NELSON A. was "the only son of his mother, and she was a widow." He had been duly apprenticed to a wheelwright, and had served his time up to twenty-one years of age with credit, and was a respectable, moral young man.
Nelson was, at the time of my story, employed at some railway-carriage works, but, falling ill, he had come home to be nursed by his fond mother. Under her care he gained strength, and returned to his work, but only to break down again. His mother knew the Lord Jesus as her own Savior, and by Him had peace with God; and she yearned after her son, who, while good and kind, was yet without a saving knowledge of the Lord. She asked me to visit her son, and very courteous I found him.
Evidently he had a lingering hope that he should yet recover, but soon the solemn truth broke upon him that he was a dying man. One day he exclaimed, in distress and agony of soul, "Oh! can you tell me which is the right religion? You speak to me one way-others speak in another. Oh, do tell me which is right!”
I answered, “Nelson, you have a deeper question than that to settle first. You are a lost sinner, but God in His love has sent His only begotten Son to die for you. ‘For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' "
The Word of God entered into his soul, and by the Holy Spirit's power he believed, and as a result, light and peace filled his heart. He had found the "right religion." He had found Christ—or, rather, he had been found of Him. This was far beyond what is called religion. It was salvation.
His dear mother's joy was great. The Lord had answered her prayers, and there was joy in that house, as well as in heaven in the presence of the angels of God.
Nelson now began to talk closely with his two sisters, questioning them as to the foundation of their hopes for salvation, for they took the place of being saved; and on fine days he would walk a little way to talk about Christ to an old man who lived near him.
One day a Christian man, older in years as well as in grace, called to see him, thinking to instruct and comfort him; but he found that he had to listen to this child of God of a few weeks old, so much had he grown in the knowledge of God. "Christ first, then knowledge," it had been said to him. "When you know Christ all the rest will follow. In Him all questions are solved for the soul.”
Nelson grew rapidly worse, and we all saw that the end was approaching. Frequently Christian friends would hold little meetings with him—engaging in prayer, singing, and reading the Word in his sick room. One day I was with him alone. He had heard that I was leaving home for a few weeks, and he had an impression that he should go before I returned. With some hesitation he said to me, "I am sorry to hear that you are going from home soon for a month or more, and I have a presentiment that I shall not see you in the body again. Will you promise me something before you go? Do not deny me this one thing; then I shall be at perfect rest.”
I replied, "Nelson, I will promise to do anything for you that is in my power. What do you desire me to do?”
He replied, "If I pass away before you return, will you come to my funeral? I do not ask it for my own sake—I shall be with the Lord—but for the sake of my sisters' husbands who will be present. For their sakes only I desire it.”
I could only reply, "If possible I will do it, Nelson. I shall be two hundred and fifty miles away; but if a letter reach me in time, I will, the Lord willing, be here on the appointed day.”
He thanked me warmly, and said, "Now I am at rest; it is my only request.”
The widowed mother lived to the ripe age of over fourscore years; then passed away most triumphantly to wait with many others in the cemetery at M— for "that blessed hope," the coming of the Lord.
My dear reader, I now ask you if you know Christ as your Savior? This is the momentous question. Intellectual knowledge will not suffice. An outward form of religion will not suffice. Christ in the heart, the hope of glory, alone can give rest and peace.
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