{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_63688/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_63688","id":"gutenberg_63688","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63688","summary":null,"tags":["Bible. Corinthians, 1st, XV, 4 -- Sermons","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Holy Saturday -- Sermons","Sermons, English -- 19th century"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1849 D. Batten edition by David Price.\n\n\n\n\n\n                             \u201cHe was buried.\u201d\n\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                 A SERMON\n\n                                   FOR\n\n                               EASTER EVEN.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                    BY\n                             THOMAS MACGILL,\n\n                            CURATE OF CLAPHAM,\n                EVENING PREACHER AT THE MAGDALEN HOSPITAL.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                 Clapham:\n                          PRINTED BY D. BATTEN.\n\n                                  1849.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n_If there be any profits from the sale of this publication_, _they will\nbe added to the funds for Building a Temporary Church in Clapham_.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n\n\n\n                                A SERMON.\n\n\n                        1 Cor. xv. 4.\u2014\u201cHE WAS BURIED.\u201d\n\nWHO has not witnessed a funeral!  Who is unacquainted with the emotions\nthat possess the heart whilst carrying the remains of a beloved friend to\nthe grave!  And even when we have no interest in the deceased beyond the\nties of a common humanity, there is a majesty in death itself that\noverawes the mind, and the gloomy pomp that proclaims death\u2019s triumph\narrests the thoughtlessness of man and repeats to him the lesson of the\nBible\u2014\u201cThe grave is thine house, and thou must make thy bed in the\ndarkness.\u201d  Who has not felt his curiosity awakened when some splendid\ntrain of mourners has passed by, declaring by the parade in which\ncorruption sits in mockery, how noble, or how renowned, or how rich the\nvictim on whom the hand of the destroyer has fallen, and how utterly vain\nand empty are all human glories.  And who has not experienced a hallowed\nsympathy when he has met a little band hurrying towards the churchyard\nall that is mortal of some friendless man, who lived unknown and died\nunbewailed, and who now seems to be stealing out of a world that had\nscarcely acknowledged his existence,\u2014yet declaring in his undistinguished\ndeparture that \u201cdeath has passed upon all men, because all have sinned.\u201d\n\nTo-day I invite you to contemplate the funeral ceremonies of the Prince\nof Life, of Him who lay down amid the mansions of the dead, that by dying\nHe might destroy death and him that had the power of death.\n\nThe mourners on this mysterious occasion were few in number.  The Lord\nwhom all despised, and who had no home in which to lay his head in life,\ncould scarcely attract around him in death as many as could carry him\nfrom the cross to the grave.  His disciples, with one honoured exception,\nhad all disappeared in shameful flight.  A few women, with tearful\nsympathy, lingered to mark the spot where their Lord should be laid, and\nassisted Joseph and Nicodemus to perform the last offices to the\ncrucified Immanuel.  These two persons were men of considerable\ndistinction in Judea, rich and honourable, and members of the great\ncouncil of the nation.  Of Joseph it is written that he was \u201ca good man\nand a just.\u201d  Of Nicodemus we read that he was a ruler of the Jews, a\npublic teacher, \u201ca master in Israel,\u201d but of a remarkably timid\ndisposition.  Three years before this sad day he had visited Jesus under\nthe cover of night, and received instructions in the mysteries of the\nkingdom of God, but he had never yet openly avowed his attachment to\nMessiah.  The world\u2019s frown, the dread of its reproach, the certainty of\nits persecution, had deterred both Joseph and Nicodemus from confessing\nChrist before men.  But his death, the event that encreased the peril of\nhis disciples, had the effect of dissipating all their fears, and\nconstrained them openly to profess their respect to the Lord.  With a\nboldness which defied all danger they begged from Pilate the body of\nChrist, that it might not be cast into a malefactor\u2019s grave, but entombed\nwith such honour and distinction as circumstances would allow.  The\nearnest desire of such a person as Joseph was not to be refused, and\nagreeing, as it doubtless would, with Pilate\u2019s own feelings respecting\none whom he had pronounced innocent, the request was at once complied\nwith.\n\nHow strange an event was this!  