DANIEL H. MARTIN

4^ ^ (^ ^^

Class

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT.

/

Concemmg %fitm Wi}ittf are ^0leep

H^mitl i^offman jEattfn

Clinton 2CtJe. IfleformetJ €|)urct, Betoarft, 4^et» Ser?ep

CI)ttag:o 1904

-^v^"

^v^

D^

OCT 5 1904 ^ Qosyrleht Entry

^LASS a. XXo. Na

COPY B

COPYRIGHT BY A. D. F. RANDOLPH & CO.

REVISED EDITION

'DO'i'YRIGHT, 1904, BY

THE ^'^INONA PUBLISHING COMPANY

ir WOUI& not bave ^ou to be Ignorant, astetbren, concerning tbem wblcb are agleep*

— /. Thes, 4:i3.

Contentjai
V
CHAPTER I
Does Death End All ? .	•	PAGE 9
CHAPTER II
Is Dying to be Dreaded? .	.	26
CHAPTER III
With What Manner of Body do They	Come ?	34
CHAPTER IV
Our Children Gone Home .	.	38
CHAPTER V
Shall We Recognize Friends in the Future Life ?	48
CHAPTER VI
Sorrow, Its Meaning and Ministry ,	• f	60
CHAPTER VII
Comforting Lines ....	• • •	78

Co ti^e jEemort of

Concerning Ci^em Wt^iti^ ^u ^gleep

CHAPTEE I

2r>oeg SDeatti enrs Ml

The question which Job asked in his despair, linds an echo in many a human heart: ''If a man die, will he live again?" Who has stood by the open grave where the form of a loved one was lowered into the gloomy depths and not asked the same question? But death is not an enemy.

Death is the decree of our loving Father, who

®xit

takes this method of giving us an exchange of

IlCEtt)

worlds. Therefore death does not startle nature .

eoerp

or God. When your dear one died, not a bird g^^oivu ceased its singing; not a zephyr hushed its whis- per; not a star dimmed its radiance. It was as if God through nature were saying, ''Let not your heart be troubled; nothing strange has hap- pened." Every tick of the clock is the knell of a departing soul. Thirty-six hundred every hour, 86,000 every day go to the house appointed for all living. At God's angle of vision the body to which we cling with so much tenderness is

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

only the outer garment, something that can be taken off and laid aside, as you put off your clothes at night.

Job's question, the question of every grief- stricken heart, is met by the words of Jesus: ^'Because I live, ye shall live also." Every death chamber is an ante-room of the infinite temple, every death hour a triumph hour of entrance through an arch of shadows to the eternal day. The grave is but the hyphen between two worlds. Death is the decree of a loving God.

I'here had to be some method of exchanging cbanire of w^^^^^- ^^ there had been a better way the tDorlUiS Father would have found it. Had death never entered the world, later generations would have found the earth over-populated, and life a ter- rible struggle. Think, too, of the dismal burden of years of decrepitude. Therefore the Bible never speaks of death as a calamity. It calls it victory (1 Cor. 15:54). ''If in this life only we have hope, we are of all men most miserable" (1 Cor. 15: 19). "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept."

10

SDeatI)

Does Death End All?

Jesus Christ tunneled the grave. Through it He walked into victory and immortality. What gj^jj^ He did He gave us the power to do ; for He was ffta^e declared to be the Son of God with power. He a tunnel ascended on high, leading captivity captive, and giving gifts to men.

I, While I write these words, nature is preach- ing the gospel of resurrection. The winter seemed like death. But now the snow and frost are gone, maple buds have burst their silken cradles, tulips and daffodils are hanging their flaming banners along the garden wall. If nature can make the old earth cast off the grave- grt ^ jr clothes of winter, why should it be thought a e^itJent thing incredible that God should raise the dead? prnoffii of Crude reasoning that, which affirms that the immot-- Architect who created the palace of the soul has ^^^^^? no power to recreate it. When God finished the creation He made the body of man a sort of table of contents of the earth; for in a man all the elements of the earth are mingled. Your body is literally a microcosm. A skillful artisan, if he had all the ingredients, could make a body just as

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

good. But would that be a man? No; for the

man within the man would be lacking. This is

where the work of God comes in. He puts in

something not found in earth, or air, or sea. It

^ is not carbon, or nitrogen, or lime, or phosphate,

^- or iron. Personality is not made of matter, but

tl)e man -^

hopes, fears, affections, ambitions, things that

soar beyond all barriers of time and sense. Per- sonality is a composite of dust and God. The dust part, after serving its purpose, returns to its kindred dust, while the God part enters upon the realm of spirit with illimitable outlook.

"Call him not dead but perfected," said the ancients of a departed hero. Paul said, ''To die is gain." There would be no gain to a kernel of wheat to remain encased in a costly jewel box. When it is buried in the ground, there spring from it flower and fruit. So the human soul never reaches its development until divested of its dusty trappings.

**Alas for him who never sees The stars shine through his cypress trees; Who hopeless lays his dead away, Nor looks to see the breaking day

12

Does Death End All?

Across the mournful marbles play. Who hath not learned in hours of faith,

The truth to flesh and sense unknown, That life is ever lord of death,

And love can never lose its own !"

II. Human nature also confirms the hope of immortality. First, in this life's incompleteness. We scarcely learn to be of use in this world before we are called to leave it. When we have gained some meed of experience we find our faces veiled in age, and our feet treading toward the grave. All our difficulties point to a greater completeness by and by. We are begun, but not ,

finished. Every man discovers that he is arattment equipped for more things than this life calls for ; he has powers which this world never drafts into service. He can get neither time nor space enough to employ the multiform powers of his mind and spirit. These are the forepointings of immortality. These are the pledges God has made of the fuller life beyond, as the pieces of wood and the branch of thorn-berries told Colum- bus and his disheartened sailors of the new world near at hand.

13

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

Infinite personality, called God, is fore- shadowed in finite personality called man. As we have borne the image of the earthly, so shall we also bear the image of the heavenly.

**A solemn murmur of the soul, tells of the world to

be, As travelers hear the billows roll, before they reach

the sea."

III. Human nature supplies another argument for immortality in our discontent. We are the most unsatisfied beings on the face of the earth. Our heart tells us that we were made to be satis- fied, yet nothing in this life quite satisfies us; f^^l our ideal runs ahead of our real. But every

other creature finds the limits of its growth here below. Note the stolid contentment of the ox, which finds its capacity satisfied in meadow and stream ; observe the purring complacency of the cat, whose heaven is a hearthstone. Contrast the feverish ambitions of men, and their unsatis- fied yearnings, even after long-sought goals are reached. The animal is at home here, but man is not. It is ever true. Foxes have holes, and

14

eartblp

Does Death End All?

the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man hath not where to lay his head.

If this life completes the sphere of man's activities, then my dog has a more successful career than I, for his capacity is met in his environment; a stone in the field is greater than I, for it lasts longer ; it runs no risks of accident or of a broken heart.

IV. Another strong premise of immortality is the character of God. Given a Supreme Being among whose attributes are justice and goodness, then immortality is a necessity. Think of the vast numbers of children who pass away before they have performed any service for the world. *'What a tragic waste of faculty!" exclaims Dr. (Bti\l*si Gregg, who also puts this pertinent question: ^P^^^^"^^ *'How about the dear children born with bodily ^ defects, to go through life as cripples and suffer- ers ?" Is God good? Yes. Is that child God's complete work? No. God's work is not fin- ished yet. There is another life where God's plans will be revealed and the compensations' made. "Then the eyes of the blind shall be

15

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be un- stopped; then shall the lame leap as the hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing." "God shall wipe all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away."

