn">Well then: from these words it is clear that the +end of the expectant state of the blessed dead, and the reunion +of their spirits with their risen bodies, will take place +<span class="sc">at the coming of Christ</span>. Here at once we +are met by a necessity to clear and explain that which these +words import. In these days, it is by no means superfluous to say +that we Christians do look forward to a real personal coming of +our Lord Jesus Christ upon this our earth. I sometimes wonder +whether ordinary Christian men and women ever figure to +themselves what this means. I suppose we hardly do, because we +fancy it is so far off from ourselves and our times, that we do +not feel ourselves called upon to make it a subject of our +practical thoughts. To this we might say, first, that we are by +no means sure of this; and then, that even if it were true, the +interest of that time of His coming for every one of us is hardly +lessened by its not being near us, seeing that if we be His, it +will be, whenever it comes, the day of our resurrection from the +dead. It is evidently the duty of every Christian man to make it +part of his ordinary thoughts and anticipations—that return +of the Lord Jesus from heaven, even as He was seen to go up into +heaven. Now, our object to-day is to ascertain how much we know +from Scripture, without indulging in speculations of our own, +about this coming, and this resurrection which shall accompany +it. The latter of these two we made the subject of a sermon a +very few Sundays ago; but it was not so much with our present +view, as to lay down the hope of the resurrection as an element +among the foundations of the Christian life.</p> +<p class="pn">Now one of the first and most important revelations +respecting this matter is found in the fourth chapter of 1 +Thess., ver. 13-18. These Thessalonians had been, as we learn +from the two epistles to them, strangely excited about the coming +of the Lord’s kingdom. Perhaps the Apostle’s +preaching among them had taken especially this form; for he was +accused before the magistrates of saying that there was besides +or superior to Caesar another king, one Jesus. And in this +excitement of the Thessalonians, fancying as they did that the +Lord’s kingdom would come in their own time, they thought +that their friends who through Jesus had died a happy death were +losers by not having lived to witness the Lord’s coming. +Indeed, they sorrowed for them as those that had no hope: by +which expression it seems likely that they even supposed them to +be altogether cut off from the benefits and blessedness of that +coming by not having been able to see it in the flesh. Thereupon +St. Paul puts them right by saying,—using the same argument +as in that great resurrection chapter, 1 Cor. xv.,—that +“<i>if we believe that Jesus Himself died and rose again, +even so also those who through Jesus have fallen asleep will God +bring with Him</i>,” that is, will God bring back to us +when He brings back to us Jesus.</p> +<p class="pn">You may just observe, by the way, that the whole +force of what the Apostle says is very commonly lost, by a wrong +method of reading these words. We very commonly hear them read, +“will God bring <i>with</i> him.” But thus we, as I +said, lose the force of the argument, which is:—If Jesus, +our first-fruits, our representative, died and rose again, so +will all who die in union with Jesus rise again. And in order to +that, the same power of God which brings Jesus back to us, will +with Him, with Jesus, bring their spirits back, in order to that +resurrection.</p> +<p class="pn">Well, what then? “<i>This we say unto you by +the word of the Lord</i>”—thus the Apostle +introduces, not an argument, not a command or saying of his own, +but a special revelation—“<i>that we, which are alive +and remain unto the coming of the Lord</i>” (for notice +that at first, at the early time when these Thessalonian epistles +were written, first of all St. Paul’s letters, the Apostle +looked forward to that day of which neither man nor angel +knoweth, as about to come on in his own time) shall have no +advantage, no priority, over them which have fallen asleep. And +why? For this reason—that “<i>the Lord Himself shall +come down from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the +archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ +shall rise first:</i>” that is, shall rise before anything +else happens—any changing, or summoning to the Lord, of us +who are alive.</p> +<p class="pn">Now here let us pause in the sacred text, and +consider what it is which we have before us. Mind, we are +speaking to-day, as the Apostle is speaking in this passage, +entirely of the blessed dead; of those of whom it may be said +that through Jesus their death is but a holy sleep. We have +clearly this before us:—at a certain time, fixed in the +counsels of God, the Father, known to no created +being,—mysteriously unknown also, for He Himself assures us +of this in words which no ingenuity can explain away, to the Son +Himself in His state of waiting for it,—at that fixed time +the Lord, that is, Christ, shall appear in the sky, visible to +men in His glorified body; and His coming shall be announced to +men by a mighty call, a signal cry, and by the trumpet of +God.</p> +<p class="pn">Now let me at once say that as to such expressions +as this, when we are told that they cannot bear their literal +meaning, but are only used in condescension to our human ways of +speaking, and thus an attempt is made to deprive them in fact of +all meaning, I do not recognise any such rule of interpretation. +If the <i>words</i> are used to suit our human ways of thinking, +I can see no reason why the <i>things signified</i> by those +words may not also be used to affect our senses, which will be +still human, when the great day comes. As to the sound being +heard by all, or as to the Lord being seen by all, I can with +safety leave that to Him who made the eye and the ear, and +believe that if He says so, He will find the way for it to be +so.