On February 27th a dear Christian of 84, whom I had been asked to see, and who had heard me preach thirty years ago she told me, was passing away. As she heard the clock strike the midnight hour, she said to her niece, “I have six hours more to live.” They were incredulous, but she repeated over and over again, “I shall die at six o’clock.”
She turned to her niece with whom she lived and she said, “I am going home; I am going home to rest.”
She was asked, “Do you see Jesus?”
She answered, “No, I do not see Him, but I have the promise.” Beautiful faith! It reminds us of our Lord’s words to Thomas: “Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed.”
She said again to her niece, “Goodnight, my child, God’s blessing be upon you.”
All through the night she was praying. Not long before the end came she gave utterance to these really wonderful words: “I have crossed the bridge; I am over the river; I have entered in.”
As each hour struck she asked the time. When five o’clock struck she said, “What time was that?” Someone answered, “It is five o’clock.”
“I have one hour more,” was her quiet answer.
When the hour of six came, they were around her bed, and one said to the other, “We will see if she is right about the time.”
They watched the feeble breathing as the hands of the clock pointed to six, and as the last stroke sounded, with a sigh the soul left the body for the rest she had spoken of before.
I thought as I looked upon her tired face in the coffin, and remembered the many talks and prayers we had had together, of her words, “I am going home, I am going home to rest,” and the farewell words of everlasting hope and certainty:
“I have crossed the bridge; I am over the river; I have entered in.”