diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 32830-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 100927 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 32830-h/32830-h.htm | 1738 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 32830-h/images/pic.jpg | bin | 0 -> 78538 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 32830.txt | 1623 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 32830.zip | bin | 0 -> 34253 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
8 files changed, 3377 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/32830-h.zip b/32830-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e2672e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/32830-h.zip 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. Crown 8vo, price +7s. 6d. cloth.</p> +<p class="p0"><i>The Education of the Heart: Woman’s Best +Work</i>.</p> +<p class="pb">By Mrs. E<span class="sc">llis</span>, Author of +“The Women of England,” &c. Fcap. 8vo, price +3s. 6d. cloth.</p> +<p class="p0"><i>The Divine Mysteries; The Divine Treatment of +Sin, and the Divine Mystery of Peace</i>.</p> +<p class="pb">By J. <span class="sc">Baldwin Brown</span>, B. A., +Author of “The Soul’s Exodus,” &c. New +Edition. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. cloth.</p> +<p class="p0"><i>Misread Passages of Scripture</i>.</p> +<p class="pb">By the same Author. Third Thousand. Crown 8vo, +3s. 6d. cloth.</p> +<p class="p0"><i>Saint Mark’s Gospel</i>.</p> +<p class="pb">A New Translation, with Notes and Practical +Lessons. By Professor J. H. G<span class="sc">odwin</span>, New +College, London, Author of “The Apocalypse of St. +John,” &c. Crown 8vo, 4s. 6d.</p> +<p class="p0"><i>The Son of Man: Discourses on the Humanity of +Jesus Christ</i>.</p> +<p class="pb">With an Address on the Teaching of Jesus Christ. By +<span class="sc">Frank Coulin</span>, D.D., Minister of the +National Church, Geneva. Fcap. 8vo, 5s. cloth.</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:83%;letter-spacing:0.1em;margin-top:2.0em;margin-bottom:0"> +London: <span class="sc">Hodder & Stoughton</span>, 27, +Paternoster Row.</p> +<hr style="margin-top:1.5em;margin-bottom:2.5em"> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:108%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:1.9em"> +WORKS BY E. DE PRESSENSÉ D.D.</p> +<p class="p0"><i>The Early Years of Christianity</i>. +<span class="f10">8vo, 12s. cloth.</span></p> +<p class="pns f10">“This is a sequel to Dr. +Pressensé’s celebrated book on the ‘Life, +Work, and Times of Jesus Christ.’ We may say at once that +to the bulk of liberal Christians Dr. Pressensé’s +achievement will be very +valuable.”—<i>Athenaum</i>.</p> +<p class="pns f10">“He holds his brilliant intellectual +gifts and his profound learning subordinate to his fervent and +absolute faith in the divinity of lie Lord and +Saviour.”—<i>Daily Telegraph</i>.</p> +<p class="p0"><i>Jesus Christ: His Times, Life, and Work.</i></p> +<p class="pb">Third and Cheaper Edition, crown 8vo, 9s. +cloth.</p> +<p class="pns f10">“One of the most valuable additions to +Christian literature which the present generation has +seen.”—<i>Contemporary Review.</i></p> +<p class="pns f10">“M. de Pressensé is not only +brilliant and epigrammatic, but his sentences flow on from page +to page with a sustained eloquence which never wearies the +reader. The ‘Life of Christ’ is more dramatically +unfolded in this volume than in any other work with which we are +acquainted.”—Spectator.</p> +<p class="p0"><i>The Mystery of Suffering, and other +Discourses</i>.</p> +<p class="pb">New Edition, crown 8vo, price 3s. 6d. cloth.</p> +<p class="p0"><i>The Land of the Gospel: Notes of a Journey in +the East</i>.</p> +<p class="pb">Crown 8vo, 5s. cloth.</p> +<p class="p0"><i>The Church and the French Revolution</i>.</p> +<p class="pb">A History of the Relations of Church and State from +1789 to 1802. Crown 8vo, 9s. cloth.</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:83%;letter-spacing:0.1em;margin-top:2.0em;margin-bottom:3.0em"> +London: <span class="sc">Hodder & Stoughton</span>, 27, +Paternoster Row.</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The State of the Blessed Dead, by Henry Alford + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STATE OF THE BLESSED DEAD *** + +***** This file should be named 32830-h.htm or 32830-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/8/3/32830/ + +Produced by Keith G. Richardson + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/32830-h/images/pic.jpg b/32830-h/images/pic.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9ed2073 --- /dev/null +++ b/32830-h/images/pic.jpg diff --git a/32830.txt b/32830.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4724c5e --- /dev/null +++ b/32830.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1623 @@ +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 + + + + +The Blessed Dead. + + + +THE STATE + +OF THE + +BLESSED DEAD. + +By + +HENRY ALFORD, D. D., + +DEAN OF CANTERBURY. + +LONDON: + +HODDER AND STOUGHTON, + +27, PATERNOSTER ROW. + +MDCCCLXIX. + + + +_The following Discourses were delivered in Canterbury Cathedral +during Advent,_ 1868, _and appeared in the_ "Pulpit Analyst," 1869. + + + +The State of the Blessed Dead. + +I. + +I HAVE 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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: "VERILY I SAY UNTO THEE, TO-DAY SHALT THOU BE WITH ME +IN PARADISE." + +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--"TO DEPART AND TO BE WITH +CHRIST." + +Now in both these one fact is simply declared, viz.: that the departed +spirit of the faithful man is WITH CHRIST. 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 WITH CHRIST. + +I shall regard this revelation negatively and positively: as to what +it disproves, and as to what it implies. + +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. + +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 _through_, or _by means of +Jesus_. 