O you see anything lacking in this imperial show? "asked one citizen of another in the midst of the splendors of a Roman festival.
“Yes," replied the other," it lacks permanence.”
The same must be said of every form of happiness that the world can offer. The brightest joys of earth are darkened by the shadow of this fact: they will have an end.
This must be so, for the simple reason that the persons to whom the enjoyment pertains have notice to quit. They belong to a race of dying men. The most long-lived is but a brief sojourner in a land that will soon know him no more.
No skeptic or agnostic can call in question the fact that death is here. No kingly power can hold it in check. Fool and philosopher, monarch and menial, old and young, fall in turn before its onslaught.
Long years ago a young nobleman determined to "turn religious," and, after the fashion of those days, sought admission to the famous monastery of Bernard of Clairvaux. His father, enraged at his action, threatened to fire the building at each corner and burn it to the ground, if his son did not return. At length, after much pleading in vain, the young man said he would consent to return on one condition.
“Tell me what your desire is, and you shall have it," said his father.
His son replied: "In your domains there prevails a very ancient custom: if it were not in vogue I would settle there willingly.”
The old man, ready to do anything to regain his son, swore by all that he held dear to abolish the custom, ancient though it was, if he would consent to come back with him.
“Well, my father," said the young man, "the custom to which I object is that the young die as well as the old. Till this custom ceases, I will not return to your domains.”
Well might the young nobleman wish to fly from the country where such a custom held sway! But how vain the desire! No monastery walls could shelter him from death! He might, with as much reason, have tried to fly from his own shadow!
Reader, this same custom prevails in the town or village where you live. Nor can you discover a corner on earth where the custom of dying does not exist. You may choose for your abode the town with the lowest death-rate in the land; you may regulate your diet and habits in accordance with the latest teachings of science; but you cannot shut your eyes to the fact that death will one day knock at your door, and that you will have no means of preventing its entrance.
“An unpleasant thought!" you exclaim. Most men find it so. When Louis XIV asked what a certain building was which he saw from his palace windows, one of his courtiers replied: “Sire, that is the Church of St. Denis, where your royal ancestors lie buried.”
The king immediately gave orders for another palace to be planned with an entirely different outlook. He could not endure to live in sight of an object that reminded him of his frailty.
Does it not strike you, reader, that what is most urgently needed by our death-stricken race is a refuge, which death can never touch, and where joy does not lack permanence?
Thank God, there is such a spot. It may be described and summed up in a word— CHRIST. The Son of God is no stranger to death. He has tasted to the full its bitterness. But because of Who and What He is, He triumphed over its power. The life which He lives to-day is altogether beyond the range of death. The wonder of it all is that it has been made possible for others to live in that life of His! His death has opened the way for His risen life to be shared by countless thousands. And it is a fact that at this moment there are multitudes on earth upon whom death has no power. Their sojourn here may be at any moment cut short. Their bodies may be laid temporarily in the grave "until He come." But already they have commenced to live a life which is eternal, which does not belong to this world at all, and upon which death can never intrude.
Happy people! Their joy does not lack permanence. They no longer belong to the country where the custom of dying prevails! They can gaze upon mausoleums and graveyards without a qualm of fear striking their hearts.
This blissful way of life is open to you. In Christ, if you will come to Him, you will meet a Deliverer from the reign of death, and One who will introduce you into God's world of life and glory, and unceasing joy.
Would you know more of this? Then take your Bible. Read Heb. 2:14, 1514Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Hebrews 2:14‑15); 2 Cor. 5:14, 1514For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. (2 Corinthians 5:14‑15);
John 5:24, 2524Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. 25Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. (John 5:24‑25).