"He is Faithful that Promised."
"Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord."--REV. xiv. 13.
Bliss in Dying.
My Soul! is this blessedness thine in prospect? Art thou ready, if
called this night to lie down on thy death-pillow, sweetly to fall
asleep in Jesus? What is the sting of death? It is sin. Is death, then,
to thee, robbed of its sting, by having listened to the gracious accents
of pardoning love, "Be of good cheer, thy sins, which are many, are all
forgiven thee?" If thou hast made up thy peace with God, resting on the
work and atoning blood of His dear Son, then is the Last Enemy divested
of all his terror, and thou canst say, in sweet composure, of thy dying
couch and dying hour,--"I will both lay me down in peace and sleep,
because Thou, Lord, makest me to dwell in safety!" Reader! ponder that
solemn question, "Am I ready to die? Am I living as I should wish I had
done when that last hour arrives?" And when shall it arrive? To-morrow
is not thine. "Verily, there may be but a step between thee and death."
Oh! solve the question speedily,--risk no doubts and no peradventure.
Every day is proclaiming anew the lesson, "The race is not to the swift,
nor the battle to the strong." Seek to live, so that that hour cannot
come upon thee too soon, or too unexpectedly. Live a dying life! How
blessed to live,--how blessed to die, with the consciousness, that there
may be but a step between thee and glory!
"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON
WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"