V. Another thing ; the instinct of immortality is universal. Every one takes the future life for granted. It is held where the Bible has never gone. The tombs of Egypt, built 5,000 years ago, reveal pictures representing the future state SSnttetfial ^^ ^^^ bovlI. The laws of the Hindoos, written a tefitimonp thousand years before Christ, set forth descrip- tions of the soul in the hereafter. The Eomans and the Greeks had their heaven and hell ; the Mexicans and Peruvians have their paradise; the American Indians their happy hunting grounds. Immortality is not a question of argument, it is a matter of instinct. Who implanted this uni- versal instinct, these common longings? God, the author of life, did it. But would He be so cruel as to implant a hope He intended to disap-

16

Does Death End All?

point? Nay; the soul is apart of God Himself, imperishable. The soul is distinct from the body; for the instinct of immortality exists even 2ri)e after the bodily powers are exhausted. Moreover ^otil the soul is a unit, while the body is composed of ^ separate parts. Matter is divisible, the soul is indivisible. Since, therefore, the body is dis- tinct from the soul, death, which is a physical event, touches the body only, and has no power to interrupt thought, or break down the infinite capacities of the soul which God created, not for these few brief years of earthly life with its sor- rows, weaknesses, wrongs and injustice, but for eternity. The ceasing of heart-beats does not mean the quenching of the spirit.

When John Quincy Adams was eighty years old, he met in the streets of Boston an old friend, who shook his trembling hand and said;

*'Good morning! And how is John Quincy Adams to-day?"

''Thank you," was the ex-President's answer, "John Quincy Adams is well, sir; quite well, I thank you. But the house in which he lives at

17

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

present is becoming dilapidated. It is tottering upon its foundation. Time and the seasons have nearly destroyed it. Its roof is pretty well worn out. Its walls are much shattered, and it trem- ' bles with every wind. The old tenement is be-

coming almost uninhabitable, and I think John Quincy Adams will have to move out of it soon ; but he himself is quite well, sir; quite well."

With that, the venerable sixth President of the United States moved on with the aid of his staff. It was not long afterward that he had his second and fatal stroke of paralysis in the capitol at Washington.

''This is the last of earth," he said. "lam content."

Because we are not able to see or touch the spirit world we dare not argue against it. Sci- ence has proven that the whole interstellar space ^Deatb ^^ filled with matter which we cannot see. There not are certain gases so fine that we may pass our annibi' hands through them without knowing it. The lation uiighty ocean of ether has none of the known properties of matter, because the planets plunge

18

Does Death End All?

through it unobstructed. Yet it reaches out an Herculean arm to hold those planets in their orbits against a force which would snap a steel rope a hundred miles in diameter. This suggests what mighty resources God has ordained between the visible and the invisible worlds. And just as we know the existence of the mysterious an:d in- visible ether by its workings, so we know the existence of the mysterious, invisible spirit body. Paul shows us that death is simply the ex- change of the material body for the spiritual. Such a word as annihilation is not known to the dictionary of nature. Chemistry shows us how certain bodies may undergo complete change without annihilation. You can see it, but cannot understand it. For example, you may [take a piece of silver, immerse it in diluted niter, and everything that distinguishes it as a metal, to- gether with its specific gravity, will be apparently destroyed. The liquid, however, remains as limpid as before, not changing its appearance a particle. Yet it has absorbed a solid piece of sil- ver, to all appearances annihilated it. But wait.

19

ConcerningThem Which Are Asleep

Drop a piece of copper into the solution. Presto! the silver will reappear in small, brilliant, metallic crystals, and settle in the bottom of the glass. Where had it been in the meantime? No one knows. The fact only is there. The mys- tery is not explained. ''Behold, I show you a mystery," said Paul. ''We shall not all sleep; we shall all be changed." He states the fact; he does not explain the mystery. Sufficient for us that science has laid down for the feet of Christian faith these solid blocks of truth to walk over.

VI. But another significant evidence of im- mortality is found in human character. There is that quality in high and beautiful natures that carries with it the evidence of its own continu- ance. When your true-hearted friend dies, you ^ntmtitit ^^^ ^^ argument for immortality, you feel it. It etjitience ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ made the unbelieving Hume declare that whenever he thought of his mother, he believed in immortality. When you stand by the river Rhone in Geneva, the very velocity of its rush tells you that it has come from tremendous

20

Does Death End All?

altitudes. The river Amazon, by its breadth and volume, testifies to the vastness of the waters into which it pours. So there are natures so pure and high that they bring with them the conviction that they were born from above, while the force of their motives and loyalty to high spiritual ideals, predicts the nobler future to which they move, as the seed predicts the flower, and the blossom the fruit.

"I cannot think of them as dead,

Who walk with me no more Along the path of life I tread ;

They have but gone before. The Father's house is mansioned fair,

Beyond my vision dim ; All souls are His, and here or there

Are living unto Him. Our knowlege of that life is small.

The eye of faith is dim, But I'm content, since Christ knows all,

And we will be with Him!"

VII. Sometimes it is affirmed that immortality ©lU

is not taught in the Old Testament, and there- ©eeita*

fore the patriarchs did not believe it. The argu- ^^^^ ment is faulty as to fact and conclusion. Even

21

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

if the Old Testament were silent on the fact, that would not prove lack of belief on the part of the patriarchs. A negative never proves a positive. The absence of dogmatic statement concerning immortality is due to the fact that these ancient writings dealt more with national afEairs tlian with individual beliefs.

But the belief in a future life is plainly implied. In Genesis we read: *'And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him." In the Book of Kings we are told that *' Elijah was taken up by a whirlwind into heaven." David says, "Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me into glory." Daniel says, ''Many of them that sleep in the dust shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to ever- lasting shame and contemi)t. " Jeremiah speaks of God as the "Heavenly King." Isaiah says, "Neither hath eye seen nor ear heard what God hath prepared for them that love him." The same prophet says, "He will swallow up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away all tears from their eyes." David says, "In thy presence

22

Does Death End All?

is fullness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures f orevermore. "

VIII. As to the New Testament, it is per- fumed through and through with the blessed truths of immortality. Briefly summed up, they are: 1. The incarnation; God manifest in the flesh. 2. The positive statement of the Christ that He came from the Father and from an eternity with the Father. 3. The mission of Christ to save lost sinners. 4. The teachings of ^^^ Christ, which are intelligible only in the light of a life beyond the grave. He tells us that in this ^i,;^,^*.-^ life there will be sorrow and cross-bearing, but in the life to come a recompense for it. To Martha He said, ''He that believeth on me, even though he were dead, yet shall he live, and he that liveth and believeth in me shall never die." At the last supper He said, "In my Father's house are many mansions; I go to prepare a place for you." Many other verses in the gospels and epistles set forth the same truth.

In those memorable scenes where Jesus showed His power over death by calling life back to the

23

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

body, and in His own resurrection, He forever changed the thought of immortality from a rumor or a dream to an established fact. Across the tomb of every believer flash the golden words, "Because I live, ye live also."

"God having of old spoken unto the fathers by the prophets in divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us by his Son."

"Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions ; if it were not so, I would have btctor ^^1^ y^^- ^ S^ ^^ prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also."

"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying. Behold, the tabernacle of

24

CI)mt

Does Death End All?

God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and be their God; and he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes ; and death shall be no more ; neither shall there be any mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more : the first things are passed away. And he that sitteth on the throne said: Behold, I make all things new. ' '

25

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

CHAPTER II

310 SD^ing to be SDrealieD?

Before Christ triumphed over the grave there

had been misty conceptions of the experience of

death. Men looked forward to it with dread.

