USA > Indiana > Johnson County > Franklin > History of the half century celebration of the organization of the First Presbyterian church of Franklin, Indiana > Part 2
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(2.) But as we proceed in the analysis of this vision of the kingdom of God, we come to the second
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of the two men who appeared in glory and spake of the decease which Jesus was to accomplish. Elias is a saint, who had passed into the highest degree" attained in the kingdom of glory. In leaving the earth he did not go through the dark valley of the shadow of death. The clay tenement of his body was not unlocked to release the spirit, that it might be carried by angels to Abraham's bosom. He found no grave on earth. He will not rise from the dead at the resurrection. The account of his exit from earth is brief. As he was walking and talking with Elisha "there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder ; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father ! my father ! The chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof! And he saw him no more." As it happened to Enoch, so Elijah was "translated that he should not see death." He left the earth to be glorified at once, both in body and spirit. When Moses died he enjoyed what Jesus promised the pen- itent malefactor on the cross by his side : " This day shalt thou be with me in paradise." His soul was made perfect in holiness, and passed immediately into glory, but his body awaits the sound of the trumpet at the last day. Elijah enjoyed, when he entered the chariot of fire, as much, and, in addition, all that glorified spirits shall attain when their bodies shall be raised, incorruptible, like the glorious body of Christ, and joined in body and spirit they enter upon the glory of complete redemption. In his translation Elijah passed through the same change, which will take place in the generation of saints who shall be
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alive on the earth at the second coming of Christ. " Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised in- corruptible, and we shall be changed; for this cor- ruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." We know not whether Enoch and Elijah are all in the world of glory, that have been translated and glorified in body and spirit, without seeing death. None others are named in the Book of Inspiration. Be this as it may, the promised sight of the kingdom would not be full without the presence of one of the class of Enoch and Elijah, that the disciples might see the full benefits and glories of Christ's reign. Elijah, a prince among prophets, must be a welcome representative in the sight of the admiring disciples. In him they see fallen man re- stored, and complete in body and spirit, by the grace and power of Christ.
3. The transfiguration, as an earnest of Christ's glory, and the visible presence of Moses and Elias, who also appeared in glory, make up all that is mi- raculous, in this exhibition of the kingdom of God, and yet Peter, James and John are a part of the vis- ion, and belong to the kingdom of God. They had attained to a place in the kingdom as well as Moses and Elias. There are three degrees in the kingdom of God. The first is described in the interview be- tween Christ and Nicodemus: "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it
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goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." Peter and James and John had been initiated into this de- gree. They were sons of God, by the belief of the truth and sanctification of the Spirit. The second de- gree is when at death we become glorified spirits, and the third is when the body is redeemed, and, in union with the Spirit, glorified, as it is to be at the resurrec- tion of the just, or by being changed at the coming of the Lord, or by translation, as in the case of Eli- jah. To this highest degree all the children of God, all the willing subjects of Christ's reign, will attain, when his work of power and grace shall be complete, at his last appearing, when he comes, the second time, without sin unto salvation.
To fully comprehend and appreciate the exhibition of the kingdom of God, as seen in the transfiguration of Christ, and the appearance of Moses and Elias in glory, it is important to bear in mind the subject of conference between these shining ones, and its rela- tion to their glory and blessedness. One of the finest pictures, by an artist who has no superior, is a representation of the transfiguration of Christ. The beauty of the several figures of the picture, and the intense brightness and earnestness of every counte- nance, are evidences of the highest genius, but the canvas fails to reveal the theme of fellowship and the source of interest and joy that gild the scene. The Inspired Record, however, furnishes the key : " They spake of the decease which he should accom- plish at Jerusalem." Moses and Elias had been re- ceived to glory upon the anticipated merit of the death of Christ. Their security rested on his faith-
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· fulness in fulfilling his pledge: "Lo, I come : in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God!" They did not doubt. The decease, however, was not yet accomplished, and being called into his presence, they speak of it as the price of their salvation, and the procuring cause of his mediatorial glory. The disciples gazing upon the thrilling scene, and hearing the words spoken by Moses and Elias, and the voice from heaven declar- ing: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ; hear ye him," no longer saw the kingdom of God, through a glass darkly. The glory of it over- whelmed them with wonder and joy, and opened their eyes to see the relation of the death of Christ to his own glory and the salvation of a lost world. In the light of this exhibition of the kingdom of God, as well as other teachings of the divine Word, the cross is the focus of all spiritual truth, and the radiating point of all saving knowledge. The death of Christ alone redeems the lost, and inspires them to rejoice in fellowship with him in his glory : " Thou art worthy for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kin- dred, and people, and tongue, and nation ; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests." . The dis- ciples saw with their eyes, and heard with their ears, and now they know how glorious is the kingdom of God, and how indispensable to its consummation the decease to be accomplished at Jerusalem.
