DURING the month of August, 1884, in a quiet little village in Wiltshire, I was called to see a young man who was suffering from inflammation of the brain. I felt it to be a dangerous case, and how great the solemnity of passing into eternity without knowing the Saviour, and was thus led to speak to him, telling him of that message of love to a guilty world, which says, that all who believe in Jesus as their Saviour, will spend eternity with Him, where there will be no more suffering or pain.
He told me if he died, he should like to go to heaven. He would not like to go to hell, to be with the devil. As he spoke these words he seemed to have an earnest desire to escape from the wrath which is to come.
I looked up to heaven, and prayed that God would show him Jesus, Who is the way to heaven. Taking for an illustration what we call a ‘finger-post,’ standing at a cross road, for the use of strangers who do not know the way, I said to him, “If you, not knowing the way, come to a cross road with a ‘finger-post,’ you would read that this road led to such a place, say the place you wished to go to, and you would believe it and walk on, satisfied that you were on the right road. So Jesus is the way to heaven, and the true ‘finger-post’ which points God to heaven. He beckons poor s inners, saying, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’
I felt much encouraged by the way he seemed to receive this blessed news, and was privileged to speak to Him several times of this wonderful tale of divine love. In a few days he was decidedly better, and I left him a book to read, which I found he was very pleased with. I felt, though he seemed somewhat oat of danger, that if God spared him, his sickness might be blessed to his soul, for he had told me what a sinner he felt he was, and if God did but spare him he would lead a better life. There seemed to be a general broken-heartedness about him. In a few days the disease returned, being more rapid than at first, and I called again to see him. My wife also left a text of scripture for him to read, and think about, which his father tacked to the wall over the mantelpiece, where it could be plainly seen. The text was that blessed revelation of God’s infinite love, “GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE” (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)). The dear young fellow read. the text over and over again, and’ when I called, his dear mother told me that he had been fully occupied with it. I felt much encouraged, and believed that God was by His word revealing this infinite love to his soul, and I explained the text more fully to him. He looked me fall in the face and said, “That verse will let me in, then, wont it?” I assured him that the truth of that sweet verse had let thousands and thousands of poor sinners into heaven, and it would let him in, too, if he believed in Jesus as the Saviour, the true “finger-post,” who says, “I am the Way.”
With much earnestness he looked up to me and said,
“I do believe in Jesus, and am a pilgrim going home. I am going to die, and shall be put in the grave, but my soul will go up to Jesus; there will be no pain there” (for he suffered much).
I felt so thankful that God had indeed spoken to him and caused him to hear that voice which awakens the dead, and I knelt down by his side to pour out my soul to God in thankfulness, that this was indeed a brand plucked out of the fire. He joined most fully in thanksgiving to God for having led him to know Jesus. The dear young fellow looked me full in the face (I shall never forget the blessed scene), and said,
“I am so thankful to you, for nobody ever told nie about Jesus like you have, and I might have died and gone to hell.”
When I saw him again, he was much worse, but the text was the language of his soul, and a verse he had learnt when at school was now a blessing to him.
“I’m a pilgrim bound for glory,
I’m a pilgrim going home;
Come and hear me tell my story,
All that love the Saviour, come.”
And so the dear young fellow, when able, kept repeating the text and saying this hymn, and bore a bright testimony to his dear parents and all who came to see him. This blessed change caused tears, of joy to flow from his dear parents, and may the bright testimony lead them to the Saviour, that they may meet their dear child in heaven, to join in that song of the redeemed (Rev. 5:99And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; (Revelation 5:9)).
It was great joy to my heart to go into his bedroom, though he suffered so much, yet patiently. As you listened to his story of “I’m a pilgrim going home,” etc., it told you plainly that God had spoken to him in that room, and I felt the solemnity as I entered there with joy, that God had made him so happy. Though now passing away, he was so very near, yes, so near to seeing joy, “to be absent from the body, and present with the Lord.”
Two days before he passed away a brother in the Lord called to see him with me. He asked him if he knew the Saviour, and he replied, “I’m a pilgrim bound for glory,” and repeated the text.
In fact, the dear young fellow was so occupied with the blessed portion that was his, that it filled our hearts with thanksgiving, and we had joy upon earth together in that room, and there was joy in heaven, too, over this sinner who had repented.
I was with him when he passed away so quietly, and when life was too far gone to repeat the text of Scripture. As I sat by him, I could catch broken sentences of this blessed portion that had filled his heart.
There may be only a small space between you and eternity. Heaven is real, hell is real. Remember, Jesus is the way to heaven, and the truth of that verse that filled the dear one’s heart I have told you about, will fill your heart and let you into heaven, “Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.” E. J.