It was talked of as men talked once about that

cape which they supposed a fatal barrier to the

circumnavigation of the globe. Tradition told of

the many vessels carried by winds and currents

^. into those gloomy waters, never to be seen again.

ijonliaffe ^^^ ^^^ ^ ^^^^ captain determined to learn for

of tl)e himself and to sail, if possible, past this hobgob-

fear lin spot. He sailed around the cape in safety,

and opened a route to the East Indies and

acquired for his country the riches of the world.

He changed the name of that much dreaded cape

from the Cape of Storms to the Cape of Good

Hope.

For every believing heart Jesus has changed the fear of the grave to joy and peace.

It has been the practice of literature through-

26

Is Dying to be Dreaded?

out all time to call death hard names ; as though death were God's punishment to a sinful race. But the first death in this world did not come to Adam, the first sinful man, nor to Cain, the first murderer, but to Abel, the innocent and right- eous. The sinful brother was punished by living, the good brother was translated to the higher and better life. Death reigned in this world long before man entered it, as fossil remains scattered throughout the earth attest. Death is a part of the cycle of change which God has established for everything He has created. The instinct of ^. the animal world is not to dread death. Animals Jqi^^j^ prepare for it as naturally as they prepare for the laociell changes of the seasons. You never stumble across a dead animal in field or forest. They have crawled off into some hollow tree or cave, or deep recess, there quietly to breathe out their life. Thus nature confirms the Bible in the truth that life is swung into the universe and swung out again, to be gathered up into materials for life under the moulding touch of the Spirit of God.

27

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

**Our little systems have their day,

They have their day, and cease to be ; They are but broken lights of Thee, And Thou, O Lord, art more than they. ' *

God is not a God of the dead, bub of the living (Luke 20: 38). God sees only life in all His uni- verse. In God's eye there is no interruption to the stream of life which He has poured forth from the ocean of spirit.

Let us stand at God's angle of vision, and we shall see the universe as one glowing, vivid, boundless field of life; every death hour a triumph hour, the earth exhaling spirits into the upper heights of life, as the soil and sea send up their moisture, not to be lost, but to exist in new manifestations.

There are earnest Christians who suffer at the

thought of the final dissolution, and the separa-

|7jQ tion from those they love. Fortunately we have

UreaU learned from science, and from abundant testi-

afaottt mony and experience, that the dread of death as

UeatI) a physical experience is a delusion. Those who

are ill suffer very little from such a dread.

Those who are in health are apt to fear it most.

38

Is Dying to be Dreaded?

When the time comes Mother Nature tenderly smooths the way, so that it seems as natural as to fall asleep. You do not dread going to sleep when you are fatigued. You look upon it as a boon. But sleep is the twin brother of death, the absence of consciousness. We love sleep, and the only dread after going to bed is that we may not be able to sleep. More people suffer from the attempt to get to sleep than sick people do from the thought of dying, or in dying itself. Physicians will tell you, and clergymen, who are often at death-beds, this same thing. The will of the patient yields to the mandates of the death angel. It is remarkable also to see how easily and gently the affections unclasp their earthly hold. Those who have been at many death-beds can testify to the wonderful sweetness and resig- nation of the departing one, when all the others at the bedside are in tears and agony. To the believer, the apostle's words are made true in Heb. 2:15 — '' Delivering them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."

29

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

Our hymnology needs to be revised where it refers to the dread of the transition. There are no "Jordan's stormy banks"; there is no "death's dark, sullen stream." And by the testimony of physicians, there is no place in a dying experience for "the last mortal agony." The vast majority of the race breathe out their life as gently as you would fall asleep, uncon- scious of suffering. The angel of death hovers over the couch like a sympathetic* friend, and in almost every instance David's words are sweetly realized: "He giveth his beloved sleep."

Let there be no worry about dying grace. That will be supplied when the time comes. What you need now is living grace. And after 3lbottt all, life is more to be dreaded than death, for life f^V^M ig constantly shadowed by temptations, which may mar our souls and harm our influence. We need not prepare to die, but rather prepare to live. For if we live right, we shall die right. Dying is an easy matter. Living is solemn. For the kind of life we live affects not only us but all whom our lives touch.

Is Dying to be Dreaded?

What an inspiring joy the Christian view of death affords! A friend tells how he was walk- ing one summer afternoon in a forest, and found a bird's nest on the ground with four beautiful eggs in it. Stooping to examine them, he found every egg empty. Had some one robbed the nest? No. The mysterious life within those eggs had matured. The birdlings were enjoying their freedom in a near-by tree. Better off with all the cerulean to soar in than residing in the confines of the shell.

Have you not thought the same way when at the grave-side you have said good-bye to a dear friend? The body lowered into the tomb was only the empty shell. The spirit had flown, and you rejoiced that there was one chorister more in heaven, one scepter more, one star more in the firmament.

Never let us think of the grave as the goal. As Dr. Hep worth has said, "the difference between being a bit of driftwood with no destina- tion, a mere plaything of fate, and a staunch vessel which lifts its anchor iji one port and faces

31

iop of

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

the storms and waves while sailing to another port, is the difference between the soul with eyes fixed on nothingness, and the soul that ever walks with heaven in view."

If doubt or distress of mind come to you on this subject, remember Jesus' words as John ^Tefitifi records them, "Behold, I am he who was dead, j)0lUg but am alive f orevermore ; and I have the keys tj)e of death and the grave." Ask Jesus for the key feepfii when you want any problems solved touching the future life.

Jesus has lighted up the gloom of the grave, and made its gate to turn on golden hinges. He made the cross His pillow, that we might pillow our heads on the precious truth of immortality.

"I know not what the future hath

Of marvel or surprise, Assured alone that life and death His mercy underlies.

'*And if my heart and flesh are weak

To bear an untried pain, The bruised reed He will not break, But strengthen and sustain.

32

Is Dying to be Dreaded?

**And so beside the silent sea, I wait the muffled oar ; No harm from Him can come to me, On ocean or on shore.

"I know not where His islands lift Their f ronded palms in air ; I only know I cannot drift Beyond His love and care."

33

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

CHAPTER III

Wit^ WW fanner of 115oD^ sr>o W^t^ Come?

When we have laid our darling dead in the grave, the question comes : Will the clay that housed the spirit here be the same body which that spirit will have in heaven? St. Paul sets such ques- tionings at rest by saying, *'God giveth it a body as it pleaseth him." In other words, we are not to trouble ourselves about so great a mystery ; we ^, can trust it to God's wisdom and eroodness. The

tternel ^P^stle says, *'Thou sowest not the body that tjtore shall be." He also says, "Flesh and blood can- preciottfif not inherit the kingdom of God." And the tbantj)e scriptures do not emphasize the resurrection of ^^^^*^ the body, but the resurrection of the dead. This at first seems disappointing, because the body of your loved one was so dear, and was the vehicle of identification. True, but it was really the spirit which you loved, and the change from the natural body to the spiritual can no more change the spirit than a change from dark garments to light and beautiful ones could change your loved

34

With What Manner of Body Do They Come ?

one's identity when on earth. It is of small con- cern whether God shall employ again the material atoms that are built up in our present bodies. I am sure you care little for the silicates and limes which you cast off a score of years ago, or for the carbons and oxygens which you burned in the furnace of your lungs to keep you warm, any more than you care for the ashes of last year's hearth fire, or the cast-off clothing you gave to the ragman.

