The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1869-08-18
For THE CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN.
THE DEATH OF DEATH.

THE DEATH OF DEATH.
" Jesus said unto her, am the resurrection, and
the hfe he that beleyeth In me, though he were
dead, vet shall he live; and whosOever hveth and
beleveth in me shall never die"-JOhn xi 25, 20.
The doctrine of the resurrection of the
dead was stigmatised by the ancient Pagan
enemies of Christianity as, "the hope of
worms. And indeed, we are worms. We
must say to corruption, I" Thou art our faith
er; to the worm, thou art our mother and
our sister" And yet, though worms, we are
not without hope; nay, we have the most
absolute assurance that this corruption shall
put on interruption, that this mortal shall
put on Immortality, and that death shall be
swallowed up in victory. For Jesus is the
resurrection and the Life. The life has
already begun in us who believe. "The
Spirit is life because of Righteousness. -
While it is true that we all died in Adam,
and were born dead, yet, believing in Jesus,
we live. A principle Of life has been plant
ed in the very centre of our being by the
Spirit of God, which shall grow and expand
and work, until, by its divine power, it shall
pervade our sOhOls being, the body as well
a. the spirit. The whole man has been re-
deemed, and the whole man shall be eman-
cipated from the bondage of death, and be
animated with the quiekening Spirit of
Christ. For if the Spirit of Him that raised
up Jesus from the dead dwell in us, He that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also
quicken our mortal bodies by His Spirit that
dwelIeth in us. Rom. viii: 10, H.
Hence death, to the believer, is dead
The Redeemer has "a6oEsAed" it. z Tim.
i; 10) He abolishedit by dying; He slew
-him that had the power of death, bv being
Uia -elf slain. Death hath no more aona;~
ion over Him foreyermore, and, therefore,
hath no more dominion over the members of
His body. "He that liveth and beheyeth in
me, says the Saviour, "shaD nerer de.
"Believest thou this " Do not the
righteous die, as well as the wicked? Does
not the King of Terrors, who knocks so i'm
partially at the doors of the palace and of
the hovel, knock with equal impartiahty at
the doors of the habitatiOns of the just and
of the unjust? The blessing of God rests
upon the one, and His curse cleaveth to the
other, but the inmates of both fall alike
under the undistinguishing stroke of the
Destroyer. Lazarus, as well as HerOd,
died and was eaten of worms. 1t seems,
then, like an insult to our understandings to
assert that the believer never dies. 1t would
seem more reasonable to assert that there is
no such thing as a believer, since, unques-
tionably, all die.
And yet, if the Scriptures be true, God
does make difference in the matter of
death, as real, though not as visible, between
the believer and the unbeliever, as He did of
old between the blood sprinkled houses of
His own people and the houses of the Egyp-
tians. The difference is,manifest to the eye
of faith, however hidden to the eye of sense
and reason.
l. Death, as the wages Of sia', has been
abolished. Its curse no longer exists. Its
sting has been plucked away, to him who
believes. 1t is no longer the executioner of
the law, coming to the criminal to knock off
his fetters and lead him out to the gibbet or
the block it is the angel of peace, coming
to the prisoner of hope, to knock off his fet-
ters and lead him out to everlasting liberty
and light Not an enemy, but friend ;
not a defeat, but victory; not loss, but
a gain; not death, but the entrance into
life. A dark and gloomy portal, truly; but
portal which admits US into temple re-
splendent with the glory of God and of the
Lamb
,. His a stage, the last and grooming
stage of the discipline By aohieA TIE believer
Is fitted for the enjoyment Of his Inheritance.
1t is no punishment to hlm, not always even
clastisemeat, but always discipline, a
training, we have reason to believe 1t is
this, doubtless, to the infant of days, as well
as to the saint of hoary hairs. 1t is in the
article of death that the Great Sculptor
gives the finishing stroke to His work, and
the soul is moulded completely, assumes the
features of immortal lOyeliness and perfec-
ton, and passes into glory. o who can tel
what a wondrous work is doing within that
wasted body, while it lies all unconscious tc
the world without, and insensible to the tears
of grief which fall fast and hot upon it, anC
to the ministry of love which wipes from it'
forehead the cold dews of death
3. To the 5elisosr's body, death is a sleep
When the Bible thus speaks of it, it doe'
not use sleep as a pOetieal figure, after thu