The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-10-22

comfort. SQM6 lQeEe are WHOSE SOTlOWS
are not mitigated by hope. They have
not the knowledge necessary to hope.
They do not know what to think of death
and the dead. Christians, however,
being taught of God, as the apostle
assumes, are not thus ignorant. They
may have deep sorrow when laying away
their pious kindred to sleep in the grave.
They may miss their presence and lament
their absence; yet their sorrow is not
without hope in respect to these cherish
ed objects of their love. Hope illumes
their sky, and makes it radiant with
hallowed light. Hope charms away their
sorrows, and substitutes the good cheer
of its own victories. Blessed hope is
that!
God, in bis Word, has furnished the
premises for this hope. Christians be.
iieve and are taught to believe that
Christ died and rose from the dead as
the first.fruits of them that sleep. They
believe, upon the authority of this Word,
that God will bring with him those who,
when they died, were believers in Jesus,
and, in this sense, sleep in him. They
believe that this risen and ascended Jesus
will, at the appointed time, come in the
clouds of heaven, and all the holy angels
with him; that while those then living
shall be changed, the dead in Christ will,
in moment, in the twinkling of an eye,
be raised incorruptible; that these pious
sleepers will rise first; that the living
changed and the risen dead will be
caught up together in the clouds, to meet
the Lord in the air; that both will ever
be with the Lord, and that then the cor.
ruptible will put on interruption, and
the mortal will put on Immortality.
These stupendous miracles of the resur-
rection day are disclosed in the Bible;
and Christians believe what the Bible
says on the subject. 1t is not more Ger.
tain that Christ died and rose again, and
then ascended into heaven, than that he
will come again, and that these miracles
will be wrought. Those that sleep in
Jesus shall rise from the dead, shall meet
their Lord in the air, and so shall ever be
with the Lord.
The resurrectien.morn will most won.
derfully change the aspect of death and
the grave. We need not perplex our
minds with curious questions we can not
answer. We need not ask: "How are
the dead raised up, and with what body
do they Gomez" 1t is enough to know
that, in the resurrection OF the dead, that
which was sown in corruption will be
raised in interruption that which was
sown in dishonor will be raised in glory;
that which was sown in weakness will be
raised in power; that which was sown
natural body will be raised a spir.
itual body; that there is a natural
body, and that there is spiritual
body; and that as the natural body
was fitted to earth, so the spiritual body
shall be fitted to heaven. 1t is enough
to know these facts upon the authority
of revelation, mysterious and marvellous
as they are; and knowing them, we are
not to sorrow over those who sleep in
Jesus, as those do and must who have no
such knowledge and no such hope. In
spiration sheds bright light upon their
future, and upon ours, it, like them, we
shall also sleep in Jesus. We are to
comfort our hearts with these ideas, and
say with the apostle: "Thanks be to
God which giveth US the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ" We are to
believe God, and trust the keeping and
safety of the sleepers in Jesus to his
gracious and powerful hands. His power
Is more than match for death and the
grave.
Blessed sleepers Take your rest from
the tolls, the pains and the strife of life.
Sleep on till the voice of the archangel
shall salute you. You sleep only to us.
You are not extinct. That which was
immortal in you when living is immortal
still. Those glowing affections which
grace had kindled still live. Those dis
embodied spirits which fed to the skies
at the touch of death are waiting to be
dressed in the garb of spiritual body,
suited alike to the joys and the duties of
the heavenly life. What we miss is
your presence here. We have not for.
gotten you. We remember you as you
were in months and years now forever
gone, and often try to think of you as
You are now. 1t gives US pleasure to
know that your absence from the body
and from US means your presence with
the Lord. Though we see through
glass darkly, we, nevertheless, thank God
for the information he has given concern,
ing those who sleep in Jesus. 1t is our
10y to know that those who die in the
Lord are blessed, that they rest from their
labors, and that their works do follow
them. 1t is our JOY to know that to die
and be with Christ is better than to live.
1t is our joy to know that in dying you
met no evil fate. 1t is our joy to know
that the cloud which hides you from our
vision is, on the other side, luminous with
your glori6ed experience.
Yes Blessed sleepers! Sleep on
and take your rest. We say farewell
once more, and bid you good night, wait
ing for the morning dawn, to greet you
and be greeted by you in that house not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
We hope to meet you there, to know you
there, and with you there to sing the
song of Moses and the Lamb.-N. Y.
Independent.
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