At the very time of Messiah\u2019s utmost\ndesertion, when heaven frowns with gathered blackness, and the cry has\nbeen uttered, \u201cMy God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me!\u201d\u2014when lover and\nfriend were put far from Him, there went forth from the Sanhedrim that\nhad condemned Him two distinguished witnesses to proclaim His praise, and\nshew to His lifeless remains the respect they had themselves denied to\nHis living person.\n\nThus it is, Christian brethren, that, when least expected, God\u2019s hidden\nwork of grace may be silently advancing; in young and aged hearts\nChristianity may be putting forward its sacred and resistless claims and\nobtaining a mastery within, that needs only to be put to the trial to\nexhibit its real power.  There is not always the \u201crushing mighty wind\u201d\nwhen the Spirit of the Lord takes possession of a man\u2019s heart.  There is\nnot always the intense sorrow of \u201cone mourning as for an only son,\u201d when\nthe sinner looks to Christ.  There is not always the alarm of \u201cMen and\nbrethren what shall we do?\u201d when sin\u2019s appalling consequences are first\nspiritually discovered.  The work of grace is often silent and gentle,\nlike the season of spring in a tropical clime, when the earth by some\nrapid change of the atmosphere seems by enchantment to be covered with\nnew created loveliness, and welcomes the blessed showers of heaven with a\nbloom as sudden as it is glorious.  And how often are the very\ncircumstances that seem most unfavorable to the progress of faith, chosen\nby God for the manifestation of His grace.  Yet let no man carry this\nprinciple beyond its legitimate use, nor consider that the existence of\nreligious principles can ever be consistent with a life of ungodliness.\nIn the case of Joseph it is expressly declared that, though he was a\nmember of the Council that condemned Jesus to death, he had not consented\nto their verdict.\u2014No; men cannot be the children of God whilst they are\navowedly the children of their father the devil, whose works they do.\n\nBut to return to the narrative.  No sooner had Joseph obtained the\nconsent of Pilate than he hurried back to the cross.  The day was,\nhowever, far spent and the sabbath was at hand, therefore the funeral\nceremonies must needs be finished in a very hasty manner.  With such\nassistance as the occasion commanded, Joseph and Nicodemus removed the\nsacred corpse, extracted the nails from the cross, wiped off the stains\nof indignity with which that holy countenance had been profaned, and\nhaving wound the body in fine linen with spices and aromatic gums they\nbore it to a new tomb wherein never before was man laid.  There amid the\ndimness of twilight, the fitting emblem of the extinguished hopes of the\nworld, they deposited with speechless grief, the precious form of Him who\ncame in the name of the Lord to save us.  O ye men of holy and humble\nhearts, how sad was your task! and your faith was too feeble and your\nhopes too gloomy to sustain you in this pious duty.\n\nIt is to be observed that the sepulchre in which Christ was laid was a\nnew one, the property of a rich man, and was situated beyond the gates of\nJerusalem.  Thus the Scriptures were fulfilled which declare that He\nshould be \u201cwith the rich in His death (Isaiah liii. 9.) thus was\nfulfilled the type involved in the command that the ashes of the\nsacrifice should be carried without the camp, (Leviticus iv. 12.  Heb.\nxiii. 11, 12).  It was also a part of the proof necessary for the fact of\nthe resurrection, that He had been laid, not in the place where the\nbodies of felons were usually cast, nor in any ordinary burying ground\nwhere other bodies lay, and where some deceit might have been practised\nby the disciples; and being a grave excavated in the rock it could only\nbe approached by one entrance, and the entrance was guarded by sentinels\nand sealed.  These circumstances are of vast importance as bearing on the\nreality of His resurrection, and they are proofs which easily and\nnaturally present themselves to the mind.\n\n\u201cThere laid they Jesus.\u201d\u2014Observe its locality; it was in a garden, a\nlonely but a lovely resting place, constructed amid the arbors and\nflower-paths, and near it there would grow many a fragrant plant with\nleaves painted by heavenly art, and be like ornaments of beauty designed\nto relieve the gloom that overhangs the dwellings of the dead.  Here\nthere would be nothing to remind us of death, no sickening vapours of\ncorruption; no mouldering fragments of humanity, to proclaim it a place\nof skulls.  All around would breathe the spicy odours of the eastern\nclime; yea, from the sepulchre itself would exhale a balmy sweetness,\nfulfilling the words of the royal poet,\n\n    \u201cAll thy garments smell\n       Of myrrh and aloes and cassia:\n    Out of the ivory palaces\n       Whereby they have made thee glad.