It shall be well with him!

(John MacDuff, "The Christian's Pathway" 1858")

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"Say to the righteous, that it shall be well with him!" Isaiah 3:10

The human family is divided into a great variety of social and artificial distinctions. But, in the sight of God-there are but two classes, into which the multifarious elements of universal humanity can be resolved. There are only the righteous-and the wicked. Concerning one of these classes-God proclaims that it shall be well with them; while to the other-He pronounces a solemn woe.

What makes the condition of a wicked man to be so fearful, is the solemn fact that God is against him! And what makes that of the righteous to be so blessed-is that God is for him!

All the divine attributes are arrayed against the impenitent sinner-but when he becomes a saint, they all join to take his part. Such being the case, having the eternal Jehovah in all his boundless perfections on his side, it cannot be otherwise than well with him.

It shall be well with the righteous, not merely in life-but in death.
It is appointed by the irrevocable decree of God-that all men must die.
There is no discharge in that war-no release from that mortal struggle!
Wealth has no bribe which death will receive.
Wisdom has no art by which death can be avoided.
Power has no defense against death.
Beauty has no charm to death's eye.
The voice of eloquence is lost to death's ear.
Even religion has no security from death's stroke!
Here the mightiest conqueror is vanquished-and the proudest of monarchs finds himself a slave! From its ruthless grasp-no age, no condition can escape!

Those who are in the bloom and freshness of youth cannot escape-for "man, at his best estate, is altogether vanity!"

The great and prosperous cannot escape-for "the rich man also died and was buried."

The wicked cannot escape-he is driven, yes, dragged away in his wickedness; the most fearful of all deaths is his-that of dying in his sins!

Neither can the righteous escape-he must go the way of all the earth, and become a tenant of the silent grave! But at that solemn season, it shall be well with him!
When the last sands of the numbered hour are running out;
when his earthly friends will be compelled to leave him;
when the cold dews of death will be standing in large drops upon his pallid brow;
when every nerve and vein may be racked and wrenched in fearful agonies by the irresistible power of the grim tyrant-even then it shall be well with him! The dying strife will soon be over, and through death's gloomy portals he will enter upon that blessed state where all is peace and bliss forever!

"And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life!" Matthew 25:46