How solemn it is to leave the salvation of the soul to the eleventh hour. What wonderful grace of God it shows that the soul should pass from darkness to light then.
Long years ago, when I was young. I used to take a class at our Hall. One day I was told by one of the dear children that her mother was very ill and I was asked to visit her.
I remember full well the day I went to see her. It was bitterly cold. When I reached her home and went into the room where she lay, I shall never forget the sight of the young mother’s wasted form and the racking cough, so terrible to hear, that shook her fragile frame; nor can I forget the look of hopeless misery and despair written on her face. She was dying and she knew it―knew that soon she would have to face the great unknown. What a condition!
The body suffering and the soul unsaved; around her the dear children she was soon to leave, all young, and the baby only fifteen months old. It was my privilege to try and bring Christ to this poor suffering sinner. Many times I stood by that dying bed, and spoke of Christ to her, and the way of salvation. After the years that have passed, I cannot remember well what I said, and what she replied, but this I remember to my exceeding joy, that her weary sin-sick soul found rest in believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.
During her last days on earth, one hymn seemed to be specially blessed to her soul, a hymn that has been used to bless thousands, “There is a fountain filled with blood.” It was a most touching sight to see this mother, saved at the eleventh hour, gather her children around her bed and tell them of the precious blood that cleanseth from all sin. She said to her husband and to the children, “I am saved in the eleventh hour; one thing I much regret that I did not know the Lord before.”
The last time I saw her I knew the end was near; but never shall I forget her joy, and the expression of it. Christ was everything to her and “Death was swallowed up in victory.” The next morning early her husband came to tell me of her glorious departure. He told me how her face shone, and how she heard lovely music-fresh strength seemed to be given her, and up to the gates of heaven she was singing her favorite hymn “There is a fountain filled with blood,” and while singing she passed into His presence, where there is “fullness of joy.”
A.A.L.