It was a beam of light that seemed at once to describe the glorious change which her soul had now already experienced; and, at the same time, to shed the promised consolations of hope over the minds of those who witnessed her departure.
This was an incident obviously arising from a natural
cause; but one which irresistibly connected itself with the spiritual circumstances of the case.
For some time I remained silently gazing on the breathless corpse, and could hardly persuade myself that Jane was indeed no longer there.
As I returned homeward, I found it difficult to repress the strong feelings of affection which such a scene had excited. Neither did I wish it. Religion, reason, and experience, rather bid us indulge, in due place and season, those tender emotions, which keep the heart alive to its most valuable sensibilities. To check them serves but to harden the mind, and close the avenues which lead to the sources of our best principles of action.
Jesus himself wept over the foreseen sorrows of Jerusalem. He wept also at the grave of his friend Lazarus. Such an example consecrates the tear of affection, while it teaches us, concerning them which are asleep, not to sorrow, as those which have no hope.
I soon fell into meditation on the mysterious subject of the flight of a soul from this world to that of departed spirits.
“Swifter than an arrow from the bow, or than the rays of light from the sun, has this child’s spirit hastened, in obedience to its summons from God, to appear in his immediate presence. How solemn a truth is this for universal consideration! But, ‘washed in the blood of the Lamb that was slain,’ and happily made partaker of its purifying efficacy, she meets her welcome at the throne of God. She has nothing to fear from the frowns of divine justice. Sin, death, and hell, are all vanquished through the power of Him who hath made her more than conqueror. He will himself present her to his Father, as one of the purchased
lambs of his flock—as one whom the Spirit of God ‘has sealed unto the day of redemption.’
“What a change for her!—from that poor tattered chamber to the regions of paradise!—from a bed of straw to the bosom of Abraham!—from poverty, sickness, and pain, to eternal riches, health, and joy!—from the condition of a decayed, weary pilgrim in this valley of tears, to that of a happy traveller safely arrived at home, in the rest that remaineth to the people of God!