</p> +<p class="pn">Now let us follow on with the description. With the +Lord Jesus, accompanying Him, though unseen to those below on the +earth, will be the myriads of spirits of the blessed dead, And +notice,—for it is an important point, since Holy Scripture +is consistent with itself in another place on this +matter,—that at this coming none are with the Lord, no +spirits of the departed, I mean, except those of the blessed +dead. In other words, this is not the general coming to judgment, +when the whole of the dead shall stand before God, but it is that +first resurrection of which the Evangelist speaks in the +Apocalypse, when he says, chap. xx. 5, “<i>The rest of the +dead lived not again until</i> (a prescribed time which he +mentions, whatever that may mean) <i>the thousand years were +finished This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he +that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second +death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of +Christ</i>.”</p> +<p class="pn">Then, the Lord being still descending from heaven +and on the way to this world, the dead in Christ shall rise +first—the first thing: the graves shall be opened, and the +bodies of the saints that sleep shall come forth, and, for so the +words surely imply, their spirits, which have come with the Lord, +shall be united to those bodies, each to his own.</p> +<p class="pn">Here, again, I can see no difficulty. The same +body, even to us now on earth, does not imply that the same +particles compose it. And even the expression “the same +body” is perhaps a fallacious one. In St. Paul’s +great argument on this subject in 1 Cor. xv. he expressly tells +us, that it is not that body which was sown in the earth, but a +new and glorified one, even as the beautiful plant, which springs +from the insignificant or the ill-favoured seed, is not that +which was sown, but a body which God has given. Whatever the +bodies shall be, they will be recognised as those befitting the +spirits which are reunited to them, as they also befit the new +and glorious state into which they are now entering.</p> +<p class="pn">This done, they who are alive and remain on earth, +having been, which is not asserted here, but is in 1 Cor. xv., +changed so as to be in the image of the incorruptible, spiritual, +heavenly, will be caught up together with the risen saints in +clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: to <i>meet</i> Him, because +He is in His way from heaven to earth, on which He is about to +stand in that latter day.</p> +<p class="pn">Thus, then, the words which I have chosen for my +text will have their fulfilment. Christ has been the first-fruits +of this great harvest,—already risen, the first-born from +the dead, the example and pattern of that which all His shall be. +This was His order, His place in the great procession from death +into life; and between Him and His, the space, indefinite to our +eyes, is fixed and determined in the counsels of God. The day of +His coming hastens onward. While men are speculating and +questioning, God’s purpose remains fixed. He is not slack +concerning His promise, as some men count slackness. His dealings +with the world are on too large a scale for us to be able to +measure them, but in them the golden rule is kept, every one in +his own order. Christ’s part has been fulfilled. He was +seen alive in His resurrection body; He was seen taking up that +body from earth to heaven. And now we are waiting for the next +great event, His coming. Wisely has the Church set apart a season +in every year in which this subject may be uppermost in our +thoughts. For there is nothing we are so apt—nothing, we +may say, that our whole race is so determined to forget and put +out of sight. It is alien from our common ideas, it ill suits our +settled notions, that the personal appearing of Him in whom we +believe should break in upon the natural sequence of things in +which we are concerned. And the consequence is, that you will +hardly find, even among believing men, more than one here and +there who at all realizes to himself, or has any vivid +expectation of, this personal coming of Christ. Think of the +Christian Church as taking its faith and hope from the New +Testament; and then compare that faith and hope, as it actually +exists with reference to this point, with the New +Testament,—and the discrepancy is most remarkable. In the +days when it was written, eighteen hundred years ago, every eye +was fixed on, every man’s thought was busy about, the +coming of the Lord. You will hardly find a chapter in the +epistles in which it is not spoken of, or alluded to, with +earnest anticipation and confidence. Whereas now, when it is +brought so much nearer to us, it has almost vanished out of the +consideration of the Church altogether. No doubt, something may +be said by way of reason why it should occupy a less prominent +place in our thoughts than it did in theirs. The Lord’s own +words, and those of the Divinely-commissioned messengers who +announced His return, spoke of it simply as certain, without any +note of time being attached. Hence, those who had seen Him depart +believed that they themselves should behold Him returning. There +can be no doubt in any fair-judging mind that, besides these +eye-witnesses, St. Paul, when he wrote that fifth chapter of the +Second Epistle to the Corinthians, had a full persuasion that he +himself should be of those on whom the house not made with hands +that is to be brought from heaven was to be put, without his +being unclothed from the earthly tabernacle. He looked at such +unclothing in his own case as possible, but was confident that it +would not happen so. And again, when, in the over-zeal of the +Thessalonians, they imagined that the coming of the Lord was +actually upon them, and he in his second Epistle checks and sets +right that premature assumption, he does so in words which, as he +wrote them, might very well have had all their fulfilment within +the lifetime of man. Those words now appear to us in more of the +true sense in which the Spirit, who spoke by Paul, intended them: +we see that the apostasy there predicted, and the man of sin +there set down as to be revealed, are great developments or +concentrations of the unbelief of churches and nations; but there +is no evidence that the men of that day saw any such meaning in +the words. As it was gradually, and not without conflict of +thought, revealed to Peter and his side of the apostolic band, +that the Gentiles were to be fellow-heirs and partakers of the +peace of Christ, so it was gradually, and not without some +sickness of hope deferred, made manifest to the Church, that the +coming of the Lord should be for ages and generations delayed. +Unmistakable indications of this truth appear in the Lord’s +own prophetic discourses, which we now know how to interpret.