NO DEATH IN HEAVEN. 209 woe through the land, but he cannot enter the New Jerusalem, he cannot invade the joyous circles there. The blessed ranks in that kingdom will always remain the same undiminished host, never to be thinned or weakened, for no Destroyer goes up and down those more than sunbright plains. No more death! How bleeding and mourning hearts rejoice in the anticipation of such a state, and how their hearts melt in grateful emotion toward Him "who led captivity captive," who triumphed over the foe, enabling his followers to say in the last hour, O Death! where is thy sting?" "Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ." "What is it to die?" says the author of "the Better Land." "To believers, it is to drop the body of this death, and to put on a joyous immortality; to pass from darkness to everlasting sunlight; to cease dreaming, and commence a waking existence; yes, to awake in the likeness of God, satisfied, fully and forever satisfied." What is it to die? To feel the last pang, to shed the last tear, to raise the shield of faith against Satan's last dart? It is to go home to God; to open the eyes on the enthroned Mediator; to close the ears upon all discords, all sounds of woe, all the falsehoods, the maledictions, the blasphemies of earth, and open them to the harmonies of heaven. What is it to die? It is to stop sinning, to cease grieving the spirit and grieving the Saviour; to close up the inconsistencies of terrestrial probation, and commence a forever blameless life in bliss. What is it to die? To lean on the Almighty for a few steps down a narrow valley; to step out of Jordan upon the borders of the better land; to pass up to the New Jerusalem; to enter by one of those gates of pearl into the city; to have ten thousand angels come and utter their cordial welcome; to see —O, let me die the death of the righteous!-to see the Saviour smile benignantly, and to hear him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!" This it is, to die. ་ 210 THE CHRISTIAN'S DEATH BLESSED. No wonder the dying saint exclaimed "Blessed dying!" since the prospect is so glorious. No wonder that Hall, as he "passed through glory's morning gate," shouted " Glory! Glory!" as he went; and that Janeway found no language to the emotions of his exultant soul when it was nearing express the Paradise above. No wonder that Christians call the day of death "the last, the best birthday;" that their impatient spirits sometimes cry, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly," and change this hope to full fruition to pure, perfect, and joyous experience. Thus does the Christian triumph as he returns to dust this earthly frame; but "no terrestrial balm Nature's dissolving agony could calm." It is divine grace that robs the "king" of his "terrors," and makes the meeting one of gladness-the day of final adieu to weariness and sadness, to conflict and sin. Then it will not be thought strange that we pronounce that a happy day, "When the heaven-sick soul is stealing away." THE GRAVE. / 211 CHAPTER XIII. Grave faithful to its Trust. THE GRAVE. Associations of Jesus' Grave. — Voice issu The Grave as regarded by heathen and unchristian Nations. Christian Views. Place. As the Threshold of Heaven. "There is a calm for those who weep, A rest for weary pilgrims found: Low in the ground." - Montgomery. "O, the grave! the grave! what a place for meditation.". Irving. WHEN the poet-soul had grateful thoughts of the "rest" and the "calm" of the grave, he had in mind only those "pilgrims' whom Faith had conducted down the valley, and whose expiring eyes had kindled with the holy rapture of gospel hopes. Such only can "softly lie and sweetly sleep." The pillow and the couch which the grave offers to such afford the most delightful repose; it is the "blessed sleep, From which none ever wake to weep," the dreamless state, which is never disturbed by troublesome visions and dark fancies, and the "bed" which "Jesus hath blessed" and made easy. It is called the narrow house the one "appointed for all living," where those of all ages and conditions meet on a common level, forming a vast assembly through which universal silence reigns- silence how impressive! We ask the mighty throng to tell us the secrets of the grave, and we hear a voice, but not from them, saying, "There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest." 212. GRAVE FAITHFUL TO ITS TRUST. It is an end of mortality—of all things pertaining to this life. It may be the last, secure retreat, where the storms and tempests of earth may beat all unheeded over our silent dust; the resting-place after having passed "through sorrow's night and danger's path," with weary, anxious gaze, and the peaceful haven after a restless and wave-tossed voyage. It is a quiet home; no leaving it until the resurrection morning, and then the tenants shall come forth from their longinhabited dwellings where the dust and mould of ages had collected; the antediluvians from the virgin soil, patriarchs from Machpelah's hold, Moses from his lonely mountain grave, David from the place where his flesh had rested in hope, apostles and martyrs from their heights or depths, missionaries from their sea-girt places of rest, ransomed heathen from their lowly abodes, and a vast company who had found their everlasting retirement in ocean deep, on scorching plains, or more favored recess. What has been committed to its trust the grave will faithfully keep until that day when all shall be called forth from their chambers, and in one vast procession move to meet the Lord in the brightness of his coming, the glory of his power. The dust which he has guarded with such tender interest will then take on a glorified form, and be to the everlasting praise of the infinite Redeemer, who hath made death and the grave far less to be dreaded; yea, even to be desired, since they are but as the portal to an immortal land-the threshold over which one may step into heaven's room of magnificent proportion. When his crucified body was lovingly borne to the sepulchre in the garden, and that tomb "wherein never man was laid" was hallowed by his sacred touch, there went forth a holy light to hover around the precincts of the grave, and pour divine illumination upon every spot where the ashes of man were found. What a place was that where Jesus was laid! How the hearts of his disciples of his weeping, sorrowing ones centred there! Thither their willing feet tended at LESSONS OF JESUS' GRAVE. 213 "break of day," and there their love kept them watching, in spite of wicked sentinels and designing priests. Guards and stony seals might be multiplied, but what were these before that power they had so often seen exercised by Him whom the rocks held in a temporary embrace? There they sat "over against" the sepulchre, musing and mourning until the angels, with radiant countenances, came down to tell them the sacred. sleeper had arisen and gone abroad to his work. "Come, see the place where the Lord lay," was the cheering invitation. of the heavenly visitant; and what a delightful moment was that to the fearful but rejoicing Marys, when they saw the grave spoiled of its victim, their blessed Lord having triumphed, "victorious over all"! The joys and hopes which animated them in the garden so many centuries ago, still gladden and inspire the followers of Jesus. Delight and gratitude overflowed their hearts at the intelligence of a powerless grave and a risen Redeemer. And so the garden and the sepulchre have been rich in association and promise to Christian disciples ever since. They have met the cold embrace of death, and looked into their silent house without fear; for they remember how Jesus burst the tomb and ascended to glory, and how he said, "I go to prepare a place for you." They seem to hear his voice, assuring them, "You may die, but death shall not harm your spirits; you may be laid in the grave, but it cannot confine the powers of your being to earth, it cannot imprison the soul, nor fetter and cramp it. The tomb is for the body, and the body for the tomb; but as I have risen, so your souls shall arise, to live and act with me.' But is this view of the grave the view of all mankind? Were we asked of everything pertaining to the grave, of its power, its promise, its darkness or its light, and required to give a comprehensive answer, — one that would be fully and perfectly satisfactory, we should say - JESUS. In him is centred the light of life, and the light of death. |