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BROWN ^K CO., BOOKSELLERS & STATIONERS, JAMES STREET. nONNELLEY A LAWSON, PKlNriiKS, 1863. 1 J/7/ «*_. 1^ THE SLEEP OF THE FAITHFUL DEPAKTKD "I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerniivi» th?m which are nsleep, that yp. sorrow not even as othorti whinh have no hope. For if we believe that .leans died and rose anjaiii, even so them also which alccp in Jesns will God bring with Him."— 1 Thkss. iv. L? 14. I. ^ One jrreat miracle in tlie new oreation of God is this, tlial death is changed to sleej) ; and tlicretbrc in the writino;^ of the New Testament we do not read of the " death " of the saints. "Our friend Lazarus sleejietli ; Init I go that 1 may awake him out of sleej)."» Tlui " bodies of saints whicli slept arose."=^ *' We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed."^ " David, alYer he had served his own genera tion by the will of (lod, fell (m sleep;"* even in the pelting of tlie bh)ocly st(»rTn, the holy Stephen "fell asleep."5 And therefore St. Paul in the text speaks of the saints unseen as of th'v^e that "sleep in Jesus;" and Christians were wont to call their Im rial -grounds, cemeteries, or sleeping-places, wliere they laid up tiieir beloved ones to sleep on and take their rest. Let us, therefore, sec why we should thus speak of those whom we call the dead. First, it is because we know that they shall awake up again. What sleep is to waking, death is to the resurrection? It is only a prelude, a transitory state, ushering in a mightier > St. John xi. 11, 2 St. Matt, xxvii. 52. ' ;i I Cor xv. 51. 4 Acts xiii. :]G. 6 Acta vii, CO. tut: sleep of THtS power of life : tliercfore death is cilied sleep, to show that it has a fixed ciul coming. Mucli as the lieatheii felt after this, and mused, and boded, yet, after all, d(?ath and the world of the dead was to theui a dreary ni<»;ht. They >^a\v men goin<>; down into the dust, hut they saw none come back again ; they had heard no \yhis])ers of theresnnection of the body. If the disembodied spli'it shonld live on, that was all they could attain nnto ; bnt even this was cloudt?d and dim. And their poets were wont to bewail the fleet- ingness of life, and th(} unknown condition of tlie dead.— They were wont to say : '*Alas, alas, the mallows and the fresh herbs of the field, when they die, return again to life, and spring another year; but we, the great, the mighty, the wise, when once we die, and are laid in the hollow eartli, we sleep a long, an endless, and l^nbroken sleep!" Even the Jews bnt dimly saw the coming shadows of the resurrec- tion. Death was too nigh, too mighty, and too absolute ; they saw and felt his dominion. Of his overthrow tliey had both promise aud prophecy ; bnt as yet he seemed too tyrannonsly strong to pass away into a transitory sleep. It was for the Go8})el to reveal this mystery by the miracle of Christ's resurrection. It was revealed in act ; and now death is destroyed. It is a kindly soothing rest to the wearied and world-worn spirit; and there is a fixed end to its duration. There is a waking nigh at hand ; so that the grave is little more than the longest night'y sleep in the life of an nndying sovd. Again ; death is changed to sleep, becanse they whom men call dead do really live nnto God. They were dead while they lived this dying life on earth, and dead when they were in the last avenues of death. But after they had once died, death had no more dominion : they escaped as a "bird ont of the snare of the fowler: the snare" was " broken," and they wei'e delivered. It may sound strange to unbelieving ears to say, that we are dead while we live, r I I n I » » l<*ATTnFUL r>EPAnTKt>, 5 tind alive when wo die. riut fiu it \fi. Lite Iiuug-s not on matter, or on tlie orgnni/atioii of matter. It is not as tlie liarmoiij wliicli rinnjs out of'u euiinlnii; instrument ; Init it i^i a hrealli, a spirit, a rn.y ol' the eternal Immuix, ])nre, immn terial, above all i»;rosf-;ereomi)oumls,si ni)le annd the atleetioiis of de lines of distress, and the hue of a fading loveliness. Now is their weariness changed into refresh- ment ; their weakness into excellence of strengtli ; their wasting into a spirit ever new ; their broken words into the perfection of ])raise ; their weeping into a cliant of bliss. And not only so, but tliey rest also from their warfare against sin, against all its strength, and subtilities, and snares. 8atan can tempt no more, tlie world cannot lure, self caimot betray : they have wrestled out tlie strife with the unseen powers of the wicked one, and they have won the mastery : there is no more inward struggle, no sliding back again, no swerving aside, no danger of falling : they have gained the sliorc of eternal peace. Above all, they rest from the l)uireting of evil in themselves. It ia n«jt pt»r- secution, nor oppression, nor the rage of Satan, nor the thronging assaults of temptation, that so altlict a holy man, as the consciousness that evil dwells in his own inmost soul. It is the clinging power of spiritual evil that sullies his whole being : it seems to run through him in every part ; it cleaves to every movement of his life ; his living j)owera are burdened and biassed by his grasp. li^vil tempers in sudden flashes, unholy thoughts shooting across the soul, kindling lires in the imagination, thoughts of self in holiest seasons, consciousness of self in holiest acts, indevoutness of spirit, earthliness of heart, dull musing heaviness in the life of God,— all these burden the highest saint with :i most oppressive weight. He feels always the stretch and tension of his spiritual frame, as a man that is weary and breathless grappling with a foe w^hom, if he would live, he must hold powerless to the earth. But from all this too they rest.