When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." Sermons I. THE GREAT CHANGE TO BE EXPERIENCED. Our earthly state is characterized by corruptibility and immortality. That this is so is indeed a rebuke to human vanity, yet it is unquestionable. An apostle terms our earthly vesture, "this body of our humiliation," and the designation is just. We live a dying life, carrying within us the seeds of our mortality. Vast and wonderful to contemplate is the change which shall take place in the passage from time to eternity. Incorruption and immortality shall be the vesture of the saved and glorified. The apostle, bearing about in his body the marks of the Lord. Jesus, must have anticipated with joy the promised release from earthly infirmities and sufferings, from all the troubles to which the burden of the body exposes the servant of Christ. II. THE GREAT VICTORY TO BE WON. According to the view of St. Paul, there are three great enemies with whom the Christian has to contend, and conflict with whom mars the happiness and breaks the peace of this earthly condition. They are the Law, sin, and death. Sin is the goad with which death makes a thrust at the Christian soldier, and it is the Law which makes sin so sharp, powerful, and formidable a weapon. Over all these the glorified Christian has obtained a victory, in the might and by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Anticipating the conquest, the Christian, even here and now, rejoices in the assured defeat and discomfiture of his formidable foes. He seems already to drag them in triumph at his chariot-wheels, already to be more than conqueror through Christ who loved him. III. THE GREAT THANKSGIVING TO BE CELEBRATED. 1. The Source and Author of victory is God himself. No lower but his could have defeated foes so mighty, so malicious and so crafty. 2. The Mediator of victory is the Lord Jesus Christ, who first conquered for us, and then conquers in and with us. His crucifixion, followed by his resurrection, gave the death blow to our enemy. This conviction may well give us courage in carrying on the spiritual war, and in looking forward to its issue with confidence and hope. "Hell and thy sins resist thy course, I. AS A CONTRAST BETWIXT WHAT MAN NOW IS AND WHAT HE WILL BE. 1. Twice over the apostle affirms the change from corruptible to incorruption, and from mortal to immortality; first as a matter of necessity, then as a matter of fact. Four times over, also, he uses the same word, translated "put on," which means, to "go into," as into a place of covering or shelter; and hence to go into one's clothes, to attire, to array one's self or others in garments, ornaments, or the like (2 Corinthians 5:2). 2. Death, then, is a mere "unclothing" of the man, and if there is any propriety in the analogy the "unclothing" leaves him in possession of the full integrity of his being: he has simply stripped off his garments, and for a season laid them aside. It is still competent for him to resume them, or to array himself in different attire; and on reinvestment he cannot be other than he was before. Very great may the change be betwixt the "clothing" before death and that which is "put on" at the resurrection, but the language of the apostle implies that its use and purpose in both cases are the same. 3. Then, again, the apostle informs us, twice over, that that which in the one state is corruptible and mortal, becomes in the other state incorruptible and immortal. The thing is the same in both states, but placed under different conditions. At present it is organised matter, liable to decay, injury, and dissolution; but that same organised matter will be found in a state of "incorruption" and "immortality." II. AS A VICTORY OVER DEATH AND THE GRAVE. 1. The words mean properly "unto victory"; the idea being that the process of extermination goes on like a battle that is waged until a triumphant victory is secured — that is, "aye and until" death is totally abolished. Death at the resurrection is destined to be cast, like a stone, into an abyss, so profound that it never will be brought up or appear again. 