'the God of the Amen' and Other Sermons Author:Alexander Maclaren Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: IV. Mbat tbe Sigbt of tbe IRisen (tbrist mafces life atti 3eatb. " After that, He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once ; of whom the greater par... more »t remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep."—1 Cob. xv. 6. HERE were, then, some five-and-twenty years after the Resurrection, several hundred disciples who were known amongst the churches as having been eye-witnesses of the risen Saviour. The greater part survived; some, evidently a very few, had died. The proportion of the living to the dead, after five-and-twenty years, is generally the opposite. The greater part have " fallen asleep "; some, a comparatively few, remain " unto this present." Possibly there was some Divine intervention which super- naturally prolonged the lives of these witnesses, in order that their testimony might be the more lasting. But, be that as it may, they evidently were men of mark, and some kind of honour and observance surrounded them, as was very natural, and as appears from the fact that Paul here knows so accurately (and can appeal to His fellow-Christian's accurate knowledge)the proportion between the survivors and the departed. We read of one of them in the Acts of the Apostles at a later date than this, one Mnason, an "original disciple." So we get a glimpse into the conditions of life in the early Church, interesting and of value in an evidential point of view. But my purpose at present is to draw your attention to the remarkable language in 'which the Apostle here speaks of the living and the dead amongst these witnesses. In neither case does he use the simple, common words " living " or " dead "; but in the one clause he speaks of their " remaining," and in the other of their " falling asleep "; both phrases being significant, and, as I take it, both being traced up...« less