DEATH is a reality, and intense reality usually characterizes those who pass through its portals. The following are the dying statements of two well-known persons, one dying in the gall of bitterness, in the bond of iniquity; the other dying with the blessed knowledge that he, by sovereign grace, was made meet for glory.
Charles IX. of France,
the miserable king, who gave the order for the massacre of the Huguenots, died bathed in blood bursting from his own veins, whilst he exclaimed, “What blood! What murders! I know not where I am. How will all this end? What shall I do? I am lost forever. I know it!”
What a contrast between the foregoing and the last words of
J. G. Bellett,
who, clasping his hands together, while tears flowed down his face, said: “My precious Lord Jesus, Thou knowest how fully I can say with Paul, ‘to depart and to be with Christ is far better.’ Oh! how far better! I do long for it! They come and talk to me of a crown of glory, I bid them cease; of the glories of heaven, I bid them stop. I am not wanting crowns. I have Himself — Himself! I am going to be with Himself! Ah! with the Man of Sychar; with Him who stayed to call Zaccheus; with the Man of John 8; with the Man who hung upon the cross; with the Man who died! Oh! to be with Him before the glories — the crowns — or the kingdoms appear! It is wonderful! — wonderful! With the Man of Sychar alone, the Man of the gate of the City of Nain; and I am going to be with Him forever! Exchange this sad, sad scene, which cast Him out; for His presence! Oh! the Man of Sychar!”