Seek A Portion Which Can Never Be Taken From You! CHRIST.

Running to and fro like ants upon a heap!
(J.C. Ryle, "Riches and Poverty" 1878)

"The time came when the beggar died and 
the angels carried him to Abraham's side.
 The rich man also died and was buried." 
Luke 16:22 


Observe how all classes alike 

come to the grave. Lazarus died--

and the rich man also died. 

As different and divided as 

they were in their lives--

they had both to drink of the same 

cup at the last. Both went to 

the 'house appointed for all living'. 

Both went to that place where rich and 

poor meet together. Dust they were--

and unto dust they returned.

This is the lot of all men. After all 

our scheming, and contriving, 

and planning, and studying--

after all our inventions, 

and discoveries, 

and scientific attainments--

there remains one 'enemy' we 

cannot conquer and disarm--

and that is Death!

The chapter in Genesis, which records 

the long lives of Methuselah, and the rest 

who lived before the flood, winds up 

the simple story of each, by two 

expressive words, "He died." 

And now, after thousands of years, 

what more can be said of the greatest 

among ourselves? The histories of 

Washington, and Napoleon, and 

Shakespeare arrive at the same 

humbling conclusion. 

The end of each, after all his 

greatness, is just this, "He died."

Death is a mighty leveler! 

He spares none, he waits for none! 

He will not tarry until you are ready. 

He will not be kept out by doors, 

and bars, and bolts. The Englishman 

boasts that his home is his castle--

but, with all his boasting, he cannot 

exclude death. 

An Austrian nobleman forbade death 

to be named in his presence. But 

named or not named, it matters little--

in GOD'S appointed hour, death will come!

One man rolls lazily along the road 

in the smoothest and handsomest 

carriage which money can procure; 

another toils wearily along 

the path on foot--

yet both are sure to meet 

at last in the same long home!

One man, like Absalom, has fifty 

servants to wait upon him and do 

his bidding; another has none to lift 

a finger to do him a service--

but both are traveling to a place 

where they must lie down alone!

One man is the owner of millions; 

another has scarcely a dollar that 

he can call his own property--

yet neither one nor the other can 

carry one penny with him into 

the unseen world.

One man is the possessor of half 

a county; another has not so 

much as an inch of land--

and yet 'six feet' of dirt will be 

amply sufficient for either 

of them at the last!

One man pampers his body with 

every possible delicacy, and clothes 

it in the richest and softest apparel; 

another has scarcely enough to eat, 

and seldom enough to put on--

yet both alike are hurrying on to a day 

when "ashes to ashes, and dust to dust," 

shall be proclaimed over them!

Fifty years hence, none shall be able 

to say, "This was the rich man's bone--

and this the bone of the poor man."

Reader, I know that these are ancient 
things.  I do not deny it for a moment. 
I am writing stale old things 
that all men know--

but I am also writing things 
that all men do not feel. Oh, no! 
if they did feel them, they would 
not speak and live as they do.

We see 'death' gradually thinning 

our congregations; we miss face after 

face in our assemblies; we know not 

whose turn may come next! 

We only know as the tree falls--

there it will lie, and that 

"after death comes the judgment!"

Oh, that men would learn to live--

as those who must one day die! 

Truly it is poor work to set our 

affections on a dying world and 

its short-lived comforts--

and lose a glorious immortality! 

Here we are toiling, and laboring, 
and wearying ourselves about trifles, 

and running to and fro like ants 

upon a heap--
and yet after a few years we shall 
all be gone, and another generation 
will fill our place!

Live for eternity, reader! 

Seek a portion which can 
never be taken from you!

  
 ~  ~  ~  ~

GraceGems has published J.R. Miller's insightful short article, 
"The SEEDS We Are Scattering".