“The memory of the just is blessed.”
“WHAT message have you for the unconverted? “was the question I asked of a dearly-loved and aged sister in Christ, five days before she departed to be with Him.
“Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else” (Isa. 45:2222Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. (Isaiah 45:22)), was her immediate reply.
I had known and highly esteemed this choice servant of Christ for about three years. Never had I entered her cottage-home without realizing a sweet savor of Christ in her spirit and ways. Naturally of a kindly, thoughtful, and unselfish heart―one of that generation, so quickly passing away, that seems born to live for others, and that therefore shines all the more brightly as it is placed in contrast with the self-love described in 2 Timothy 3, and lamentably characteristic of the “last days”―she had also learned, in the school of grace, how to care for others in a spiritual way. She was, in her sphere, a thorough evangelist. Like those women alluded to by Paul in Philippians 4, she labored in the gospel. True, her field of labor was limited. The cares of a large family engrossed much of her attention. Home duties were never neglected. In all these details she furnished a pattern, and was an example both as a wife and mother.
But, with all this, her real treasure lay in the Master’s interests. She loved and yearned over souls around; and, as opportunity offered, by visitation and other means, she “did what she could” to “speak of Him.”
Ah! what immense influence attaches to such a life―the heart occupied with Christ, and the hands and feet consecrated to the good of man! How little do we appreciate the dignity and value of such a life. Like the sweet scented lily of the valley, it may be unnoticed, unless perhaps sought for; but the fragrance of the flower emits a redolence, and is the sweeter because the flower itself is so little seen.
This may be a fair type of every servant of Christ, but specially so of women who would “labor in the gospel.” Self-concealment is by no means a concealment of the truth. Self-display is its destruction. Preaching is not confined to the platform. There are ten thousand ways beside the public platform of making known to others the truth and grace of God. And such were the ways of the dear aged one of whom I write. For some thirty years did “rivers of living water” flow from the heart of her whose “last message” only breathed out the deep and broad desires that had found a lodgment there.
I was just starting for some evangelistic work at a distance, and, desirous of seeing as much as possible of Mrs. P―, I called to bid her farewell. A cataract on each eye had closed her earthly vision for some time, so that she was unable to look on the faces thronged around her bedside; but they could gaze, with a kind of sacred admiration, on that fairly-chiseled face, calm as the summer sea, even though weakness and pain of body might well have disturbed its serenity. “Will you sing a hymn?” she asked. “Have you any one in particular?”
“The sands of time are sinking,
The dawn of Heaven breaks,
was her choice; and how appropriate! A few more grains of sand were all that the upper globe contained for her, but the presence of the Lord was, at the fall of the last, to be her bright exchange. No wonder she could sing! Coming into port full sail! Sighing and sorrow all over, and everlasting joy instead! What a scene of triumph is the death-bed of the Christian! The spirit, one moment clogged by a body, perhaps aged, feeble, and agonized; and the next, unclothed, unfettered, and able to enjoy in paradise the undivided company of that Saviour, who Himself passed through death and judgment, in order to take all those who trust in Him to be with Him, in spirit now, in body by-and-by! Ah! yes, such a death-bed is just the dawn of heaven.
But divine joy is unselfish, and finds pleasure in communicating itself. I therefore, at such a moment, felt free to ask the question at the head of this paper. I was certain that the good of others lay as deeply at her heart as ever. Nor was I mistaken. The salvation of their souls had long been her desire; it was so still; and so in answer to my question, her immediate reply was, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else.”
Special emphasis was laid on three of these words: ― “Me”― “Saved”― “All.” They came in power to me, as I listened intently for the last message.
“Me.” “I am God, and there is none else.” Here we have the glory of the Person.
“Saved.” In this word we have the wonderful result of looking to such an One―Salvation.
“All.” Here we see the scope, the world-wide range of the call―it is universal.
A look, is the condition.
A Saviour-God, is the object.
A full Salvation, is the result.
An invitation is given to all.
What a full gospel, what a remarkable text to choose as her last!
Now, dear reader, pause and ask yourself― “Have I looked?” “Am I saved?” Make this an intensely personal question. In looking to Christ by faith, there is salvation for the soul. It is not by working, nor by feeling, but by looking―that is, by believing. The bitten Israelite looked at the brazen serpent; he lived. The sinner is bidden to believe on the Son of Man lifted up; he gets everlasting life. “I am God, and there is none else.” No; for “there is none other name given whereby we must be saved.” I pray you look not to your fancied merits, your earnest prayers, your charitable actions, your deceitful feelings―salvation is in Christ alone. Look to Him. The immediate result is that you are saved. And this had been for many long years the happy experience of beloved Mrs. P―. Her holy life was the evidence to others.
Five days quickly passed, and the sunset was calm, as had been the day. Love for, and gratitude to, others filled her thoughts during moments of consciousness; and at last her spirit passed into His presence whom she commended as the Saviour-God to the very end.
“When he shall appear.... we shall see him as he is.” Faith sees Him today, sight tomorrow! Blessed consummation!
“Brief life is here our portion;
Brief sorrow, short-lived care;
The life that knows no ending,
The tearless life is there.
I close this little tribute to the memory of the just one, by repeating earnestly her farewell message to the unconverted― “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else.”
J. W. S.
DISPENSATIONAL REIGNS. ―From Adam to Moses Death reigned. From Moses to Christ Law reigned. From Christ’s first advent to His Second Coming Grace reigns. From His Second Coming to the end of the Millennium Righteousness will reign.
Now Righteousness suffers; in the Millennium it reigns; in the Eternal State it dwells.
S. E. R.