{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_32830/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_32830","id":"gutenberg_32830","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32830","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Eschatology","Future life"],"text":"Produced by Keith G. Richardson\n\n\n\n\nThe Blessed Dead.\n\n\n\nTHE STATE\n\nOF THE\n\nBLESSED DEAD.\n\nBy\n\nHENRY ALFORD, D. D.,\n\nDEAN OF CANTERBURY.\n\nLONDON:\n\nHODDER AND STOUGHTON,\n\n27, PATERNOSTER ROW.\n\nMDCCCLXIX.\n\n\n\n_The following Discourses were delivered in Canterbury Cathedral\nduring Advent,_ 1868, _and appeared in the_ \"Pulpit Analyst,\" 1869.\n\n\n\nThe State of the Blessed Dead.\n\nI.\n\nI HAVE already announced that during this Advent season I would call\nyour attention to the state of the blessed dead. My object in so doing\nis simply that we may recall to ourselves that which Scripture has\nrevealed respecting them, for our edification, and for our personal\ncomfort. And I would guard that which will be said by one or two\npreliminary observations.\n\nWith Death as an object of terror, with Death from the mere moralist's\npoint of view, as the termination of human schemes and hopes, we\nChristians have nothing to do. We are believers in and servants of One\nwho has in these senses abolished Death. Our schemes and hopes are not\nterminated by Death, but reach onward into a state beyond it.\n\nAgain, with that state beyond, except as one of blessedness purchased\nfor us by the Son of God, I am not at present dealing. It is of those\nthat die in the Lord alone that I speak.\n\nAnd this being so, it is clear that the first point about them\ndemanding our attention is, the very commencement of their state at\nthe moment of death. And this will form our subject to-day.\n\nWe shall be guided in its consideration by two texts of Holy\nScripture. The one is that where Our Lord answers the prayer of the\ndying thief that He would remember him when He came into His kingdom,\nLuke xxiii. 43: \"VERILY I SAY UNTO THEE, TO-DAY SHALT THOU BE WITH ME\nIN PARADISE.\"\n\nAnd the other is an expression of St. Paul, Phil. i. 23, not\nimprobably taken from those very words recorded in the gospel of that\nevangelist who was his companion in travel--\"TO DEPART AND TO BE WITH\nCHRIST.\"\n\nNow in both these one fact is simply declared, viz.: that the departed\nspirit of the faithful man is WITH CHRIST. It is as if one bright\nlight were lifted for us in the midst of a realm brooded over by\nimpenetrable mist. For who knows whither the departed spirit has\nbetaken itself when it has left us here? One of the most painful pangs\nin bereavement by death is the utter and absolute severance, without a\nspark of intelligence of the departed. One hour, life is blest by\ntheir presence; the next, it is entirely and for ever gone from us,\nnever to be heard of more. One word, one utterance--how precious in\nthat moment of anguish do we feel that it would be! But we are certain\nit never will be granted us. None has ever come back who has told the\nstory. Where the spirit wakes and finds itself,--this none has ever\ndeclared to us; nor shall we know until our own turn comes. Now in\nsuch a state of uncertainty, these texts speak for us a certain truth:\nThe departed spirit is WITH CHRIST.\n\nI shall regard this revelation negatively and positively: as to what\nit disproves, and as to what it implies.\n\nFirst, then, it disproves the idea of the spirit passing at death into\na state of unconsciousness, from which it is to wake only at the great\nday of the resurrection. If it is to be with Christ, this cannot be.\nChrist is in no such state of unconsciousness; He has entered into His\nrest, and is waiting till all things shall be put under His feet; and\nit would be a mere delusion to say of the blessed dead, that they\nshall be with Christ, if they were to be virtually annihilated during\nthis time that Christ is waiting for His kingdom. Besides, how then\nwould the Lord's promise to the thief be fulfilled? What consolation\nwould it have been to him, what answer to his prayer, to be remembered\nwhen Jesus came in His kingdom, if these words implied that he should\nbe unconsciously sleeping while the Lord was enjoying his triumph?\nTherefore we may safely say, that the so-called \"sleep of the soul,\"\nfrom the act of death till the resurrection, has no foundation in that\nwhich is revealed to us.\n\nIt is perfectly true, that the state of the departed is described to\nus as \"sleeping in Jesus,\" or rather, for the words are a\nmisrendering, a having fallen asleep _through_, or _by means of\nJesus_. But our texts are enough to show us, that we must not take\nsuch an expression for more than it really implies. Sleeping, or\nfalling asleep, was a name current among Jews and Christians, and even\namong the best of the heathens, for death, implying its peace and\nrest, implying also that it should be followed by a waking: but\napparently with no intent to convey any idea of unconsciousness. It is\na term used with reference to us, as well as to the dead. To us, they\nare as if they were asleep: removed from us in consciousness, as in\npresence. The idea also of _taking rest_ tended to make this term\nappropriate. But it must not be used to prove that to which it\nevidently had no reference.\n\nThe spirit, then, of the departed does not pass into unconsciousness.\nWhat more do we know of it? It is WITH JESUS.\n\nWe have now to consider what this implies. And in doing so we shall\nhave further to make certain that which we think we have already\nproved. For first, it clearly implies more than a mere expression of\nsafe-keeping, or reserve for a future state of blessedness. \"The\nrighteous souls are in the hand of God, and there shall no harm happen\nto them.\" This is one thing: but to be with Christ is another. We\nmight again appeal to the spirit of the promise made to the penitent\nthief, in order to show this: we might remind you that in the other\ntext, St. Paul is comparing the two states--life in the midst of his\nchildren in the faith, and death; and he says, \"I have a desire to\ndepart and to be with Christ, which is far better:\" better than being\nwith you, my Philippians.\n\nSo that more must be meant than mere safe keeping in the Redeemer's\nhands. We may surely say, that nothing less than conscious existence\nin the presence of Christ can be intended. And if that is intended,\nthen very much more is intended also, than those words at first seem\nto imply. Remember the contrast which this same Apostle elsewhere\ndraws. \"We know,\" he says, \"that while we are present in the body, we\nare absent from the Lord: for we walk by faith, not by appearance: we\nare willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the\nLord.\" That is, if we follow out the thought, this present state of\ndwelling in our home the body is a state of severance from the Lord;\nbut there is a better state, into which we shall be introduced when\nthis house of the body is pulled down: and from the context in that\nplace we may add, much as we wish to be clothed upon with our new and\nglorious body which is from heaven, yet even short of that, we have\nlearned to prefer being simply unclothed from the body, because thus\nwe shall be present with the Lord.\n\nSo that we may safely assume thus much, my brethren: that the moment a\nChristian's spirit is released from the body, it does enter into the\npresence of our Blessed Lord and Saviour, in a way of which it knows\nnothing here: a way which, compared to all that its previous faith\ncould know of Him, is like presence of friends compared to absence.\n\nNow let us take another remarkable passage of Holy Writ bearing on\nthis same matter. St. John, in his first Epistle says, \"Beloved, now\nare we children of God, and it never yet was manifested what we shall\nbe; but if it should be manifested, we know that we shall be like Him:\nfor we shall see Him as He is:\" for this is the more accurate\nrendering of the words: meaning, if any one could come back, or come\ndown, to us, and tell us what our future state is to be, the\ninformation could amount for us now only to this, that we shall be\nlike Him, like Christ; because we shall see Him as He is. And in\ntreating these words at considerable length last year, I pressed it on\nyou that this concluding sentence might bear two meanings: either, we\nshall be like Him, _because in order to see Him as He is, we_ MUST _be\nlike Him;_ or, _we shall be like Him, because the sight of Him as He\nis will change us into His perfect likeness_. For, our present\npurpose, or indeed for any purpose, it matters little which of these\nmeanings we take. At any rate, we have gained this knowledge from St.\nJohn's words, that the sight of the Blessed Lord which will be enjoyed\nby the Christian's spirit on its release from the body, will be\naccompanied by being also perfectly like Him.