The Glory of the Redeemer in His Resurrection1

cont'd

Another means of increasing and promoting eminent spirituality of mind, is a diligent and prayerful reading of God's holy word. This, we fear, is not an element in the Christianity of the many. It defines a duty sadly, and to a great extent, neglected. The tendency of the age is to substitute the writings of man for the book of God. Let them come but with the robe of religion gracefully thrown around them, and whether they assume the form of history, or story, or song, they are devoured by the professing multitude, who would deem their true spirituality unquestionable! But the Divine life of the soul is not to be fed and nourished by the profound discoveries of science, or the recondite axioms of philosophy, or the brilliant flowers of genius, or the dreams of a poetical imagination. It ascends to a higher and a diviner Source; it aspires towards the nourishment of its native climate. The bread that comes down from heaven, and the water that flows, pure as crystal, from beneath the throne of God and the Lamb, can alone feed, and nourish, and refresh this hidden principle. Jesus is its sustenance; and the Gospel, as it unfolds Him in His glory and grace, is the spiritual granary from where its daily food is drawn. To this it repairs, oftentimes pressed with hunger, or panting with thirst, weary and exhausted, drooping and faint, and it finds its doctrines and its precepts, its promises and its admonitions, its exhortations and revelations, a "feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees: of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined." And thus refreshed and satisfied, the grateful soul adoringly exclaims, "Your words were found, and I did eat them; and Your word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart." Truly did Jesus testify, "Verily, verily I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you;" evidently and solemnly implying that if there exists no appetite for spiritual food, there is lacking the great evidence of the life of God in the soul. A mere semblance of life, an informed judgment, a "fair show" of religion in the flesh," can content itself with anything short of the spiritual nourishment contained in God's word. A ministry without Christ, without unction, without power, and without profit; the duty and the day rigidly observed without spirit and without sweetness; the monthly periodical, the religious story, the drawing room exposition, may seem to feed the lamp of mere profession, can keep alive the "form of godliness," and satisfy a soul utterly destitute of its "power." But the Divine life of a quickened soul, while it disdains no auxiliary to its spiritual advance, can yet feed on nothing but Divine food. The "flesh and the blood" of Emmanuel can alone meet and satiate its hungering and thirsting. It is from heaven, and its supply must be heavenly; it is from God, and its nourishment must be Divine. Jesus, and Jesus alone, received into the heart, rested in, and lived upon by faith, is the food of a believing man. Nothing but Christ- "Christ all" in Himself, and Christ 'in all' means, 'in all' ordinances, I 'in all' channels, 'in all' seasons- sustains a soul whose "life is hidden with Christ in God." Dear reader, do you see the importance and feel the solemnity of this truth? Oh, it is a great and solemn one! Except by faith you "eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man, you have no life in you!" Your mind content with anything as a substitute for this- your faith standing in the wisdom of men- your sacramental observances- your religion of "foods, and drinks, and diverse washings, and carnal ordinances"- your "keeping of days, and months, and times, and years;" or, to use great plainness of speech in a subject so momentous, your past submission to the rite of baptism- your present habitual observance of the Lord's supper- your visible union with the Church of God- all will avail you nothing in the great matter of your soul's salvation without Christ! Does this startle you? Are you alarmed at the discovery? It is, I trust, with the affection and tenderness which the spirit of the Gospel inspires, that I thus address you. Nothing short of Christ- Christ's righteousness, Christ's atonement, Christ's flesh and blood, Christ in us, Christ outside us, Christ risen, Christ alive at the right hand of God, yes, "Christ all and in all," can meet the deep immortal necessities of your soul. You need all that Christ is in the matter of pardon, and justification, and sanctification, and wisdom, and redemption. If anything less than Jesus had sufficed, if an expedient less magnificent, or if an expenditure less costly, had answered for God and man, then less would save you. But since the incarnate God alone is the Savior of a poor, lost sinner, see that you detract not from, or add to, this salvation by any works of human merit. To return to our first observation: be exhorted to an intimate acquaintance with God's holy word, as supplying a powerful help to the progress of the soul in deep spirituality. And if your time for reading is limited, limit it to one book, and let that one book be the bible. Let it be the companion of your hours of solitude; the solace in your seasons of sorrow; the store-house in all your necessities; the man of your counsel in all your doubts and perplexities. Then will your blessed experience resemble that of the Psalmist, "Your word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. This is my, comfort in my affliction: for Your word has quickened me. Your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. I rejoice in Your word, as one that finds great spoil."
