Better is the end.

Better is the end.

John Francis

 

“Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.” — Ecclesiastes 7:8

Look at David’s Lord and Master; see His beginning. He was despised and

rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Would you

see the end? He sits at His Father’s right hand, expecting until His enemies

be made his footstool. “As He is, so are we also in this world.” You must

bear the cross, or you shall never wear the crown; you must wade through

the mire, or you shall never walk the golden pavement. Cheer up, then,

poor Christian. “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.”

See that creeping worm, how contemptible its appearance! It is the

beginning of a thing. Mark that insect with gorgeous wings, playing in the

sunbeams, sipping at the flower bells, full of happiness and life; that is the

end thereof. That caterpillar is yourself, until you are wrapped up in the

chrysalis of death; but when Christ shall appear you shall be like Him, for

you shall see Him as He is. Be content to be like Him, a worm and no man,

that like Him you may be satisfied when you wake up in His likeness.

That rough-looking diamond is put upon the wheel of the lapidary. He

cuts it on all sides. It loses much — much that seemed costly to itself. The

king is crowned; the diadem is put upon the monarch’s head with

trumpet’s joyful sound. A glittering ray flashes from that coronet, and it

beams from that very diamond which was just now so sorely vexed by the

lapidary. You may venture to compare yourself to such a diamond, for

you are one of God’s people; and this is the time of the cutting process.

Let faith and patience have their perfect work, for in the day when the

crown shall be set upon the head of the King, Eternal, Immortal, Invisible,

one ray of glory shall stream from you. “They shall be Mine,” saith the

Lord, “in the day when I make up My jewels.” “Better is the end of a

thing than the beginning thereof.”

“Knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end?” — 2 Samuel 2:26

If, O my reader! thou art merely a professor, and not a possessor of the

faith that is in Christ Jesus, the following lines are a true ketch of thine

end.

You are a respectable attendant at a place of worship; you go because

others go, not because your heart is right with God. This is your beginning.

I will suppose that for the next twenty or thirty years you will be spared

to go on as you do now, professing religion by an outward attendance

upon the means of grace, but having no heart in the matter. Tread softly,

for I must show you the deathbed of such a one as yourself. Let us gaze

upon him gently. A clammy sweat is on his brow, and he wakes up crying,

“O God, it is hard to die. Did you send for my minister?” “Yes, he is

coming.” The minister comes. “Sir, I fear that I am dying!” “Have you any

hope?” “I cannot say that I have. I fear to stand before my God; oh! pray

for me.” The prayer is offered for him with sincere earnestness, and the

way of salvation is for the ten-thousandth time put before him, but before

he has grasped the rope, I see him sink. I may put my finger upon those

cold eyelids, for they will never see anything here again. But where is the

man, and where are the man’s true eyes? It is written, “In hell he lifted up

his eyes, being in torment.” Ah! why did he not lift up his eyes before?

Because he was so accustomed to hear the gospel that his soul slept under

it. Alas! if you should lift up your eyes there, how bitter will be your

wailings. Let the Saviour’s own words reveal the woe: “Father Abraham,

send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my

tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.” There is a frightful meaning in

those words. May you never have to spell it out by the red light of

Jehovah’s wrath!