The name Vanderbilt is a familiar one and always associated in the mind with great wealth. Cornelius Vanderbilt, who accumulated a vast fortune while engaged, first in Steamboat, and later in Railroad enterprises, died in New York in 1877, the possessor of wealth estimated at the enormous sum of one hundred million dollars.
Shortly before his death, he was supposed to be the richest man in the world, and his heirs divided the largest fortune ever bequeathed in the United States up to that time.
It is most significant and striking to learn that when at the point of death, and hearing Joseph Hart’s hymn, “Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,” mentioned, he exclaimed, “Yes, yes, sing that; I am poor and needy!”
Most weighty words surely, uttered under such circumstances. It is evident that what some men value most here, is absolutely worthless in eternity. “For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away.” Psa. 49:1717For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him. (Psalm 49:17).
“Were the vast world our own,
With all its varied store,
And Thou, Lord Jesus, wert unknown,
We still were poor.”
Three stanzas of the hymn follow:
“Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore,
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love and power:
HE is able,
HE is willing, doubt no more.
“Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream,
All the fitness HE requireth,
Is to feel your need of HIM.
This He gives you,
’Tis the Spirit’s rising beam.
“Come, ye weary, heavy-laden,
Lost and ruined by the fall:
If you tarry till you’re better,
You will never come at all;
Not the righteous,
Sinners Jesus came to call.”
ML-09/10/1978