But observe the exhortation, in connection with the precept, "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." How solemn and full of meaning are these words! To set the affections on heavenly things, is to realize the ardent desire of the apostle, that he might "know Christ and the power of His resurrection." Oh, there is a mighty, elevating power in the resurrection of Christ! It is the great lever to a child of God, lifting him above earth, heavenward. To know that he is closely and inseparably one with the risen Head of the Church, is to be the subject of a continuous quickening influence, which in spirit raises him from the dust, and the darkness, and the pollutions by which he is surrounded; fixing the affections with greater ardency of devotion and supreme attachment on things above. Oh, nothing will more sanctify and elevate our hearts, than to have them brought under the "power of Christ's resurrection." Following Him by faith, from the dust of earth to the glory of heaven, the affections will ascend with their Beloved. Where He is, the heart's most precious treasure- there it will be also. And oh, to have the heart with Christ in heaven, what an unspeakable mercy! And why should it not be? Has earth more that is attractive, and lovely, and holy, and worthy of its affection, than heaven? Here, we are encircled by, and combat with, spirits of darkness and pollution, principalities and powers- there, is "an innumerable company of angels." Here, we are much separated from the Church of God- there, is the "general assembly and Church of the first-born," from whom nothing shall divide us. Here, the Divine presence is often withdrawn, and we are taunted and accused by our foes- there, is "God the judge of all," whose presence will be our eternal glory, and who will "bring forth our righteousness as the light, and our judgment as the noon-day." Here, we often hang our heads in sorrow, at the imperfections we mark in the saints, there, are the "spirits of just men made perfect," "without fault before the throne." Here, we often lose sight of our beloved Lord- there, is "Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant," never more to be veiled from our view. Oh, then, how much richer and more attractive is heaven than earth, to a renewed and holy mind, each moment growing richer and more attractive, by the accession to its numbers of those, the holy and loved ones of the earth, who have for a little while preceded us to that world of perfect bliss! Our treasure in glory, how rapidly it accumulates! Death, which impoverishes us here by snatching from our embrace the objects of our love, by that same act augments our riches in heaven, into the full possession and enjoyment of which it will, in its appointed time, beneficently translate us. But the sweetest, the most powerful attraction of heaven, let us never forget, is, that Jesus is there. Ah! what would heaven be, were He absent? Could we, at this moment, rush into the fond embrace of the dearest of the glorified ones, and meet not the "Chief among ten thousands, the altogether lovely One," who on earth was more precious to our hearts than life itself, oh, how soon would its glory fade from our eye; and its music pall upon our ear! It would cease to be heaven without Christ. Even on earth His presence and His smile constitute the first dawnings of that better world. And he who lives most in the enjoyment of this- and oh, bow much more may be enjoyed than we have the faintest conception of- has most of the element of heaven in his soul. Aim, then, to cultivate heavenly affections, by a life of high communion with God.
But there is also a prohibition. "Set your affection not on things on the earth." It is not the design or tendency of the Gospel, to destroy or impair any single class of those human affections which God has created. On the contrary, it recognizes, encourages, and strengthens them all. He is the fondest parent, the most dutiful child, the most faithful servant, the sincerest friend, the best citizen, whose affections are sanctified and regulated by the hallowing influence of the Gospel of Christ. It is the Gospel, experienced in the heart, that alone gives tone, elevation, and security to the conjugal, the parental, and the filial relation, defining and enforcing the duties of each. It is worthy of remark, that in the identical chapter which declares the believer risen with Christ, and which exhorts him to consequent heavenly-mindedness, some of the precepts to which we have referred are thus strikingly portrayed, and earnestly enforced- "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in all things; for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that you also have a Master in heaven." Thus the weighty precepts of God are closely interwoven with the most sublime doctrines of His word.
