1857.] "This Year Thou Shalt Die." 23 "THIS YEAR THOU SHALT DIE." BY JOSEPHUS. As we are standing on the threshold of another year, it becomes us, as we are mutable beings-subject every moment of our existence to some unforseen danger or event-to pause and reflect upon the occurrences that may befall us during this year: that we may be wise in making preparation to meet them. The precise changes which the revolution of this year will bring are unkown to us; and this ignorance is as pleasing "to our present state, and as conducive to our improvement and happiness, as our knowledge of the things which it concerns us to know." In these things "ignorance is bliss." It is a dictate of wisdom, "Watch, and be ye ready," that they come not upon you unprepared. Though we cannot predict to a certainty the events that may befall us this year, yet the events of life in general, are not so accidental and beyond our knowledge as to leave no room for intelligent suppositions and very probable results. Are there not certain occurrences and events, the consequences of certain causes, which regularly happen to mortal man every year? and may we not therefore expect that they will happen this year also. There are other events that sometimes happen in the course of a year, and sometimes do not: such are various blessings and afflictions of life. The possibility of these things should make us apprehensive that the voice of wisdom may not be in vain, and we stand ready for them. There are events which every reader of The Guardian knows to a certainty are before him; but the precise time they will occur, whether this year or not, whether to-day or to-morrow, is an utter uncertainty. Such is that solemn event-the close of the present life dreaded by so many-the entrance from time to try the realities of the fathomless ocean of Eternity. It becomes you to reflect seriously and conscientiously upon the consequences of such an event, should it happen to you. Is it something impossible in your case? Look back upon the past year, and all the preceding years you can enumerate, and behold the young-as young as you-who have been overtaken by that event, and your conclusion must be, that it is probable that it may meet you, and that "man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble;" he must die: As "he cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not." That you must die is just as certain as that you now live: but the appointed time is wisely and kindly concealed that you may be always ready and prepared for the summons of death, and stand in constant, vigilant expectation, that you be not surprised. It certainly becomes you to reflect seriously, as you stand upon the threshold of this year, amidst the pleasures of a "Happy New Year," and realize to yourself those important consequences which may result from this supposition. Even the mere possibility of this should affect you more than your plans and pleasure of the future. Is it not highly probable that death will meet some readers of The Guardian this year, before its revolution shall be accomplished, and it numbered with the past? Enquire, "Is it I." Yes, it is altogether likely that if some prophet, like Jeremiah, should open to you the book of Divine decrees, you might there see your sentence written, and the time of its execution fixed: Thus saith the Lord, This year thou shalt die! Could we read the future, some readers of this monthly visitor would find it written: "This year thou shalt enjoy a series of prosperity, to try whether the goodness of God will lead thee to repentance." Others might read this sad and gloomy sentence: "This year shall be to thee a series of afflictions-this year thou shalt lose thy dearest earthly support and comfort this year thou shalt pine away in sickness, or agonize with torturing pain, to try if the kind severities of a Father's chastening rod will reduce thee to thy duty." Others, I hope, would read this kind sentence, over which the angels of heaven might rejoice: "This year thy stubborn and impatient spirit, after so long a resistance against the truth, shall bow in humble submission to the despised gospel of Christ, and to the sceptre of His righteousness; this year thou shalt be born a new creature in Christ Jesus, and become a child of God and an heir of an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, which the revolutions of years shall never-no, never change and destroy." What a jubilee would it occasion to others to have you added to the "communion of Saints!" May we not hope that this mercy is reserved in the secret councils of Eternity for some careless, thoughtless and impenitent sinning reader of The Guardian. And that it will bring forth this year-this year which finds you in a deep sleep, unconscious of your everlasting interest, may it awaken you from that thoughtless impenitence and presumptuous security, in which the preceding ones have left you! Others, no doubt, would read this terrible and heart-rendning doom: "This year that Spirit so long resisted and grieved, shall cease to strive with thee-this year I will give thee up as a fruitless and unprofitable servant, and swear in my wrath thou shalt not enter into my rest." O, gloomy thought! Terrible idea for mortal man to cherish! To think that the spirit of all truth and sanctification has taken his departure forever, and left him a hopeless outcast of heaven's bliss. No other sentence can equal it with terror, save one, and that is, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire." The former