ye may be
also."

Could we look into that place, as it stands waiting for its occupant
from earth, we should behold sights which would instantly clothe even
death with beauty, and make it seem now, as it will seem then, a blessed
thing to die.

* * * * *

To miss of dying would no doubt be a calamity. Dying will be an
experience to the believer which will be fraught with inestimably good
things; that is, the act of dying, and not merely the being dead. It is
no doubt as necessary to the nature of the soul, to its psychology, its
soul-life, as the changes of the worm, chrysalis, and butterfly, are to
the insect. And thus, as in all other things, where sin abounded, grace
much more abounds, and even death, like a cross, is turned into a
ministration of infinite blessing.

It is not unsuitable for a dying Christian to consider, that he is
compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses, who themselves have
died, and who are watching his departure. We ought to die with such
faith in Jesus, such confidence in God, such confident expectation and
hope, that they will rejoice to see us conquer death. Our last conflict
should be fought in a manner worthy of the company and scenes into which
we are immediately to pass.

We should not anxiously seek to remove entirely from any one, in the
course of his life, his fears with regard to death, except as we may
substitute faith for those fears. God probably intends them now for the
increase of faith. Moreover, when the event of death happens, it will be
mingled with so much mercy as to make the Christian smile at his fears.
The exhortation of the apostle in view of his great discourse of death
and resurrection is noticeable: "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye
steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord;
forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

There are cases in which the clouded faculties, or delirium, prevent
the full enjoyment of a peaceful, happy death. Such cases seem painful
to friends, but the Shepherd knows when it is best to hide the face of a
sheep which he carries through the valley, and that it is sometimes
better for the sheep to pass the valley in the black and dark night,
than when daylight, by revealing the horrors of the place, would excite
fear. All this may safely be left to those hands which spoiled death of
his sting, and to that love which is stronger than death. Wherever, and