IT was pay-day a few months ago in a large mill, when John B — left his home well in the morning to go to his work. At the dinner-hour he took his pay home, put it away, and had his dinner. Two hours afterward, feeling weak, he sat down on the side of an opening into a ventilating tunnel; he became unconscious, and fell backward into it — a marvel he did not break his neck in the fall. He would probably have been suffocated with the water at the bottom, had not his cap been observed lying by the side of the opening at the top. When he was got out he was in a very weak state, and vomited blood. He was sent home in a car, and put to bed, and the doctor was sent for. The doctor told him he was not much hurt, and that he would soon be able to go back to his work again (he had been a very healthy man, never ailing, and had reached the age of sixty); but it did not turn out as the doctor had said; he continued to lose large quantities of blood, and to grow weaker day by day: he lingered for about ten days, and passed into eternity.
A word now about his soul. John was a steady, industrious man, attended religious services regularly, and took the sacrament for well-nigh forty years, and was to all appearances a Christian man.
A few days after his accident I called to see him, and after speaking about his ailment, I asked plainly if he knew the work of Christ for himself? had he got his sins washed away in the precious blood of Jesus? This he did not know; in fact he had nothing to rest on; religion had given him nothing for himself. True he knew the way of salvation, and something of the value of Christ’s blood, but not for his own soul; he was not under its shelter, he was unsaved. I read to him from the Word of God, of God’s great love to him a sinner, and showed him that, with his forty years of religious life, he was but a―poor lost sinner, and that God could only save him on that ground; “for the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost.” I said that his case was worse than that of the heathen who had never heard of God’s salvation; for he had, and yet was not saved. He admitted to me that had he been killed he would have gone to hell. He also told me that thirty years ago he had had a dream — he saw the Lord clothed in white with a large book open before Him; his name was called, but he did not answer it till the third time. He never forgot this dream. So after three periods of ten years each, God caned him again, and spared his life for ten days, that in His wondrous love and longsuffering He might save his precious soul.
John B― took the place of a lost sinner, and died trusting alone in Jesus, and His precious blood.
His wife knew the value of the work of Christ on the cross for her own soul, and her anxiety was great for her husband’s salvation. God indeed answered her prayers for him.
Who can fail to see the goodness of God to this man, in His patient longsuffering? How He spoke to him in a dream, and then after waiting thirty years brought him to the brink of the grave to save his soul; and when he was there he dared not rest on his religious life for salvation, yea, it proved him to be if possible a greater sinner; for he was not saved. And yet, sad to say, how many are resting in, and trusting to, what they are, and to what they have done; having only a head-knowledge of the value of the work of Christ!
Dear reader, if you are one of the many who are doing so, you are on a foundation of sand, and you will be lost, unless your eyes are opened to see your danger, and you flee to Jesus alone for salvation. He is the only Saviour, and is willing and able to save you, it only you are willing to be saved by Him. Do throw away every other refuge, and come to Him, saying, “Lord, save me, or I perish!” “Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out.”
J. R. W