By:
Edited by Heyman Wreford
TOWARDS the close of a lovely Sunday evening in the month of June a large crowd had gathered together on the beach of that quaint little Kentish seaside town of Deal, to listen to the preaching of the gospel of the grace of God. It was our privilege, on this occasion, to fulfill once more a promise to the earnestly twice-repeated dying request of a dearly-loved son, made shortly before his spirit passed up to be “with Christ”— his “far better portion — that we would preach the gospel of Christ faithfully. “Telling our audience of this request, and of a further little incident or two concerning him, we urged upon them their necessity, as sinners in God’s sight, of closing in at once with His offer of mercy, adding at the same time a reminder as to the uncertainty of life, that “all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away...” (1 Pet. 1:2424For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: (1 Peter 1:24)).
It was a solemn moment, and felt by many to be so. A man, too, who could never be persuaded to remain and hear what the preachers of that little band of Christians had to say from time to time, remained and listened that evening; and, on leaving, impressed with the solemnity of the message, he remarked how true it was, that “the grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away”!
This was his last opportunity. The next day that man died suddenly — passing into eternity without further warning.
“A curious coincidence,” suggests one of our readers. Yes, a coincidence, truly, but perhaps one of God’s coincidences; as was also the fact that the very next Sunday evening, knowing nothing of this solemn circumstance, still fresh in the minds of a large number in the company again assembled, we were led, quite impromptu, to press upon the attention of our hearers the wisdom of receiving now God’s “great salvation,” in view of the uncertainty of life on the one hand, and of the suddenness of the Lord’s coming on the other, when the now opened door of mercy will be closed forever; to say nothing of the “sudden destruction” awaiting the rejectors of Christ, when the day of the Lord shall come “as a thief in the night.”
But, alas! how true it is that “God speaketh once, yea twice, though man regardeth it not” (Job 33:14,14For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. (Job 33:14) R.V).
How is it with you, my reader? There must arrive a moment when your bosom shall cease to heave, and your pulse to beat; and when your last opportunity shall have come and gone. Perhaps your perusal of these lines may prove to be that last opportunity; for death comes to us in such disguises. The late Mrs.
Henry Dering tells of a young lady, a child of wealth and fashion, who, when riding in Hyde Park, London, broke a blood vessel. She was taken home, and the doctor sent for. Alas! his verdict was a hopeless one, and he warned her she could only last out a few hours. Then, in an agony, she exclaimed, “I cannot die! Oh, save my life! save my life! I can’t — I can’t die! Oh, mother, mother, you taught me to live, but you never taught me to die! Oh, doctor, save my life! I cannot die!” and with that she passed away.
Only a few weeks ago a young acquaintance of ours in the Territorials — a fine, strong, intelligent fellow — was taken suddenly ill, after the manœuvres, on the 6th of the month; he died on the 9th, and was buried on the 12Th! And, like his, so your end may come, quick and sharp, with pain leaving you no leisure to think of eternal realities. Oh, then, be wise! acknowledge the truth of God’s testimony concerning your lost condition as a sinner, and honor Him by receiving as your very own the glorious Saviour He Himself has provided — JESUS, the Son of man, who came “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:1010For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)). It is the “lost” who need the “Saviour”; as the once well-known John Newton said to a friend, at the extreme close of his life: “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things — that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Saviour.”
N. L. N.