BLACK Joe was by report a convict and a bushranger. In the year 1842 he was taken ill in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. I was a young man then, and became acquainted with his condition, but he was such a desperate character that no one dared go near his house. I was greatly exercised about the state of his soul, and thought it a dreadful thing that he should be suffered to perish, without someone telling him of the precious blood of Jesus Christ, which cleanseth from all sin.
After much prayer, I asked a Christian man to go with me to see him. At first he refused, but afterward came, and said he would go with me, so we decided to go the next morning. On arriving at the house, I said to him, “You stand and keep the door open while I go in, and if he offers violence it will be easy for us to escape." When we opened the door, we saw him looking very ill, and very furious. I said, " Joe, we heard you were very ill, and we are come to see if we can do anything for you; and, better than all, we have a message from the sinner's Friend to you, who said, ' Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into the judgment, but is passed from death unto life.'
' Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.'”
Joe was broken down. We asked him if we should come again. He wished us to do so; which we did over and over again. His repentance and faith were genuine, and in proof of this he dismissed the abandoned woman that he lived with. Shortly after he took to his bed, and called in his neighbors, and instead of knocking them down he tried to build them up in the faith of the gospel. It was a beautiful sight to see a room full of people listening to his testimony, that he was going from his bed up to Jesus forever.
Poor vile Joe was washed in the blood of the Lamb whiter than snow; now he had passed from death unto life, and knew he should not come into the judgment. After a little while he passed away; but we shall meet him again, not in the scorching sands of Australia, but in the sweet fields of Eden, where the tree of life is blooming, and where there is rest for you. C. C. S.