"WHO ABOLISHED DEATH."

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume XX, Issue 10, 1 April 1930, Page 2

"WHO ABOLISHED DEATH."

By Dean Inge

Jesus 'Christ abolished death m the only way m which a stubborn fact can be abolished — by showing that it is not what it appears to be. Death appears to be the seal of failure, it is the condition of success • it appears to be an end, it is also a beginning; it appears to be a humiliation and a curse, but its cleansing waters purge the soul of fier travel-stains, and land her refreshed upon the farther shore. Death, says the Book, of Genesis, is a punishment. Death, says science, is a law of nature. Death, says Jesus Christ, is nothing save the gate of everlasting life. Death is a punishment, if we will have it so. If we turn into

ends what are meant to be instruments; if we give a false and spurious substance to shadows whose nature is to come and go, and to desires which, so idealised and intensified, can never be satisfied, then death, which dissolves these cloud-ipalaces, will be a punishment for mistaking shadow for substance, and attempting to slake the divine thirst of the soul m the waters of a mirage.

Death is a law of nature, certainly. Many have resigned themselves to it m the spirit of Marcus Aurelius. '-'Depart then satisfied, since he who releases theo is satisfied." If there is nothing more than this to be said, the brave man can bear what he must,

And yet, if we will have it so, death is the gate of life. Why did St. Paul look forward to finish his course with joy, instead of only to "depart satisfied"? What made him sure that to die iis gain? His belief m the resurrection, no doubt. But this belief rested not only on what he saw m the clouds on the road to Damascus, not only on the reports of the Twelve and the survivors of the Five Hundred Brethren, but on the overpowering conviction that death has no sting to those who know the hidden laws of life. The passage from death unto life is no xmiqve portent; it is the open secret of the universe, which Christ brought to light. In the world without, it is exemplified m the harvest field, when the grain dies as a seed and comes to life again as a blade. In the world within, St. Paul knew what it was to rise again to newness of life.

There is only one way m which the values of life can escape the doom of the existences to which they are attached ; and that is by constant transmutation into values of a higher quality. Cling to them as they are, and they fade and perish ; let them go, make a living sacrifice of them, and they will still be yours, transmuted and enhanced. That which we receive m return for what we have given up is never the same as what we surrendered. In St. Paul's words, thou sowest not that body which shall be, but bare grain. The new life is always life on another plane. And if we make a living sacrifice of ourselves m reasonable service to God, the new man whom we shall put on m return for the old man whom we have put off, is not just

our old selves back again, but a new creation , nearer to the image of God. w n ' h This mysterious law of the spiritual world, the law of death and rebirth as the condition of growth and permanence, has been dimly perceived by nearly all religions. If there be a "key to all mythologies," it is here. And after the Christian revelation, it remains the chief foundation of our faith m human immortality. Without undervaluing the argument from divine justice, or the confident claim of love, which as the supreme attribute of the Deity must have the quality of everlastingness, so that neither death nor life nor any other creature can

separata us from love, whether human or divine, or extinguish our capacities of loving and being loved, I still think that the strongest argument for immortality is the unquenchable conviction that m the mind of God spiritual values are indestructible facts. Whatever has value m God's sight is safe for evermore; time and change cannot touch it. And so far as we can make our own those things which are precious m His sight, we have the assurance that for us too death has no importance — that m the words of a highminded Oxford thinker, "Death '.loes not count." it does not count, m this .sense, that we need not trouble our selves about the length of the span allotted to us. There are many of whom it may be said, "They m a short time fulfilled a long time, for ttisi • smile were dear to God '•

This is the secret of Christian optimism, which is so different from the shallow kind of optimism which offers to '-heal slightly" the wounds of life. Christianity shirks nothing, ignores nothing. It does not starve the emotions m the hope of becoming invulnerable. That last act of cowardice, which makes Stoicism false to itself, it renounces. It rejoices heartily with them that rejoice, and weeps sincerely with them that weep. It does not class the purest earthly joys and the tende.rest earthly sorrows as things indifferent. It is not ashamed to feel and to feel deeply. But it finds a heart of joy m the midst of sorrow. It is able even to glory m weakness and tribulation, as the birth-pangs of a richer life. It faces and overcomes temporal evil* 1 not by refusing to recognise them but

by transmuting them. It teaches, m short, that all true values are permanent, but that m so far as they are linked with time and change, they must die m order that they may live. The death and resurrection of Christ are thus, as the iGreek Fathers called them, a "mysterium," a sacrament, of the deepest law of life. They are a revelation of the inner meaning of the Creation of the world through the Divine Word. The "whole process of Christ," as some of pur old theologians expressed it, must he re-enacted m the experience of the individual Christian. None ever realised this more ' deeply than St. Paul; it is the foundation of his theology and of his personal religion. "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unm.ovable, always abounding m the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not m vain m the Lord." (Church of England Newspaper).