While visiting the General Hospital a nurse said to me, "There is a very sick patient here; will you speak to him?”
I replied I would, and as we walked down the corridor to "No. 15" she told me that it was a most peculiar case. The doctor had been unable to make it out. On seeing the patient, I soon understood the reason: the science of medicine made no provision for sin-sick souls.
The sick man was about thirty-five years old. He was so overcome with emotion that his sobs shook the bed on which he lay. His eyes were swollen, his face wet with tears. When he attempted to return my greeting, his voice was so broken aid incoherent that it was impossible to gather any meaning from his disconnected words. I sat down by his bed and finally succeeded in quieting him somewhat, enough at all events for me to learn that he was making very strong and sweeping charges against someone, and that the "someone" was himself.
Is it strange to you, dear reader, that I could take satisfaction in such an exhibition of unhappiness and distress of soul? Would not the natural disposition be to soothe and reassure?
I remember when, years before this incident, I was going through an exercise of soul much less deep than that of my hospital friend, and knowing I was under God's just condemnation, I sought help from a Christian friend. He assured me that, to gain God's favor, I must be very good. But I knew by His Word— and well for me that I did!—that "there is none good but One.”
Now realizing that God was working by His Spirit to convince this man "of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment," I looked to Him for the Word that He could use. So, instead of telling our patient in "15" that he need not be so distressed, I attempted to put before him the remedy that God had so freely and so fully provided.
"Oh, but I have been such a hypocrite," was the anguished cry.
"Granted," I replied. "But 'the blood of Jesus Christ His [God's] Son cleanseth us from all sin.'”
"There has never been such a sinner as I am.”
"There has never been such a Savior as the Lord Jesus.”
But the poor man would not look to Jesus: he could only see himself—a moral leper—and could only cry "unclean, unclean.”
Assured that He who had bruised could and would heal, I left. Business took me out of town for a few days; but I wrote to my friend and sent him a New Testament with many passages which I thought applicable to his case marked for him. I was very much before the Lord about him, and on my return was anxious to know of his state.
As soon as circumstances permitted I went again to the hospital. On entering Ward 15 my heart sank when I saw not only a different person but an unknown name on the bed where I had seen so recently the manifestation of the Spirit's power. My disappointment was brief, however. I soon learned that the patient had been transferred to another ward. There I found him sitting, "clothed, and in his right mind," reading his Testament.
"Well," I said, "are you rejoicing in the finished work of Christ?”
With some hesitation he replied, "At times I am filled with joy, and then again clouds arise.”
"But if the Lord were to call you at this moment what would be the result?”
"Oh, I would surely be with Him.”
"Then," I said, "let us thank God for the salvation of your precious soul." And on our knees we praised Him for His mercy, love, and grace to poor lost sinners like us.