AT the close of a bright summer, a young man, who had been holding some special meetings on the beach at the sea-side town of―, was asked to visit an old schoolfellow dying in consumption. Before seeing him the mother called him aside, saying, “Do you know, my boy is so good; if anyone is going to heaven he is. He has been always obedient to me, and never done any harm.”
A few remarks having passed, he went to see his friend. After sitting with him a moment or so, the light went out, and they were left in the dark. He suggested getting another lamp, when the sick one said decidedly, “No, we can talk better in the dark;” and then added, “I’m so miserable. I’m afraid to die. I’m such a sinner. What shall I do? My mother thinks I’m good, but she doesn’t know. On Sunday evenings, when she thought I was at church, I used to slip off to the hotel, with a lot of other fellows, where we smoked, and drank, and spun yarns.”
His visitor thought of his mother’s words. What a contrast! “So good.” “Such a sinner.” And he earnestly presented the gospel to him. But although he was very anxious, there seemed to be some hindrance in the way of his laying hold of the truth.
Many days passed by. At times it seemed as if the light would break in, but still doubt and fear held sway. On one occasion he found him sitting up and dressed. He was slightly better, and had been out for a little in the sunshine. But it had been almost too much for him. He was much excited. Inquiring what was the matter, he narrated how that one day, when outside the house for a few minutes, one of his old companions met him and said, “You are looking ill, old chap; cheer up.” To this he replied, “I’m very bad, but what troubles me most is, I have to meet God, and I am not ready.” The other, who professed to be an infidel, laughed at him, saying, “Well, I don’t believe in all that trash. If you go on moping like that, you’ll die, and there will be an end of you.” But he replied again, “I have to meet God, and you have to meet God too, and you know it. There is a hell and a heaven.” But with a laugh and a sneer the skeptic passed on.
Two days later the latter was seized with rheumatic fever, and was taken to the hospital, where he lay for a week or so, getting rapidly worse, when one day, waking out of his sleep, he uttered an awful shriek, and passed into eternity.
The other, not knowing this, had called at the house the day after the funeral, and the young widow had told him of the sad occurrence. As the sick man repeated this painful story to his old schoolmate, he added, with a look of despair, “He has gone to hell, and if I die as I am I shall go there too.”
His friend read and prayed with him, and left.
Calling again a few days after, he found a great change had taken place. He was sitting in his room, and his countenance was lit up with joy. “Oh,” exclaimed he, “I’ve got it now; what a fool I was before it is so simple. ‘He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life.’” It appeared that he had been much occupied with this scripture, in a pamphlet that had been given him. He then continued, “I have had seven friends to see me today, and I’ve told them all about Christ. One lady wept for joy, for she had been praying for me for years. Another fellow—oh, such a hypocrite—told me I must hope for the best. But I told him I was past that now. But when I spoke of Christ he was so indifferent, I am sure he was not saved. He talked to me in such a goody goody way, I felt sure there was nothing in it.”
The next evening his friend called again. He was much worse, and was removed to the ground floor. Gasping for breath, he said, “Here I am, you see; you know what this means.”
“Yes, I know you’re going home.”
“Yes, but I should like to have been here a little longer, to tell some about Christ and His love.” And then, after a pause, “Do you remember how we used to go to that meeting-room every Sunday morning when we were boys? How I should like to go there now. I used to think the meetings so dry, when they broke the bread. But I see it now. I should like to do that to remember Him.”
As it was evident that death was approaching, his friend lingered by his, bedside. Presently he said, “Is all well?”
“Yes, I feel as if I had a rope right round me, and I’m sure He won’t let it slip.” With his friend’s hand clasped in his, he soon became unconscious, and quietly passed away to be forever with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:88We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:8)).
His brother, who was also present, the remainder of the family having left the room, said, as he saw the end had come, “I’d like to die like that.”
Dear reader, would not you like to die like that? But can you say, “I’ve got it now”? It’s a grand thing for those who can. Death is here, and may come to you sooner than you think. Take heed that it does not find you unprepared. Scripture says, “After this the judgment” (Heb. 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)); not after this salvation. You must have salvation before death, or you will never have it at all. You may have it today, and you could not have it on better terms. It is free as the air you breathe. “The Son of man is come 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)). And if still unsaved, you’re lost. But, “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. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (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)). If thou shalt confess, and shalt believe, thou shalt be saved. The three shalts go together. The gospel is very simple, if men would only be simple about it.
Maybe others are saying for you, how good you are. But that won’t take you to heaven, and you know it. God knows how bad you are, worse than you like to think. But you must come out in your true colors if you wish to be saved. If you were good you would not need a Saviour at all. Christ died for the bad, and you must take the sinner’s place if you would be saved by Him. Respectability, morality, or religion will never put away your sins. Nothing but the precious blood of Christ can do that.
There was a way to earthly privilege and blessing before God once, on the ground of obedience, but man utterly failed, and that way was closed when they refused Christ. He is the only way to eternal blessing now, a Saviour glorified. If any scoff at His name, and call truth trash, they may meet the death of the ungodly with an awful shriek, like the one of whom we have written, to find a Christless hell for eternity beyond the dark portal of the grave. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal: 6:7). But if any man heareth His voice, and believeth on Him who sent Him, eternal life is his now, condemnation gone, and he is passed from death unto life. Such, like the subject of this narrative, will be able to say at the last moment, “I feel as if I had a rope right round me, and I’m sure He won’t let it slip.”
What is your case, dear reader? Face this momentous question, sooner or later, you must. Death is the sinner’s sure wage. All have earned it. You are one. But Christ, the sinless One, has been there, and has robbed it of its awful sting for every one that believeth. Victorious on the throne of God we point you to Him alone.
“Only trust Him, only trust Him,
He will save you now.
Oh, what a bright moment, when, ceasing from yourself and your own wretched doings, you turn-the eye of faith to Him! There is life in a look. And light from the glory of God will fill your soul. Have you looked? Can you say with our young friend, “I’ve got it now; what a fool I was before!” Surely it is folly to live without Christ. Alas! what irretrievable folly to die without Him. Then trust Him now, poor troubled heart! Receive, Christ now in simple faith, and you will have Christ for your Saviour, Christ for your object, Christ for your model, Christ for your hope, Christ for your all, both now and evermore.
“My hope on nothing else is built
Than Jesus and the blood He spilled;
I dare not trust the stoutest frame,
But wholly lean on His great name:
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.”
E. H. C.