2. Death is compared to a venomous reptile which has wounded its victims and introduced into their body its deadly poison. Dissolution, it is true, does not immediately follow the implanting of the sting, but there is pain and anguish, and death ensues in due course of time. And then comes the victory of the grave, or Hades. Like a resistless conqueror, it lays hold of those whom death has prostrated, consigns the body to the house appointed for all living, and the soul to the mysterious condition of disembodied consciousness. Well may this be called a victory, for nothing can be conceived of as a more complete overthrow of human hopes and desires; but introduce the idea of resurrection and it is plain the victory passes over to the other side. The conqueror is despoiled of his triumph; and from being a victim, sin-ruined and dying man, restored to that high standard of corporeal life for which he was originally designed, is in his turn a conqueror, all the more distinguished and glorious that his triumph lasts for ever. III. AS A BOON FOR WHICH GRATITUDE OUGHT TO BE FELT AND THANKS RETURNED. Gratitude is the appropriate sequel of benefits bestowed and appreciated. But to realise to the full the emotion of gratitude of which the apostle here speaks, we must actually close with and appropriate the glorious boon. This is the office of faith. None are excluded from the offers of the gospel: all are invited to partake of its blessed privileges; and however great and precious these privileges may be, so far as the present world is concerned, the actual consummation is the resurrection of the body and a portion in the kingdom of God. When the wilderness journey was over, and the wars of the settlement in Canaan at an end, how gladsome would every household be and every heart in Israel as they sat down each one under his vine and fig-tree, and none to make them afraid! But this was only a type of far more glorious things to come, when the epoch of sorrow and death is over, and the entire company of God's redeemed enters upon the long-promised inheritance. (J. Cochrane, M.A.) II. THE CONSEQUENCE OF THIS BELIEF IS VERY COMFORTABLE; FOR GREAT AND MANY ARE THE ADVANTAGES DERIVED TO CHRISTIANS BY BEING CLOTHED WITH A CELESTIAL BODY. There is scarce a comparison to be admitted betwixt this earthly body and that which shall be at the ascension of Christians. They differ more than the least and dimmest star, and the brightest and greatest luminary in the firmament of heaven. The happiness derived from the change of a natural to a spiritual body consisteth in a deliverance — 1. From the grossness of the former, as it is a body of this flesh and blood. 2. From the disorderly motions of it, as it is a corruptible body. 3. From the perishing nature, decay, and fall of it, as it is both a corruptible and mortal body. III. WHAT SHALL WE DO THAT WE MAY COME AT THESE SEVERAL GREAT ADVANTAGES OF LIVING AT LAST IN AN HEAVENLY BODY? The way to have better bodies is to have more virtuous souls. God hath put us into this body, as into the habit of a pilgrim on earth, as probationers for a more excellent clothing. And, according to our patience, our self-denial, our keeping the body in subjection to the mind, our governing the appetites and passions of it, so shall the resurrection and ascension of it be. (Abp. Tenison.) I. THE IDENTITY OF THE IMMORTAL CREATURE WITH THE MORTAL. Though at death we are unquestionably to lose whatever belongs only to this rudimental life — as the chrysalis drops the exuviae in developing the wings — yet all faculties and functions essentially human are to be ours for ever. 1. Even in regard of the body is this strictly true. Whatever may be the bliss of the intermediate state yet reason and revelation alike declare it to be unnatural, and so imperfect. Death, self-considered, cannot be a benefit. It is not a step in a progress — it is an interruption, a judicial infliction, God's curse upon sin. Indeed, how the soul can act when divested of this body we cannot understand. And therefore from the dust, as a trophy of the mediatorship, is to be reconstructed a new body like Christ's, to be part of the redeemed and immortal man. 2. This identity is more manifestly true in regard to the mind. Even as a philosophic inquiry there appears no reason why death should work any change in our rational nature. Accepting immortality as a simple matter of faith we should expect that, as the last enemy rocked its dwelling into dust, it would emerge from the ruins with all its peculiar habits of thought, and at precisely its attained point of progress. 3. And so with the affections. There is no stranger mistake than that which regards these as the specialities of the present life. The heart is among the most indestructible elements of our being. Pure intellect, unsoftened by affection, is simply monstrous. Entering heaven with our logic intensified and our love gone, our sympathies would be fiendish. In this respect "the mortal does put on immortality." Said our Saviour, standing by the beloved dead with the sisters of Bethany, "He shall rise again 'your brother' still." Death annihilates no pure affection wherein a Christian heart rejoices. "The water of life" is no Lethe of forgetfulness. Death, then, does not destroy nor mutilate the mortal. The immortal creature will be man with a human body, a human intellect, a human heart. II. THE MARVELLOUS AND ALL-GLORIOUS TRANSFIGURATION OF THAT NATURE. The word "immortality" is a simple negative. There are things for which human language can have no name. While we remain mortal, inspiration can only describe the future in negatives. 