And yet there is much solemn meaning in the prohibition, "Set not your affection on things on the earth," worthy of our deepest consideration. The circle it embraces is a wide one. It includes every earthly object tending to injure and impair the heavenly-mindedness of him who is mystically and spiritually risen with Christ. That was a solemn charge which, with tears, the holy apostle alleged against some of the primitive professors- "who mind earthly things." Against the sin with which they were chargeable, and which rendered their Christianity of so doubtful a character, he warns the Colossians, in the passage before us, "Set not your affection on things on the earth." The prohibition includes creatures, riches, honors, pleasures, yes, every earthly object that would be a substitute for Christ- everything that would render Him less glorious to the eye, less precious to the soul, less an object of the heart's holiest, fondest, and supreme affection. Oh, many a mother has taken the little flower God has intrusted to her, and placing it in her bosom, has been so elated with its beauty and its fragrance, as to forget the "Rose of Sharon," the "Lily of the valley." Her affections have been inordinately set upon an earthly object- her love to Jesus has, in consequence, waned. Her zeal for His glory has cooled; her walk with God has been less intimate. She has followed her Lord afar off; the means of grace have been neglected- her child has come between her soul and Christ, and presently He has transferred it from her bosom to His own. He has blighted the mercy that tended to supplant in her holy affections the God of the mercy.
Delicate as is the subject, and needing as it does to be treated with a tender and skillful hand, we nevertheless must allude to that undue, idolatrous, if not superstitious, attachment to, and reverence for, Christian ministers by churches and by individuals, which, we think, comes within the scope of this prohibition, the existence and growing extent of which demand a prompt and effectual check. The office of the Christian ministry is strangely misunderstood at the present time. By one part of the professing Church, the Christian minister is all but deified; and by another part, he is all but crucified. By the one he is exalted into the place of God; so that multitudes, in the blindness of their superstitious attachment, worship him as God; by the other, his office is altogether denied, and his dignity, authority, and instructions are cast out of the Church, to be trodden under foot by men. Fearful extremes are these! And yet, both at this moment to an alarming extent exist. Who will be found tenderly, yet earnestly and faithfully, to lift up his voice against them, for the Lord's sake? May not a slight investigation of God's holy word bearing upon this subject, clearly point out the middle and the better path between these opposite and dangerous points of opinion, which at the present time threaten, and even already are working, the greatest evil to the Church of God?
In turning, then, "to the law and to the testimony," we find that there exists in the Church of Christ the office of the Christian ministry, having its appointment from Christ Himself, the great Head of the Church: "And Jesus spoke unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go you, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you aways, even unto the end of the world." Again: "And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry." This high commission, which no man, nor body of men, can confer, every minister of the Gospel bears, whom the Holy Spirit has called to the work, and who "goes forth, preaching everywhere, the Lord working with him." Let no man, at his peril, deny his office, or despise his work. The ministerial character is described: "A bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers." They are to be thus recognized by the saints: "Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God." They are to be respected, honored, and loved: "Receive him (Epaphroditus) therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such (margin, honor such) in reputation." "And we beseech you, brethren, to know them who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake." "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine." They are to be especially prayed for, "Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me." "Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ." "Brethren, pray for us." Their authority is to be acknowledged, and their word obeyed: "I beseech you, brethren, ... that you submit yourselves unto such, and to every one that helps with us, and labors." "For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether you be obedient in all things." "Remember them who have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God." Their temporal necessities are to be amply and cheerfully ministered to by the churches whom they serve- "If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?" (see the First Epistle to the Corinthians, the ninth chapter). "Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teaches in all good things." "The laborer is worthy of his hire." These are some of the statutes of the New Testament, bearing upon the Christian ministry: from them it will appear- that the office is of Divine institution, that it is essential to the existence of a Gospel Church, that it is connected with the discharge of certain functions, and that it is clothed with dignity and authority, which are to be recognized and exercised, not for its own self-aggrandizement, but for the welfare of the saints, and for Christ's honor and glory. On the other hand, equally clear is it, that the Christian ministry possesses essentially no Divine rights of its own, that it confers no spiritual gifts, conveys no spiritual grace, and that it disclaims all superstitious reverence, and rejects all idolatrous attachment and worship from the creature.
