ASLEEP IN JESUS.[6]
Asleep in Jesus; blessed sleep,
From which none ever wakes to weep,
A calm and undisturbed repose,
Unbroken by the last of foes.
"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."--Philippians i. 21.
One week ago to-day, and at this hour, we stood in this historic church
over the precious remains of our dear, departed Elder, James Knowles,
so kind, so gentle, so affectionate, so humble, and so meek in his
manners that we greatly miss him in our work for the blessed Master.
Ah! little did we then think that we were to be so speedily gathered
together to pay the last tribute of respect to the memory of his
faithful and loving wife. But God's ways are not our ways, nor His
thoughts as our thoughts. How inexplicable and profoundly mysterious
are His providential arrangements. It hath pleased our kind heavenly
Father to say to our sainted sister, "It is enough, come up higher."
She also is at rest with her Saviour and her husband, to whom she was
so devotedly attached. She was, indeed, a virtuous wife and loving
mother.
"The race appointed she has run,
The combat's o'er, the prize is won."
[6] The substance of a sermon preached by the Rev. Duncan McNeill
Young, in the Allen Street Presbyterian Church, New York,
November 1, 1886, on the occasion of the death of Mrs. James
Knowles, a city missionary who triumphantly departed this life on
October 30, 1886, in the seventy fifth year of her age.
How blessed the change! How rich the reward! How safe from all sin and
sorrow! In yonder "land of pure delight where saints immortal reign."
_What a meeting! What a greeting takes place at the hour of dissolution!_
How pleasing the contemplation. How inspiring to think of our noble
ancestors; our holy ministers and teachers; our fathers and mothers who
led us by the hand to the house of God on the Sabbath, who early taught
us to lisp the ever precious name of Jesus; who are to-day singing the
song of Moses and the Lamb. Let us thank God at this solemn hour, even
amid blinding tears, for pious, praying parents.
Oh, that the Holy Spirit of God may touch our hearts to-day; that we
may more fully realize the greatness and importance of our work, and
that we may understand that this second great loss to this church is
the voice of the God of Israel calling us, by the solemn dispensations
of His providence, to be more zealous in our Saviour's cause. Clarify
our vision just now, O Thou Divine Enlightener, that we may see light
in Thy light.
I truly believe my theme to-day is a gift from the Lord, the God of
Abraham, and is peculiarly appropriate for this solemn scene, and
adapted to the circumstances and special wants of this church and
congregation. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His
saints." The text, I may add, has been graphically illustrated in the
life and labors, as well as in the death of her who now lies before us
in that beautiful casket, covered with so many rich and fragrant
flowers, the gifts of dearly beloved friends.
While I do not believe in eulogizing the dead, yet, nevertheless, I
think, nay, I experimentally know, that great good is derived from
reflection upon the lives of the great, the pure, and the noble ones
who are beyond the flood. Nothing stimulates me so much to increased
activity and aggressiveness in Christian work as the thought of the
numerous servants of the Most High God now in heaven:
"How bright those glorious spirits shine,
Whence all their white array?
How came they to the blissful seats
Of everlasting day?"--"Par." lxvi. 1.
Paul, who uttered the words of our text, was passing through great
suffering when he wrote this epistle to the Church which he planted at
Philippi. He was at this time a prisoner for Christ in the palace of the
imperial city of Rome: for he declares, "That _the things that happened
unto me_, have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel; so
that," he adds, "my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and
in all other places."
There are just two thoughts that we want to try and develop this
afternoon, namely, that conformity to the likeness of Christ in life
brings glorious gain to the Christian at death. Or, in the words of the
great Apostle of the Gentiles, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die
is gain." From the sacred hour that the blessed Jesus met him on his
way to Damascus, to the day of his martyrdom, his continual cry was,
"God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me." "I count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord."
"That man," says the Hebrew bard, "hath perfect blessedness, who not
only refraineth from walking astray, but who delights in the Law of the
Lord." _Lex rex_, was his motto--"The Law is King!" For the Master has
said: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I
am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." He desires to corroborate the
fact that--"Ye are the light of the world"--hence, he adds, "Let your
light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and
glorify your Father which is in heaven." "The city set on a hill cannot
be hid."
The true Christian, then, beholds the humility and majesty of Christ in
defining His and our relation to the law that regulates daily life. The
Gospel of the blessed God and the law conjointly elevates and
spiritualizes humanity. The law is our school-master to lead us to
Christ, hence Paul says, "To be carnally minded is death; but to be
spiritually minded is life and peace. For what the law could not do, in
that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Our loved one's life was emphatically a life of consecration. It was a
life strictly devoted to the cause of her dear Redeemer. "For her to
live was Christ, hence to die was gain." We all know that to consecrate
is to set apart for holy service. Aaron of old was thus unreservedly
laid upon the altar as a living sacrifice for Jehovah. A person thus
set apart receives the unction of the Holy One. It was beautifully
symbolized under the mosaical dispensation.
Moses took the anointing oil and poured it upon the head of Aaron, in
order that he might be sanctified and set apart for the service of God.
And so, when we can truly exclaim with Paul, "I am crucified with
Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the
life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of
God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." It is then we receive the
blessed baptism of the Holy Spirit, and are made meet for the Master's
use. None can rightly live for Christ until they receive this rich and
inestimable blessing. "At that time we are _sealed_ with the Holy Spirit
of promise."
