'I am ready to be offered,' says the Apostle--to be _poured out_, as a
libation. And again, 'If I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of
your faith, I rejoice with you all.' And so may
'Death the endless mercies seal,
And make the sacrifice complete.'
It may become not a reluctant being dragged out of life whilst we cling
to it with both our hands. It may be not a reluctant yielding to
necessity, but a religious act, in which a man resignedly and trustfully
and gratefully yields himself to God; and says, 'Father! into Thy hands
I commit my spirit.'
Ah! brethren, is not that a better way to die than to be like some poor
wretch in a stream, that clutches at some unfixed support on the bank,
and is whirled away down, fiercely resisting and helpless? We may thus
make our last act an act of devotion, and go within the veil as priests
bearing in our hands the last of our sacrifices. The sacrifice of death
will only be offered when a life of sacrifice has preceded it. And if
you and I, moved by the mercies of God, yield ourselves living
sacrifices, using our lips for His praise and our possessions for man's
help, then we may die as the Apostle expected to do, and feel that by
Christ Jesus even death becomes 'an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice
acceptable, well-pleasing unto God.'