</p> +<p class="pn">And all this is no doubt a reason why the great +subject should be less constantly and less vividly before our +minds, than it was before theirs. But it is no reason why it +should have dropped out altogether; none, why we should almost +universally neglect the revelations of Scripture respecting the +manner and details of His coming, and confuse them altogether in +a vague popular idea of the judgment day; none, why we should +forget the mention of the landmarks which He Himself has pointed +out along the wilderness journey of His Church,—and so, as +far as in us lies, provide for her being unprepared when He +appears.</p> +<p class="pn">The end of the state of waiting of the blessed +dead, the end of our present state of waiting will be, that day +of His appearing. Let us fix this well in our minds; and do not +let us be kept from doing so by being told that there is danger +in allowing the fancy to exercise itself on the unfulfilled +prophecies. No doubt there is. But I am not exhorting you to +exercise your fancy on them. Faith and fancy are two wholly +distinct things. To my mind, there can be hardly anything more +detrimental to the faith of the Church, than always to be fitting +together history and prophecy, magnifying insignificant present +or past events into fulfilments of prophetic announcements. They +who do this are for ever being refuted by the course of things; +and then they shift their ground, and come out as confidently +with a new scheme, as they did before with their old one. Nothing +can more tend to throw discredit on God’s prophetic word +altogether; and it is no doubt in part owing to such +speculations, that faith in the Lord’s coming has become +weakened among us. He Himself has told us the great use of His +announcements of the future. “<i>These things have I told +you, that, when the time is come, ye may remember that I told you +of them</i>.” When and as each prophecy comes to its time +to be fulfilled, just as the years of the captivity predicted by +Jeremiah were interpreted by the Church in Babylon, so the +Lord’s predictions, and the predictions of His apostles, +will fall each into its place; and the Church, if she endure in +faith and watchfulness, will stand on her look-out, and be +prepared for the sign of His coming.</p> +<p class="pn">Let us, my brethren, with regard to those who have +left us in the Lord,—let us, with regard to ourselves and +our own future, be ever looking for and hasting to that day of +God; the day when that better thing which God hath provided for +us shall be manifested, and they with us shall be complete, who +without us were not perfect.</p> +<p class="pn">And let us not be discouraged by unpromising signs, +or by prevalent unbelief. Remember what our Master has said to us +in the services of this day, “Heaven and earth shall pass +away; but My words shall not pass away.”</p> +<h1><a name="III" id="III">III.</a></h1> +<p class="pnn">W<span class="sc">e</span> have traced the +condition of the blessed dead, from their departure and being +with Christ, to the glorious day of the resurrection. Their +spirits are safe in His keeping, till that day when He shall call +their bodies out of the graves, and they shall be once more +complete in manhood, body, soul, and spirit. And our present +consideration is, What, on that resurrection, is the next thing +which shall befall them? Now the best, because the most general +text on this matter, is that in Heb. ix. 27, “<span class= +"sc">It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the +judgment</span>.”</p> +<p class="pn">You will see that here is enounced something common +to our nature. We are all to die; we are all to be judged after +death. And that this is really true of all, and not merely stated +generally, to be met afterwards by special exceptions, St. Paul +shows, when he, speaking of things belonging entirely to his own +practice, and his own justification before God, says, in 1 Cor. +v., “We labour, that whether present in the body or absent +from the body, we may be accepted with Him. <i>For we must all be +made manifest</i> (there is nothing about <i>standing</i> in the +original) <i>before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one +may receive the things done in his body, according to that which +he did, whether it be good or bad</i>.” You will see that +here he expressly includes himself among those who are to be made +manifest before the judgment seat of Christ.</p> +<p class="pn">Now perhaps you are wondering why I am accumulating +this Scripture evidence to show a matter which seems to all so +plain. But I have a sufficient reason. And that reason is, +because in other passages of Scripture the blessed dead, or +rather the believers in Christ, whether living or dead at that +day, are spoken of as if they were not subjected to the general +judgment of all, but passed into the glorious life without +undergoing that judgment. Thus our Blessed Lord Himself; in John +v. 24, says, “<i>Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that +heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath eternal +life, and cometh not into judgment</i>” (for that, and not +“<i>condemnation</i>,” is the word used by our +Lord),—“<i>cometh not into judgment, but hath passed +out of death into life</i>.” That would seem to mean that +the faithful man has already passed over out of death, and all +that belongs to death, sin, and guilt, and judgment, into life; +and therefore when the judgment comes he can have no part in it, +cannot come into it at all, because he is acquitted already +through the faith in Him who bore his guilt and took away his +sin. And similarly, again, a few verses further on, ver. 29, our +Lord says, “<i>An hour cometh in which all that are in the +graves shall hear the voice of the Son of man, and shall come +forth: they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; +and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of +judgment</i>.” That is, I suppose, the one shall rise into +eternal life,—into the full bliss of the heavenly state, +and the others into the condition, whatever it be, which the +judgment shall decide. Of course I am fully aware that I have not +quoted these texts as they