THE KING’S BUSINESS
403
the glory of Christianity is the glory of Judaism with an added glory: “Except a corn of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bring- eth forth fruit.”' Once more ( for this is our Lord’s own illustration concerning Himself), the prin ciple of glorification through death is illus trated in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We see Jesus made a little lower than the angels and crowned with glory and honor. He suffered that we might conquer. He drank the bitter cup in order that we might taste something of the sweetness of the joys of His Father’s house. He has settled the question of His own place, and of our place, too, in the scale of being. The ques tion whether the finite and the infinite can ever come together has been solved in the doctrine of the incarnation. We do not want any more to sing the old song, which never amounted to very much in the way of music or poetry: “I want to be an angel, We do not want anything of the sort. Angels never rise so high nor stand so low as nian. They know nothing about sin or repentance or salvation through Jesus Christ, and are not worthy to sit with Him who judges the* ten tribes of “Israel. This text not only fastens on us this principle of glorification through death, but, in the second place, it gives us a two fold vindication of death, the first being the perils of survivorship, atod the second being the promise of grace. Death is one of the most philosophical things in the world; and if you put yourselves in the right attitude toward it, it is one of the kindest agencies in nature. There is such a thing as a time to die; for two reasons at least. THE PERIL OF IT One is the solitude of old age—the peril of survivorship—“Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth And with the angels stand, A crown upon my forehead, A harp within my hand.”
alone;” it abideth alone. You caii
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