1. The body shall be the same with eye to see and tongue to speak, but as the seed is transfigured into the queenly flower, so great shall the change be. With what new senses and organs it may be furnished God hath not told us. In this very chapter Paul seems struggling under the burden of the magnificent description — "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption." And what notion can we form of incorruptible matter? "It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory." The body, a house of leprosy, with all its senses instruments of temptation, is to be reconstructed into a palace of the higher life — fashioned like Christ's glorious body! "It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power." This poor, imperfect instrument of the intellect, requiring constant care lest it be injured by the using, shall be changed into a mighty and imperishable engine wherewith to work out unwearied the grand ministrics of eternity! "It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." Its material elements, no longer controlled by material inertia, impenetrability, and attraction, but (like Christ's raised body, which could pass closed doors and float up to the firmament) shall be the equipment of the soul when it would explore the mysteries of creation and traverse immensity in adoring contemplation. 2. If the dwelling-place be thus glorified what a transfiguration must await the spirit. inhabitant! This intellect, how it sometimes towers and triumphs! What discoveries it hath made! Milton's song! Newton's march through the universe! Yet all this was the mortal; the doings of the cradled child with its playthings. And who shall tell us, then, of the child's manhood? 3. But unto man's heart rather than to his head shall be accorded the loftiest prizes of eternity! To think of that (while unchanged in all its gentle, blessed, earthly affections) putting on immortality, is the highest conception we can form of man's kingship and priesthood in the city of God. (C. Wadsworth.) II. WE ARE IMMORTAL; and it is from this second fact in our destinies that death derives most of its solemnity, and all its moral force. It is fearful to think that this very spirit, busied now with trifles, must continue to exist, busied with something, for ever and ever. Mere fatigue may lull the most wretched here into the repose of a little slumber; but when this mortal shall put on immortality, there shall be no opiate for ever and ever to soothe the spirit's sorest anguish, not even a troubled dream to vary the uniformity of torture. The spirit may prey for ever on itself, but shall never be consumed — it may weep and wail for ever, without wailing itself to rest. III. THE CHANGE BETWEEN THE PRESENT AND FUTURE CONDITIONS OF MAN WILL NOT DESTROY THE IDENTITY EITHER OF HIS PERSON OR CHARACTER. There is no alchemy in death to distil charitable and holy dispositions from the gross elements of selfishness and malignity — in it there is no purgatorial fire to change our base metal into refiner's gold. As the soul enters the troubled waters of dissolution, so must it pass out of them on the other side, bearing that very transcript of character which time and the world have written on it. Are we striving, then, day by day, incessantly, to lay the restraints of godliness on our naturally rampant corruption? Are we watching and praying to guard our hearts from temptation by all the defences of piety and devotion? (W. Stevenson.) I. SYSTEMS OF THOUGHT. All errors of judgment are mortal and must perish. And what system of human thought is not intermixed with ideas not true? Look at systems — 1. Of philosophy. Many have already died out because of their errors; and existing systems because they are often contradictory reveal their errability, and consequently must die. The sensational, idealistic, mystic, and eclectic schools are all shifting as the clouds. It will not be always so; the true must take the place of the false in the realm of thought. 