It is perfectly possible, from a scientific point of view, that God could, if He chose, rehabilitate our spirits with the perishable materials of our present bodies. A great scientist, in his work on Biology, shows how the microscope has found bioplasts which are little workshops, in which -^otljinff the process of making bodies is carried on. But we soon step into the region of mystery and speculation here, and it is better to leave the solution to God. All that we need to know has been revealed, namely : That our dead shall be raised to life; that as they have borne the image of the earthy, they shall also bear the image of

35

Uiitl; (Sol

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

the heavenly. The apostie illustrates by saying that when we sow grain, that which we handle and put into the ground dies, but the part we do not see, the seed-life of the grain, quickens and grows. God gives it a new body, that it may be UZht rtntil S^^i^ ^^^^ more. The pattern is still there, and tueabefi comes again into sight, and weaves about itself it& oton the tissues of its identity. The water-lily lifts its ilientitp head in glory above the waves, reflecting its golden crown and satin folds of whiteness. But if you follow its long stem down through the water you find its root buried in the slime and mire. The one belongs to the other. What you see above the water is the glorified body of what you see beneath. So when we place our beloved dead in the dark ground we may comfort our- selves with God's precious assurance that what has been sown in corruption will be raised in incorruption ; that our dear ones will be restored to us again in forms beautiful, glorious, im- mortal. They shall be again embodied, for God will give them a body as it pleaseth Him. What will please God will be infinitely pleasing to us.

36

With What Manner of Body Do They Come?

And since our rehabilitated souls are to remain

changeless forever, we may rest assured that they

Avill be as perfect, as desirable, and as lovely as

God, with all His wondrous power and skill, can

make them. It is our great comfort to know

that our dear ones, when they die, go at once into

the presence of Christ. 2 Cor. 5:1, tells us that

death is simply going from one house to another.

"To depart," says Paul, ''is to be with Christ." (J^xm^U

2 Cor. 5: 8 says, ''To be absent from the body is Hon

to be present with the Lord." John says, "I

heard a voice from heaven saying unto me. Write,

Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from

henceforth." (Eev. 14:13.)

^'I hear it singing, singing sweetly, Softly in an undertone, Singing as if God had taught it: It is better farther on.

**Sits upon the grave and sings it,

Sings it when the heart would groan. Sings it when the shadows darken: It is better farther on.

^*Night and day it brings the message, Sings it when I sit alone, Sings it so the heart may hear it : It is better farther on." 37

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

CHAPTER IV

<©ur C^iilDrm &ont l^ome

"There is no flock, however watched and tended, But one dead lamb is there ; There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended, But has one vacant chair."

Jesus was called into such a home, as St. Mark tells us in the 5th chapter. Jesus took the little girl by the hand and said unto her, "Talitha cumi," which, being interpreted, is, "My little darling, get up," the very words in the Syriac which that child had heard every morning from the lips of her own mother. How tender it was of Jesus, who, knowing that mother's familiar *eCaUtI)a salutation, used it now to awaken this little one from the sleep of death! Jesus did not use any awe-inspiring forms of expression, but adopted the simplicity of speech of common life. Jesus shows us how our common life touches the eternal life. Jesus seldom uses the future tense in speaking of divine realities. He realized the pres- entness of eternal life. In His view the little

38

Cttmf

Our Children Gone Home

maid was not really dead, only sleeping. Just as Lazarus, who had already seen corruption in the tomb, to Jesus' mind was only heavy with sleep, waiting for the divine voice to awake him. So he said to Martha, ''I am (not, I will be) the resurrection and the life."

* 'There is no death, what seems so is transition. This life of mortal breath is but the gateway to the

home Elysian, Whose portals we call death."

It is interesting to note the conspicuous silence

with which Jesus treats death. The burden of

His message is always life. ''I am come that ye

might have life," He said. And in expanding

that thought He says that life is not confined to

the relations of soul and body. As Eossiter Eay-

mond has finely written : "It were a mockery to ^. ,,.

^ €it life suppose that Jesus' miracles of healing were sim- r i:r^

ply to bring gladness to a few mourners, and call back to a world of pain and sickness a few dead people. These miracles of restoration were sim- ply witnesses to the life which is more than meat ; to the life which is not sustained by bread alone;

39

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

to the life which throbs with a pulse divine. So when He restored the little child in the ruler's home, when He brought back Lazarus, it was simply to show that the body was only an acci- dent of the life, that the soul is something other and higher, which can go and come. He was trying to say to the weeping sisters of Lazarus, when they said that their brother would not have died had Jesus been there, that continued life in this vale of tears is not the highest boon. But when He saw they continued their weeping and wailing. He broke o£E His futile attempt at higher consolation, and went abruptly to the tomb and recalled the immortal spirit to the mortal body, thus teaching by an object lesson to those who could not otherwise comprehend, the continuity of life."

Jesus said, *^ Suffer little children to come unto Cf)el(ibe ^^' ^^^ forbid them not," because He can do abote far more and better for them in the spiritual all loije realm than any earthly parent could provide.

I realize, however, the wrench which the death of a darling child gives to our human heart.

40

Our Children Gone Home

The hopes that have been centered in that little boy or girl are suddenly blasted ; the affections that have twined around the life are rudely crushed. AH the world seems dark and desolate, the sun has gone out of the sky. The parent almost feels that God is cruel and heartless. Not so. God's name and nature are Love. "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth." God is Himself a parent. He understands a parent's grief. He is a father; He had a dear son whom He gave up. He knows how to sym- pathize when we agonize. "He who spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, shall he not with him freely give us all things?'* (Rom. 8:32.)

A dead joy is better than a living sorrow. But you say, "We prayed most earnestly that our child's life might be spared to us here." What you really prayed for was the welfare of your JJraper child. In your wisdom you thought his welfare anfitoereti was a prolonged earthly life. But in God's wis- ^V ^^i^i^l dom He answered your prayer for the welfare of the child by giving him the spiritual life. It is

41

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

not the will of the Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. God orders all things out of His wisdom and out of His love. Your little one is not lost, but saved — saved from the evil to come; saved from the kind of grief that now wrenches your soul; saved from the power of sin.

**Safe in the arms of Jesus, Safe from corroding care ; Safe from the world's temptations, Sin cannot harm him there.'*

Do not think of what you have lost; think of what you have gained. You have gained a beau- tiful memory, an enriched experience, a precious hope, and a very near sense of the presence of God, in whose sustaining arms you rest. Heaven will seem nearer to you than before, since those little dimpled hands have pushed open the pearly gates. Be thou happy in the happiness of your child; for God's word says that city is ''full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. '* (Zech. 8:5.)

A mother who had lost two beautiful children,

42

Our Children Gone Home

and felt that life had no further charms for her, was led by God's spirit to realize that her darlings were taken into the arms of infinite love, to be Cj)e cared for better than any earthly love could pos- JFatI)er'fl; sibly do. And instead of feeling hateful and envious toward those mothers who still had their babes with them, she wrote these lines :

**Mother, I see you with your nursery light, Leading your babies all in white,

To their sweet rest. Christ the good Shepherd carries mine to-night,

And that is best.

*'I cannot help tears when I see them twine Their fingers in yours, and their bright curls shine

On your warm breast ; But the Savior's is purer than yours or mine ;

He can love best.

*'You tremble each hour because your arms Are weak ; your heart is wrung with alarms,

And sore opprest ; My darlings are safe, out of reach of harms ;

And that is best.

**You know over yours may hang even now, Pain and disease, whose fulfilling slow ^

None can arrest. Mine in God's garden run to and fro And that is best.

43

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

'*You know that of yours, your feeblest one, And dearest may live long years alone,

Unloved, unblest. Mine are cherished of saints around God's throne,

And that is best.

You must dread for yours the crime that sears, Dark guilt unwashed by repentent tears ;

And unconfessed. Mine entered spotless on eternal years ;

Oh ! how much the best !

*'But grief is selfish, I cannot see Always why I should so stricken be,

More than the rest : But I know that, as well as them, for me,

God did the best."

