She was an only child, an heiress. Lovely and accomplished, she lived for this world, and this world offered her no ordinary attractions. Idolized by her parents, loved by her fiance, she knew not the meaning of a wish ungratified.
But an unexpected Visitor arrived at the mansion. The eye of affection soon perceived that the seeds of a dread disease had taken root. The skilled physician pronounced the heartrending verdict that her days were numbered.
“Father", said she, "I am about to die. Where am I going?”
Her father gave no reply.
“Mother, can you tell me what I am to do to get to heaven?”
Her only reply was a flood of tears.
“William, you who were to be the guide of my life, can you tell me anything of the future?" Again there was no response.
“I'm lost!" she exclaimed. "Am I not, Father? Is there anyone who can tell me what I must do to be saved?”
At length the father spoke.
“My child, you have always been a dutiful daughter, and have never grieved your parents. You have regularly attended church, and helped in the services. The minister has performed the rites of the church, and expressed himself satisfied with your state.”
“But I feel that is not enough. It is no rest to my soul. It is hollow it is not real. O! I am about to die, and I don't know where I am going. Can no one teach me what I can do to be saved?”
Death was in their midst. Eternity was looming before them. They knew not how to answer the agonizing appeal of an immortal soul, awakened to a sense of sin—to a dread appearing before—God to the terrors of hell.
By the grace of God, like Naaman of old, she was waited on by a young girl who was in the habit of attending a meeting held in the village where prayer and praise were offered up in simplicity, and where they sang the old hymns—
"There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel's veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.”
"God laid our sins on Jesus,
The spotless Lamb of God;
He bore them all and freed us
From the accursed load:”
She longed to tell her mistress that she might "wash and be clean," but felt diffident. At last she took courage, and told her mistress, "There is a preacher in the village who tells all they can have salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he urges us to accept forgiveness freely offered in the gospel.”
“O if I could only see him," she exclaimed. She asked her father to invite the strange preacher to the house, and her wish was granted. Again the family were assembled, as the strange preacher entered the room. The dying girl, raising herself, appealed to him: "Can you tell me what must I do to obtain rest for my soul, and die at peace with God?”
“I fear I cannot.”
“Is there no hope for me?”
“Stay," said he, "though I cannot tell you what you can do to be saved, I can tell you what has been done for you!
"Jesus Christ, the Savior-God, has completely finished a work by which lost and helpless sinners may be righteously saved. God, who is love, saw us in our lost and ruined state. He pitied us, and in love and compassion sent Jesus to die for us.
“'God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
“He shed His precious blood on the accursed tree in the place of sinners, that they might be pardoned and saved.
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.'”
“And I have nothing to do?”
“Nothing, but to believe. No doing, working, praying, giving, or abstaining, can give relief to the conscience burdened with a sense of guilt, or rest to the troubled heart. It is not a work done in you by yourself, but a work done for you by another, long ago. Jesus has completed the work of our redemption. He has said. "It is finished." Through faith in Him you have pardon. It is impossible to add anything to the perfect work of Christ. Doing is not God's way of salvation, but ceasing from doing, and believing what God in Christ has already done for you. God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son:”
“I do believe that Jesus died on the cross for sinners; but how am I to know that God has accepted me?" she asked.
“Jesus the God-man has ascended into heaven. He has presented His blood before God, and has been accepted for us; and when you believe, you are accepted in Him.”
The awakened sinner listened with breathless attention. She received the Word of God, which revealed Christ to her soul. The glad tidings of salvation fell as balm upon her wounded spirit. Her face was lit up with heaven's sunlight. Looking upwards she exclaimed, "O, what love! what grace!"
Soon after she went home to be with Jesus, triumphant and rejoicing in her salvation.