With all earnestness and solemnity of feeling we urge the reader to avoid the two extremes of error which we have pointed out, and to which we have thus opposed the word of God. Let him, on the one hand, be careful how he takes a step in sapping the foundation, or in impairing the influence, of an institution which Christ has so distinctly appointed, and so signally blessed. Second to none, but superior to all, as an instrumentality of promulgating truth and of promoting Christ's kingdom in the world, is the Christian Ministry, composed of Divinely called, spiritually taught, and holy men. Dark will be that day, when this holy bulwark of our country, this mighty engine of the truth, this powerful safeguard of virtue, and this distinguished glory of the Church, ceases to occupy that elevated and commanding position assigned to it by the "chief Shepherd and Bishop of souls." In placing yourself in opposition to it, you are not, perhaps, aware that you are allying yourself with the enemies of God and of truth, who reject Christ as a deceiver, who oppose Christianity as a fiction, and who deride the Christian ministry as a system of priestcraft. From such turn away. Have no fellowship with them in these doctrines, not even in appearance. Countenance them not in their attempts to uproot the Divine and hallowed institutions of the New Testament, by holding views inimical to, and destructive of, any one of these institutions. The Church of God has never existed without a holy and a Divinely taught ministry. He who first gave to His Church "apostles and prophets, pastors and teachers," "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ," has never ceased, in all the scenes of persecution and darkness through which she has passed, to replenish, glorify, and comfort her with men after His own heart; thus guarding the high office with a jealous, sleepless, and loving eye, from all the evil that has ever threatened its overthrow. And so will He ever guard it. In the fierce conflict of mind with mind, of principle with principle, of truth with error, which is fast approaching, no, which even has already begun, the pulpits of our land cannot be dispensed with. This is the field upon which the great battle is to be fought. While a godly press will be found an invaluable and an indispensable barrier against the advancing foe, it is from the pulpit those silver trumpets are to be blown, at whose shrill sound the host of Israel are to gather themselves to "the help of the Lord against the mighty;" and at whose overpowering blast the wall of Antichrist shall fall before Him. Rather than be found, then, in opposition to Christ's ministry, seek, by all scriptural and holy means, to impart to it greater efficiency and strength, praying continually to the "Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth more laborers into His harvest."
On the other hand, seek to divest your mind of all unscriptural, superstitious, and idolatrous views and feelings in reference to the nature and powers of this office. Remember it is but a human instrumentality, possessing no essential, inalienable grace or holiness of its own; that it is an agency, powerful and efficacious only as God the Eternal Spirit makes it so; that the treasure of the everlasting Gospel is in "earthen vessels;" and that "Paul may plant, and Apollos may water," -and this is the utmost limit of their agency- but that God only can give the increase. See, too, that you dishonor not God, nor grieve the Holy Spirit, nor cast reflection upon this sacred office, by refusing the message of God's word from the lips of any of His servants by whom He may send it. Oh! what numbers rob their own souls of vast blessing, and Christ of much glory, by not taking heed to this! They will attend upon sanctuaries where, confessedly, no healing waters flow, and upon ministrations barren of Gospel truth, clothed with no unction, and conveying no blessing, rather than break from fetters which education, or prejudice, or superstition, or habit, have forged, and woven around them, and humbly and earnestly inquire from the Lord, in the spirit and language of the Church of old, "Tell me, O you whom my soul loves, where you feed; where you make your flock to rest at noon?" Were this petition more sincerely and frequently urged, the answer would not long tarry. "O you fairest among women, go your way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed your kids beside the shepherds' tents." Receive it as a word sent from God to your soul, dear reader. It is the Lord's message to you. Go where His Spirit draws you- go where the name of Jesus draws you- go where His glory attracts you- go where His truth invites you- go where His blessing awaits you. It should be to you of but little consideration through what channel, or by what instrument, the Lord feeds your soul, so that He does feed it. The nourishment of God's life within you is of the first and greatest moment. A scrupulous conscience, a prejudiced mind, a contracted heart, may be productive of the greatest injury to your spiritual interest. Of what value will it be, if God gives you your request, by giving you a ministry according to your prescribed order, but sends leanness into your soul? And this He will do- perhaps is now doing- if His word is in any way, directly or indirectly, undervalued, slighted, or refused. Oh, that God may fill your heart with His love- love to Himself- love to His people- love to His truth- and love to His ministers, by whom His truth is proclaimed, by whatever name they may be known among men.
