When believers die!

(John Newton's Letters)

"Father, I want those whom You have given Me - to be with Me where I am, and to see My glory!" John 17:24

Health and sickness, life and death - will always be in the hands of the Lord.

When believers die - whatever the accident or the illness may be - they are only the means, but not properly the cause of their death. They die because the time has come when He who loves them best, will have them with Him to behold His glory!

Until then, they are immortal. They recover from sickness, however threatening, and are preserved unhurt - in defiance of the greatest dangers! But when His appointed hour arrives - then they must depart. When He will have them with Him - we cannot detain them; nor ought we to wish it, though the flesh will feel the parting stroke.

None of us can be perfectly happy in this poor fleeting world. It is a state in which sin and sorrow will hunt us and pain us to the last step of life! Therefore, though we wish to keep those whom we love with us as long as we can - it is well both for us and them, that we cannot live here always. We are in the Lord's hands - and He does all things wisely and well, at the right time and in the right manner.

Death is but a temporary separation. Those who are gone before us, are waiting for us. Oh! It will be a happy meeting before the throne of the Lamb - out of the reach of sin and sorrow, to meet and part no more!