A YOUNG lady was dying of consumption, and a Christian went to nurse her. E. S. found her very impatient and not at all resigned to the thought of death. Clinging earnestly to life, irritable and wretched, she sorely tried the patience of those around her, and if spoken to of Christ would return no answer. Her guardian, her medical attendant, and her nurse, all tried to lead her thoughts to the solemn change which lay before her, and from which there was no possible escape; but all in vain; she persisted in saying that she ought to get better. E. S. had been a fortnight with her before she would even speak to her, and then her constant cry was, “I do not want to die. I want to live a little longer, and I think I can get patched up for a little while, and then you and I can go away to France together.”
E. S. told her what the doctor said, but she would not believe him. “I know I shall get better,” she would reply, and every time the doctor came she would persist in asking whether she might not go away to the seaside, or into the country, for change of air. On one of these occasions, when he assured her that if she went she would sink rapidly, she replied that she did not mind if she died away from home, and then added strangely enough for an unconverted person, “If Thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence.” But even unconverted people can quote Scripture, and so deceive their own souls. Yet it may have been that the Lord was working with her even at this time, although eleven weeks had passed away since E. S. first came to her, and there was as yet no evidence of a feeling after Christ.
But a few days before leaving for the country, she said to E. S., “I wish. Mrs. D. would pray with me. She reads but never prays.” Of course, Mrs. D., on hearing this, did pray with her, and the doctor who accompanied her on the journey read and prayed with her also. Two days after reaching her destination, she was taken worse, and her nurse, on entering her chamber, in answer to her ring, was greatly shocked to find her sitting up in the bed spitting blood. The end was now drawing near rapidly, as the doctor had foretold; but the Lord was gracious to her; and now, at the last moment as it were, the work of grace was seen. To her nurse’s glad surprise, instead of murmurs and complaints, she received her with a smile, and as soon as the bleeding was stopped she asked her nurse, who had quoted several texts, to repeat John 14:1: “Let not thy heart be troubled;” and then immediately replied, “I am not troubled; I am safe in Jesus.”
On the following day, she who but a little while before had said she ought to get better now asked, “Is it wrong to pray for God to spare me a little longer? I do not dread dying, but I do want to see my brother from India.” And when told that if it was God’s will, He would spare her to do so, she added, “You know He says, ‘Ask, and ye shall receive;’ but perhaps it’s not according to the mind of God for me to ask such a thing. However, I’ll leave it all to Him. I have asked that I may not suffer much, and I know He will grant it.”
Thus, you see, dear reader, what a difference grace makes. All at once she who was so full of rebellious thoughts, and clinging so tenaciously to the world and its empty joys, was now happy to depart, and full of trust and submission to the will of God.
A day or two after this, when her end was very near, a friend on approaching her bedside asked, “Is it peace?” and her instant reply was, “Perfect peace.” To the doctor she said, “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest;” and on his telling her that she would probably depart before sunset, she called E. S. to her, and said, “He says I shall be at rest before the sun sets. How nice! I am so glad!” and then added, “You have been very faithful to me; Jesus is so precious to me now;” and then, asking for a pencil, her Bible, and a book she had been reading daily, she wrote in one: “To darling S. — Read it daily; pray over it; and meet me when God calls you. — 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).” She wrote in another book and sent a message to a brother who was also dying of consumption, “Tell him,” she said, “I go before, and will meet him up above.” To her maid she gave a copy of John’s Gospel. It was all marked as if she had been closely studying it, and on the fly-leaf was written, “God’s way of salvation.”
She expressed her sorrow to her maid that she had not been more faithful to her and spoken to her more of Jesus. “But,” she said, “I am going to Him now. You must give Him your heart, and love Him, and trust Him, and have Him for your Saviour.”
This was said only two hours before her departure, and her last words were, “Jesus, my Saviour!”
Thus we see how rapidly God can accomplish His own work when He pleases. But for His grace, that “gently forced her in,” she must have perished forever. No heart for Christ, no subjection to His will, refusing even to speak to her faithful Christian nurse for many days because she sought to lead her thoughts to Jesus, she would have resisted to the last, and “died in her sins,” but that God in mercy answered the prayers of those around her, and drew her to Christ in spite of herself.
May this instance of His goodness lead those that know His name to be “instant, in season and out of season,” in setting Christ before the unconverted around them, especially the sick and dying. He who saved the dying thief can deliver from the very jaws of death, and snatch the brand from the burning. And may those that do not know the Lord take warning! You see this young lady was only saved a few days before death. How near, how awfully near was she to everlasting perdition! On the very bunk of the eternal abyss, she was, so to speak, snatched up into heaven through the power of that precious blood which cleanseth from all sin. HOW MIGHTY IS THAT BLOOD TO SAVE!