Trait 38.
TRAIT 38.
The sweet suspense of his choice between life and death.
WHATEVER desire the faithful pastor may have to be with Christ, and to rest from his labours, yet he endures with joy his separation from the person of his Saviour, through the sacred pleasure he experiences in the service of his members. The sweet equilibrium in which his desire was suspended between life and death, is thus expressed by the Apostle Paul: “We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord,” 2 Corinthians 5:1-6. “Yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better: nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all, for your furtherance and joy of faith,” Philippians 1:22-25.
It is chiefly when believers have the unconquerable love of St. Paul, “that all things work together for their good.” Whether they live, or whether they die, every occurrence turns out a matter of favour. If they live, it is that they may support their companions in tribulation, and insure to themselves a greater reward, by maintaining, for a long season, the victorious fight of faith. If they die, it is that they may rest from their labours, and come to a more perfect enjoyment of their Master’s presence. “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord: they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them,” Revelation 14:13. And in the meantime, blessed are the living who live in the Lord: for they are honourably engaged in those important conflicts which will daily add to their spiritual strength, and augment the brilliancy of their final triumph. TRAIT 39.
The constancy of his zeal and diligence to the end of his course. LIVING or dying, the faithful servant of Christ never acts unworthy of his character. “Blameless and harmless in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, a child of God without rebuke, he shines,” to the end of his course, “as a light in the world,” Philippians 2:15. He beholds death, whether it be natural or violent, always without fear, and generally with pleasure, regarding it as a messenger appointed for his safe conduct into that glorious state, where they rejoice together who have continued faithful to the end. He is anxious only that his Lord may find him occupied in the grand business he was commissioned to perform: and the nearer his hour approaches, the more earnest he is that he may finish his ministry with joy. If he be no longer able to exhort the brethren in person, he writes to them in the manner of St. Peter: “I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things,” the doctrines, precepts, threatenings, and promises of the Gospel, “though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; knowing, that shortly I must put off this tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me,” 2 Peter 1:12-14. He desires, at such a season, to address the faithful, and especially young ministers, as St. Paul addressed the Corinthians and Timothy: “My beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord,” 1 Corinthians 15:58. “Thou, Timothy, hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long suffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of then, all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry; for I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand,” 2 Timothy 3:10-12; 4:5, 6.
Thus triumphantly St. Paul advanced toward the end of his course. And thus the faithful minister, pouring fresh oil into his lamp as the night advances, goes forth to meet his approaching God, whom his faith already considers as a merciful Judge, and his hope as a munificent Rewarder.