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The Life of Faith as Illustrated by the Example of the Apostle Paul
The Life of Faith as Illustrated by the Example of the Apostle Paul Author:John Thomson General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1876 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million book... more »s for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER VII. THE NEAR PROSPECT OF DEATH. "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my coarse, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." -- 2 Tim. iv. 6-8. | T has been truly said that " as a man lives, so he dies." If during life he walks by faith, we may be sure that he will die in faith. Or if he lives in sin and unbelief, it is but too probable that he will die without God, and without hope. The grace of God no doubt is omnipotent, and it can save to the uttermost, and even at the latest hour of existence. But a deathbed repentance is a rare occurrence. There is only one instance of it recorded in Scripture -- that of the thief upon the cross; and while it teaches us that none should despair, it also teaches us that none should presume, or reckon too confidently on receiving at last that Divine mercy, which had been repeatedly offered, and as often refused. Now is the only " accepted time " that we can count upon; " now is the day of salvation." We must become righteous, and must live the life of the righteous, if we desire to have a sure hope that our " latter end will be like his." This is one great lesson which the life of the apostle Paul teaches us. For about thirty years he had now been an eminent, faithful, and devoted servant of Christ; and his Master did not forsake him in old age, or in the near prospect of death. While his outward man decayed, the inward man was renewed day by day. " The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon....« less