A GRACIOUS REMOVAL The righteous
is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace. They shall rest in their beds.
Isaiah 57 verses 1 and 2 HOW THIS THOUGHT RECONCILES TO
EARTH'S SADDEST SEPARATIONS. THE EARLY, BUT WE ARE APT TO
THINK THE TOO EARLY, GRAVES OF OUR LOVED AND LOST HAVE SAVED
THEM FROM MUCH SORROW, MUCH SUFFERING, MUCH SIN. Who can tell what may
have been brooding in a dark horizon? The fairest vessel,
the life freighted with the greatest promise, might have been made
shipwreck on this world's treacherous sea. My God knows what is best. If he plucked his lily soon,
it was to save it some rough blast. If he early folded his
lamb, it was to save it having its fleece soiled with earthly
corruption. If the port of glory was soon
entered, it was because he foresaw the threatening tempest that
screened from our limited vision, so he brought them to the haven
where they would be. Yes, the quiet haven. The storms
of life are over. That shore is undisturbed by
one murmuring wave. He shall enter into peace, the
rest which remains. Did the ransom-dead, at the hour
of their departure, Sink into blank oblivion, inherit everlasting
silence, Sad indeed would be the pangs of separation! But
weep not, she is not dead, but sleeps! Yes, weep not, she is
not dead, but lives! At the very moment earth's tears
are falling, the spirit is sunning in the realms of everlasting
day, safely housed, safely home. The body rests in its bed, the
grave is its couch of repose. We bid it the long good night
in the joyful expectancy of a glorious reunion at the waking time of
immortality, the morning without clouds, whose sun shall no more
go down. Child of sorrow, mourning over
the withdrawal of some beloved object of earthly affection,
Dry your tears. An early death has been an early
crown. The tie sundered here links you
to the throne of God. You have a brother, a sister,
a child in heaven. You are the relative of a ransomed
saint. We are proud when we hear of
our friends being advanced in this world. What are the world's
noblest promotions in comparison with that of the believer at
death, when he graduates from grace to glory, when he exchanges
the pilgrim warfare for eternal rest? Often in your hours of
sadness, contrast the certainty of present bliss with the possibilities
of a suffering, sorrowing, sinning future, the joys in possession
with the evils which might have been in life. You may now, like
the Shunammite of old, be gazing with tearful eye on some withered
blossom. But when the question is put,
Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband?
Is it well with the child? In the elevating confidence that
they have entered into peace and are resting in their beds,
be it yours joyfully to answer, It is well.