SUCH were the words that escaped the lips of a dying youth, whose sad history we desire to bring under the notice of our unconverted readers. May God use it to the awakening of some careless one, who has not yet faced the solemn realities of eternity. We are nearing the close of the day of God’s grace, and we would entreat you to listen to the appeal, “Prepare to meet thy God.” “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” (Heb. 2:33How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; (Hebrews 2:3).)
The young man, whose dying words form the title of this paper, had a godly mother; but his father was, alas! an avowed infidel, who did his utmost to annul the mother’s influence; and in this he was but too successful. The lad grew up a thoughtless, ungodly, hardened young man, his whole life being given up to worldly pleasures and pursuits, heedless that God has said, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psa. 9:1717The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. (Psalm 9:17)).
At the age of twenty-six, God laid His hand upon him through a dangerous illness, and it soon became evident that he was rapidly sinking into an early grave. Death in all its terror and bitterness now stared him in the face, and, alas! he was not prepared to meet God.
Shortly before the end he was visited by a Christian friend, from whose written account we borrow the following sad particulars. With kind words of sympathy and encouragement he expressed the hope of his recovery.
“Oh, no!” replied the young man, in tones of anguish; “ I am dying — I am dying.”
“I hope not,” replied his friend; “I trust the doctor will be able to reassure you.”
“The doctor has done all he can,” he said. “My time has come; I cannot live any longer. Oh! I am going to die.”
His mother, who was present, then asked him if he would like the Christian to pray with him; but his only answer was a loud cry of anguish, which brought all who were in the house to his bed-side. They knelt down, and the Christian earnestly prayed for the salvation of that poor perishing soul. When they rose, the dying man looked fixedly at his visitor, and said, in a decided tone, “It can do no good to pray for me, sir.”
“God listens to our prayers,” was the reply. “He encourages us to pray to Him, and He has not said that prayer is no good.”
“My day is past,” he said, “it is too late for me — too late!”
“No, it is not too late. You may obtain the mercy of the Lord, if you desire it. God Himself has said, ‘Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.’ You know that Christ died for sinners.”
“Mercy!” he cried out, “that is what makes my position so terrible. I despised it. I mocked at God; I rejected Christ. If God were righteous only, I could bear it; but the thought of having rejected His mercy is worse than all, There is no more grace for me. I am lost! lost!”
“You are mistaken,” said the visitor, “God has put no limit to His invitations. Jesus says, ‘Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden.’ ‘Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.’”
“Not for me!” he continued. “I had my day, but I have lost it. I have been a fool; I have only thought of this world, and now I am dying. I would not seek God, and now He has come to fetch me, and I cannot escape Him.”
“You still have time to take refuge in Jesus,” replied the Christian. “ ‘The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.’ Christ received in grace the dying and repentant thief. God is so rich in mercy, that He forgives sinners at the eleventh hour.”
“The eleventh hour is past,” he said; “I am at the twelfth, and the time of God’s vengeance is come. I only loved the world, and now I am going to leave it; and what is it worth to me?”
His father entered the room as he uttered the last words, and said to him, “You need not be in such trouble about yourself; you never did any harm to anybody.”
“Do not speak to me, father,” said the poor young man; “you have been my worst enemy, and the cause of my ruin. You taught me to disobey God, and to neglect the Bible. You told the that there was no hell, and that all men would be saved. I did my best to believe it; I mocked at hell, and now hell is mocking at me. I would not have been so had I listened to my mother.” He then asked for his brother, saying, “He is young, and I want him to know that what infidels say is false; I want him to read his Bible, and pray, so that he may not die as I do.”
Looking at the lad as he entered the room, and addressing him by his name, he said―
“Come here! I am dying, and I want you to remember what I say after I am gone. Never do as I did. Read the Bible, and do what your mother tells you — she is a Christian. But, oh! remember that there is a place called hell, and I tell you of it when I am on the point of dying.”
The boy stood by weeping; indeed, the dying man was the only one who remained unmoved. The visitor again offered to pray.
“No, not here,” he said, decidedly; “but in the other room, if you like.” And then addressing the doctor, who called, and expressed some hope for the following day, he said, “Tomorrow I shall be dead.”
It was but too true, and the Christian friend returning next day was amazed at the rapid progress of the disease. Death was evidently putting its cold hand upon the poor young man. Delirium had set in, and he seemed almost unconscious. Seeing that the end was approaching, the Christian took advantage of what seemed a lucid interval, and once more proposed prayer; but he received the same answer as before, “It is too late for prayer.”
They were the last words the poor young man uttered. A few hours afterward his immortal soul passed into eternity. “In the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be” (Eccl. 11:33If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be. (Ecclesiastes 11:3)). Fain would we hope that before leaving this scene he was led to cast one look of faith to the crucified and now exalted One, but we have no warrant for thinking so. God knows; and it is not for us to judge, but rather to say, “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his” (Num. 23:1010Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his! (Numbers 23:10)).
May the God of all grace bring you, dear unconverted reader, to the knowledge of your deep ruin and misery, and of the salvation which is in the Lord Jesus Christ for you, this very day. “See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh; for if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven” (Heb. 12:2525See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: (Hebrews 12:25)).
P. T.