\n\nNow, here, my brethren, are the elements of an immediate change,\nblessed and joyous beyond our conception. Let us spend the rest of our\ntime to-day in dwelling upon it.\n\nAnd I will not now insist on the deliverance of the spirit from the\ninfirmity, or pain, or decay of the body; because this is not so in\nall cases. Many a Christian's spirit is set free from a body in\nperfect vigour and health. Let us take nothing but what is common to\nall who believe in and serve the Lord. Now what is our present state\nwith reference to Him whom all Christians love? It is, absence. And it\nis absence aggravated in a way that earthly absence never is. For not\nonly have we never seen Him, which is a case perfectly imaginable in\nearthly relations, but also, which hardly is, we have no absolute\nproof of His existence, nor of His mind towards us. Even as far as\nthis, is matter of faith and not of appearance. We have no token, no\ncommunication, from Him. I suppose there hardly ever was a Christian\nyet, living under the present dispensation, entirely dependent upon\nhis faith, who has not at some time or other had the dreadful thought\ncross his mind--overborne by his faith, but still not wholly\nextinguished, \"What if it should not be true after all?\" And much and\nsuccessfully as we may contend with these misgivings of unbelief, yet\nthat frame of mind which is represented by them, that wavering,\nfitful, unsteady faith, ever accompanies us. The distress arising from\nit is known to every one who has the Christian life in him. Only those\nnever doubt who have never believed: for doubt is of the very essence\nof belief. But some poor souls are utterly cast down by the fact of\nits existence--shrink from these half-doubting fits as of themselves\ndeadly sin, and are in continual terror about their soul's safety on\nthis account: others, of stronger minds, regard them truly as\ninevitable accompaniments of present human weakness, but of course\nstruggle with them, and evermore yearn to be rid of them.\n\nNow if what we have been saying be true,--and I have endeavoured not\nto go beyond the soberest inferences from the plain language of\nScripture,--if so much be true, then the moment of departure from the\nbody puts an end for ever to this imperfect, struggling, fitful state\nof faith and doubt. The spirit that is but a moment gone, that has\nleft that well-known, familiar tabernacle of the body a sudden wreck\nof inanimate matter, that spirit is with the Lord. All doubt, all\nmisgiving, is at an end. Every wave raised by this world's storms,\nthis world's currents of interest, this world's rocks and shallows, is\nsuddenly laid, and there is a great calm. Certainty, for doubt--the\nsight of the Lord, for the conflict of assurance and misgiving--the\nface of Christ, for the mere faith in Christ--these have succeeded,\nbecause the departed spirit is \"with the Lord\"--companying with Him.\n\nBefore we follow this out farther, let us carefully draw one great\ndistinction. We must not make the too common mistake of confusing this\nsight of the Lord which immediately follows on the act of death, with\nthat complete state of the glorified Christian man, of which we shall\nhave to speak in a subsequent sermon. Though greater than our thoughts\ncan now conceive, the bliss of which we are speaking to-day is\nincomplete. The spirit which has been set free from the body is alone,\nand without a body. This is not the complete state of man. It is a\nstate to us full of mystery--inconceivable in detail, though easily\napprehended as a whole. We must take care, in what we have further to\nsay, that this is fully borne in mind. And, bearing it in mind, let us\nproceed.\n\nThis sight of Christ, this calm of full unbroken assurance of His\nnearness and presence, what does it further imply? As far as we can at\npresent see, certainly as much as this. First, the entire absence of\nevil from the spirit. It would be impossible to be with Christ in any\nsuch sense, unless there were entire agreement in will and desire with\nHim. It would be impossible thus to see Him as He is, without being\nlike Him.\n\nLet us imagine, if we can, the effect of the total extinction of evil\nin any one of our minds. How many energies, now tied and bound with\nthe chain of sin, would spring upward into action! How many imprisoned\nyearnings would burst their bonds, and carry us onward to higher\ndegrees of good! And all these energies, all these yearnings, can\nexist in the disembodied spirit. It is in a waiting, a hoping state:\nthe greater the upward yearnings, the greater the accumulated energies\nfor God and His work, the higher will be the measure of glory to be\nattained after the redemption of the body, and the completion of the\nentire man.\n\nWell--as another consequence, following close on the last, all\n_conflict_, from that same moment, is at an end. Conflict is ordained\nfor us, is good for us, now. If it were to cease here below, we should\nfall back. We have not entered into rest, it would not be good for us\nto enter into rest, in our present state. Here, this little platform,\nso to speak, of our personality, is drawn two ways, downward and\nupward: and it is for us who stand thereon, to keep watch and ward\nthat the downward prevail not; but from that moment, the dark links of\nthe downward chain will have been for ever severed, and the golden\ncord that is let down from the Throne will bear us upward and onward,\nunopposed. So that as to conflict, there will be perfect rest.\n\nAnd let us remember another matter. If the departed spirit were during\nthis time dwelling on its own unworthiness, casting back looks of\nself-reproach, weighing accurately God's mercies and its own requitals\nduring life past, there would of necessity be conflict: there would be\nbitter self-loathing, there would be pangs of repentance. It would\nseem, then, that during the incomplete and disembodied state, this is\nnot so; but that all of this kind is reserved for a day when account\nis to be given in the body of things done in the body: and we shall\nsee, when we come to treat of that day specially, how its account will\nbe, for the blessed dead, itself made a blessing.\n\nAgain, as all evil will be at an end, and all conflict,--so will all\nlabour, \"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord: even so saith the\nSpirit, for they rest from their labours.\" Now labour here is a\nblessing, it is true: but it is also a weariness. It leads ever on to\na greater blessing, the blessing of rest. Christ has entered into His\nrest; and the departed spirit shall be with Christ: faring as He\nfares, and a partaker of His condition. Any who have lived the\nordinary term of human life in God's service (for it is only of such\nthat we are now speaking) can testify how sweet it is to anticipate a\ncessation of the toil and the harassing of life: to be looking on to\nkeep the great Sabbath of the rest reserved for the people of God.\nWhat more may be reserved for us in the glorious perfect state which\nshall follow the resurrection, is another consideration altogether:\nbut it clearly appears that the intermediate disembodied state is one\nof rest.\n\nAnd let none cavil at the thought, that thus Adam may have rested his\nthousands of years, and the last taken of Adam's children only a few\nmoments. Time is only a relative term, even to us. A dream of years\nlong may pass during the sound that awakens a man; and a sleep of\nhours appears but a second. What do we know of time, except as\ncalculated by earthly objects? Day and night, the recurrence of\nmeals,--these constitute time to us: shut up a man in darkness, and\nadminister his food at irregular intervals, and he loses all count of\ntime whatever. Surely, then, no cavil on this score can be admitted.\nIn that presence where the departed spirits are, one day is as a\nthousand years, and a thousand years as one day.\n\nLet us conclude with a consideration, to a Christian the most glorious\nof all. The spirit that is with Christ in nearest presence and\nconsciousness, knows Him as none know Him here. Here, we speak of His\npurity, His righteousness, His love, His triumph and glory, with\nmiserably imperfect thoughts, and in words still more imperfect than\nour thoughts. We are obliged to employ earthly images to set forth\nheavenly things. The revelations of Scripture itself are made through\na medium of man's invention, and are bounded by our limited\nvocabulary. But then it will be so no longer. The Apostle compares our\nseeing _here_ to that of one who beholds the face of his friend in a\nmirror of metal, sure to be tarnished and distorting: and our vision\n_there_ to beholding the same face to face,--the living features, the\nlips that move, the eyes that glisten. That spirit which has but now\npassed away, knows the love that passes our knowledge; contemplates\nthings which God has prepared for them that love Him, such as eye has\nnever seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man\nto conceive.