WE loved him with a love that was deep and true, and well he had won it, for he was our loving, gentle, sympathizing, self-denying father.
We had heard of his illness, and for days our hearts had been divided between hope and fear; we hoped, we feared, we prayed, we doubted. At last the day long dreaded came, and a telegraphic message summoned us home to see him die. From far and near, as many as could come, we hastened to his bedside. How our hearts had sunk, and quailed at the thought of death for him! We little knew then how much we were soon to realize how truly the Lord Jesus has conquered death for His loved ones, and that our hearts would be made to rejoice even in such a sorrow.
He had suffered much pain before we saw him, but it was relieved now, though the pale, weary face bore sad traces of it.
His mind was sometimes clear, sometimes wandering, but there was one sound that always recalled it, and that was the name of the One he loved so well—the blessed name of JESUS One whispered as he stooped over his bed, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever.' You will soon be with Him." In an instant his face grew radiant: it seemed almost as if a ray from the bright glory had touched it, as he gazed upwards and said, “Oh, that lovely face! it will be joy, joy, joy, joy! Its His own beauty. His own intrinsic beauty!" The same relative was obliged to leave, and came to say farewell to him.
For a moment, his weakness seemed all gone, and grasping his hand strongly, be said, in a clear distinct voice: " Christ first—Christ last—Christ in Heaven—Christ everything. I want to see all my friends in Christ. Good-bye!”
Next day, he rallied a good deal, and our hearts grew bright with hope; but again during the night he sank, and we saw that he was really going.
A child, whom he dearly loved, who had just arrived from a distance, stood close to his bed, and thinking he did not know her, said, " Don't you." “I know me, Papa? I am your own E—.” “I know you, girl—I know you." Then as she began to cry, he looked up at her, and raising his finger reprovingly, said: “Don’t, don't. Only going home—I don't want to leave you all; but we'll meet again—I'm only going home—a little while —we don't know what a day may bring forth.” She knew he referred to the Lord's soon coming, and said, "You will soon see that lovely face.” Again the bright look came, and he replied, “Yes, yes; His lovely face I long ".... and again the longing eyes looked up, and the rest of the sentence was whispered in the ear of the One whom his soul loved and longed for. Whenever he spoke to the Lord Jesus, it was in a tone as if to one whom he realized as being very close to him—just beside his pillow.
The doctor, who like ourselves was deceived by the apparent return of strength, spoke hopefully of his recovery, and got in reply: “I am unworthy; a poor, wretched, vile, bell-deserving sinner—but I'm washed in the precious blood of Jesus. All my trust is in the precious blood shed on the Cross of Calvary. I'm not afraid to die, bless His name The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
He loved to speak of the Lord Jesus as “the One who endured the penalty due to sin, in order that the poor sinner might go free.”
Once he said, when suffering great pain, " I am in great pain—but—' no more pain.' This poor, vile body. All yes; He will change this vile body. Oh, Jesus Lord!”
Our mother came close to him, and he whispered, “I am sorry to leave you alone, but the same God will be with you; the same God who has taken care of us all our lives, though we did not deserve it. He will take care of you.... My wish is that I may meet all the children there. "She said," The Son of Man loved me, and gave Himself for me.” “I know it, "he said," I know it. 'Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever;' as A— said yesterday—’ I'll meet you all there.'”
During the last night he sank rapidly, and we kept away from his bed; as when we were near he tried to speak to us, and we saw that it was a great effort to him.
Again and again be spoke of and to the One he loved. Once he said, “He’ll take me to-night. Oh, will lie come to-night. Will He take me Home to-night!" Towards morning he made an effort to get out of bed, and a son, who was sitting by him, asked, "What do you want to get up for?” Readily he answered, “I want to worship the spotless Son of God.”
Immediately afterward he sank, apparently into unconsciousness, but a daughter whispered in his ear the name of Jesus; he tried to open his eyes, but could not. A few moments more and he had left us, — left all whom he had loved here, for the longed-for presence of the One whom he loved best. Just as he drew the last long breath, a sweet satisfied smile spread over his face; he was “absent from the body, present with the Lord." The shadow of that smile never left his face, until the beloved earthen tabernacle was removed out of our sight, as if whispering to our hearts, “Weep not, for he is not dead but sleepeth.”
Reader, do you know anything of the One whose presence brightened that deathbed? I have not told you the story of it to gain your sympathy, — that you might mingle your tears with ours for the loss of one so tenderly loved. No indeed, but that your heart may perchance be won for his Christ, that you may be attracted to Him because of His great love. Oh! if you but knew a little of the One who died " that he might destroy him that had the power of death," that He might take its sting from death, its victory from the grave, surely your heart would be attracted to follow Him. " For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again " (2 Cor. 5:14, 1514For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. (2 Corinthians 5:14‑15)). If you realized for one moment what it is to be loved by such a heart as that of the blessed Lord Jesus, you could not keep away from Him, — your heart would, in spite of itself, be drawn after Him.
“The Master's beauty is so rare,
His smile so sweet to banished men,
That when it once has crossed their path,
They ne'er can rest on earth again.”
“For we... are as water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again: neither cloth God respect any person; yet cloth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him" (2 Sam. 14: 14.)
The death of His beloved Son was the means which God devised that we, poor sinners, should not be eternally banished from His holy presence, and now He beseeches you to come and be reconciled to Him. “For he (Jesus) was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:5, 65But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:5‑6)). There is but one thing that can
“Take its terror from the grave,
And gild the bed of death with light,”
and that is the knowledge of the unchangeable, everlasting love of Jesus. I beseech you to come to Him as "a poor, vile, hell-deserving sinner,” seeing that you have no claim on Him but just this, that you are lost; because the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.
If any one could have laid claim to salvation on the ground of an outwardly blameless life, the one of whom I have told you might; but far, far, from this, he had a deep sense in his soul of his vileness as a lost sinner before God, and gloried in, while he loved to praise, the grace of the Blessed One who had stooped so low as to endure the death— the shameful death— of the Cross, to save such a vile one as he saw himself to be; and it was the joy of his heart to own to all with whom he came in contact, that in him the Lord Jesus had saved the chief of sinners.
Do come to this same Jesus; believe on Him, trust in Him; and then, if you are called to die, it will only be to be hushed to sleep in His arms, to awake again on that bright resurrection morning, so soon coming, when " the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we be ever with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:16, 1716For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16‑17)). Z.
In Luke 14, we get God's "great supper." It is the gospel proclaimed here on earth to all, and all are invited. In chap. 15. we get the guest who accepted the invitation—the prodigal son—and the joy in heaven? which follows his loving reception by the Father. In chap. 16. we get the future of the self-righteous elder son who "would not come in,” though "entreated" of his Father. He goes to hell forever. How solemn!
W. T. P. W.