longer in his flesh, but out of it, in his disembodied state (the body being now in the grave), should, in his free emancipated spirit, see God in heaven. In other words, whan death came-and Job felt already as one standing face to face with death-and when his body should go, as his skin had gone before it, into decay and dissolution, still there remained his nobler part, his deathless soul, which, as spirit with spirit, should be blessed along with the redeemed in the pure and celestial vision of God.

Secondly, Job anticipates with rapture that he would then see God to be on his side. Many and grievous were the charges his harsh friends had brought against him; he appealed from them all to his Divine Friend in Heaven. As he says elsewhere, "My record is in Heaven, my witness is on high." The God whom I am about to see, when I escape from this wretched flesh, He will "bring forth my judgment to the light, and my righteousness as the noonday." Now where docs Job express this? In verse 27, when rightly rendered, in the triumphant words: “Whom I shall see to be for me, and not against me." The expression then is, "Whom I shall see to be for me, and not to be a stranger or enemy to me "—that is, "Whom I shall find to be on my side, and not like you, my harsh friends, to be against me." Ah, what a precious hope, what a glorious alternative! "If God be for us, who can be against us ?"

It only remains to observe, finally, that Job's hopes of bliss all pointed to the glorious vision of God, whom he expected to see as his highest good, his reward, his excceding joy, his God, his guide, his portion for ever. This constitutes the heaven of heaven that God is there, that Christ is there, that the Divine Spirit is there, that the Three-One God of Salvation is specially and everlastingly there. Happy place, and happy patriarch who felt sure of it, and of soon being in it! And happy the

poorest and most toilworn and care-striken of men who, while sharing with Job in his trials, shares also his faith; knows his Redeemer; knows that He has died, and died for him; knows that He lives, and lives for him; knows that His sin-atoning blood has answered for him, being shed for him as it was shed for all; and knows that, when death throws open to him the doors into the Eternal Kingdom, his soul shall vault out of its prison of clay, and be received by Jesus into the many mansions of the blest, there to hunger no more, to thirst no more, to weep no more, and, better than all, to sin no more, but to be a fit subject and citizen, henceforth and for ever,

"In the blest kingdoms meek of joy and love,
Where entertain him all the saints above,
In solemn troops and sweet societies,
That sing, and singing in their glory move,
And wipe the tears for ever from his eyes."

THE DAY OF THE CHRISTIAN'S DEATH.

REV. GEORGE S. INGRAM,

IN INDEPENDENT CHAPEL, TWICKENHAM, ENGLAND.

The day of death is better than the day of one's birth."-ECCLES. vii: 1.

THIS

HIS statement must be understood not absolutely, but conditionally. There are thousands of whom only its converse shall be found true. The day of their birth was one of hope; it was the entrance on a life which might have been one of true goodness, being one of faith on the Son of God, and hence a life of preparation for "glory, honor, and immortality." But the precious opportunities of every passing day are being ne

lected, and the day of death shall be the termination of all mercy and hope, and consequently the ruin, beyond remedy, of their deathless and priceless souls. Of such persons the truth in our text will not hold good; it is applicable only to those who "die unto the Lord," and none can do so but those who are simple and sincere believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the sinner's Saviour. Of none then, save the true Christian, can it be correctly affirmed that "The day of death is better than the day of one's birth."

In

1. This affirmation is true, inasmuch as the day of the Christian's death brings deliverance from all suffering and grief. Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. None are exempted from pain and sorrow. The day of birth ushers us into a world which has been truly called a "vale of tears," but the day of a Christian's death is the day that liberates him from all suffering, and in which all tears are forever wiped from his eyes. such a case then, "the day of death is better than the day of one's birth." The end of a voyage is better than the beginning, especially if it has been a stormy one. The dangers of the deep are past, and the shore is now reached in safety; therefore, in this respect, the end of a voyage is better than the beginning. And so it is with the day of the Christian's birth, and the day of his death. But we look with very different feelings on the departure of a follower of Jesus. We feel sorrow, it is true, but it is associated with no fears in connection with the departed; it is sorrow arising from the consciousness of personal loss, the loss of the society, the counsels, and encouragement of the deceased. It is sorrow associated with hope, and therefore it gradually ripens into joy. As the heart recovers itself from the stunning stroke inflicted by death, it thinks on the state of perfect security and peace on which the departed has entered,—a state

wherein scripture assures us, "there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away."

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2. Our text holds true on another ground, namely, that the day of death is the day of final triumph over all sin. The afflictions which the Christian has to endure, do not awaken so much concern in his mind as sin does. Paul, although he knew that in every city, bonds and afflictions awaited him, could say, "None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself;" yet when striving against sin, and feeling "a law in his members warring against the law of his mind, and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin which was in his members," he was made to cry out, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?" The believer's life is one long and arduous battle against sin. From worldly losses or bereavements, and from bodily sufferings we may be for many years freed; but from our warfare with sin we are never for a single moment exempted. It is the chief work which God has given us to do, for unless we be bringing our hearts into subjection to his will,-cherishing towards him the "faith which worketh by love," and growing in that "holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" unless there be this inward conformity to the image of Christ, no external service can be acceptable to God. The spell and power of sin in the heart must be broken if the outward life is to be a living unto the Lord.

The day of the Christian's death is the day in which he obtains a full and final triumph over sin. It is the day in which the word of grace in his soul is brought unto perfection; and is not that day better than the day of his birth? Is not the day in which the warrior

unless
one

believed

sheaths his victorious sword, puts off his bruised and stained armor, a happier day than the one in which he buckled it on? So surely it is also with every "good soldier of Jesus Christ."

3. The words of our text are true in the case of Christ's followers, because the day of their decease introduces them into a state of endless reward. To be beyond the reach of all sorrow and pain, and to be such complete victors over sin as to have every thought and feeling of the soul in fullest sympathy with God,-this of itself would be "joy unspeakable and full of glory." But there is something even beyond this which the scriptures tell us awaits the departed saint. David said to God, "Oh! how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men." Peter speaks of "an inheritance incorruptible, and unlefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven." Isaiah and Paul say, “ Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." And a Greater than them all has said; "To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father on his throne." All such passages, with many more which we need not cite, plainly declare, that there shall be rewards to Christians in heaven. These, we believe, shall be according to the trust and love cherished towards Christ, the service done, and the suffering endured, for his sake on earth.

Think what a reward the companionship of heaven shall be, "Ye are come," said Paul to the believing Hebrews, when speaking by anticipation of the glory and certainty of their prospects," Ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly