“The sleep of death”–what is this sleep? We know that the surface
idea connected with sleep is that of resting . The eyes of the sleeper
ache no more with the glare of light or with the rush of tears; his ears
are teased no more with the noise of strife or the murmur of suffering;
his hand is no more weakened by long protracted effort and painful
weariness; his feet are no more blistered with journeyings to and fro
along a rugged road; there is ease for aching heads, and overtaxed
nerves, and heavy hearts, in the sweet repose of sleep. On yonder couch,
however hard, the laborer shakes off his toil, the merchant his care,
the thinker his difficulties, and the sufferer his pains. Sleep makes
each night a Sabbath for the day. Sleep shuts to the door of the soul,
and bids all intruders tarry for a while. So is it with the body while
it sleeps in the tomb. The weary are at rest: the servant is as much at
ease as his lord. No more the worker leans on his spade, no more the
thinker props his pensive head. The wheel stands still; the shuttle is
not in motion; the hand which turned the one and the fingers which threw
the other are quiet also. The grave shuts out all disturbance, labor, or
effort. The toilworn believer quietly sleeps, as does the child weary
with its play, when it shuts its eyes and slumbers on its mother’s
breast. O! happy they who die in the Lord; they rest from their labors,
and their works do follow them. We would not shun toil, for though it be
in itself a curse, it is, when sanctified, a blessing; yet toil for
toil’s sake we would not choose: and when God’s work is done, we are
too glad to think that our work is done too. The mighty Husbandman,
when we have fulfilled our day, shall bid His servants rest upon the
best of beds, for the clods of the valley shall be sweet to them. Their
repose shall never be broken until He shall rouse them up to give them
their full reward. Guarded by angel-watchers, curtained by eternal
mysteries, resting on the lap of mother earth, ye shall sleep on, ye
heritors of glory, till the fulness of time shall bring you the fulness
of redemption.