Dying has a new perspective after you listen to The Dying Testimony of Infidels. This short work recounts how various unbelievers met death. Here's a snippet to whet your appetite.
David Hume, the great skeptic, would always be light and happy while friends and family were near his side when he was on his death bed. As a result, it circulated much later that he died a most quiet and cheerful death. Once when men were talking on this subject, a lady happened by. She, being the maid of Hume, corrected the men in their miss-assumption. She testified that he was spirited when his associates were close, but after they had gone he became like King Saul when the evil spirit tormented him.
Not as inconspicuous was the French Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire. He would often fly off into impassioned hysteria. The unbelief of his life so inflamed him at his death that his companions and friends ceased to visit him for fear of being injured. His house maids recounted that he would often shout out to heaven and to Christ in great lamentation. But he never could find Christ to be his comfort in death.
Contrast this with George Whitfield, the great evangelist. Towards the end of his life, and having shown the exhaustion that comes with ministry, he prayed, "I am weary in thy work, but not weary of thy work."
His last night of life he retired to his home. Stopping on the steps leading to his room, he turned and addressed his associates with him. While speaking a word of exhortation and devotion, the candled he held burned low and eventually was extinguished because there was no more wick. This became symbolic of the evening. During the night he was seized by an asthmatic attack, and passed. Yet, besides his bodily pain, he died without any agitation.
The word of God is true when it says, "Let me die the death of the righteous."
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