is the infallible precursor of the latter. Others would read this joyful sentence: "This year fear not, when you are called to pass through the fires of persecution for Christ's sake; for it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Others would read this line: "This year I have set thee to be a light of the Gentitles, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in Him who was manifest in the flesh." Seeing that the harvest is ripe, and the laborers are few, we will hope and pray that such a blessing is reserved to be fulfilled this year to some of the readers of The Guardian. Let it be the subject of your thoughts and the burden of your prayers, to know your duty in this respect. Others no doubt would find the doom of the false prophet Hananiah 1857.] "This Year Thou Shalt Die." 25 gone forth against them: "Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth; this year thou shalt die." Art thou a rebel against God and his Christ? then fear and repent for the time is short. Fear with a godly fear; and repent because thou hast rebelled against a loving Father and a loving Saviour, in that he died that you might live. O, may the thought of such a probability, that you may die this year, incite within you actively to grasp the weapons of your warfare, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breast-plate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace. Above all, may you take the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, that you may stand prepared to meet the Divine decree that shall gather you with patriarchs and prophets, apostles and martyrs, and saints, and all those who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Have you any assurance of another year? If not, then you may die for several reasons. You may die this year, because thousands have died during the past year. It will be like the last-a time to die. The constitution of man will still be liable to the same diseases. . Death will float on every breeze and drop the seeds of death to be inhaled by mortal man. You may die, though you are now in health, and your constitution seems apparently to promise a long life. Many with the same hopes and promises a year ago, are now either rejoicing in the enjoyment of eternal life and ascribing "Blessing and honor, and glory, and power unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever;" or are writhing under the heavy curse of sin-the pains of the second death. The elements of death may even now be working within you, notwithstanding your seemingly robust and healthy appearance, and you may be a cold, pale, lifeless corpse, sooner than many an invalid whose life seems to be near its close. You may die, though you are in the bloom of youth. Go and converse with the tombstones which mark the resting-place of the dead; there you may learn, if not by having their ages inscribed, you may see by the shortness of their graves, that youth, blooming youth, is no barrier against the shaft of death. This year you may die, though you are unwilling to admit the thought. Death does not turn from his appointed course because you fear his approach and hate him. Your thoughtlessness cannot lengthen the distance that exists between you. He is drawing nearer and nearer, and soon you may feel and realize what you cannot bear to think of. This year you may die, though you may not be prepared for it. When death shows you his warrant, under the great seal of heaven, it will be a fruitless excuse to plead, "I am not ready." Though the consequences of your dying may be your everlasting ruin, yet the loss of the soul will have no weight to delay the execution. Go you must. This year you may die, though you have laid many plans and schemes for the future, which will lead you to honor and gain you praise from the children of men. You may anticipate many pleasures and visits to loved ones. Yet the dreaded monster of men may disappoint and consign your plans and schemes with you to the silent tomb to molder into dust, and call you to visit the invisible realities of the other world. He will not consult your convenience and be put off till you have accom plished your designs, and enjoyed your pleasures. The hopes and expectations of thousands have been blasted during the past year, and will also the present year. And what has happened to others may be in store for you. You may die this year, though you are going through a course of studies to fill some important station in life; or you may have finished your course, and are ready to step upon the stage of active life. How many have been disappointed. Our own memory recalls two roommates, and several fellow-students, who were overtaken by death and disappointed in their future hopes. Many more there are of such abortive students; and such, this year, may prove to you. This year you may die; though you deliberately delay your preparation to meet your God in judgment. You may fix some future time, the next year, or the decline of life, for the season of religion; but before that time may arrive, you may be numbered among those who are laying the realities of the invisible world, and your time for preparation be over forever. O, what consequences hang upon a moment of time! You may die this year, though you hope to the contrary, and flatter yourself with a long life. How many hopes are thus blasted; and those disappointed who entertained them! Before this year shall be num bered with the past, the brittle thread of life will be severed in many, and the hopes of those who expect a long life will perish with those who were foolish enough to entertain them. Thus it appears very possible that one or more readers of The Guardian may die this year. It is not only possible, but very probable, if we consider that it is a very uncommon and almost unheard of thing, that not one should die in a whole year, out of two or three thousand readers of this monthly visitor. Has not more than one of its readers passed off of the stage of life during the past year? Therefore let each reader of this monthly for you know not on whom the lot may fall-realize this possibility, this alarming probability, "this year you may die." "Is it İ," ask yourself. What, reader, will be the consequence, if you should? Are you ready, and would it be your gain, or are you unprepared, and does your blood run cold at the thought of such a change? 66 If you die this year, then all your doubts, all the anxieties of blasted hopes and fears about your state and character will terminate forever in full conviction." If you are an impenitent sinner you will be no longer. able to hope better things. Hope will be gone, and the things hoped for will be beyond your reach. You will see, you will be conscious of it. If you lie under the condemnation of the divine law, then every ray of hope will be lost in blackness and darkness, for ever and ever. The execution of the sentence will sadly convince you as you feel the power of the sentence permeating every nerve of your system. But, on the other hand, if you are ready, and to die would be your gain, then such an event would be followed by the most happy consequences. You would meet with the welcome plaudit, and be unquestionably the favorites of Heaven. We might enumerate several happy consequences of such persons, who die the death of the righteous; they would be in full possession of the heavenly inheritance, they will be free from all cares, anxieties, troubles and persecutions to which they are exposed and subject in this life; they would be in company with the angelic hosts of 1857.] "This Year Thou Shalt Die." 27 heaven, uniting in one harmonious strain, in ascribing thanksgiving "unto Him that loved them and washed them from their sins in his own blood, and made them kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever." But let us devote a few thoughts to those who are in a more dangerous and alarming situation; such who may die this year, of the readers of The Guardian, that are not prepared; such who are as near to weeping and wailings of the lost in hell, as they are to death. Should you die this year, you will be forever cut off from all the enjoyments of life. It will be a farewell, an everlasting farewell to all the gaiety, amusements and mirth, and vain and tempting delights of youth. It will be a farewell to all the pleasures of the senses of taste, of touch, of smell, of hearing and of vision. Nature will lose its enrapturing prospects, the sun its lustre, music its charms, and all the gratifications of the palate become insipid, and all the delightful colors will become obnoxious, in the pit of misery and wretchedness. It will be a farewell to all the empty pleasures of riches and honor. These disappointments may be your case, beloved reader, in the course of the following year. Should you die this year, all your hopes, plans and prospects, as to your future life, will perish. Youth is the time to build castles; it is the season of promise, full of blossoms; but the frost of death may nip these fair blossoms and wither and destroy the expected fruits before maturity. How many who have just entered upon the stage of public life have vanished away like a phantom, as soon as they appeared. If you die, and in your sins, "you will be fixed in an unchangeable state of misery; a state that excludes all hopes of making a figure, except as a monument of the vindictive justice of God, and the deadly effects of sin." How awful the idea of youth, promising youth, dying unprepared, and cut off from the land of the living; useless and hopeless in both worlds! Ushered from the highest summit of hope, into everlasting ruin. May not this be your doom, beloved reader, if you persevere in a state of impenitency, and should you die this year. Should you die this year, you will be deprived of all the means of salvation. This is the world of probation. "There is no wisdom, nor device, nor knowledge in the grave whither thou goest.' These means are all confined to the present life. "Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation." Here you are called to "behold the Lamb of God;" to repent of your sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. In the eternal world, the thunders of the divine law roar, but the trumpet of the gospel never sounds to call to repent"There the Lion of the tribe of Judah rends his prey ;" but never exhibits himself as a Lamb-the Saviour of the guilty.. ance. Should you die this year, then all your hopes of heaven will vanish forever. No more happiness for you. Every spring of the painful sensations will be touched with the vibrations of the voice that says, "thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things;" thus increasing the intenseness of your misery. What a doom, tremendous doom, is in store for those who die in their sins, and play with time as with a toy. Reader, wilt thou choose to risk your eternal happiness for such uncertainties of life? Wilt thou still sport with the golden moments of time, and the precious means of salvation offered to you to work out |