^ H. C. G. Moule, Concerning Them Which are Aslee}), 18.
I THESSALONIANS iv. 13, 14 15
be with those with whom we have had spiritual communion here ; we shall be with them as we have never been with them here. The bodily differences will be taken away, the prisons will be broken open, our souls will meet in close union as they have never met here on earth.
% If we think much of those whom we have loved on earth, and who have passed out of sight, we try to follow them, to be imitators of those who now " inherit the promises." They are above us, but not too much above us. They are still branches of the same vine, members of the same Body. The branches of the tree are equally near to each other, whether the moonlight shine on all or only on one branch. The hand in the shadow and the hand in the light are not more near to each other, than we are to them. If one hand is in the light and one hand in the shadow, they are not really more separated than when both were in the light or both in the shadow. The union remains, the union with Christ, and with each other.^
^ To our child as she approached eternity, there was given (I cannot use a weaker word than given) a conviction — I may venture to call it an intuition, so calm and balanced was the certainty — that in that new life " with the Lord " she would still be near to us and " know about us." Of course we do not treat her expectations as a revelation. But when we put them into context with the intimations of the written Word, we find in them a gentle light in which to read those intimations more clearly. That " cloud of witnesses " who are seen in the glass of Scripture (Heb. xii. 1), watching their successors as they run the earthly course, are assuredly permitted to be cognizant of us and of our path. And the same great Epistle informs us, on our side, in the same chapter (ver. 23), that we, in Christ, " have come," not only (wonderful fact) " to an innumerable company of angels," but also " to the spirits of the just made perfect." "In vain our fancy strives to paint" the conditions of contact and cognizance. But it is enough to have even the most reserved intimation from the Divine Book that a contact there is. And the subordinate evidence of experience is not wanting. Instances may be few, but instances there are, as trustworthy as sound evidence can make them, of leave given to mourning Christians to know, mysteriously but directly, that their beloved have indeed been near them in full and conscious love.^
* G. H. AVilkinson, T/lc Communion of Saints, 25.
^ H. C. G. Moule, Concerning Them Wliich are Aslecj), 14.
i6 ASLEEP IN JESUS
Not mine the sad and freezing dreams Of souls that, with their earthly mould,
Cast off the loves and joys of old. . . . No ! I have Friends in Spirit-land,
Not shadows in a shadowy band, Not others but themselves are they.
And still I think of them the same As when the Master's summons came;
Their change, the holy morn-light breaking Upon the dream-worn sleeper, wakings
A change from twilight into day.^
J J. G. Whittier.
Ceaseless Prayer.
I THESS.-HEB. — 2
Literature.
Bibb (C. W.), Sharpened Arrows and Polished Stones, 122. Caugbey (J.), Revival Sermons, 15. Cooper (T.), Plain Pulpit Talk, IVO. Cornaby (W. A.), In Touch with Reality, 45. Creighton (M.), University Sermons, 34. Dawson (E. C), Comrades, 160. Drury (T. W.), The Prison-Ministry of St. Paul, 113. Elmslie (W. G.), Expository Lectures and Sermons, 266. Fenelon (F. de S.), Counsels to Tliose Who are Living in the World, 90. Hall (F. 0.), Soul and Body, 178. Hamilton (J.), Works, i. 151. Henson (H. H.), Preaching to the Times, 98. Illingwortb (J. R..), University and Cathedral Sermons, 164. Ingram (A. F. W.), Banners of the Christian Faith, 61. Lewis (E. W.), Some Views of Modern Theology, 35. Maclaren (A.), Expositions : Philippians, etc., 229. Matbeson (G.), Times of Retirement, 245. Miller (J. R.), Our New Edens, 43. Murray (A.), With Christ, 248. Pearse (M. G.), Parables and Pictures, 113. Romanes (E.), Thoughts on the Collects for the Trinity Season, 25. Sbore (T. T.), Some Difficulties of Belief, 1. Smitb (D.), Man's Need of God, 187.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xviii. (1872), No. 1039. Stephen (R.), Divine and Human Influence, ii. 85. Tipple (S. A.), Sunday Mornings at Norwood, 109. Westcott (B. F.), Village Sermons, 324. Cambridge Review, v. Supplement No. 120 (A. J. C. Allen). Christian World Pulpit, xli. 15 (J. Hall) ; Ixii. 97 (H. H. Henson) ; Ixvii. 269 (J. G. Bowran) ; Ixxv. 393 (A. B. Boyd Carpenter).
Ceaseless Prayer.
Pray without ceasing. — i Thess. v. 17.
It seems as if these words contained some exaggeration, as if they were more a figure of speech than a reality, as if they expressed more than the actual truth. We can hardly suppose that a man of active duties, requiring close attention, application and energy, could possibly be engaged all day long in prayer and acts of devotion. And we may suppose that the idea to be conveyed is rather that we are required to attend regularly to the duties of private devotion. If we interpret the text thus the grand truth which it contains is lost sight of, and the sublime spirituality which it enjoins is not realized. It is no mere rhetorical description, no figure, no exaggeration, but a simple actual fact. And when we are enjoined and commanded by the Apostle to "pray without ceasing," to "continue instant in prayer," to " pray always," it naturally occurs to us to ask. If this is a literal duty, how is it to be complied with ? How can we, amidst our ordinary employments and engrossing duties, fulfil this requirement ?