IN a little mud cabin among the Californian hills a poor miner lay dying of consumption. Both inwardly and outwardly he was very wicked; his heart seemed as hard as a stone, his hands had been stained with human blood; and his mouth was so full of cursing and bitterness, that even his fellow-miners avoided him, except when just placing sufficient food within his reach to keep him from starvation.
The sad tale of his miserable condition reached the ears of a Christian woman, and, moved with pity, she resolved to visit, and endeavor to help him. She went again and again, trying to soothe his sufferings, and speaking about God; but was always received with such terrible expressions of hatred, both towards God and man, that, saddened and disgusted, she became discouraged, and felt she could never go again.
One of her little boys noticed she did not pray for the poor miner as she was accustomed to do, when putting them to bed, and, hearing her despairing reply, “I have given him up,” said: “Has God given him up, mamma? Ought you to give him up till God does?”
This touched her deeply, and on her knees that night she sought to learn from the Lord the value of the man’s soul in His sight.
Next morning she went again, her neighbor’s little daughter accompanying her in the walk, and though greeted as formerly with an awful oath, she did not notice it, for the love of Christ was constraining her. Presently the sick man heard the child outside laughing in the sunshine, and in an altered voice asked who was there.
“A little girl who came with me,” she replied.
“I had a little girl once; but she died,” he said, his face softening.
Stepping to the door she beckoned the little one in, who slowly advanced to the sick man’s side, and gazed pityingly on his wasted face. Then she knelt, and, looking up towards heaven, in all her childish simplicity and confidence she asked the Lord Jesus to help this poor man. Great tears stood in the poor fellow’s eyes as, touched to the heart, he gazed on her upturned face, hearing her thus speak to the Saviour whom she trusted and loved.
And now that his heart was touched, he had ears to hear the sweet yet solemn story of the cross. Of how the Lord Jesus, on whom both his friend and the child believed, had left the heavenly glory which He had with His Father before the world was, and came down and dwelt as a man among men, a Saviour for sinners, acquainting Himself with their sorrows, and healing their diseases; feeding the hungry, and raising the dead. But also of the shameful reception He met with—envy hatred, and murder. Yet His grace and love were inexhaustible, and shone brighter and brighter amidst the barbarity with which He was treated. For when man had increased to the utmost the sufferings of the One who placed himself under God’s judgment in our stead, upon the cross, the answer to the insolent soldier’s spear-thrust was a stream of precious blood, which was freely shed for the remission of sins (Matt. 26:2828For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Matthew 26:28); Rom. 3:2525Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (Romans 3:25)). Pouring out His life in the sight of God and in the sight of man, He died that those sinners who avail themselves of His sacrifice might be cleansed once for all in His atoning blood. “For it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Lev. 17:1111For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. (Leviticus 17:11); Rom. 5:10, 1110For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 11And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. (Romans 5:10‑11)). And then, of how God had fully accepted His sacrifice, raised Him from the dead, crowned Him with glory and honor (Heb. 2:99But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. (Hebrews 2:9)); and now offers to the acceptance of sinners salvation because through Jesus’ name and work, for they may rest in what He rests.
Poor Jack was much moved by the wondrous tale of man’s exceeding hatred, and God’s exceeding love, and his distress deepened as His Word, applied by the Holy Spirit, sank into his soul, and gave him an increasing consciousness of his own sinful and lost condition. How terribly distinct grew each sin as it rose and passed again through his memory! Those evil thoughts! those wicked words! those dark deeds! every one of which was known to God; about which he must be judged, and for which he deserved to be shut out forever from the light of His holy presence, and doomed to the terror and gloom of eternal judgment!
For three days he lay in misery, until he turned away from everything of self, whether his sickening remembrances, empty longings, or weary efforts, and cast himself, just as he was, on the mighty compassionate love of Jesus, “the Man that died for me,” as he afterward called Him.
He knew he was bad, and evil, and wicked altogether; but this holy, gracious Jesus loved him enough to die for him, and he would trust Him, for surely he could trust Him. Grace and joy flowed into his heart as he turned to the One who, while we were sinners and ungodly, had given Himself for us (Rom. 5:66For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6); Gal. 1:44Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: (Galatians 1:4)), and he rested in simple faith on His all-sufficient sacrifice and precious blood. For though his sins had covered him, glaring like scarlet and deep-dyed as crimson, he was now washed as white as snow in the Saviour’s all-cleansing blood.
During the few remaining weeks of his life on earth he was a joyful witness to the grace of God. Once he called in some of his former mates, who, with grave, awe-struck faces, filled the little cabin, listening as, between his coughs and short breathing, he told them what great things God had done for him.
Using a miner’s simile, he said, ―
“Boys, you know how the water runs down the sluice-boxes, and carries off all the dirt, and leaves the gold behind. Well, the blood of that Man went right over me just like that; it carried off ‘bout everything.... But it left enough for me to see the Man that died for me. Oh boys, can’t you trust Him?”
One morning, on making her usual visit, his friend found two of the men sitting silently by a sheet-covered board, on which lay Jack’s lifeless remains.
On inquiring how he had passed away, one of them replied,—
“Well, all at once he brightened up, ‘bout midnight, and smilin’, said, I’m goin’, boys― I’m goin’ to see the Man that died for me,’ an’ he was gone.”
L. J. M.