Among the personal property of Sister Knowles were found some crumbs
which fell from the Master's table in the form of forget-me-nots of the
Word of God, by Dr. McDuff, author of "Morning and Night Watches."
Valuable little works which I would earnestly recommend, and which I
have endeavored to put into the hands of many young disciples in my
various fields of labor. I will quote a few of the forget-me-nots, as
they are very comforting in these hours of sorrow and separation. For
instance here are a few of them:
"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I
will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee
with the right hand of my righteousness."--Isa. xli. 10. "Yet will I not
forget thee: Even to your old age _I am He_; and even to hoar hairs will
I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will
deliver you."--Isa. xlvi. 4.
Our dear Sister Knowles corroborated the truthfulness of the above
passages by her last dying words, the last she ever uttered upon earth.
"Once I was young, now I am old, and have never been forsaken."
It is impossible for us to live a truly devoted Christian life without
the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, John said, "I
indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after
me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire." This divine blessing
our dear sister pre-eminently possessed.
This was the reason why Christ, our ever adorable Redeemer and Daysman
was continually about His Father's business. The Prophet Isaiah said
concerning him: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the
Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath
sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the
captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.... To
comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to
give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the
garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be
called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that _He
might be glorified_."
The presence here to-day, in a body, of the "New York Female Bible
Readers' Society," out of respect to the memory of the departed, is a
conclusive evidence of the fact that they recognized her sterling
qualities, and her heroic missionary spirit among the fallen sons and
daughters of Adam in the lower part of this great city. They fully
realize that this church and community have suffered a severe loss in
her removal, and their presence, together with so many elders, and
ministers, deacons, and Sabbath-school workers, give proof that her
life, for over a quarter of a century, during which she incessantly
toiled for Christ, were years of holy and unremitting industry, and
holy consecration in the service of Him whose whole life was one of
self-sacrifice and self-abnegation. "For He came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many."
She was like Christ in this respect. Emptied of self, and was found
like Mary of old sitting at the feet of Jesus, and hearing His word. As
He said, "Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall
find rest unto your souls."
God has wisely ordained that souls are to be saved through human
instrumentality, especially through those whose hearts are in the work.
He hath put the treasure in the earthen vessel that the excellency of
the power may be of God and not of man. Who can estimate the value of a
holy missionary woman's work in this world of sin and sorrow?
Through the power of an indwelling spirit, who can tell of the many
broken hearts healed by the application of the Balm of Gilead. Many
poor Satan-bound souls have had their shackles severed, and joyously
set at liberty by pointing them to the only Redeemer of God's elect,
who by His great atoning work hath paid for them the ransom price; and
many to-day are singing the song of Redeeming love above, who were led
to put their trust in the blessed Jesus by her prayers and religious
instruction. Many a poor Jew, and Jewess, and Roman Catholic, and
Formalist, and Infidel, and swearer, and Sabbath-breaker, were pointed
by her to the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. She
ever displayed great sagacity in every kind of work. She will be
greatly missed in the Tenth Ward of this city.
God grant that as the spirit of Elijah did rest on Elisha as he was
taken up into Heaven, even so may her mantle fall on us who are left
behind. Let us
"With zeal like hers inspired,
Begin the Christian race;
And freed from each encumbering weight,
Her holy footsteps trace."
Krummacher, of Elberfeld, in the valley of Barmen, Prussia, said, "That
Elisha on inheriting this mantle is henceforth called to take the place
of his great Master, and to carry on His work." This singular legacy
was therefore very significant to Elisha. The mantle came flying toward
him heavily laden, but with the commission he received was connected
the encouraging circumstance that it came accompanied with such a
precious memorial of his paternal Master. It was no longer the robe of
his redoubted reformer, but the robe of a blessed heir of Heaven, borne
thither on the wings of the cherubin. This circumstance would tend to
_refresh his spirit in his arduous work_; and, at the same time as
the messenger of peace, who was to announce to the house of Israel,
like the rainbow after the storm, Jehovah's good-will toward men. Oh,
that the remembrance of our ancestors, the great, and the good, and the
holy ones who have gone before would inspire us to go and do likewise!
I remember once standing in the cemetery of Stirling and gazing upon
the monument of two Christian sisters who suffered martyrdom for
Christ, and as I read the inscription on the tombstone, I thought of
how much we were indebted to those who have borne the burden and heat
of the day.
Here is the inscription: "Margaret, Virgin Martyr of the Ocean Wave,
with her like-minded sister, Agnes." Then follows this touching
paragraph: "Love, many waters cannot quench. God saves His chaste,
impearled one! In Covenant true. Oh, Scotia's daughters! _earnest scan_
the Page and prize this flower of Grace, _blood-bought_ for
you."--Psalms ix. xix. The elder and younger sister are exquisitely
sculptured, seated together with an open Bible on their laps, and a lamb
by their side, while an angel is standing behind them gazing intently on
the scene. Who can tell but the departed one gazed upon this very scene
in the days of her sunny childhood, for the Bible was her daily delight.
Ah! dear friends, are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to
minister to them who are heirs of salvation? And are there not many
living martyrs that the world knows nothing of among our Bible Readers
in this city, who are saying as Paul did: "What mean ye to weep and to
break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die
at Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord Jesus."--Acts xxi. 13.
A French gentleman, a Roman Catholic, who lived in the same house as
sister Knowles for several years, told me that he never met a woman so
humble and straightforward as she was in all her deportment.
What was the secret of her power in eliciting this outside testimony?
