But there is one moment in life--and I conclude by suggesting it to
your thoughts--which must come to every man, and which generally comes
with signs sufficiently significant of its importance,--I mean the
last moment which closes our life on earth. Come it must. And, as an
old writer remarks, "the day we die, though of no importance to the
world, is to ourselves of more importance than is all the world." That
moment in life ends time to us, and begins eternity; it ends our day
of grace and begins the day of judgment; it separates us from the
world in which we have lived since we were born, and introduces us to
the unseen, unknown world of things and persons in which we must live
for ever during the life of God. What a moment is this! It may come in
the quiet of our own chamber, or amidst the confusion and excitement
of some dread accident by land or sea; it may be heralded by long
sickness or old age, and accompanied by much weakness and bodily
suffering. But if that moment, when it comes, is to bring us
peace, let our present moments, as they come, find us watchful,
conscientious, believing, and prayerful. And should these words of
mine be read by chance by one who has begun his last moment without
having begun the work for which he was created, preserved, and
redeemed, let me beseech of him to improve it by repentance towards
God, and faith in Jesus Christ, who will pardon his sins, give him a
new heart, and save him as he did the thief on the cross. If every
hour of his day of grace has been misimproved, let not this last be
added to the number. If he has stood all the day idle, let him in the
eleventh hour accept his Master's work of faith alone in his own soul,
and do what he can for the good of others. But let this moment in
life pass, then shall the next moment after death bring only fear
and anguish; for, be warned and also encouraged by the words of
the truthful and loving Jesus, uttered with many tears, over lost
souls,--"If thou hadst known, even thou, at least _in this thy day_,
the things that belong unto thy peace; but now they are for ever hid
from thine eyes!"
"LABOURERS TOGETHER WITH GOD."
These words seem to me to express the idea of true labour, such as God
calls us to, and _in_ the doing of which there is a great reward. They
imply that the living God has a work to do on earth, in men and by
men; that in this work He has--if I may so express it--a deep personal
interest, because it is one worthy of Himself, and for the advancement
of His own glory, and the good and happiness of man.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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