(Continued from last week)
It was one of Mr. Irving’s last requests before he passed away that the little boy who had been so used in his conversion and eternal blessing should be buried beside him. And there they were laid to rest the rich and the poor — the great intellectual and the precious little child who had known little else than Jesus and His love — to await the glorious resurrection morning.
“They have gone to God,” said the preacher, “and it is a sweet fact that the word spoken by our little friend was the means of strewing the dying pillow of our brother with blessings.” Then he quoted some of the sick man’s last words: “I have seen the beauty of many countries; I have tasted deeply of pleasures, and have been surrounded with the best of earth, but never have I known anything so blissful as the love of Christ that fills my soul in these last moments.”
Much more was said and many in the great crowd felt how empty were their lives, and how like shows the pleasures they pursued.
Lily often visited the widow and her son, Charlie. Sometimes they would go together to the cemetery to place roses on the graves where their dear ones rest. And Lily would always read, with tender voice, the simple inscription to her father’s memory:
“Just say, Jesus.”
ML-07/04/1971