Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-09-25
&eadina TOR tile Sabbath.
CONDUCTED BY
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
(Original.]
PREPARATION TO DIE.

III IS appointed unto HAL OllCe w ule.
This is the decree of Him who reigns in heav-
en-. All must die. There is no escape. We
must die. The rich and the poor, the high
and the low, the righteous and the wicked, all
must die. 1t is only matter Of time Our
ancestors are all dead, and in a few short years
the busy inhabitants of the world will be no
more. The question will be asked, where are
they? The silent grave will answer, here.
But it is also the decree of Almighty God,
that "after death is the judgment" Heb. 8:
81. Each throbbing pulse is marching us to
the tribunal of God, there to hear our final
doom. Each moment brings us nearer the
throne of Him who is just in all his ways.
These facts admonish us to prepare to meet
our God. They admonish us to begin the
work of preparation, mow. 1t will mot do to
form resolutions, that, at sometime in the fu-
ture, we will begin this work. The period
which we may specify, in all probability, will
never come. Nouo is the time Tomorrow
may be too late. God says now. We peril our
all, if we dare propose tomorrow. That we
may be ready to die, we need many things.
1st. We need an interest in the mediatOrial
work of Christ Jesus. If we die without an
interest in the atonement made for sinners by
Jesus Christ, we will 60 to hell just as sure as
to-morrow's sun will set. Nothing can save
us from the pit of endless woe, but the blood
of Jesus Christ. We are condemned already.
We must be pardoned or lost. Nothing can Sc
cure our pardon but the sufferings of Jesus
Christ. We must have righteousness, or we
ho Gol Wa oh
ness of our own, and the only righteousness
which God will accept, is that of his own son.
In other words, that we may escape hell and
reach heaven, we must be justified. In no
way can we be justified but by believing on
Jesus Christ. This being the case, the first
thing that all men should do, is to believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. Without faith no man
can meet God in peace. Without faith in the
Lamb of God, no man is prepared to die. I'd.
The next thing we need, in order to be prepar-
ed to die, is fitness for heaven. All who
know anything about it, desire to 60 to heaven
when they die. Rather, as no one is fond of
misery, all men shudder at the thought of lying
down in everlasting burnings. Notwithstand-
ing this fact, many are living lives which lead
anxious about being made fit for heaven. This
mighty work, which the whole of this life is
short enough to accomplish, they vainly hope
to be able to perform when they are unfit to do
anything else. Fitness for heaven is a very
important thing. Without it no man is pre-
pared to die. Heaven is a most holy place,
and it would be unreasonable to suppose that
God won1d narmit unhOly creatures to enter IT.
If we ever expect to enter heaven, we must
begin to make preparations aoow. The flesh
must be crucifed. We must love and practice
holiness and cease to love and practice sin.
No event, in any mans existence, is more i'm
portant than death. It fixes things. All
change ceases at the moment of death. The
righteous are then safe to sin no more, and the
wicked will never be granted another opportu-
nifty to do or say, or even think, a good