She had companionship with Jesus. She lived near Him; she heard His
sweet voice saying: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man
hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup
with him, and he with me."
The holy McCheyne, of St. Peter's, Dundee, Scotland, says, concerning
those who walk with Christ on earth, "That they shall walk with Christ
in white, for they are worthy.... Never forget, dear brethren, that you
are to walk with Christ. This walk expresses the most real intimacy
with _Him_. You know it is a mark of real intimacy to admit one to
walk with us in our solitary rambles. Oh, walk with Him now; walk here
with Him, and you shall soon put your head where John put his."
She cultivated a firm and unstaggering confidence in the continued
presence of the Holy Spirit in her heart. McCheyne's directions to his
flock was, "Pray for the Holy Spirit to uphold you, if sensible of your
weakness; then lean upon this proved Comforter.... _Pray much for this
Comforter that He may enlighten your mind, that He may fill your hearts.
Oh, pray for the Spirit of God, for there is no other way of walking to
heaven but by the Spirit. Let Him lead you._ My dear brethren, _in this
way, and in this way alone, will you not defile your garments_." "Thy
Spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness."--Psalm cxliii.
10. She had faith in the power of the Comforter, or helper.
In the midst of many privations, and sometimes when the week's earnings
of her husband was small, and he would say to her on the Saturday
evening, "I have not much money for you to-night," she would cheerfully
reply: "Never mind dearest, the Lord will provide." Jehovah-jireh! was
her watchword all through her life. She would remark, "That would go
further to them with God's blessing, than three times as much without
His blessing."
Earthly comforts and pleasures might fail, but the joys that spring
from personal piety and firm faith in the Comforter's presence failed
her never. She seemed to fully realize the potency of the prophet's
words, "Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be
in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall
yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there
shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will
joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and He
will make my feet like hinds' feet."--Hab. iii. 17-19.
She evidently found in the mighty God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, an
inexhaustible source of strength and comfort and consolation through
her child-like trust in the immutable promise, "I will never leave thee
nor forsake thee."
Conformity to the character of Christ was an essential element in her
every-day life. She had cares, difficulties, and trials, but she cast
them all upon the great burden-bearer, hence prevailing prayer was ever
her chief delight. It is no misplaced and extravagant exaggeration to
say that she breathed the very atmosphere of prayer. This is the wisest
resource at all times. Like Elijah on the summit of Mount Carmel, where
all is peaceful and solitary, alone with God, she made her requests
known unto Him. It was then that the peace of God which passeth all
understanding, kept her heart and mind through Christ Jesus.--Phil. iv.
6-7.
Oh, who can fully estimate the excellency of a devotional temperament?
What evils we are delivered from! What mercies we receive! What
gladness of heart! What light is imparted! What strength God bestows!
For, has He not promised, "Ask, and ye shall receive?" She had no
doubts concerning the faithfulness of her Father to answer prayer. It
was through her importunate pleadings at the throne of grace that her
only son, when quite young, was led to see his need of Jesus. And what
joy was brought into the hearts of those parents when, at the return of
the father from the prayer-meeting, they found their child on his knees
crying for God to have mercy on his soul. Over such scenes as this the
holy angels delight to bend their bright wings and make joyous music in
heaven. (See Luke xv. 10.)
On one occasion during the fratricidal war in this country, when her
boy was fighting before Richmond, some one brought her word that he was
mortally wounded on the battle-field, for they had seen his name in the
newspapers, she calmly and trustfully replied: "Not my son; for I have
made him the subject of earnest prayer, that his young life may be
guarded by God while in his country's battles for continued liberty and
independence." She recognized the truth that piety and patriotism are
inseparably connected.
She seemed to realize that the Saviour was always at her side. She
walked by faith and not by sight. She understood the distinction between
the constituents of faith and the consequences of faith. Chalmers wisely
remarks--that the gratitude, the love, the disposition toward new
obedience; these are not the ingredients of faith; they are but the
effects of it. Observe what follows by making them the ingredients. By
faith we are said to be justified; but if our piety toward God, or our
desire to conform to His law, or any moral characteristic whatever,
shall be regarded as parts and constituents of this faith; then, under
the consciousness of our sad deficiency, we shall never attain to the
solid peace of one who rejoices in a firm sense of his acceptance with
God. But reduce faith to its simplicity, take it in the obvious and
uncompounded sense which _you attach to the mere act of believing,
regard it as purely giving credit to God's testimony, when he sets forth
Christ as a propitiation for our sin, and invites one and all in the
world to cast upon Him the burden of their reliance, and then see how,
by immediate transition, one might enter into peace, and become a
confiding, tranquillized, and happy creature_, simply because convinced
that the most powerful of beings, whom he aforetime regarded as an enemy
and an avenger is pacified toward him, and now makes him a free proffer
of fellowship and forgiveness. It is of the greatest importance to the
secure and perfect establishment of a believer's peace, that it should
be a matter of believing, and believing only. It is also an imperative
necessity that the comfort and confidence should spring from the proper
object of belief, which is the sureness of God's own testimony, and not
from the consciousness of love or gratitude, or any moral quality in
ourselves!
I heard Dr. Andrew Bonar, while preaching in Philadelphia, during a
visit to this country, tell about a dying elder who was asked by
friends who clustered around his couch, "How do you feel, now that the
hour of your departure has come, and you hear the voice that calls you
home? Have you still joy and peace?"