So our precious Christian faith assures us that all our dreams and plans for our children gone home, shall be realized in the larger, fuller life, which Christ has imparted to them. Dying is not the end, simply a process of living, from which life emerges in new beauty and power. It would be a misfortune for a seed not to be buried in the ground. For only thus can it reach the beauty of the plant, with foliage, flowers and fruit.

44

Our Children Gone Home

Dr. J. R. Miller tells this beautiful incident: ^'I sat one evening with a father and mother beside the bedside of their little child, who seemed about to leave them. We talked of the ®^^ will and love of God, and before offering prayer I f^, ^ asked the parents, 'What shall we ask God to do?' There was a moment of silence, and then the father, with deep emotion, said: 'We would not dare decide. Leave it to Him.' Only God knows what will be best — to live in this world, enduring its wintry weather, or to be taken into the summer land of heaven, to grow up there, getting the crown without the conflict. We are not wise enough to decide what will be best; we would better leave it to our Father."

There is a story of a Jewish home in which two boys, twins, died both on the same day. The father was absent from home, on business, at the time. Next day he returned, not knowing of the SI parable grief which was awaiting him. His wife met him at the door quietly and calmly, not betraying her sorrow. When he came in she said to him, "I have had a strange visitor since you went away.''

45

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

''Who was it?" asked the husband, with no thought of her meaning.

"Five years ago," answered the mother, "a friend lent me two beautiful jewels. Yesterday- he came and asked me to give them back to him again. What should I do?"

"Were the jewels his?" asked the father.

"Yes, they were his, and were only lent to me," answered the mother.

"Well, if they belong to him, he certainly has a right to reclaim them, if he wishes," replied the father, "and you cannot refuse."

Leading the husband into the children's room, the mother drew down the sheet from their bed and there lay the forms, white and beautiful as marble. "These are my jewels," said the mother. "Five years ago God gave them to me, and yesterday He came and asked for them again. What shall we do?"

The father bowed his head and said with deep emotion, "The will of God be done."

This is the story of your sorrow., my friends. God gave you the beautiful jewel, which has

46

Our Children Gone Home

become so priceless to your hearts. Yesterday He came and asked for it again. Be it yours to lay it back in His hands in sweet trust and joy, saying, ''The will of the Lord be done."

^*I wonder, oh, I wonder, where the little faces go. That come and smile and stay awhile, and pass like

flakes of snow — The dear, wee, baby faces that the world has never

known, But mothers hide, so tender-eyed, deep in their hearts

alone.

"I love to think that somewhere, in the country we call

heaven, STl^e

The land most fair of everywhere, will unto them be {^i^^ ^f given. ^.

A land of little faces— very little, very fair—

And every one shall know her own, and cleave unto it ^^^^^ ^^* there.

**0h, grant it, loving Father, to the broken hearts that

plead ! Thy way is best — yet, oh, to rest in perfect faith indeed! To know that we shall find them, even them, the wee,

white dead, At Thy right hand, in Thy bright land, by the living

waters led!"

47

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

CHAPTER V

^liall Wt Hecognije (J^ur i?rimW in t^t ifuture Mftl

This question follows naturally from the dis- cussion of the foregoing topics. We have observed the intimate connection between the seen and unseen worlds. At every step we touch wires that vibrate in the future world. The composi- tion of our individuality symbolizes the two worlds. Our body represents the present world, composed as it is of earthly elements; our soul represents the spiritual world, to which it returns when God calls for it.

Shall we know each other there? Reason and revelation both answer, Yes. Reason bases its answer on the following grounds :

1. Death is only a physical experience. It

Wi)^t touches the body; it cannot reach the soul. And

reafion since the soul is the fountain of all our loving,

^ hoping, recognizing here, it will continue so

hereafter. You ask how we know that the soul

48

I

Shall We Recognize Friends in the Future Life?

has a conscious individuality apart from the body. There are many ways of knowing it. When a man undergoes a surgical operation, subject to the influence of an anaesthetic, his body is a corpse, for the time ; yet his soul still lives. The surgeon's blade cuts and divides his muscles, wrenches his nerves, removes a tumor, or with- draws a sequestrum of bone, or amputates a limb ; but the happy patient has not suffered in the least. He has been literally absent from the v body, so far as any feeling of pain is concerned.

2. When death takes possession of the body, the soul goes on in its separate existence. If the soul lives, its faculties live. One of these facul- ties is memory. We shall remember our loved 2C&^ ones and therefore recognize them. Whatever ^ the form of the glorified body, its identity will not be destroyed, any more than our identity is effaced here by the molecular changes which our bodies undergo. The physiologists tell us that our bodies experience a complete transformation every seven years, in the sloughing off of all cor- poreal molecules which are replaced by new ones.

49

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

A man of seventy years has had ten different bodies, but his soul has shone through them all. It is the soul, therefore, that weaves about itself the tissues of its own individuality. We shall never be lost or mixed up with the glorified throng. The disciples recognized Jesus in His glorified body. (1 Cor. 15:3.) Stephen recog- nized Jesus in glory standing at the right hand of God. (Acts 8.) All scriptural references to messengers that appeared to men from the other world indicate that they had the appearance of human beings.

3. Another faculty of the soul's conscious indi- ILotie viduality is love. Love never dies. No amount of physical suffering, fatigue or disease ever weakens it. The infirmities of age, which some- times dim other faculties, seem to have no power over the affections; in fact, they grow stronger with the advance of decrepitude. It is evident that love is immortal ; therefore those who pass into the other world still love us, as you continue to love your dear ones after death has claimed them. Now then, love has its own instinctive

50

Shall We Recognize Friends in the Future Life?

powers of recognition. And you might as well say that my mother did not recognize me in the great throng at the station when I used to come home on my vacations from college, as to say she will not recognize me when we meet in the heavenly land.

*'They sin who tell us love can die; With life all other passions fly, All others are but vanity. Love's holy flame forever burneth, From heaven it came, to heaven returneth ; It soweth here in toil and care, But the harvest time of love is there. "

— Southey.

The Bible says God is love, a love which is from everlasting to everlasting. John says, "Love is of God; he that loveth is born of God," therefore Christian love must be as eternal as God's love, a love which binds hearts together by a heavenly bond.

4. A next reasonable ground for believing in g[[j future recognition is the universal existence of peoplefi? this belief. It has been held by all nations from fi^l)are the earliest times. Who implanted it? It came '^^ ^^^^

51

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

not exclusively from the Bible, because it is found in people who have never seen the Bible. Therefore it must have been implanted by the Creator. When He made the human heart, He instilled this most precious instinct. You find it in the writings of the heathen sages like Socrates and Cicero. Socrates says, ''Who would not be willing to go to the future life in the hope of seeing there a father, a son, a wife, and holding converse with them?" Cicero says, "0 gladsome day when I shall go to mingle with the divine assemblage of departed spirits, and with my dear Cato, most faithful of men ! If I seem to bear his death with fortitude it was because I felt we could not long be separated."

Among the Indians, where no light of revela- tion has gone, you find this same belief, the de- Cbe parted one being buried with all his familiar solace implements for use in the future life, and as of iijt insignia of future recognition. Among the early fiiatjaffe gaxons it was observed that a servant would slay himself to go and serve his master in another world.

52

Shall We Recognize Friends in the Future Life?

I

Under every sky, in every age, this precious theory of future recognition has been held. The Norwegian holds it, the Greenlander holds it, the Turk holds it, the Arab holds it. ' Is it reason- able to suppose that so widespread a belief could have been inspired by any one but God? And is it possible to think a good God would implant a hope so tender and fundamental if it was to be disappointed? If you have crossed the Atlantic you have anticipated the home-coming, and the greetings of your dear ones. So we look forward to the greetings of our loved ones who will meet us on the heavenly shore.

