A FRIEND of mine set sail for a foreign land last August. Among the passengers was a theatrical company, also going abroad. One day one of their number went round the vessel, distributing handbills, on one side of which were to be seen three faces, one laughing more than the other; and underneath were announced the evenings and hours at which the plays would commence on board ship. On the other side were the following twelve lines of poetry, which were entitled―
“THE WAY OF THE WORLD.
“Laugh! and the world laughs with you;
Weep! and you weep alone;
For this solid old earth must borrow its mirth,
It has trouble enough of its own.
Sing! and the hills will echo it;
Sigh! and it’s lost on the air;
For they want full measure of all your pleasure,
But nobody wants your care.
Feast and your halls are crowded;
Fast! and they’ll pass you by;
Succeed! and give! and they’ll let you live;
Fail! and they’ll let you die.”
And is this all one may expect from the world?
That is about all! As long as you have money, health, and youth on your side, you may be very popular; but when these go, then nobody troubles much about you.
But the one who knows the Lord Jesus as his Saviour, and has had his sins forgiven, is independent of either the world’s smile or frown. He has proved the truth of the following words, which contrast with those above: ―
THE WAY OF HEAVEN.
Joy! and your Lord joys with you;
Weep! and He sees your tears;
You may drink of His love all measure above,
Not a cry of distress but He hears.
Sing! and the heavens echo it
Sigh! ’tis caught quick by His ear;
For you are His treasure wherein He finds pleasure,
So cast on Him all your care.
Feast! for you may live by Him;
Fast! He can fill up the void;
Ten thousand times lovely,
His glory’s above me;
His banner is Love―unalloyed.
There was an old woman, a Roman Catholic, in Co. Sligo, who was dying. The doctor who attended her was a child of God. He spoke to the poor woman of the love of Jesus, of a present salvation for the sinner who trusts alone in His sin-cleansing blood.
At first she could not believe that such good news could be true, especially for a poor old sinner like her; but after a few more conversations with the doctor, she believed the Word of God, which says: “To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifleth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom. 4:55But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (Romans 4:5)).
She saw with delight that she had nothing to do, that Jesus had done all, and that God was satisfied.
One day the doctor came to see her again; she was very far gone, but when he entered her room, lifting up her wasted arms and addressing the Lord Jesus, she said, “My ten thousand times beloved, sure it was Yourself that did it all!” and falling back, was gone to be with Him.
That same faithful doctor was visiting another very poor woman who was dying of cancer; he told her, too, what she had never heard before, that if she believed in the Lord Jesus Christ she would be saved, and that His blood cleanseth from all sin; that she could do nothing that would entitle her to salvation, but that the Son of God had done all. She believed in Jesus as her Saviour, and believed, too, that He would have her just as she was—poor, old, sinful, and dying; and so He did, for it was for such that Jesus came to die, and her heart was full of gratitude and joy.
In that part of Ireland, some of the country people have a strange idea that if there are any feathers of a wild bird in their bed they cannot die, no matter how ill they may be. This poor old woman lived on so long, in spite of her suffering, that her people concluded there must be a wild bird’s feathers in her bed, so they made her a bed of straw, as comfortable as they could, on the floor, and there they laid her down to die!
But she had Jesus with her, and she was delighting in His wonderful love in actually dying for her.
One day, not long before the. Lord took her to Himself, her kind doctor came in to see her and to talk to her about the Lord Jesus, when she quoted a verse of a hymn which runs thus: ―
“And when on that bright day I rise,
And join the anthems of the skies,
In ceaseless song this note shall swell,
My Jesus hath done all things well!”
See how happy Christ could make her as she lay suffering and dying on that bed of straw!
Oh, you who have tested the world and found it so shallow and unsatisfying, come to Jesus; He will not disappoint you.
“O taste and see that the Lord is good blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.”
A. G. T.