This vision of the kingdom of God suggests com- forts, counsels and warnings for us all on such an occasion as this.
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1. It removes the vail between us and the invisi- ble world, and brings us to Mt. Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to Jesus the Mediator of the new cove- nant, to the spirits of the just made perfect, and the blood of sprinkling, shed by the decease at Jerusa- lem. Of the great multitude that belonged to this church during fifty years from its organization, a large part have crossed the river and are in the bet- ter land. If the miracle performed upon Mount Tabor were repeated to-day, we, like Peter, James and John, should see Jesus in his glory, and our sainted kindred, fathers and mothers of this church, pastors, ruling elders, and others, in their glory. The Church on earth and in heaven is one. Let us open the eyes of our faith and see the cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Let us commune and worship with those who bore the heat and burden of the day in this church. They are beyond our sight, but surely not beyond the vision of our faith, at such a time as this.
Come, let us join our friends above, That have obtained the prize ; And on the eagle wings of love, To joys celestial rise.
Let saints below his praises sing, With those to glory gone; For all the servants of our King, In heaven and earth are one.
One family we dwell in him, One Church above, beneath-
Though now divided by the stream, The narrow stream of death.
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One army of the living God, To his commands we bow ; Part of the host have crossed the flood, And part are crossing now.
In the light of this vision of the kingdom of God, how sweet the thought that all who have gone to glory from this place are one with us. Our worship to-day is like life from the dead. It is as if all, whose pilgrimage was in this church, were here again to join in the communion of saints, to sit together with us in this heavenly place in Christ Jesus, while we sing and pray and commune, and record the loving- kindness and tender mercy of a covenant-keeping God-theirs and ours.
2. A solemn warning also comes from the mount of transfiguration. The kingdom of God, in this vision, not only reveals Christ in his glory, with glo- rified saints, and saints of earth as his servants and the subjects of his favor and love; but at the foot of the mount the devil holds in cruel bondage a human sufferer, and Jesus comes down and casts him out. The decease at Jerusalem has exalted the God-man to be the Ruler both of heaven and earth, both of the righteous and of the wicked. The approval and re- ward of his death have been proclaimed from heaven : "Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool." "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God : but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death,
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even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every other name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." The king- dom of God includes not only his willing and obe- dient children, but also those that rebel against his reign and reject his grace. You must either be saved by his death, or be dashed in pieces like a potter's vessel. He will reign over you either in your salva- tion or in your destruction. He offers to save you. He says : "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow: though they be red like crim- son, they shall be as wool." If you persist in rebel- ling against his gracious rule, you will fall under his wrath. He will declare: "Those, mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring them hither and slay them before me." "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little." " Blessed are all they that put their trust in him."
Prayer was offered and the following concluding hymn was sung :
Sweet the time, exceeding sweet ! When saints together meet, When the Savior is the theme, When they joy to sing of him.
Sing we then eternal love, Such as did the Father move: He beheld the world undone, Loved the world, and gave his Son.
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Sing the Son's amazing love ; How he left the realms above, Took our nature and our place, Lived and died to save our race.
Sing we, too, the Spirit's love; With our stubborn hearts he strove, Filled our minds with grief and fear, Brought the precious Savior near.
Sweet the place, exceeding sweet, Where the saints in glory meet ; Where the Savior's still the theme, Where they see and sing of him.
The service was closed with the benediction.
The evening services were introduced by singing the anthem : " WHEN THE LORD DOTH BUILD UP ZION." The Scriptures were read by Rev. A. B. Morey, after which the following hymn was sung :
Welcome, days of solemn meeting ; Welcome, days of praise and prayer ; Far from earthly scenes retreating, In your blessings we would share ; Sacred seasons, In your blessings we would share.
Be thou near us, blessed Savior, Still at morn and eve the same; Give us faith that can not waver ; Kindle in us heaven's own flame ; Blessed Savior, Kindle in us heaven's own flame.
When the fervent heart is glowing, Holy Spirit, hear that prayer : When the song of praise is flowing, Let that song thine impress bear ; Holy Spirit, Let that song thine impress bear.
Prayer was offered by Rev. Robt. D. Morris, D. D., of Oxford, Ohio, after which the congregation sang the hymn :
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Children of the heavenly King, As ye journey, sweetly sing ; Sing your Savior's worthy praise, Glorious in his works and ways.
Ye are traveling home to God In the way the fathers trod ; They are happy now, and ye Soon their happiness shall see.
Fear not, brethren ; joyful stand On the borders of your land ; Jesus Christ, your Father's Son, Bids you undismayed go on.
Lord, submissive make us go, Gladly leaving all below ; Only thou our Leader be, And we still will follow thee.
