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Chosen no: R-1018 a, from: 1888 Year. |
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Dying Testimonies
Some have inquired if we know of any of the saints now dying in hope of
an immediate awakening in our Lord's likeness.
In reply we would say yes, though it has not been our habit to make any
special point of such cases, for the reason that too much stress is generally
laid upon a dying testimony. It should be remembered that though the instant of
death is now the instant of change to those accounted worthy of the
first resurrection, the change is not to be realized until that instant, and
consequently, no testimony of the fact could be given. The dying testimony of
the saints, therefore, can be nothing beyond their life testimony--a testimony
of their full assurance of faith in the sure promises of God, based upon his
approval or disapproval of their walk since the time of their consecration.
In proportion as the covenant of consecration has been scrupulously
kept, may the final assurance of acceptance be strong. And as in Paul's case,
it may amount to positive assurance, because of positive and continuous
faithfulness. He declared "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my
course, and henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which
the Lord the righteous judge will give me at that day; and not to me only but
unto all them also who love his appearing." But had Paul given no such
expression of his latest confidence that he had run successfully, his faithful
course was a sufficient proof of it. This testimony of Paul however was not a
dying testimony, but the expression of his confidence in view of the fact that
he was about to be offered.
We have no account in Scripture of any visions of any of the saints when
dying. What is generally regarded as a dying vision of Stephen (Acts 7:55,56,)
was not a dying vision; for it was because of his statement, that he saw the
heavens opened etc., that they ran upon him with one accord and cast him out of
the city, and stoned him to death. And there is nothing in this expression of
Stephen, which leads us to believe that he saw this vision otherwise than by
the eye of faith--"being full of faith and the holy Spirit."
Consider the few accounts of the death of saints mentioned in the
Scriptures-- Jesus, Paul, Stephen, also the Prophets. None gave any dying
message concerning that which is beyond. No favor of this kind is granted in
dying. The dying words of our Lord--My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me?--if uttered by any of the saints now, would awaken doubts and fears for
their future well-being, because of the general belief in ecstatic visions
granted to the faithful in dying. But the fact is, all the saints who share in
the sufferings of the sin-bearer must do so unto the very end, and like him
must be left to die as parts of the sin-sacrifice. It is only when this
sacrifice is accomplished, when the dissolution is complete, that the
blessedness of the dead can be realized. In this blessed time of his presence it shall be instantly realized by this faithful class--"in a moment, in
the twinkling of an eye."
How then shall we regard the dying words of some of our friends who
thought they were going to heaven at once, and that, before this specially
favored time ("from henceforth")? We must regard their mistaken dying
expressions in precisely the same way that we regard their erroneous views
previous to their dying hours, remembering that those errors influenced them to
the end. The fact that the powers of mind and body are failing and almost
exhausted, is certainly no reasonable guarantee that in that hour they possess
any increased knowledge, or that they are granted any supernatural insight into
the future. Such things are nowhere promised in the Scriptures, and are nowhere
recorded in the Scriptures of the dying saints, nor even of the Lord. God does
not communicate with the living through the saints either after their death, or
in their dying. His method of communicating his truth to them is through his
Word; and those who would follow his leading must walk by faith in that Word,
down to the very end of the dark valley of death.
Methodists place great stress upon the dying words of one of their
bishops--"I am sweeping through the gates of the New Jerusalem, washed in
the blood of the Lamb." This, we can only regard as the outgrowth of his
erroneous theology. The New Jerusalem was not yet in existence, but in due time
he will be awakened when it will be gloriously established. Other Christians of
the various denominations have similar ideas, and often base their hopes on
similar errors, while passing by the sure and only foundation of hope given in
the Scriptures. The truth gives a confidence in God which cannot be shaken, and
which is an anchor to the soul both sure and steadfast, even amid the surges of
Jordan. MRS. C. T. R.
W.T. R-1018a : page 8 - 1888r