Grace Gems

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Side by side they lie in the dust, and worms cover them both!

(William Nicholson, "Approaching Mortality!" 1862)

"Only a few years will pass, before I go on the journey of no return." Job 16:22

Death is a great journey--it is the last journey we shall ever take!

The sun rises daily, and we think little of it. Just so, the frequency and commonness of death, causes it to be little thought of. Every day, men go to their long home, and the mourners go about the street.

While death is gloomy and melancholy to the man of pleasure, to the man overwhelmed with business, and to the devotee of mammon--it is nevertheless sometimes regarded as a welcome messenger by the afflicted, and those who possess a good hope through grace, Job 19:25.

Death is full of solemn import.

What is death?
It is forever leaving the present scene of existence--it is the cessation of existence here on earth.
The lungs no longer heave;
the heart stops beating;
the blood ceases to flow and congeals;
the tongue is silent;
the hand forgets its skill;
the whole body becomes motionless, pale, and ghastly!

Death is the separation of body and soul.

Death is the dissolution of every relative and social tie, however tender and endeared.

Death is the cessation of all human pursuits, and the relinquishment of all human possessions.

Death is a journey that must be performed alone.

Death is a journey that must be taken by all. "Death has passed upon all men, for all have sinned." Romans 5:12. It is in the grave, where the rich and the poor meet together; kings as well as subjects, philosophers as well as fools.

A century removes all the inhabitants of the globe to the silent grave.
All who now live, in one hundred years to come, will be no more!

Death is unavoidable!

Death is an established fact, by God's inviolable decree:
"Dust you are--and to dust you shall return!"
"It is appointed unto men once to die--and after that the judgment!"

Death is a fact characterized by the greatest uncertainty.

Great God! Amid what a mass of perils do we live! A grain may suffocate--a crumb may stop the springs of life! A breath, a cough, a sigh--may prostrate all our vital powers, and fit us for the worms! So various, too, the texture of our bodies, so fine the mechanism, so complex the structure--that every motion has its risk! And all our hours--our very moments, are beset with hazards, perils, fears, and ambushed ills!

What then is life? A bubble that is blown for death to burst!!!

"Man knows not his time when his hour may come" etc., Ecclesiastes 9:12. "Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes!" James 4:14.

Death may invade us at a period apparently the most unlikely, when we are not at all prepared for it.

It may come in the spring of life--and mar its strength and vigor and beauty, etc. "One man dies in full vigor, completely secure and at ease, his body well nourished, his bones rich with marrow. Another man dies in bitterness of soul, never having enjoyed anything good. Side by side they lie in the dust, and worms cover them both!" Job 21:23-26

Death may come . . .
to the place of business,
to the hall of pleasure,
to the couch of sensual indulgence, etc., etc.

It may come suddenly, in a moment--or it may come by protracted disease.

"And I'll say to myself: 'You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry!'
But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'" Luke 12:19-20

Death is an event followed by vastly solemn results. To the individual himself, death . . .
ends his probation,
is the departure of his soul into eternity,
is the apprehension of it either by demons or angels,
is the transmission of it to Heaven or to perdition.

"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hell, where he was in torment . . ." Luke 16:22-23

Death ends all the conflicts and trials and sorrows of the righteous.
Death is the commencement of all the woes of the wicked.

Death is a journey from which there will be no return. "But now he is dead; can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." 2 Samuel 12:23.
In vain we linger by the corpse--the countenance will no more smile upon us.
In vain we go to the grave--it is deaf to our cries, it will not give back its trust.

"But man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more. As water disappears from the sea or a riverbed becomes parched and dry--so man lies down and does not rise." Job 14

The fact of death should awaken the soul to reflection. In the midst of danger, we have been sleeping. While the darts of mortality are flying around us, we are calculating on future pleasures, pursuits, plans, life, etc., etc. "It is high time to awake out of sleep!"

Death may come as a thief in the night! Do not be taken by surprise when the Bridegroom comes. When the chariots of God come down, and Christ says, by death, "Come up hither!"--be ready!

The fact of death should animate the saint. "Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." He shall soon be free from sin and suffering--soon see God and Heaven, and realize the glorious raptures of eternity!

Death teaches the value of the Gospel--which is the sovereign remedy for death, "Our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel!" 2 Timothy 1:10

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King Alphonso's folly!

(Letters of John Newton)

King Alphonso of Portugal said that if God had consulted him at the creation, about the placements and motions of the planets and stars, etc.--that he would have contrived them better than they are. I suppose the poor man took the schemes and dreams of the astronomers of his day--to be an accurate representation of the solar system.

