2. But there is also a dying cheerfully and comfortably in
come to die safely, but rather about how believers can die with comfort and cheer.
There are two ways to die cheerfully and comfortably:
1. One way is through outward expressions that bring comfort to those around us. This greatly depends on the nature of the illness from which a person may die, which can oppress the spirits and cloud the mind. Therefore, it is not subject to rules but left to God's providence.
2. But there is also a dying cheerfully and comfortably in individuals' own souls, which they may not be able to display in their dying moments when they are thoroughly prepared for it.
Truly, brothers and sisters, all I can say is that I am speaking to you about the things I have contemplated for myself before ever considering them for you. I cannot declare what I have achieved, which may be little or nothing, but only what I have aimed for, if it may be useful to us in this time of dying, especially among good ministers, with one or another [dying] almost every day.
I shall mention three things that, in my opinion, are necessary for every believer who desires to die cheerfully and enter into the presence of God in a suitable and complete manner:
I. The constant exercise of faith in surrendering a departing soul into the hand and sovereign will of God. "I die daily." How? By constantly exercising faith in surrendering a departing soul, when the time comes, to the sovereign grace, good pleasure, power, and faithfulness of God. The soul is bidding farewell to all its concerns in this world— everything it sees, everything it knows through its senses, all its relationships, everything it has been acquainted with—to have an
eternal, absolute indifference towards them. It is entering into an invisible world of which it knows nothing except through faith. When
Paul was taken up into the third heaven (2 Cor. 12:2), we might have wanted to hear news from the invisible world, how things were there.
But he saw nothing; he only heard words. "Why, blessed Paul, can we not hear those words?" No, "They are not lawful to be uttered," he says. God does not want us to know anything in the invisible world except what is revealed in the word while we are here. Therefore, the souls of the departed who have died and lived again, like Lazarus, I have no doubt God sustained in their existence but restrained all their activities. If a separate soul had one natural, intuitive view of God, it would be the greatest misery in the world to send it back into a dying body. God keeps those things to be objects of faith. Lazarus could not tell anything about what was happening in heaven; his soul was preserved in existence, but all its activities were restrained. I thank God that I have particularly focused my thoughts, guided by the word, on the invisible world, about which you may hear something in due time. But for now, I know that our understanding of it is purely through revelation.
So where is the soul going now? What will be the outcome in a few moments? Is it annihilated? Does death not only separate the body and soul but also destroy our existence so that we cease to be for eternity? That is what some would like, for it is in their interest. Is the soul going into a state of wandering in the air under the influence of more powerful spirits? That was the belief of the ancient pagan world, which caused frequent appearances of the dead on earth.
And this belief was incorporated into purgatory by the Catholics, from which they concluded that there were constant appearances of the departed. You have thousands of stories about them, but we know they are all the workings and deceptions of evil spirits. Our
ignorance of the invisible world is such that the majority of Christians have invented a third state that does not exist, a product of superstition and idolatry. For it is superstition to fabricate religious notions that cater to people's natural affections or gratify their desires for their own profit, both of which were the motives in this case. When people thought that the souls of men who entered an eternal state were lost forever, "No, there is another chance for them," they said, and so they pacified them, assuring them that even if they were the worst of men, there might be hope for them after death. And those who invented it turned it into their own profit. This is just to show the darkness that mankind is in regarding this invisible world. So, let us proceed:
Is the soul going into a state where it is incapable of any joy, any consolation? Brothers and sisters, no matter what people pretend, anyone who has never experienced joy or consolation in this world except through their senses or reasoning about sensory objects does not know, nor can they believe, that the soul itself is capable of any consolation in another world. Only someone who has immediately received spiritual comfort into their soul in this world can believe that their soul is capable of it in another. However, it is certain that no one can undertake anything regarding the conduct of their soul in another world.
So, what is your approach in this state and condition? What is your wisdom? Truly, it is to surrender this departing soul to the sovereign wisdom, pleasure, faithfulness, and power of God (which is the duty at hand) through the continual exercise of faith. As the apostle tells us in 2 Timothy 1:12, "For I know whom I have believed and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day." It is a mighty task to guard a separate soul until the day of the resurrection. So, says the apostle, "I know the one I have
entrusted it to; I entrust it to almighty power." May the Lord help us to believe that there will be an act of almighty power exerted on behalf of our departed souls in the invisible world to preserve them until the day when body and soul will be united and come to enjoy
God.
We have a glorious example for this duty and exercise of faith. Our Lord Jesus Christ died while exercising it. It was the final act of faith
Christ performed in this world. Luke 23:46 states, "When Jesus had cried out with a loud voice" (this was the voice of nature, but now he comes to the words of faith), "he said, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit' (my departing soul)." After saying this, he breathed his last. Here was the last exercise of faith by our Lord
Jesus Christ in this world—committing his departing soul into the hands of God. And for what purpose did he do it? We are told in Psalm 16:8–11, "I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." These are the words of David that our Lord Jesus
Christ himself used when he said, "Into your hands I commit my spirit." And the psalmist adds, "You have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God" (Psalm 31:5). Experiencing the work of redemption, communicated to us by the truth of the promise, is the greatest encouragement to entrust a departing soul into the hands of God.
Now, for me (considering the disappearance of all these shadows and appearances and the eternal dissolution of all connection to earthly things, and the existence of a soul in a separate condition with which we are unacquainted), this is one of the primary considerations if we