There are cases in which the clouded faculties, or delirium, prevent the full enjoyment of a peaceful, happy death.  Such cases seem painful to friends, but the Shepherd knows when it is best to hide the face of a sheep which he carries through the valley, and that it is sometimes better for the sheep to pass the valley in the black and dark night, than when daylight, by revealing the horrors of the place, would excite fear.  All this may safely be left to those hands which spoiled death of his sting, and to that love which is stronger than death.  Wherever, and whenever, and in whatever manner we may die, it will be under the care and direction of Him who will no more see us in the power of the enemy, than a strong and faithful shepherd would suffer a beloved member of his flock to fall into the power of the lion.

The last lines of a hymn by Doddridge—­

    “Then speechless clasp thee in my arms,
    The antidote of death”—­

are altered, by some compilers, who substitute the word conqueror for antidote.  But the author saw the truthfulness of his own chosen language, though the word in question be not convenient for musical expression.  When we are already stung by a poisonous creature, we take something which proves an antidote to the effect of the sting.  This medicine is not so much a conqueror, as an antidote; for the poison is not developed.  But the sting is inflicted, and before the poisonous injury is felt, the antidote prevents it.  These words of Christ correspond to this:  “Verily, verily I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.”  How often we behold this verified!  The spectators “see death,” in his approach, in his effects; they weep and tremble, while the dear patient does not “see” it; for something else absorbs his thoughts, fixes his attention; he is stung, indeed, by the monster; but Christ is an antidote to death, causes it to pass by without inflicting pain upon the mind, or in any way hurting its victim.  Dr. Watts illustrates and confirms all this:—­

    “Jesus, the vision of thy face
      Hath overpowering charms;
    Scarce shall I feel death’s cold embrace,
      If Christ be in my arms.”

* * * * *

The piece of paper which would suffice to write the twenty-third Psalm upon it, would not be large enough for a common title deed; and yet that Psalm, if it expresses our experience, is worth infinitely more than is conveyed, or secured, by all the registries of deeds under the sun.  We are each of us to see a time when we shall feel the truth of this.  If but these first few words of the Psalm are true in my case, if “the Lord is my Shepherd,” all the rest of the Psalm is a record, a promise, a pledge, of past, present, and future good.

There are six things declared by Christ to be characteristic of the relation which he and his people sustain to each other, as Shepherd and the sheep: