This question was asked by a beloved Christian in the time of weakness, and the following lines answering it were written by her some years before her glorious and triumphant end—an end to the pilgrimage on earth, which, indeed, is the beginning of the great joy which shall forever fill the hearts of the redeemed when at home with the Lord.
“Is it sad to die? Is it sad for the pilgrim, weary and worn with his long journeyings, to lay himself down to rest and to forget his toils, his goal reached, his sufferings over?
“Is it sad for the tempest-tossed mariner to enter his desired haven?
“Is it sad for the little infant, who will not be comforted in a stranger’s arms, to hush its crying and to nestle down on its mother’s loving breast?
“O, no, you will say, such things are full of happiness and joy! Then why, dear Christian reader, do we so often exclaim, when we hear of the death of a believer in the Lord— ‘How sad! how very sad!’
“It is not sad to fall asleep in Christ, to leave this world of sin and sorrow and to enter His presence, where there is fullness of joy, and where no taint or thought of sin can ever defile!
“It is not sad to have done forever with dishonoring the Lord by inconsistencies of walk here!
“It is not sad to go Home, to see Him whom, not having seen, we love—our dear, precious Lord and Saviour; to see Him, and to gaze untiringly upon His loveliness, to behold His smile, and to feel that we shall ever thus see Him, and to know that our happiness will increase and our love ever abound!
“O! Lord Jesus! most adorable, loving precious Saviour, it is not sad to go to Thee!”
“Willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” (2 Cor. 5:8).
“To depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better” (Phil. 1:23).