JAMES D. was listening one evening with joy to the gospel preached in the streets, but the hearts of others were stirred by their master, Satan, to annoy the servants of Christ. A serious disturbance followed, in which James was severely injured. He was taken home, and as his condition did not improve, after a while he was removed to an hospital.
There he lingered for about nine days, and was in an unconscious state during most of that time.
It is said that when a patient is under the influence of chloroform he will speak of what is most on his mind. A friend of the writer’s once told him of a Christian woman whom he had seen under its influence. She had inhaled it with dread, but when apparently unconscious she murmured―
“Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God I come!”
It was like this with James D. — the things of God affected him when he appeared to be quite dead to the things of the world.
The hospital to which he was taken, was an institution cared for by the Lord’s people, who sought to lead the patients to Christ. One evening a visitor was singing some hymns in the ward, one of which was not very well known to the patients, so that she had to sing it almost alone. However, a strong voice, which was strange to her, joined in the chorus―
“Not my own! Oh, not my own!
Jesus, I belong to Thee!
All I have, and all I hope for,
Thine for all eternity!”
Presently the visitor came to the bed where James was lying, apparently unconscious, and, addressing the watcher, she said, “Do you know the Lord Jesus?” The man replied that he had been converted a fortnight before coming to the hospital. Whilst she was speaking to this man James opened his eyes, and looked straight into her face. She said, “Is Jesus precious to you now, dear friend?”
“Yes, He is,” was the decided reply. “I feel His blood resting on my heart.”
Thinking this expression to be a strange one, the visitor was anxious to find out more about his state of soul, and said, “Then you can say all your sins have been washed away in His most precious blood?”
“I can,” was the reply of James.
“And you are looking forward soon to be at home with the Lord in glory?”
But James had again become unconscious, and the watcher said it was useless saying more to him. “I think what he says is true,” said the patient who was watching James, “or when you were singing he joined in the chorus.” His was the strange voice the lady had heard.
Perhaps some young man will read this story. James D. was young — about twenty-six years of age — and he was strong too, but he was soon cut off. Oh, how is it with you? Are you ready to pass away from this world, or are you still careless and indifferent to eternal things! Let me pray of you, then, to come to Christ at once — come to Him by faith — and rest entirely on His finished work (John 19:3030When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. (John 19:30)), and you will find that “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)), and nothing else can do that.