*'As voyagers by fierce winds beat and broken

Come into port beneath a calmer sky, So we, still bearing on our brows the token

Of tempest past, draw to our haven nigh. A sweet air cometh from the shore immortal,

Inviting homeward at the day's decline; Almost we see where from the open portal,

Fair forms stand beckoning with their smiles divine."

We come now to the second general ground g[;j)eliff|^t for our belief in future recognition, namely, the of Word of God. ^criptun

53

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

1. The Old Testament and the New Testament imply the precious fact in many passages. David says, "In thy presence is fullness of joy, at thy right hand are pleasures f orevermore. " But what heavenly pleasure could be so great as reunion with those we have loved and lost awhile? The joys of friendship outlast death. In the second book of Samuel we have the narrative of David's grief over the illness of his darling boy; and when the boy finally dies, David rejoices in the fact that he will go to his boy at last. What satisfaction would David find in going to his boy if he would nob be able to recognize him? Would God have permitted David to record for all time such a declaration, inspiring hope in millions of hearts, if there was no reality back of it?

2. The pictures of heaven which the Bible gives would be unintelligible if you elmininate the idea of heavenly recognition. Jesus says, "In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you." It would be a queer home where the different members of

54

Shall We Recognize Friends in the Future Life?

the family could not recognize each other. The fact that the New Testament so often speaks of death as a going home implies reunion and recog- nition. Heaven is also described as a banquet (Matt. 8: 11), but what kind of a banquet would that be where there was no knowledge of our friends at table? ^'I say unto you that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven." In other words, the patriarchs will be readily recognized; then why not be able to recognize those who were our friends on earth? "I shall be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness," exclaims the Psalmist. But heaven would not be a place of supreme satisfaction if we could not recognize those we long to meet again.

3. But we know that love and friendship will outlast death, and therefore the powers of recog- nition will also. The Bible speaks of death some- ^eatf) times as a sleep. "He giveth his beloved sleep." ^^^P The apostle, speaking of David's death, says, ^ ^ ^^^ ''He fell on sleep." But sleep, which is the

55

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

counterfeit of death, refreshes the faculties. When you bid your family good-night and retire to sleep, you pass into an unconscious state; the bed is a temporary grave; but you emerge in the morning with all faculties refreshed, and you recognize your household again. So will it be when you awake from the sleep of death, only your faculties will be infinitely rejuvenated and every power of mind infinitely intensified. ''Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now we know in part; then shall we know even as also we are known."

4. When Jesus emerged from the grave on

that first Easter morning. He recognized at once

the one who sought Him. He said, ''Go tell my

disciples and Peter that I am risen from the

^ « dead." Did not the little daughter of Jairus

caged recognize her rejoicing parents when Jesus called

in point her out of the sleep of death? Did not the son

of the widow of Nain recognize his mother when

Jesus stopped the funeral procession and bade

death yield his grasp? Did not Lazarus recognize

his weeping and wondering sisters when Jesus

56

Shall We Recognize Friends in the Future Life?

commanded him to come forth from the grave where he had lain three days? And then, when Jesus was crucified and had been absent, He reappeared in His resurrection body, was He not recognized by His disciples? (1 Cor. 15: 3-8.)

5. In the narrative of the transfiguration we see Moses and Elias appearing in conversation with Jesus. The two great prophets are ^imme- diately recognized by Peter, James and John, who

were with Jesus. If these three disciples stand- ^Lnotlper ing on the earth could recognize those spirits who had been many years in heaven, will you and I not be able to recognize those who have gone away from us for only a few years?

6. So we may rest assured that the transition from earth to heaven does not obliterate the faculties. Death is only a door; the grave only

the dark vestibule of the King's palace. There ^ hnn\n is no break in the soul's consciousness. To (g ^0 depart is to be with Christ. The apostle says, it linotun ''Absent from the body, present with the Lord." If we shall see and know Him, shall we not also

see and know them that are His? Abraham said

57

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

to Dives, ''Son, remember." If the spirits of the lost world remember, why not the spirits of the redeemed? Certainly we shall not be more ignorant there than here. Thomas Chalmers was once asked by his wife: ''Dear, shall we know each other in heaven?" "My dear," he answered, "do you think we shall be bigger fools in heaven than on earth?"

With what delight Paul speaks of his spiritual children in glory (1 Thess. 2: 19). In like man- ner the early Christians all held this doctrine of future recognition. Martin Luther in one of his table talks says, "We shall know father, mother, and each other on sight."

"I want to see Isaiah, Elijah and the apostles," said that sturdy old divine, Nathan Evans, on his death-bed. So we all feel. We will want to interview the saintly characters of the Bible. Keunion Above all, we will want to tell our indebtedness to those who have befriended us, for we had been silent before they died. Or we will want to ask forgiveness for injuries we had foolishly wrought. Husband will want to tell wife, and wife hus-

58

I

Shall We Recognize Friends in the Future Life?

band, how little the one appreciated the other

when living on earth; children will want to pour

out heartfelt gratitude to parents whose love and

self-sacrifice were too little valued, and never

compensated in this life.

*'0h, may I join the choir invisible Of those immortal dead who live again In lives made better by their presence."

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

CHAPTEE VI

^orrotp^ 31t0 speanmg ana spinifitr^

In every assemblage there are many hearts wounded by sorrow. Death has left deep gashes which all the flowers of springtime cannot band- age. Can you find a home where grief in some form has not entered?

Almost every soul you meet is a sanctuary sacred to some tender memory. In every harp of rejoicing there is a string which responds in sad undertone to the mention of some dear name. What is the meaning of sorrow? God answers in the experience which the lonely Apostle John had on Patmos. John received visions of glory and heaven which he could have gained in no other way than by sorrow. The cruelty of the Koman emperor in banishing him resulted in the greatest blessing to John's soul. What he saw he has photographed for us in the last book of the Bible.

1. In the first place it revealed to him that the

Sorrow, Its Meaning and Ministry

spirit land is near. It was within the range of

vision. Our dear ones, therefore, do not go a

great distance when they bid ns good-bye.

Heaven is close by; so close that the prophet's $)^3i^^il

servant, whose spiritual eyes God had opened, ^^^ ^^^ ^^

saw the celestial chariots and horses as a mighty

host around him for defense ; so near that Gabriel

touched Daniel and answered his prayer before

the petition was ended; so near that Moses and

Elias stepped from its golden pavement on to the

Mount of Transfiguration ; so near that Stephen

saw through the azure rent the glorified Jesus at

the right hand of God; so near that I have, and

many of you, stood by the bedside of a departing

saint and noticed his eyes eagerly looking at some

supernatural vision which we could not see, and

his ears alert to catch waves of melody which we

could not hear.

Heaven is always near to the heavenly minded, its sights and sounds shut out only by the wall of flesh, and God now and then graciously permits glimpses of it from some Delectable Mountain of faith, some Pisgah height of joyful Christian experience.

61

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

2. A second thing impressed upon John's mind §1 painlesfi ^^s that heaven is a painless land; the inhabitant

lanti never says "I am sick," and they eat of the tree of life. Heaven is the land of the living. We sometimes speak of this world as the "land of the living." But in reality this is the land of the dying.

3. A third thing John saw was a mighty com- 31 crreat V^^J* The redeemed are not a small, select

muItitttUe gathering of people, but a multitude that no man could number. Heaven is not a contracted place, but a city of twelve gates. No one can count the roads that lead to those ample gates. ''In my Father's house are many mansions."

