(2) Better still, Eevelation. " Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." And best of all, the Eevelation — the quiet form of Good Friday night, the Eisen Jesus on Easter Day ! As certainly as sleep implies awaking, so — since Jesus was buried and rose again — the grave means resurrection from the dead, means, in fact, that here we work and there we wait, wait for the great awaking.^
1 Canon W. J. Knox Little,
PHILIPPIANS HI. 20, 21 399
Dreary were this earth, if earth were all,
Though brighten'd oft by dear affection's kiss; —
Who for the spangles wears the funeral pall ? But catch a gleam beyond it, and 'tis bliss.
Heavy and dull this frame of limbs and heart, Whether slow creeping on cold earth, or borne
On lofty steed, or loftier prow, we dart
O'er wave or field ; yet breezes laugh to scorn
Our puny speed, and birds, and clouds in heaven. And fish, like living shafts that pierce the main,
And stars that shoot through freezing air at even — Who but would follow, might he break his chain ?
And thou shalt break it soon ; the grovelling worm Shall find his wings, and soar as fast and free
As his transfigured Lord with lightning form And snowy vest — such grace He won for thee,
When from the grave He sprung at dawn of morn, And led through boundless air thy conquering road,
Leaving a glorious track, where saints new-born Might fearless follow to their blest abode.
But first, by many a stern and fiery blast
The world's rude furnace must the blood refine,
And many a gale of keenest woe be pass'd, Till every pulse beat true to airs divine.
Till every limb obey the mounting soul. The mounting soul, the call by Jesus given.
He who the stormy heart can so control The laggard body soon will waft to heaven.^
^ J. Keble, The Christian Year,
Christian Joy.
EPH.-COL. — 26
Literature.
Armitage (W. J.), The Fruit of the Spirit, 21.
Barry (A.), Sermons Preached at Westminster Abbey, 313.
Bright (W.), Morality and Doctrine, 179.
Brooke (S. A.), The Kingship of Love, 114.
Burrell (D. J.), The Gospel of Gladness, 5.
Ewing (J. F.), The Unsearchable Riches of Christ, 113,
Goodman (H. H.), The Lordship of Christ, 73.
Hunt (A. N.), Sermons for the Christian Year, i. 24.
Jowett (J. H.), The High Calling, 169.
Krause (W. H.), Sermons, iii. 13.
Kuegele (F.), Country Sermons, ii. 29.
Liddon (H. P.), Advent in St. Paul's, 207.
Lightfoot (J. B.), Ordination Addresses, 309.
Maclaren (A.), Creed and Conduct, 83.
Manning (H. E.), Sermons, iii. 240.
Martin (S.), Fifty Sermons, No. 10,
Meyer (F. B.), The Soul's Pure Intention, 77.
Murphy (J. B. C), The Journey of the Soul, 21.
Noble (F. A.), Discourses on Philippians, 277.
Pierson (A. T.), The Heights of the Gospel, 199.
Vaughan (J.), Sermons, ii. 37.
Watkinson (W. L.), The Education of the Heart, 80.
Wilmot-Buxton (H. J.), The Life of Duty, i. 24.
Christian Age, liii. 18 (Cuyler),
Church of England Pulpit, xxxvi. 145 (Ganby) ; xlix. 7 (Jones).
Churchman's Pulpit : Fourth Sunday in Advent, ii. 38 (Cotton) ; The
Old and New Year, ii. 490. Contemporary Pulpit, 2nd Ser., iii. 231 (Wickham). Literary Churchman, xxi. (1875) 515. Preacher's Magazine, ii. (1891) 31 (Harper).
Christian Joy.
Rejoice in the Lord alway : again I will say, Rejoice.— Phil. iv. 4.
1. It has been well said that this whole Epistle may be summed up in two short sentences : " I rejoice " ; " Eejoice ye ! " The word and the thing crop up in every chapter, like some hidden brook, ever and anon sparkling out into the sunshine from beneath the shadows. This continual refrain of gladness is all the more remarkable if we remember the Apostle's circumstances. The letter shows him to us as a prisoner, dependent on Christian charity for a living, having no man like-minded to cheer his solitude ; uncertain as to how it shall be with him, and obliged to contemplate the possibility of being offered, or poured out as a libation, on the sacrifice and service of his faith. Yet out of all the darkness his clear notes ring jubilant ; and this sunny Epistle comes from the pen of a prisoner who did not know but that to- morrow he might be a martyr.
2. This is not the enervating speech of the lotus-land ; it is a bracing exhortation ringing through the stifling air of difficulty and strife. Age is not frequently associated with such sunny exuberance of spirit. Its song is apt to " crack," its lights burn dim, its disposition becomes despondent. Age is so prone to become reminiscent, and memory is a fertile breeding-ground of dark and tearful regrets. Age fondly dwells on " radiant morns " which have " passed away " ; it turns its eyes away from the east whence new mornings break. And so the psalm changes into a threnody, and minor tunes pervade the evening hymn. But here is an old man in whose vespers the minor note finds no place. Hard circumstances have not made him hard. Apparent failure has not soured him into a cynic. He retains his fine, appreciative sense of life's essential sweetness. He has not