The righteous man, then, appears to me, like another Moses, expiring on the holy mountain, where the Lord had marked out to him his grave; " Get thee up into the mountain Abarim, and die," &c., Deut. xxxii. 49; who, before he expired, looking down from that sacred place, and casting his eyes over that extent of country, the nations and kingdoms he had traversed, and now leaves behind him, — reviews, in imagination, the numberless dangers he had escaped, — his battles with so many conquered nations, — the fatigues of the desert, — the snares of Midian, — the murmurs and calamities of his brethren, — the rocks split in pieces, — the dangers of Egypt avoided, — the waters of the Red Sea got over, hunger, thirst, and weariness struggled against, — and touching at last the happy term of so many labours, and viewing from afar that country promised to his father, he sings a song of thanksgiving and praise to God, dies transported with joy, both at the remembrance of so many dangers avoided, and at the prospect of that place of rest which the Lord shows him from afar, and looks upon the holy mountain, where he is to expire, as the reward of his toils, and the happy term of his course.
Not that the remembrance of the past, in recalling to the dying righteous soul the trials and dangers of his past life, does not also remind him of his infidelities and wanderings; but these are errors expiated by the sighs of repentance, wanderings which have fortunately been followed by a renewal of fervour and fidelity, wanderings, which recall to him the mercies of God to his soul, who hath made his crimes the means of his repentance, his passions of his conversion, and his errors of his salvation. The grief for his faults, in his last moment, becomes only a sorrow of consolation and tenderness; the tears which this remembrance draws from him still are no longer but the tears of joy and gratitude.
The former mercies of God to his soul fill him with confidence, and inspire him with a just hope of more; the past conduct of God, with regard to him, comforts his heart, and seems to answer for what he shall experience in future. He no longer, as in the days of his penitence and mourning, figures to himself the Almighty under the idea of a terrible and severe Judge, whom he had insulted, and whom it was necessary to appease; but as the Father of Mercies, and a God of all consolation, who prepares to receive him into his bosom, and there shelter him from all his afflictions.
" Awake, righteous soul," says then to him, in secret, his Lord and his God; " Thou, who hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, thou shalt no more drink it again; the days of thy tribulation are past. Shake thyself from the dust, arise, and sit down; loose thyself from the bands of thy neck. O, captive daughter of Zion! put on thy strength, put on thy beautiful garments: enter into the everlasting joy of thy Lord, where thou shalt obtain gladness and peace, and sorrow, and mourning, shall flee away f Isaiah li. 17, &c.
First consolation of the upright soul in the bed of death; the remembrance of the past. But all which takes place around him;
