Gathering Jewels: The Secret of a Beautiful Life: In Memoriam of Mr. & Mrs. James Knowles. Selected from Their Diaries.Knowles, James
Religion
Gathering Jewels: The Secret of a Beautiful Life: In Memoriam of Mr. & Mrs. James Knowles. Selected from Their Diaries.
Knowles, James
Allen Street Presbyterian Church (New York, N.Y.); Knowles, James, 1811-1886; Knowles, Matilda Darroch, 1811-1886
Though our days are determined, and the number of our months are with
God; "though He hath appointed the bounds that He cannot pass, yet He
will hide us in the grave; He will keep us secret until His wrath upon
the ungodly is past." We read, however, His power to redeem and deliver
His elect, even amid the wreck and ruin of years and the gloom of the
grave, for Christ is the resurrection and the life.
There is rest, yonder; only just across the river. It is only a narrow
stream. "This is not my place of resting; mine's a city yet to come;
onward to it I am hastening; on to my eternal home." "I go to prepare a
place for you," said Jesus. No threatening danger or death there. It is
no desert dreary. It is freedom from pain and weariness, from sin and
sadness, in the dominions of the Bridegroom. For He says, "I have
betrothed thee unto me forever; I have betrothed thee in righteousness,
in the judgment, in loving kindness, and in mercy, and in
faithfulness."
"_In the Lord._" How significant the words. It is to have the infinite
arms of love and power encircling us. It is not to receive the spirit of
bondage again to fear. It is to rise above the uncertainties of this
life to the realities of that land where congregations ne'er break up,
and Sabbaths have no end. Linked to the eternal, never broken chain of
God's goodness, what can affright? Can the consolation of God be small
with those who are His, when we are informed that He will ransom His
people from the power of the grave? Shortly it will be all over with you
in your pilgrimage journey. Watch and wait, therefore, for the coming of
the King.
On earth, here and now, those who die in the Lord have attentively
listened to His kind remonstrances, concerning reconciliation and
entire renunciation of every false hope of heaven only through faith in
the name of Jesus. They realize that God's methods of mercy are
peculiarly calculated to impart peace in the hour of sickness and
death. They see the city which hath foundations whose builder and maker
is God, where the inhabitants say, "I am sick, I am weary no more."
They know that their Redeemer liveth, and though worms may destroy the
body, yet in their flesh they shall see God. They know there are realms
where
The voices of song never cease 'neath a burden of tears,
And the music falls sweet from those radiant spheres.
God's children on earth are remarkable for their love to Christ and His
Church, and delight to meditate on the glories of heaven. Hence when
death comes they are prepared to enter upon their purchased
possessions, for which they habitually awaited with bright
anticipations, knowing full well that He that had promised is able also
to perform.
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven, but He that doeth the will of my Father which is in
heaven." "For to be carnally minded is death (death eternal), but to be
spiritually minded is life and peace."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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