$360 AFFLICTIONS SOON ENDED. all must be right that so gracious a Friend appoints! all must tend to good that so kind a Father ordains! "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" Did he thus give his best Beloved for you, and can you think that he will refuse you any real good? Are you oppressed with sickness and pain? God could give you health: to give you health would be a little thing compared with giving you Christ. Surely if he does not give you health, the reason must be, he sees it best to appoint you sickness. Are you poor? God could give you wealth. He gave you Christ; and if he keeps you poor, the cause must be, that poverty is best for you. Were riches best, he who gave Christ would give you riches. Whatever fancied good you may desire, you may argue, If this were real good, God would give it me. who gave Christ, that great and precious boon, would not refuse this trifling gift, if this would prove a blessing to me. A suffering Christian, after a night of pain, observed, "It has been a night of great pain, but it was a night appointed me by Jesus Christ, and sure it must be a good one that he appoints. Had I lain down my life for you, your good nights would have been my anxious care." Thus reason respecting your heavenly Father's conduct. Doubt not his love, who gave a Saviour. Depend on his interest in your happiness, through the few moments of time, who sent his only-begotten Son into the world, to make you happy to eternity. He § 18. The trials of life will soon conclude. Vain is all below the sun, except the blessings of your heavenly Father's love. The pleasures of this world pass away. The wisdom of this world is fading and dying. The head that has often ached in acquiring science, soon lies down in the dust, and forgets its vaunted knowledge. Expect not therefore living comforts in a dying world. Your trials too are short, for eternity is near. In the light of eternity, how insignificant will those short trials seem! Time and sorrow are hastening by, eternity and bliss are approaching: and when you wake amidst eternal things, how little will seem what you enjoyed or suffered here! What will the loss of property, or the loss of reputation, signify then! When, ten minutes after death, you look back on this world, how vain a dream will all the (1) Rom. viii. 32. THE CHRISTIAN'S HOME. 361 scenes of life appear! What poor trifles will its pleasures seem! what dying things its friendships! what little griefs its heaviest woes! And when ten thousand ages have fled away, and you look back on what now seems like a sea of trouble, that ocean of affliction will be like the drop of a bucket. Formidable as it once seemed, it will then appear like nothingness itself. Let the thought of eternity mingle with the trials of time; and its weightiest trials will be felt "as light affliction, which is but for a moment." And while those momentary trials continue, think whither they hasten you. Every day of affliction hastens the children of God to the haven of eternal peace. As the tossing of a tempest may hurry a shattered ship sooner to its harbour than the fairest wind that blows; so the rough storm of worldly sorrow, as well as the peaceful gale, and perhaps more hastily, may urge the Christian to the port where every storm shall cease. Keep that peaceful port in view. Faith will soon be lost in sight; hope make way for certainty; time and its shadows be perhaps almost forgotten amidst the glories of eternity. The dark night of life will shortly close; affliction's last tempest be hushed in peace; and the bright morning of eternal day open on the tranquil and enraptured soul. Then farewell to chastisement, to grief, and pain. § 19. Happy are they who enjoy the love and care of a gracious Saviour, and a heavenly Father! Happy amidst the scenes of time, and happier when quitting them for ever! Their great work is done, their best interests are secure. Should even sudden death hurry them from health and vigour to the cold tomb, yet they are blessed, whose home is in the skies, whose Father is in heaven. When life declines, glory will dawn; and the moment that bears them hence will bear them home. Come, my fellow-pilgrim, let us contemplate that home. How fair is the prospect! how bright the eternal day! how sweet the peace the hope of that eternal day imparts! The Christian is blessed, who looking beyond the shadows of time, can exclaim, "As for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness." "Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory." Though my path may be rough and thorny, thou shalt guide me, and, blessed hope! thou wilt receive me-even me to glory. The world have 362 SUPPORT IN DEATH. their fading satisfactions and dying pleasures; but these will vanish when their poor possessors lie down to die; but thou art my Father and my God, and when my flesh and heart fail be the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. For ever! For ever! How gladsome is the prospect of peace and bliss, where peace and bliss must endure for ever! And is this your animating hope? Glorious hope! Compared with this the wealth of worlds is poverty. Perhaps your thoughts delighted rove over those scenes of never-fading bliss; but