Neither youth, nor wit, nor beauty,
nor strength, nor money. George Milne, Lessons for the
Christian's Daily Walk, 1859 No one has power over the Spirit
to retain the Spirit, and no one has power in the day of death. – Ecclesiastes 8.8 Man for six
thousand years has tried to understand His Spirit, yet knows as little
of it as he did at first. What is the soul of man? Whence
did it come? Where does it go? He can't explain
how spirit dwells with flesh. What binds the two together for
a time in perfect unity? He has never seen, as little
can he feel, the links that knit them to each other. It is all
within him, his flesh, his spirit, his life, his being, all the
machinery of soul and body, thus closely interlaced, yet is it
as foreign to his grasp as that which happens in another world. Thus flesh and spirit dwell together,
who could suppose they would ever part again, who can explain
how soul and body part, or how the links of union are undone,
what makes the spirit fly away, or how the flesh gives up its
hold. God wills it. God does it. God does not explain why. God does not tell how. He speaks
unheard, and immediately it is done. The Spirit returns to him
who made it. Man may detain the body, but
he cannot keep the soul nor say, you shall not go. God says, return
to me. The command must be obeyed. Neither
youth, nor wit, nor beauty, nor strength, nor money, can delay
his omnipotent hand. How mysterious is death! At times,
how unexpected! At times, how stealthy! At times,
he takes your darling from your side, and robs you unblushingly
before your face. At other times, days, months,
and years, may intervene before you know it. The Spirit fled,
and you knew it not. You thought it still on earth,
but it was gone. You think of Him, prepare for
Him, and write to invite Him to your home, but alas! the Spirit is gone, and had you
known it, what could you have done? O vanity of vanities, what
pain, what misery, man's sin has brought to pass! And yet,
how astonishing is the ignorance, the recklessness of sinful man! Dead in spiritual death, he neither
knows nor seeks a remedy, but binds his misery around him with
thoughtless energy. And yet, there is a remedy, a
remedy in Jesus, a remedy for those who look to Jesus. Say, reader, can you look around
you? Can you look backward or forward
and be happy unless you find this remedy for all the misery
and uncertainty of this poor passing world? For the wages
of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6 23.