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 _taking rest_ tended to make this term +appropriate. But it must not be used to prove that to which it +evidently had no reference. + +The spirit, then, of the departed does not pass into unconsciousness. +What more do we know of it? It is WITH JESUS. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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, _because in order to see Him as He is, we_ MUST _be +like Him;_ or, _we shall be like Him, because the sight of Him as He +is will change us into His perfect likeness_. 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Well--as another consequence, following close on the last, all +_conflict_, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _here_ 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 +_there_ 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. + +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. + + + +II. + +WE 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. + +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, "BUT EVERY ONE IN HIS OWN ORDER: CHRIST THE +FIRST-FRUITS: AFTERWARD THEY THAT ARE CHRIST'S AT HIS COMING." + +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 AT THE COMING OF CHRIST. 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. + +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 "_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_," that +is, will God bring back to us when He brings back to us Jesus. + +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 _with_ 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. + +Well, what then? "_This we say unto you by the word of the +Lord_"--thus the Apostle introduces, not an argument, not a command or +saying of his own, but a special revelation--"_that we, which are +alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord_" (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 "_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:_" that is, shall rise before anything else happens--any +changing, or summoning to the Lord, of us who are alive. + +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. + +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 _words_ are used to +suit our human ways of thinking, I can see no reason why the _things +signified_ 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. + +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, "_The rest of the dead lived not again until_ (a +prescribed time which he mentions, whatever that may mean) _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_." + +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. + +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. + +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 _meet_ Him, because He is in His way from heaven to earth, on which +He is about to stand in that latter day. + +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. + +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. + +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. "_These things have I told you, that, +when the time is come, ye may remember that I told you of them_." 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. + +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. + +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." + + + +III. + +WE 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, "IT IS APPOINTED UNTO MEN ONCE TO DIE, BUT AFTER THIS, +THE JUDGMENT." + +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. _For we must all be made manifest_ (there is nothing about +_standing_ in the original) _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_." You will see that here he +expressly includes himself among those who are to be made manifest +before the judgment seat of Christ. + +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, "_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_" (for that, and not "_condemnation_," is the +word used by our Lord),--"_cometh not into judgment, but hath passed +out of death into life_." 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, "_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_." 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 +"_judgment_" is the word always meaning judgment--the word occurring +in the very next verse where our Lord says, "_As I hear, I judge, and +My_ judgment _is just;_" the word used also above in ver. 22, where He +says, "_The Father committed all_ judgment _unto the Son_." In those +two places, because there was no difficulty, our translators kept the +word "_judgment_." But in these other two which I have quoted, because +there was an apparent difficulty, they changed "_judgment_" in one +verse into "_condemnation_," and in the other into "_damnation_," +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: "_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_." 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. + +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, "_The rest of the dead lived not till the thousand years were +finished_." 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, "_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_." 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, "_Inasmuch as ye did it_ (or _did it +not_) _unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it_ (or _did +it not_) _unto Me_." Now "_these My brethren_" 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. + +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, "_Know ye not that the saints shall judge the +world?_" and again, "_Know ye not that we shall judge angels?