It sounds, however, like a blasphemous speech in our ears. We take it for granted that the Sun, the Moon, planets, and the stars are exactly where they should be--and move just as they ought.

But if we are content that the Lord should manage the heavenly bodies without our assistance--we are ready enough to advise Him how He should manage of our insignificant selves! We think we could point at twenty things in our situation which might be mended; and that we would serve Him much better than we do--if we were but at liberty to choose where and how we would be thus placed.

Thus we rightly censure King Alphonso's folly--without being aware that the thoughts that we sometimes indulge, are no less vain and arrogant than his! We might with as much reason, offer to assist God in the government of the universe--as in the direction of our own paltry concerns!

"All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as He pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back His hand or say to Him: What have You done?" Daniel 4:35

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Whatever we have over-loved

(John Flavel)

Whatever we have over-loved, idolized, and leaned upon--God has from time to time broken it, and made us to see the vanity of it. We find that the readiest course to be rid of our comforts--is to set our hearts inordinately upon them!

"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me;
 anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me;
 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow Me, is not worthy of Me!"
Matthew 10:37-38

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Being cast like a weed on the bewildering stream!

(John MacDuff, "Ripples in the Twilight" 1885)

WHAT! Resign the reins of universal empire . . .
  to blind fate!
  to accident!
  to destiny!
  to chance!

Who could endure the thought of being cast like a weed on the bewildering stream, in its tortuous course, at the mercy of every current!

Oh! there is a God who reigns on high, "All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. And He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay His hand or say to Him: What are You doing?" Daniel 4:35

"The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad!" Psalm 97:1

"Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns!" Revelation 19:6

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These smaller trials which God prepares for us

(Hannah More, "Practical Piety")

We must trace the hand of our Heavenly Father in those daily little disappointments, the hourly vexations which occur even in the most prosperous circumstances, and which are inseparable from the condition of sinful humanity.

We must trace that same beneficent hand, secretly at work for our purification and our correction . . .
 in  the imperfections and unpleasantness of those around us,
 in the peevishness of those with whom we transact business, and
 in those interruptions which break in upon our favorite engagements.

We are perhaps too much addicted to our innocent delights, or we are too fond of our leisure. A check then becomes necessary, but it is given in a most imperceptible way. The divine hand that gives it is unseen, is unsuspected--yet it is the same gracious hand which directs the more important events of life!

Some annoying interruption breaks in on our projected privacy, and calls us to a sacrifice of our inclination--to a renunciation of our own will.

Let us cheerfully bear and diligently receive these smaller trials which God prepares for us.

Submission .  . .
  to a cross which He inflicts,
  to a disappointment which He sends,
  to a contradiction of our self love which He appoints--
is a far better exercise than great penances of our own choosing.

Perpetual conquests over impatience, ill-temper and self-will, indicate a better spirit than any self-imposed mortifications.

By these incessant tests of our temper, God cultivates the more difficult virtues of . . .
   humility,
   resignation,
   forbearance,
   temperance,
   forgiveness,
   and patience.

"Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble." 1 Peter 3:8

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Ever gliding down the stream of time into the ocean of eternity!

(William Nicholson, "Prayer for Divine Mercy" 1862)

"We are consumed by Your anger and terrified by Your indignation. You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence!" Psalm 90:7-8

Man is here recognized as a sinner in his relationship to . . .
  the Divine Being,
  his Creator,
  his Benefactor,
  his Governor and Lawgiver.
By his "iniquities" and his "secret sins," he is represented as a transgressor of that law which is "holy, just, and good." Man has . . .
  resisted God's authority,
  despised His counsels, and
  followed the devices of his own corrupt heart.
Having acted thus, he is exposed to the Divine displeasure, and to the penalty denounced against rebellious men, "We are consumed by Your anger and terrified by Your indignation!"

Man is . . .
guilty--and needs pardon;
condemned--and needs justification;
impure--and needs righteousness and holiness;
a wanderer, an outcast--and needs reconciliation and adoption;
an heir of wrath, exposed to eternal perdition--and needs salvation and a title to Heaven.

Man is frail and mortal. This is the state of all, and it is the fruit of sin. Look at your frail, decaying body . . .
  how it sickens and languishes;
  how it is pained and agonized;
  how its bloom and its strength depart;
  how it withers and dies, and "says to corruption--you are my father; and to the worm--you are my mother!" Job 17:14. All this has been produced by sin.