death still appears terrible. The dark valley seems so dark, that you dread descending into it, though it is the passage to eternal day. § 20. Think then of Jesus's power to save, and to cheer even the solemn hour of dissolution, with a hope so full of immortality, that death shall be swallowed up in victory. He can make pain, sickness, and death, the way of comfort, the way of life. Not only apostles and martyrs, but myriads unknown to the busy world, cheered by his presence, have passed the gulf of death in peace. I have known one who said, "Blessed be the Lord! the sting of death is gone. I feel that the fear of death is taken away. I wish for death. I think every day, when it is night, I am a day nearer my blessed home." I have heard another humble disciple of the Saviour say, "The blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin, and cleansed me. I hope and trust Jesus Christ is my all. He is my supporter, and my all. The nearer I get to my journey's end, I hope the more comfort I find. The nearer I get, the more fear is gone." I have known a young follower of the holy Jesus, when about to quit this world, declare, that she would not on any account change places with her Christian friends; thinking her condition so much better than theirs, because her course was nearer ending. "I am rejoiced," said she, "when I think myself worse. I never thought I should be so comfortable on a sick-bed. I am very comfortable. The Lord is my support: I want no other. I know that religion is not a vain thing; I have found that it is not." I have heard another, when gospel consolation was mentioned to him, observe, " It makes a death-bed pleasant:" and heard the same humble, unlettered disciple declare, "I am fixed on Christ: he is all my dependence. I believe the Lord is waiting to receive me." These expressions, dropped from dying DEATH THE COMING OF CHRIST. 363 lips, were not uttered by apostles or martyrs; but were the testimony of plain and humble Christians to the support their gracious Lord imparted. How precious such support! Cheered by it, what is death? How its terrors dwindle into insignificance! Death thus cheered, is indeed the coming of the Saviour, to call his followers home. The Lord Jesus Christ gave this view of death. "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." How pleasing a representation of that solemn event! Death but the coming of a Saviour. Then what is it to die, but to lean a languishing head on his compassionate arm, and to commit a ransomed spirit to his faithful care? Could he personally appear to take his followers home, who that loves him would fear to die? Ah, could we look into the unseen world, and behold his dealings with his humble flock, what sacred peace and holy ecstasy would the view inspire! Then we might hear him say to ministering angels, "Go fetch my follower; let all her trials end. Let disease set the captive free. Let it dissolve the bonds of transient life; let the purchase of my blood ascend to me; and let my promise be fulfilled, Where I am shall ye be also." Yes, death to the blood-bought family of God is the coming of Jesus; and it is his presence that has enabled some to say, Happy, happy; and others to expire with, Victory! Victory! on their dying lips. One to breathe out her spirit, saying, Now I will go to my God; and another to declare, My Saviour has sent his messenger for me, and I wish to go to him. My fellow-pilgrim, when you read of the supports that others have found, look to him who upheld their fainting heads, for your support in the last struggles of dissolving nature. Cleave to him, and he will not forget you in that awful hour; for he is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. "Come now, be his in ev'ry part! Or passion craves, or pride inspires, 364 BLESSEDNESS OF THE PIOUS DEAD. And when the painful struggle's o'er, To rapture and eternal day." Now raise your eyes, and look beyond the gloomy vale of death. The Scriptures teach you, that to the believer death is gain. Death is yours." That last enemy, through heavenly love, is constrained to become a friend. Death will end your labours and your dangers; will conclude your trials, and reward your toils; will bring the crown of victory, and satisfy your longing desires for immortality. Of those who sleep in Jesus it is said, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." "I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Of that abode it is said, " And I saw no temple therein for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." "And there shall be no more curse: and there shall be no night there: and they shall reign for ever and ever." In the sweet prospect of this inheritance, a dying saint exclaimed, “ I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."s other, who loved his Master, said, "How thankful am I for death, as it is the passage through which I go to the Lord and Giver of eternal life. These afflictions are but for a moment, and then comes an eternal weight of glory." זיי An § 21. Come, survey that happier land. It is the blissful rest which God prepares for you, if you are his. It is the blest abode where saints and angels meet. It is the happy (m) Phil. i. 21. (0) Rev. xiv. 13. |