TREAD softly, we enter the chamber of death! It is a spectacle for men and angels; heaven is interested in the scene. The racking cough will soon be over, the labored breathing past, the death-sweat gone from the brow; and, “absent from the body,” the ransomed spirit of this child and servant of God will be “present with the Lord.”
Three score years have run their course since his name was registered in earth’s calendar, more than two score since it was enrolled in heaven as “born again,” and almost from the first moment his burning desire was that others might know his dear Saviour. A man of more than ordinary mental powers, he sought to use them for Christ, and not for self. His time and wealth were not considered as his own. He had known what sorrow and suffering were in an unusual degree, and well knew how to comfort others in sorrow and bereavement, with “the comfort wherewith he had been comforted of God.”
But now all has come to its end—sorrow and joy, watching and waiting, labor and suffering, and the moment of entering into the presence of his Lord has arrived. Has death any terrors for him? Is its sting gone? Listen to what he is saying to the doctor, “Will you please find me a verse in 2nd Epistle of Timothy, 1st chapter, 12th verse,” and he listens to the verse, that had so often stayed and supported him in other days; and again it fills his soul with peace. “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” A few more hours and the watchers around this child of God listen for his last faint whispers. He is going home. “All’s well” are his words, as he enters the presence of Him who loved, and gave Himself for him.
Come now with me to another chamber of death; a near relative of him whom we have just left lies there. He, too, has run his allotted course, the day of his departure is at hand. A fine, stately form, and commanding personal appearance are discernible amidst the decay of nature. He, too, has lived his three-score years, and passed among men as good, upright and moral. In public and private there was no stain upon his character. He had many friends; and many poor and bereaved could testify to his kindness and benevolence; honored and respected by some, admired and envied by others.
Many might say, surely death has no terrors for him; his kind acts, his upright conduct, his position in society, the way he discharged his religious, social, and political duties, will comfort and solace him now. Alas! for such broken reeds. Everything of earth gradually gives way. Eternity with its solemn realities dawns upon his vision, and as he gazes into the future, he sees nothing but a wide waste, a blackness of darkness, a sea without a shore, and he, a ship about to be launched on the vast expanse without rudder, compass, or captain. Listen to the words that escape his dying lips— “I am leaving a certainty for an uncertainty.” No Father’s hand to conduct him through the portals of death. No Saviour’s presence. No home of peace, love, rest, and joy—and why? He had neglected the salvation of his soul.
Oh, my beloved reader, I beseech, I warn you, ere you read another word, to pause and consider. In which chamber of death would your place be found today? Can you say “I know whom I have believed?” Or is the future to you as a dark curtain on which is written the word Uncertainty?
Oh, be warned. Let me point you to Jesus, crucified, risen, ascended. He died on the Cross to put away sin. He is raised and seated on the throne, and the Holy Ghost has given Him the title of “Purger of Sins” —oh, say, are yours purged? Are you washed? —Cleansed?
Can you sing—
“On Christ the solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.”
Or say with one, who, being asked a little while before she departed, on what she was resting— “On the Rock,” adding, “Death can never touch it.”
Do you confess as Peter did, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God?” if so, taught of the Father, it is your privilege to say “Oh Death where is thy sting?” and exultingly add, “Thanks be unto God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Every refuge of lies will fail. None but Christ will avail. Beware lest you should be one among that awful number of whom it is asked, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” Let me beseech you, lovingly and fervently, to weigh well your prospects for Eternity. Are you consciously—savingly, acquainted with Jesus? H. N.