The Fifth Sunday in Lent. THE ONENESS OF OUR LIFE. ST. JOHN viii. 51. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep My saying he shall never see Death. THE Gospels for the three first Sundays in Lent seem to glance backward, as if in the direction of Ash-Wednesday: those for the three last Sundays look forward to the Sacrifice of CHRIST; or rather, to the Divinity of Him who suffered. The words before us will guide us to a profitable train of meditation, if we seek to follow out the hint they contain that our existence, in Time and in Eternity, is one; and thus, succeed in persuading ourselves that it is a dream and a delusion to suppose that a life,-begun, continued, and ended sinfully in this World,—can be followed by a life of Happiness in the next. Now, there seems to lie at the root of this matter one mistaken notion in particular, which we should by all means seek to remove from our minds: namely, the inveterate notion that Death itself will work a wondrous change in us; so that the unfitness for Heaven, we lived and died in, will be purged away, even by the very process of Death itself. For, will Death work any change in us at all? It would seem not. Resurrection will work a wondrous change, doubtless: but no change, (that we are aware,) passes upon the soul by Death. There will be the separation of soul and body; but no change effected in the moral condition of the soul; except that it will be compelled to put away its dreams and delusions, and to see itself as it is. Nay, will even Resurrection itself work the kind of change expected? We cannot think it. For the only question is,-Will it convey new dispositions, and impart new habits, and make the sinful man a Saint? Impossible! It will introduce us to another sphere of life and action; and there will therefore be given to us the needful faculty of exercising that new mode of being; but neither Reason nor Revelation warrant us in supposing that Death will work any change whatever in our tempers or dispositions. There will be a gift of new and wondrous powers of this, Scripture leaves us in no doubt; nor indeed, Nature either. But will not those ennobled powers be a blessing only in the case of those whom GOD accepts? He who reads the Gospel with care will find scattered up and down, secret hints or open sayings which all look one way; and can in no other manner be explained than by the great truth we are seeking to explain; namely, that our Life is one, in Time and in Eternity; a continued state; changed indeed as to the manner of its being, as a corn of wheat becomes changed after it has been sown in the Earth; yet the same, also, throughout all its increase, by virtue of a law impressed upon it by GOD. Our Life is one; a continuous, uninterrupted state. He that liveth and believeth in Me,' (said our SAVIOUR to one of His Saints,) shall never die. He spoke, doubtless, (as He speaks in the text,) of the Second Death':' but His Divine words convey a lively image of sameness, not change; of continuance, not interruption. And so, on another occasion :-This is Life Eternal, to know Thee, the only true GOD, and JESUS CHRIST Whom Thou hast sent".' Observe how it is thereby implied that Life Eternal begins in Time; that the Life which now is, is the beginning of the Life to come.-So also the beloved Disciple- - We know that we have passed from Death unto Life because we love the brethren.' He who could so write, regarded Death with 6 St. John xi. 26. b Rev. ii. 11: xx. 6. St. John xvii. 3. very different eyes from ourselves . from ourselves. There was to him no more Death.' The end of his mortal Life would be but a 'failing,' (as our LORD speaks ;) When ye fail,' He says; not, 'When ye die' for the death of the righteous is but a failing, as when a strong man faints at the end of a long race. It is but a closing of the eyes to the things of Time, in order to open them on the things of Eternity. And, in the case of St. John himself, his Death was announced to him by his LORD under, if possible, a yet milder figure. I will that he tarry-till I come1. He was not to die, but he was to wait. He was not to go; but CHRIST was to come! Let us think of Death, then, less in its accidents, and more in its true essential nature. It is the name we give to the moment at which we pass out of this visible World into the World which is invisible: but our consciousness is not for a single moment suspended; nor are we, previous to Resurrection, at all changed. As we would be eternally, therefore, so must we die; and as we would die, so must we live. Our Life is one. This may be admitted generally, in words; but it is not believed to any practical purpose, d 1 St. John iii. 14. e St. Luke xvi. 9. St. John xxi. 22. or the course of this World would perforce be very different from what it is found actually to be. There is a dream and a delusion somewhere. The disobedient, and uncharitable, and impure, and unjust, persuade themselves that they shall not be unjust and impure, uncharitable and disobedient, for ever. They talk of sins pardoned, and offences blotted out; of the SAVIOUR'S mercies, and the efficacy of CHRIST'S Death: but they talk all to no purpose if they forget that Repentance must open the door to Pardon; and that the merits of the REDEEMER's Cross and Passion must be applied, by Faith, to the needs of each single soul. No! as we would die, so must we live: as we would be hereafter, so must we be now. Our Life is one.-There must be hearty endeavours to serve God, however imperfectly, in Time; and there will be hearty endeavours, crowned with perfect success, in Eternity. The pound' must gain us five or ten by earthly trading, as Servants; and then, as many cities will be committed to our heavenly rule, as Kings. Cur Life is one.-Every act of Sin, every dallying with Temptation, is a part of eternal Misery every striving after Holiness, every reaching out of the soul to God, is a part of eternal Joy. Our Life is one.-Not one in : |