AN aged saint drew near her end. The flickering spark of life became gradually dim as the hours rolled by. It was evident that the “silver cord” would soon be loosed, the “golden bowl” broken, and the spirit return unto God who gave it. The doctor entered the room. His practiced eye discerned the signs of speedy dissolution, and, feeling he ought not to conceal the truth, he said, “I fear you have not long to live.”
A sweet smile lit up her face as she replied, “I am glad to hear you say so, doctor. We shall meet at God’s right hand.”
“I hope so,” was the answer.
“Hope so! hope so! Are you no farther than that? Do you not believe the word of God?” she asked, with a searching glance.
One present, gently raising the weary body, whispered, “You will soon be ‘safe in the arms of Jesus,’” but she, feeling His presence, who sustained her, and the strength of His “everlasting arms,” calmly replied, “I am there even now.”
An hour or two before her end the doctor, seeing her, said, “You will soon be at rest,” when, as if in answer, with feeble but tuneful voice, she sang,
“There is rest for the weary—
There is rest for you.”
Through life her desire had been to “go singing,” and her wish was granted, for even as she sang of that rest which remains for the people of God her spirit departed to be “present with the Lord,” thus entering into rest.
Reader, is your condition that of hoping, feeling, or striving, or is it that of resting on God’s word? Listen to the sevenfold utterance of the Lord Jesus, the “Good Shepherd” —
“My sheep hear My voice.
“I know them.
“They follow Me.
“I give unto them eternal life.
“They shall never perish.
“Neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.