items of this account as being connected with unburied, was still with him, said, "I shall go our past history. But still more emphatic and impressive is that picture of the rich man and Lazarus. "The rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and SEETH ABRAHAM afar off, AND LAZARUS in his bosom." Luke xvi, 22, 23. Here, by some means, he perceived two individuals, and one he recognizes as the old patriarch-" the father of the faithful"-and the other the poor beggar who was once "laid at his gate." And then when he would fain importune for one drop of water, Abraham replies, "Son, remember." What a world of meaning in that word REMEMBER! It is not necessary to argue this question further. These points are not only conclusive as an argument, but they are also impressive for the moral lessons they teach. 2. Passages almost without number imply the personal recognition of friends in the future life. Among the passages of this kind may be reckoned that which describes the patriarchs, and Moses, and Aaron, and others, as being, in death, gathered unto their people. These expressions do not relate to their burial but to their dying; for the people of Abraham were buried in Ur of the Chaldees, while he was interred in a new burying-place. The union, then, was one of souls and not of bodies. So of Isaac, his burial by Esau and Jacob is described as taking place after he had been "gathered unto his people." And Jacob was gathered unto his people" in Egypt, but afterward his body was carried up to Canaan and laid in the burying-ground of his fathers. Aaron was gathered unto his people "in Mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom," though it was far away from the place where any of his ancestors had been buried. And Moses upon Mount Nebo, after beholding the promised land, was gathered unto his people, though his body was buried amid the solitude of an unknown valley, and "no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day." Deut. xxxiv, 6. Nothing further can be needed to show that this being "gathered" does not refer to the place of burial, nor yet to the general fact of burial, but to being gathered among their people in the spirit-land. It finds its counterpart in that prayer of the Psalmist, "Gather not my soul with sinners; nor my life with bloody men"-Psa. xxvi, 9-that is, according to Adam Clarke, "let not my eternal lot be cast with them! may I never be doomed to spend an eternity with them!" Deliver me from their companionship and from their doom. to him, but he shall not return to me." 2 Sam xii, 23. That is, our separation will be brief; though he may not come back from the spiritland to me, I shall soon rejoin him there-rejoin him too as my son who went before! This is a common feeling and sentiment of Christian faith. It is evidently based upon the expectation of a recognition of the departed, as well as of a union with them. In one of his discourses-Matt. xii-our Savior rebukes the unbelief and wickedness of the generation to whom he preached, declaring that the men of Nineveh who repented at the preaching of Jonah, and the Queen of the South who came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, should rise up in the judgment and condemn it. Here it is clearly implied that the inhabitants of ancient Nineveh who were alive and heard the preaching of Jonah, and the Queen of the South who came to Solomon, and also the Jews who listened to the preaching of Christ yet repented not, will all be recognized in their individual characters, and their connection with the events brought in review, be fully known. The case of the rich man and Lazarus-Luke xvi-is also to the point. And the fact that it is possibly a parable, does not militate against the force of its testimony, for even a parable can not teach any lesson or doctrine contrary to truth. Here is an unvailing of the future world, and at the same moment we catch a glimpse of heaven and of hell; but in both personal recognition is discovered and distinctly announced. Nor is it a personal recognition that is confined to those in its own sphere. Dives, looking across the great gulf of separation, recognized the beatified and favored person now reclining upon Abraham's bosom, as the poor beggar that was once fed with the crumbs that fell from his luxury-laden table. And Lazarus, looking forth from the midst of his unbounded joy, likewise recognized him with the parched tongue in the midst of the tormenting flame, as the rich man who once was clothed in purple and fared sumptuously every day. There is something intensely thrilling in this interview and recognition between parties separated by the great gulf fixed by eternal justice! It intimates something in the possibilities of eternity from which we would fain turn away our eye. In the parable of the talents and of the pounds, and also in that of the householder hiring men to work in his vineyard, the reckoning is made with each individual, connecting each with what he has done; and not only this, David, when his child was dead, but the body, but also showing throughout a distinct recogni tion of each other, and the relative claims of each. The transfiguration scene, in which Moses and Elias appeared talking with Christ, to the wonder and admiration of the three disciples, evidently implies that Moses and Elias fully recognized each other, and that both recognized Christ and were also recognized by him. Here, though it may not have been the original design of the transaction to teach or illustrate the spiritual recognition, yet that recognition is most certainly implied. We need not dwell longer upon the incidental allusions that imply the future recognition. They stand out in almost every chapter of the Bible, are interwoven into all its teachings in reference to the future state, and are strikingly illustrated in the pious expressions and the dying hopes of the saints of God. The value and eutire conclusiveness of this incidental testimony can not be overestimated. The Bible, if it no where asserts nor attempts to prove in terms this recognition, takes it for granted, just as it does the existence of God, and grounds its teachings upon the presumption of it, so that the declaration of it in the most formal manner could not render the Scripture testimony more complete. 