What a superlatively grand and consoling idea!

(John Foster, 1888)

"For to me, to live is Christ — and to die is gain!" Philippians 1:21

What a superlatively grand and consoling idea — is that of DEATH! Without this wondrous hope of death — life would, to my view, darken into midnight melancholy! Oh! the expectation of living always on this sin-cursed earth — would be indeed a prospect of overwhelming despair! But thanks to that fatal decree which dooms us to die! Thanks to that gospel which opens up the vista of a glorious and endless life! And thanks, above all, to that Savior-Friend who has promised to conduct all the godly through the sacred trance of death — into scenes of Paradise and everlasting delight!

"You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand!" Psalm 16:11

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