\n\nTherefore, beloved, let us be of good cheer concerning them that have\nfallen asleep through Jesus: and let us be of good cheer respecting\nourselves. Good as it is to obey and serve God here, it has been far\nbetter for them to depart and to be with Christ; and it will be far\nbetter for us, if we hold fast our faith and our confidence in Him\nfirm unto the end. If to us to live is Christ, then to us to die will\nbe gain.\n\n\n\nII.\n\nWE stand to-day at this point in our consideration of the state of the\nblessed dead. They depart, and are with Christ. \"This day,\" the day of\nthe departure, they are consciously, blissfully, in His presence.\nTheir faith is turned into sight: their misgivings are changed for\ncertainty: their mourning for joy. Yet, we said, their state is\nnecessarily imperfect. The complete condition of man is body, soul,\nand spirit. The former of these three, at all events, is wanting to\nthe spirits and souls of the righteous. They are in a waiting, though\nin an inconceivably blissful state. Of the precise nature of that\nstate,--of its employments, if employments it has, we know nothing.\nAll would be speculation, if we were to speak of these matters.\n\nOur concern to-day is with the termination of that their incomplete\ncondition. When shall it come to an end? We have this very definitely\nanswered for us by St. Paul, in a chapter of which we shall have much\nto say, and in a verse of that chapter which we will take for our\ntext, 1 Cor. xv. 23. Notice, he is speaking of the resurrection of the\ndead: and he says, \"BUT EVERY ONE IN HIS OWN ORDER: CHRIST THE\nFIRST-FRUITS: AFTERWARD THEY THAT ARE CHRIST'S AT HIS COMING.\"\n\nWell then: from these words it is clear that the end of the expectant\nstate of the blessed dead, and the reunion of their spirits with their\nrisen bodies, will take place AT THE COMING OF CHRIST. Here at once we\nare met by a necessity to clear and explain that which these words\nimport. In these days, it is by no means superfluous to say that we\nChristians do look forward to a real personal coming of our Lord Jesus\nChrist upon this our earth. I sometimes wonder whether ordinary\nChristian men and women ever figure to themselves what this means. I\nsuppose we hardly do, because we fancy it is so far off from ourselves\nand our times, that we do not feel ourselves called upon to make it a\nsubject of our practical thoughts. To this we might say, first, that\nwe are by no means sure of this; and then, that even if it were true,\nthe interest of that time of His coming for every one of us is hardly\nlessened by its not being near us, seeing that if we be His, it will\nbe, whenever it comes, the day of our resurrection from the dead. It\nis evidently the duty of every Christian man to make it part of his\nordinary thoughts and anticipations--that return of the Lord Jesus\nfrom heaven, even as He was seen to go up into heaven. Now, our object\nto-day is to ascertain how much we know from Scripture, without\nindulging in speculations of our own, about this coming, and this\nresurrection which shall accompany it. The latter of these two we made\nthe subject of a sermon a very few Sundays ago; but it was not so much\nwith our present view, as to lay down the hope of the resurrection as\nan element among the foundations of the Christian life.\n\nNow one of the first and most important revelations respecting this\nmatter is found in the fourth chapter of 1 Thess., ver. 13-18. These\nThessalonians had been, as we learn from the two epistles to them,\nstrangely excited about the coming of the Lord's kingdom. Perhaps the\nApostle's preaching among them had taken especially this form; for he\nwas accused before the magistrates of saying that there was besides or\nsuperior to Caesar another king, one Jesus. And in this excitement of\nthe Thessalonians, fancying as they did that the Lord's kingdom would\ncome in their own time, they thought that their friends who through\nJesus had died a happy death were losers by not having lived to\nwitness the Lord's coming. Indeed, they sorrowed for them as those\nthat had no hope: by which expression it seems likely that they even\nsupposed them to be altogether cut off from the benefits and\nblessedness of that coming by not having been able to see it in the\nflesh. Thereupon St. Paul puts them right by saying,--using the same\nargument as in that great resurrection chapter, 1 Cor. xv.,--that \"_if\nwe believe that Jesus Himself died and rose again, even so also those\nwho through Jesus have fallen asleep will God bring with Him_,\" that\nis, will God bring back to us when He brings back to us Jesus.\n\nYou may just observe, by the way, that the whole force of what the\nApostle says is very commonly lost, by a wrong method of reading these\nwords. We very commonly hear them read, \"will God bring _with_ him.\"\nBut thus we, as I said, lose the force of the argument, which is:--If\nJesus, our first-fruits, our representative, died and rose again, so\nwill all who die in union with Jesus rise again. And in order to that,\nthe same power of God which brings Jesus back to us, will with Him,\nwith Jesus, bring their spirits back, in order to that resurrection.\n\nWell, what then? \"_This we say unto you by the word of the\nLord_\"--thus the Apostle introduces, not an argument, not a command or\nsaying of his own, but a special revelation--\"_that we, which are\nalive and remain unto the coming of the Lord_\" (for notice that at\nfirst, at the early time when these Thessalonian epistles were\nwritten, first of all St. Paul's letters, the Apostle looked forward\nto that day of which neither man nor angel knoweth, as about to come\non in his own time) shall have no advantage, no priority, over them\nwhich have fallen asleep. And why? For this reason--that \"_the Lord\nHimself shall come down from heaven with a shout, with the voice of\nthe archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall\nrise first:_\" that is, shall rise before anything else happens--any\nchanging, or summoning to the Lord, of us who are alive.\n\nNow here let us pause in the sacred text, and consider what it is\nwhich we have before us. Mind, we are speaking to-day, as the Apostle\nis speaking in this passage, entirely of the blessed dead; of those\nof whom it may be said that through Jesus their death is but a\nholy sleep. We have clearly this before us:--at a certain time,\nfixed in the counsels of God, the Father, known to no created\nbeing,--mysteriously unknown also, for He Himself assures us of this\nin words which no ingenuity can explain away, to the Son Himself in\nHis state of waiting for it,--at that fixed time the Lord, that is,\nChrist, shall appear in the sky, visible to men in His glorified body;\nand His coming shall be announced to men by a mighty call, a signal\ncry, and by the trumpet of God.\n\nNow let me at once say that as to such expressions as this, when we\nare told that they cannot bear their literal meaning, but are only\nused in condescension to our human ways of speaking, and thus an\nattempt is made to deprive them in fact of all meaning, I do not\nrecognise any such rule of interpretation. If the _words_ are used to\nsuit our human ways of thinking, I can see no reason why the _things\nsignified_ by those words may not also be used to affect our senses,\nwhich will be still human, when the great day comes. As to the sound\nbeing heard by all, or as to the Lord being seen by all, I can with\nsafety leave that to Him who made the eye and the ear, and believe\nthat if He says so, He will find the way for it to be so.\n\nNow let us follow on with the description. With the Lord Jesus,\naccompanying Him, though unseen to those below on the earth, will be\nthe myriads of spirits of the blessed dead, And notice,--for it is an\nimportant point, since Holy Scripture is consistent with itself in\nanother place on this matter,--that at this coming none are with the\nLord, no spirits of the departed, I mean, except those of the blessed\ndead. In other words, this is not the general coming to judgment, when\nthe whole of the dead shall stand before God, but it is that first\nresurrection of which the Evangelist speaks in the Apocalypse, when he\nsays, chap. xx. 5, \"_The rest of the dead lived not again until_ (a\nprescribed time which he mentions, whatever that may mean) _the\nthousand years were finished This is the first resurrection. Blessed\nand holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the\nsecond death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of\nChrist_.\"\n\nThen, the Lord being still descending from heaven and on the way to\nthis world, the dead in Christ shall rise first--the first thing: the\ngraves shall be opened, and the bodies of the saints that sleep shall\ncome forth, and, for so the words surely imply, their spirits, which\nhave come with the Lord, shall be united to those bodies, each to his\nown.