2. Of theology. How contradictory are most of them to each other and to some of the most vital things embodied in the life and teachings of Jesus. Many have died; some are dying; and all will sooner or later die. Human souls will one day have the "truth as it is in Jesus." "Our little systems have their day. They have their day and cease to be." II. ELEMENTS OF HUMAN CHARACTER. Analyse the character of unrenewed men, and you will find moral principles that must die out if there be a God of justice and benevolence in the universe — e.g., avarice, envy, pride, malice, ambition, and selfishness. The human mind was never formed to be influenced by these. The fact that they are antagonistic to the moral constitution of the human soul, to the character of God, and to the order and well-being of all, show that they must sooner or later die. Human souls will one day put off this mortal and "put on" the immortal; "Righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Ghost," etc. III. INSTITUTIONS OF HUMAN LIFE. 1. Our political institutions are mortal. Human governments are constantly dying. The unwisdom in their method of management, the unrighteousness of some of their laws, the haughtiness of those in power, and their constant fattening upon the overtaxed millions give mortality to governments. Man will one day put off these and put on the government of common sense, common justice, common benevolence. Men are craving not for the aristocratic or democratic, but for the theocratic, the reign of God, which is the reign of honesty and love. 2. Our ecclesiastical institutions are mortal. Whether they are Papal, Episcopal, Wesleyan, or Congregational, they are more or less mixed with error and must die. IV. TYPES OF HUMAN GREATNESS. Some see the highest greatness in the millionaire, some in the triumphant conqueror, some in a monarch, some in ancestry and high-sounding titles. But such types of greatness agree neither with the reason nor the conscience of humanity. Because they are false they are mortal, and they will have to be exchanged for the immortal. The time will come when men will regard Christ as the only true type of greatness. Conclusion: What a glorious change awaits humanity! St. Paul speaks of the resurrection of the body. But there is a more glorious resurrection — a resurrection of the soul from the false, the unrighteous, the impure, to the true, the right, and the holy. (D. Thomas, D.D.) 1. Interferes with human happiness. 2. Divides us from our friends, etc. 3. Separates soul and body. II. AS AN ENEMY THAT MUST BE FOUGHT. 1. All must die. 2. The struggle is often bitter and painful. 3. Must be maintained by faith, etc. III. AS AN ENEMY THAT SHALL RE UTTERLY DESTROYED. 1. In the resurrection to eternal life. 2. By Jesus Christ. (J. Lyth, D.D.) 2. The death of the body in the hope of life. 3. The corruption of death in incorruption. (J. Lyth, D.D.) I. GLORIOUS. 1. The body rises. 2. Is clothed with immortality. II. IS COMPLETE. There is no more sickness — pain — death. III. TRIUMPHANT. 1. Christ celebrates the triumph of His grace. 2. Saints participate in it. (J. Lyth, D.D.) (T. De Witt Talmage, D.D.) I. A FORMIDABLE ENEMY. Death, "the last enemy." Death is here personified and represented as a devouring being, swallowing up all the generations of men. "Death reigned from Adam to Moses"; witness its ravages! Death is an enemy — certain, solemn, universal, and sometimes sudden. See Rachels weeping for their children. II. A POWERFUL CONQUEROR. God the Saviour. Death could not be conquered but by death. Oh how costly was that victory! the Lord of life suffered and died, and ascended into heaven leading death captive and triumphing over it as our surety and representative. III. A COMPLETE VICTORY. "Death is swallowed up in victory," or for ever swallowed, abolished, destroyed in victory, or into victory. Christ has secured the immortality of the body — delivered from death and the grave; an entire destruction of the empire of death (Revelation 20:14; John 11:25, 26). After you have died you never can have the conflict again. Remember it is the last enemy; the cup of trembling shall no more be put into the hand, for "there will be no more death"; the inhabitants shall no more say they are sick; all tears shall be wiped away (Isaiah 25:8; Revelation 21:4). There shall exist nothing but eternal life. "Because I live ye shall live also." Thus every enemy is put down. (J. Boyd.) 1. Negatively. (1) (2) (3) 2. Positively it implies — (1) (2) (3) II. THE WAY IN WHICH THE POWER OF DEATH IS DESTROYED. 1. It is only so far as death is a final evil, and as it separates us from God, that it is to be dreaded. 2. Therefore it is only to sinners, and on account of sin, that death is the king of terrors. 3. Sin, however, derives its power from the law, which gives sin its power to condemn. 4. What, therefore, satisfies the law destroys the power of sin, and thus deprives death of its sting. 5. Christ having satisfied the demands of the law gives us the victory over death. III. HOW ARE WE TO AVAIL OURSELVES OF THIS PROVISION FOR OUR TRIUMPH? 1. We must be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. 2. We must know that we are in Him. 3. We must be prepared to give up the treasures and pleasures of this life for heaven. 4. We must therefore live near to God and elevated above the world. IV. THE EXPERIENCE OF GOD'S PEOPLE. 1. Some die in doubt. 