Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

TO THE

EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE,

FOR THE YEAR 1847.

CONSOLATION FOR CHRISTIAN MOURNERS.
"Wherefore let us comfort one another with these words."

AMONG the heaviest trials to which we are exposed in the present life, we must include the removal from us, by death, of the objects of our warm affections. Many circumstances conspire to give it an especially afflictive character. In such cases it is not mere separation from them that we have to deplore, but final separation. The bitter and heart-breaking thought rushes over the mind, that, in this world, we shall see them no more, be cheered by their presence no more, receive the tokens of their love no more-that all is now motionless and cold in those bosoms in which but a short time before, there glowed the fire of the tenderest Christian love.

Nor will even the thought that the separation is a final one, account for the whole of the anguish we undergo in such circumstances. It is doubtless partly to be traced to the fact, that the separation has been effected by death. We should doubtless feel-most poignantly feel-if some disastrous event were to take the friends whom we tenderly love, and place them at the distance of half the globe from us, and extinguish all hope of seeing them again, till the great meeting on the last day; but we should not feel as we do when they are taken from us by death. Then the thought of all they may have suffered before the death-pang ceased the thought that they have entered that world, half disclosed and half concealed, in which the state of every human being is fixed for ever-the thought, here, that all intercommunion with them has finally closed-that a veil so impenetrable divides them from us, as to defy the keenest

VOL. XXV.

efforts of the eye of sense to penetrate it, and catch a single glance of their employments, and their glory; then all these thoughts, and multitudes of others, rush through the mind, and aggravate, to the highest degree of intensity, the pang which separation is itself adapted to produce.

In such circumstances the mercy is great that we are not forbidden to weep, that He who knows our frame, merely enjoins us not to sorrow as those who have no hope. The exhortation placed at the head of this paper, and addressed to the household of faith, implies that its members need comfort in such sorrows of affliction that they should mutually aim to impart it; and the context supplies them with the means of doing it.

On what vantage-ground does the gospel, on this account, place us? Destitute of its revelations, were we even pagan philosophers, possessed of powerful talent and profound learning, and all the knowledge of God and eternity which can be derived from the light of nature, we should be at a loss what to say. We might, indeed, remind one another, that death is an inevitable evil-that we should bear our trials with manly fortitude-that immoderate grief will not restore those whose loss we deplore; many such common-place remarks as these might we utter, but our words would prove as powerless to heal the wounded spirit, as the falling rain to melt a mass of marble. How thankful should we be that the gospel teaches a more excellent way, not merely enjoining us to comfort 3 E

one another, but instructing us how to do it-that it says to us, "Comfort one another with these words;" so that the meanest Christian peasant may be a better friend, in the hour of trial, than the most enlightened pagan philosopher.

The words to which the apostle refers exhibit the present happy condition of departed Christian friends, and the blessedness which awaits them at the revelation of Jesus Christ. They are powerfully adapted to inspire comfort, because,

First,-They assure us, that, how distressing soever, in one of its aspects, the changed condition of our departed Christian friends may be, they have yet only fallen asleep-fallen asleep in Jesus! "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep." "Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."

The same beautiful and consoling representation of death is presented by our Lord himself: "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth," said he to the disciples; "I go that I may awake him out of sleep."

Much wisdom and mercy are displayed in this delightful representation of death. The world, it is said, is governed by names; and there can be no doubt that the same substantial idea, presented in different forms of language, will produce a very different impression upon the mind. Suppose we were told, without figure, with no gentleness and delicacy, that a beloved relative, whom we were hastening to meet, was dead, and that the mortal remains had begun to see corruption-the feeling produced by this representation of death would be distressing in the extreme. How soothing the statement of the apostle-the beloved one has gently fallen asleep in Jesus! Notwithstanding the bright and cheering prospects unfolded by the gospel, there is something in death appalling to our nature. We shudder at the idea of descending into the grave, and becoming there the companion and the prey of worms; and, therefore, our Heavenly Father, with more than a father's compassion for our infirmities, has thrown a

veil over the repulsive part of the scene. He would not have us ignorant concerning them that are ASLEEP.

