Himself appeals it is hard to believe that the noblest souls will not respond. This, then, would seem to be the meaning of our text: "He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already." With the qualifications to which we have referred, belief in Christ is a real test of character. If we find that we do not really believe we shall do well to ask ourselves why we do not believe, for if disbelief in Christ means disbelief in the highest manifestation of good, we need to ask ourselves very strictly why we do not believe it. XXV.-DEATH O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory? -1 CORINTHIANS XV. 55. THE HE sting of death is a human commonplace. The Egyptians at their feasts used to have a coffin carried round to remind the guests that life was passing and that all would soon be ended by death. Death is the universal conqueror. No matter how rich, how mighty, how wise, or how tender and loving a man may be, soon death comes and puts an end to all so far as this life is concerned. The works of great men like Plato and Michelangelo and Shakespeare live and influence men for hundreds and thousands of years, but the men themselves had but a few swiftly passing years of life. There is truth in the old lines 'Sceptre and crown Must tumble down, And in the dust be equal made With the poor crooked scythe and spade." No wonder men talked of the sting of death. It was mysterious and terrible. It put an end to all their joys and spoiled all their plans. It tore away their loved ones. It was the one dark unavoidable fate of all men. 66 St. Paul, in unforgettable words, triumphs over death in the knowledge of the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ. The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying. that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? . . . Thanks be to God Who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." Yet when we look quietly at death we must, I think, admit that it is by no means all sting. In itself death is not, as a rule, in any way terrible. People undergo far more pain and suffering, as a rule, while living than while dying. Death, in the great majority of cases, is calm, painless, and peaceful, and is rarely feared by those who are actually dying. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, but, speaking generally, death as a physical fact has few terrors. It is very often, probably in the great majority of cases, as quiet and peaceful as going to sleep. Nay, very often it is looked forward to and welcomed. There is much truth in the words of the old Jewish teacher: "O death, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liveth at rest in his possessions, unto the man that hath nothing to vex him and that hath prosperity in all things, yea unto him that is yet able to receive meat! 66 O death, how acceptable is thy sentence unto the needy and unto him whose strength faileth, that is now in the last age, and is vexed with all things, and to him that despaireth and has lost patience." Mankind owes an enormous debt of gratitude to death, did they but realise it. It is death that keeps the world ever young and fresh and hopeful. As men grow old they become fixed in their ideas and unwilling to learn, full of prejudices and wedded to custom. Were it not for death, mankind would soon stagnate and become fixed in unchangeable ruts. They would also, in all probability, become intensely weary of the monotony of life. It is death that is ever bringing the younger generation to the front, and enabling them to bring their new ideals to the service of the race. When we see things as they really are it is probable that we shall see in the angel of death, not the black gloomy figure by which he is usually misrepresented, but one of the best and brightest of the messengers of God. 66 It is probable that death never comes, as we say, prematurely" or too soon to any. To the Christian who really believes in the life of the world to come, who believes that death is but the gate of life, the gate which leads into a far fuller and more beautiful life, a life in which God shall wipe away all tears from off all faces, where there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, and no more pain; a life in which we shall see God as He is, and be with Him for evermore : to the Christian who really believes this death cannot come too soon either to himself or to those he loves. Why should he fear for himself or for them to enter on a life which he believes to be infinitely better and happier than life on earth? He may grieve indeed for the separation for a time from those he loves, although it is probable that he has already a store of loved ones awaiting him, but whatever is there in all this to justify he heathen and frantic grief with which death is often greeted by so-called Christians? Why should they rave, or become speechless with anger, when God calls some one whom they love? Surely it can only be because they do not really believe that death is the gate of life. Rather let them remember the words of Sintram : “Thou who so long hast debated, Even to the bad it is doubtful if death ever comes too soon. If their heart is hardened, if they are determined to do evil and not good, a longer life means simply a greater H accumulation of sin and condemnation. We cannot imagine that God would deliberately allow a man's life to be cut short if by living longer he would have repented and been saved. We do not know on what principle death comes to any of us, but we may be very sure that it does not come by chance, that it does not interrupt or thwart God's plans for us, and we may well be content that it should come just as and when He wills. If, then, death in itself is not to be feared, whence then comes its sting over which St. Paul says that Christ has won so glorious a victory? The answer is obvious and St. Paul himself supplies it. "The sting of death is sin." Death is terrible to men, not because of its pain and suffering, because they rarely exist; not because of its change, for change is not necessarily evil, and we believe it to be a change to a better and higher life, but because of sin. We know that death is the end of our earthly life, our life of trial and probation. We know that it means a coming into the direct presence of God to Whom all sin is horrible, and hateful, and we know that our lives have been stained and defiled by sin, and that we must give an account to God for all that we have done and said and thought. It is this thought of our sin, and of the judgment due to us for it, that makes death terrible. It is the end of our probation, it is the prelude to judgment. That is the real sting of death. It is here that the victory of Christ comes in. We might survive death and still find ourselves quite as unhappy, quite as much cut off from God as now, but Christ came and lived and died to save us not merely from death, but from death's sting, i.e. from sin. It is because we are moved by the love of Christ for us to love Him, because we realise in Him the infinite love of God, because we believe that He died to save us from our sins, because we have learnt to hate them, and to desire to conquer them for His sake, because we believe that what we have learnt of Him and from Him is eternal truth, that we really believe in the victory over death. We know that His words are very truth: "I am the Resurrection and the Life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die," and thus believing we do not fear either death, or its sting. We say only: "Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord." XXVI.-THY KINGDOM COME Thy Kingdom come.-ST. MATTHEW VI. 10. HE power of a single word, cry, sentence, or thought, THE of 66 has often been remarked. When at the beginning of the twelfth century Peter the Hermit travelled through Europe with the cry, Rescue the Holy Sepulchre from the hands of the heathen," the effect was marvellous. William of Malmsbury, a contemporary historian, thus describes the ardour with which the inhabitants of the British Isles and their neighbours joined in the crusade. He says: "The Welshman left his hunting, the Scot his sordid hut, the Dane his drinking party, the Norwegian his raw fish. Lands were deserted of their husbandmen, houses of their inhabitants, even whole cities migrated. There was no regard to relationship, affection for their country was held in little esteem. God alone was placed before their eyes. Whatsoever was stored in granaries or hoarded in chambers to answer the hopes of the avaricious husbandman, or the covetousness of the miser, all, all was deserted, they hungered and thirsted after Jerusalem alone." Among the phrases which have especially influenced, and can still influence, men stand those of the Lord's Prayer, which in their strength and simplicity, their brevity, and directness, have been a mighty power in the world. It is of the second petition, "Thy Kingdom come," that we will speak to-day. |