The Glory of the Departedx
SERMON
BY
REV. A, B. MOREY,
PASTOR OF THE FIFTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, CINCINNATI.
THE GLORY OF THE DEPARTED.
TEXT .- 1 John iii. 2, 3: " Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him ; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, even as he is pure."
THIS is a royal text. It is crowned with a wealth of meaning that must always give it the very chief place in all our ideas of our future life. It tells us first of all what we are who believe in Christ. We belong to the royal family of heaven-we are upheld by the same love which upholds those around the throne of God, and we have promised to us an inheritance of glory. These are only the initial letters of our condition, as children of God. No one can tell what it all means. But this much we can experience. We are loved, cherished, supported, by our Heavenly Father.
Once we were not that. " Now are we the sons of God." That is our glorious position and privilege at present. There was a time, however, when we were in no sense the children of God as we now are. There was a time when the writer of these words, and they to whom he wrote them, were "the children of wrath." To be a child of God, as it is here stated, is to be born again, and to be born is to begin to be what we were not before. Many of us can remember the time when this family spirit of God
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was not in us. We had no such intimate interest in him as a child has in a parent. The mere things of this world took up all our time and thoughts. To get on, to push our way upward in this earthly life, was our highest aim. Anything above that which pertains to this present life, anything like God's ser- vice, God's love, God's worship or a life with Him here- after, all such things were dull and stupid. We could not care for them ; we wondered why sometimes. The fact was, something was dead or not begun in us. As the electric spark can not travel along the line, away from which the wire is bent, so our souls once bent from God, there is no way for our love to find him. There is a blank between him and us. That is the case with every one not born of God. Just try it. Put the simplest question about this new life to any one not converted, and what will be the answer? A vacant, puzzled look, a scornful laugh, or utter in- difference. The person knows nothing about it. He scarcely believes in the existence of such a thing, and you can not prove, to his satisfaction, that there is such a life. Can a man who has never learned the meaning and use of figures follow you in the solution of a difficult problem in mathematics? He has not the slightest idea of it, no more than a blind man has of color, or a deaf mute has of sound. As little can one outside of God's family comprehend anything about the great glorious spiritual life inside of that family.
There is such a life. Says one who is born into that divine household: "Now are we the sons of God." Now have WE, by some grand, strange process,
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become alive to God. We are especially, individually endeared to him-endowed with the same nature with him who made heaven and earth. What a position in which to be placed here on this earth! The glory of it bursts forth in these words of the apostle right before the text: "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore," therefore, "the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not."
There is no mistake about this very high place where we believers in Christ stand. "Now are we the sons of God." That much is sure, certain, known, evident.
And the narrow space between the past and future which John calls "now," is marked off by him as the spot on which we can stand, and say, and show that. It is a revealed promontory in the midst of a dark. infinite ocean, made bright by this one beam of light from God's throne : that, we are the children of God. The line of thought into which we were led this morning left us upon this present point of time looking forward to what we are to be. I prefer keeping right . on in the thought, rather than draw your minds aside to what I had intended to present to you. My ex- perience so far in this anniversary has not been what I expected. I was indulging the idea that I would love to linger in the past, but I find that every thought sent back into the past goes bounding forward into the future. I can not think of the children of God who once lived, and loved, and labored here, without thinking of where and how they are living now. My mind has been like a bow. The further back into
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what has been I draw it, the further forward the thoughts fly to what will be. So to me this occasion is like an illuminated platform, thrown up for us to come upon and look off and onward to what we, and those who have gone before, " shall be." Standing then, where we do this evening, with the light of our new divine relationship shining upon us, with the good deeds of the founders and builders of this church uplifting us, let us lift our eyes and see the glory of the departed : see what lies before us-what all this that has been done for us, and to us, and by us, will bring us.
