April 28

APRIL 23.—“So that I might finish my course with joy.”—Acts 20:24.

Does this imply any apprehension as to the event? It is no more than he enjoins upon others: “Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” It certainly expresses great desire and great anxiousness. He deemed nothing too much to do or to suffer for such a privilege.

But how is it to be understood? We may take two views of it. We may consider the Christian as finishing his course with joy to others, and with joy to himself. The latter is principally intended. But did you ever stand by the side of a dying bed, and when your connexion was suffering severely, and all hope of recovery was taken away, have you not been glad when the struggle was over? Yes. You rose above selfishness; and could say, “Our loss is his gain. Shall we weep at his deliverance from sorrow, temptation, and sin? and his entering into the joy of his Lord? If we loved him we should rejoice, because he said, I go unto the Father.”

And when he finished well, have you not hailed him on another account? “Well, thy sun is gone down without a cloud. I feared for thee, but the danger is now over. Thou hast had to go through a defiling world, but thou hast kept thy garments clean. Thou hast had fears within and fightings without, but thy heart has not turned back, neither have thy steps declined from his way. We crown thee now. Servant of God, well done.”

But when the Christian finishes his course with joy, it mainly refers to himself, and regards his dying experience. There is a great difference in the departure of believers. Some reach heaven, so to speak, in a kind of wrecked state; they get safe to land, but on planks and broken pieces of the ship. Others, in full sail, enter the desired haven; and have, as the Apostle Peter calls it, “an abundant entrance into the kingdom of their Lord and Saviour.” Some die perplexed with doubts and depressed with fears; others have the full assurance of hope: they are joyful in glory, and shout aloud upon their beds; and their dying chamber is none other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven. “With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the King’s palace.” This joy does not depend upon outward things; for in common God’s poor and afflicted people have the greatest degrees of it. Neither is it according to previous confidence, for many who have been all their lifetime subject to bondage through fear of death, have been filled at last with all joy and peace in believing. Now we lay no stress upon the want of this dying confidence and comfort, as an evidence against the safety of a man, when his life has been godly and consistent; for we know not how far it may be the effect of temperament or disease. Yet it is very desirable to enjoy it. We shall need all the comfort we can get when heart and flesh fail us, and friends can afford us no assistance, and the enemy of souls may be peculiarly busy, knowing that his time is short. It is also very useful. It has often impressed the careless, confirmed the doubting, and encouraged the timid. And how has it glorified God by showing the power of his grace, and recommending his service! Except for this, a Christian would desire a sud-

den death, and escape "the pains, and groans, and dying strife;" but he is more than reconciled to bear them, if Christ is thus magnified in his body by death, as well as by life.

But this finishing his course with joy takes in the issue as well as the conclusion. If it ends with heaven, it ends well, whatever be the experience immediately preceding. If the Christian were to leave this world in darkness and uncertainty, that darkness would be instantly dispelled, and all would be quietness and assurance for ever. Thus even Cowper finished his course with joy, for the gloom vanished in glory—and how ecstatic must have been the surprise of his blessed spirit, to feel itself in the possession of a boon it had long despaired to find!

All who have gone before us at death finished their course; but many finished it with joy. How will you finish yours? The Lord has appointed us bounds which we cannot pass. We have an allotted course of service and suffering; and the end is sure—and the end is nigh. Mark the perfect man and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace. He shall enter into rest; and be forever with the Lord. But how will you end? will you be defeated or crowned? will you be clothed with shame, or shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of our Father? O let it be your prayer and care to realize this final blessedness: and endeavour to judge of every thing now as it will affect you at last.

Even a Balaam could admire the tents of Jacob and the tabernacles of Israel; and was compelled to exclaim, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." Yet he died fighting against the people he had blessed and envied. Such a difference is there between conviction and practice; and so absurd is it to look for the end without the way.

Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. But if you die out of him, unpardoned and unrenewed, you must finish your course with grief.—Grief to others; to ministers, to Christians, to godly friends and relations.—Grief to yourselves. The sorrows of life may be diverted by company, by amusements, by the hurry of business. A man may drink and forget his sorrow, and remember his misery no more. But your drinking days will be then over, and you will be near a state where you will call in vain for a drop of water to cool your tongue. Your associates will then forsake you or be found miserable comforters. If they are cruel enough to jest about religion then, you will not be able to relish it, while fearing that all may be true which you have treated as false. Nature will have then closed the doors against every worldly diversion. You can no more attend the play-house and the race-ground. All that before was vanity will now be vexation of spirit. Riches profit not in the day of wrath. What is a man profited if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? But should you have no time for reflection; or be incapable of exercising reason; or conscience be unawakened: should you through the power of delusion have no bands in your death and your strength be firm: should you fall asleep like a lamb, you will awake with the devil and his angels. There is no peace, saith my God, unto the wicked.

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