of
holding their minds to the contemplation of spiritual things.

It has often been observed that those Christians whose fears of death
were very great for a large part of their life, frequently die with
triumph. The reality is not such as they feared; they found support and
consolation which they did not anticipate.

One of the most trying anticipations with regard to death, in the minds
of many, long before the event arrives, is, separation from those whom
we love. And yet, there is probably nothing in human experience more
remarkable, than the singular resignation, and even cheerfulness, with
which some, who have had every thing to make life desirable, have left
all and followed Christ when he came to lead them through the valley.
The young wife and mother, in her dying hours, becomes the comforter of
her husband; she turns and looks at the infant who is held up to receive
her farewell, and the mother alone is calm, sheds no tear, gives the
farewell kiss with composure. "Thy rod" is supporting her; "thy staff"
is keeping at bay the passions and fears of the natural heart. So a
widowed mother leaves a large family of young children, with a peace
which passes all understanding. And the father of a dependent family,
which never could, in a greater measure, need a father's presence, looks
upon them from his dying bed, and says to them, with the serenity of the
patriarch, "Behold, I die; but God shall be with you." Nothing is more
true than this, that dying grace is for a dying hour; that is, we
cannot, in health and strength, have the feelings which belong to the
hour of parting; but as any and every scene and condition, into which
God brings his children, has its peculiar frames of mind fitted to the
necessity of each case, we need not make the useless effort to practise
all the resignation, and experience all the comforts, which come only
when they are actually needed. We do not often hear the first part of
the following passage quoted; but in such rocky and thorny paths as we
are often made to pass through, how good it is to read: "Thy shoes shall
be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be." If God is
our Shepherd, he will cause us to pass, one by one, through the valley
which is before us, leaving some most dear to us on the hither side.
Suppose that when a shepherd is employed in removing his flock from one
mountain to another, through a valley, one of the flock should mourn his
separation from c