Extract from an Address delivered by Dr. Heyman Wreford, at the Victoria Hall, Exeter.
“Let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go grid prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. — John 14:1-31Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:1‑3).
YOU have all doubtless listened at times to the bird’s song at the close of day: when overall creation the hush of night has fallen; when the sun has been sinking in glorious majesty in the west. You have heard the thrill of the feathered songsters, and whilst listening you have thought, “How sweet is that melody! How beautiful this vesper song!”
You have probably often stood by the seashore on a calm evening, when the moon and stars were reflected on the peaceful bosom of the deep; when all along the shore the music of the waves sounded solemnly in tile still night. Your soul has been thrilled with the lullaby of washing waves, and you have thought, “What sweet voices those waters have, how soothing is their monotone!”
You have listened, it may be, to the voices of children singing, and as you listened to their sweet young voices blending in the praises of the Lord, you have exclaimed, “How beautiful is the voice of children! How lovely is their song about Jesus!” But lovelier far than the song of the birds at eventide, or the music of breaking waves in the solitude of night, or the sunny voices of children, is the sound of the Voice of Jesus corning down the ages, and saying, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me.”
These are among the last words of Christ, some of the last He uttered before He returned to the glory. When a parent is dying, the children gather about the bed to listen to the last words. And the words are treasured in the storehouse of the heart amid its sacred memories, never to be forgotten as long as memory lasts, the mind can think, or the heart love. So Christ was going to die. He was close to Gethsemane, and the Cross, and the precious words of Christ are infinitely dear to us, for we can read them with the light of events shining upon them. I have often thought how blessed it must have been to have walked with Christ on earth, to have seen Him work miracles, to have heard Him speak, and to have looked into the compassionate eyes of the Son of God. What a comfort there is in the thought that we, who believe in Him, are one year nearer Home; nearer the time when we shall walk with Him in white; when we shall see His glorious face, and hear His Voice of love. Traveler to heaven, look up! Lift up your longing eyes to Christ, and let the rapture of the thought fill your soul now, “I am one year nearer Home.” Yes, Christian, nearer Home.
“Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me.”
A heavenly Hand is sweeping the strings of life, and discord is transmuted into harmony. “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me.” A Voice breathes o’er the storms of time, and troubles cease. “Let not your heart be troubled.” Amid the gloom of this world’s sin a star of hope is shining its trembling light tells of coming day. Christ is the morning star that smiles in the skies of faith, the herald of the morning without clouds. “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me.”
The world is full of trouble. There are successions of wars, and famines, and murders, and fires, and pestilences, and storms, and earthquakes. But what of the strife of sin that is raging everywhere in the world? How many are being stricken down in the ranks of sin every day? How many have been this year? And in the ranks of sin how many have been lost? How many that you have known have died this year, being trampled underfoot by Satan and his host upon the battlefield of life? What are you doing, my friend? As you feel your sins, think of Him now Who says, “Let not your heart be troubled.” Trouble ceases when faith is in exercise. You shall be out of the devil’s hands tonight if you believe in Jesus; and on the charge-sheet of hell there shall be nothing against you, if you put yourself under the shelter of the atoning blood. He that believeth is freed from sin.
“I will come again.”
Those words are sounding in my ears now. Christ is coming! He has been coming all the year. He is coming. When will He come? God knows. This year has almost gone. January went, and Christ did not come. February passed on, and He did not come; March was ended, and Christ had not come; April passed into eternity, and still He had not come; May ended, and the Lord was still in heaven; June shed its sunshine, and Christ was still coming; July passed on, and the word was “Christ is coming”; August gave its days to time, and still the saints were left on earth; September had its harvest hours, and Christ did not come; October passed upon its journey, and Christ was coming still; November and its darkening days were spent, and the word was, “I will come again”; and now December has almost ended! Will He come tonight?
O, sinner, ere this year has ended, come to Jesus! Lift up your hands and heart to heaven now, and say, “Christ for me, Christ for me.” And then, with the glory of salvation’s dawn on your soul, cry, “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.” Say your last word to pleasure and to sin. Learn the language of the better land tonight.
O, blessed Saviour, at God’s right Hand in glory, let Thy blessing descend like heavenly dew upon the people here. Speak to every heart, and may those precious words, some of Thy last words on earth, Lord, breathe their loving comfort into troubled, weary souls. “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s House arc many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” Amen.