\n\nHere, again, I can see no difficulty. The same body, even to us now on\nearth, does not imply that the same particles compose it. And even the\nexpression \"the same body\" is perhaps a fallacious one. In St. Paul's\ngreat argument on this subject in 1 Cor. xv. he expressly tells us,\nthat it is not that body which was sown in the earth, but a new and\nglorified one, even as the beautiful plant, which springs from the\ninsignificant or the ill-favoured seed, is not that which was sown,\nbut a body which God has given. Whatever the bodies shall be, they\nwill be recognised as those befitting the spirits which are reunited\nto them, as they also befit the new and glorious state into which they\nare now entering.\n\nThis done, they who are alive and remain on earth, having been, which\nis not asserted here, but is in 1 Cor. xv., changed so as to be in the\nimage of the incorruptible, spiritual, heavenly, will be caught up\ntogether with the risen saints in clouds, to meet the Lord in the air:\nto _meet_ Him, because He is in His way from heaven to earth, on which\nHe is about to stand in that latter day.\n\nThus, then, the words which I have chosen for my text will have their\nfulfilment. Christ has been the first-fruits of this great\nharvest,--already risen, the first-born from the dead, the example and\npattern of that which all His shall be. This was His order, His place\nin the great procession from death into life; and between Him and His,\nthe space, indefinite to our eyes, is fixed and determined in the\ncounsels of God. The day of His coming hastens onward. While men are\nspeculating and questioning, God's purpose remains fixed. He is not\nslack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness. His\ndealings with the world are on too large a scale for us to be able to\nmeasure them, but in them the golden rule is kept, every one in his\nown order. Christ's part has been fulfilled. He was seen alive in His\nresurrection body; He was seen taking up that body from earth to\nheaven. And now we are waiting for the next great event, His coming.\nWisely has the Church set apart a season in every year in which this\nsubject may be uppermost in our thoughts. For there is nothing we are\nso apt--nothing, we may say, that our whole race is so determined to\nforget and put out of sight. It is alien from our common ideas, it ill\nsuits our settled notions, that the personal appearing of Him in whom\nwe believe should break in upon the natural sequence of things in\nwhich we are concerned. And the consequence is, that you will hardly\nfind, even among believing men, more than one here and there who at\nall realizes to himself, or has any vivid expectation of, this\npersonal coming of Christ. Think of the Christian Church as taking its\nfaith and hope from the New Testament; and then compare that faith and\nhope, as it actually exists with reference to this point, with the New\nTestament,--and the discrepancy is most remarkable. In the days when\nit was written, eighteen hundred years ago, every eye was fixed on,\nevery man's thought was busy about, the coming of the Lord. You will\nhardly find a chapter in the epistles in which it is not spoken of, or\nalluded to, with earnest anticipation and confidence. Whereas now,\nwhen it is brought so much nearer to us, it has almost vanished out of\nthe consideration of the Church altogether. No doubt, something may be\nsaid by way of reason why it should occupy a less prominent place in\nour thoughts than it did in theirs. The Lord's own words, and those of\nthe Divinely-commissioned messengers who announced His return, spoke\nof it simply as certain, without any note of time being attached.\nHence, those who had seen Him depart believed that they themselves\nshould behold Him returning. There can be no doubt in any fair-judging\nmind that, besides these eye-witnesses, St. Paul, when he wrote that\nfifth chapter of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, had a full\npersuasion that he himself should be of those on whom the house not\nmade with hands that is to be brought from heaven was to be put,\nwithout his being unclothed from the earthly tabernacle. He looked at\nsuch unclothing in his own case as possible, but was confident that it\nwould not happen so. And again, when, in the over-zeal of the\nThessalonians, they imagined that the coming of the Lord was actually\nupon them, and he in his second Epistle checks and sets right that\npremature assumption, he does so in words which, as he wrote them,\nmight very well have had all their fulfilment within the lifetime of\nman. Those words now appear to us in more of the true sense in which\nthe Spirit, who spoke by Paul, intended them: we see that the apostasy\nthere predicted, and the man of sin there set down as to be revealed,\nare great developments or concentrations of the unbelief of churches\nand nations; but there is no evidence that the men of that day saw any\nsuch meaning in the words. As it was gradually, and not without\nconflict of thought, revealed to Peter and his side of the apostolic\nband, that the Gentiles were to be fellow-heirs and partakers of the\npeace of Christ, so it was gradually, and not without some sickness of\nhope deferred, made manifest to the Church, that the coming of the\nLord should be for ages and generations delayed. Unmistakable\nindications of this truth appear in the Lord's own prophetic\ndiscourses, which we now know how to interpret.\n\nAnd all this is no doubt a reason why the great subject should be less\nconstantly and less vividly before our minds, than it was before\ntheirs. But it is no reason why it should have dropped out altogether;\nnone, why we should almost universally neglect the revelations of\nScripture respecting the manner and details of His coming, and confuse\nthem altogether in a vague popular idea of the judgment day; none, why\nwe should forget the mention of the landmarks which He Himself has\npointed out along the wilderness journey of His Church,--and so, as\nfar as in us lies, provide for her being unprepared when He appears.\n\nThe end of the state of waiting of the blessed dead, the end of our\npresent state of waiting will be, that day of His appearing. Let us\nfix this well in our minds; and do not let us be kept from doing so by\nbeing told that there is danger in allowing the fancy to exercise\nitself on the unfulfilled prophecies. No doubt there is. But I am not\nexhorting you to exercise your fancy on them. Faith and fancy are two\nwholly distinct things. To my mind, there can be hardly anything more\ndetrimental to the faith of the Church, than always to be fitting\ntogether history and prophecy, magnifying insignificant present or\npast events into fulfilments of prophetic announcements. They who do\nthis are for ever being refuted by the course of things; and then they\nshift their ground, and come out as confidently with a new scheme, as\nthey did before with their old one. Nothing can more tend to throw\ndiscredit on God's prophetic word altogether; and it is no doubt in\npart owing to such speculations, that faith in the Lord's coming has\nbecome weakened among us. He Himself has told us the great use of His\nannouncements of the future. \"_These things have I told you, that,\nwhen the time is come, ye may remember that I told you of them_.\" When\nand as each prophecy comes to its time to be fulfilled, just as the\nyears of the captivity predicted by Jeremiah were interpreted by the\nChurch in Babylon, so the Lord's predictions, and the predictions of\nHis apostles, will fall each into its place; and the Church, if she\nendure in faith and watchfulness, will stand on her look-out, and be\nprepared for the sign of His coming.\n\nLet us, my brethren, with regard to those who have left us in the\nLord,--let us, with regard to ourselves and our own future, be ever\nlooking for and hasting to that day of God; the day when that better\nthing which God hath provided for us shall be manifested, and they\nwith us shall be complete, who without us were not perfect.\n\nAnd let us not be discouraged by unpromising signs, or by prevalent\nunbelief. Remember what our Master has said to us in the services of\nthis day, \"Heaven and earth shall pass away; but My words shall not\npass away.\"\n\n\n\nIII.\n\nWE have traced the condition of the blessed dead, from their departure\nand being with Christ, to the glorious day of the resurrection. Their\nspirits are safe in His keeping, till that day when He shall call\ntheir bodies out of the graves, and they shall be once more complete\nin manhood, body, soul, and spirit. And our present consideration is,\nWhat, on that resurrection, is the next thing which shall befall them?\nNow the best, because the most general text on this matter, is that in\nHeb. ix. 27, \"IT IS APPOINTED UNTO MEN ONCE TO DIE, BUT AFTER THIS,\nTHE JUDGMENT.