people feel what they already know.  Thus of the nine fruits of the Spirit [27a] the first three are all emotions.  Their seat is neither in the head nor in the practice, but they are all feelings of the heart, “Love, joy, peace.”  They all lead to practice, and all are founded on principle, but all three are sacred emotions implanted there by the Holy Ghost Himself.

If, therefore, your cold, unfeeling heart is a real sorrow to you; if the trouble of your heart is that your sins trouble you so little, and that you feel so coldly towards that Blessed Saviour who has felt for you so deeply, rest not content, but throw yourself before God that the Spirit of grace and of supplication may enable you to look upon Him whom you have pierced, that He may take of the things of Jesus and show them unto you; that He may call forth in your soul His own fruits of love, joy, and peace, and that so He may answer you the Apostle’s prayer—“The God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.” [27b]

A PEACEFUL DEATH-BED

“Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word:

“For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.”—St. Luke ii. 29, 30.

Our thoughts are often directed to the blessed prospect of our Lord’s return, and there cannot be a doubt that His personal coming is the crowning hope of the Church of God.  At the same time, it is most important for us to be, if I may so express it, familiar with the thought of the present heaven.  The youngest amongst us may be cut down at any moment, and the old amongst us must be convinced that our time is short, and that our places must soon be filled by others.  We ought, therefore, to know where we are going, and what it is that awaits us when “the earthly house of this tabernacle shall be dissolved.” [28a]

The words of our text, so often chanted in our churches, express a sentiment to which, I fear, many who chant them are entire strangers, for they express the peaceful readiness with which Simeon was looking forward to his death.  It had been “revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” [28b]  He had, therefore, spent his latter days waiting and watching for the promised Christ, and at length, when the Child was presented in the Temple, he saw in that Child the Messiah for whom he had been waiting, and then it was that, his hope being fulfilled, he could bless God and say, “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace.”

There are three subjects suggested by his words.

I.  The View which is here given of Death.

He does not speak of it as annihilation, destruction, or stupefaction, but as a departure or removal from one place to another.  If a person were to depart from this place and go elsewhere, he would simply change his home.  Until he departs his home is here, but when he departs his home is elsewhere.

Is it not exactly the same when the spirit departs from its present home and removes to the building of God, the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens?  In this case, as in an earthly removal, departure implies the continuance of life.  Thus I rejoice in the many passages in which death is spoken of as a departure.  It was clearly the idea in the mind of St. Paul, as when he said, “having a desire to depart,” [29a] and again, “The time of my departure is at hand.” [29b]  When those we love are in far distant lands we see them not, but they are there; our eyes cannot behold them, nor our ears hear their pleasant voices, for they are far away, but that does not lead us to doubt either their life, their intelligence, or their affection.  Just so it is with those that are gone.  We no longer hear the voice, or look on the loved countenance, but we are fully persuaded that, as spirits, they are living elsewhere, that separation is not destruction, and that removal does not involve the diminution of the intelligent powers of the living mind.

But if death is thus a departure, where is the place to which the spirit goes?  Over this point there is a veil thrown in Scripture.  If we were to know all about it there would be nothing in the knowledge to affect our practical conduct, so there is no knowledge given.  Nor do we require it, for one thing is told us, and that one thing is enough.  If assured of that one thing we want no more.  What, then, is that one thing so clearly revealed to us in God’s holy Word?  Where shall we find an account of it?  Let us turn to the language of the Apostle Paul: “I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ.” [30a]  He knew, therefore, that in his departure he should depart to be with Christ, in the conscious enjoyment of His perceptible and never-ceasing love.

II.  The Spirit in which the Believer may die.

This is described in the words of Simeon, “Let thy servant depart in peace.”  Simeon could look forward to his dying hour in a tranquil spirit of calm, resting peace.  How often is there care on the heart of the dying believer.  A father may be leaving his wife and family, who have been dependent on him for support; or a mother her children, with the strong conviction that there is no substitute for a mother’s love.  Let no one suppose that there is no trial of faith in such a separation, and that it is not, in many cases, very hard to trust.  But in Christ Jesus there may be peace even in such a parting, and the dying mother, if she knows her Saviour, may trust her all into His loving hands, and say, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him.” [30b]  She has committed her children into His care.  They are her deposit with God, and she may be at perfect peace in the assurance that, though she is departing, He is remaining, and will remain a faithful Saviour till every one of those dear children is presented safe before His throne.

Let no one suppose that it is not a very solemn thing to die, to be suddenly cut off from