“OH, my poor soul! Oh, my poor soul!” was the lament expressed by one struck down with a painful illness, which soon ended in his death.
I knew the man.
In life and health, disregard for the eternal welfare of his immortal soul was apparent.
Yet how real do things appear when we are closely pressed by death! Pain of body is racking, but now concern for the soul is uppermost. It is not, "Oh, my poor body!” but, " Oh, my poor soul!
Men live (and die, too) as though God had never said, “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mark 8:36, 3736For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? 37Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8:36‑37)).
It is recorded of William Pitt, the great statesman a hundred and fifty years ago, that he said at the end of his life, “I fear I have neglected prayer too much to make it available on a death-bed.”
A certain notorious character could say, “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his" (Num. 23:1010Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his! (Numbers 23:10)). Yes, but be it borne in mind that the individual who expressed this pious wish died in fact the death of the unrighteous. His “last end" was that of one who wickedly “loved the wages of unrighteousness," and who met his death among the enemies of the Lord (see Num. 31:88And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword. (Numbers 31:8)).
The longest earthly life is short compared with life hereafter. Yes, reader, be assured there is a life after this.
Dr. Paulus, a professor of literature, entertained atheistic opinions. He was particularly strong in denying the immortality of the soul; and when his final illness began he declared that he was about to die.
In this cheerless conviction he calmly awaited the closing scene.
When the fatal moment came, he lay in a speechless stupor. But at the last, suddenly lifting his eyes upwards, as though seeing something invisible to others, and attempting to raise himself in his bed, he exclaimed:
“THERE IS A LIFE AFTER THIS.”
He then fell back a corpse.
The end of the believer in Christ is peace.
It is true of such that they have not to be occupied about themselves or their sins. On the contrary, they are thinking of their Saviour and of others. The beloved John Bellett, in his last hours on earth, rejoiced in the prospect of seeing “the Man of Sychar," as he was wont to speak of the Lord Jesus (see John 4).
And how beautiful is the account given us of the first Christian martyr, Stephen, in Acts 7:59, 6059And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:59‑60)! "I see," said he, “the Son of man standing on the right hand of God "; and he passed into eternity with prayers for his murderers on his lips.
My reader, let it be yours to believe in Christ Jesus; then at the approach of death you will rejoice to know that " to be absent from the body "will be" to be present with the Lord," who loved and redeemed you at the cost of His own life's blood.
W. R. C.