HOW thin his face was! what ravages disease had made in his poor wasted body! How bright his eyes shone, as if the lamp of life were flickering up before going out! As I stood in the room near him, his wife with soft words of love was doing what she could to ease him; the cough seemed to tear him to pieces, and left him well nigh breathless. She went and sat by the window through which the spring sun shone into the room; and I took her place by the bed.
“Are you happy?” I put the question, looking straight into his eyes. He returned my glance and answered “Yes.”
“How long have you known the Lord?”
“Since I have been here,” he replied.
“And how did you find salvation?”
“Through reading this little book,” and as he spoke he pointed to a Testament on his pillow. “It has been my companion here. Before I was ill, I used to read the newspaper and nothing else; I never thought about my soul; but since I’ve been here I’ve been thinking and reading, and I have found the Lord.”
Here the cough stopped him; after a while he continued.
“I was afraid to give up my work—afraid to take to my bed (I thought of the wife and children), but I had to. And I think now how good He was to me, not to cut me off in my sins, but to give me a chance.”
I said “He is ever good.”
“Yes,” he replied, “I can say now, ‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.’”
“You are not afraid of death?” I said.
“No, the sting is gone.”
“ ‘The sting of death is sin,’” I added.
“Yes,” he said, lifting his hands and clasping them, and shouting till the room rang, while his face shone and his eyes filled with rapture. “Yes, sin is gone and I’ve got the victory, sir, THE VICTORY, thanks be to God who giveth me the victory―praise Him, praise Him for it.”
“Yes,” I said, “we will thank Him.”
He cried again, “Bless Him, bless Him;” and then we were silent for awhile.
I knelt and thanked God for the peace he had; asked that he might be kept peaceful, prayed at his desire for his wife and children; and while I prayed, they wept.
Next time I saw him, we talked together of heaven.
It seemed as we spoke as if it came nearer and nearer to us, and the reality of it deepened upon the heart.
“You will soon see His face,” I said.
“Yes,” he softly answered, and I shall wait for you.”
I read, “And they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light; and they shall reign forever and ever.”
It was sweet to see his face, as he heard these glorious words, and the look in his eyes, as he gazed seemingly at the heaven I was reading about. I have seen many pass away peacefully, but he was wonderfully happy.
He felt in his heart the throbbing joy of a conqueror. “I’ve got the victory” seemed to shine out in every lineament of his face. “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” I saw the truth of that text before me as I gazed upon him. He was happy because he knew what Christ had done for him, and how completely he was identified with Christ in the glory where He is gone. I do not know if you catch, reader, the idea I want to convey. He had such implicit confidence and undaunted faith that Christ had died for him, saved him, and that he was going to be with Christ.
It was all plain and intensely real. Can you say that? “He died for me.” “He loved me, and gave Himself for me.”
I saw him several times before he died.
One day he said, “I used to go and hear you preach very often, I used to like to listen, and I wish...... I wish ... I had done something for Christ. It’s my only regret now; I’ve wasted my life, I should like to work for Christ.” Then, turning directly to me, he raised his hands, and placed them on my shoulders and said, “But go on, sir, go on with your work, ‘tis glorious work, and God will bless you in it.” I was deeply moved at his earnest face and glowing words.
He died a few days after. I was not with him when he died; but his wife told me how happy he was. I shall see him in heaven I know.
O think, reader, of the happiness he had. Come to the Saviour who gave him rest and peace, and come now. You shall share the victory if you believe in Him who fought the fight for sinners. He knew that his sins were gone. Do you? “The Lord hath laid on. Him the iniquity of us all.” Do you believe that? “But now once in the end of the age, hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” To put it away! think of that. Can you rest upon the finished work of Jesus and rejoice because your sins are “borne away?”
The one you have been reading of could say his sins were gone. God says to the believer “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool;” and “your sins and your iniquities will I remember no more.” When you know by faith in Christ your sins are gone, you will be able to say with him “I’ve got the victory.” Yes, “Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“His be the Victor’s name,
Who fought the fight alone;
Triumphant saints no honor claim,
His conquest was their own.”