But the evil against which many of the Lord's people need to be tenderly cautioned, and which we think is deprecated by the broad precept, "Set not your affection upon things on the earth," is, that undue exalting of the instrument which we sometimes mark in Christian communities. A Church may so vaunt itself of the talents, the gifts, the attainments, the popularity, and even the success of its pastor, as greatly to detract from the glory of God, grieve the Spirit, and seriously injure both itself and the object of its adulation. How keenly is the spiritual mind pained by the humiliating spectacle of man-worship which sometimes meets the eye! What applauding of human eloquence- what burning of incense at the shrine of human intellect and genius- what vain boasting of profound learning, and brilliant talent, and popular gifts- the mere mint, and anise, and cummin- while the infinitely weightier attributes of a holy, powerful, and useful ministry, are lightly esteemed, if not totally dispensed with! The evils which arise from this vain- glorying in men, and this undue admiration of, and exclusive attachment to, a particular order of ministerial character and fitness, are many and various. We have only space to allude to a solitary one- the painfully depressing effect it produces upon the feelings of other ministers and pastors- men self-taught, of irregular mental training, and lacking, it may be, that intellectual furniture, polish of address, and those graces of elocution, which a university may be supposed to confer; yet, men profound in the Scriptures, mighty in prayer, rich in Christian experience, deeply taught and anointed by the Spirit, partaking largely of the grace of Jesus- the true polish and refinement of a man of God- humble-minded, and eminently successful in winning souls to Christ. That the Church of God is honored and blessed by many such men, is a fact demanding a prompt and most grateful acknowledgment. They are, in some particular departments of labor, the most effective workmen. The Church could ill spare them. Is there not, then, danger of impairing influence that should be jealously guarded, and of wounding feelings that should be tenderly shielded, and of undervaluing an office that should be highly esteemed, by attaching an undue importance to a certain class of gifts and accomplishments, the possession of which has, perhaps, more frequently proved a greater snare than a blessing?
But, even where there exists not this vain boasting in man, may there not be, even in more spiritual communities, a setting of the affections upon the instrument, tending to its undue exaltation, thus entrenching upon the power of the Spirit and the grace and glory of Christ? Oh, it is a lovely and a holy sight, the strong attachment of a pastor and a Church! Earth presents no spectacle of moral beauty surpassing it; and angels, bending from their thrones in heaven, must gaze upon it with new ecstasy and delight. We would not breathe a word, or pen a sentence; tending to mar the symmetry, or shade the beauty, or impair the strength, of such a union. This only would we say- receive him reverently and gratefully, as the Lord's messenger, esteem him very highly in love for his work's sake; yet hold him infinitely subordinate to Christ, and with a loose and gentle grasp. If heavenly-minded, and the channel of blessing to your souls, he is the Lord's gift, and as such only is he to be regarded. All that he possesses, really valuable, is from Jesus- his gifts, his acquirements, his grace, his usefulness, his moral loveliness, and even those minor attractions of person and address- which, if possessed, may, without much holy caution, but strengthen the heart's idolatry, and shade the infinite loveliness of Christ- came from God, are the bestowments of His undeserved mercy, and were intended but to lead you up to Himself, the source from where they proceed. Then lend your ear and yield your heart to the needed exhortation, as it bears upon this point- "Set not your affection on things on the earth." Cherish a devout and grateful spirit for the precious and invaluable gift of a holy, affectionate, and useful minister; but rest not in him short of Jesus. Give to him his proper place in your affections and thoughts- a place infinitely beneath the adorable Son of God, God's "unspeakable gift." He is not his own, nor yours, but the Lord's. And He, whose he is and whom he serves, may, in the exercise of His infinite wisdom, and sovereign will, and, I may add, tender love, suspend for a while his labors, or transfer him to another section of the vineyard, or, which would be most painful, crumble the earthen, though beautiful, vessel to dust, and take the precious treasure it contained to Himself. Still, Christ is all; He is your all; and, as the chief Shepherd and Bishop of His Church, He will never take Himself from her. The happy secret of retaining our mercies is to receive and enjoy Christ in them; to turn every blessing bestowed into an occasion of knowing, and loving, and enjoying more of Jesus, apart from whom, poor indeed were the most costly blessing. Blessed indeed would our blessings then be! Leading our affections up to God; giving us a deeper insight into a Father's love; laying us lower in the dust at His feet; filling the spirit with secret contrition and tender brokenness, the heart with adoring love, the mouth with grateful praise; endearing the channel through which it descends, and the mercy-seat at which it was sought and given; encouraged and stimulated by the gift, to devote person, time, influence, and property, more simply and unreservedly, to the glory of God; then should we keep a longer possession of our sanctified blessing, nor fear the thought, nor shrink from the prospect of its removal; or, if removed, we should be quite satisfied to have God alone as our portion and our all.
Against the love of the world, this holy and stringent precept as solemnly warns the believer. As those who are professedly risen with Christ, but who yet, for a while, dwell in a world of perpetual seduction, how needed, how kind the exhortation! How necessary to be constantly reminded of our risen life! Behold how we are cautioned- "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, io not of the Father, but is of the world." Are you walking in filial obedience to this precept? Oh, as a risen man, love not the world! Let it be to you as a dead thing. Receive them with gratitude, and use them for God's glory, but oh, set not your affections inordinately, exclusively, sinfully, on "things on the earth" -husband, wife, children, wealth, honor, estate, dress, recreation, or whatever is of "the earth, earthly." "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world." You are dead; you are alive. Your death is a death to things below; your life is a life to things above. You are crucified, you are risen. You are professedly crucified to the world; you are mystically risen with Christ; then live as one whose treasure, whose conversation, and whose all is on high, even " where Christ sits at the right hand of God."
