upon sleep. "We must needs die, and are as water spilt the ground, which cannot be gathered up again'." Our life is like the shadow that departeth, or like a tale that is told, or as a dream when one awaketh. And so, if we set our hearts to the contemplation of that wisdom which is holy and heavenly,—if we will read our Bibles, and lay to heart what is written there, --if we will look to the chequered and uncertain state of life, and to the thread by which our being hangs, we must needs confess that it is not knowledge that we want, but the right application of that knowledge which we possess. We want that thought which takes wing from earth, and settles itself on heavenly things, which teaches us when we look into a brother's or a sister's grave, to look beyond it, and, with stedfast faith, to flee to Him for succour who is "the life of them that believe, and the resurrection of the dead." For unless we have this faith, sure and grounded, how sad is the prospect, how certain our sorrow as well as confusion of face? "When thou hidest thy face," saith the Psalmist, "they are troubled; when thou takest away their breath they die, and are turned again to their dust 2." "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust," are words of daily recurrence. It cannot be denied but that "the living know that they shall die." 3 But what then? In the words of an old divine 3; 1 2 Sam. xiv. 14. 2 Ps. civ. 29. See Jer. Taylor's Works, vol. vi. p. 465, Sermon on 2 Sam. xiv. 14. 6 "Death is nothing but the middle point between two lives, between this and another: concerning which comfortable mystery the holy Scripture instructs our faith, and entertains our hope in these words: God is still the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for all do live to him,' and the souls of the saints are with Christ? I desire to be dissolved,' saith St. Paul, 'and to be with Christ, for that is much better:' and, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord; they rest from their labours, and their works follow them:' for we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens' and the state of separation St. Paul calls, 'a being absent from the body, and being present with the Lord.' This is one of God's means which He hath devised, that although our dead are like persons banished from this world, yet they are not expelled from God: they are in the hands of Christ; they are in his presence;' they are, or shall be, clothed with a house of God's making;' they rest from their labours;' 'all tears are wiped away from their eyes,' and all discontents from their spirits; and in the state of separation, before the soul be invested with her new house, the spirits of the good are with God, so secured, and so blessed, and so sealed up for glory, that this state of interval and imperfection is, in respect of its certain event and end, infinitely more desirable than all riches, and all the pleasures, and all the vanities, and all the king 6 doms of this world." There is indeed nothing to be compared with the kingdom of heaven, and for this, the sons of trouble, and the justified of the Lord Jesus, pray that it may come. The life that they now live in the flesh is but, as it were, a prevention to their hopes of glory. These, whilst they live, know that they shall die, and that death shall be "swallowed up in victory." The year of their release will come. Yet a little while, and the miseries of this sinful world will be no more. This happy estate, Christian brethren, appertains to such as live the life of the righteous, that they may die his death. For, as said the good king Hezekiah, when he had recovered from his sickness, "The grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth." Yes, Christian brethren, it is "the living, the living!" that must lay these things to heart; it is for those that know that they shall die to make ready for their departure hence. If we would die happily, we must prepare early to meet our God. We must "remember our Creator in the days of our youth "." This is the way to set all terrors at defiance, and to be at rest. There is no peace like that peace which God giveth, Isa. xxxviii. 18, 19. 6 Eccles, xii. 1. 5 Amos iv. 12. and this we must recollect is consigned by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ unto those who obey Him. These are the sons of consolation. Come what may, come good, come ill, they know the place of their confidence, they know that they shall die in the Lord, and fall on a happy sleep. Their belief has been in Him which is "the resurrection and the life," in Him which said, "He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die "." They have bethought them on the words, "said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" and have had a Pisgah view of the heavenly Canaan, and of the morning which is beyond the grave. "Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?" Even so? "He must accomplish, as an hireling, his day 1." And then "he lieth down, and riseth not, till the heavens be no more "." He has no more a portion in anything that is done under the sun. And hence the exhortation is, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest." And again, “if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it 7 John xi. 25, 26. Job vi. 1. 2 Ibid. 12. 8 Ibid. 40. 1 Job xiv. 6. 3 Eccles. ix. 10. shall lie1." By which is implied, that when the grave closes upon our mortal remains, when we lie down in death, all our thoughts perish, and we could not, here on earth, if we would, either promote the glory, or make known the goodness of the Lord. "The dead praise not thee, O Lord; neither all that go down into silence "." "What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust give thanks unto thee, or shall it declare thy truth? It may not be! according to the things done in the body, whether they be good or evil, Revelation tells us, shall a man be judged. "Truly," says the Preacher," the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun: But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness: for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity. Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. Therefore remove sorrow from thine heart, and put away evil from thy flesh;" let thy manner of life declare the truth of the saying, as respects thyself, "The living know that they shall die." This is wisdom, this is understanding, this is, by the grace of God, to lay up treasure in heaven, 4 Eccles. xi. 3. 5 Ps. cxv. 17. 7 Eccles. xi. 7—10. |