\u201d\n\nAnd what does this flowery abode of death speak to us, Christian friends?\nIt proclaims how death and the grave have been divested of all their\nterrible features by the work of Christ, how He hath planted flowers of\nheavenly promise around the margin of the tomb, perfumed the sepulchre\nitself with odours of eternal love, and scented the once hateful garments\nof the dead with the fragrance and freshness of a sure and certain\nimmortality.  It proclaims that there is nothing now in the chill and\ndarkness of the narrow house, to alarm the fears of the dying Christian.\nFor Jesus has been there and has left within it the impress of His own\nform, and has changed its aspect and altered its character.  It is no\nlonger a prison-house, but the vestibule of heaven, in which the children\nof the kingdom repose their wearied frames before they enter with\nspiritual bodies on the employments of a glorious eternity.\n\n\u201cAnd there,\u201d says St. Matthew, \u201cwas Mary Magdalene and the other Mary\nsitting over against the sepulchre.\u201d  Let us draw near, and share with\nthem their holy musings.\n\nThere, in that rock, lies He that made the world.  There are sealed up\nthe lips which said, \u201cCome unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden\nand I will give you rest.\u201d  There are closed the eyes which always beamed\ncompassion, and wept for human woe.  There, cold, are the hands which\nwere laid on little children to bless them, and opened the eyes of the\nblind, and delivered the widow\u2019s son alive to his mother.  There reposes\nthat gentle head, that knew no resting place till He could say \u201cI have\nfinished the work that my father gave me to do.\u201d  There lies the Life of\nthe world and the Hope of Israel!\u2014The Wonderful, the Counsellor, the\nMighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace!  He was fairer\nthan the children of men!  He was the image of the invisible God!  He\nwent about doing good; He was rich, and for our sakes He become poor!\n\nWere we seated beside the two Marys, with bleeding hearts we might think\nwhat epitaph would best become Immanuel\u2019s tomb; and had we been like them\nat that moment, ignorant of the purpose of His death, this would express\nboth our faith and our fears\u2014\n\n    \u201cWe trusted that it had been He\n    Who should have redeemed Israel.\u201d\n\nBut had their conceptions of the great scheme of the atonement been\ncorrect, had they understood the nature of Christ\u2019s satisfaction for sin,\nhad they comprehended how before one sinner could be saved the law must\nbe made honourable in all its penalties and all its requirements, they\nwould have been disposed to rejoice rather than mourn when Jesus came to\nthe grave, and they would have written \u201cLift up your heads, O ye gates,\nthat the King of Glory may come in, to spoil you of your strength and\nprostrate all your pride.  He comes, the Lord of hosts, like a second\nSamson, to lay His hands on your most colossal pillars, and complete by\nHis own death the overthrow begun in the days of His life.\u201d\n\nOn the tombs of mortals, however illustrious, we write these humbling\nwords, \u201cHere he _lies_,\u201d but I hear the angel saying at the tomb of\nChrist, \u201cCome, see the place where the Lord _lay_.\u201d\n\nBrethren, \u201ccompanions in tribulation, and in the patience and kingdom of\nChrist\u201d\u2014it is well for us to stand by His grave and compare His deep\nhumiliation with His essential glory.  Let us behold in His death the\ninfliction pronounced against sin; let us learn the odiousness of it in\nthe sight of God, the vastness of the evil displayed in the magnitude of\nthe remedy, the boundlessness of God\u2019s grace in \u201csparing not His own Son\nbut giving him up\u201d to the death \u201cfor us all.\u201d\n\nBut, above all, let us learn to look on Jesus as one whom _we_ have\npierced, and who has purchased our ransom from eternal death by sorrows\nand sacrifices which neither time nor eternity will enable us to estimate\naright.  Let us put ourselves in the place of those charged with the\nbloody deed, when they reflected that they had sacrificed an innocent\nbeing.  Suppose that you had been consenting to His death.  Suppose you\nhad been the cause of it.  Suppose his murderers had only been agents\nemployed by you.  Then your resentment will operate nearer home, and your\ngrief will rend your own heart.  And this, brethren, is the only true\nrepentance.  By faith the sinner perceives his own blood guiltiness in\nthis cruel tragedy, and \u201clooking upon Him whom he has pierced, he mourns\nfor him.\u201d (Zech. xii. 10.)  