The resurrection of Christ is the pledge and earnest of the glorious resurrection of the believer. This great event- the crowning bliss of the Church- has long been as a star of hope, on which the eye of faith has loved to gaze. Patriarchs, and prophets, and apostles, sang, and spoke, and wrote of it. Who does not recognize the doctrine of the resurrection, and trace the yearning of his soul for this glorious event, in the expressive and touching words of Job, "There is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground, yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant." How strikingly and beautifully significant is this figure of the resurrection! His faith grafted upon the doctrine, see how his heart longed for the arrival of the event- "Oh that You would hide me in the grave, that You would keep me secret until Your wrath be past; that You would appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time (not the appointed time of his death, as some interpret it, but of his resurrection, for this is the event he is now anticipating) will I wait until my change come. You shall call, (oh! how sweetly will fall the sound of the archangel's trump upon the ear of those who sleep in Jesus!) and I will answer: You will have a desire to the work of Your hands." But if possible, in terms yet more distinct and glowing, the holy patriarch announces his faith in this doctrine, and expresses his ardent longing for this event, "I know that my Redeemer lives, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me," (marg. my reins within me are consumed with earnest desire for that day). How clearly does the prophet Isaiah enunciate the doctrine- "Your dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise!" or, as it has been more properly rendered, "Your dead men shall live," alluding to the Church's dead- "my dead body shall rise," Christ here being the speaker, and referring to His mystical body, whom He has promised to raise at the last day. "Awake and sing, you that dwell in dust; for your dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." But our limits forbid any lengthened quotation from God's word, establishing this doctrine. We must rather assume than prove its existence. The hope to which the resurrection of the Lord has begotten the believer, is termed by the apostle a "lively," or, as it may be rendered, a "living hope." Its life springs from the resurrection-life of Christ, just as the same glorious event imparts quickening to the whole Christian economy. "Blessed be the God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to His abundant mercy, has begotten us again unto a living hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." Thus the believer, and he alone, can adopt the language of his Lord, as he resigns his body to the dust- and oh! let it be the epitaph of all who sleep in Jesus- "my flesh also shall rest in hope." A living hope, based upon the resurrection of Jesus, smooths his suffering pathway to the tomb; hope dissipates its gloom, and kindles within its somber recesses an immortal radiance; and hope- the Pharos of the sepulcher- throws its bright beams across the dark waters of eternity, revealing in all its glory an "inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away." "Oh yes!" may every slumbering believer exclaim, "my flesh shall rest in hope of a glorious resurrection to eternal life." Observe how closely the two events- the resurrection of Jesus, and that of the believer- are interwoven the one with the other. "Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of those who slept." "Every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward those who are Christ's at His coming." What was the meaning of the first sheaf, which, under the law, was commanded to be presented before the Lord in His temple? Was it not to be considered as an earnest, a pledge, and a pattern of the future harvest, ripening for the sickle? So was the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead! In like manner He burst from the grave, the "first-fruits," the earnest, the pledge, and the pattern of a future and a glorious harvest. As surely as He rose, so surely shall all His people rise. As certainly as the first golden sheaf has been presented in the temple, and waved before the throne of God, as certainly shall the "blade, the ear, and the full corn in the ear," be sickled in, and gathered home, "and not the least grain fall upon the earth."
