Job 14:10

“Man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.”

Afflictions, while they wean us from the love of this present world, serve to familiarize us with the thoughts of death, and to make that which to our nature is terrible, an object of desire and hope! See Job 7:1-10 and Job 14:1-2. But it is proper for us to contemplate “death” while we are yet in a state of health and prosperity; and, especially, to make the removal of others to the eternal world an occasion of considering what our own state may shortly be.

Man consists of soul and body. These, in death, are separated; the body returning to its native dust, and “the soul returning to God who gave it.” This separation must soon take place, whatever be our rank, our age, our employment. The very instant that “our soul is required of us,” it must be surrendered up; nor can the skill of all the physicians in the universe enable us to ward off the stroke of death one single hour!

And when the hour arrives for “man to give up the spirit, where is he?” While he is yet alive, we may find him. His office in life will assist us in our inquiry. The student, the mechanic, the man of pleasure, yes, and even the traveler, may be sought for, each in his own vocation, and may be found without great difficulty. But who shall find the man, when once his spirit has taken its flight to the invisible world? No more shall he return to his former abode; no more have fellowship with his former friends. The house he has built, or the books he has written, may remain; but he himself shall be far away, and the place he has inhabited shall know him no more. A tree that is cut down may sprout again; but not so the man that dies—he shall pass away as a morning cloud, and be seen no more! Ecclesiastes 9:10.

1. After death, where is a man as to any opportunity of serving God?

Once, he had one talent at least committed to him, and he might have improved it for God; but now it is taken from him. Whatever he once possessed of corporeal or mental power, of time, of wealth, of influence, is all gone forever; and he can do no more for God than if he had never existed in the world!

2. After death, where is a man as to any means of benefitting his own soul?

Time was, when he could read the blessed book of God, and draw near to the throne of grace, and pour out his soul in prayer, and lay hold on the promises of the Gospel, and seek from the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, such communications of grace and mercy and peace as were needful for him. But this time is passed away; no access to God now; no help from the Savior now; no scope for repentance now; none of these things remain to a soul that is once removed to the eternal world! verse 7-12. The work that is unfinished now will remain unfinished forever.

3. After death, where is a man as to any hope of carrying into effect his purposes and resolutions?

There are few so hardened, but they have some thought or purpose of turning unto God before they die. To the mirthful, the laborious, the dissolute—the fit time for religious services has not yet arrived; but all have a secret conviction, that the concerns of the soul deserve some attention; and they hope that, in a dying-hour at least, they shall regard what, in despite of all their levity, they know to be the one thing needful.

Perhaps the young only waited until they were settled in life; or until their children should be grown up, and leave them more at leisure to follow the dictates of their better judgment. Perhaps those who were immersed in earthly cares only waited until they should be able to retire from the world, and to devote a good measure of their attention to heavenly things. But “the day is closed upon them; and the night has come in which no man can work;” “their soul being, as it were, prematurely and unexpectedly required of them,” their hopes are never realized, their desires never are accomplished!

4. After death, where is a man as to any possibility of preparing for his eternal state?

The fight is terminated; the race is closed; the crown is awarded. There is no return to the field of action; no further scope for amended efforts. “As the tree falls, so it lies;” and so it will lie to all eternity. Pardon, peace, holiness, glory, are all at an unapproachable distance to him who dies without having attained the possession of them. There is an impassable gulf between him and Heaven; and he must take his portion forever in that place for which alone he is prepared!

Permit me, then, now to ask:

1. If the time had come for us to “give up our spirit,” where would we be?

This is a thought which ought frequently and deeply to occupy all our minds. Of individual people we can know but little; but respecting characters we may form a very correct judgment.

For instance, we know where the man who dies impenitent shall be, Luke 13:3; Luke 13:5.

We know where the man who has not fled to Christ for refuge shall be, John 3:18; John 3:36.

We know where also the hypocritical professor shall be, Matthew 7:21-23.

And if we will candidly search out our own character, we may form a very accurate estimate respecting our future destination. I beg you, then, to examine carefully into the state of your own souls, in reference to your penitence; your faith; your obedience to God’s commands; and then to say, as before God, what expectations the result of that inquiry will authorize?

Reflect, too, I beg you, on the inconceivable difference of those two states, to one of which you must go. Reflect also on the different emphasis with which the my text will be uttered by your surviving friends, according as their hopes or apprehensions respecting you are formed.

2. As the time for your giving up the spirit will shortly come, “Where should you now be?”

Are the scenes of gaiety and dissipation those which you should chiefly desire? Should not rather the house of God be the place where you should delight to resort? And should not your own closet be frequented by you for the purposes of reading scripture, and meditation, and prayer? In a word, should you not live as dying men, and improve your time in preparation for eternity? Realize the thought of your feelings in that day, when, in the eternal world, you shall say, “Where am I?”

O! the blessedness of that reflection, if you died in a state of acceptance with God; and the anguish it will occasion, if you died under his displeasure! I beg you, brethren, waste no more time in vanity and folly, but attend now to the great concerns of your souls; that, if the inquiry be made either here or in the invisible world, “Where is he?” the answer may be, “He is happy forever, in the bosom of his God!”

Charles Simeon