Most affecting representations of man's frailty and mortality are given by Moses in the context of Psalm 90. His life is a dying one, "You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning--though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered!" verses 5-6

Man is destined to return to dust, "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are--and to dust you will return." Genesis 3:19. "Remember Him, before . . . the dust returns to the ground it came from." Ecclesiastes 12:6-7

"You carry them away as with a flood"--ever gliding down the stream of time into the ocean of eternity! The flood of mortality is ever flowing, and man is carried away with it--carried with it surely and irresistibly.

Time passes unobserved by men (they are as asleep, verse 5), as it does with people asleep, and dreaming of happiness and security--and when it is over, it is as nothing!

Man's life is short and transient, "The length of our days is seventy years--or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away!" Psalm 90:10

Man resembles the "grass," which in the morning grows up and flourishes in its beautiful greenness, but which in the evening is cut down, and instantly withers, changes its color, and loses all its beauty. So it will be with man, "You always overpower them, and they pass from the scene. You disfigure them in death and send them away!" Job 14:20

Come, then, O man, and behold your picture! You are a sinner, and perdition is your prospect--the blackness of darkness forever! You are "like grass." This is the emblem of your life, and of all your works! "Grass!" Not the strong and enduring tree of the forest; not even the shrub--but "grass," which flourishes in the morning, and by evening it is dry and withered.

"All the glory of man," all that beautifies and adorns his life, all that is beauty to the eye, or gives pleasure to the senses--is still more frail; it does not endure the life of the short-lived plant, which arrays itself in its beauty. "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall." 1 Peter 1:24

How short-lived is the glory of your physical nature! Youth, beauty, strength, intellect, energy--are fast failing you! The wind of sickness, or cares, or toil, or old age--will pass over them, and they will be entirely gone! A frost shall lay the flower in the dust--or a blight may leave its withered remains to shiver on the stem--just so, with frail man!

Observe the flowers which remind us most of the bloom of Eden, and which shed their delightful fragrance on the path of life:
  the happy social hearth;
  the friendships founded on virtue;
  the hallowed domestic relationships;
  the fellowship of saints.
Separation by death changes all these scenes--loneliness and solitude follow.

Behold the cemeteries around you--they cover the generations of short-lived men.

Like the herbage of the season, life and death have trodden in each other's footsteps, and the career of each goes on. Death is at the heels of life, cutting down its present plans, and sternly trampling into dust its constant but vain creations. "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall." 1 Peter 1:24

"It is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes judgment!" Hebrews 9:27

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These eternal fountains!

(William Nicholson, 1862)

"For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their Shepherd.
 He will lead them to springs of living water.
 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes!" Revelation 7:17

"God will wipe away every tear from their eyes!" Numerous are the sources of sorrow here on earth--but God will dry them all up in Heaven. There will be no mourning Christian to drop tears there, "for all sorrow and sighing shall flee away!" There is nothing in that happy residence to distress or annoy.

Jeremiah will utter no plaintive language there.
Transgressors will grieve the holy no more.
Bartimeus is the poor blind beggar no more.
Lazarus's sores have been replaced by immortal beauty.
The weeping widow is no longer crushed to the dust by the heavy hand of poverty.
The orphan child is no longer forsaken and homeless.
Pinching poverty and wasting disease are unknown.
The distressing complaint will never accost the ear, "I am sick!"
The sting of death and the terrors of the grave will never present themselves there.
There are no graves in the land of eternal life.
There is no death of friends there.
Martha and Mary go to no beloved brother's grave to weep.

Yonder, there is . . .
   no deceitful heart,
   no secret foe,
   no fascinating world,
   no artful Satan!

The former things have passed away, and the era of immortality has arrived.

God shall give them everything calculated to secure, continue, and increase their happiness. "He will lead them to springs of living water," which shall never be exhausted. A spring is termed living water, because constantly bubbling up, and running on. These "springs of living water" indicate endless sources of happiness, which Christ will supply to His redeemed people from His own infinite plenitude.

These eternal fountains will make an infinite variety for the enjoyments of the blessed. There will be no sameness, and therefore no weariness to the spirit. Every moment will open a new source of pleasure. And as God is infinite, so His attributes are infinite, and throughout infinity more and more of those attributes will be unveiled--and the discovery of each will be a new fountain of enjoyment. These sources will be ever-opening through all eternity--and yet, through all eternity, there will still remain, in the absolute perfections of the Godhead, an infinity of them still to be opened!

Such bliss is enough to make the Christian say, "I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far!" Philippians 1:23

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The wiles of the devil!

