6  ASLEEP  IN  JESUS

dying  thief  hanging  by  His  side,  "  to-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me
in  paradise ! "  This  was  the  steady,  unwavering  faith  of  the
Christians  whose  bodies  rest  in  the  vast  cemetery  which  lies  all
round  old  Eome.1


II.
THE  NEW  ASPECT  OF  DEATH.
1.  There    is  nothing    more    marvellous    in    the    history    of
Christianity  than  the  change  which  it  wrought  in  men's  views  of
death.     The  change  is  one  stamped  into  the  very  life  of  humanity,
however  it  may   be  explained.    Whereas  men   had  previously
thought  of  death  as  only  a  great  darkness,  or  a  dreamless  and
perpetual  sleep,  they  began  to  think  of  it  as  a  change  from  dark
ness  to  light,  and  as  a  sleep  with  a  glorious  awakening.     The
brightness  and  joy  were  no  longer  here.     This  was  not  the  true
life  from  which  men  should  shrink  to  part.     All  was  brighter  in
the   future;    the   higher  life  was  above.     Death  was  not  only
welcome,  but  joyfully  welcome.     To  die  was  gain.    It  was  "to
depart,  and  be  with  Christ ;  which  is  far  better."    This  was  not
merely  the  experience  of  an  enthusiastic  Apostle ;  it  became  the
overwhelming  experience  of  hundreds  and  thousands.     Death  was
swallowed   up   in   victory.     "  0   death,  where   is  thy  sting  ?     0
grave,  where   is  thy  victory?"   was  the   triumphant  echo  from
Jerusalem    to    Home,    and    from    Antioch    to    Alexandria,    in
thousands  of   hearts,  that  had  but  lately   known   no   hope   and
shared   no  enthusiasm — not  even  the  enthusiasm  of  a  common
country  or  common  citizenship.