"Oh," he said, "I am not thinking about joy or peace, or my feelings. I
am not thinking about myself at all. I am just lying here _thinking
about Christ_. I am thinking about what He has done and suffered for
me; and what He is doing for me in heaven. Yes, He is 'a hiding place
from the wind.'
"'Rock of ages cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee.'
"That is what we have to do in life and in death. Where can we find
rest and refuge in a dying hour, but by thinking upon and trusting in
_Him_ who is 'the shadow of a great rock in a weary land?'"
Our peace, our joy, our hope, our all in life and in death, are the
results of confidence in Christ. Our dear, departed sister had heard
the sweet voice of Jesus saying, "I am the dark world's light; come
unto me, thy morn shall rise and all thy day be bright." Her trust was
not in this vain and transitory world, though smiling and fair, she
trusted not His joy, for sorrow was there. Her faith had found an
anchor--a sure abiding home; she had a strong consolation because she
had fled for refuge and had laid hold of the hope set before her in the
Gospel.
The sweet and tender and loving words of John were ever present to her
ear: "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son
cleanseth us from all sin." Hence she continually enjoyed four precious
elements of spiritual life and Christian experience; viz., Union with
God, Communion with Christ, Pure Fellowship with the Saints, and
Constant Cleansing by the peace-speaking blood of Jesus--"That blood
which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel."
The application to your hearts of the blood of Jesus by the Holy Spirit
is like the dew upon the new mown grass.
Amid the great rush and roar of business, where men are pressing
against each other on the busy streets, in the race for gold, her mind
was constantly occupied with thoughts relative to the wants and woes of
the sick and the dying. While others were daily seeking their own, not
the things of Christ, she was found bringing children to the
Sabbath-school--reaching out to the hearts of the parents through the
little ones--bringing the blessed Bible to the bosoms of the homes
which had none; circulating tracts and religious literature; visiting
sad scenes of distressing spiritual and domestic destitution. And
whatsoever her hands found to do, she did it quietly and
unostentatiously, and unreservedly, knowing full well, "That there is
no work, nor device, nor knowledge in the grave whither we goeth." She
sweetly rests from her labors, and her works do follow her. And as the
Gospel of the grace of God was in her a well of water, out of the
abundance of her heart, so kind, calm, consistent, and courageous,
there constantly flowed streams of living water of earnest, loving,
prayerful toil in the Master's vineyard.
She gathered daily jewels for the crown of her rejoicing. I have found
in her diary, that this was the aim of her whole life.
Companionship with Christ is constantly manifested by love for the Holy
Scriptures. "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask
what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." The will of Jesus is made
known through His word. When the blessed Master was in Capernaum, His
own city, He declared that it was the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh
profiteth nothing: "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit,
and they are life."--John vi. 63.
There is sunshine and beauty in His words. They are practical
principles for the regulation of life, and a humble, holy walk and
conversation is the product. It is in His word we behold the character
of Jesus. In the Mirror of the glad tidings, we behold His lovely
countenance and are changed into the same image, from glory to glory.
It is no wonder that David exclaimed, "The entrance of Thy word giveth
light." Hence the exhortation of Paul to Timothy, "Preach the Word."
Oh, the intrinsic value of the Word of God. It was because of Christ's
own word that the Samaritans believed on Him, notwithstanding the
prejudice they entertained against the Jews and their religion.
Alas! how many professing Christians make shipwreck of faith because
they neglect to read the Word. Christ is the Word. "This is that bread
which came down from heaven. He that eateth my flesh shall live
forever."
What Matthew Henry says of his father at his funeral, may be said with
reference to the dear one who has just left us for the mansions above.
Let us then, as ever we hope to meet her with joy in the other world,
_follow her with diligence now_. Having begun "in the spirit," let us
not "end in the flesh,"--having laid our hands "on the plough," let us
not "look back," lest our latter end be worse than our beginning.
_Being dead, she yet speaks to us to be loving and helpful to one
another._ Her common and undistinguished love to us all was such that it
could never be said which of us she loved the best, and it speaks to us,
now that she is gone, to "_love one another with a pure heart
fervently_." We know very well that our unity was the joy of her heart
while living, and many a time she hath with us blessed God for it. Let
it, therefore, be to the credit and honor of her family, friends, and
the Church, for I find it was her dying prayer for this church and its
minister, not only that we may be _built up in holiness and comfort_,
but that we may be _continued in brotherly love_, and be _a bundle of
arrows which cannot be broken_.
Now that we have lost her who was wont to pray for us, and to be a
common helper to us, let us pray so much the more one for another, and
be so much the more helpful one to another, especially in the things
that pertain to the kingdom of heaven; and let all our bonds of unity
be strengthened and confirmed, and let it be our constant endeavor,
each of us in our place, to be mutually serviceable to each other's
comfort and welfare, and _jointly serviceable to the glory of God and
to the comfort of the Church_, for Christ loved the Church, and gave
Himself for the Church.
When we unbosom ourselves, He lets His love stream richly and
gloriously into our hearts. From day to day, our sister seemed to
realize how strongly and truly Christ loved the Church, and herself, as
an individual member of it. The sacrificial death of the Saviour was to
her not simply an historical fact, but a living reality. The sweet
peace and pure pleasure she daily enjoyed was the result of His death.
