This is described in the words of Simeon, “Let thy servant depart in
peace.” Simeon could look forward to his dying hour in a tranquil spirit
of calm, resting peace. How often is there care on the heart of the
dying believer. A father may be leaving his wife and family, who have
been dependent on him for support; or a mother her children, with the
strong conviction that there is no substitute for a mother’s love. Let
no one suppose that there is no trial of faith in such a separation, and
that it is not, in many cases, very hard to trust. But in Christ Jesus
there may be peace even in such a parting, and the dying mother, if she
knows her Saviour, may trust her all into His loving hands, and say, “I
know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that
which I have committed unto Him.” {30b} She has committed her children
into His care. They are her deposit with God, and she may be at perfect
peace in the assurance that, though _she_ is departing, _He_ is
remaining, and will remain a faithful Saviour till every one of those
dear children is presented safe before His throne.
Let no one suppose that it is not a very solemn thing to die, to be
suddenly cut off from everything of which we have ever had any
experience, and to launch out alone into an invisible world. It cannot,
therefore, be an easy thing to die in peace. But, thanks be to God, we
believe that the departing spirit passes at once into the loving presence
of our Redeemer, and why should there not be peace? I believe it is the
forgetfulness of this personal entrance into the personal presence of a
personal Saviour that sometimes seems to darken the dying hour. People
forget those few words, “Thou art with me,” {31a} and then they are
afraid. But when we rest on those words, and combine them with our
assured hope, knowing that He is now with us invisibly, and that we are
going to be with Him visibly, then we shall be able to say, as Simeon
did, “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace.”