the transforming effect upon life and
upon death of the faith in a risen Lord, whether grounded on sight or
not. And it is simply to these two points that I desire to turn now.

I. First, then, we have to consider what life may become to those who
see the risen Christ.

'The greater part remain until this present.' Now the word _remain_
is no mere synonym for living or surviving. It not only tells us the
fact that the survivors were living, but the kind of life that they
did live. It is very significant that it is the same expression as
our Lord used in the profound prophetic words, 'If I will that he
tarry till I come, what is that to thee?' Now we are told in John's
Gospel that 'that saying went abroad amongst the brethren,' and
inasmuch as it was a matter of common notoriety in the early Church,
it is by no means a violent supposition that it may be floating in
Paul's memory here, and may determine his selection of this
remarkable expression 'they remain,' or 'they tarry,' and they were
tarrying till the Master came. So, then, I think if we give due
weight to the significance of the phrase, we get two or three
thoughts worth pondering.

One of them is that the sight of a risen Christ will make life calm
and tranquil. Fancy one of these 500 brethren, after that vision,
going back to his quiet rural home in some little village amongst the
hills of Galilee. How small and remote from Him, and unworthy to
ruffle or disturb the heart in which the memory of that vision was
burning, would seem the things that otherwise would have been
important and distracting! The faith which we have in the risen
Christ ought to do the same thing for us, and will do it in the
measure in which there shines clearly before that inward eye, which
is our true means of apprehending Him, the vision which shone before
the outward gaze of that company of wondering witnesses. If we build
our nests amidst the tossing branches of the world's trees, they will
sway with every wind, and perhaps be blown from their hold altogether
by such a storm as we all have sometimes to meet. But we may build
our nests in the clefts of the rock, like the doves, and be quiet, as
they are. Distractions will cease to distract, and troubles will
cease to agitate, and across the heaving surface of the great ocean
there will come a Form beneath whose feet the waves smooth
themselves, and at whose voice the winds are still. They who see
Christ need not be troubled. The s