I know not how long I shall live.
JAMES MEIKLE
February 5, 1788. I know not how long I shall live. I know not how, when, or where I shall die. I know not the length or the kind of my last sickness. But this one thing I know, that after I die, I shall cordially approve of every step of holy providence in my life, and of every circumstance about my death.
March 4, 1788. Every day saints and sinners are carried to their long home. But O! the happiness of the one, and the misery of the other, are so vast—that all the bitterest afflictions of time are lost in the felicity of the godly; and all the good things of time are wholly forgotten in the anguish of the damned.
When death comes into a family, and carries off father or mother, sister or brother, son or daughter, or the dear wife—how familiar to us for a while are the thoughts of death! Now, death comes every day into the family of mankind, and carries off every relation. And though the sorrow cannot be so sharp, yet the instruction is equally strong—to remember our mortality.