"But how are the dead raised up?" That there is much of sublime mystery associated with this event, we readily admit. But its very mystery endears Him to the soul "who has abolished death (or, rendered it of none effect) and has brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel." Thus is this mystery explained: "It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep; but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised in corruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." Yes, this very body, as much redeemed by the precious blood of the incarnate God as the deathless principle it enshrines, shall rise again! And by what power? The power of Omnipotence! "He that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwells in you." Every entombed saint of God is an entombed temple of the Holy Spirit. Think of this, and tread lightly, as you carry it to the grave. You bear a temple of the Holy Spirit! Precious is the dust, and hallowed the urn that contains it. And shall that temple lie in ruins forever? God forbid! Oh, it is a mighty and a glorious work, to resuscitate, remold, and re-occupy this dilapidated structure! To gather from the four winds of heaven every particle of the scattered dust- to bring bone to its bone, and sinew to its sinew- to invest the reformed skeleton with a covering more soft and delicate than an infant's- to summon back its former occupant- and then to lift it to glory, outliving in its deathlessness the stars of heaven, and outshining in its brilliancy the brightest angel before the throne. Oh, it is a stupendous work! But stupendous as it is, it transcends not in its mightiness the power of God. Oh, we deal too faintly with the almightiness of Jehovah! We limit the power of the Holy One of Israel. Bring but this power to bear upon the doctrine of the resurrection, and all its mystery is explained, and all its difficulty vanishes. On this Divine perfection rested the faith of Abraham, who, in obedience to God's command, bound his son upon the altar, and took the knife to slay him, "believing that God was able to raise him up again, even from the dead." Shall it, then, be thought a thing incredible that God should raise the dead? The difficulties of summoning together every atom of dust, borne though it may have been by the winds to the furthermost parts of the earth, or strewn upon the waves of the sea- of distinguishing what element belonged to each individual, and appropriating to each his own- of clothing the framework with a new and a deathless nature, and animating it with the same human soul which it contained in the long years of its humiliation, oh, how do they vanish before one touch of Omnipotence! What! shall He who at first formed man out of the dust, and breathed into him the breath of life- shall He at whose fiat world on world started into being, each one, for anything that we know, teeming with a population partaking of His likeness, and sharing in His immortality, shall He who "upholds all things by the word of His power," who "takes up the isles as a very little thing," who "holds the winds in His fist, and the waters in the hollow of His hand," who "has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet," -shall He be perplexed and baffled when He comes to unlock the world's charnel-house, quickening, and summoning to His bar, each slumbering occupant? Oh, it will be a stupendous and a glorious work! but reason and revelation unite in ascribing it to Him as worthy of His infinite greatness, majesty, and glory.
But "with what body do they come?" The identical body that was sown, yet so changed, so spiritualized, so glorified, so immortalized, as to rival in beauty the highest form of spirit, while it shall resemble, in its fashion, the glorious body of Christ Himself. We can form but a faint conception, even from the glowing representation of the apostle, of the glory of the raised body of the just. But this we know, it will be in every respect a structure worthy of the perfected soul that will inhabit it. Now it is the antagonist, and not the auxiliary of the soul- its clog, its prison, its foe. The moment that Jesus condescends to 'grace this mean abode' with His indwelling presence, there commences that fierce and harassing conflict between holiness and sin, which so often wrings the bitter cry from the believer, "Oh wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Oh, what a cumbrance is this body of sin! Its corruptions, its infirmities, its weaknesses, its ailments, its diseases, all conspire to render it the tyrant of the soul, if grace does not keep it under and bring it into subjection as its slave. How often, when the mind would pursue its favorite study, the wearied and overtasked body enfeebles it! How often, when the spirit would expatiate and soar in its contemplations of and in its communings with God, the inferior nature detains it by its weight, or occupies it with its needs! How often, when the soul thirsts for Divine knowledge, and the heart pants for holiness, its highest aspirations and its strongest efforts are discouraged and thwarted by the clinging infirmities of a corrupt and suffering humanity! Not so will it be in the morning of the resurrection. "Then shall this corruptible put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality." Mysterious and glorious change! "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, "the dead in Christ shall awake from their long sleep, and spring from their tombs into a blissful immortality. Oh, how altered! oh, how transformed! oh, how changed! "Sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." "A spiritual body!" Who can imagine, who describe it? What anatomy can explain its mysteries, what pencil can paint its beauties? "A spiritual body!" All the remains, all the vestiges of corrupt matter passed away. "A spiritual body!" So regenerated, so sanctified, so etherealized, so invested with the high and glorious attributes of spirit, yet retaining the 'form and pressure' of matter; that now, sympathizing and blending with the soul in its high employment of obeying the will and chanting the praises of God, it shall rise with it in its lofty soarings, and accompany and aid it in its deep researches in the hidden and sublime mysteries of eternity. "Our conversation is in heaven," -oh that it were always there!- "from where also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: who will change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself." Then, oh then, shall we be perfectly like Christ. Like Him in the spotless purity of the mind, like Him in the perfect beauty of the body. Transporting thought!