For, "He hath made peace through the blood of His cross." And since He
had made her the happy recipient of His grace, it was her daily delight
to walk in the path of obedience. Christ was to her the door of
salvation, and she went in and out and found pasture, in ministering to
the poor and indigent and dying, and in this line of Christian toil she
possessed a remarkable faculty.
She told me on one occasion, during one of my pastoral visits, that she
visited a dying woman and endeavored to point her to Jesus. And when a
clergyman of the Church of Rome, who happened to be present, was
retiring, she suggested that they should have a word of prayer
together. He replied, "That while he enjoyed her religious
conversation, he could not pray with her, as she did not belong to his
church."
At this remark she was deeply affected, and said, with great emphasis
and deep solemnity: "I thought there was but one fold and one
shepherd."
When she sent around, or rather, came herself for me, to the church on
Friday, the prayer-meeting night, to come and see her dear dying
husband, she seemed to be troubled when I asked him, "Are you still
trusting in Jesus?" as I observed he was rapidly sinking, I put the
question that I might employ his blessed testimony for my own good, and
the good of the congregation. He quickly responded very emphatically in
the affirmative, "Yes! yes!" and I think those were the last audible
words he uttered. But she was troubled because she had such faith in
the consistency of the Christian life of her husband, that she knew
full well that he feared no evil, for Christ was with him.
Oh, how tenderly and lovingly she would step up to his bed-side and
kiss his heated brow. When he became unconscious or rather, when his
speech failed him and he would point to his parched lips to have them
moistened, she would tearfully exclaim, "My dear, dear husband, can you
not speak to me? Have you not a word for Esther? My dear husband, how
can I live without you?"
I endeavored to console her on the sorrowful occasion, until after
midnight, by reading the Scriptures, and prayer, and general
conversation about heavenly things, and more especially the precious
promises of Jesus concerning the many mansions, I remember reading 2
Corinthians, v. 1: "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."
About midnight she became perfectly resigned to the will of God, and
felt that life, even amid affliction, is the gift of God, and is a
valuable endowment.
In this she was like Christ, "For me to live is Christ," seemed to be
her motto to the last. I left the house about two in the morning. I
called again between eight and nine A.M., the same day, after her
husband's death, to see how she was bearing her trouble. But oh, how
changed! Her tears were all dried; and as she sat by the bedside where
her husband suffered his last illness, her countenance wore an
expression of perfect peace and Christian fortitude. Like her Saviour
amid the hoary olives of Gethsemane, she could tranquilly exclaim:
"Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done!"
The first words she uttered when I entered the room were: "My dear
husband has gone to glory." These words were uttered very quietly, and
very solemnly. Ah, little did she think that in just one week and two
hours from that time, she also was to pass away from earth to heaven,
"To see the King in his beauty, and be forever with the Lord."
The Saturday night after her husband's death, she went to the store for
some groceries. It was the usual custom for her husband, when he would
hear the door open, to go down-stairs and carry the basket up for her;
she remarked, when she returned home and experienced his absence for
the first time, "No Papa to come and carry up the basket to-night!" How
quickly she remembered this little act of courtesy and kindness on his
part. "He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful in
much." Gratitude to God and one another for little deeds of kindness is
well-pleasing in His sight.
She fed the hungry and clothed the naked; many a loaf of bread she
carried with her own hands to the necessitous. Many a poor, crying,
shivering, half-clad child was comfortably clothed through her
instrumentality: "He that honoreth Him hath mercy on the poor."--Prov.
xiv. 31. "The poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always."
Shall the Christian's remembrance of these words be overlooked in the
great day of reckoning? Will the dear Lord not recognize even a cup of
cold water given in the name of a disciple? Verily it shall in no wise
lose its reward. To care for the poor is practical Christianity. The
question will not be asked in the great day of account: Did you preach
long, deep, and eloquent sermons? Or offer long and pharisaical
prayers? No. But He will "say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye
blessed." Why? "Inherit the kingdom.... For I was an hungred, and ye
gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger and
ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me:
I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer
Him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or
thirsty, and gave thee drink?... And the King shall answer and say unto
them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of
the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
As Christian workers we have constantly to remember that while we are
justified by our faith here, and now, we will be judged by our works,
yonder.
Henry Law, in "Christ is All," wisely remarks that, "Fruit is the sign
of healthy trees, and so works evidence that we have life." "By their
fruits ye shall know them." "Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth
his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from
him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?"
* * * * * *
TO DIE IS GAIN.
How frail, how short, how uncertain is human life. "Man that is born of
a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a
flower, and is cut down."--Job xiv. 1. "As for man, his days are as
grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind
passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no
more."--Ps. ciii. 15-16.
"All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of
grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away, but
the Word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the Word which by
the Gospel is preached unto you."--1 Pet. i. 24-25.
These very solemn passages of Scripture reveal to us two distinct lines
of thought: First, The mutable; and, secondly, the immutable. If a man
die, shall he live again? Ah, it is here, amid the ravages which death
makes, that we hear Christ's blessed words, "I am the resurrection and
the life; he that believeth on me though he were dead, yet shall he
live."
While it is true that this body must droop and die, and return to dust,
yet death cannot touch the soul. It is immortal, it has been created in
the image of God. He is a spirit, and a spirit is indestructible. The
essence of the soul is spiritual. From the hour of the new birth, the
soul of man begins to ripen for glory. All its powers and capacities
are gradually developed and made meet for the inheritance of the saints
in light.
