The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1869-09-17

dying Grace"
BY FRANCIS LEE.

N WHlte-nnueu iubn sht tssihiuB w hiS
pastor. with tears In his eyes.
II cannot help it." said he. THE dread
of death has been like horror Of great
darkness over my soul all my life. I
cannot reason or pray It away"
"Cannot you just learc It with the Iorda"
returned the pastor. "God has surely
been very tender In His care Of You up to
this time. Taking the years, day by day,
you will see that although sometimes
trouble seems to be uppermost In our
lives, yet we have had more glad than sad
hours. Then cannot you trust In your
death the care that has been so perpetual
and so true in your life ?"
II can with tho head, but not with tho
heart" replied the old man. sorowfdlly.
"After have. thought and prayed 1t
over and brought my mind into q state Of
resignation and faith, ofa sudden It h all
gone again and am rs bad as ever. This
dread. of.itself. Is body Of death to mo;
running through all my lie and putting .
sting In every pleasant thing" b.
"But, my dear sir, what you dread is
not death; It is only falling asleep for you,
q Christian, can imagine that we might
If wo knew nothing about II, have rs great
horror of the natural sleep. We have
learned about this, however. by the ex-
pericncc of ages, and knowing that Mt the
end of days labor the body needs the
rest Of sleep and will rise from II renewed,
we welcome 1t gladly and without dread.
This suppose would have been the nat
ural state ut the end of life. II sin had not
come into the world. Thus, in the high
est sense, there would have been no death
excepting for sin and when the night Of
life came. our worn-out bodies would
without pain or regret quietly cease to OK.
ist, leaving the soul to awake to new
life. So II Is sin and sin alone that Is the
sting Of death and II for us Christ has
died. then we shall not die but when the
body. whichis only made to outlast GER
tain number Of years, has run through Its
time. we shall merely sleep. with full con-
fidence that the waking shall be pleasant.
Do you know that Jesus calls this wear
Ing out Of the body sleep. not death'"
While his pastor was speaking, tho old
mans mind felt the confidence OF hope
and the repose Of faith; but directly the
same haunting horror camo over him
again.
At last when he was already past eighty
the pastor called upon him ope day and
found him suffering from slight cold.
"Not much," said he, nothing but
what shall probably wear or In few
days. But want to tell you one thing.
The fear of death to which have gone In
bondage all my days has len me. / could
lie down and die this moment with rs lit
tic dread S should close my eyes TO
sleep. know no reason for Il, but ] am
free mt last"
The pastor went home. "Nir. Herbert
will not live long" said ho To his wife.
"Dying grace has been given him, and nc
Is ready for DEATH"
The next day he went again To SEQ Mr..
Herbert and found him not i'll, In no pain,
In no anxiety, yet weaker and fccbler.
The next day and the next II was the
same until tho old man did not leave his
bed.
ale has no disease--not particle.
Every organ is sound, but he will de-,
said the physician who was called.
The pastor went In several times In each
lay, and always found Mr.. Herbert little
weaker, tho body Of flesh little more
nearly worn out, but tho spirit calm and
So It continued till the last
not many days-and then tho old man fell
sslcep so gently that his attendants had
need to watch closely to know when the
park went out.
Such was the beautiful ending Of the
ifc that had been cmbittcrcd by dread of
hc hour that, when II came. was tho most
oyfnl ofall.
And this man did not suffer these usc-
css pungs alone. Many and many Of US
Tread not perhaps tho coming hour Of our
icath so much. but something In the far
Futuro-somcthing whose burden. when
wc como to lin tive may findto be wings
instead Of weights.
And 50 leave all with God. putting tho
whole heart into the present duty Of tno
present hour.