4 ASLEEP IN JESUS
have lived in that other world years before they went there. Men have kept company with the souls there in closer association than with those who were beside them all the time. Multitudes who have doubted the immortality of the soul in their days of ease have, in days of distress and strain, by the bedside of dear friends, believed with a deep human belief that nothing could shake. The heart of man finds its only satisfaction in the ex- pectation of another life. The reaching after immortality has been the heart's deepest underlying root in all the ages of mankind. This world is not enough. We put out our hand, and it falls on one little part of the great scenery ; we listen, and hear but one note out of the great chorus. The Thessalonians believed in the other life because they found nothing in this life to satisfy them. We, too, lay hold on the great hope in order to forget how cruel, disappointing, and bewildering this life is which we are living here. And when that impulse rises in our hearts, and we look back amidst our cries and struggles and see the same impulse flickering or else blazing in lives gone before, we become stronger by the sight of their faith.^
I.
Sorrow for the Dead.
1. There are two very different kinds of sorrow. There is, first, the sorrow which St. Paul here describes as the sorrow of " the rest which have no hope," and elsewhere as " the sorrow of the world " that " worketh death." We may hear it in the wail of paganism over the departed. It views life as a vast disorder, a chaos where all is blank, haphazard, meaningless, without a voice to comfort or a mind to explain. Its characteristic attitude is a surrender to the inevitable which treads with tight lips on to a silent grave. The first mark of this sorrow is that it is ignor- ant ; and, as a natural result, its second mark is that it is hope- less, it cannot look forward. This is " the sorrow of the rest," " the sorrow of the world."
^ " If we believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead." How much hinges on this ! What step behind the Veil can we take without this ? Is it annihilation, or is it metempsychosis, or is it absorption into the Divine Nature, if there be one ? Ask
^ Phillips Brooks, The Spiritual Man, 25.
I THESSALONIANS iv. 13, 14 5
all the ages, and you have just a dead silence of six thousand years. You may fancy a ghostly laugh at your perplexity, but it is all fancy. There is nothing so distinct as laughter. It is all blank and world-wide silence. There is a little dust before your eyes, and that is all you know of the matter.^
2. In strong contrast, over against this sorrow of ignorance and despair, stands the sorrow that understands. It does not deny itself and affect an exaltation of spirit which it cannot feel. It is chastened and humble, accepting the strokes of affliction in patience, because it knows that they must be allowed by Almighty Love. It is a sorrow which develops sympathy, and sanctifies the affections, and breathes strength and nobility into character. It prepares the sufferer to minister comfort to others. It does not become cynical, but all the more tender for its grief, and more kindly in its judgment of others. Its first mark is that it believes and knows ; and its second — and this is the result of its knowledge — that it is strong and joyful as it surveys the prospect of " the glory that shall be revealed." This is the " godly sorrow," the sorrow which is not as that of "the rest, which have no hope."
^ In the catacombs of Eome, that wonderful city of the dead, where several millions have been laid to rest, there is no sign of mourning; everything — picture, epitaph, emblem — is bright and joyous. Although an almost countless number of these early followers of Christ were buried in the periods of bitter persecu- tion, no hint of vengeance on their oppressors is engraved or painted ; all breathes gentleness, forgiveness, immortal life. With calm, unwavering confidence these early Christians recorded in a few bright words their assurance that the soul of the departed brother or sister had been admitted to the happy lot reserved for the just who leave this world in peace, their certainty that the soul was united with the saints, their faith that it was with God, and in the enjoyment of good things. Intensely they realized that all the faithful, whether in the body or out of the body, were still living members of one great family, knit together in closest bonds of a love stronger than death. They believed with an intense faith in the communion of saints. And for the departed they knew of no break in existence, no long dreamless sleep, no time, long or short, of waiting for blessedness. The teaching of our Eedeemer was remembered well : " To-day," He said to the ' Letters of James Smetliam, 171.
6 ASLEEP IN JESUS
dying thief hanging bj His side, " to-day shalt thou be with me in paradise ! " This was the steady, unwavering faith of the Christians whose bodies rest in the vast cemetery which lies all round old Eome.^