\"\n\nYou will see that here is enounced something common to our nature. We\nare all to die; we are all to be judged after death. And that this is\nreally true of all, and not merely stated generally, to be met\nafterwards by special exceptions, St. Paul shows, when he, speaking of\nthings belonging entirely to his own practice, and his own\njustification before God, says, in 1 Cor. v., \"We labour, that whether\npresent in the body or absent from the body, we may be accepted with\nHim. _For we must all be made manifest_ (there is nothing about\n_standing_ in the original) _before the judgment seat of Christ, that\nevery one may receive the things done in his body, according to that\nwhich he did, whether it be good or bad_.\" You will see that here he\nexpressly includes himself among those who are to be made manifest\nbefore the judgment seat of Christ.\n\nNow perhaps you are wondering why I am accumulating this Scripture\nevidence to show a matter which seems to all so plain. But I have a\nsufficient reason. And that reason is, because in other passages of\nScripture the blessed dead, or rather the believers in Christ, whether\nliving or dead at that day, are spoken of as if they were not\nsubjected to the general judgment of all, but passed into the glorious\nlife without undergoing that judgment. Thus our Blessed Lord Himself;\nin John v. 24, says, \"_Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth\nMy word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath eternal life, and\ncometh not into judgment_\" (for that, and not \"_condemnation_,\" is the\nword used by our Lord),--\"_cometh not into judgment, but hath passed\nout of death into life_.\" That would seem to mean that the faithful\nman has already passed over out of death, and all that belongs to\ndeath, sin, and guilt, and judgment, into life; and therefore when the\njudgment comes he can have no part in it, cannot come into it at all,\nbecause he is acquitted already through the faith in Him who bore his\nguilt and took away his sin. And similarly, again, a few verses\nfurther on, ver. 29, our Lord says, \"_An hour cometh in which all that\nare in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of man, and shall\ncome forth: they that have done good unto the resurrection of life;\nand they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment_.\" That\nis, I suppose, the one shall rise into eternal life,--into the full\nbliss of the heavenly state, and the others into the condition,\nwhatever it be, which the judgment shall decide. Of course I am fully\naware that I have not quoted these texts as they are read in our\nEnglish Bibles. The matter stands thus: the word which I have rendered\n\"_judgment_\" is the word always meaning judgment--the word occurring\nin the very next verse where our Lord says, \"_As I hear, I judge, and\nMy_ judgment _is just;_\" the word used also above in ver. 22, where He\nsays, \"_The Father committed all_ judgment _unto the Son_.\" In those\ntwo places, because there was no difficulty, our translators kept the\nword \"_judgment_.\" But in these other two which I have quoted, because\nthere was an apparent difficulty, they changed \"_judgment_\" in one\nverse into \"_condemnation_,\" and in the other into \"_damnation_,\"\nwithout any reason or right soever. Indeed, in the latter of the two\npassages, not only is this so, but the whole sense is broken up by\ntheir unfaithfulness. Our Lord having mentioned the resurrection of\njudgment, proceeds to vindicate the justice of that judgment: \"_As I\nhear, I judge: and My judgment is just, because I seek not Mine own\nwill, but the will of Him that sent Me_.\" So that the difficulty,\nwhich man's meddling with the Bible has tried to remove, does exist in\nthe Bible as it came from God. And we must try to see through it, not\nto hush it up by being unfaithful to the plain language of our Lord.\n\nNor does it exist here only. Our Lord Himself has given us one great\ndescription of the final day of judgment, in His own discourses; and\nanother by the pen of His beloved apostle. We will take the latter\nfirst, as being, for our present purpose, the fuller of the two: and\nwe will show in what remarkable point the two agree. In Rev. xx. 4, a\npassage to which we made reference last Sunday, we find the first\nresurrection taking place, and the faithful dead rising to reign with\nChrist during a period known as a thousand years. And it is expressly\nsaid, \"_The rest of the dead lived not till the thousand years were\nfinished_.\" Now, I am not here taking upon me to explain the meaning\nof this, but merely to insist on the fact that, whatever may be the\nprecise import, it is so stated. Well, and what then? When the\nthousand years are expired, and when the last great victory of the\ncause of God over evil has been gained, then we read, \"_And I saw a\ngreat white throne, and Him that sat on it; and I saw the dead, small\nand great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another\nbook was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged\nout of those things which were written in the books, according to\ntheir works. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death\nand Hades gave up the dead that were in them: and they were judged\nevery man according to his works_.\" So far the description in the\nRevelation. Now, in that given us by our Lord in Matt. xxv. we find\nthe Son of man coming in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him,\nand sitting on the throne of His glory, and all the nations gathered\nbefore Him. But there is this singular coincidence with the other\naccount, that when the King comes to address those on the right hand\nand those on the left, He says, \"_Inasmuch as ye did it_ (or _did it\nnot_) _unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it_ (or _did\nit not_) _unto Me_.\" Now \"_these My brethren_\" cannot of course mean\nthe angels; therefore there must be some with Christ to whom the words\nmust refer. In other words, we have here also the risen saints in\nglory with the Lord, as in that other account.\n\nBut we may go even further yet, and may discover more from Scripture\nrespecting the position and employment of these the saints who are\nwith the Lord. When St. Paul in 1 Cor. vi. is dissuading the\nCorinthians from taking their disputes before the heathen courts to be\nsettled, he says, \"_Know ye not that the saints shall judge the\nworld?_\" and again, \"_Know ye not that we shall judge angels?_\" Such\nexpressions as these can bear but one meaning, and that is that the\nsaints of Christ are actually to bear part in the judgment, as His\nassessors. Further than this we now not. It is not our duty to be wise\nabove that which is written; but it is our duty to be wise up to that\nwhich is written: otherwise it was written in vain. What, then, are we\nto say respecting this apparent discrepancy in the statements of Holy\nScripture concerning the dead in Christ? If it be true that it is\nappointed unto all men once to die, but after that the judgment; if it\nbe true that we all, including even the apostles themselves, shall be\nmanifested, laid open, before the judgment-seat of Christ, how can it\nbe also true that the believer in Christ has already passed from death\ninto life, and therefore cometh not into judgment at all? How can it\nbe true that while others shall rise to a resurrection of judgment, he\nshall rise to a resurrection of life? How can those descriptions be\ncorrect which we have been quoting, of these living and reigning with\nChrist long before the general judgment, and even taking part in it\nwith Him?\n\nI believe the answer is not difficult, and perhaps may best be found\nby remembering another variety of expression in Scripture respecting a\nkindred matter; I mean the way in which the saints of God are spoken\nof in relation to death itself. On the one hand we know that it is\nappointed unto all men to die; and that the faith and service of the\nLord bring with them no exemption from the common lot of all mankind.\nNot only is this proved every day before our eyes, but Scripture gives\nus its most direct testimony that those who believe in Christ must\nexpect it. The very expressions, \"_the dead in Christ_,\" \"_those who\nthrough Jesus have fallen asleep_,\" show that this is so. Yet again,\non the other hand, some passages would almost look as if death itself\nfor the Christian man did not exist. Christ is said to have abolished\ndeath; we learn from His own lips that \"if a man keep His word he\nshall never taste of death;\" He has said again, \"He that liveth and\nbelieveth in Me shall never die.\" Now in this case there is no\npractical difficulty, yet the variety of expression is very\ninstructive. We all know what lies beneath it; namely, the fact, that\nthough the believer in Christ must undergo the physical suffering of\ndeath like other men, yet death has become to him so altogether\nwithout terror and curse, that it has been for him deprived of real\nexistence and power. The apostle in Rom. viii. gives the full\nexplanation: \"_the body indeed is dead because of sin, but the spirit\nis life because of righteousness_.