SORROW FOR THE DEAD.

PRINCIPAL TULLOCH, D.D., ST. ANDREWS.

THE New Testament teaches us to think of our dead ones as asleep.' "Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." (1 Thess. iv. 14.) They are gone from us, but they rest in the Lord. And when they awake, they will be still with Him. Why, then, should we weep for those who, now calmly resting in Christ, await a joyful resurrection?

As "sleep is to waking, so is death to the resurrection." It is the dawn of a resurrection Morning which gives its full force to the image. In death there is rest from care and sorrow, and all the ills which make life painful; and so far it is like to sleep, when we lie down and put from us, in unconscious slumber, the cares of the day, the sorrows that may have vexed us, or other ills that may have pained or wearied us. But it requires the assurance of an awakening to complete the analogy. It were little to say to men, as Socrates said long ago, that death is a "great gain," even if we only think of it as a "deep sleep in which one has had no dream." Insensibility is better than pain or toil. But to

the Christian the sleep of death is only the prelude to a joyful day. The sleeper awakes refreshed and strengthened to a "mightier power of life." The believer sinks to rest in the grave that he may rise again on the resurrection Morning in new and more glorious being. "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.”

It was this view of death of which the heathen knew nothing. They might think of their dead ones as resting in the dust. Their Philosophers might discourse of a dreamless sleep; and their Poets sing of a long night of perpetual slumber towards which they were hastening; but they knew nothing of the Morning that was to break on their long sleep, of the Resurrection to which it was destined. Even the ancient Hebrews saw this but dimly, and therefore they cried, "The living, the living, he shall praise Thee. For the grave cannot praise Thee; death cannot celebrate Thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy truth." (Isaiah Xxxviii. 18-19.) "In death there is no remembrance of Thee: in the grave who shall give Thee thanks?" (Ps. vi. 5.) "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." (Ps. cxv. 17.) Prophet

and Psalmist had at the best but a feeble hold of the doctrine of Resurrection to Eternal Life. They saw before them the darkness; they felt, with something of horror, the silence of the tomb, but the eye of faith did not pierce steadily beyond the voiceless gloom. Life and immortality have only been brought clearly to light in the Gospel, — in Him who hath Himself risen "the first-fruits of them that sleep." And hence, the Christian alone looks with cheerful hopefulness in death. Others may face it with steadfastness or calm: he alone lies down to sleep in hope. Not only without fear, but in joy he enters the dark valley, and friends lay him in the narrow prison-house, "dust to dust, in the hope of a joyful Resurrection." "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must 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? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Cor. xv. 53-57.)

It is this fact of Resurrection which leads the apostle to say that we who remain alive should not sorrow for our dead ones, even as

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others which have no hope." (1 Thess. iv. 13.) Why, indeed, should we thus sorrow, who believe that as "Jesus died and rose again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him"? (1 Thess. iv. 14.) They who had no such faith, might well weep as they buried their Dead out of sight and knew not whether they should ever more see the light of life. But why should we hopelessly weep for those who are resting with the Lord, who have gone before to be for ever with Him? Why, indeed, but for the faintness of our hearts and the weakness of our flesh? Let us sorrow rather for ourselves, that our sight is so dim and our faith so dull that we are so little able to look beyond things which are "seen and temporal" to those which are unseen and eternal." The Living, rather than the Dead, may have a claim upon our sorrowful regard. For the Dead have gone beyond our anxiety. They have entered into their rest. They are asleep in Jesus; while the living, who are around us, and with us, may be wandering far away from Him, may be wounding Him by their sins, may be crucifying Him afresh and putting Him to an open shame." It is as if we were to weep for the child resting in its father's bosom, sheltered in a happy home, rather than for the

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child who has gone astray in darkness, and cannot find its homeward way. It is as if we were to sorrow for the mariner who has found a safe harbor, and rests in peace, rather than for the storm-tossed sailor in the open main, around whom the billows may be heaving high, and over whom the sky may be darkening to his doom. No, brethren, let us not sorrow for those who are with God, safe in a Father's house, sheltered in the haven of eternal rest. But let us be anxious and careful for the Living, that we may help them, and guide them by God's blessing in a right way; and for ourselves, that we may "know the things which belong unto our peace before they are hid from our eyes."

"HOW ARE THE DEAD RAISED UP, AND WITH WHAT BODY DO THEY COME?"

PROFESSOR ISLAY BURNS, D.D., FREE CHURCH
COLLEGE, GLASGOW.

"BUT how are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come?" The question will still recur, not on the suggestion only of a wistful curiosity, but under the pressure of those doubts which the physical difficulties of the case now, as in the Apostle's days,