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There is a story of a chamois hunter in the Mer de Glace who fell far down into a deep crevasse in the ice. After creeping along for a great distance, following a stream, he came apparently to the end of the passage. There seemed no opening further. The waters seethed and gurgled, and he knew there must be an outlet beneath the surface. He thought it might possibly lead out to some open place. He knew that to stay where he was would be swift death. So he plunged into the waters to be carried by them in their current. For a moment there was darkness – he was swept on in a wild rapid torrent. In a little time he was through the chasm and out in the lovely vale of Chamouni, into the midst of its wondrous beauty, with flowers and bird songs all about him.
Here is a parable of the Christian’s dying. There is a moment’s darkness and mystery as the spirit enters the valley, and then – heaven, the face of Jesus, glory, and eternal life. There is no long experience of darkness. There is no painful struggle, no groping amid sepulchral shadows, and no struggle with hideous enemies. “Absent from the body, at home with the Lord” is the inspired statement of the fact of Christian dying. One moment the believer closes his eyes on earth’s friends, next moment he opens them in Heaven, on the face of Christ.