_" 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? + +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, "_the dead in Christ_," "_those who +through Jesus have fallen asleep_," 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: "_the body indeed is dead because of sin, but the spirit +is life because of righteousness_." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a +righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward_," etc. Think, +again, of that series of commands, to do our alms, our prayers, our +abstinences, in secret, each ending with--"_and thy Father which seeth +in secret shall reward thee openly_." 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 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_." 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? "_Look to +yourselves, that we lose not the things which we have wrought, but +that we receive the full reward_." 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 _believe that He is, and that +He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him_, and saying of one +of the first and brightest examples of faith, that _he had respect +unto the recompence of reward_. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +With that question, and its answer, we hope to conclude this course of +sermons next Sunday. + + + +IV. + +WE 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: "AND SO SHALL WE EVER BE WITH THE +LORD." + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. "_Flesh and blood_," we are told, _i.e._, this +present natural or psychical body, the body whose informing tenant is +the animal soul, _cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither can +corruption_, that which decays and passes away, _inherit +incorruption_, 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. + +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: "_It is sown in +corruption: it is raised in incorruption_." It cannot decay. Eternal +ages will pass over it, and it will remain the same. Again, "_it is +sown in dishonour: it is raised in glory_." 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: "_it is +sown in weakness: it is raised in power_." 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. + +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. + +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. + +_Where_ 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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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--"_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_ (_by God_.)" 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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +_Pardon and Sons, Printers, Paternoster Row_. + + + +New and Recent Works. + +_The Prophecies of our Lord and His Apostles_. + +By W. HOFFMANN, D.D., Chaplain in Ordinary to the King of Prussia. +Crown 8vo, price 7s. 6d. cloth. + +_The Education of the Heart: Woman's Best Work_. + +By Mrs. ELLIS, Author of "The Women of England," &c. Fcap. 8vo, price +3s. 6d. cloth. + +_The Divine Mysteries; The Divine Treatment of Sin, and the Divine +Mystery of Peace_. + +By J. BALDWIN BROWN, B. A., Author of "The Soul's Exodus," &c. New +Edition. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. cloth. + +_Misread Passages of Scripture_. + +By the same Author. Third Thousand. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth. + +_Saint Mark's Gospel_. + +A New Translation, with Notes and Practical Lessons. By Professor J. +H. GODWIN, New College, London, Author of "The Apocalypse of St. +John," &c. Crown 8vo, 4s. 6d. + +_The Son of Man: Discourses on the Humanity of Jesus Christ_. + +With an Address on the Teaching of Jesus Christ. By FRANK COULIN, +D.D., Minister of the National Church, Geneva. Fcap. 8vo, 5s. cloth. + +London: HODDER & STOUGHTON, 27, Paternoster Row. + + + +WORKS BY E. DE PRESSENSE D.D. + +_The Early Years of Christianity_. 8vo, 12s. cloth. + +"This is a sequel to Dr. Pressense's celebrated book on the 'Life, +Work, and Times of Jesus Christ.' We may say at once that to the bulk +of liberal Christians Dr. Pressense's achievement will be very +valuable."--_Athenaum_. + +"He holds his brilliant intellectual gifts and his profound learning +subordinate to his fervent and absolute faith in the divinity of lie +Lord and Saviour."--_Daily Telegraph_. + +_Jesus Christ: His Times, Life, and Work._ + +Third and Cheaper Edition, crown 8vo, 9s. cloth. + +"One of the most valuable additions to Christian literature which the +present generation has seen."--_Contemporary Review._ + +"M. de Pressense is not only brilliant and epigrammatic, but his +sentences flow on from page to page with a sustained eloquence which +never wearies the reader. The 'Life of Christ' is more dramatically +unfolded in this volume than in any other work with which we are +acquainted."--Spectator. + +_The Mystery of Suffering, and other Discourses_. + +New Edition, crown 8vo, price 3s. 6d. cloth. + +_The Land of the Gospel: Notes of a Journey in the East_. + +Crown 8vo, 5s. cloth. + +_The Church and the French Revolution_. + +A History of the Relations of Church and State from 1789 to 1802. +Crown 8vo, 9s. cloth. + +London: HODDER & STOUGHTON, 27, Paternoster Row. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The State of the Blessed Dead, by Henry Alford + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STATE OF THE BLESSED DEAD *** + +***** This file should be named 32830.txt or 32830.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/8/3/32830/ + +Produced by Keith G. Richardson + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/32830.zip b/32830.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6e89e29 --- /dev/null +++ b/32830.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ad1dc83 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #32830 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32830) |
