English
We shrink from annihilation in death, not only from the animal feeling of repugnance to cold obstruction or darkness, but because we feel ourselves something more vital than the dust, and we grudge to the realm of naught both ourselves and our kindred sharers of thoughts which go beyond extinction, which therefore we hope the Eternal One, to whom they aspire, has not destined to fall from Himself into it. Yet we come in contact with death by our bodies, which are made of things perish- able, and by the experience of bereiPv^ement and flux around us, and by the consciousness of our depending on a Higher Will, and of having fallen short of consonance with that Will in act. The more then we escape from the dominion of these bodies, by making them vehicles and instruments, rather than masters of the higher being encased in them, and the more we are purified fix)m evil which is evanescent, and at the same time enter into the kingdom of Him who is the Giver and sustainer of life, so much the more om: hope of some immortality is quickened. For we thus bring ourselves within the range of that universal law, that what is evil, perishes, and what is good, lives, according to the THE KINGDOM ETERNAL. 345 mind of Otoi which designed it. He that soweth to the flesh, of the flesh reaps corruption, but he that soweth to the kingdom of Grod, hath his seed in a soil whose leaves fade not. By par- taking of the Holy Spirit of God, we partake of those things fix>m which death and decay fall away, as having no power over them. Our thoughts, we see, do not altogether depend upon place, or time, or animal processes ; our feelings of Good and Right apprehend them as things not changeable by any outward events ; our faith in Him, whose name is the Eternal, suffers us only to conceive of Him as a God of the living, and not of the hopelessly dead. Thus we overcome the enemy death. We fear not them that hurt the body, but whatever defiles the soul, and lessens its kindred to God. We know not indeed the precise nature of the life to come. Most Christians think, in harmony so far with the Sdnkhya philosophy, that spirit will only have its full consciousness, as of hxmianity, when embodied in some form of matter, however refined and subtle it may have become. Others think that this conception of * a spiritual body ' is fashioned according to our eartlily experience of minds ac- quiring impressions and developing powers in conjunction with material embodiment, but that in the higher kingdom of thought, which eye hath not seen the fashion, nor ear heard the soimd of, the Eternal Lord God, who is Himself a spirit, will waken us up after His own likeness, and satisfy us with the pleasures of His ineffiable countenance. As then we ascribe not body, parts, or passions, to the clear Spirit of the primeval Deity, so some think these things will not belong hereafter to those who are also His offspring, and who will see Him as He is, and be as He is. Nor, again, dare I speak too presumptuously of the enjoyment of the life to come. Perhaps work of honour and of pleasant energy will be for those who have fulfilled the Divine thought, and so become perfect in well doing. Perhaps, again, as the operation of Deity is silent, and deep beyond sense, though not beyond inference of faith, so the life to come of spirits made perfect may be thought or contemplation. The 346 THE KINGDOM SPIRITUAL. mere reminiscence of all that has been in our own lives and in those of others, and an obligation to watch all the results which may still be going on in the world from our own acts, and a comparison of our opportunities, when fiiUy explamed, with our actions, and again a review of the past history of all ages laid open before us, and a survey of the daily evolving plan of Grod, with awe-stricken curiosity as some new page of His dealings opens before us, may be to good men delight, and to those who have fallen into wilful rebellion against the spiritual kingdom of God, an unutterable torture. We should have fallen far from Christianity, in its better sense, if we were to fancy, that the powers of the mind, such as joy, thankfulness, love, sympathy, and holiness, were not enough to satisfy the blessed, or that the contrary feelings of remorse, shame, self- rebuke, and inward strife of surviving passions, could not fill to the brim the red cup of misery of those who refiised to be saved. But, however these things may be, we do not doubt that the Lard reigns ; that the kingdom of God is in His clear sight for ever come, and, in that of all faithful men, for ever coming ; and in whatever degree we may be enabled rightly to enter into it, so far, and I suppose, so far only, shall we naturally partake of its immortality. Therefore we strive to help forward that kingdom of the mind, which, though it ever tends to mould the fashion of the outward world after its inner mind, is yet empha- tically * within us ;' therefore, I would persuade you, my friends, so far as God may permit, to learn what His most acceptable and perfect will may be ; and so long as we become truly sub- ject to God, we are contented with whatever happens. For the beginning and the end of our religion is. Not our mUy but Thine; and we cannot fail of our will being done, so long as it is in harmony with the will of the Allrighteous and the Almighty. He knows what is best, and chooses it, and is able to ftilfil it, even to the end. To Him then, even to the only wise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Father, be the kinffdatn, and the power J and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen." SCRIPTURES. 847 CHAPTER X. Christ and Hit Apostles, and their Doctrine, "Behold my servant, whom I uphold ; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth ; I have put my spirit upon Him : He shall bring forth judgment to the Grentiles. Hfl ahall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench : He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till He have set judgment in the earth : and the isles shall wait for His law. Thus saith God the Lord, He that created the heavens, and stretched them out ; He that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it ; He that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein : I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and wiU keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles ; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. I am the Lord : that is my name : and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to grraven images. Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare : before they spring forth I tell you of them. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and His praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein ; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof." — Isaiah xUL i — lo. "He is despised and rejected of men ; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief : and we hid as it were our faces from Him ; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows : yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of Gk>d, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities : the chastisement of our peace was upon Him ; and with His stripes we are healed.** — Id, liii. 3 — 5. "It pleased the Lord to bruise Him ; He hath put Him to grief: when thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied : by His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many ; for He shall bear their iniquities." — Id. liiL 10, 11. " One Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.** — ^AoTS xzv. 19. "When this corruptible shall have put on incomiption, and this mortal shaD have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swaUowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy victory ? The sting of death is sin ; and the strength of sin is the law.