We need scarcely be reminded that this language refers exclusively to the state of the body after the change has come. The soul neither dies nor sleeps. Set free from this prison of its clay, it ascends to be with Jesus, which is far better. Upon the body, however, the original sentence must take effect, for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. The body dies; or, in the language of the apostle, the body sleeps. It is impossible to suggest a more suitable, expressive, or soothing representation of death. During sleep we are unconscious of the employments, and even of the existence of those who immediately surround us. They may be within the range of vision, but we see them not; they may speak to us, but we hear them not; they may be convulsed with grief, yet we are insensible to their sorrows; they may bound with joy, yet we share not in their delights. Thus is it with the body when the immortal spirit has taken its flight to the world above. The tongue is sealed up in silence, and the eyes in darkness. The heart has ceased to beat, and the lungs to play. The blood has been arrested in its course, and driven back to the centre of the system. The nerves, which had conveyed impressions to the brain, have been rendered incapable of action. The brain itself has become a mass of unorganized matter; while total unconsciousness seizes upon every part of that beautiful fabric, so lately instinct with life, and with the most acute sensibility. The death of the body is a state of perfect unconsciousness, and not less so is sleep. And yet we can behold our friends, in this latter condition, without the slightest emotion; we can see them fully bereft, for the time, of the faculties of hearing, seeing, &c., without shedding a single tear. And why? Because we believe that consciousness is suspended merely, not destroyed; because we know that they will wake again, regaining the possession of all their senses, in no degree

enfeebled, but invigorated, by this their temporary oblivion. Of this powerful

source of consolation all Christians are possessed when beloved relatives fall asleep in Jesus,-for,

Secondly,―The words to which the apostle directs us assure us that their sleep is temporary, not eternal-that consciousness is not more truly destroyed in death, than in sleep. They assure us that our friends will wake again: "If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them, also, which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him.”—“The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first."

Additional testimony in support of our faith in this delightful doctrine we have in the language of our Lord: "This is the Father's will that sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day." And, though one assurance of our Lord ought to be sufficient to banish all doubt, we have that assurance repeated over and over again: "I will raise him up at the last day ;"-" Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

It is chiefly because the bodies of the Lord's people are neither destroyed, nor reduced to a state of everlasting unconsciousness, when the spirit takes its temporary departure, that the death of the body is exhibited by the beautiful figure of which we have spoken; and it is further the confidence which the employment of this figure affords us, that the sleep of the body will be temporary merely, that awakens the joy we feel in seeing the death of the body thus exhibited; for the redemption of the body from the bondage of the tomb is one of the most fondly-cherished hopes of the people of God. That redemption will be the consummation of their blessedness, leaving them nothing to ask, nothing to desire, nothing to enjoy. And, let it be remembered, that it is impossible to

cherish too strong a confidence that the body will at length shake off the slumbers of the tomb, and awake to a state of consciousness, activity, and joy, on which eternity will be inscribed by the finger of God himself, since the apostle represents this fact as resting on the same evidence with that which substantiates the resurrection of Christ himself: "If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." "If we believe!"Could, then, the apostle mean to intimate, that the resurrection of men depended upon the faith we repose in the resurrection of Christ? By no means. Whether we believe or not that Jesus died and rose again, it still remains a fact, that all who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. The apostle merely intended to teach, that the two events are so indissolubly united that if we believe the one to be certainly past, we may believe the other to be certainly future. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we may believe that all who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

The ground of this connexion-largely unfolded, 1 Cor. xv. 12, 13, 20—is, that gracious and sovereign constitution by virtue of which Christ and his people are considered and treated as if they were one; a constitution which appointed Him to be the Head of His mystical body, and in consequence of which all He did is considered as though it had been done by them. When He rose again, they virtually rose again; and they may be said to be now sitting in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

The time of this deliverance from the bondage of the tomb is stated by the apostle;-it will be effected when the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. Upon the manner of their deliverance, or the kind of bodies with which we are to rise, the apostle, in this passage, does not enter. This is not, however, a subject of regret, since he has discoursed largely upon this point in 1 Cor. xv. From that chapter we learn that the resurrection body of the people

of God will be an incorruptible body,—a glorious, powerful, and spiritual body; and, if more were needed to awaken unbounded delight in prospect of the honour which is to be put upon the inferior parts of our nature, we should find it in the following declaration: "For our conversation is in heaven, from whence, also, we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ who shall 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," Phil. iii. 20, 21.

This change is not to be viewed as the mere result of necessity, though it is its result, "for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven." It is to be chiefly regarded as constituting one portion of the reward which Christ will bestow upon all who maintain the beginning of their confidence stedfast unto the end. And surely the prospect of bearing a visible and eternal resemblance to our exalted and glorified IIead, while we shall know Ilim as we would, and love Him as we ought, should wipe the tear of sorrow from every eye.

Let us not, then, Christian friends, sorrow as those who have no hope, when those whom we loved are taken away from us. Strictly speaking, they are not dead; they sleep merely-sleep in Jesus, under his gracious and omnipotent protection! And let us not forget that their sleep will not be eternal. The moment is at hand when they shall be roused from their slumbers, and spring up in all the vigour and activity of renovated existence. If distressed by the thought as how can we be otherwise?that their precious remains are lying in a dishonoured state in the grave, let us draw comfort from the cheering fact that Jesus guards the dust of his people, that every particle rests under his protection, and that, when he shall rescue his redeemed ones from the tomb, they will emerge from its caverns in a much purer and glorious state, than that in which they entered it. Though sown in corruption, they shall be raised in incorrup

tion; though sown in dishonour, they shall be raised in glory; though sown in weakness, they shall be raised in power; though sown with natural bodies, they shall be raised with spiritual bodies. "Wherefore let us comfort one another with these words."

