The Sheepfold and the Common; Or, Within and Without. Vol. 1 (of 2)East, Timothy
Religion
The Sheepfold and the Common; Or, Within and Without. Vol. 1 (of 2)
East, Timothy
Christian life; Christian life -- Pictorial works
from flowing in to us by the want of simplicity of mind; it is
looking by faith to the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the
world; it is to commit implicitly the soul to him. He is able also
to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he
ever liveth to make intercession for them.'"
"I am fond of visiting the sick and the dying," said Mr. Lewellin.
"When with them, I feel the truth of religion. The terror which
seizes on the spirit of an infidel in his last moments, and the
rapture which glows in the breast of the expiring Christian, are
equally impressive and instructive. I have seen the unbeliever
tremble as the footsteps of death have been heard; his face has
turned pale through fear, or it has been beclouded by despair. I
have heard him utter the most piercing cries; send forth heavy
sighs and groans--the speechless messengers of woe; I have heard
him reproach himself in the strongest language for his folly and
his guilt, in having passed through life an enemy to the faith of
Christ; and I have seen him expire in unutterable anguish. I have
also seen the believer, calm and enraptured. I have heard the music
of his soul becoming more soft and enchanting as the vital spirit
has languished in his frame. I have listened while he has given
utterance to his holy aspirations and blissful anticipations; but I
have never heard one express any regret for his attachment to the
doctrines of the gospel. I have never known one willing to renounce
his faith, or give up his hope, in prospect of death."
"Nor I," said Mr. Ingleby; "and this circumstance is a strong
evidence in favour of the adaptation of the gospel to our moral
condition. Infidelity may contemn the faith of Christ, and hold up
its friends to scorn, but she is faithless; for when her disciples
want her comfort in their last hours, she generally leaves them as
victims whom she has fitted for destruction, that she may mingle
among the gay and the dissipated, to prepare _them_ also for the
pangs of the second death."
It was late before we left the rectory, and in passing the now
desolated cottage, we saw light in the room, and on knocking at the
door, we gained admittance. "Well, Robert," said Mr. Stevens, "you
are not yet gone to bed."
"No, Sir; if I go to bed, I don't think that I shall sleep. I
thought when my wife lay so ill, and suffered so much, that I should
be willing to give her up to the Lord, if he would take her; but now
she is gone, I feel my loss. No man can tell what death is till it
comes. I love to think of her, for she was a good wife, and a good
mother; and I should like to talk to her; but now if I go into the
room, I find that I am alone; and this chills my heart. My boy tries
to comfort me, but, poor fellow, he wants a comforter as well as I;
for he loved his mother."
"But God can support you under your trial; for he has said, 'Call
upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt
glorify me.'"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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