He Beckoned Me

Our Lord Jesus said in the 11TH of Matthew “Come unto ME,” and I cannot help thinking our gracious Lord was repeating His glorious message to this dear dying soldier in hospital, “he beckoned me” to come to him. Now what did he say when I walked up the ward to his bedside? Reader, you can hardly believe what I am going to tell you of a soldier from Canada, come from some far-off township where there was no church, no chapel, no minister of any denomination. He said, “Tell me who this Jesus Christ is, of whom you have been telling. I have never heard of Him before. Who is Jesus Christ?” Oh! how gladly did I tell him the old, old story of Jesus and His love—of how God the Father sent His only begotten Son to die for our sins and to rise again for our justification (see John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) and Rom. 10:9-109That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9‑10)). Only think of it, dear friends, this man had never heard of Christ, and just the same it is even here in England—in our slums thousands are just brought up as pagans,” knowing nothing of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. Surely we must strive to do something more fervently to send the Gospel—the new Testament—to our English slums, and also into all parts of the world to those who, as the poor dear man in the hospital, had never heard of Jesus Christ, and this cannot be done without prayer, and help willingly bestowed for Jesus Christ’s sake.
EMILY P. LEAKEY