THE first time I spoke to Mrs. B. she told me of her own illness with the same disease from which two of her sisters had died. I promised to visit her, but deferred the visit from time to time, and her case was permitted to wait on those of others which appeared to be more urgent. Alas, how often we allow such causes of delay! However, I received a message that she was much worse, and went to see her. It was the old story. Thank God, there are two old stories! not only that of the delicate hands and face, and the hectic flush, but also the old, old story of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His love — the “faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”
Mrs. B. had often heard the gospel, cottage meetings having frequently been held in her mother’s kitchen, and she owned to the truth of her state by nature, and of what God says of us (Rom. 5:66For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)), that we are not only “ungodly,” but “without strength,” and that it was while we were in this condition that Christ died for us.
It was evident that the Lord was working in her soul. The progress of disease in her body was not more manifest than the development of the Holy Spirit’s work in her, revealing to her, her own emptiness and the fullness of Christ.
On one occasion she expressed her thankfullness to the Lord for having answered her oft-repeated prayer that He would lengthen the time of her being laid aside, that she might learn in sickness, if need be, of her own need and of His grace; and she assured me that she could say, “It has been good for me that I have been afflicted,” and that the Lord had made the time of her weakness of body to be one of blessing to her soul.
The next time I called, she spoke yet more clearly of the reality of her faith in the Lord Jesus, and pressed the hand of another visitor, saying, “I do believe in Jesus.” Precious faith! “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Rom. 10:99That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9).)
On another occasion I found the mother with her dying daughter, and as soon as I was seated beside the bed she summoned her strength and, with a happy countenance, said calmly, “I have found sweet peace with Jesus.”
“I am very weak, but Jesus is with me, and He will not leave me,” were some of her last words; and to a neighbor who watched with her during her last night on earth, she said, “I do not wish to stay, I have found sweet peace with Jesus, and that is the best of all.”
Dear reader, in the hour when “no tongue can lie,” and when everything is seen in its true light, when about to enter the presence of God, my friend found her all in the person and work of Jesus, His beloved Son. May you now know Him through faith in His blood as your Saviour, confessing with the mouth the Lord Jesus, and believing with the heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, and you too shall be saved.