(William Nicholson, "The Christian Warfare!" 1862)

"Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil!" Ephesians 6:11

"That Satan will not outsmart us--for we are familiar with his evil schemes!" 2 Corinthians 2:11

How formidable are these foes, Satan and his allies! What would become of the saint, if unsupported by Divine grace and Omnipotence!

Satan is called . . .
Abaddon and Apollyon--the destroyer,
the angel of the bottomless pit,
the god of this world,
our adversary,
the accuser of the brethren,
a deceiver who leads the whole world astray,
an antichrist,
a liar, and the father of lies,
a murderer from the beginning,
Beelzebub, Belial and Lucifer,
a great leviathan,
an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns,
the ancient serpent,
a cruel tormentor,
a poisonous adder,
a ravaging wolf,
a roaring lion, seeking those who he may devour!

We are told of the "wiles of the Devil"--who hides his evil designs, and falls upon us when we least expect it.

He is invisible--his influence is like the silent pestilence which walks in darkness.

He studies our propensities, and adapts his temptations to them.

Though invisible, he is near us. The safety of a nation menaced by an enemy often depends on his being kept at a distance. But this enemy is within our borders, and there is no other resource left, but to struggle for our life!

He works himself, and he employs heinous instruments. His knowledge of evil and temptations is derived from the experience of 6,000 years. And what is worse, he has a strong party within us, which he incessantly labors to excite to rebellion!

How fearful is the warfare! But it is consolatory to know that these demonic powers, as great as they confessedly are--are limited, controlled, overruled by Jehovah, who will "bruise Satan under our feet shortly!"

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The application may be made to all departments of life

(J.R. Miller, "Evening Thoughts" 1907)

"What are you doing more than others?" Matthew 5:47

It is not enough for us to be as good as others. We are not to take any other person as our model, or anyone's life as our standard. The only model life is Jesus Christ's! He came to show us how to live.

It is not enough either for Christian people to live just as well as unbelievers live. Anybody may be kind to those they like--but the Christian must be kind to people he does not like! What are you doing more than others--when you are only kind to those who are kind to you?

The application may be made to all departments of life.
The Christian carpenter should do better carpentering than the man who is not a Christian.
The Christian plumber should do more careful and conscientious plumbing than the plumber who does not love Christ.
The Christian businessman should do business more honestly than the businessman who does not know Christ.
The Christian home should be sweeter, kindlier, happier in every way--than the home where Christ is not a guest.

Always the question comes to us, "What are you doing more than others?"

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Can God, who is infinitely pure, love such a being?

(William Nicholson, "Gratitude for Spiritual Deliverance!" 1862)

All men by nature, are depraved. The heart is corrupt--an impure fountain, from which emanate the most filthy and deadly streams of action! "The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked!" Jeremiah 17:9.
The conscience is defiled,
the understanding is darkened,
the judgment is perverted,
the whole soul is alienated from God, and opposed to His righteous will.

Can God, who is infinitely pure, love such a being? No!

Sinful man is the subject of God's righteous displeasure. God is said to be "angry with the wicked every day." Psalm 7:11. "The wicked and the one who loves violence, His soul hates!" Psalm 11:5.

It is awful to live in the presence of the holy, omnipotent God who is constantly incensed against us!

Wrath, when describing the Divine Being, does not signify anything like an evil passion, as it commonly does among men. Such terms are employed to express His righteous displeasure against sin. He hates it with a perfect hatred! It is an abominable thing in His sight. The wrath of God, the anger of God, the fury of God, etc., cannot be otherwise expressed in human language, than by an appeal to our own passions, thus condescending to our weakness and ignorance.

God hates sin! For a proof of it, look to Gethsemane--look to Calvary! Behold God angry with Christ, the Substitute of man! Behold that . . .
  unparalleled agony of His soul,
  winepress of wrath, how it crushes Him,
  that baptism of blood, how overwhelming,
  those arrows of divine wrath, how piercing,
  that flaming sword of justice, how it smites Him,
  that curse of wrath, how it puts Him to an accursed death! "Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, against the Man who is close to Me! Strike the Shepherd!" Zechariah 13:7

"God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God!" 2 Corinthians 5:21

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A man's head on a beast's shoulders!

(William Gurnall)

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in Heaven!" Matthew 7:21

An orthodox creed with an unholy heart and ungodly life--is like a man's head on a beast's shoulders!

Knowledge may make you a scholar--but not a saint.
Knowledge may make you orthodox--but not gracious.

