The Winter Past and Gone

Nd now, last of all, the time is coming to us all, when we shall lie upon our dying beds. Oh, long-expected day, hasten and come! The best thing a Christian can do is to die and be with Christ, which is far better. Well, when we shall lie upon our beds panting out our life we shall remember that then the winter is past for ever. No more now of this world’s trials and troubles. “The rain is over and gone”; no more stormy doubts, no more dark days of affliction. “The flowers appear on the earth.” Christ is giving to the dying saint some of the foretastes of heaven; the angels are throwing over the walls some of the flowers of Paradise. We have come to the land of Beulah, we sit down in beds of spices, and can almost see the celestial city on the hill-tops, on the other side of the narrow stream of death. “The time of the singing of the birds is come”; angelic songs are heard in the sick-chamber. The heart sings too, and midnight melodies cheer the quiet entrance of the grave. “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.” Those are sweet birds which sing in the groves by the side of the river Jordan. Now it is that “the voice of the turtle is heard in our land”; calm, peaceful, and quiet, the soul rests in the consciousness that there is no condemnation to him that is in Christ Jesus. Now does “the fig tree put forth her green figs”; the first fruits of heaven are plucked and eaten

while we are on earth. Now do the very vines of heaven give forth a smell that can be perceived by’ love. Look forward to your death, ye that are believers in Christ, with great joy. Expect it as your spring-tide of life, the time when your real summer shall come, and your winter shall be over for ever.

“One distant glimpse my eager passion fires! Jesus! to Thee my longing soul aspires! When shall I hear Thy voice divinely say,

‘ Rise up, my love, my fair one, come away; Come meet thy Saviour bright and glorious, O’er sin and death and hell victorious’?”