THE DEEPEST BLANK HERE IS THE LORD'S DEATH

THE DEEPEST BLANK HERE IS THE LORD’S DEATH

It is very nice that dear ———— should be with you. It is a moment of much exercise for her, but the more thoroughly she is cast on the Lord as to where her tent should be, the more she will rejoice that He had searched out the right place for her. I can offer no advice only that the cloud and manna went together; both are combined in the Lord. If she has simple faith she will enjoy the Lord most living alone.

The sense of the Lord’s death here, and that His death was for me, necessarily affects my heart more than any other death; though the one dearest to me may die, yet that one has not died for me. The more His death is before me the more I feel every death. The deepest blank because of death is revived in the heart by every fresh bereavement. The one who has felt His death most feels every death connected with oneself more. The bright side for the heart here is that we are united to Him in heaven, and as we answer to our union with Him we answer to His pleasure; and the more are our hearts assured that though He died where we are, we live where He is, so that the more His death is felt, the more is the heart unspeakably comforted in being conscious of union with Him in heaven.

I hope that you will not be distracted from lying down in the repose above by the details of the house of mourning; sorrow on the human side is bitter indeed; but sorrow where the sympathy of Christ is known raises you to the ^[p. 183] Supporter. Mary of Bethany knew the latter, and had ever to be thankful that she was plunged in the deepest sorrow because she then became acquainted with Christ’s support, and how He filled the blank. She never could forget this. The more sorrow any one has the more such an one feels every new sorrow. Sorrow with Christ’s sympathy always mellows us. My special love in the Lord to all the bereaved ones.