WHILST visiting a dying woman, a child of God, she mentioned to me the case of Mrs. C―, a respectable woman, who had cancer, and had just left the hospital to come home to die, and was saying “that God could not be Love to make her suffer such bodily agony.”
The desire filled me to be able to go and see Mrs. C —, and the Lord graciously opened the way, by the nurse residing in the same house as Mrs. C―asking me to do so.
On my first visit, I was shown upstairs into a comfortable bedroom, which looked as if much care was being bestowed on the sufferer, and stood by the side of the bed on which Mrs. C―was lying. Her face was ashy white, and the features like chiseled marble, for, dear reader, from this visit to the day she died was six weeks exactly. I spoke to her of the love of the Lord Jesus in dying for sinners. She surprised me by consenting to all that was said, and, for the first few visits, she said Yes to everything; but from all I heard, from the lips of others residing in the same house, she did not bear testimony to being a saved soul. But ‘why was she so quiet with me? Was it bodily sufferings that made her quiet? No, it was God’s own Word going home to her soul, and she did not like it.
One day, whilst speaking to her of the old old story, she suddenly raised her voice (which was very low, as the cancer was in the upper part of the chest, and no food was swallowed) to quite a loud strain, and said angrily, “My dear Miss —, you need not tell me, I know it all I know it from a child!” and continued in a loud angry strain for some minutes, till, utterly exhausted, she sank back on her pillow and ceased.
For some minutes I felt quite wordless, and feeling my extreme weakness, my heart went up to the Lord in silent prayer for a word to speak, which He graciously answered, and strikingly brought to my lips these words, “Mrs. C―, in God’s Word we have an account, told by the Lord Jesus, of a certain King who made a marriage for His Son, and one came in who had not on a wedding garment, and the King came in to see the guests, and saw the man without it. And when the King asked him how he came without it, he was speechless, and you will be speechless if you wish to go into His presence your own way.” I then arose and stood over her, speaking of the precious blood of the Lord Jesus; then pressing a kiss on the motionless forehead, and without her once again opening her lips or eyes, I slowly left her room.
The next three visits I paid her she refused to see me. The nurse apologized for Mrs. C―’s rudeness to me, at the same time remarking that she often heard her engaged in prayer at nights when alone.
The fourth visit she consented to see me, and received me quietly. I asked if I might read God’s Word to her? She assented, and opening my Testament I read Matthew 22:1-13, and then spoke of the night when the destroying angel was to smite the first-born in Egypt. The people of Israel had to sprinkle the blood on the lintel, and when God saw the blood, He did not destroy. Similarly, the Lord Jesus on the cross shed His precious blood, so that lying there she could have all her sins washed away by faith in that blood, which God saw, for “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth from all sin.” Then kneeling by her bed in prayer, with her hand in mine, I pleaded aloud to God for her precious soul.
A few days after I heard she was passing away, and was quite happy at the thought of going to be with Jesus; she was speaking to others also, especially to one of her daughters, of the Lord.
I was told she was too far gone to see me, but on knocking at her door, someone from inside ran quickly down and opened the door, saying, “Mrs. C―wants to see you.” On entering her room she raised herself up in her bed, holding out her hand, and said my name; but the exertion was too much, she fell back, and was too far gone to speak again. I bent over her and asked, “Are you trusting in knowing it all from a child, Mrs. C―?” Slowly her head moved from side to side, expressing No! I then mentioned the precious blood of the Lord Jesus, and was her trust in that? The head quickly moved, expressing Yes, yes! A few words more with her, and I left her, after she had by signs assented that we should meet in heaven.
Her daughter followed me downstairs, and told me her mother had told them the word spoken on the day of her anger was what God had blessed to her soul. “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain” (Psa. 76:10). An eye-witness said her end was bright, and, as if addressing someone she saw, she exclaimed, “It is Jesus!” and was with Him who proved Himself to be a God of Love, in seeking and saving that which was lost. A grandchild in her room at her death repeated several times during the day, “Grandmother said she saw Jesus!”
Dear reader, this true story is written in the simple hope that it may arouse you to ask yourself, “Am I like Mrs. C―, do I know it all?” You may know in your head the way of salvation, and be a lost soul; knowledge is one thing, and belief in the heart quite another (Rom. 10:9, 10).
It is “the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul,” and “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). You need salvation first, and then God’s Word will be your security. Or you may not give heed to these realities at all; in fact, treat lightly His Word when brought before you.
A preacher, addressing some careless listeners, said, “I would sooner play with forked’ lightning than play with the Word of God!”
My Saviour-God is pleading with you today, but He holds you responsible for every time His love is brought before you; yes, even these few lines―
“Why distrust the Saviour, sinner?
Has He ever souls deceived?
No; beyond all others, Jesus
Worthy is to be believed.
Give thou to the winds thy doubting,
Take the gift His hand bestows;
Haste! accept the offered mercy,
Soon the day of grace will close.”
M. F. D.