"It is a pity about that splendid young fellow at the top of the ward. We have done all we can for him, but he will be dead before morning."
"But doctor, you told him he was doing fine. He is quite expecting to get better."
"Well, he has put up such a good fight for life that it would be a pity to depress him. He will be unconscious before long and never know that he is dying."
"Will you not tell him, doctor? His friends are all far away in the north and there has been no time for anyone to come down. He may have something to settle, some last message to send. Do tell him."
"No! I shall not tell him; it is easier for him not to know. You may tell him if you wish."
This conversation between the house surgeon and a nurse took place in a large hospital after the doctor had paid a late evening visit to one of his patients.
Hesitating a few minutes after the doctor had left, the nurse thought, "It is a pity to upset him." But again thoughts of the poor mother and other relatives of the patient came into her mind. He might have something to settle, some message to send.
Having completed her duties she again entered the ward and sat beside the patient. He turned his face and said, "It is very kind of you, nurse, to pay me another visit. You have heard the doctor say that I am doing well. Does he think it will be long before I can be moved? You will write my mother and make the best of it to her." The nurse was silent for a moment and then she said: "I am afraid the doctor has led you to believe what is not true; you are more seriously injured than we at first thought."
"You don't mean that I am going to die!" A silent tear rolling down the nurse's cheek gave the answer.
The young man had faced death on the battlefield many times, but now there was no excitement to distract his thoughts. Eternal realities came before him— the awful fact of having to do with God.
"How long, nurse?" he inquired.
She told him the plain truth.
"I can't die! I can't die!" he cried. "I am not ready to die! What must I do to be saved?"
Truly, as the nurse had said, he had something to settle.
"How can I be saved," was the only question now. The nurse had thought only of earthly details. And in answer to this burning question she could only reply: "I don't know how— I'm not saved myself." Then in a soft, low, pleading voice the patient asked, "Won't you pray for me, nurse? Do pray." But her sad confession was:
"I can't, I don't know how."
The nurse was now as agitated as the dying man. Suddenly a bright thought entered her mind and she said:
"If it will be any comfort to you, I'll read the Bible."
He caught the suggestion like a drowning man grasping a lifeline, and said,
"Do, please do, nurse!"
She hardly knew where to begin, but the Bible fell open at John's Gospel, chapter three. She read about a man who came to Jesus by night; of the great love of God in giving His only begotten Son (Jesus) to die; then how a woman came to Jesus and received from Him living water that was not from the well.
At the end of chapter four she paused and looked at the patient. The gray pallor she knew so well was stealing over his sad face. But his eyes pleaded for her to read on, so she continued until chapter five, verse 24:
"Verily, verily I say unto you, he that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment; but is passed from death unto life."
As she finished this verse the dying man's face changed— the haggard, hopeless look disappeared, and he said,
"Stop there, nurse— light is coming in. I see, I see! Leave me alone, nurse; but come back soon. Thank you."
For half an hour he was left alone with God. Returning to his bedside the nurse found his face beaming with a new and heavenly joy, and he exclaimed: "I have heard His word. I believe the Lord Jesus bore my sins when He was lifted up on the cross. He has received me. It is not death for me, nurse, it is everlasting life. He has given it to me. I have passed from death unto life." After a moment's rest he continued: "Nurse, promise me you will meet me in heaven; you cannot say you have not heard the way."
"I promise you not to rest until I know," she answered. "But I cannot grasp it as quickly as you have; it's not clear to me."
"He knew I had not much time left," said the dying man. "So He let the light in quickly. He will make it clear to you. Thank God it is settled— and you have been the means.
"Tell my mother, Christ saved me at the eleventh hour. Peace, peace."
These were his last coherent words. Soon afterward he lapsed into unconsciousness, only to awaken with Christ his Savior.
Four years later, as the late Lord A. P. Cecil quoted John five and twenty four, the nurse also received peace with God. As the light broke into her soul, she, too, exclaimed: "I see, I see!"
Reader, have you settled this all-important question? God would remind you that: "Ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." James 4:1414Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. (James 4:14).
You may not have an opportunity to be saved at the eleventh hour. Be wise come to Jesus now. He will receive you and give you everlasting life.