2. Some in praise. 3. Some in triumph.It matters little, provided we are only in Christ. But it is of great moment that when death comes we shall have nothing to do but die. (C. Hedge, D.D.) 1. Corruptible. 2. Mortal. We are subject to innumerable diseases and accidents to languor and decline. We wear down by slow degrees, or are snapped asunder in a moment. 3. What is the reason that we are subject to such an allotment? The answer is, sin (Romans 5.). We cannot look on one grave that was not opened by sin, nor on one body that was not laid low by sin. II. A PERIOD IS ORDAINED WHEN OUR BODIES ARE TO BE INVESTED WITH PRINCIPLES OF RESTORATION. If we could look on no prospect but the tomb, then we might freely admit that human existence, with all its circumstances of joy, would yet be but misery. But by the gospel "life and immortality" are "brought to light." Notice three things in reference to this change. 1. The agency by which it is to be effected. All those events which concern our acceptance and final salvation are committed to Christ. As He has made peace by the blood of atonement, and as He is the medium of all grace and blessing, so by Him is to be the great adjudication which shall fix our destiny. Divine must be His attributes at whose bidding all the graves shall uncharnel, and all their countless inhabitants stand before Him. 2. The attributes of which it is to consist. By connecting the attributes of incorruption and in, mortality with the resurrection, we may be furnished with two ideas respecting our future change. It is to consist —(1) Of an entire conformation to the image of Christ (ver. 49).(2) In an introduction to the perpetuity of perfect happiness. Eternal life is only another word for eternal happiness. 3. The certainty with which it is invested. "In Christ shall all be made alive." "This corruptible must put on incorruption." III. THE ARRIVAL OF THIS PERIOD SHALL BE KNOWN AS ONE OF SPLENDID TRIUMPH. By a fine poetic figure death is set forth as a powerful foe; and all the pains, etc., which death has inflicted are to be regarded as so many victories achieved by him. But there is a counter foe; and there is a victory achieved over this formidable foe. Glorious will be that victory!(1) A sufficient payment for all the trials of mortality.(2) A complete and satisfactory explanation of all the dark passages in the moral government of God upon earth. When all the redeemed shall join in one loud melodious song — "Unto Him that loved us," etc.Conclusion: The subject furnishes — 1. A ground of substantial consolation while we contemplate the departure of our Christian friends. 2. A ground for solemn and serious examination as to our state in reference to the arrival of that solemn hour. (J. Parsons.) II. TRUE CHRISTIANS SHALL OBTAIN A COMPLETE VICTORY OVER DEATH. 1. The victory is in some measure obtained even in the present life. Death hath now, in effect, changed its nature, it only hurts the body, not the soul. it only puts an end to those pursuits, employments, and entertainments which are suited to the body and this present world, but not to those about which holy souls are engaged, and with which they are delighted and improved. Nay, it is become, on many accounts, a benefit; as it puts an end to their temptations and conflicts, doubts and fears. A present victory is obtained by the calmness with which the saints die; and that joy unspeakable and full of glory, with which the Spirit of Christ sometimes replenishes their hearts, when the flesh is sinking into the dust. 2. The victory shall be perfected in the future world. (1) (2) (3) 1. Let us contemplate the power and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, so illustriously displayed in this triumph over death. 2. Let us reflect on the difference between good and bad men with regard to the consequences of death. 3. Lastly, let the servants of Christ be calm and resigned in the view of their own death, and when their pious friends are removed. (J. Orton.) 6203 mortality 4906 abolition 2321 Christ, as redeemer Third Sunday after Easter Second Sermon. Fourth Sunday after Easter Fifth Sunday after Easter Eleventh Sunday after Trinity Paul's Witness to Christ's Resurrection. Small Duties and the Great Hope The Christian and the Scientific Estimate of Sin Outward and Inward Morality April the Sixth First-Hand Knowledge of Christ April the Seventh if Christ were Dead! Sudden Conversions. Paul's Estimate of Himself The Unity of Apostolic Teaching The Certainty and Joy of the Resurrection Remaining and Falling Asleep The Death of Death The Power of the Resurrection On the Atonement. Victory Over Death. Thoughts on the Last Battle "Alas for Us, if Thou Wert All, and Nought Beyond, O Earth" A Leap Year Sermon * Resurgam 28TH DAY. A Joyful Resurrection. |