are read in our English Bibles. The +matter stands thus: the word which I have rendered +“<i>judgment</i>” is the word always meaning +judgment—the word occurring in the very next verse where +our Lord says, “<i>As I hear, I judge, and My</i> judgment +<i>is just;</i>” the word used also above in ver. 22, where +He says, “<i>The Father committed all</i> judgment <i>unto +the Son</i>.” In those two places, because there was no +difficulty, our translators kept the word +“<i>judgment</i>.” But in these other two which I +have quoted, because there was an apparent difficulty, they +changed “<i>judgment</i>” in one verse into +“<i>condemnation</i>,” and in the other into +“<i>damnation</i>,” without any reason or right +soever. Indeed, in the latter of the two passages, not only is +this so, but the whole sense is broken up by their +unfaithfulness. Our Lord having mentioned the resurrection of +judgment, proceeds to vindicate the justice of that judgment: +“<i>As I hear, I judge: and My judgment is just, because I +seek not Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent +Me</i>.” So that the difficulty, which man’s meddling +with the Bible has tried to remove, does exist in the Bible as it +came from God. And we must try to see through it, not to hush it +up by being unfaithful to the plain language of our Lord.</p> +<p class="pn">Nor does it exist here only. Our Lord Himself has +given us one great description of the final day of judgment, in +His own discourses; and another by the pen of His beloved +apostle. We will take the latter first, as being, for our present +purpose, the fuller of the two: and we will show in what +remarkable point the two agree. In Rev. xx. 4, a passage to which +we made reference last Sunday, we find the first resurrection +taking place, and the faithful dead rising to reign with Christ +during a period known as a thousand years. And it is expressly +said, “<i>The rest of the dead lived not till the thousand +years were finished</i>.” Now, I am not here taking upon me +to explain the meaning of this, but merely to insist on the fact +that, whatever may be the precise import, it is so stated. Well, +and what then? When the thousand years are expired, and when the +last great victory of the cause of God over evil has been gained, +then we read, “<i>And I saw a great white throne, and Him +that sat on it; and I saw the dead, small and great, stand before +God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, +which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those +things which were written in the books, according to their works. +And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and Hades +gave up the dead that were in them: and they were judged every +man according to his works</i>.” So far the description in +the Revelation. Now, in that given us by our Lord in Matt. xxv. +we find the Son of man coming in His glory, and all the holy +angels with Him, and sitting on the throne of His glory, and all +the nations gathered before Him. But there is this singular +coincidence with the other account, that when the King comes to +address those on the right hand and those on the left, He says, +“<i>Inasmuch as ye did it</i> (or <i>did it not</i>) +<i>unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it</i> (or +<i>did it not</i>) <i>unto Me</i>.” Now “<i>these My +brethren</i>” cannot of course mean the angels; therefore +there must be some with Christ to whom the words must refer. In +other words, we have here also the risen saints in glory with the +Lord, as in that other account.</p> +<p class="pn">But we may go even further yet, and may discover +more from Scripture respecting the position and employment of +these the saints who are with the Lord. When St. Paul in 1 Cor. +vi. is dissuading the Corinthians from taking their disputes +before the heathen courts to be settled, he says, “<i>Know +ye not that the saints shall judge the world?</i>” and +again, “<i>Know ye not that we shall judge +angels?</i>” Such expressions as these can bear but one +meaning, and that is that the saints of Christ are actually to +bear part in the judgment, as His assessors. Further than this we +now not. It is not our duty to be wise above that which is +written; but it is our duty to be wise up to that which is +written: otherwise it was written in vain. What, then, are we to +say respecting this apparent discrepancy in the statements of +Holy Scripture concerning the dead in Christ? If it be true that +it is appointed unto all men once to die, but after that the +judgment; if it be true that we all, including even the apostles +themselves, shall be manifested, laid open, before the +judgment-seat of Christ, how can it be also true that the +believer in Christ has already passed from death into life, and +therefore cometh not into judgment at all? How can it be true +that while others shall rise to a resurrection of judgment, he +shall rise to a resurrection of life? How can those descriptions +be correct which we have been quoting, of these living and +reigning with Christ long before the general judgment, and even +taking part in it with Him?</p> +<p class="pn">I believe the answer is not difficult, and perhaps +may best be found by remembering another variety of expression in +Scripture respecting a kindred matter; I mean the way in which +the saints of God are spoken of in relation to death itself. On +the one hand we know that it is appointed unto all men to die; +and that the faith and service of the Lord bring with them no +exemption from the common lot of all mankind. Not only is this +proved every day before our eyes, but Scripture gives us its most +direct testimony that those who believe in Christ must expect it. +The very expressions, “<i>the dead in Christ</i>,” +“<i>those who through Jesus have fallen asleep</i>,” +show that this is so. Yet again, on the other hand, some passages +would almost look as if death itself for the Christian man did +not exist. Christ is said to have abolished death; we learn from +His own lips that “if a man keep His word he shall never +taste of death;” He has said again, “He that liveth +and believeth in Me shall never die.” Now in this case +there is no practical difficulty, yet the variety of expression +is very instructive. We all know what lies beneath it; namely, +the fact, that though the believer in Christ must undergo the +physical suffering of death like other men, yet death has become +to him so altogether without terror and curse, that it has been +for him deprived of real existence and power. The apostle in Rom. +viii. gives the full explanation: “<i>the body indeed is +dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of +righteousness</i>.”