“THE LAST ENEMY.”

Horowhenua Chronicle, 11 May 1938, Page 8

“THE LAST ENEMY.”

ADDEESS BY ME. E. OOPPIN. DEEP INTEEEST IN MISSION. At the Queen Street Hall last evening the subject was the immensely solemn one of death, and the speaker, Mr. Enoch Coppin, prefaced an eloquent address by reading brief extracts from the Bible in II Samuel 14, Luke 12, Ecclesiastes 8 and I Corinthians 15. Many people, remarked the speaker, were so befogged by the problems of this world that they left themselves no time to study, judge and estimate correctly matters concerning eternal realities. In the Levin cemetery, although you could notM.cH by looking at the graves, there are only two classes—the saved and unsaved. Both arc taken away by death and before the body is cold the soul is either in heaven or hell.

Quite a number do not understand what death really is. In the Bible, the word death moans separation and never denotes a cessation of existence. The prodigal son is spoken of as dead although he was very much alive in the pig troughs. He urns separated from his father. The Bible also tells us we are dead in trespasses and sins because our iniquities separate us from God. Some people think that life , and death are opposites, but this is not so. Birth and death are opposites, whereas life and death are merely two differentforms —a living existence and a dead existence. Life is that condition of being in which body and soul are unseparated; death is the separation of body and soul. It was his purpose, continued the speaker, to speak of death under five headings.

(1) Its universality. Death has been the King of Terrors down the centuries although men in the thrill of battle could look it in the face and laugh at it. If they forget what comes after, the ctual fact of death leaves many unafraid.' It is what comes after that chills the heart and induces awe. The soliloquy of Hamlet when contemplating suicide brings this fear out plainly. The moment a child begins to live it begins to die and each day it lives it brings it nearer death; The sentence of death is on all, for all have sinned. (2) Its cruelty. Death, unyielding, unfeeling ,takes the lovely child out of the home and leaves an aching void; it takes the xnother and leaves her tender little ones, or it takes the breadwinner and leaves hungry orphans. It spares not. (3) Its irresistibleness. Ecclesiastes 8 is a gruesome chapter. Death is not here a scythe but a great serpent strung ling its victim who struggles in vain. The description of a deathbed is amazing in its fidelity, and the burial of the wicked is strikingly portrayed. Death is inevitable and man wages a hopeless fight, but there is no discharge in that Avar. (4) Its terminations. .■ The best the wedding lines can do to prolong the union is to say it is “till death us do part." Death bids us say good-bye to our possessions. Dante pictures his inferno with these xvords over the door, “All hope abandon ye who enter here," arid death terminates all opportunities and terminates all hopes. (5) Its sting. A murderer avlio avus to be hanged next morning said, “It is not death I’m afraid of, but.l have to meet God at eight o’clock." The sting of death is sin. The guilty conscience is afraid of judgment, but the Christian cries, “0 Death, Avhere is thy sting? Thanks be to God, Avhich giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." Christ is able to deliver them who through fear of death arc subject to bondage. By Him, death is swallowed up in victory, so be wise and accept Him.