3. The doctrine of the resurrection, as taught in the Bible, implies both a preserved and a recognized individuality. Faith sees the bright, eternal doors The trump shall sound, the dead shall wake, From the cold tomb the slumb'rers spring; Through heaven with joy their myriads rise, And hail their Savior and their King."-Dwight. We do not undertake now to argue the fact of the resurrection of our bodies from the dead. That has already been done. But we now present a single point; namely, that this resurrection implies both a preserved and recognized individuality in the persons so resurrected. Job says, For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another." Chapter xix, 25-27. In this early foreshadowing of the resurrection it is only stated that Job should in his resurrection body see "God;" not that God should see him, or that any body else should see him; but it is manifestly implied not only that he should see, but also that he should be seen. Isaiah is still more explicit: "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they rise." Chapter xxvi, 19. It is inconceivable that he should have employed such language if these dead were to rise unknowing each other. What avails rising together, and how can the promise bring cheer or comfort if we shall neither know nor be known in the rising? When Jesus said unto Martha, "Thy brother shall rise again"-John xi, 23-her reply was, "I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Chapter xi, 24. Both the Comforter and the comforted in this interview must have had more in mind than an abstract assurance of a mere resurrection. There was implied restoration. The yearning heart of the sister grasped the idea that her loved brother should not only be raised from the dead, but should be restored to her arms. But notice the particularity with which the resurrection is described; how distinct the different classes and the different individuals stand out. Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation." John v, 28, 29. "And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day." John vi, 40. It is not implied that they shall come up from the grave with characters different from those with which they went down into it, but with the same. For "many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Daniel xii, 2. If it should be announced that those sleeping in the night should awake in the morning, the announcement would imply that they should awake the same persons, recognizable and recognizing, as when at nightfall they lay down to sleep. So in the resurrection morning. The announcement that we shall "awake," that we shall 'come forth," "rise again," and "the dead, small and great, stand before God," can not by any possibility allow of so great a detraction from our personality as to render recognition impossible. But to settle this question and place it beyond all doubt and all controversy, let us also be reminded of the resurrection of the body of Christ and its recognition by the disciples. This has something more than a formal and technical application to us and to our race. He arose the "first fruits," and the model after which the resurrection bodies of his saints shall be formed, for he "shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." Phil. iii, 21. Or again it is said, "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection"-Romans vi, 5-and "when he shall appear we shall be like him." John iii, 2. And yet the body raised was identified and recognized by the disciples as "that same Jesus" whom the Jews had taken and crucified with wicked hands. They knew his form, they recognized his voice, they saw the nail prints in his hands and his feet, the scar of the wound in his side; they felt him and found him flesh and bones, they walked with him, and from the summit of Olivet saw him ascend into heaven. The recognition was perfect. The apostles and the early converts had undoubting faith of it so we preach and so ye believed"-1 Cor. xv, 11-was the testimony of Paul. If, then, Christ's resurrection body was clearly distinguished and recognized so as to produce undoubting faith, and if his resurrection body was the type and pattern of ours, surely we shall recognize each other in the resurrection state. 4. The descriptions of the judgment scene in the Bible represent each as standing out in his individual person and character among those to be judged. "And must I be to judgment brought, And answer in that day For every vain and idle thought, And every word I say? Yes, every secret of my heart Shall shortly be made known, For all that I have done." These solemn lines by our grandest lyric poet, Charles Wesley, do but sum up the universallyreceived idea of the Church with regard to the teaching of the Bible in relation to the future judgment. In that judgment each individual is represented as standing out in his own distinctive character. "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." 2 Cor. v, 10. Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed." Jude, 14. