But on the other side, we who, like Jacob, or Jacob’s posterity, have the blessing,—­whether it be natural, worldly, or spiritual,—­let us consider what became of it when it was not improved.  What was the sin of Esau,—­speaking not of the individual, but of the less favoured people of Edom,—­compared with the sin of Jacob?  Nay, not of Edom only; but it shall be more tolerable for Sodom, in the day of judgment, than for the unbelieving cities of Israel.  So it is, not only with the literal, but with the Christian Israel; so it is, not only with the Church as a whole compared with heathens, but with all those individuals amongst us, who enjoy in any larger measure than others any of God’s blessings.  They are blessings; but they may be made fatal curses.  This holds true with blessings of every kind:  with station and wealth, with bodily health and vigour, with, great powers of mind, with large means of spiritual improvement.  To whom much is given, of him shall be much, required.  It is required of us to enjoy our blessings by using them:  so will they be blessings indeed.  So it is with money and influence, with health, with talents, with spiritual knowledge, and good friends and parents.  There are first who shall be last; that is, those who began their course with advantages which set them before their brethren, if they do not exert themselves, will fall grievously behind them:  for the blessing denied may be, in effect, a blessing given; and the blessing given, in like manner, becomes too often a blessing taken away.

LECTURE XIX.

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MATTHEW xxii. 32.

God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

We hear these words as a part of our Lord’s answer to the Sadducees; and, as their question was put in evident profaneness, and the answer to it is one which to our minds is quite obvious and natural, so we are apt to think that in this particular story there is less than usual that particularly concerns us.  But it so happens, that our Lord, in answering the Sadducees, has brought in one of the most universal and most solemn of all truths,—­which is indeed implied in many parts of the Old Testament, but which the Gospel has revealed to us in all its fulness,—­the truth contained in the words of the text, that “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

I would wish to unfold a little what is contained in these words, which we often hear even, perhaps, without quite understanding them; and many times oftener without fully entering into them.  And we may take them, first, in their first part, where they say that “God is not the God of the dead.”

The word “dead,” we know, is constantly used in Scripture in a double sense, as meaning those who are dead spiritually, as well as those who are dead naturally.  And, in either sense, the words are alike applicable:  “God is not the God of the dead.”