I shall never forget the following touching and painful incident. A coachman in a family at the West End of London was taken seriously ill, and a few days afterward saw him pass into the presence of God. I knew and had visited him before, in order to bring to his mind and heart the Saviour of sinners. Again, I called at the house, found the door opened, and quietly ascended the staircase which led to the room where the sick man lay. There, bent over the prostrate form of the man was his eldest son, deeply affected, and weeping bitterly. His face was close to that of the father’s, and I heard him in an agony of earnest words say, “Father, this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that ‘Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.’ Oh, my father, do trust Jesus! His precious blood cleanses from all sin. Only believe. My father! my father! O God, save my father!”
The hot tears and the intense anxiety of that young man I shall never forget. Poor fellow! he literally shouted into the ear that lay close to his lips. I had watched the scene for some minutes almost transfixed at the door. At length, approaching the bed, I observed that the father was dead. Tenderly I raised the young man, and, in measure of sympathy seldom realized, quietly said, “His spirit has passed away; he cannot hear; you cannot reach him now!” Poor fellow! he had been speaking into the ear of a corpse; the father had been dead some minutes. As I sought to comfort the son, I prayed that my efforts to make the living hear might be as earnest as those I had just witnessed.