Thirdly,-The words of the apostle are words of comfort, because they assure us that those of our Lord's faithful friends who shall be found asleep at his coming, shall not be permitted to suffer any disadvantage on that account: "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent, or go before them which are asleep," i. e., shall not be caught up to meet the Lord in the air before them.

Now, had it not been for this express and merciful declaration, it is possible that our unbelief might have suggested the fear (as it appears to have actually done in the case of the persons to whom the apostle wrote) that those, whom our descending Lord shall find asleep when he comes with the voice of the archangel, will be in less favourable circumstances than the living members of the family. We are too prone to judge of the Redeemer by ourselves; and, though I trust the old adage, "Out of sight out of mind," is not exactly verified in us, yet, because we are apt to feel a deeper interest in our Christian friends when, being present, they may be considered as practically urging their claims to our sympathy and tenderness, we are ready to imagine it must be so with our gracious Lord himself. But, be assured, it is not so. How prone soever we may be to forget one another, when separated for any considerable period of time, nothing can efface from the heart of the Redeemer the remembrance of any of his people. When He shall come again to gather them to himself, not a single member of that body sleeping in the dust of the earth shall be forgotten or overlooked. Even the humblest and weakest believer, though he may have been despised by men, and little regarded by his Christian brethren,

[ocr errors]

will engage the particular notice of our | joice, and be glad in him." "Wherefore let glorious descending Lord. His first care us comfort one another with these words." will be to collect the dust of his people, Fourthly,-The words are adapted to every atom of which is incomparably inspire comfort, because they assure us more precious in his sight than the whole that, at the period alluded to, the meeting of the remaining material universe. And between the Saviour and the entire comso far is it from being true that the living pany of the redeemed will be the prelude friends of the Saviour will supersede his to a union which eternity itself will not sleeping ones in his esteem and regard, be able to dissolve. After the trump of that the rapture of those who are alive God shall have sounded, and the graves and remain connot be effected, till those of the sleeping members of the family whom death holds in its fetters shall have shall have been opened, and they shall been freed from their ignoble and tem- have put on incorruptible bodies; after porary captivity. Those who are alive those who may be alive and remain shall and remain shall not prevent, or go be- have been changed; after all this, the fore, them that sleep. "For the trumpet apostle says that the whole company of shall sound, and the dead shall be raised the redeemed shall be caught up together incorruptible." "The Lord himself shall to meet the Lord in the air. There will descend from heaven, with a shout, and he fix his seat, the glorious and dreadwith the voice of the archangel, and ful seat of judgment; and thither shall with the trump of God, and the dead in they be conducted, flying, as it were, in Christ shall rise first ;" that is, not before clouds, and stationed on the Judge's right the ungodly dead, but before those who hand, that they may join all the holy part shall be alive and remain are caught up of the creation in their expressions of asto meet the Lord in the air, if not pre- sent to the righteousness of that sentence vious to their transformation. which dooms all the impenitent to everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. We shall meet the Lord in the air.

Surely there is much and precious consolation in these words for all who mourn the loss of those who are not dead but gone before. How delightful the reflection, that, if their name, and character, and worth should gradually fade from the memory of their contemporaries, and even leave, in time, a diminished impression upon our own, that there is one heart to whom they will continue as dear as ever, one being who will retain as lively a recollection of them as ever,— that when the Redeemer shall descend from heaven with a shout, not even the songs of his august attendants, nor the corresponding hallelujahs of those who are alive, welcoming his arrival, will make him forget that band of faithful friends whose voice is sealed up by the hand of death. How delightful the reflection that that will be the period of their emancipation, and that, recovering at once their liberty and their powers of speech, they will join in the general chorus of the redeemed,-"This is our God, we have waited for him; we will re

And this meeting, let it be remembered, will not be an accidental or transient one, which, how much soever it might overpower us with its glory, would bring disappointment by its speedy termination. On the contrary, it is to be the commencement of the most blessed intercourse and communion with the Saviour which can know no change. Hence the apostle

says,
"And so shall we be ever with the
Lord." Ah! this it is that constitutes the
bliss of heaven. If on earth, where we
see him not, we rejoice in him with joy
unspeakable and full of glory, what must
be our transport in heaven?-

"To be with him, to taste his love,
Is the full heaven enjoy'd above;
And the sweet expectation now
Is the young dawn of heaven below."
To be with Christ is to be rescued, and
finally rescued, from all sorrow, as well
as sin; for they who shall be privileged
to gain access to the world in which he
dwells "shall hunger no more, neither

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »