The Sheepfold and the Common; Or, Within and Without. Vol. 2 (of 2) — John Shaqi
The Sheepfold and the Common; Or, Within and Without. Vol. 2 (of 2)East, Timothy
Religion
The Sheepfold and the Common; Or, Within and Without. Vol. 2 (of 2)
East, Timothy
Christian life; Christian life -- Pictorial works
The Rev. Mr. Guion here remarked that, "in general, the Lord's
people die in hope and with great calmness; and sometimes they rise
to confidence, and even to joy, and joy unspeakable. Few, indeed,
rise higher than this; but I have known enough, and heard enough,
to satisfy me that some do. The case of Dr. Gordon, who uttered
no exclamation, is to me a decisive proof of this. He is calm,
motionless, wrapped in profound thoughts, when his countenance,
which had long been marked by the lines of disease and pain, begins
to radiate, till at length its lustre was so clear and bright,
attended by an ecstatic smile so ethereal, that the spectators were
awe-struck, standing and gazing for the space of a quarter of an
hour on this more than human vision. At least, they thought it more
than human while they were gazing on it."
"Every effect," said Mr. Ingleby, "must have some adequate cause;
and this extraordinary radiation on the countenance of Dr. Gordon
was produced either by the action of his own thoughts, or by
the intervention of a supernatural power. If produced by his
own thoughts, what a hold must his soul have taken of invisible
realities when he was dying, to give such a glowing brilliancy
to his pallid face! If produced by the intervening action of
supernatural power, it was a premature shining forth of the glory to
be revealed more fully in the disembodied state. In other words, he
did what was done by the impulse of his _own_ conceptions, or God
was especially with him in his dying chamber, shedding upon him some
effulgent rays of his own glory."
"But to return," said the Rev. Mr. Roscoe, "to the case of Rachel,
the old blind woman, which, because it is capable of a more
practical bearing, I must confess, interests me more than the
splendid case of Dr. Gordon, interesting as it is. But, before
I touch on this, will you permit me to ask how long she lived
after your unexpected interview with her? and whether there was a
recurrence of the astonishing responses to your inquiries?"
"I sat gazing on her," said the Rev. Mr. Ingleby, "some time after I
ceased speaking; and before I left her, her countenance had resumed
its statue-like appearance of positive insensibility; and every
feature was fixed, as though set by the cold hand of death, and
there was not a movement of any part of her body, except the breast
and the shoulders, from the more powerful action of the lungs. The
following week I took a friend with me, in expectation of having
another interview with her; but I was disappointed. On entering the
cottage, her daughter informed me, that having awoke in the night,
and thinking she heard her mother utter some sound, she went with a
light to her bedside, when the old woman, after a slight convulsive
struggle, raised her hands, and said, '_Dear Saviour, I come to
thee_,' and died."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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