4. A fourth thing that John noticed was the color of the garments worn by the innumerable throng. They were arrayed in white robes. "These are they which came out of great tribula- tion," said the one to whom he spoke. Here is

Whitt ^ splendid hint of the meaning of trouble. The

rabeU white robe of a purified character is woven of the

anil tDl)j7 threads of trouble. It takes seven colors, all

there are in the prism, to make white. Perhaps,

62

Sorrow, Its Meaning and Ministry

dear friend, you think you have had all the seven kinds of trouble. There are many who have. They have seen the savings of toilsome years swept away; or they have become helpless inva- lids ; or they have gone through the tribulation of failing health, or fading eyesight, or unstrung nerves, or some accident has crippled them; others have had business reverses, or decreased wages. They have had to give up former lux- uries, perhaps comforts. Others have had to endure domestic infelicities, or misunderstand- ings, or slanderous accusations. Others have had perpetual struggle in inherited appetites, and sin- ful passions, and they cry out, ^'0 wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?"

The faithful whom John saw were satisfied, for ^, ^

©ictorp they realized the meaning of their troubles. ^^^ -^p

White is the color of victory, the flag of truce that complete

ends the war. As some one has said: "The

mountains that lift themselves highest above

their fellows are crowned with the pure radiance

of the snow. The torrent that leaps victorious

over the rocky obstacle, breaks into dazzling

63

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

masses of white foam. The plants that struggle hardest with adverse conditions throw out white blossoms to the breeze, just as the pond lily sig- nalizes its triumph over the mud by its white petals."

5. Another thing, John observed that the re- deemed stood before the throne of God. "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God," the highest possible honor. Many of them were never great in the sight of men; they held no place of distinction, their names were never in print, but they were faithful to humble duties ; now they are before , the throne of God. How foolish the fierce strug-

ft r trial ^^^^ some men make to achieve the applause of men ; for when time is merged into eternity, it will seem like writing one's name on the sand, or scratching it on a pillar of ice in the sunlight. The only place where our names will endure is in the Book of Life, God's register of character. Only character goes with us to the white throne.

64

Sorrow, Its Meaning and Ministry

All other things that we accumulate, books, property, titles, are scraped off as we pass through the narrow door of the sepulcher.

**Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for me, And may there be no moaning of the bar When I put out to sea.

'Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark, And may there be no sadness of farewell When I embark.

*Tor though from out our bourne of time and place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar."

You have lost a dear one from your home during this year. It seemed as though you could 2[;jj0 xain- not say good-bye. How earnestly you prayed for ifiitrp of the recovery of the loved one! Were your fiovroto prayers heard? Yes ; but while you were asking, another stood at the throne praying, "Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my

65

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

glory." Him the Father heareth always, and His prayers prevail. We claim our dear ones, but Jesus has claims too. We want them here, but He needs them there. We think of all we have planned for them ; but Jesus has far better plans for them. When the poet Whittier lost a dear friend, he comforted himself with Paul's words, "To die is gain," and he wrote:

**And yet, dear heart, remembering thee, Am I not richer than of old? Safe in thine immortality, What change can reach the wealth I hold?"

Yes, to those who die in Christ, death is gain; gain in knowledge, for they abide among the infinite intelligences of heaven; gain in power, for, released from the limitations of the flesh, they wait on God, renewing their strength ; gain in character, for they go from character to char- acter, growing in the likeness of Christ.

You thought you could not spare that dear mother, she was so useful, so needful to your comfort ; but her work was finished and the best

66

Sorrow, Its Meaning and Ministry

part of her life has now begun. It is grafted on

the infinite, and will be fruitful as no earthly life 31 mother's;

could be. Being dead, she yet speaks and lives, ^^^^h

Your heart will cherish every word and wish she

has ever spoken to you. There is an immortality

this side the grave as well as the other — the

immortality of character. The memory of the

just is blessed.

In some homes this past year the departure of loved ones has been very sudden. It came as a ci ^^ shock. But sudden death is a beautiful way to jj^atb depart. It is more to be desired than protracted invalidism and tedious suffering, making a bur- den to those who have to serve.

Moreover, sudden death suggests to us who remain, how short the transition is. It brings the future near and throws an easy space across the interval. It robs the king of terrors of his awful mien. It tells us God is whispering His "Nunc Dimittis" to the soul.

In a certain sense, every death is sudden. None of us has his work all done. But God's plans are completed. He appoints the bounds of

67

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

life. Jesus died at thirty-three. How young for such a useful life to be shut off ! But the work He came to do was done, and He said, ''It is finished." This shows us that deeds, not days, are the measure of life ; motives, not moments, are the time-markers.

Some of you have had to part with darling children. Call not the child in glory ''lost." Cl)^ Ueatj) Let your assurance be that of the Shunammite of cbilJiren ^ho said, "It is well with the child." That precious babe you gave to God is still your babe in glory. They that die cease to grow old. Death, instead of robbing us of our treasures, makes them more than ever ours in the dew of an immortal youth. Now there will always be a babe in your home.

What a mellowing influence the death of a

dear one has upon our spirits ! Nothing else has

^eatb*^ such a power. The ministry of sorrow also

mellotoinff brings our lives under the spell of the unseen

totitl) world. You gave your babe, and you have had a

new and keener interest in heaven ever since

those dimpled hands pushed ajar the gates of life.

Sorrow, Its Meaning and Ministry

Before your darling left, your eyes were glued to the earth, your interests were all worldly. Your life is fuller, richer, now than ever. Poor indeed is the home where no heavenly influences per- vade, where no heavenly voices speak, and where the windows never open toward Jerusalem. The ties of earth are loosed that we may be bound with stronger cords to heaven.

The beautiful lives of our departed ones are God's finger-posts pointing to the immortal life. They are God's lighthouses shining out over life's troubled sea.

Another important ministry of sorrow is, it makes our departed ones more precious to us. We never fully understand or appreciate a person while he is with us. Death ripens acquaintance. This may seem self -contradictory. But why does a mother seem to cherish most the child that was taken, no matter how many remain? Why does the mother seem nearer and dearer to her chil- dren after death? Because her character is seen in a new light. While our dear ones are with us we see points not in proportion. As it is when

69

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

you clamber up the sides of Mount Blanc, you are too near the monarch to appreciate his towering grandeur. But when you have departed several miles down the Vale of Chamounix, you discover the wonderful majesty of the king of mountains. So when our dear ones have gone we see the con- tour of character. We never realize the meaning of good-morning until we have said good-bye. The parting hand-shake brings hearts closer together.

Another ministry of trouble is educational.

Some sorrowful hearts labor under the mistake of

|Jart of supposing that afHictions are the expression of

^^^ God's anger, or God's judgment. Nay, nay;

^ar I) p Jeg^g said to His own, "In the world ye shall eUttcation

have tribulation." Every person before me is a

separate biography of trouble. We learn to weep a moment or two after birth, and we never forget how from lack of practice. Both Testaments agree as to the prevalence of trouble and sorrow. *'Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly up- ward" (Job). *'The whole creation groaneth and travaileth together in pain until now" (Paul).

70

Sorrow, Its Meaning and Ministry

Job's false friends told him his troubles came as punishment for sin. His wife told him to take refuge in suicide. An eloquent infidel has been giving the same advice. Many a poor, dis- couraged heart has followed it.

But God's word plainly shows that the frater- nity of sorrow is world-wide. A cross is the household furniture of every family. God's pur- 3[ toorltr-' pose is the building of character. Moral muscle, toiHe like physical, must be toughened by discipline, ftratetrnitp Character that never bears a burden grows limp. The fibers of character are strengthened only in the gales of adversity. It is not the pampered youth, sheltered from all hardships, who grows up in beauty and symmetry of moral manhood. The masts selected for our ships are taken not from inland forests, protected from storms, but from the bleak coast of Maine, where they have done battle with fierce gales. The beautiful veins and markings of our finest furniture are wrought of the wood selected from trees exposed to wild elements.

