And, thirdly, there is this conviction, that the life into which
1 M. Dods, The Gospel of St. John. i. 363.
2 TIMOTHY I. lo 175
He is passing will be a life of peace and rest. " Thou shalt be with me in paradise." With Me in paradise ! What paradise means we cannot entirely grasp while we are still here in the body ; and while all our knowledge comes to us as it does through the channels of this body, we cannot get a definite realization of what life is there. But we can get to this — that under those changed conditions the life of the Christian is the life of rest.
^ Those who die in the fear of God, and in the faith of Christ, do not really taste death ; to them there is no death, but only a change of place, a change of state : they pass at once, and instantly, into some new life, with all their powers, all their feelings, unchanged — purified doubtless from earthly stains, but still the same living, thinking, active beings which they were here on earth. I say active. The Bible says nothing about their sleeping till the Day of Judgment, as some have fancied. Best they may ; rest they will if they need rest. But what is the true rest ? Not idleness, but peace of mind. To rest from sin, from sorrow, from fear, from doubt, from care — this is the true rest. Above all, to rest from the worst weariness of all — knowing one's duty, and yet not being able to do it. That is true rest ; the rest of God, who works for ever, and yet is at rest for ever ; as the stars over our heads move for ever, thousands of miles each day, and yet are at perfect rest, because they move orderly, harmoniously, fulfilling the law which God has given them. Perfect rest, in perfect work ; that surely is the rest of blessed spirits, till the final consummation of all things, when Christ shall have made up the number of His elect.^
The flocks of God Not only nothing lacked but knew that now They nevermore could lack. The wolves of want And Fear-to- Want might never leap the fence Of those Elysian folds. No sheep need check His venturous feet on whatsoever path Invited him, for now no hireling, but Their very David, shepherd, priest, and king Protected them. Against their foes his rod Of power might not fail, nor for themselves His mercy's crook. Therefore abiding joy Was theirs, inherent as the noble calm Of forest depths, of mountain-girded lakes Or plains that have no fencing save the sky — ^ Charles Kingsley, The Water of Life, 86.
176 LIFE AND IMMORTALITY
Joy like the barley loaves of Galilee
Most bless'd in being shared, increased by each
Participant until one separate heart
Might out-rejoice the throbbing universe.*
(4) By His resurrection. — Our hope of immortality hangs on the risen Christ. One, and only one, do we know who has died whom yet death has been powerless to hold. Christ died, as our loved ones die ; but while they come back to us no more, neither speak nor give us any sign. He broke the bonds of death, and showed Himself alive after His passion by many proofs. If Christ has not risen, if the gospel story ends with the cross, and Easter Day be struck out of our calendar, death's cruel sway is still unbroken, the lord of life is death itself. But if Christ be risen, that iron reign is shattered, the risen Christ is lord of life and death alike. Apart from Him, man's hope of immortality grows every day more faint and tremulous ; with Him it is a hope both sure and steadfast, the anchor of the soul. For, be it remembered, Christ's resurrection is no solitary incident. " When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers." Christ is " the firstborn from the dead," " the firstfruits of them that are asleep " ; and all who put their trust in Him shall share with Him His triumph.
The evidence for the eternal life, as that is revealed to us in Christ, is not to be found in considerations such as ancient and modern philosophy adduced from the nature of the soul, its immortality, its indivisibility, etc. ; nor is convincing proof to be found in a bare authoritative message, nor in cases of alleged survival, nor even in the survival of Jesus of Nazareth ; for if He had on the third day been resuscitated merely as Lazarus was, and had only shown Himself alive, there had been no thought, no proof, of the eternal life as He Himself explained it to us. The relevant evidence lies in the light shed by His resurrection life, by the character of that life, upon our life here, its aspirations, its incompleteness, its promise, and its hopes — there is, that is to say, a certain congruity between the eternal life as Christ is now declared to be living it and certain elements of our present life here. And when these are properly understood we begin to
* A. Bunston, The Porch of Paradise, 18.