Neither youth, nor wit, nor beauty,
nor strength, nor money
(George Mylne, "Lessons for the Christian's Daily Walk" 1859)
to retain the SPIRIT; and no one
has power in the day of death."
Ecclesiastes 8:8
Man, for six thousand years,
has tried to understand his spirit--
yet knows as little of it as he did
at first. What is the soul of man?
Whence did it come? Where does it go?
He can't explain how spirit dwells with flesh--
what binds the two together, for a time,
in perfect unity. He has never seen,
as little can he feel, the links
that knit them to each other.
It is all within him--
his flesh, his spirit,
his life, his being--
all the machinery of soul and
body, thus closely interlaced.
Yet is it as foreign to his grasp, as
that which happens in another world!
Thus flesh and spirit dwell
together. Who could suppose
they ever would part again!
Who can explain how soul and
body part, or how the links
of union are undone--
what makes the spirit fly away,
or how the flesh gives up its hold!
GOD wills it. GOD does it.
GOD does not explain why.
GOD does not tell how.
HE speaks, unheard; and
immediately it is done--
the spirit returns to HIM
who made it.
Man may detain the body--
but he cannot keep the soul,
nor say, "You shall not go!"
GOD says, "Return to ME!"
The command must be obeyed.
Neither youth, nor wit, nor beauty,
nor strength, nor money, can
delay HIS omnipotent hand.
How mysterious is death!
At times how unexpected!
At times how stealthy!
At times HE takes your
darling from your side--
and robs you unblushingly
before your face!
At other times, days, months,
and years may intervene before
you know it. The spirit fled--
and you knew it not.
You thought it still on earth;
but it was gone. You think
of him, prepare for him, and
write to invite him to your home.
But alas! the spirit is gone; and
had you known it, what could
you have done!
Oh, vanity of vanities!
What pain, what misery--
man's sin has brought to pass!
And yet how astonishing is
the ignorance, the recklessness
of sinful man!
Dead in spiritual death, he neither
knows nor seeks a remedy, but binds
his misery around him with thoughtless
energy. And yet there is a remedy--
a remedy in JESUS--
a remedy for those who
look to JESUS!
Say, reader, can you look around
you, can you look backward
or forward and be happy--
unless you find this remedy for
all the misery and uncertainty
of this poor, passing world?
"For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of GOD is eternal life
in CHRIST JESUS our LORD!"
Romans 6:23
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