\"\n\nWell, now let us apply this to the case before us. Let us take the\nsame solution, and see whether it will not suffice. The Christian\nshall, like other men, undergo the judgment after death; thus one set\nof Scripture declarations shall be fulfilled. But to the believer, who\nhas died in the Lord, what is the judgment? He stands before the\njudgment-seat perfect in the righteousness of Him to whom he is\nunited, and from whom death has not separated him. His sentence of\nacquittal has been long ago pronounced; he cometh not into judgment,\nso that it should have any substantial effect in changing or\ndetermining his condition. The resurrection is for him not a\nresurrection of judgment, not one in which the judgment is the leading\nfeature and characteristic, but it is only and purely a resurrection\nof, and unto life: one in which life is the leading feature and idea.\n\nThus for the blessed dead, the judgment has no dark side: \"there is no\ncondemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.\" But though it has no\ndark side, it has a bright one. Never for a moment do the Christian\nScriptures lose sight of the Christian reward. Those who die in the\nLord, like the rest of men, shall be laid open before the tribunal of\nChrist. Their sins have been purged away in His atoning blood; they\nhave been washed and justified and sanctified in the name of Jesus and\nby the spirit of their God.\n\nBut to what end? for what purpose? Was it merely that they might be\nsaved? No indeed, but that God might be glorified in them by the\nfruits of their faith and love.\n\nAnd these fruits shall then be made known. The Father who saw them in\nsecret shall then reward them openly. The acts done and the sacrifices\nmade for the name of Christ shall then meet with glorious retribution;\nyea, even to the least and most insignificant of them,--even according\nto our Lord's own words,--to the cup of cold water given to one of His\nlittle ones.\n\nIt is much the fashion, I know, in our days, to put aside and to\ndepreciate this doctrine of the Christian reward. It looks to some\npeople like a sort of reliance on our own works and attainments; and\nso, though they may in the abstract profess a belief in it because it\nis in Scripture, they shrink from applying it in their own cases or in\nthose of others. Now, nothing can justify such a course. We have no\nright to discard a motive held up for our adoption and guidance in\nScripture. And that this is so held up, who that knows his Bible can\nfor a moment doubt? Think of that saying of our Lord about the cup of\ncold water just quoted,--think of the series of sayings of which it is\nthe end--\"He _that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a\nrighteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward_,\" etc. Think,\nagain, of that series of commands, to do our alms, our prayers, our\nabstinences, in secret, each ending with--\"_and thy Father which seeth\nin secret shall reward thee openly_.\" Think, again, of the parable of\nthe labourers in the vineyard, where the great final blessing at the\nhand of the Lord is throughout represented to us as reward, or\nrather--for so the word used properly means--wages for work done. And\nit is in vain in this case to try to escape from the cogency of our\nLord's sayings by alleging that the doctrines of the Cross were not\nmanifested till after His death and glorification. For if this were\nso, then the apostles themselves had never learned those doctrines.\nFor the apostles constantly and persistently set before us the aiming\nat the Christian reward as their own motive, and as that which ought\nto be ours. Hear St. Paul saying that, if he preached the gospel as\nmatter of duty only, it was the stewardship committed to him; but if\nfreely and without pay, a reward, or wages, would be due to him. Hear\nhim again, in expectation of his departure, glorying in the certainty\nof his reward: \"_I have fought a good fight, I have finished my\ncourse, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a\ncrown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge shall give\nme at that day: and not to me only, but to all them also that love His\nappearing_.\" Listen to St. John, whom we are accustomed to regard as\nthe most lofty and heavenly of all the apostles in his thoughts and\nmotives. What does he say to his well-beloved Gaius? \"_Look to\nyourselves, that we lose not the things which we have wrought, but\nthat we receive the full reward_.\" Listen, again, to the writer of the\nEpistle to the Hebrews, that apostolic man, eloquent and mighty in the\nScriptures, and hear him describing the very qualities and attributes\nof faith, that he who cometh to God must _believe that He is, and that\nHe is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him_, and saying of one\nof the first and brightest examples of faith, that _he had respect\nunto the recompence of reward_.\n\nSo, then, these holy dead who have died in the Lord will in that\njudgment have each his reward allotted him according to his service\nand according to his measure. Then the good that has been done in\nsecret will all come to light. All mere profession, all that has been\nartificial and put on, will drop off as though it had never been; and\nthe real kernel of the character, the fair dealing and charity and\nlove of the inner soul, will be made manifest before men and angels.\nThen, not even the least work done for God and for good will be\nforgotten.\n\nHow such an estimate of all holy men will be or can be made and\npublished, utterly surpasses our present powers to imagine. We have no\nfaculties now whereby to deal thus truly and fairly with all men: our\norgans of sense in this present state, and the minds themselves to\nwhich those organs convey impressions, are too feeble and limited for\nthe effort required to apprehend all respecting all, as we shall then\napprehend it. But this need not form any difficulty in our way to\nbelieve that such a thing shall be. The power to understand it and the\npower to receive it surely do not dwell farther off from our matured\npowers now, than the full powers of a grownup man from the faculties\nand conceptions of a child. In all such matters, we are children now.\nThink we then of the blessed dead at that day of the resurrection, as\nrising sure of bliss and of their perfection in Him to whom they were\nunited; being as though there were no judgment, seeing that they have\nOne who shall answer for them at the tribunal: judged notwithstanding\nbefore the bar of God, and passing not to condemnation, but to their\nexceeding great and eternal reward.\n\nOne more thing only now is left us: to ask what we know of that last\nand perfected state of man--that highest development and dignity of\nour race, when body, soul, and spirit, freed from sin and sorrow,\nshall reign with Christ in light.\n\nWith that question, and its answer, we hope to conclude this course of\nsermons next Sunday.\n\n\n\nIV.\n\nWE are to speak to-day of the final state of bliss of those who have\ndied in the Lord. Their state of waiting has ended; the resurrection\nhas clothed them again with the body, the final judgment has passed\nover them, and their last unending state has begun. There are no words\nin Holy Scripture so well calculated to give a general summary of that\nstate as those concluding ones of a passage from which I have before\nlargely quoted: 1 Thess. iv. 17: \"AND SO SHALL WE EVER BE WITH THE\nLORD.\"\n\nFor these words contain in them all that has been revealed of that\nglorious state, included in one simple description. The bliss of the\nmoment after death consisted in being with Christ: the bliss of\nunlimited ages can only be measured by the same. Nearness to Him that\nmade us, union with Him who redeemed us, the everlasting and unvexed\ncompany of Him who sanctifieth us: what glory, what dignity, what\nhappiness can be imagined for man greater than this?\n\nAnd yet it is not by dwelling upon this, and this alone, that we shall\nbe able to arrive at even that appreciation of heaven which is within\nour present powers. We may take these words, \"for ever with the Lord,\"\nand we may find in them, as in our Father's house itself, many\nmansions. In various ways we are far from the Lord here; in various\nways we shall be near Him and with Him there.\n\nBut first of all we must approach these various mansions through their\nportals and the avenues which lead up to them. And one of those is the\nconsideration, who, and of what sort, they shall be, of whom we are\nabout to speak. It will be very necessary that we should conceive of\nthem aright.