The very first look of the apostle was into that which he did not know. Before describing what we shall be, he stops, dazzled by the light which no man can approach unto, and says : "It doth not yet appear what we shall be." We shall be something more than we are now, something which we have never yet been, something of which we can not form an idea. This "we shall be." He does not say: "It doth not appear whether we shall be," but what. Whatever mysterious and unknown changes the fu- ture may bring us, we shall live on and that gloriously. That much of the dark vail that hangs over the future has been drawn aside. We shall be, but what is not yet clear. Our Lord himself now and then lifts enough of the vail to show a spark or two of the coming glory. But each revelation starts more ques- tions than it settles. He tells us that in certain re- spects we shall be as the angels of God, but what are these angels? Who can tell? We learn from him that we will be with him, where he is, and behold his
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glory, which the Father has given him. But what is that glory? In what form shall we see him? In what form shall we be? Who knows? We know that when our souls quit our bodies, we will not be like strangers in a strange land, but we will feel at home with our Savior; but how, or where, or when ? Paul has a good deal to say about our future bodies. He proves the great fact that the dead shall rise and when he comes to answer the question : " How are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come?" we might naturally suppose that now the question- what we shall be-will be answered. But no. He tells us that we shall be changed, raised in incorruption, in glory, in power ; but he drops no word that explains what this spiritual body is, or of the process by which we pass into it. This much is certain: "Flesh and blood can not inherit the kingdom of God." But what an uncertainty does this very certainty throw around our future. What kind of a state is this in which flesh and blood can not come? Suppose a steamer had been wrecked on a rock, and a party had undertaken to raise her, under the contract that she would be exactly as she was, only no wood or iron should inherit her. What sort of a vessel would that be, without wood or iron? What sort of a body shall ours be in its celestial condition, without flesh and blood-without that which is now our frame- work and locomotive power? Can we conceive of a body in which all of what we now see of each other shall be left out, and yet not so as to destroy our per- sonal identity, or rob us of a single individual feat- ure ? Every part of our personal being will be ·pre-
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served perfect ; for this mortal will not be laid aside. It must put on immortality. It will not be transformed, or transferred, or transfigured. We are " to be clothed upon with an house which is from heaven.". Can you conceive of such a condition ? Who can tell what we shall be? We know that we shall rise when this physical condition shall be changed, or we shall be unchained from it, like a bird freed from a snare. But after all, how shall we feel when lifted up? What shall be our experience ? We know that we will have a body of great beauty and power. Paul says it will be a glorious body, but when we send our thoughts out in search of what it all means, we have to fall back upon the conviction that it is more than we can think out. After we have said all that can be said about it, we have to still say it is nobler, lovelier, more glorious than that.
The Bible's only appeal is to nature. That is all that we can do. Go to something which we can see or imagine as our guiding thought, and follow it as far as it will take us. Think of the old eagle brood- ing over its nest, and the eaglet hid away in the shell. Suppose that unhatched eagle should undertake to realize how it would feel when it gets out of its shell and flies from the nest. By and by the shell is picked away, and the eaglet spreads itself, but as yet un- fledged, with no power in its wings, no power any- where belonging to it, it lies quietly in its nest, fed by the parent-bird. And as it lies there, peering over the nest and looking down upon the rocky world from off its cliff, what can it be supposed to know of flight ? But by and by there comes a day when
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power is given to it to fly, and it spreads its wings, and with a mighty sweep rises upward and swings round in vast circuits of the air, and feels itself in every feather an eagle. But how much think you did that eagle know about it in the nest? How much more are we, in this life, than just hatched in our nests. We peer over the edges of our being, and look off into the vast universe of " what we shall be," wondering how we shall feel when we fly into what is promised; but who can tell when the word comes · for us to go, and power is given us to fly, and we, leaving the world and all the things thereon behind, speed away through all the realms of glory ? Who can tell, from our simple experience here, what that great flight into another life shall be? It will be something magnificent, transcendent. We can not be too ex- travagant in our words about it; but how little do the words bring to us when we utter them. The Apostle John was permitted to look over into the spiritual world, and from what he saw he draws a very vivid description of our heavenly life. He lets us see that none of the things that are now pressing upon us will touch us there. But the description is drawn entirely from our habits and needs here, not from what we shall be and have there. It is as if he had helped us to build out of our present thoughts and feelings a ladder upon which we can climb and look over into heaven, but when we come to place it against the walls of the celestial city it is too short, and does not lift us high enough to make it "appear what we shall be." It places us, however, far above and out of the reach of all the evils of this world. There is nothing
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in our present imperfect state that can convey to us what our future perfect state shall be. It is like every- thing else about us. In the helplessness of infancy it does not appear what the might of manhood shall be. We will outgrow many things as we go on with our experience and education. These things that seem to be everything to us now, may be nothing to us then. While the grain is growing, the stem is about everything there is to it. When it begins to top out, the husks and little wrappers that surround it and nurture it are the all-important things. But when the wheat is ripe, and ready to be reaped, what do we call these various nursing agencies that were so necessary to the growth of the grain? Chaff. And what is that good for? Nothing. It has done its work and is thrown aside, as of no more use. Something like that takes place in the soul. Paul says there are many things that are almost everything to us now, but their sole sphere is local and physical. When our souls are ripe for glory, what is so neces- sary will drop off as chaff. And who can tell what shall be our condition when we have no longer to contend with what now takes up our time. When all these appetites which we have to feed shall be left behind; when we can say to sleep, "farewell," and to bread and water, "I have no more need of you"- what difference will all that make with us? We do not know enough to know anything about it. After all we know about ourselves, and we know much, we have not yet got hold of anything that will make it "appear what we shall be." It is well that it is so. We should be homesick for heaven if we knew a lit-
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