— The sin that dwelt in them died, when through death they f 1 * FAITHFUL DErARTFD. began to live. The nniin|)e(le(l houI puts fortli its lU'W-born life, m ii tree in a kindly noil invited by a ;:;('ntle sky : all that cherjucd it is pasBcd away; all that draws it into ripe- ness, bathett it witli fostering; power. Then, at last, shall the bride hciir the Hridegrooni's voice : *' liiseni» my love, my fair one, and come away ; for, lo, the winter is past, tlie rain is over and gone."' Tlx; Uefiner shall perfect His work upon tiieni, cleansing them seven-fold, even as gold seven times tried; and all the taint and bias of their spiritual being shall be detached and corrected ; till, by direct and intense vision, not is now iji a glass darkly, bnl then face to face, — shall they become pure, even as he is pure. Hidden as is thccondition of their sleep, may we not believe tliat they remember us? llow nuich ol'all that they were must they forfeit, if they lose both memory and love! Shall we think that we can remendter Uethel, and Gibcon, and the Valley of Ajalon, and Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives; but that Jacob, and Joshua., and David, and the beloved disciple, remember them not? Or shall the lifeless dust that tlieir feet stood u]>on be remend)ered, and the living si)irits above that dwelt with them, bo clean for- gotten 'i May we not think that they who live unti» God, live in the unfolded sameness of personal identity, re]>len- ished with charity, and tilled with a holy light : tliey reach backward in spirit into this world of warfare, and onward in blissful expectation to the day of Christ's coming: and in that holy waiting they adore, as the brightness of para- disc ever waxes unto the [)erfcct day, when the noontide of God's kingdom ''sliall be as the light of seven days," and shall stand for ever in a meridian s})lendour. lie hath made His rest to be " glorious ; " and there is lie gathering in His jewels. There is the multitude of saints, waiting and wor- shipping : Abel is there, and Isaiah, and Kacliel who would not be comforted, and the sonless widow, and Mary Magda- lene, and all martyrs, and all the holy ones of God. They 1 Song of Solomon, ii. 10. 11. I I 8 THE SLEEP OF THE w<»rc oui. with piitienct; ihv yrurs of thiK iuiltiomo lite ; ;ui(] tlioy arc rciitini; now. Tliry *'hU'i!|> in .hwuK." ThcirK \aa bVm only Itw jHTUKtl, lliun llie ^\ory ai' lliti kinj^dom whuii the new erejitioii bhull ho jienompViHluid. Kor lliorie reuHonn, then, deulli U clia!ij!;c(l to sleep; »o tiiat. itbeeoiiictt a pledge of re$t, and u ji'i'lK-ey of the re- Hiirretlioii. And now <«»nsider tthortly a tew thinij;ht>* whi;id. Tor thou; six ttuntsand yean; the whole earth hur^ been full of wailini;- ft»r the dead. And it wan well for the heathen man, when !»e heheld the elay-rold ho -.;- n ..„,. J„.l,e '. W !..-•'.•«; '>; -' '■"^' ; ,, , ,„, ,e ,amc into awful .•lumr tm- 1 W«n « over ^^ ,,„.i.tl,.- th. w.ul.l. 'I'Ucy Imve MUM ur U • ^_^^ ^.^_^^_ Al,n.«t we «r« ready t.. »uy, ^ ' ; ;' ,„^ ^„„,^ ,„., .«.„.» to draw Die to .t-e U it «'^^*'^^ ;;,.,,, ,„„. 1 nu.st .,,■ •„.,leaa-..oM ..ye. DeatU -•"" f3'\ii, •„ ,,« ...-on.- .,„e.l«y .U«.un;':^«^f ^.^ ^ h m" of it we ave rteeting ^H"'-^'-- ! ^ j::,;,,- "l.ett'e >■ or worse, nigher ..l,ang,n^( tor».od o. .11 ;^™ ° ' ^,. ^^i.e,]. Surely, We, „, farther from «od, "'f?!-^ ^f ^^ion, and responsibility, with all its vowe.. «n"-'t-; ' ;^;';; ;,.^ ;„ 4 ,„idst of is a thingto ti'enible at. Amlvetwe 10 THE SLEEP OF THE FAITHFFL DEPARTED. It ; and the world is moving on aronnd ub, and we are caught and drawn along in its movements, aiid all our life is gathering itself up for one great cast ; and few men know for what. Their life is lived for them. Powers from with- out shape their character aud fixed their doom, and they are dragged along in a bondage of custom, which tlieir fearless trifling with life has made to be irresistible. And who shall not fear the changes a '.d chances of this mortal life ? Who, even the most res >lved ? Between this hour and the hour of death, who can foresee what may befall us? what un- known swervings, what stumblings, vvhat falls? Who can but fear his ovm heart's treachery ? Who but tremble at the awful words uttered by the Church as often as she buries her dead out of her sight— words not less of warning than of prayer, words of depth unutterable : " O holy and most merciful Saviour, suffer us not at our last hour for any pains of death to fall from Thee." Wherefore let us fear lite, and we shall not be afraid to die. For in the new crea- tion of God death walks harmless. Christ hath plucked out the sting; and " the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his'hand on the cockatrice's den." All is healed by Him who hath given His own flesh " for the life of the world." Therefore, when at last it comes nigh, we shall behold its darkness pierced every way by rays of a living liglit, and the g^oom of its dread presence softened with the radiance of eternal peace. Even though our last passage be fearful to the flesh, though we be called to follow through the Are of a bodily anguish, still, in the midst of all, and with we know not as yet what gracious visitations to allay our closing struggle, —even as they had of old, who bare witness from the tor- ture and the flame,— we shall fall asleep. Let us therefore he much in thought with them that are at rest. They await our com.ing ; for without us they shall " ^ot be made perfect." Let us therefore remember, and love, and follow them ; that when our last change is ever, we, with them, may " slee£ in Jesus." r «*i; v«%. *