“I KNOW what you would like,” said a tall, high spirited lad to his Christian father and mother, who had been speaking to him for his eternal welfare. “You would like me to put a Bible under my arm and go and preach from the 14th chapter of John and the 13th and 14th verses!”
Though these verses were referred to in this offhand and apparently haphazard way, the speaker little knew what a comfort to his parents’ hearts they would be, for years afterward, in connection with their earnest longings for his soul’s blessing.
“Wait,” said his mother, “and let me read those verses for you.”
“No, mother, don’t read them; I won’t listen if you do.”
He was evidently very much averse to being spoken to about his soul, and used the best means he could think of to induce his mother not to do so. One day, when they were alone in the house together, and she was speaking personally and earnestly to him, he said:
“Mother, if I was saved and had sons, and had prayed for them, I should have faith in Him about it, and should leave it with Him, instead of talking so much to them! You don’t seem to have a bit of faith, mother.”
Hearing this she just bowed her head and wept, and even the lad, when he saw the effect of his remark, could not help doing the same.
Well, at an early age he enlisted, and shortly after was drafted with his regiment to Hong Kong.
More ardently than ever did his mother now pray for his blessing. A Christian who knew the family, hearing that he was in Hong Kong, sent his name and particulars of his whereabouts to Dr. E―. On the 1st of June, 1892, Dr. E―went to look him up, and thus describes his first interview: “I was taken to a tent,” he says, “where several men were sitting together. I inquired for Corporal P―, and one of them, a tall, well-built young fellow, browned by the sun, but hale and hearty-looking, and with a frank, open expression on his face, jumped up and said, ‘I am Corporal F —.’
“I asked him if he was a Shrewsbury man. He said he was, and wished to know what I wanted of him. I told him I only wanted to have a good look at him in order to send word to his mother that he was hale and hearty. He said, ‘Well, sir, here I am; look at me up and down, you will see I am in the very best of health.’ Then he added, I wonder if you know my mother?’
“I said all I knew was that his father and mother were Christians and in fellowship with Christians here in Hong Kong.
“ ‘Oh,’ he said, is that it? It is quite true my father and mother are real Christians, but why should they want you to inquire after me?’
“I said they did not communicate with me, but that a Mr. W― had written to say that he was acquainted with a Shrewsbury man now in Hong Kong, the son of earnest Christian parents. He then repeated his assurance that his father and mother were Christians, but added that he did not belong to the meeting himself, and if I thought I was going to induce him to go in for that kind of thing there, he was really afraid I might be mistaken. I said he would be welcome if he came of his own accord, but none of us would wish him to come otherwise.
“Oh,’ he said, ‘don’t be surprised if, after all, I come one of these days; only I am a regular hard, dry brick, and it takes a deal of power to break me down!’
“I said, ‘I was once just as hard and dry, and God managed to break me down.’
“‘Oh,’ he said, but I am a regular rascal, a regular, scoundrel!
“So he went on, but he gave me a promise to pay me a visit at my office.”
Only a few days later, and the aspect of things for this high-spirited young fellow was entirely changed. And what a change! Yes, the God who had broken down his kind friend the doctor was now about to prove Himself equal to the accomplishing of the same thing for him who had just before styled himself “a regular hard, dry brick” of a sinner, not easily broken down. This young man might have forgotten those two verses in John 14, once referred to in such careless fashion; but his devoted mother had not forgotten, nor had He who first uttered them, as it will subsequently appear. On the 30th of the same month that Dr. E― had visited him Corporal P― was compelled to report himself sick. The complaint was soon pronounced to be Hong Kong fever, and he was sent to the hospital ship in Hong Kong harbor. He left the hospital July 2nd, but got a relapse on the 4th, and was then sent to the casualty ward in an unconscious state, and placed in ice to reduce the temperature of his body.
On Saturday he had spells of consciousness. How glad would he then have been to have heard a mother’s voice reading the Word of God to him! But that privilege was gone forever. During one of those periods the visitor already referred to, hearing of his illness, went once more to speak to him. If we let the good doctor tell his own story we shall plainly see that he who would not listen when he could, is utterly unable to speak when he gladly would.
“I asked him if he knew me. He made a movement with his face, which I thought meant, yes. He could not speak, his tongue was paralyzed-like.
“I then said in slow, distinct syllables, ‘Your mother is praying for you,’ at which he made a movement with his face and lips. He tried to speak, but could not. I said, ‘There is no help for you but in Christ. Will you put your sole trust in Him now?’ His face worked convulsively and his eyes seemed to say yes, but he could not speak. I said a few more brief and distinct words into his ear, but I did not pray with him because he would not have been able to follow. I spoke a few words in his ear, like giving single drops to a thirsty soul, but after a while he lost consciousness again, and did not regain it till Sunday morning. He then tried to speak to one of his comrades, but could not say a word. I was there again at noon, when I observed that a great change had taken place. The fixed, staring look had left his eyes, which now looked natural for the first time, but he was in pain. When the fit of pain had passed and I found he was conscious, I said, ‘P―, may I write to your mother and say that you wholly trust Christ?’ He plainly moved his head, and his lips moved too, but he could not speak, though he tried hard. The attendant and myself both felt sure he meant to say, ‘Yes.’ A few more brief words, and he once more became unconscious and never recovered from it.”
Dear reader, think. Only one short month intervened between that sentence from the young corporal’s lips, “Look me up and down, and you will see I am in the very best of health,” and those lips being sealed against the utterance of a single word. Who that saw him stretch his fine form to full height and utter those words could have guessed that such a change would have come so soon?
And you may seem to be as little like nearing your end as he.
While God still holds out the possibility of repentance and the full forgiveness of your sins, will you not consider? Before your lips are sealed, to be opened no more in this world, will you not embrace this golden opportunity and accept this gracious message of the gospel? Will you not confess your sin and seek His mercy? Dare you miss the opportunity of confessing Christ as your own Saviour? Don’t say, “I will not listen,” for it is GOD that speaks to you. “This is a faithful saying,” He declares, “and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:1515This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15)). “And by Him,” He further declares, “all that believe are justified from all things” (Acts 13:3939And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:39)). What a message for you! Oh that His gracious power might break you down, His great love win your heart’s confidence Centuries are dying out, men are departing, and you yourself are going shortly―going where centuries are never reckoned. But thus is it written: “He that doeth the will of God abideth forever,” and again, “Whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die” (John 11:2626And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? (John 11:26)). “Believest thou this?”