There is yet another view of our subject peculiarly soothing. Have you lately committed to the dust some beloved object of your affection, now sleeping in Jesus? Are you wont to "go unto the grave to weep there?" Oh listen to the voice of Jesus, which proclaims, "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." Let this declaration chasten your grief, and moderate your sorrow, and dry your tears. The Lord, in the faith of whose finished work His people fall asleep, is their resurrection and their life: and soon the heavens will part, the archangel's trumpet will sound, and He will come again, that He may awake them out of sleep, and then, 'your brother shall arise again.' "And I heard a voice saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord." Ah! blessed and holy indeed are they! for they shall have a "part in the first resurrection, and on them the second death shall have no power, but they shall be kings and priests unto God, and shall reign with Him forever." "I am the resurrection and the life." Precious words! Then, death, where is your sting? and grave, where is your victory? You have none, both are gone, for Jesus has abolished both. "I am the resurrection and the life." Divine and glorious title, Captain of my salvation! Then why, since "through death You have destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil," should I be in bondage through its fear? And why, since You have "died, and risen, and revived," and have declared that he that believes in You, though "he die, yet shall he live," should I shrink from descending into the grave, narrow, and dark, and lonely though it be? Precious Son of God! You are "the resurrection and the life," and because You live, I shall live also!
But there is another resurrection! UNCONVERTED READER, it is yours. Have you ever seriously thought of it? "Those who have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." Poor thoughtless, careless, prayerless, Christless soul! dying in your sins, ah! long before your body rises, your soul will have been a prey to the "worm that dies not," and to the "fire that is never quenched." It will have been years in torment before the body becomes its companion in misery. And when the archangel's trumpet shall exclaim, "Awake, you dead, and come to judgment," then will your body "rise to shame and everlasting contempt," and be reunited to the soul, fearfully increasing the torment that shall endure forever. Yes, the same body, now the servant of Satan, and the instrument of sin; now pampered by luxury and indulgence, the prey of every vile affection, that identical body shall rise again, with all its appetites, and lusts, and cravings immortalized. It is "sown a natural body," it rises a natural body. "It is sown in corruption,"it rises in corruption. "It is sown in dishonor," it rises in dishonor. The resurrection takes it up as death laid it down. Can you conceive a picture of future torment, surpassing this in its fearfulness and intensity? With every sensual affection perpetuated, the strength of every lawless desire still remaining, unbridled appetites and passions yet existing, with no corresponding objects to meet their cravings, will not this constitute an element of hell, an ingredient in your cup of trembling of an appalling character? Oh! the "resurrection of damnation!" To rise but to sink! To awake but to "shame and everlasting contempt!" To meet the angry God, the frowning Judge- the God you have hated, and the Christ you have rejected! The resurrection of your body will be the resurrection of your sins. All then will come to light. Every transgression will rise to memory and to judgment, and all your secret sins will be placed in the light of God's countenance. Scoffing infidel! polluted sensualist! sordid miser! groveling worldling! proud pharisee! deceived professor! you are to stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. What will your scepticism, what will your carnal joys, what will your money, what will your fame, what will your own works, and what will your empty lamp do for you then? Oh, how are you bartering your birthright of immortality, and selling your soul of priceless worth and deathless existence, and choosing death rather than life, and hell rather than heaven! Your present existence has its limit, and will soon be over. For the remote and tremendous consequence you are unprepared. You have no Savior to trust in, no righteousness to stand in, no refuge to hide in, no atonement to build on, no plea wherefore you should not be eternally condemned. Is not your state awful? is not your position perilous? "What will you say when He shall punish you?"
Oh! by all that is solemn in death, and awful in the resurrection, and terrific in judgment, I beseech you, I implore you, repent- this moment- repent! "God now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness." Not a moment is to be lost- eternity is near at hand. Lay yourself low before God. Humble yourself in the dust at His feet. Confess your sin, acknowledge your iniquity. Flee to the Lord Jesus Christ, your only refuge from the wrath to come. Seek God's forgiveness alone through Him. Renounce all dependence on your own works of righteousness, and implore the Holy Spirit of all grace and love, to invest you with the righteousness "which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." Then, living or dying, you will be the Lord's. And when the morning of the 'first resurrection' dawns in glory upon the tomb, a voice, soft as angels' music, shall dissolve your long slumber "Awake and sing, you that dwell in dust: for your dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." Then, planting your feet upon the crumbling tombstone and the heaving earth, you shall spring into life and immortality, swelling as you rise the chorus of the noble anthem, which will be chanted by every lip, and which will float from every harp- "thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift!"