\n\nWell, then, they will be men, with bodies, souls, and spirits like\nourselves. The disembodied state will be over, and every one will have\nbeen reunited to the body which he or she had before death. What do we\nknow of this body? Very glorious thoughts rise up in our minds when we\nthink of it: but in this course of sermons I am not speculating; I am\ninquiring soberly what is revealed to us about the blessed dead. Well\nthen, again, what do we know of this body of the resurrection? In\nPhil. iii. 21, there is a revelation on this point. It is there said\nthat \"our home is in heaven, from whence also we expect the Saviour,\nthe Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change the body of our degradation\nthat it may be fashioned like unto the body of His glory.\" And this\nchange is very much dwelt on as a necessary condition of the heavenly\nstate in 1 Cor. xv. \"_Flesh and blood_,\" we are told, _i.e._, this\npresent natural or psychical body, the body whose informing tenant is\nthe animal soul, _cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither can\ncorruption_, that which decays and passes away, _inherit\nincorruption_, that state where there is no decay nor passing away.\nSo, then, a change must take place at the resurrection: a change which\nshall pass also on those who are alive and remain at the Lord's\ncoming. The bodies of the risen saints, and of those who are to join\nthem in being for ever with the Lord, will be spiritual bodies: bodies\ntenanted and informed in chief by that highest part of man, which\nduring this present life is so much dwarfed down and crushed by the\nusurpations of the animal soul; viz., his spirit.\n\nNow, it would be idle to conceal the fact, that we cannot form any\ndistinct conception what this spiritual body may be. No such thing has\never come within the range of our experience. But some particulars we\ndo know about it, because God has revealed them. And of those, the\nprincipal are specified in this very passage: \"_It is sown in\ncorruption: it is raised in incorruption_.\" It cannot decay. Eternal\nages will pass over it, and it will remain the same. Again, \"_it is\nsown in dishonour: it is raised in glory_.\" There will be no shame\nabout it, as there will be no sin. Thus much from these words is\nundoubted. What else they may imply we cannot say for certain;\nprobably, unimagined degrees of beauty and radiancy, for so the word\nglory as applied to anything material seems to imply. Further: \"_it is\nsown in weakness: it is raised in power_.\" That is, I suppose, with\nall its faculties wonderfully intensified, and possibly with fresh\nfaculties granted, which here it never possessed, and the mind of man\ncould not even imagine. This last also seems to be implied by its\nbeing called a spiritual body. As here it was an animal body, subject\nto the mere animal life or soul, hemmed in by the conditions of that\nanimal life, so there it will be under the dominion of, and suited to\nthe wants of, man's spirit, the lofty and heavenly part of him.\n\nAnd if we want to know what this implies, our best guide will be to\ncontemplate the risen body of our Lord, as we have it presented to us\nin the gospel narrative. As He is, so are we in this world in our\nessence even now--and as He is so shall we be entirely there. He is\nthe first-fruits, we follow after as the harvest. What, then, was His\nresurrection body? While it was a real body and admitted of being\ntouched and seen, and had the organs of voice and of hearing, yet it\nwas not subjected to the usual conditions of matter as to its\nlocomotion, or its obstruction by intervening objects. It retained the\nmarks of what had happened before death. In order to convince the\ndisciples of His identity, our Lord ate and drank before them. We must\ntherefore infer that these were natural acts of His resurrection body,\nand not merely assumed at pleasure.\n\nWith a body, then, of this kind will the blessed be clothed upon at\nthe resurrection, and remain invested for ever in glory. Now let us\nsee what further flows from this as an inference. We may further say,\nthat we have implied in it a surrounding of external circumstances\nfitted to such a state of incorruptibility and glory. Man redeemed and\nglorified will not be a mere spirit in the vast realms of space, but a\nglorious body moving in a glorious world. Nor is this mere inference,\nhowever plain and legitimate. Holy Scripture is full of it. The power\nof words does not suffice to describe the beauties and glories of that\nrenewed and unfailing world. I need not quote passage after\npassage--they are familiar to you all. Nor, again, is it nature alone\nwhich shall be glorious above all our conception here. It would appear\nthat art also shall have advanced forward, and shall minister to the\nsplendour of that better world. The prophets in the Old Testament, and\nthe beloved Apostle in the New, vie with one another in describing the\nheavenly city, the new Jerusalem, adorned as a bride for her husband,\nlighted by the glory of the indwelling Godhead.\n\n_Where_ this glorious abode of Christ and His redeemed shall be, we\nhave not been told by revelation; and it were idle to indulge in\nspeculations of our own. From some expressions in Scripture, it would\nseem not improbable that it may be this earth itself after\npurification and renewal: from other passages, it would appear as if\nthat inference were hardly safe, and that other of the bodies in space\nare destined for the high dignity of being the home of the sons of\nGod.\n\nWe have now, I believe, cleared the way for the answer to a question\nwhich presses upon us to-day: as far, at least, as that answer can be\ngiven on this side of death. Of mankind in glory, thus perfected, what\nshall be the employ? For I need hardly press it on you that it is\nimpossible to conceive of man in a high and happy estate, without an\nemployment worthy of that estate, and in fact constituting its dignity\nand happiness.\n\nNow, some light is thrown on this inquiry by Holy Scripture, but it\nmust be confessed that it is very scanty. It is true that all our\nmeditations on and descriptions of heaven want balance, and are, so to\nspeak, pictures ill composed. We first build up our glorified human\nnature by such hints as are furnished us in Scripture; we place it in\nan abode worthy of it: and then, after all, we give it an unending\nexistence with nothing to do. It was not ill said by a great preacher,\nthat most people's idea of heaven was to sit on a cloud and sing\npsalms. And others, again, strive to fill this out with the bliss of\nrecognising and holding intercourse with those from whom we have been\nsevered on earth. And beyond all doubt such recognition and\nintercourse shall be, and shall constitute one of the most blessed\naccessories of the heavenly employment; but it can no more be that\nemployment itself than similar intercourse on earth was the employment\nof life itself here. To read some descriptions of heaven, one would\nimagine that it were only an endless prolongation of some social\nmeeting; walking and talking in some blessed country with those whom\nwe love. It is clear that we have not thus provided the renewed\nenergies and enlarged powers of perfected man with food for eternity.\nNor, if we look in another direction, that of the absence of sickness\nand care and sorrow, shall we find any more satisfactory answer to our\nquestion. Nay, rather shall we find it made more difficult and beset\nwith more complication. For let us think how much of employment for\nour present energies is occasioned by, and finds its very field of\naction in, the anxieties and vicissitudes of life. They are, so to\nspeak, the winds which fill the sail and carry us onward. By their\naction, hope and enthusiasm are excited. But suppose a state where\nthey are not, and life would become a dead calm; the sail would flap\nidly, and the spirit would cease to look onward at all. So that,\nunless we can supply something over and above the mere absence of\nanxiety and pain, we have not attained to--nay, we are farther than\never from--a sufficient employment for the life eternal. Now, before\nwe seek for it in another direction, let us think for a moment in this\nway. Are we likely to know much of it? We have before in these sermons\nadopted St. Paul's comparison by analogy, and have likened ourselves\nhere to children, and that blessed state to our full development as\nmen. Now ask yourselves, what does the child at its play know of the\nemployments of the man? Such portions of them as are merely external\nand material he may take in, and represent in his sport: but the work\nand anxiety of the student at his book, and the man of business at his\ndesk, these are of necessity entirely hidden from the child. And so it\nis onward through the advancing stages of life. Of each of them it may\nbe said, \"We know not with what we must serve the Lord, until we come\nhither.\"\n\nSo that we need not be utterly disappointed, if our picture of heaven\nbe at present ill composed: if it seem to be little else than a\ngorgeous mist after all. We cannot fill in the members of the\nlandscape at present. If we could, we should be in heaven.