</p> +<p class="pn">Well, now let us apply this to the case before us. +Let us take the same solution, and see whether it will not +suffice. The Christian shall, like other men, undergo the +judgment after death; thus one set of Scripture declarations +shall be fulfilled. But to the believer, who has died in the +Lord, what is the judgment? He stands before the judgment-seat +perfect in the righteousness of Him to whom he is united, and +from whom death has not separated him. His sentence of acquittal +has been long ago pronounced; he cometh not into judgment, so +that it should have any substantial effect in changing or +determining his condition. The resurrection is for him not a +resurrection of judgment, not one in which the judgment is the +leading feature and characteristic, but it is only and purely a +resurrection of, and unto life: one in which life is the leading +feature and idea.</p> +<p class="pn">Thus for the blessed dead, the judgment has no dark +side: “there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ +Jesus.” But though it has no dark side, it has a bright +one. Never for a moment do the Christian Scriptures lose sight of +the Christian reward. Those who die in the Lord, like the rest of +men, shall be laid open before the tribunal of Christ. Their sins +have been purged away in His atoning blood; they have been washed +and justified and sanctified in the name of Jesus and by the +spirit of their God.</p> +<p class="pn">But to what end? for what purpose? Was it merely +that they might be saved? No indeed, but that God might be +glorified in them by the fruits of their faith and love.</p> +<p class="pn">And these fruits shall then be made known. The +Father who saw them in secret shall then reward them openly. The +acts done and the sacrifices made for the name of Christ shall +then meet with glorious retribution; yea, even to the least and +most insignificant of them,—even according to our +Lord’s own words,—to the cup of cold water given to +one of His little ones.</p> +<p class="pn">It is much the fashion, I know, in our days, to put +aside and to depreciate this doctrine of the Christian reward. It +looks to some people like a sort of reliance on our own works and +attainments; and so, though they may in the abstract profess a +belief in it because it is in Scripture, they shrink from +applying it in their own cases or in those of others. Now, +nothing can justify such a course. We have no right to discard a +motive held up for our adoption and guidance in Scripture. And +that this is so held up, who that knows his Bible can for a +moment doubt? Think of that saying of our Lord about the cup of +cold water just quoted,—think of the series of sayings of +which it is the end—“He <i>that receiveth a righteous +man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous +man’s reward</i>,” etc. Think, again, of that series +of commands, to do our alms, our prayers, our abstinences, in +secret, each ending with—“<i>and thy Father which +seeth in secret shall reward thee openly</i>.” Think, +again, of the parable of the labourers in the vineyard, where the +great final blessing at the hand of the Lord is throughout +represented to us as reward, or rather—for so the word used +properly means—wages for work done. And it is in vain in +this case to try to escape from the cogency of our Lord’s +sayings by alleging that the doctrines of the Cross were not +manifested till after His death and glorification. For if this +were so, then the apostles themselves had never learned those +doctrines. For the apostles constantly and persistently set +before us the aiming at the Christian reward as their own motive, +and as that which ought to be ours. Hear St. Paul saying that, if +he preached the gospel as matter of duty only, it was the +stewardship committed to him; but if freely and without pay, a +reward, or wages, would be due to him. Hear him again, in +expectation of his departure, glorying in the certainty of his +reward: “<i>I have fought a good fight, I have finished my +course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me +a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge +shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but to all them +also that love His appearing</i>.” Listen to St. John, whom +we are accustomed to regard as the most lofty and heavenly of all +the apostles in his thoughts and motives. What does he say to his +well-beloved Gaius? “<i>Look to yourselves, that we lose +not the things which we have wrought, but that we receive the +full reward</i>.” Listen, again, to the writer of the +Epistle to the Hebrews, that apostolic man, eloquent and mighty +in the Scriptures, and hear him describing the very qualities and +attributes of faith, that he who cometh to God must <i>believe +that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently +seek Him</i>, and saying of one of the first and brightest +examples of faith, that <i>he had respect unto the recompence of +reward</i>.</p> +<p class="pn">So, then, these holy dead who have died in the Lord +will in that judgment have each his reward allotted him according +to his service and according to his measure. Then the good that +has been done in secret will all come to light. All mere +profession, all that has been artificial and put on, will drop +off as though it had never been; and the real kernel of the +character, the fair dealing and charity and love of the inner +soul, will be made manifest before men and angels. Then, not even +the least work done for God and for good will be forgotten.