This preparation for Heaven is the work of the Holy Spirit. By
providences, by sermons, by the word of truth, and by prayer, God
prepares His servants for the heavenly home on high. Looking, then, at
this life as a state of danger, difficulties, and trials--a life of
probation--we must say with Paul, that when the great conflict is over,
"To die is gain." "The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a
good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the
Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day."
But remember he said, _now I am ready to be_ offered.
It is only when we are ready to be offered, that to die will be gain.
Oh, are you ready? Jesus says, "be ye also ready."
There are some here, perhaps, who are still unsaved, unprepared for
death. Oh, if God should call for you to-day, where would your soul go?
You know that God out of Christ is a consuming fire. It will not be
gain for you when you die, unless you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, come to Him while it is the accepted time, and the day of
salvation.
There is no time to be lost in this important matter, for death is upon
our track. While God invites how blest the day. While the Holy Spirit
is speaking and saying, "Prepare to meet thy God." Oh, resist not
entreaties, yield to His power. How is it possible for a soul to be
ready for death, and judgment, and a coming eternity, without
conversion?
"Verily, verily," said Jesus to Nicodemus, "I say unto thee, Except a
man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God." "Except ye be
converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the
Kingdom of Heaven." How is it possible for any to be ready to meet God
in peace unless they are washed in Christ's blood, and clothed in His
spotless and justifying righteousness.
Paul said, "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord."
There are some, however, who do not believe this comforting doctrine.
They debar the Christian from the enjoyments of Heaven during the
intermediate state between the hour of death and the resurrection. This
condition they call the unconscious state of the dead. They are
soul-sleepers, and generally believe in the pernicious error, namely,
the annihilation of the wicked. A pleasing thought no doubt to the
workers of iniquity, as they shall escape the punishment due to their
iniquities. This is about as dangerous a doctrine as the new school
theology of reformatory punishment, namely, that God is so good and so
full of universal benevolence, that He cannot consistently, with His
attribute of mercy, consign His creatures to everlasting punishment. It
is true that God is full of love and tender mercy; but He never appeared
as a merciful God excepting through a mediator. He can only be just, and
the justifier of those alone who believe in Jesus. "Neither is there
salvation in any other, for there is no other name given under Heaven or
among men whereby we can be saved, but by the name of Jesus." To those,
we believe, He is precious at the hour of death. It is then the believer
is ushered into the presence of the King eternal, immortal, and
invisible. In view of the greatness and glory of the transition from
earth to Heaven, the Apostle exclaimed, "I have a desire to depart and
to be with Christ, which is far better." For it is _then_ that we really
begin to live; now we see through a glass darkly; now we know only in
part, but then, oh, what a change, "Beyond the smiling and the weeping."
"Let not your heart be troubled," said Jesus; "in my Father's house are
many mansions, if it were not so I would have told you, I go to prepare
a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come
again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be
also." It is for these mansions we were begotten. "Heirs to an
inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, and fadeth not away."
Sister Knowles had the blest assurance of this Heavenly home, she knew
this assurance was attainable, and on earth she enjoyed it, and now she
is reaping the rich reward, and its innumerable and unutterable
advantages. In her dying hour she could triumphantly exclaim, with
Simeon in the temple, "Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." And, like Moses, her eye was
not dimmed, nor her natural force abated. Oh! the gain, the bliss of
thus dying.
Heaven as our home is worthy our deepest contemplation. "It doth not
yet appear what we shall be." It is a place of perfect rest. Oh, how
comforting is this thought to the poor, way-worn, toiling pilgrim.
Oh, land of rest for thee I sigh!
The important discovery of this land of rest will nerve our arm for the
great conflict of life. It will inspire us to work more earnestly and
more incessantly for Jesus. It will sweeten every bitter cup of trial
and tribulation that we have to encounter here below. It will distil a
desire and a loftiness of aim in life, that we may at last reach the
rest that remains for the people of God. The struggle with inbred sin
will be more easily overcome, and every lust and evil passion will be
completely conquered by keeping the eye steadily fixed on those
glittering mansions,
Where the wicked cease from troubling,
And the weary are at rest.
Christ Himself will administer this rest to the believer in the
Heavenly Kingdom. Just as He is the source of peace and quiet here on
earth, so is He at this moment surrounded with the saints triumphant in
glory, imparting perpetual peace in the paradise of God to all the
bright spirits who loved Him on earth, and kept His commandments.
Yonder they enjoy eternal Sabbathism.
Let us fear, therefore, lest haply a promise being left of entering
into rest, any of you should seem to come short of it through unbelief.
For indeed we have good tidings preached unto us, and we which believe
do enter into that rest.
Alford, in speaking of the rest on earth that resembles the rest of
Heaven, says: "Our Lord does not promise (here below) freedom from toil
or burdens, but rest to the soul." The rest and joy of the Christian
soul is to become like Christ. To the young men, who surrounded her
dying couch, she said: "_Avoid bad company, learn of Christ_; seek to be
like Him, little by little." It is no wonder King David said, "As for me
I will behold Thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I
awake with Thy likeness."
But we are to behold the royal dignity of the Redeemer, and be brought
forth into a large place because He delighted in us. Yes! to die is
gain. Oh! wondrous change: To behold His illimitable power and partake
of His consummate wisdom and knowledge. One thing have I desired of the
Lord, that will I seek after; "that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to
inquire in His temple, for in the time of trouble He shall hide me in
His pavilion. The Christian is secure at death; he has a building of
God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens."
