Fallen Asleep
“SOME ARE FALLEX ASLEEP.” — 1 Cor. XV. 8.
YES, the companions of Jesus died one by one. Consider the great value of such men and of all good men to the church, and the loss caused by their removal.
Yet no word of lamentation is used. It is not said
that they have perished, or passed into the
land of shades, but that” they are fallen
asleep.”
The spirit is with Jesus in glory; the body rests
till his appearing.
“Fallen asleep” suggests a very different idea from that which distressed the minds of the heathen when they thought of death.
I. THE FIGURE HERE USED.
1. Au act of the most natural kind: “fallen asleep.”
It is the fit ending of a weary day.
It is not painful, but the end of pain.
It is so desirable that, if denied, we should
pray for it. It is most sweet when the place of our sleep
is Jesus.
2. A state of which rest is the main ingredient.
3. A position of safety from a thousand dangers, such as beset the pilgrim, the worker, the
warrior.
4 A condition by no means destructive.
Neither sleep nor death destroys existence,
nor even injures it. Neither sleep nor death should be viewed as
an evil.
5. A posture full of hope.
We shall awake from this sleep.
We shall awake without difficulty.
We shall arise greatly refreshed.
II. THE THOUGHTS AROUSED BY THAT FIGURE.
1. How did we treat those who are now asleep?
Did we value their living presence, work, and
testimony? Ought we not to be more kind to those who
are yet alive?
2. How can we make up for the loss caused by
their sleep?
Should we not nil their vacant places?
Should we not profit by their examples?
3. How fit that we also should be prepared to fall
asleep!
Is our house in order? Is our heart in order? Is our Christian work in order? 4 How much better that the faithful should fall asleep than that the wicked should die in their sins! 5. How patiently should we bear up under the labors and sufferings of the day, since there remaineth a rest for the people of God!
III. THE HOPES CONFIRMED BY THAT FIGURE.
1. The sleepers are yet ours, even as those in the
house who are asleep are numbered with the
rest of the inhabitants. They have the same life in them which dwells
in us. They are part of the same family.” We are
seven.’’
They make up one church.” One church
above, beneath.”
2. The sleepers will yet awake.
Their Father’s voice will arouse them.
They shall be awake indeed: full of health
and energy
They shall have new clothes to dress in.
They shall not again fall asleep.
3. The sleepers and ourselves will enjoy sweet fellowship. Sleep does not destroy the love of brothers
and sisters now. We shall arise as one unbroken family, saved
in the Lord.
Let us not hopelessly sorrow over those asleep. Let us not ourselves sleep till bed-time comes, Let us not fear to sleep in such good company.
XlGHT THOUGHTS.
A pious Scotch minister being asked by a friend during his last illness, whether he thought himself dying, answered: “Really, friend, I care not whether I am or not; for if I die, I shall be with God; if I live, he will be with me.” — Arvine.
God’s finger touched him, arid he slept. — Tennyson.
S. T. Coleridge, speaking of a dear friend’s death, said,” It is recovery, and not death. Blessed are they that sleep in the Lord; his life is hidden in Christ. In his Redeemer’s life it is hidden, and in his glory will it be disclosed. Physiologists hold that it is during sleep chiefly that we grow; what may we not hope of such a sleep in such a bosom? ‘’
There must be life in Christ before death can be come sleep in him. “Louis, the beloved, sleeps in the Lord,” said the priest who announced the death of Louis the Fifteenth. “If,” was Thomas Carlyles stern comment, “if such a mass of laziness and lust sleeps in the Lord, who, think you, sleeps elsewhere?”