View source for When we gaze upon the lifeless corpse'

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<p> <strong>From the cradle to the coffin, affliction and sorrow are<br />
    the appointed lot of man.</strong> He comes into the world with <br />
  a wailing cry, and he often leaves it with an agonizing <br />
  groan! Rightly is this earth called &quot;a valley of tears,&quot; for <br />
  it is wet with them in infancy, youth, manhood, and old <br />
  age. In every land, in every climate, scenes of misery <br />
  and wretchedness everywhere meet the eye, besides <br />
  those deeper grief's and heart-rending sorrows which lie <br />
  concealed from all observation. So that we may well say <br />
  of <strong>the life of man</strong> that, like Ezekiel's scroll, it is &quot;written <br />
  with lamentations, and mourning and woe.&quot; <br />
  <br />
  <strong>But this is not all. The scene does not end here! </strong><br />
  <br />
  We see up to death, but we do not see beyond death. <br />
  <br />
  To see a man die without Christ is like standing <br />
  at a distance, and seeing a man fall from a lofty <br />
  cliff—we see him fall, but we do not see the crash <br />
  on the rocks below. <br />
  <br />
  So we see an unsaved man die, but <strong>when we gaze <br />
    upon the lifeless corpse</strong>, we do not see how his soul <br />
  falls with a mighty crash upon the rock of God's eternal <br />
  justice! <strong>When his temporal trials come to a close, his <br />
    eternal sorrows only begin! </strong>After weeks or months of <br />
  sickness and pain, the pale, cold face may lie in calm <br />
  repose under the coffin lid; when the soul is only just <br />
  entering upon an eternity of woe!<strong> </strong><br />
  <br />
  But is it all thus dark and gloomy both in life and death? <br />
  Is heaven always hung with a canopy of black? Are there <br />
  no beams of light, no rays of gladness, that shine through <br />
  these <strong>dark clouds of affliction, misery, and woe</strong> that are <br />
  spread over the human race?<br />
  <br />
  Yes! there is one point in this dark scene out of which<br />
  beams of light and rays of glory shine! &quot;God did not <br />
  appoint us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation <br />
  through our Lord Jesus Christ.&quot;  1 Thessalonians 5:9
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