</p> +<p class="pn">How such an estimate of all holy men will be or can +be made and published, utterly surpasses our present powers to +imagine. We have no faculties now whereby to deal thus truly and +fairly with all men: our organs of sense in this present state, +and the minds themselves to which those organs convey +impressions, are too feeble and limited for the effort required +to apprehend all respecting all, as we shall then apprehend it. +But this need not form any difficulty in our way to believe that +such a thing shall be. The power to understand it and the power +to receive it surely do not dwell farther off from our matured +powers now, than the full powers of a grownup man from the +faculties and conceptions of a child. In all such matters, we are +children now. Think we then of the blessed dead at that day of +the resurrection, as rising sure of bliss and of their perfection +in Him to whom they were united; being as though there were no +judgment, seeing that they have One who shall answer for them at +the tribunal: judged notwithstanding before the bar of God, and +passing not to condemnation, but to their exceeding great and +eternal reward.</p> +<p class="pn">One more thing only now is left us: to ask what we +know of that last and perfected state of man—that highest +development and dignity of our race, when body, soul, and spirit, +freed from sin and sorrow, shall reign with Christ in light.</p> +<p class="pn">With that question, and its answer, we hope to +conclude this course of sermons next Sunday.</p> +<h1><a name="IV" id="IV">IV.</a></h1> +<p class="pnn">W<span class="sc">e</span> are to speak to-day of +the final state of bliss of those who have died in the Lord. +Their state of waiting has ended; the resurrection has clothed +them again with the body, the final judgment has passed over +them, and their last unending state has begun. There are no words +in Holy Scripture so well calculated to give a general summary of +that state as those concluding ones of a passage from which I +have before largely quoted: 1 Thess. iv. 17: “<span class= +"sc">And so shall we ever be with the Lord</span>.”</p> +<p class="pn">For these words contain in them all that has been +revealed of that glorious state, included in one simple +description. The bliss of the moment after death consisted in +being with Christ: the bliss of unlimited ages can only be +measured by the same. Nearness to Him that made us, union with +Him who redeemed us, the everlasting and unvexed company of Him +who sanctifieth us: what glory, what dignity, what happiness can +be imagined for man greater than this?</p> +<p class="pn">And yet it is not by dwelling upon this, and this +alone, that we shall be able to arrive at even that appreciation +of heaven which is within our present powers. We may take these +words, “for ever with the Lord,” and we may find in +them, as in our Father’s house itself, many mansions. In +various ways we are far from the Lord here; in various ways we +shall be near Him and with Him there.</p> +<p class="pn">But first of all we must approach these various +mansions through their portals and the avenues which lead up to +them. And one of those is the consideration, who, and of what +sort, they shall be, of whom we are about to speak. It will be +very necessary that we should conceive of them aright.</p> +<p class="pn">Well, then, they will be men, with bodies, souls, +and spirits like ourselves. The disembodied state will be over, +and every one will have been reunited to the body which he or she +had before death. What do we know of this body? Very glorious +thoughts rise up in our minds when we think of it: but in this +course of sermons I am not speculating; I am inquiring soberly +what is revealed to us about the blessed dead. Well then, again, +what do we know of this body of the resurrection? In Phil. iii. +21, there is a revelation on this point. It is there said that +“our home is in heaven, from whence also we expect the +Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change the body of our +degradation that it may be fashioned like unto the body of His +glory.” And this change is very much dwelt on as a +necessary condition of the heavenly state in 1 Cor. xv. +“<i>Flesh and blood</i>,” we are told, <i>i.e.</i>, +this present natural or psychical body, the body whose informing +tenant is the animal soul, <i>cannot inherit the kingdom of God; +neither can corruption</i>, that which decays and passes away, +<i>inherit incorruption</i>, that state where there is no decay +nor passing away. So, then, a change must take place at the +resurrection: a change which shall pass also on those who are +alive and remain at the Lord’s coming. The bodies of the +risen saints, and of those who are to join them in being for ever +with the Lord, will be spiritual bodies: bodies tenanted and +informed in chief by that highest part of man, which during this +present life is so much dwarfed down and crushed by the +usurpations of the animal soul; viz., his spirit.</p> +<p class="pn">Now, it would be idle to conceal the fact, that we +cannot form any distinct conception what this spiritual body may +be. No such thing has ever come within the range of our +experience. But some particulars we do know about it, because God +has revealed them. And of those, the principal are specified in +this very passage: “<i>It is sown in corruption: it is +raised in incorruption</i>.” It cannot decay. Eternal ages +will pass over it, and it will remain the same. Again, +“<i>it is sown in dishonour: it is raised in +glory</i>.” There will be no shame about it, as there will +be no sin. Thus much from these words is undoubted. What else +they may imply we cannot say for certain; probably, unimagined +degrees of beauty and radiancy, for so the word glory as applied +to anything material seems to imply. Further: “<i>it is +sown in weakness: it is raised in power</i>.” That is, I +suppose, with all its faculties wonderfully intensified, and +possibly with fresh faculties granted, which here it never +possessed, and the mind of man could not even imagine. This last +also seems to be implied by its being called a spiritual body. As +here it was an animal body, subject to the mere animal life or +soul, hemmed in by the conditions of that animal life, so there +it will be under the dominion of, and suited to the wants of, +man’s spirit, the lofty and heavenly part of him.</p> +<p class="pn">And if we want to know what this implies, our best +guide will be to contemplate the risen body of our Lord, as we +have it presented to us in the gospel narrative. As He is, so are +we in this world in our essence even now—and as He is so +shall we be entirely there. He is the first-fruits, we follow +after as the harvest. What, then, was His resurrection body? +While it was a real body and admitted of being touched and seen, +and had the organs of voice and of hearing, yet it was not +subjected to the usual conditions of matter as to its locomotion, +or its obstruction by intervening objects. It retained the marks +of what had happened before death. In order to convince the +disciples of His identity, our Lord ate and drank before them. We +must therefore infer that these were natural acts of His +resurrection body, and not merely assumed at pleasure.