xiv. 11. _Thy pomp is brought down to the grave._
One of the most effectual means of comforting the Church in times of
oppression, is by predicting the downfall of her enemies. Here
Babylon is doomed; her monarch, whose conquests had been so
far-reaching, whose power had proved so irresistible, is represented
as having met with a mightier than himself; as descending to the
abode of the dead; as leaving behind him a body which, instead of
being honoured with a royal funeral, has no other covering than the
dust and the worms; and as being himself insulted by the astonished
mockery of the meanest of those who had preceded him into the
invisible world. His removal from the world has been as the cessation
of a devastating hurricane, and the whole earth rejoices thereat; it
re-echoes with songs of gladness that the dreaded victor has himself
been vanquished. Well may the world rejoice that its crowned scourges
are not immortal!
+I. Let us recall some familiar truths concerning this conqueror of
conquerors.+ 1. _He assaults all ranks and all ages_ (H. E. I., 1536,
1557; P. D., 677, 700, 707, 751, 752). The world is an unwalled
cemetery. Much of the dust we tread on once lived. What is the
history of the world but the history of the reign of death? From Abel
to the infant who died a moment ago, death has executed his
commission without a single pause; sometimes in quiet forms, dust
mingling with its native dust; sometimes on a grander scale, by
battles, earthquakes, &c. There are a thousand doors out of life;
they all stand open; and through some of them death will lead us all;
for, like the great Being whose servant he is, with him there is "no
respect of persons."[1] 2. _He is not arrested in his career from any
respect for the places of men,_ however heroic and useful they may
be. How powerful man often appears in his collective grandeur,
binding the ocean in chains, controlling the elements, numbering the
stars, building great cities which look like temples erected to Time
and destined to outlast his reign, founding empires, and spreading
himself out by commerce and enterprise to distant islands and
continents; and he has always still greater projects behind. But
while man plants, death receives his commission; the ground sinks
beneath him, his power suddenly collapses. Few histories would be
more instructive or impressive than that of the unfinished projects
of men of might and genius, _e.g.,_ Cæsar and his proposed digest of
law, Cuvier and his proposed compendium of science (Ps. cxlvi. 4;
H. E. I., 3266, 3273). 3. _He determines all character._ Passing to
and fro, he finds character everywhere in the course of formation;
suddenly he brings the process to an end, and with their character
precisely in the state in which he found it, those whom he strikes
down go into the eternal world. A certain fact, a solemn
consideration this!
+II. Let me remind you of the strange insensibility of mankind to the
existence and operations of this power, from which none of us can
escape, and which may so unexpectedly bring all our plans and
purposes to an end.+ Few men give any practical heed to the fact that
they are mortal (H. E. I., 1557-1565; P. D., 69). The conduct of
mankind in neglecting the concerns of immortality reverses all the
elements of wisdom. Men bury themselves in the concerns of time, and
forget that their consciences will have an awful resurrection in
another world. This insensibility is the more unpardonable since God
uses so many means to arouse and to instruct us. Reflect on the
momentous character of life, its shortness, its grand purpose, its
solemn issues; look to the grand vision beyond the shades of death.
+III. In order that we may be delivered from this prevalent
insensibility, let us recall some of the advantages arising from a
frequent contemplation of, and a Scriptural preparation for, the
approach of death.+ 1. _Preparation for death quite changes its
aspect._ To a Christian it would be a dreadful thing not to die; his
would be the case of a child who was never to come of age, of an
exile who was never to go home (H. E. I., 1571-1578; P. D. 667, 669,
747). 2. _Preparation for death exalts the character of life._ It
dispels much of the gloom of life; the bright prospect at the end
irradiates all the intervening way. 3. _In preparing for death we
become imbued with the temper and the tastes of heaven_ (H. E. I.,
1566, 2731-2737).--_Samuel Thodey._