the other has ever been the type, "Behold, the Ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan" (Jos. iii. 11). It was the reflected glory of Jesus (IN CHRIST), which caused the face of the doomed protomartyr to appear to those who looked steadfastly on him, "as it had been the face of an angel" (Acts vi. 15). "Blessed are the dead which die IN THE LORD" (Rev. xiv. 13). (2.) As regards departed friends:-"Weep not!" He, or she, "is not dead, but sleepeth" (Matt. ix. 24). He, or she, is not dead, but liveth! God "giveth His beloved sleep":-not the slumber spoken of by the Poet "Sleep the sleep that knows no waking," but that which is to precede and usher in the everlasting morning. It was with the prospect of that glorious day-dawn and of a joyous reunion, that the learned and loving Neander uttered the touching words as he composed himself on his dying pillow," Good-night!" The first of our motto-verses forms but one clause in a sentence of joyous consolation to mourners, which has this most blissful ending-" And so shall we ("WE" —a little word, but implying and involving the assured hope of blissful restoration to those we mourn), “ever be with the Lord." "Not here,-God be thanked, no-not here; living and not dead yonder, with the Master! We are far too much the creatures of sense; and the accompani ments of dissolution and departure fill up our hearts and our eyes. Think them all away, believe them all away, love them all away. Stand in the light of Christ's life, and Christ's death, and Christ's rising, till you feel "Thou art a shadow, not a substance; no real thing at all." Yes, a shadow; and where a shadow falls, there must be sunlight above to cast it. Look up, then, above the shadow Death, above the sin and separation from God, of which it is the shadow! Look up to the unsetting light of the Eternal Life on the throne of the universe, and see bathed in it the living dead, in Christ.”1 "The Living Dead IN CHRIST!"-It conveys the tender rebuke to the disconsolate Believer, "Why seek ye the living among the dead?" The elevating thought plucks the sting from death and robs the grave of its victory. It tells of a meeting-place, where these "loved and lost" shall be loved never to be lost again, but permitted to exult in ties which defy dissolution. The mourners of the first ages had no monopoly of the lines they delighted so fondly to trace "IN JESU CHRISTO OBDORMIVIT."? Dr. Maclaren's Sermons, p. 103. 2 In Jesus Christ he fell asleep." From their bearing on the theme of this volume and of this chapter, the author may be forgiven quoting the following, he has written elsewhere. The familiar Scottish pronunciation of the verb is retained : Oh precious tale of triumph this, Of cherished dead be mine the trust, Sad were indeed this world to me, With thoughts of loved ones called to leave it, "IN JESU CHRISTO OBDORMIVIT." Now to the silent grave I bring My immortelle, and interweave it Since the preceding chapters were finished, I have been reminded, in the pages of Boldetti, of the following well-known and touching inscrip. tion from the cemetery of Calixtus, probably of date the middle of the third century. It is a lengthened one, but thus it begins :-" ALEXANDER MORTVVS NON EST, SED VIVIT SUPER ASTRA. IN CHRISTO." (Alexander is not dead, but lives beyond the stars. In Christ.) IN PACE. XVII. THE GATHERING INTO ONE IN CHRIST. "That in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things IN CHRIST, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even IN HIM."-Eph. i. 10. HE Apostle's monogram has here a special significance added to it, by the pronoun which closes the verse. As it has been expressed by an able commentator: "With what force and pertinence this passage re-echoes the vital words . . In Him, . . . an emphasis which the repetition of the words 'Even in Him,' seems specially designed to enhance." The verse is confessedly a difficult and enigmatical one. But keeping in view the IN CHRISTO as the pivot, so to speak, on which it turns, we may take it, as suggestive at least, of various thoughts regarding this "dispensation" (as it is here called) "of the fulness of times," whose characteristic is the "gathering together in one all things in Christ." Let, however, two remarks be premised for the better elucidation of the verse. The first is, that the expression "gather together in one," of our version, is comprised in a single word in the original Greek. As the Apostle refers to this gathering as being IN CHRIST, he evidently speaks of an aggregation round Him as the centre. The interpretation of the figure by the commentator Grotius, as "the reunion of a dispersed army," is incomplete, unless we add the rallying of broken ranks around the Great Chief or Spiritual Captain. It has been more appropriately supposed by others to have reference to an orator recapitulating to his auditory at the close of his speech;" gathering together into one" the scattered links of thought and argument, familiarly known as 'the heads of his discourse.' 1 If so, we repeat, it is "in Christ." A second preliminary observation of a critical kind is in regard to the word in the opening of our verse, dispensation,' which has a special significance and signification in the original, not conveyed in our rendering, (Oikovouía). Its literal reference is to house arrangement, the conduct of household affairs; and in its connection with this 'whole family in heaven and earth,' it is suggestive of the righteous administration. of the Great Master of the Household. The unfolding of the Christian dispensation is an "Economy." One age of progress and advancement gives birth to another, until the evolution of cycles, and eras, and dispensations, culminates in "the fulness of times." 1 See Barnes, in loc. |