He who increases in knowledge, and does not get grace with his knowledge--increases sorrow to himself, yes, eternal sorrow! It would be an ease to gospel sinners in Hell, if they could erase the remembrance of the gospel out of their memories!

"Such men will be punished most severely!" Luke 20:47

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This cross is heavy to bear

(Thomas Reade)

Jesus said, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me."

This cross is heavy to bear when worldliness, or pride, or selfishness work in the heart. But when the heart is filled with love to the Savior, then the greatest cross is light, and even pleasant to endure.

"For the love of Christ compels us!" 2 Corinthians 5:14

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Lock your hand in His!

(Octavius Winslow, 1866)

"Our Father in Heaven." Matthew 6:10

"Father!" It is the language of the believing heart.

Oh, it is a marvelous fact, a stupendous truth--that God should be our Father! Higher than this, the soul cannot rise. Love then reaches its deepest yearnings. Only realize this fact, that God is your Father, and it explains . . .
  every chapter of your history,
  every event of your life,
  every sentiment, feeling,
  and desire of your soul.

All that is omnipotent in strength,
all that is profound in wisdom,
all that is tender in sympathy,
all that is rich in infinite plenitude--
is bound up in the endearing epithet, "Father!"

That Father is yours!

You were His child from eternity!

Stupendous thought!

His love to you,
His choice of you,
His purpose to adopt you,
His plan to redeem, sanctify,
and bring you to glory--
are eternal acts of His sovereign grace!

Believe that all that your Father does is for your best; that your highest interests are all in His hands, and in His hands are all secure.

Lock your hand in His, as your little child links its hand with yours--willing to be led, unquestioning, confiding, meekly, just where your Father leads.

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Chance, accident, or luck!

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows!" Matthew 10:29-31

"God who feeds the sparrows, will not starve His saints! God controls all the concerns of His people, even of those that are most minute, and least regarded. This is an encouragement to live in a continual dependence upon God's providential care! If God numbers our hairs, much more does He number our heads. He takes care of our lives, our needs, our concerns, and our souls. God's universal providence extends itself to all creatures, and to all their actions--even the smallest and most minute!" (Matthew Henry)

"Nothing can happen in this world without God's permission. There is no such thing in reality, as chance, accident, or luck!" (J.C. Ryle)

Scripture everywhere teaches that even the minutest details of life are of divine ordering! (Louis Berkhof)

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It must be consigned to the dust from whence it came!

(William Nicholson, 1862)

"It is appointed for men to die once--and after this comes judgment!" Hebrews 9:27

No event is so important as death--but how little is it regarded!

Death is sure to come. Nothing can prevent it. Every expedient has been tried, but there can be no discharge in this war.

The time of Death's approach is uncertain. It may come when . . .
  you are young and in health, and calculating on long life,
  you are deeply immersed in worldly cares and business,
  your mind is not the least directed towards it,
  in the hour of festive enjoyment, and
  at a time when you would not be at all prepared for it--unpardoned, unrenewed, and without love to God.

At death, the body returns to its original dust. "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." Genesis 3:19. "Then shall the body return to dust," etc. Ecclesiastes 12:7

Death, then, as the effect of sin, is the cessation of human existence. It is ended . . .
  by disease,
  by sudden violence or accident,
  by the human machine being worn out by affliction,
  or by protracted old age.
The lungs heave no more;
the pulse ceases to beat;
the blood is congealed in the veins;
the eyes are dimmed;
the tongue is silent, and
the hand forgets its dexterity.

Such is the end of the human structure, so fearfully and wonderfully made. And however stately, well-formed, athletic, strong, and beautiful before--it must be consigned to the dust from whence it came! Its tendency to corruption causes even its once adorers to exclaim, "Bury my dead out of my sight!" It . . .
  is deposited in the silent tomb,
  becomes worm-food, and
  is hidden from mortal sight.

Think then, of the momentous results of death. It . . .
  mars the beauty and strength of the body,
  casts it into the abhorrent grave,
  tarnishes all its glory, and
  terminates all its happiness!

Death is the last of time, and the commencement of eternity! It is a complete change . . .
  of existence,
  of situation,
  of circumstances,
  and of feeling.

After death, the soul appears before God. "It is appointed for men to die once--and after this comes judgment!"

Death then, is the crisis of man's fate--the seal of his destiny.
It encounters either a smiling Father--or a frowning judge!
It conducts to the crown of life--or the regions of death!
It conducts to eternal glory--or to everlasting perdition!

"Therefore be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect!"