A sedative to all sorrows, and
a solace under all sharp afflictions, Theodor Keuler, Beulah Land,
or Words of Cheer for Christian Pilgrims, After a little while,
you will see me." John 16, 17. Those sweet tender words, after
a little while, have deep thoughts in them, like the still ocean
at the twilight, thoughts too deep for our fathoming. They
breathe some precious consolations to those believers whose burdens
are heavy, either with care or poverty or sickness. Neither
shall the mourner weep much longer, or God's poor children carry
the pains and privations of poverty much longer. The daily toil to
earn the daily bread, the carking care to keep the barrel from
running low, and the scanty cruise from running out will soon be
over. Cheer up, my brother! After a
little while you will see me," says your blessed master, for
I am going to prepare a place for you. Oh, the infinite sweep
of that glorious transition! A few years here in a poor dwelling,
whose rent it is hard to pay, and then infinite ages in the
palace of the King of Kings! Here is a scanty table and coarse
clothing, and yonder a robe of resplendent light at the marriage
supper of the Lamb. Let this blissful thought put
new courage into your soul and fresh sunshine into your countenance. I sometimes go into a sick chamber
where the godly are suffering with no prospect of recovery.
Perhaps the eyes of some of those chronic invalids may fall upon
this article. My dear friends, put under your
pillows those sweet words of Jesus. After a little while,
you will see me. It is only for a little while
that you are to serve your Master by patient submission to His
holy will. That chronic suffering will soon
be over. That disease which no earthly
physician can cure will soon be cured by your divine physician,
who by the touch of his messenger death will cure you in an instant,
and bring you into the perfect health of heaven. You will exchange
this weary bed of pain for that crystal air in which none shall
ever say, I am sick, neither shall there be any more pain.
Not only to the sick and to the poverty-stricken children of
God do these tender words of our Redeemer bring solace. Let
these words bring a healing balm to hearts that are smarting,
under unkindness, or wounded by neglect, or pining under privations,
or bleeding under sharp bereavements, I offer them as a sedative to
all sorrows, and a solace under all sharp afflictions. After
a little while you will see me. The sight of him shall wipe out
all the memories of the darkest hours through which you made
your way through this wilderness world to mansions of glory. A few more struggles here, a
few more conflicts more, a little while of toils and tears, then
we shall weep no more. May God help us all to be faithful,
only for a little while, and then comes the unfading crown
of glory.