CHAPTER IX.

Ποῦ σου, ἅδη, τὸ νίκος.

"O HADES, WHERE IS THY VICTORY?"

Jesus said, The gates of Hades shall not prevail against my

Church. Stephen said, Behold, I see the Heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. And Paul wrote, For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better.

WE now proceed to consider the state of Christ's Church, as it exists between death and resurrection in the place of separate spirits. Let us call to mind the words of the Scriptures concerning this Church. It is the body of Jesus Christ, therefore it must be under the special protection of Him who, as the Head, said in his memorable prayer, “Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am." Again, we are assured from the Apostle Paul, that neither death nor life can separate us from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Those who have departed in the faith are with the Lord, resting in hope of the fulfilment of the promise of God; they form that part of the Church which has rested from its labours in wearied, painful, and sorrowful mortality. Those who remain, who war the good warfare, constitute that part of the Church which is in a militant condition, fighting not only against wicked passions, and the sinful desires of the flesh and of the mind, but against maly surrounding spiritual wickednesses. But at the coming of the Lord, the former-viz., those who have departed, and left behind them the outward framework of their bodies to corrupt in death-shall put on incorruption; "for this corruptible shall put on incorruption.” Whereas, the latter-viz., those militant-shall be changed and put on immortal clothing, and, being united to the former, both shall become the Church triumphant. By thus uniting the two parts of His Church, and taking them to Himself, as forming one body, the Lord will assume His great power and reign. Then shall the song of triumph ascend, "Death is swallowed up in victory." We shall then all be avenged upon our great enemy, Death, or rather upon him who hath the power of death, against whom the elect have cried day and night, " Avenge me of my enemy." Then shall the new song, foretold in

Scripture, which cannot be sung in the present existence of mortality, be raised with a joyous chorus. It is worthy of our attention to observe that the Church is always regarded as a new creation, separate and distinct from all the works of God that have gone before. For example, a good heathen, walking according to the light of his conscience, could not make himself a good Jew, nor a faithful Jew make himself a Christian. Not even John the Baptist, although the greatest of men born of women, could make himself a part of the mystical body of Christ, born from above, which dates its existence from the day of Pentecost. Now, it follows, according to the plain grammatical construction of the words of the Lord Jesus to Peter, after he had, by the aid of his Heavenly Father, discerned Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the living God, that this truth became apparent. Jesus, after Peter's confession to the truth, acknowledging Him to be the Christ, the Son of the living God, declared that as he was Peter, so surely upon that rockviz., Christ, the Son of the living God-would He build His Church, and that the gates of Hades, or Hell, should not prevail against it. Therefore this Church has a foundation and headship which no other body or constitution of men have or can have. Also, Jesus promised that He would give to

him, not the keys of Hades, but the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and that whatsoever he should bind on earth should be bound in Heaven; and whatsoever he should loose on earth should be loosed in Heaven. In other words, he should be able to unlock the doors of Heaven's treasures both to Jews and Gentiles. He should open Christ as the door of faith to those who, like him, were enlightened by the light of the Heavenly Father to acknowledge and submit to His Son; and shut Him as a closed door against those who should contradict and blaspheme, both among the Jews and Gentiles; that he should declare what was lawful and unlawful under the Gospel of Christ, and thus, by the obedience of faith, men should be made kings and priests unto God the Father: first, by the blood of the covenant, and, secondly, by the anointing of the Holy Ghost. If, therefore, Christians are born from above, and are made partakers of the Spirit of Christ, and of His body and blood, it follows that when their earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved they must be gathered to Him who begat them, as children to a Father. They must be gathered to Him who hath inspired them with the healthful spirit of His grace. -to Him who hath fed them with His body and blood -to Him who hath anointed and sealed them. In other words, they must depart and be with Christ,

which is a condition far better than the condition in which the imprisoned prisoners of hope were found, to whom our Lord preached the Gospel between death and resurrection; a condition far better than the condition in which Lazarus was placed in Hades, though he was comforted therein; even as Christ is far better than all who have gone before; even as the good, gracious, and blessed Master is far better than the best of His servants. Let us inquire what the Lord promised in declaring that the gates of Hades should not prevail against His Church. Surely, he meant what these words plainly and evidently signify-viz., that there should be a great difference between the New and the Old Testament Saints, in their separate state, even as there should be the great difference between them in the resurrection. The Old Testament Saints will rise from the earth to possess an earthly or terrestrial glory. The New Testament Saints will rise to possess a heavenly or celestial glory-for, in speaking of the resurrection of the body, St. Paul says, "There are bodies terrestrial, and there are bodies celestial.'' They are the members of the Church who cannot be shut within the abode of Hades; their shadows have never darkened its portals; their spirits have never glided within its gates. In other words, he who hath the keys of Hades, and the keys of Heaven, hath