</p> +<p class="pn">With a body, then, of this kind will the blessed be +clothed upon at the resurrection, and remain invested for ever in +glory. Now let us see what further flows from this as an +inference. We may further say, that we have implied in it a +surrounding of external circumstances fitted to such a state of +incorruptibility and glory. Man redeemed and glorified will not +be a mere spirit in the vast realms of space, but a glorious body +moving in a glorious world. Nor is this mere inference, however +plain and legitimate. Holy Scripture is full of it. The power of +words does not suffice to describe the beauties and glories of +that renewed and unfailing world. I need not quote passage after +passage—they are familiar to you all. Nor, again, is it +nature alone which shall be glorious above all our conception +here. It would appear that art also shall have advanced forward, +and shall minister to the splendour of that better world. The +prophets in the Old Testament, and the beloved Apostle in the +New, vie with one another in describing the heavenly city, the +new Jerusalem, adorned as a bride for her husband, lighted by the +glory of the indwelling Godhead.</p> +<p class="pn"><i>Where</i> this glorious abode of Christ and His +redeemed shall be, we have not been told by revelation; and it +were idle to indulge in speculations of our own. From some +expressions in Scripture, it would seem not improbable that it +may be this earth itself after purification and renewal: from +other passages, it would appear as if that inference were hardly +safe, and that other of the bodies in space are destined for the +high dignity of being the home of the sons of God.</p> +<p class="pn">We have now, I believe, cleared the way for the +answer to a question which presses upon us to-day: as far, at +least, as that answer can be given on this side of death. Of +mankind in glory, thus perfected, what shall be the employ? For I +need hardly press it on you that it is impossible to conceive of +man in a high and happy estate, without an employment worthy of +that estate, and in fact constituting its dignity and +happiness.</p> +<p class="pn">Now, some light is thrown on this inquiry by Holy +Scripture, but it must be confessed that it is very scanty. It is +true that all our meditations on and descriptions of heaven want +balance, and are, so to speak, pictures ill composed. We first +build up our glorified human nature by such hints as are +furnished us in Scripture; we place it in an abode worthy of it: +and then, after all, we give it an unending existence with +nothing to do. It was not ill said by a great preacher, that most +people’s idea of heaven was to sit on a cloud and sing +psalms. And others, again, strive to fill this out with the bliss +of recognising and holding intercourse with those from whom we +have been severed on earth. And beyond all doubt such recognition +and intercourse shall be, and shall constitute one of the most +blessed accessories of the heavenly employment; but it can no +more be that employment itself than similar intercourse on earth +was the employment of life itself here. To read some descriptions +of heaven, one would imagine that it were only an endless +prolongation of some social meeting; walking and talking in some +blessed country with those whom we love. It is clear that we have +not thus provided the renewed energies and enlarged powers of +perfected man with food for eternity. Nor, if we look in another +direction, that of the absence of sickness and care and sorrow, +shall we find any more satisfactory answer to our question. Nay, +rather shall we find it made more difficult and beset with more +complication. For let us think how much of employment for our +present energies is occasioned by, and finds its very field of +action in, the anxieties and vicissitudes of life. They are, so +to speak, the winds which fill the sail and carry us onward. By +their action, hope and enthusiasm are excited. But suppose a +state where they are not, and life would become a dead calm; the +sail would flap idly, and the spirit would cease to look onward +at all. So that, unless we can supply something over and above +the mere absence of anxiety and pain, we have not attained +to—nay, we are farther than ever from—a sufficient +employment for the life eternal. Now, before we seek for it in +another direction, let us think for a moment in this way. Are we +likely to know much of it? We have before in these sermons +adopted St. Paul’s comparison by analogy, and have likened +ourselves here to children, and that blessed state to our full +development as men. Now ask yourselves, what does the child at +its play know of the employments of the man? Such portions of +them as are merely external and material he may take in, and +represent in his sport: but the work and anxiety of the student +at his book, and the man of business at his desk, these are of +necessity entirely hidden from the child. And so it is onward +through the advancing stages of life. Of each of them it may be +said, “We know not with what we must serve the Lord, until +we come hither.”</p> +<p class="pn">So that we need not be utterly disappointed, if our +picture of heaven be at present ill composed: if it seem to be +little else than a gorgeous mist after all. We cannot fill in the +members of the landscape at present. If we could, we should be in +heaven.