crown. Were those souls under the altar in a state of utter uncon sciousness? Of the same nature are the scenes described in Rev. xv, 2-4; v, 9, 10; vii, 13–17. Again, Rev. xiv, 13: "I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write, Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, from henceforth :" that is, from this time, or as the best lexicons have it, Bblessed even now are the dead, etc.- -a plain and positive assertion of the doctrine that the sainted dead are at once made blessed in the Lord, and do not wait for their blessedness till the resurrection and the judgment, when their works which follow them will come forward as testimony that they are Christ's people. So much of what John saw in heaven, and heard from heaven. Did the Lord deceive his prophet by false visions and voices? If not, then are the sainted dead enjoying the bliss of a conscious existence before the throne of God. Just what the soul's consciousness is in its intermediate state, no man knoweth ; but, as Rev. E. Green observes, "the representations which the Scriptures give of the disembodied state seem to indicate that there is a kind of mysterious connection or identification which the soul in that state, in its consciousness, still retains with the body, though separated from it; so much so that, although out of the body, it still seems to itself to be in the body, and to feel the same sensations that it had while connected with it. St. Paul, when caught up into paradise, says he could not tell whether he was in the body or out of the body, which is about the same as to say that a man may be out of the body and yet seem to himself to be in it. The rich man in hell, although his body was in the grave, is represented by Christ as having the same personal consciousness, with the same attendant sensations, as to different parts of the body that he had while in the body, for he is represented as having eyes and tongue and voice, or, at least, as seeming to himself to have them. Now, it is a psychological fact, well known to surgeons as well as to many others, that men in this life may lose parts of their bodies, as an arm or a leg, and yet seem to themselves still to retain those parts and to feel the same sensations in them that they did before losing them; and if this is so as to parts of the body, why may not the same law hold good as to the whole body, and a man lose it and be out of it, and yet seem to himself subjectively to exist in it? Thus Alford, in his comment on his Greek text of the New Testament, in explaining this point in the rich man's case, says: If when parts of the body are removed, we still believe that we possess those parts and feel pain in them, why may not the disembodied spirit still subjectively exist in, and feel the sensations of, that corporeal system from which it is temporarily separated ?" THE RESURRECTION. The doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is clearly revealed in the Holy Scriptures, and it is one of the few doctrines which rest entirely upon the Word of God. Nature gives hints of its possibility-like that of the butterfly escaping from the grave of the chrysalis, or the opening of Spring and the revival of life after a long Winter of cold and death-but no complete illustration. Science stumbles at this doctrine, reason is dumb before it, and infidelity derisive of its claims. Yet it has its warrant in the truth of God, and is very comforting to every believer. Its difficulties are not so great that any person who believes in God need hesitate to accept it. The scientist may talk of the uniformity of nature, no life out of death, but God established that uniformity, and nothing is impossible with him. In his own good time he can as easily summon the dead from their graves as he could originally create life. Of the certainty of the resurrection God has witnessed. He did so to Moses at the burning bush, and he did so repeatedly through Jesus Christ. The raising of the ruler's daughter, of the widow's son at Nain, and of Lazarus at Bethany, were all practical proofs. Our Lord declared that all "in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth." He affirmed that he would raise his own body within three days after life had left it. This affirmation he verified, and left the infallible proofs of it for the comfort of the Church in all ages. "But hark! what clearer tidings now our songs of triumph swell! Of Christ's actual death there can be no doubt. He publicly gave up the ghost. The soldiers broke not his legs, because they found him already dead. To fully satisfy themselves, however, they plunged a spear into his side, and let out his blood. This alone would have extinguished life, had a spark of it remained. Pilate refused to deliver the body, even to a prominent Jewish counselor, until the officer on duty had assured him of its lifelessness. As surely as Jesus lived, so surely did he die. His death is established as certainly as history can establish any thing. He was also buried. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus prepared his body and put it in a tomb. It was not a secret burial. The Pharisees knew where the body was laid, in Joseph's own family sepulcher, and they had the tomb sealed and the watch set. The enemies of the cross thus unwittingly took the precaution of settling for all time the question of Christ's actual death and burial. His resurrection is no less certain. His body was missed from the sepulcher, and the fact created just such a sensation as might be expected. The disciples did not steal it. First: They could not. The soldiers had it in charge. They were under penalty of death if they slept. To break the seal of the sepulcher was also a capital crime. Secondly: The disciples had no motive for attempting to reach the body. What use could they have made of it? Where would they have concealed it? The entombment of Christ occurred on a moonlight night, when a festival called out the people, and the streets were filled. The timid disciples did not go near the burial-place of their Master. They had lost hope. Before his