IT pleased God to bless the preaching of His Word in a manufacturing village not far distant from the place where I lived; and whilst many souls were awakened to eternal concerns, some few were brought savingly to realize the value of the work of Christ.
Connected with this movement, there came before me an incident of no little interest.
A young man, the son of one of those whose conversion I have mentioned above, was taken seriously ill. He was a fine-looking youth, about nineteen years of age, of steady moral habits, and a great comfort to his parents. He had taken a violent cold, accompanied by fever.
After being confined to the house a fortnight, he was able to go out a little for fresh air. It was early in the year, and the wind was piercing and cold. Whether he was too lightly clad for the season, or was premature in exposing himself, it would be useless to speculate upon; but he returned to the house, complaining of being chilled, and shivering.
He retired to bed early, but was attacked by violent pain in the abdomen, which was followed by confirmed inflammation of the bowels.
His sufferings were acute. Prompt remedies afforded no relief. His parents sought comfort in prayer; and a precious sight it was to see the poor father earnestly entreating God's mercy on behalf of the soul of his child, who, until lately, had been unconcerned about his own. Others, too, of his acquaintance, united in supplication and sympathy.
I saw him after his medical attendant had given up all hopes of his recovery and I found him ready to listen to anything I could bring before him. He was all eagerness to realize the blessing of sins forgiven, and was but a very short way from the kingdom of heaven in that respect.
On appealing to him, after some minutes' conversation, as to whether he had understood me, his answer was conveyed in striking, yet intelligible language.
“I think," he said, " I am much in the same fashion as you have described.”
We united in prayer, and parted.
Two days afterward, his end approached.
The sun, on which his eyes were so shortly to close, now shone in at the window. His father, mother, and grandmother stood weeping around him. Two or three Christian friends were also there.
After much suffering and prostration, he rather suddenly exclaimed, “I think I shall soon be off," and he looked to his mother particularly.
She, poor thing, could scarcely contain for weeping. "Ah," she said (using the dialect of her neighborhood) “it goes hard to part with thee. Thou'rt a grand lad.”
“Mother, “he said," the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; and you must say,
Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Turning to his grandmother, he said, " I have always loved thee, and thou hast loved me; but I fear thou art not concerned about thy soul as thou should’st be. Promise me thou wilt go with my father to hear the gospel where he goes. I should like us all to meet in heaven.”
He looked at his father earnestly and affectionately; held out his hand, and asked them all to shake it; then calmly bade each one good-bye, as if leaving for a visit to the country; stretched out his arms, calling upon the name of JESUS, and breathed his last.
J. W.
It is the Man Christ Jesus who is our Mediator; none so near, none who has come down so low, and entered with divine power into the need, and all the need, of man. The conscience is purified by His WORK, the heart is relieved by that which He WAS, and which He is forever.