Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons Job 16:22 When a few years are come, then I shall go the way from where I shall not return. I. CONSIDER THE MOMENTOUS JOURNEY WHICH IS HERE ANTICIPATED. Under the figure of a journey, Job directs our attention to that important period, when the immortal spirit must quit terrestrial things, and our perishing bodies be consigned to the silent grave. This journey may be considered — 1. Solemn in its nature. There is an indescribable solemnity in death, even to the man who is best prepared for the event. The path is unexplored; at least, the experience of those who have gone is of very little benefit to survivors: to know what it is to die, we must enter the darksome vale. The journey is of a solitary description; we must perform it lonely and unattended; the tenderness of affection, and the pomp of equipage, are of very little avail in the hour of mortality. 2. Indisputable in its certainty. 3. Unknown in its commencement. The moment when we shall be called to begin this momentous journey is wisely hid from our view. Our passage to the tomb may be by slowly rolling years of gnawing pain; or by a sudden stroke we may be launched into eternity. 4. Important in its consequences. The hour of death terminates all possibility of spiritual improvement. II. DESCRIBE THE EFFECT WHICH THIS ANTICIPATION OUGHT TO PRODUCE. The anticipation of a journey, so momentous in its nature and consequences, ought — 1. To elicit serious examination respecting our state of preparation. Man by nature is not prepared for this important event. 2. To excite just fear in those who are unprepared. 3. To stimulate the righteous to constant watchfulness. 4. It furnishes a source of consolation to the afflicted Christian. He looks forward with solemn delight to that period when he shall be called from this state of suffering and pain to the blissful regions of immortality. He considers the hour of dissolution as the time of his introduction to angelical society, heavenly employment, a fulness of felicity, the unveiled glories of his Redeemer, — and the whole eternal in duration. (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.) Parallel Verses KJV: When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.WEB: For when a few years are come, I shall go the way of no return. |
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