death they trusted that it had been he who should have redeemed Israel, but now that hope was blasted, and they could only submit to the inevitable. To steal a lifeless body, even if they could, would not have helped their cause. The Jews knew the disciples did not steal it. The soldiers knew they did not steal it. Only for money were the soldiers induced to tell the foolish lie which the Jews repeated for generations afterward. Jesus arose. His resurrection occurred by his own power. No man broke the seal, or knocked at the door of his tomb. "I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again." This power he exercised. When the proper moment came, he reinhabited his body, and laid aside the grave-clothes, angels rolled back the stone from the door, and he stepped out upon the dewy ground. The soldiers were affrighted. How could it be otherwise? They became as dead men. They were terror-stricken. Only when they found themselves personally unharmed did they act a soldier's part, and give the alarm. Jesus was then beyond their reach. Jesus showed himself alive. The number of his appearances during the forty days between his resurrection and ascension, exclude the possibility of its being a dream or a delusion. He was first seen in the garden by Mary Magdalene; then he appeared to the other women as they came again to the grave. Next he appeared to Peter that same day; also to the ten disciples, who were met in a room that same night. Eight days afterward, to the eleven disciples, when Thomas saw the wounds. Then he appeared to the disciples as they were fishing in the Sea of Tiberias. Again, to the eleven on a mountain in Galilee. Then James saw him; and, last of all, he went with them to the top of the Mount of Olives, from which, before the eyes of hundreds, he ascended into heaven. These multiplied appearances placed his resurrection beyond doubt. The disciples could not be deceived. They knew their Master as well as children know their father. They had every opportunity to verify his identity, and were so well assured of his actual resurrection that they were ready to suffer and die in defense of the truth of it, but never once, even for ease, or wealth, or fame, to deny it. And they could not deceive others, even if deceived themselves. The account of Christ's resurrection was published and circulated while many of the witnesses to it were yet alive. No one denied it. The evidence was such that neither Jew nor pagan dared to call it in question. Hence Paul, in addressing the Corinthians, was bold to declare: "I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received; how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures, and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve; after that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James, then of all the apostles, and, last of all, he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time." Having thus established the fact of Christ's resurrection, Paul bases his argument for our resurrection upon this fact: "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ again from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies" (not your soul, for that is not mortal, but your mortal bodies). "For our conversation is in heaven, from whence, also, we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." Therefore Paul says: "If by any means I may attain unto the resurrection of the dead;" "that I may know him and the power of his resurrection." "We also believe, and therefore we speak, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus." "Now, if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen. And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." Why is their faith vain? Because "we are found false witnesses of God. Because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins." 66 Moreover, those who have died in Christ are perished." Why should we preach the resurrection if it be not true? "We are of all men most miserable." Modern skeptics concede that the disciples were sincere in their belief that they actually saw their Master alive after he was crucified. Rénan admits that "without this belief they would never have incurred the labors, hardships, persecutions, and perils incident to the founding of the Christian Church." Strauss writes to the same purpose: "Faith in the resurrection of Jesus is a fact of prime historical importance; for without it one can not see how a Christian community could have been formed; there can be no doubt that the apostle Paul had heard from Peter, James, and others beside, that Jesus had appeared to them, and that all these persons and the five hundred brethren were fully convinced that they had seen Jesus living, who had been dead." Baur says: "History must hold fast to this fact, that for the faith of the disciples, the resurrection of Jesus was a certain and immovable truth, and that it is only in this faith that Christianity found a solid basis for its whole historical development." "From the hour that Christ rose," says Rev. C. R. Henderson, D. D., "down to the present, there has been a series of monuments to these facts. The line of evidence is unbroken. These monuments are three, and all of them are connected with the very existence of the Church, baptism, the Lord's supper, and the Christian Lord'sday. History, sacred and secular, records proofs that these monuments date from the dawn of Christianity. These are monuments which time's tooth can not corrode, nor rains wash down, nor frosts upheave, nor man's hand deface, nor lightning crack and overthrow." HISTORY SUBSTANTIATES THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. From the great argument of Prebendary Row on the Historical Evidence of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we deduce the following salient points: The Life and Death of Jesus Conceded. As it is allowed to be an historical fact by all the distinguished unbelievers of Europe that an eminent Jew, named Jesus, collected a number of followers, who believed in him as the Messiah of Jewish expectations, I shall not waste |