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What are those circumstances of the Christian which give superiority to the time of death — which justify us in adopting the sentiment of the text as our own?

I. THERE IS AN ESSENTIAL DIFFERENCE IN THE CONDITION OF THE CHRISTIAN AT THE PERIODS OF HIS EARLIEST AND LATEST CONSCIOUSNESS. At the day of birth you cannot distinguish the future king from the peasant; the hero from the coward; the philosopher from the clown; the Christian from the infidel. There is a negation of character common to them all; and the positive qualities of each are not to be distinguished from the other. What is there to give value to the birthday of such a being? We pass over the years of childhood and youth, during which the human being is acquiring varied knowledge, to the period when character is more fully developed. He feels his responsibility, and knows himself to be a sinner; but his heart has never submitted to Divine authority, he has never sought for the pardon of his sins, he is an utter stranger to the grace of the Gospel. What reason has such a man to exult in the day of his birth? to commemorate it as a joyous event? But imagine him spared by the goodness of God until he is brought to repentance. He is in an essentially different position to that in which he was on the day of his birth, not only by the enlargement of his faculties, and the exercise of his affections, but they are directed to nobler objects; he knows and loves the character of God, he aspires after the enjoyment of Him, looks forward to enduring happiness with Him after the toils and sufferings of earthly existence, and his faith becomes "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." On the day of his birth he was the mere creature of flesh and sense, but now he is born of the Spirit, and he lives by faith. Oh, let death come when it may to the Christian, his dying day will be better than his birthday.

II. LIFE IS A PERIOD OF PROBATION, THE SUCCESSFUL TERMINATION OF WHICH IS BETTER THAN ITS COMMENCEMENT. It requires the utmost circumspection and watchfulness — the strictest examination of our motives and feelings, to preserve the evidences of our Christian character bright and unclouded. There are few Christians, faithful to their own hearts, who have not had seasons of darkness and gloominess, and been distressed with various doubts and fears. And when once these arise in the mind, they impart a character of uncertainty to our personal salvation. But as we draw nearer to the goal, our confidence increases; the decline of a Christian's life is ordinarily marked by greater stability of mind — by a less wavering faith. God has been, in times past, better to us than our fears; He has frequently perfected His strength in our weakness, and carried us unexpectedly through deep waters of affliction; the ultimate issue appears more certain; we are more habitually confiding on the arm of omnipotence. And when we come to die, with our souls awake to our real condition, conscious that we have been upheld to the last moment, a vigorous faith may enable the Christian go say, with the apostle, in the near prospect of death, "I have fought the good fight," etc. We mean not to say that every successful competitor has a feeling of triumph in the dying hour. The shout of victory may not be heard on this side the stream of death; but, when he has passed through its flood, and reached the opposite bank, his redeemed soul will be attuned to a song of glorious and everlasting triumph.

III. IF WE CONSIDER THE EVILS TO WHICH THE CHRISTIAN IS EXPOSED IN LIFE, WE SHALL SEE HE HAS REASON TO REGARD THE DAY OF DEATH AS BETTER THAN THE DAY OF HIS BIRTH. On this side death there are bitter herbs for medicine, suitable to imperfect and diseased conditions of life; but on the other side are the fruits of paradise, not to correct the tendencies of an evil nature, but to feed the soul, to nourish it up unto everlasting blessedness.

IV. THE PRESENT LIFE IS TO THE CHRISTIAN A PERIOD OF IMPERFECT ENJOYMENT. Here he is, at a distance from home, from his Father's house, in which there are many mansions; here his graces are imperfect, and constitute very limited channels of happiness to his spirit; here he cannot always enjoy God. His weak faith fails to realize the loveliness and perfections of Jehovah. Here he cannot at all times hold fellowship with the Saviour; it is interrupted by doubts and fears — by unworthy suspicions and criminal feelings. Here he knows but in part, sees but through a glass darkly, and this state of imperfection will continue until the period of death. The better country which the Christian seeks is a heavenly country — it is an incorruptible, undefiled, unfading inheritance, not to be realized in mortal flesh not to be reached until the spirit, freed from the bonds of earth, ascends to God who gave it.

(S. Summers.)

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KJV: A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth.

WEB: A good name is better than fine perfume; and the day of death better than the day of one's birth.