You cannot get music out of a violin with loose

71

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

strings. They must be stretched, and if they could, would cry out with pain. If we lived in 2ri)e obiect perpetual sunlight we would never see the stars of ItlJinff ^nd constellations which darkness reveals. Yet some anxious hearts, dwelling on their sorrow and not on the uses to which God puts it, have asked in despair: ''Is life worth living?" As well ask, "Is air worth breathing?" Life has a great purpose — our education for another life. This is the only reason why there seems to be more pain than pleasure in the world. As Henry Drummond says, "God knows, although we scarce do, there is something better than pleasure, — progress. Pleasure, mere pleasure, is animal. He gives that to the butterfly. But progress is the law of life to the immortal. True, there are earthly pleasures; our Father is too good not to give us some, but they are mere entertainments, as guests are amused at inns by the wayside."

The example of Jesus also helps us out on this point. The apostle says that Jesus was made perfect through suffering. If God ordered it for

72

Sorrow, Its Meaning and Ministry

Jesus, would He not order it for us? The apos- tle asks: ''Ought Christ not to have suffered and entered into his glory?" If Christ, who was holy, harmless and undefiled and separate from sinners, should be a man of sorrows, does it not make sorrow sacred? Is your sorrow great? It is because your nature is great. The highest mountains cast the longest shadows. This is a part of our joint heirship with Christ. ''If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be glorified also together. " (Eom. 8:17.)

These conclusions ought to silence the sophis- try of those who affirm that sorrow or suffering is sent as punishment. All the guilt and punish- ment for sin was borne by our Mediator. If God has to keep on punishing us for our sins, then why did Christ die? God's purpose in sorrow is educational. St. Paul speaks of his own adverse conditions as means of grace to him. What is human character that has in it no patience, no submission, no trust?

But those graces are possible only through sor- row. God also uses sorrow as a finger-post,

73

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

pointing to a better life. This is not your rest. Sorrow, like fire, is a purifier. What a beauty STl^e fierp those light aflBictions work in the spiritual life furnace which has submitted to God with patience and trust! This suggests the truth that there are two ways to meet sorrow — the unsubmissive way like the starling which, when shut in a cage, beats against the bars of its prison till its breast is sore and bleeding. The other way is that of the canary which, finding it cannot get out of its cage, makes the best of it, lifts up its voice and sings.

You can add tenfold to your troubles in life by a rebellious spirit, or you can harness troubles to your soul and make them God's horses to bear you nearer the divine likeness. Elijah is not the only one who has gone up to heaven in a chariot of fire. Thousands of God's people are this day riding in chariots of fire ; trouble is the fire, and sorrows the coursers by which they are being drawn nearer to the heaven of a Christlike character.

Your experiences of sorrow God uses, also, in

74

Sorrow, Its Meaning and Ministry

making you a comforter to others in their sorrow. You can lead them to the Comforter who has comforted you. You can explain the meaning CI)e and ministry of sorrow. As F. B. Meyer says: ficl)00l of '*You can point out how God is now walking ?^P^ ^P behind the plow of His providence, sowing the precious grain. For Sorrow shall not always be our portion ; God is sowing light for the right- eous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Look forward to the harvest as Jesus did, who for the joy set before Him despised the cross and the shame."

By and by all mysteries will be made clear ; all disappointments revealed as His appointments. We shall be satisfied when we awake in His like- ness. We shall meet our loved ones again; we shall regain our love. All the events in life that we thought to have gone wrong will prove to have been blessings in disguise.

Ever present is the sympathy of Jesus. Listen, then, to His loving voice as He bends down close to thee in thy sorrow and says, "Come unto me" (Matt. 11: 28-30). See His tender love shown to

75

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

Mary and Martha when, at the death of their brother Lazarus, Jesus weeps.

See Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweat- ing great drops of blood. Luke 22 : 24.

See Him with the crown of thorns on His brow. John 19:2-5.

See Him spat upon. Mark 15:19.

See Him mocked. Mark 15 : 20.

See Him struck in the face. Luke 22 : 64.

See Him carrying His cross. John 19: 17.

See Him dying upon the cross. John 19: 30.

Listen while Jesus speaks to thee:

g)pmpat!)p

** Child of my love, lean hard! And let me feel the pressure of thy care ; I know thy burden, for I fashioned it — Poised it in my hand, and made its weight Precisely that which I saw best for thee. And when I placed it on thy shrinking form, I said, 'I shall be near, and while thou leanest On me, this burden shall be mine, not thine. ' So shall I keep within my circling arms The child of my own love ; here lay it down. Nor fear to weary Him who made, upholds, And guides the universe. Yet closer come Thou are not near enough. Thy care, thyself,

76

Sorrow, Its Meaning and Ministry

Lay both on me, that I may feel my child

Reposing on my heart.

Thou lovest me?

I doubt it not; then loving me, lean hard."

"And thou shalt find that in my love thou canst abide, and when I see the time is come for thee to leave this world, I'll take thee home to dwell with me in endless joy and peace."

LofC.

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

CHAPTER VII

Comforting Jlims

''I KNOW" Exodus 3:7

I know thy sorrow, child ; I know it well, Thou need'st not try with broken voice to tell — Just let me lay thy head here on my breast, And find here sweetest comfort, perfect rest ! Thou need'st not bear the burden, child, thyself, I yearn to take it all upon myself ; Then trust it all to me to-day — to-morrow— ^es, e'en forever, for I know thy sorrow.

Long years I planned it all for thee. Prepared it that thou might 'st find need of me ; Without it, child, thou would 'st not come to find This place of comfort in this love of mine. Had'st thou no cross like this for me to bear, Thou would'st not feel the need of my strong care, But, in thy weakness thou didst come to me, And thus, through this my plan, I have won thee.

I know thy sorrow and I love thee more, Because for such as thee I came and bore The wrong, the shame, the pain of Calvary, That I might comfort give to such as thee. So, resting here, my child, thy hand in mine, Thy sorrow, to my care, to-day resign, 78

Comforting Lines

Dread not that some new care will come to-morrow- What does it matter? — I know all thy sorrow.

And I will gladly take it all for thee, If only thou wilt trust it all to me ; Thou need'st not stir, but in my love lie still, And learn the sweetness of thy Father's will. That will has only planned for the best ; So, knowing this, lie still and sweetly rest — Trust me. The future shall not bring to thee But that will bring thee closer still to me.

—F, a H.

CHRISTUS CONSOLATOR

Beside the dead I knelt for prayer,

And felt a presence as I prayed. Lo ! it was Jesus standing there.

He smiled: "Be not afraid!"

**Lord, thou hast conquered death, we know,

Restore again to life," I said, "This one who died an hour ago."

He smiled: "She is not dead!"

"Asleep then, as thyself didst say;

Yet thou canst lift the lids that keep Her prisoned eyes from ours away!"

He smiled: "She does not sleep!"

"Nay, then, tho' haply she do wake, And look upon some fairer dawn,

Restore her to our hearts that ache!" He smiled: "She is not gone!"

79

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

*'Alas! too well we know our loss.

Nor hope again our joy to touch, Until the stream of death we cross."

He smiled: * 'There is no such!"

*'Yet our beloved seem so far,

The while we yearn to feel them near, Albeit with Thee we trust they are/' He smiled: *'And I am here!"

*'Dear Lord, how shall we know that they Still walk unseen with us and Thee,

Nor sleep, nor wander far away?" He smiled: ** Abide in me."

— E. W. Raymond.

80

OCT 5 1904

H

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

0 029 822 628 5