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in reproach and shame. The path of a believer is in reproach

and shame, because we are here under His command and

lordship, and are prepared to follow Him as His disciples. The

believer is to follow Him in that path of suffering and shame.

Are you going to be a follower of the Lord Jesus? “For me to

live is Christ”—what else is there to live for, beloved? Oh that

your heart might be gained for. Christ today, that you might

give your life entirely to His care and come under His blessed

authority, to confess Jesus as Lord, then ‘to die is gain’. A true

Christian is always on the gaining line; he has nothing to lose;

unless it be a place in this poor world that is coming under

death and judgment—it is all recorded, it awaits that awful time

when the judgment of God will come upon this poor world

away from Christ. But, for the believer, Oh what gain! What

gain for our brother! His spirit now is in paradise, a place of

delights, no more sorrows, no more sorrows in connection with

the testimony, much of which our brother has known.

In looking back on this lifetime, now finished, I thought of one

year of our brother’s life, in 1972, when there were great

sorrows. Some went to him for counsel, some from this very

district, and they received counsel, and they are with us today,

they are in that same pathway of suffering and reproach. Well,

it is open to all of us, beloved. Maybe we shall experience

persecution, because the end is very near and the apostasy is

upon us, but let us be following in His footsteps as true

disciples. If we give our hearts and lives to Him, He will give us

the Holy Spirit and as we give place to Him it will be all on the

gaining line; then “to die is gain”.

The portion of the true believer should be all gain. May we

know the reality and joy of it in our souls, for His name’s sake.

Words at the burial of Mr. A. J. E. Welch, Sunbury

2 December 1988