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, accord ing to their works." Rev. xx, 12. "Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead." 1 Peter iv, 5. "For God will bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil." Eccl. xii, 14. "I say unto you that every idle word men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." Matthew xii, 36. "So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God." Rom. xiv, 12. In all these descriptions of the judgment there stand out before us an aggregate of individuals, each one of whom is to be subjected to the forms of trial. The deeds of their life are to be rehearsed, and that, too, in the presence of neighbors, and friends, and associates. seems utterly incredible that all this could be gone through without any personal recognitions among them. Why, to these very idle words and these deeds of which I shall give account, my neighbor was perhaps a party. How, then, when he stands by my side and hears the account rendered in the judgment shall he not know me? Nothing can be more obvious than that these general descriptions imply a recognition of persons among the parties assembled in the judgment. It But there are other passages of more specific import upon this point. In showing the decisions of the final judgment and the grounds of those decisions, St. Paul draws the line of distinction" to the Jew first and also to the Gentile"-Romans ii, 10-showing that the Jew will be known as a Jew, and the Gentile as a Gentile, in the judgment day. Again, our Savior representing the judgment scene describes the judge as separating the righteous from the wicked as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats, and placing the one on his right hand, the other on his left. The very manner of the transaction indicates it to be one in which the parties are recognized. But when we hear the judge saying to the righteous, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me"-Matthew xxv, 40-we can hardly avoid the impression that the commended disciple must have looked around upon the assembled multitude, assuring himself by observing one after another of the suffering and sorrowing ones of earth to whom he had ministered "in the name of a disciple." And so, also, when we hear the judge replying to those on his left, "Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these ye did it not to me"-Matthew xxv, 45—we can not but feel that personal witnesses rose up before them for their condemnation. Certain it is that the recognition of in dividuals as well as of parties is implied all through this striking description of the judg ment scene. But we have a more sure word of prophecy. Our Savior said to his apostles, "Ye which have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Matthew xix, 28. And St. Paul, speaking by the same divine authority, addressing the Corinthians, says: "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?" 1 Cor. vi, 2. It must be apparent that if the saints are to take part in the judgment they must be able to distinguish the individuals brought before them, and also to connect the earthly history of each-"the deeds done in the body"—with the individual himself. Without such knowledge they would be utterly incompetent to exercise the functions of judgment. But how is it to be obtained? By personal acquaintance with them in life; by the recorded books in heaven; by the testimony of angels who waited upon them as ministering spirits; by the testimony of those who knew them in life, and by their own confessions. Such are the conceivable modes of evidence employed in reaching the decisions of the great day; and yet each one of them involves the necessity of personal identification, and consequently of the recognition of individuals in the future state. 5. The revelations given us concerning the heavenly state clearly imply personal recognition among the saints in heaven. The gathering of the saints home to heaven is thus described by our Lord: "Then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven." Mark xiii, 27. And they "shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew viii, 11. "And I will appoint unto you a kingdom as my Father hath appointed unto me, that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom." Luke xxii, 29, 30. Is there not here recognition of individuals? Why, St. Luke adds that the wicked thrust out from this scene "shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God." Luke xiii, 28. Surely higher privileges of recognition will not be given to the wicked thrust out of the kingdom of God than to the elect gathered into it. St. Paul teaches us the joy the faithful pastor shall feel in the salvation of those to whom he has preached and for whom he has labored. He addressed them as his "joy and crown," exhorting them to steadfastness, that he might "rejoice in the day of Christ," for "ye also are our rejoicing in the day of the Lord Jesus." 2 Cor. i, 14. And then he adds, "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?" 1 Thess. ii, 19. But how is this consummation to be reached? The apostle tells them, "He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall PRESENT US WITH YOU." 2 Cor. iv, 14. How sadly deluded was the apostle if those saved through his ministry were to be personally unknown to him in the heavenly state! To "present us with You" means something more than gathering up a bundle of abstractions, however holy they may be. But in the delineations of the heavenly state this knowledge is still further implied. Witness the language of the Savior to his disciples: "In my Father's house are many mansions; I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also." John xiv, 2, 3. Witness, also, that comprehensive prayer of the Redeemer for all them that should believe on him-" that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us. . . Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me." John xvii, 21, 24. All these expressions imply mutual and endearing intercourse. It is the communion of the heavenly family, especially among those members of that great family who have been redeemed from earth, and to whom the bliss of heaven is hightened by the remembrance of that redemption. How, then, can it be supposed that they know less of each other than when in the pilgrimage state? Rather is it not certain that in them has been realized that, though once they saw through a glass darkly, now they see face to face, knowing even as they also are known? This only can fulfill the conditions of a heavenly family mingling in social fellowship, beholding each other, sitting, and eating, and drinking at the table of their common Lord, and joining with united heart and voice in celebrating the amazing love that sought them out while sinners and aliens, redeemed them to Christ, made them often sit together in heavenly places in the time of their pilgrimage, and now has exalted them to be kings and priests to God and the Lamb forever and forever. And such a family are they who are now gathered into one in Christ Jesus. JEREMY TAYLOR-HIS TIMES AND COMPEERS. SECOND PAPER. L' BY MRS. L. A. HOLDICH. ITTLE beyond the outlines of Jeremy Taylor's life, which was given in a previous paper, is known to us. No Boswell followed his footsteps to gather up his sayings for a future generation. His writings are his biography. They are the words of a good and true man, of a meek and devout Christian sitting evermore at his Master's feet, and learning holy lessons from his lips. His style has always appeared to us like the tread of a stately army to noble and inspiring music. There is Oriental richness of color and profusion of ornament on his pages. The "Shakspeare of Divinity," as he is so often called, has the poet's exuberant imagination, his richness of imagery, and his command of words. Above all, he has his discursive faculty. One happy thought awakens others, one graceful figure beckons to a second, till the original idea is sometimes in danger of being lost under the amplitude of its coverings. And yet, though he often leads us into flowery lanes, through which we at first can see no opening, he has sometimes uttered sentences so pithy and so full of meaning, that they seem to have the ring of Fuller in them. We may give a few specimens. "Drive not away the fly from your brother's forehead with a hatchet." "Wine discovers more than the rack." "Man is but a debt of death to be paid for without delay." "Pray often and you shall pray oftener." No man is poor that does not think himself so." The minutes of our time strike on counted by angels." "No man has the willing spirit that does not do the outward work." "God has opened no gate to heaven but the narrow gate, and the cross is the key." " Sentences of surpassing beauty and power are found on nearly every page. Every tradition of the Church, every classic legend, every fact in history, all the phenomena of nature are used to illustrate the truth. If the satire may sometimes apply to him "How oft when Paul has served us with a text we must still acknowledge that their heathen philosophy has been pressed into the service of Christ, and so "the cold stone is overlaid with warm and living moss," and the lifeless legend glows with vital fire. In every variety of subject he excels. In the Good and Evil Tongue, for instance, he discovers a power of satire which he does not love to use; in the Miracles of the Divine Mercy the fertility of his mind and the beauty and excellency of his style are manifested; and in Christ's Advent to Judgment there is a power of description and a setting forth of solemn truths in a manner that must electrify the conscience that is not entirely seared. Of his Holy Living and Dying there can be but one opinion. Christ is there set forth more clearly and fully than in most of his sermons, and none can read it thoughtfully without being impregnated with somewhat of its spirit. When the young poet Keats found that he must die, he said to his friend, “Now, my dear Severn, if you would get some of the works of Jeremy Taylor to read to me, I might become really a Christian and leave the world in peace." "Most fortunately," adds Mr. Severn, "I was able to procure the Holy Living and Dying. I read some passages of it to him and prayed with him, and I could tell by the grasp of his hand that his mind was reviving. He was a great lover of Jeremy Taylor, and it did not require much effort in him to embrace the Holy Spirit in these comforting works." One must sit down quietly and calmly with Jeremy Taylor to receive true pleasure from his writings. The words of the wise are heard in silence." He to whom external nature brought such delight should be read amid its ministerings. He can hardly be relished in the din of the city. His words and thoughts weave themselves naturally with the music of the winds and the lapsing of the waters. Jeremy Taylor would hardly be a popular preacher in these busy days. Stirring sermons two hours long have become a lost art. Like the sprightly French woman, we want to have all knowledge communicated to us in "three words." It is only within a few years that the writings of Jeremy Taylor have come to us in a convenient and accessible form. We learned to love them in their folio form, undeterred by their long s's and stiff leather binding, as they stood side by side with Bishop Butler's gossiping History of his own Times, and Lord Clarendon's true but ponderous History of the Great Rebellion. Jeremy Taylor's was an age of marked characteristics and strange contrasts. Like the fruit of the prophet, "the good were very good, and the bad very bad." Though simony was connived at and compromise in religion not thought disgraceful, we have seen what a band of Christian ministers of various sects and parties stood up valiantly for the truth. And there were honest men outside the pale of the Churchhonest if mistaken. One gruff old Welshman, David Jenkyns by name, has always excited From an article on Keats in the Atlantic Monthly |