No; you cannot learn the true evil of sin and\nyour own lost condition because of it, but by considering and laying to\nheart the cross and passion, the precious death and burial, of your Lord\nand Saviour.  Many think that sin is but a light thing; but hear Him, in\nwhom _was no sin_ and who _did no sin_, saying, in the anguish of a\nwounded spirit \u201cMy soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death.\u201d  See Him\n\u201csore amazed and very heavy;\u201d behold \u201cHis sweat as it were great drops of\nblood falling down to the ground.\u201d  No; you cannot otherwise learn what a\ndreadful evil sin is\u2014you cannot trifle with it\u2014you cannot be reconciled\nto it\u2014when you see the agonies of Him who \u201cmade His soul an offering for\u201d\nit, and became a curse on account of it.\n\nIn the ancient history we read that the citizens of Rome, when they\nbeheld the mangled body and the gory mantle of C\u00e6sar, rushed forth in\nfury to be avenged upon his murderers.  So will the heart of every true\nbeliever, when he sees the wounds of Jesus, be stirred up to mutiny and\nrage\u2014against himself, against those sins which caused the shedding of\nthat innocent blood.\n\nAnd such emotions best become this solemn time.  The language of this sad\nevent is this\u2014\u201cScarcely for a righteous man will one die, peradventure\nfor a _good man_ some would even dare to die, but God commendeth His love\nto us, in that _while we were yet sinners_ Christ died for us.\u201d  Come,\nthen, to the hallowed scene of Immanuel\u2019s death.  Come, and anoint His\nbody with tears of godly sorrow, and swathe it in the fine linen of\nundissembled love.  If David, in that most plaintive of all elegies,\ncould say over the slaughtered bodies of Saul and Jonathan, \u201cWeep, O\ndaughters of Jerusalem, over Saul who clothed you in scarlet, and put\nornaments of gold upon your apparel,\u201d much more may we say, \u201cWeep, ye\nbelievers in Jesus, weep over the King of Salem, who clothes you with\nrighteousness and crowns you with salvation.\u201d\n\nAnd are there some among you mourning the loss of dear relatives,\ndeparted this life in God\u2019s faith and fear?  I bid you look upon the tomb\nof Christ, and learn what it is to have sorrow sweetened by grace and\nsanctified by truth.  If their Saviour strengthened them amid the\nweakness of mortality to glory in His cross, and practically to exclaim,\n\u201cO death, where is thy sting; O grave, where is thy victory?\u201d\u2014if now you\nfeel that the fairest flowers you can strew over their memory are those\nof faith and hope and love, why should your hearts be heavy and your\nspirits faint!  Know ye not that Christ hath laid _them_ in his own\nresting-place, and that all who sleep in Jesus, God shall bring with Him?\nPrecious Gospel! which has brought life and immortality to light; which\nbids us \u201cnot be ignorant concerning them that are asleep\u201d\u2014which tells us\nthat our departed brethren are blessed, and that when we too shall come\nto the shores of the better land, we shall be welcomed by them arrived\nbefore us\u2014that we shall together walk along the golden streets of the\nholy city, and sit down together by the fountains of joy which adorn and\nbeautify our common home.\n\nBut whatever may be our private griefs, whatever the hopes we cherish of\ndeparted friends, let the burial and grave of Christ remind us that we\nmust die, and that after death there is the judgment.  It appeals to the\nthoughtless and the careless and the gay, with a searching enquiry, \u201cWhen\nwill _your_ spirit be at rest?\u201d when corruption preys upon your body, it\nasks \u201care you united to the Saviour?  Have your submitted to the\nrighteousness of God, and renounced your own, as a sinner guilty and\nhell-deserving?  Have you fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set\nbefore you on the cross of Christ?  Or are you yet dead in trespasses and\nsins\u2014a captive to Satan\u2014a vessel fitted for destruction?\u201d\n\nMen and brethren, the fashion of this world passeth away, the grave, and\nthe mourners, and the funeral train, are preparing for us all.  Then it\nis high time to awake out of sleep.\n\nAnd now, \u201cO Lord, grant that as we are baptized into the death of thy\nblessed Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, so by continual mortifying our\ncorrupt affections we may be buried with Him; and that through the grave,\nand gate of death, we may pass to our joyful resurrection; for His\nmerits, who died, and was buried, and rose again for us, thy Son Jesus\nChrist our Lord.  Amen.\u201d\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n        London: D. Batten, Printer and Publisher, Clapham Common.","title":"\"He was buried.\" A Sermon for Easter Even","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":3121}