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THE KING’S BUSINESS
main, shall be caught up.” And that word means seized. We shall be seized by the love that died for us; and could not abide without us any longer. We shall be seized and carried up by the vehement love of the Infinite Son of God. We shall be caught up in a gale of God’s power and love, the two wings with which we soar. We shall be caught up. That is another favorite word with thé Apostle. He says, “I knew a man in Christ who was caught up unto Para dise.” And you know what that vision did for Paul. It was his consecration. And he never forgot that he had been caught up. And so now he says, at the end we shall all be caught up to meet those who preceded us. They will rise first, and then we with them Shall soar to meet the King. He lies in his throat, in his heart, in his soul, who says the dead are forgotten! For in the grip of a dead hand, men and wo men live and work out their destiny. And quite often when we look at the dying glories of the twilight, we sigh for the touch of the vanished hand, and the sound of the voice that is still. And we look at the book with eyes that see-not, because we are thinking of.the fingers that touched it once. And that is holy. Do not think there is any'sin in that. For Jesus Christ wept at the grave of His friend Lazarus; and if He did that, the wife may weep at the grave of the husband, .and the child at the grave of -the mother. They have been with us. And very often we.have said, as Tennyson said: of his dead friend :
slip out of it. With them. But better still, for I should be sorry to close the sermon with even the precious thought that we shall see our loved ones, again. _We shall be caught up with them to meet the Lord. That is a rarer melody, that is a brighter 'light—to meet-the Lord ! He has been with , us down here. If He were not with us this morning, I should not be preaching. If He were not with you, you would not be here. He is with us. He said, “I will never leave you, never forsake you.” But the Lord be ing with me and my being with the Lord are two things; and of the two the latter is by far the better. I try to walk by faith, but it is hard walking. “Nothing before, nothing behind, - - The steps of faith Fall on the seeming void, and find The rock beneath.” But sometimes the perspiration of feat stands out on the brow before the foot touches the rock. But there we shall walk by. sight. Here we stretch out our poor- hands and try to touch the hem of His glorious robé. But then He will say, “Touch my hands and feet, and see if I am not thè Lord.” We shall be with Him, O you thought religion meant saving you from hell, you poor blind soul. It means a great deal more than that. And you have allowed -yourself to be Swamped in a materialistic philosophy, and thought if you could only get, and get, and get, you would be all right. But how about the time when the shout is heard? Will you arise, or will you stay below ? Will you be the.plowman who disappears, or the plowman'that is- left with his hands on the plow? Will you be the woman who goes from the mill, or the woman who 'stays ? Behold your high calling in Christ Jesus. Not all the mountains . of all the ranges can destroy you; for you are immortal as the sún, or the moon, or the stars. Yes, and some day I shall suddenly hear, .when He imparts that strange power to the sleeping dust that I leave behind me, I shall hear the shout, and rise up, and see. Him coming in the clouds,
“Thy voice is on the rolling air, I hear thee where the waters run, Thou standest in the rising sun, And in its setting, thou art fair.”
But then we shall be with them. We shall see them, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Eli sha, Elijah, Isaiah, the Baptist,; Peter, Paul, James, John, caught up with them. Yet I am human, and therefore I will venture to say there is Somebody else there beside Elijah and John*! My father is there; my mother,; and the only,.brother I ever had. With them! Do not let the personal touch
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