John Newton1
1From a letter written in 1777 to a widow – taken, with editing, from Newton’s Works, vol 2.
Our view of death will not always be the same; it will be in proportion to the degree in which the Holy Spirit is pleased to make us feel His influence. We may anticipate the moment of dissolution with pleasure and desire in the morning, and be ready to shrink from the thought of it before night. But though our feelings and perceptions vary, the report of faith concerning it is the same. The Lord usually reserves dying strength for a dying hour. When Israel was to pass over Jordan, the ark was in the river; and though the rear of the host could not see it, yet they all beheld the ark as they successively came forward and approached the banks and all went safely over.
As you are not weary of living, if it be the Lord’s pleasure, so I hope, for the sake of your friends and the people whom you love, that He will spare you amongst us a little longer. But when the time shall arrive which He has appointed for your death, I do not doubt but He will overpower all your fears, silence all your enemies, and give you a comfortable, triumphant entrance into His kingdom.
You have nothing to fear from death; for Jesus, by dying, has disarmed it of its sting, has perfumed the grave, and opened the gates of glory for His believing people. Satan, so far as he is permitted, will assault our peace, but he is a vanquished enemy: our Lord holds him in a chain, and sets bounds for him which he cannot pass. He provides for us likewise the whole armour of God, and has promised to cover our heads Himself in the day of battle, to bring us honourably through every skirmish, and to make us more than conquerors at last.