Here we have a continual conflict; but yonder we are made more than
conquerors through Him who loved us. Here we are sinful and
short-sighted; but yonder we shall partake of His perfect holiness and
inexhaustible love and Divine penetration in the Heavenly Kingdom. Yes
to die is infinite gain.
The spiritual enjoyment of the soul in the land of light is
indescribable. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered
into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that
love Him." Yonder you shall behold the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ.
You know this was a portion of the parting prayer of Jesus for His
disciples. He said: "Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast
given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory." There
is but a step between us and it. There is but a thin veil that parts us
from the beatic vision of the blest.
I once entered the beautiful harbor of Cronstadt, in Russia, and I
distinctly remember that the entrance was so narrow and land-locked,
that we could scarcely discern its precise location until we had
suddenly entered it. The passage from earth to Heaven is not unlike the
ending of the voyage of a ship, even although many of them reach the
harbor in a dismantled condition. Many a storm has been encountered,
and while sails have been torn to shreds, yet the gallant bark has
outweathered the gale and has escaped rocks, and quicksands, and
whirlpools of destruction. But now the gale is hushed forever, the
sails are all furled, the anchor is cast out, and she rides securely in
the harbor where storms cannot affright. Glorious port of peace! Oh,
blessed and triumphant entry! To go no more out forever; where the Lamb
which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and lead them unto
living fountains of water, and God Himself shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes.
Beautiful valley of Eden,
Sweet is thy noon-tide calm,
Over the hearts of the weary,
Breathing thy waves of balm.
Home of the pure and blest;
How often amid the wild billows,
I dream of thy rest, sweet rest.
It was the glimpse of this rest beyond the river that lit up the pale
cheek of our dear, dying sister, with seraphic brightness and beauty.
"All my fountains are in thee," said the Psalmist. God is the author of
holiness. In John's vision of Heaven, he describes the four living
creatures, having each of them six wings, round about and within, and
they have no rest day and night, saying, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God
Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come."
The great object therefore of the Gospel of the blessed God is to
transform us into the Divine image. Another of our sister's dying
utterances was very forcible, "_Now I have got to the edge of the
river._"
"Only just across the river,
Over on the other side."
We all with open face beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord,
are changed into the same image.
It is thus God's people become meet for the holy inheritance. Here we
have to cry out, "Oh, wretched man, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death;" yonder the Spirit's work has gloriously triumphed. The
believer's holiness is effectually accomplished in Heaven. Blessed are
they that wash their robes, that they may have the right to come to the
tree of life and may enter in by the pearly gates into the city.
Heaven is called the land of light. What is light? "Hail, holy light,
offspring of Heaven's first-born." Light is pure. "God is light, and in
Him is no darkness at all. Darkness, in God's Word, is an emblem of
sin. They love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are
evil, and every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to
the light, lest his deeds should be reproved."--John iii. 19-20.
The more we increase in the likeness of God, the greater and stronger
will our light shine in this dark world, and the more will we enjoy
basking in the sunshine of the light of His countenance. We are
partakers _now_ of the Divine nature, but in Heaven we shall continually
walk before Him who is the enlightener and the light. Oh, the gain, the
bliss of dying! For we shall see His face and His name shall be in our
foreheads.
Paul's prayer for the church at Colosse was "that they might be filled
with the knowledge of His will, increasing in the knowledge of God,
giving thanks unto the Father, who made us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in light."--Col. i. 12.
Oh, that a view of the pure, and the great, and the good ones around
the throne may be as a golden chain to bind our hearts to that home
beyond the skies, where there is no night, and they need no candle,
neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light, and they
shall reign forever and ever.--Rev. xxii. 5.
Dearly beloved, this is the "Night of Weeping;" but oh, remember, that
it is written in His Holy Word that God shall wipe away all tears from
their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor
crying, neither shall there be any more pain.
As we stand by the bedside of our loved ones, and watch them wasting
away with disease, and as we behold their love, their patience, and
Christian fortitude, we think of earth's bitter trials and earthly
relationship, and of the strong tie that binds heart to heart. How
touching the parting words to her only son she so tenderly loved,
"_Be faithful, humble, meek, and constantly keep at the Master's
feet, until He calls you up higher. Be kind and gentle to your sister
Esther._" To her Pastor she said: "Preach the Gospel uncolored!" We
look upon the sinking form of a dear wife and mother, or brother, or
sister, or husband, or friend, and as we sadly muse upon the fact that
we held sweet counsel together and walked to the House of God in
company; and we softly whisper to the physician is there no hope of
recovery? Can you not save that young and precious life, so dear to us,
so gentle, so loving, so kind, so sympathetic, so hopeful? And as in
response to our inquiry, we receive the look of pity, and the sorrowful
shake of the head, it is then, in our deepest agony, amid blinding
tears, and hearts almost crushed to despair, we turn to our great
Father above, and we ask, why must we part? Oh, God, can you not spare
him? How can I live without him?
Providential bereavements are sad scenes in life, for the scythe of
death stops not to ask if they be sweet and precious to some fond wife,
or mother, or brother, who knows? whom their heart chose. On! on! he
pursues his desolating work, amid their sighs, their cries, and tears.
But beloved, there is no tearing of heart from heart in Heaven. There
is no death there; there is no sorrow there; there is no sin there. I
often think of the words of the Apostle as peculiarly appropriate to us
in the hour of sad bereavement: "These light afflictions are but for a
moment, but they work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory."
