ONE Saturday evening a young man, nineteen years of age, was sitting in an arm-chair near the fire. He was very weak and ill―so ill that, sometime previously, the doctor had sent a message, telling him that he must not expect to recover.
This message was a great blow to poor James. He had been looking forward eagerly to the time when he should be strong again, thinking of what he would do for himself, and for those who were dear to him. To be told now that he must die seemed very hard, and he felt it very keenly at first. It was not that he was afraid to die, or afraid to meet God, for James was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and knew that His precious blood had cleansed him from all sin; but he had not yet learned to trust God in everything, to trust His wisdom and His love, assured that His way is always best.
The gracious and loving way in which the “Good Shepherd” sent comfort to that wounded heart, may be understood from James’s own words on that Saturday evening. His mother was working at the table near him, and, after a silence, James looked up, and said, “Mother, do you know the meaning of ‘amen’ and ‘hallelujah’?”
“Yes, I think I do,” she replied, “but you tell me.”
“‘Amen,’ said James, ‘means so be it,’ and ‘hallelujah’ means ‘praise ye the Lord.’ Well, mother, now I can say ‘amen’ and ‘hallelujah’ for my affliction.”
Not very long after, the Lord took James to be with Himself, in that bright home above, where it will be his delight forever to shout, “Hallelujah!”―that song, commenced here in weakness and suffering, but there continued to the full praise of Him who is worthy!
Dear reader, do you know this precious Saviour? Can you say that He is yours, and that you belong to Him? Oh! you cannot think what you are losing if you do not know Him. How could you meet death without Him? Then how can you live without Him? He says to you, if unsaved, “Incline your ear, and come unto Me: hear, and your soul shall live.” And, oh! may those of us, who do know Him, learn by His grace to trust Him in everything, so that even in affliction our hearts may delight to cry, “Amen! Hallelujah!” H. L. T,