\n\nRemembering this our necessary incapacity for the inquiry, let us try\nto carry it as far as we may. And that we may not be forsaking the\nguidance of Holy Scripture for mere speculation, let us take the words\nof St. Paul--\"_Now we see in a mirror, obscurely, but then face to\nface: now I know in part, but then I shall know even as also I was\nknown_ (_by God_.)\" This immense accession of light and knowledge must\nof course be interpreted partly of keener and brighter faculties\nwherewith the blessed shall be endowed; but shall it not also point to\nglorious employment of those renewed and augmented powers? How could\none endowed with them ever remain idle? What a restless, ardent,\nmany-handed thing is genius even here below? How the highly endowed\nspirit searches about and tries its wings, now hither now thither, in\nthe vast realms of intellectual life! And if it be so here, with the\nbody weighing on us, with the clogs of worldly business and trivial\ninterruption, what will it be there, where everything will be\nfashioned and arranged for this express purpose, that every highest\nemployment may find its noblest expansion without let or hindrance?\nBesides, think for a moment of the relative positions of men with\nregard to any even the least amount of this light and knowledge of\nwhich we are speaking. In order to take in this the better, think of\nthe lowest and most ignorant of mankind who shall attain to that state\nof glory. Measure the difference between such a spirit and an\nAugustine, and then recollect that Augustine himself, that St. Paul\nhimself, was but a child in comparison of the maturity of knowledge\nand insight which all shall there acquire. Such a thought may serve to\nshow us what a gap must be bridged over, before any such perfect\nknowledge will be attained by any of the sons of men. And when we\nremember that all blessings come by labour and the goodly heat of\nexercised energy, shall we deny to the highest of all states the\nchoicest of all blessings? So that the attainment of, and advance in,\nthe light and knowledge peculiar to that glorious land must be\nimagined as affording unending employment for the blessed hereafter.\nAnd this gives us another insight into the matter. As there is so\ngreat disparity among men here, so we may well believe will there be\nthere. All Scripture goes to show that there will be no general\nequalizing, no flat level of mankind. Degrees and ranks as they now\nare, indeed, there will be none. Not the possession of wealth, not the\naccident of birth, which are held here to put difference between man\nand man, will make any distinction there: but inequality and\ndistinction will proceed on other grounds; the amount of service done\nfor God, the degree of entrance into the obedience and knowledge of\nHim, these will put the difference between one and another there.\n\nBut we hasten to a close: and in doing so, we come back to the simple\nwords of our text, \"for ever with the Lord;\" and we would leave on\nyour minds the impression that these, after all, furnish the best key\nto the employment of the blessed in heaven. If they are fit companions\nfor the Lord, then must they be like Him as He is there; and thus we\nseem to have marked out an employment alone sufficient for eternity.\nLook at it in its various aspects.\n\nWhat is, what will be, the Lord doing in that state of blessedness?\nWill He be idle like the gods of Epicurus, sitting serene above all,\nand separate from all, created things? No, indeed, no such glorified\nLord is revealed to us in Holy Scripture. \"My Father worketh hitherto,\nand I work.\" The created universe will be then as much beholden to His\nupholding hand as it is now. If they are to be for ever with Him,\nattending and girding His steps, they, too, will doubtless be\nfellow-workers with Him there, as they were here. And in this, only\nconsider how much of His creation was altogether hidden from them\nhere! Look abroad on a starry night--behold a field of employment for\nthose who shall be ever with the Lord. The greater part of His works\nnever came within sight of this our mortal eye at all. These are only\nhints, it is true, which we have no power of following out: but they\nmay serve for finger-posts to point to whole realms of possible\nblessed employment.\n\nThen, again, there is more in the words \"for ever with the Lord\" than\neven this. Who can tell what past works, not of creation only, but of\ngrace also, the blessed may have to search into--works wrought on\nthemselves and others which may then be brought back to them by memory\nentirely restored, and then first studied with any power to comprehend\nor to be thankful for them?\n\nThen, again, the glory of God Himself, then first revealed to\nthem,--the redeeming love of Christ,--the glory of the mystery of the\nindwelling of the Spirit,--dry and lofty subjects to the sons of men\nhere, will be to them when there as household words and as daily\npursuits. It seems to me, my brethren, when we look at all these\nsources of blessed employment, though we are unable from our present\nweakness to follow them out into detail,--and when we think that\nperhaps after all in our earthly blindness we may be omitting some\nwhich shall there constitute the chief, it seems to me, I say, as if\nwe should have to complain not of insufficient employ for the ages of\neternity, but of an infinite and inexhaustible variety, for which even\nendless ages of limited being hardly seem to suffice.\n\nSuch, then, beloved, are the thoughts which have occurred to us on a\nsubject of which I pray that it may be one of personal interest to\nevery one here present.\n\nWhen we are to leave this present state, is a matter hidden from our\neyes, and not dependent on ourselves: but how we will leave it,\nwhether as the Lord's blessed ones, or with no part in Him, this is\nleft for ourselves to determine. There is set before us life and\ndeath. May we choose life, that it may be well with us; that we may\nwake from the bed of death and find ourselves with the Lord; that we\nmay pass in joyful hope through the waiting and disembodied state, and\nwake at the morning of the resurrection to that fulness of completed\nbliss of which we have this day been speaking.\n\n_Pardon and Sons, Printers, Paternoster Row_.\n\n\n\nNew and Recent Works.\n\n_The Prophecies of our Lord and His Apostles_.\n\nBy W. HOFFMANN, D.D., Chaplain in Ordinary to the King of Prussia.\nCrown 8vo, price 7s. 6d. cloth.\n\n_The Education of the Heart: Woman's Best Work_.\n\nBy Mrs. ELLIS, Author of \"The Women of England,\" &c. Fcap. 8vo, price\n3s. 6d. cloth.\n\n_The Divine Mysteries; The Divine Treatment of Sin, and the Divine\nMystery of Peace_.\n\nBy J. BALDWIN BROWN, B. A., Author of \"The Soul's Exodus,\" &c. New\nEdition. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. cloth.\n\n_Misread Passages of Scripture_.\n\nBy the same Author. Third Thousand. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth.\n\n_Saint Mark's Gospel_.\n\nA New Translation, with Notes and Practical Lessons. By Professor J.\nH. GODWIN, New College, London, Author of \"The Apocalypse of St.\nJohn,\" &c. Crown 8vo, 4s. 6d.\n\n_The Son of Man: Discourses on the Humanity of Jesus Christ_.\n\nWith an Address on the Teaching of Jesus Christ. By FRANK COULIN,\nD.D., Minister of the National Church, Geneva. Fcap. 8vo, 5s. cloth.\n\nLondon: HODDER & STOUGHTON, 27, Paternoster Row.\n\n\n\nWORKS BY E. DE PRESSENSE D.D.\n\n_The Early Years of Christianity_. 8vo, 12s. cloth.\n\n\"This is a sequel to Dr. Pressense's celebrated book on the 'Life,\nWork, and Times of Jesus Christ.' We may say at once that to the bulk\nof liberal Christians Dr. Pressense's achievement will be very\nvaluable.\"--_Athenaum_.\n\n\"He holds his brilliant intellectual gifts and his profound learning\nsubordinate to his fervent and absolute faith in the divinity of lie\nLord and Saviour.\"--_Daily Telegraph_.\n\n_Jesus Christ: His Times, Life, and Work._\n\nThird and Cheaper Edition, crown 8vo, 9s. cloth.\n\n\"One of the most valuable additions to Christian literature which the\npresent generation has seen.\"--_Contemporary Review._\n\n\"M. de Pressense is not only brilliant and epigrammatic, but his\nsentences flow on from page to page with a sustained eloquence which\nnever wearies the reader. The 'Life of Christ' is more dramatically\nunfolded in this volume than in any other work with which we are\nacquainted.\"--Spectator.\n\n_The Mystery of Suffering, and other Discourses_.\n\nNew Edition, crown 8vo, price 3s. 6d. cloth.\n\n_The Land of the Gospel: Notes of a Journey in the East_.\n\nCrown 8vo, 5s. cloth.\n\n_The Church and the French Revolution_.\n\nA History of the Relations of Church and State from 1789 to 1802.\nCrown 8vo, 9s. cloth.\n\nLondon: HODDER & STOUGHTON, 27, Paternoster Row.","title":"The State of the Blessed Dead","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":12852}