I have had persons tell me when God has suddenly removed loved ones
from their midst, that God had forsaken them, that He had forgotten to
be gracious. But ah, to such let me say that the Lord loveth whom He
chasteneth. God is love. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the
Lord pitieth them that fear Him.
But what is the object God has in view in thus breaking the family
circle by death? It is that our attention may be attracted to the
saints above, and that we may by faith behold the beauties of the
Celestial city.
You know, David says, "It was good for me that I was afflicted; before
I was afflicted, I went astray." We not unfrequently forget that this
is not our home. But that we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
God has to put us in remembrance of it. Beautiful as this world is,
there is a fairer and brighter, and infinitely more lovely world above
our heads. Lovely as human friendships and fellowships are here below,
what are they in comparison to the felicitous condition of society in
heaven?
"I would not live alway, I ask not to stay,
Where storm after storm rises dark o'er the way."
There are no estranged feelings in heaven. There are no
misunderstandings there. No sickness there. All, all is peace and joy
and love!
Our faith in God, and in the existence of Heaven, and the possibilities
of the future life, can enable us to triumph over the trials and
bereavements in this vale of tears.
Dr. Guthrie asks: "Why should we not lie as calmly in the arms of God's
Providence, as we lay in infancy on a mother's breast? Having an
ever-living, an everlasting, an ever-loving Father in God, how may we
welcome _all_ providences, sweetly submissive to the will of God. Shall
it not fare with us as with the pliant reeds that love the hollows and
fringe the margin of the lake, and bending to the blast, _not resisting
it_, raise their heads anew, unharmed by the storm that has snapped
the mountain's pine and rent the hearts of oaks asunder." "All things
work together for good to them that love God; them who are the called
according to His purpose."
When John was in the spirit on the Lord's Day, he heard a great voice
saying, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto
the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden
manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name
written, which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it."
How can we best overcome the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye,
and the pride of life but by deep and continued meditation on the
blessed change that takes place at the hour of death. The shadows of
earth are instantly dispelled when we set our affections on things
above.
"Who are these arrayed in white robes, and whence came they? These are
they who have come out of great tribulation, and have washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." I remember once
standing at the grave of Richard Cameron, in Ayrs Moss, and as I read
the names of other martyrs engraved on the tomb-stone, I thought of the
general assembly of the Church of the first-born in Heaven, and as I
read God's Word there and sang a sweet Psalm of praise to Jehovah, and
offered a prayer to the Father of lights, the God of Israel, I thought
of the prayer of Peden, the prophet, as he sat on Cameron's grave.
Lifting up his eyes steadfastly to Heaven, he prayed: "Oh, to be wi'
Ritchie!"
"Often at the shades of evening,
When I sit me down to rest,
One by one, I count them over,
They who are in glory blest."
Dearly beloved, I have a _Ritchie_[7] in Heaven, for I have recently
learned of the death of the spiritual guide of my youth, who, in years
gone by, at the close of a cottage prayer-meeting, requested me, for the
first time in my life, to speak a word for Jesus. Pulling a flower from
the hill-side, he said as he held it up, "I can see God in that gowan."
Taking me to his room, he said, "This is my study; these are my books, I
am going to be a minister of the Gospel, and then go to China."
[7] The late Rev. Hugh Ritchie, of Formosa, China.
Handing me a neat, little, precious volume, he said, "Take this book
and study it, and commence speaking for Jesus, and help me in my
meetings." Surely to such to die is gain.
Who; who, would live alway away from his God--away from yonder Heaven,
that blissful abode where the noontide of glory eternally reigns, and
the smile of the Lord is the feast of the soul?
Dearly beloved, we may well ask, "Who are these arrayed in white
robes?" Oh, what celebrated personages are above! The prophets, the
apostles, the reformers, and the martyrs of Scotland are there. For in
a dream of the night I was wafted away to the moorland and moss, where
the martyrs lay. When the minister's home was the mountain and flood.
When they dared not worship God in daylight. Only at the dead of night,
when the wintry winds raved fierce, and the thunder-peal compelled the
men of blood to crouch within their den. Then the faithful few--true
followers of the blessed Jesus--would venture forth to some deep dell
by the rock o'er canopied; then, amid the glare of sheeted lightning,
those men of God would open the sacred Book and words of comfort speak.
Ah, it cost something to be a Christian in those days, when from the
high foaming crest of Solway to the smoothly polished breast of Loch
Katrine, not a river nor a lake but has swelled with the life's tide of
religious freedom. From the bonnie highland heather of her lofty
summits to the modest gowan on the lea, not a flower but has blushed
with the martyr's blood. But, beloved, the blood of the martyrs was the
seed of the Church. What holy, loving lessons does God teach us by the
history of the true Church, and a thoroughly consecrated
people--lessons of love, hope, fortitude, and long-suffering!
"Oh, Jesus, our Master, command to beat faster
These weary life-pulses that bring us to Thee."
Our dear departed sister had the true missionary spirit. She feared not
the things she was called on to suffer for Christ in her great work in
this city. Let us who are left behind catch her magnanimous and heroic
disposition in working for the blessed Jesus. Oh, that the spirit of our
noble ancestry might come upon us! Oh, that the Holy Spirit of God may
enter into all our hearts to-day, that we may be more humble, more
loving, more zealous, more sympathetic, and more sincere in our toil for
Christ and His Church; _then to die will be gain!_ and to Him shall be
all the glory, world without end. Amen.