Mark 16:3 I. In spite of the many warnings our Lord had given, that on the third day He would rise again, the last thing these women expected to find was an empty grave; and when they reported to the Apostles that they had so found it "their words seemed to them as idle tales." As little, at that t... [ Continue Reading ]
Mark 16:3 The facts of our religion which, if supernatural is historical are, when rightly appreciated, so many moral forces for the soul, incorporating ideas which give courage and gladness, and containing principles which are at the root of conduct and life. Pre-eminent among them is the event of... [ Continue Reading ]
Mark 16:5 Perpetual Youth. I. The life of the faithful dead is eternal progress towards infinite perfection. The life of man, being under the law of growth, is in all its parts subject to the consequent necessity of decline. But the perfect life of the dead in Christ has but one phase youth. It is... [ Continue Reading ]
Mark 16:6 The Dead and their Future State. The memory of the dead seems intended to serve as a kind of ladder for the living, whereon they may ascend from things seen to things unseen. As we grow older, and more imbued with the spirit of this world, it seems ordained that thoughts of death and the... [ Continue Reading ]
Mark 16:6 The Address of the Angel to the Women at the Sepulchre. These verses naturally divide themselves into two heads. The first head includes the information as given to the women; and the second, the commission with which they were charged. Note: I. The soothing character of the language wh... [ Continue Reading ]
Mark 16:7 Love's Triumph over Sin. I. Notice the loving message with which Christ beckons the wanderer back. If we try to throw ourselves back into the Apostle's black thoughts, during the interval between his denial and the Resurrection morning, we shall better feel what this love-token from the g... [ Continue Reading ]
Mark 16:9 Our Risen Lord's Love for Penitents. I. Marvellous was the acceptance of penitence by the Cross; but, if possible, more marvellous yet at the Resurrection. At the Cross the outcast and penitent was equalled to the holy and the pure; at the Resurrection she was even preferred, Holy Scriptu... [ Continue Reading ]
Mark 16:15 Christ's Commission to His Apostles. _Introduction._ These words present four objects: Work, Workmen, a Field for Work, and the Divine Master of the workmen. I. Work. The work is preaching the Gospel. The power of speech is a wondrous faculty of man, lifting him above all speechless cre... [ Continue Reading ]
Mark 16:16 We must all tremble when we hear those awful declarations in the Athanasian Creed, respecting the Catholic faith, such as, "Which faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly." And some are offended, and wish these sentences were not there... [ Continue Reading ]
Mark 16:18 The Safety and Helpfulness of Faith. I. Consider the safety which Christ offers. Notice it is a safety, not by the avoidance of deadly things, but by the neutralizing of them through a higher and stronger power. There is no such idle promise as that if a man believes in Christ a wall sha... [ Continue Reading ]
Mark 16:19 I. I suppose that our first impressions are to consider the Ascension of our Lord as the very greatest event connected with His appearance on earth. To our own mind, undoubtedly, nothing could be so solemn, so exalting, as the changing this life for another; the putting off mortality and... [ Continue Reading ]
Mark 16:19 Christ's Work for Man and with Man. In one sense the Ascension was the end of Christ's emptying Himself for us of His glory; the end of His suffering, of His slow waiting while the will of God wrought itself out. The end had come. The great exaltation had succeeded. He had ascended up i... [ Continue Reading ]