Miss Smith had a Sunday school class of young boys. After the lesson was over one afternoon, she laid her hand on the head of one of her scholars and said, “Johnny, are you afraid to die?”
“Yes,” he said sadly.
“Why, Johnny?”
“Oh, Miss Smith,” he said in a low voice, “because it seems somehow like going into a strange house in the night without any light.”
“And yet, Johnny,” she said, “there have been Christians who were not afraid to die, and some were even glad and thankful to leave the world. Do you understand how it could be?”
Johnny looked perplexed and shook his head. Then she tried to explain it to him. She told him of the times of the martyrs when strong men and delicate women and children were devoured by wild beasts and burned at the stake; they met death in those dreadful forms not only willingly, but gladly—even joyfully—because of the love they had for Jesus and of the light which He caused to shine into their souls.
Just as the teacher finished speaking, the bell rang and school was over. It was summer time, and the teacher left for a vacation in the country.
When she came back, it was fall. One day soon after she returned, a note was brought to her from Johnny’s mother. She said her dear boy was very sick and wanted to see his teacher. As soon as possible Miss Smith went to his house. As she entered the room, she saw a sight which she said she could never forget. The dear boy was lying in the arms of his father. His mother sat sobbing by the bed and holding the hand of the dying boy in her own. But looking at Johnny’s face, oh how different it seemed from what it was when she had last seen him! All the sadness and fear which it then expressed were gone. He did not look now like one who felt as if he were going “into a strange house at night without any light.” His face looked as bright as if there were a sun shining in his soul.
As soon as Johnny saw his teacher, he cried out: “I’m not afraid to die now, Miss Smith; Jesus who was with the martyrs is right here,” — laying his hand on his heart — “and He makes it all light.” She stooped to kiss his brow, but could not speak a word.
“Sing, Daddy,” said Johnny; “Sing, ‘There is a fountain filled with blood.’ "
His poor father tried to sing the little hymn, but his strong voice failed him and he had to stop. Then his mother took it up and managed to get through the first verse alone. In the second verse, the father joined her. They sang the hymn through. While singing the last verse, they closed their eyes.
Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I’ll sing Thy power to save;
No more with lisping, stammering tongue,
But conquerors o’er the grave.
When they opened their eyes again, Johnny had gone. While they were singing the last verse, his gentle spirit passed away. A sweet smile still lingered on his face. There was a light, too, on Johnny’s face. And there was light in that blessed Home to which he went! In Johnny’s own words, “Jesus was there, and it was all light.”
Dear boys and girls, have you trusted in this Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ? He is just as ready and willing to save you as He was to save Johnny, and He says, “Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37).
ML-05/01/1977