</p> +<p class="pn">Remembering this our necessary incapacity for the +inquiry, let us try to carry it as far as we may. And that we may +not be forsaking the guidance of Holy Scripture for mere +speculation, let us take the words of St. +Paul—“<i>Now we see in a mirror, obscurely, but then +face to face: now I know in part, but then I shall know even as +also I was known</i> (<i>by God</i>.)” This immense +accession of light and knowledge must of course be interpreted +partly of keener and brighter faculties wherewith the blessed +shall be endowed; but shall it not also point to glorious +employment of those renewed and augmented powers? How could one +endowed with them ever remain idle? What a restless, ardent, +many-handed thing is genius even here below? How the highly +endowed spirit searches about and tries its wings, now hither now +thither, in the vast realms of intellectual life! And if it be so +here, with the body weighing on us, with the clogs of worldly +business and trivial interruption, what will it be there, where +everything will be fashioned and arranged for this express +purpose, that every highest employment may find its noblest +expansion without let or hindrance? Besides, think for a moment +of the relative positions of men with regard to any even the +least amount of this light and knowledge of which we are +speaking. In order to take in this the better, think of the +lowest and most ignorant of mankind who shall attain to that +state of glory. Measure the difference between such a spirit and +an Augustine, and then recollect that Augustine himself, that St. +Paul himself, was but a child in comparison of the maturity of +knowledge and insight which all shall there acquire. Such a +thought may serve to show us what a gap must be bridged over, +before any such perfect knowledge will be attained by any of the +sons of men. And when we remember that all blessings come by +labour and the goodly heat of exercised energy, shall we deny to +the highest of all states the choicest of all blessings? So that +the attainment of, and advance in, the light and knowledge +peculiar to that glorious land must be imagined as affording +unending employment for the blessed hereafter. And this gives us +another insight into the matter. As there is so great disparity +among men here, so we may well believe will there be there. All +Scripture goes to show that there will be no general equalizing, +no flat level of mankind. Degrees and ranks as they now are, +indeed, there will be none. Not the possession of wealth, not the +accident of birth, which are held here to put difference between +man and man, will make any distinction there: but inequality and +distinction will proceed on other grounds; the amount of service +done for God, the degree of entrance into the obedience and +knowledge of Him, these will put the difference between one and +another there.</p> +<p class="pn">But we hasten to a close: and in doing so, we come +back to the simple words of our text, “for ever with the +Lord;” and we would leave on your minds the impression that +these, after all, furnish the best key to the employment of the +blessed in heaven. If they are fit companions for the Lord, then +must they be like Him as He is there; and thus we seem to have +marked out an employment alone sufficient for eternity. Look at +it in its various aspects.</p> +<p class="pn">What is, what will be, the Lord doing in that state +of blessedness? Will He be idle like the gods of Epicurus, +sitting serene above all, and separate from all, created things? +No, indeed, no such glorified Lord is revealed to us in Holy +Scripture. “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” +The created universe will be then as much beholden to His +upholding hand as it is now. If they are to be for ever with Him, +attending and girding His steps, they, too, will doubtless be +fellow-workers with Him there, as they were here. And in this, +only consider how much of His creation was altogether hidden from +them here! Look abroad on a starry night—behold a field of +employment for those who shall be ever with the Lord. The greater +part of His works never came within sight of this our mortal eye +at all. These are only hints, it is true, which we have no power +of following out: but they may serve for finger-posts to point to +whole realms of possible blessed employment.</p> +<p class="pn">Then, again, there is more in the words “for +ever with the Lord” than even this. Who can tell what past +works, not of creation only, but of grace also, the blessed may +have to search into—works wrought on themselves and others +which may then be brought back to them by memory entirely +restored, and then first studied with any power to comprehend or +to be thankful for them?</p> +<p class="pn">Then, again, the glory of God Himself, then first +revealed to them,—the redeeming love of Christ,—the +glory of the mystery of the indwelling of the Spirit,—dry +and lofty subjects to the sons of men here, will be to them when +there as household words and as daily pursuits. It seems to me, +my brethren, when we look at all these sources of blessed +employment, though we are unable from our present weakness to +follow them out into detail,—and when we think that perhaps +after all in our earthly blindness we may be omitting some which +shall there constitute the chief, it seems to me, I say, as if we +should have to complain not of insufficient employ for the ages +of eternity, but of an infinite and inexhaustible variety, for +which even endless ages of limited being hardly seem to +suffice.</p> +<p class="pn">Such, then, beloved, are the thoughts which have +occurred to us on a subject of which I pray that it may be one of +personal interest to every one here present.</p> +<p class="pn">When we are to leave this present state, is a +matter hidden from our eyes, and not dependent on ourselves: but +how we will leave it, whether as the Lord’s blessed ones, +or with no part in Him, this is left for ourselves to determine. +There is set before us life and death. May we choose life, that +it may be well with us; that we may wake from the bed of death +and find ourselves with the Lord; that we may pass in joyful hope +through the waiting and disembodied state, and wake at the +morning of the resurrection to that fulness of completed bliss of +which we have this day been speaking.</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:83%;margin-top:8.0em;margin-bottom:1.5em"> +<i>Pardon and Sons, Printers, Paternoster Row</i>.</p> +<hr style="margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:1.8em"> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:125%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:2.0em"> +<a name="works" id="works">New and Recent Works.</a></p> +<p class="p0"><i>The Prophecies of our Lord and His +Apostles</i>.</p> +<p class="pb">By W. H<span class="sc">offmann</span>, D.D., +Chaplain in Ordinary to the King of Prussia. 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