No. 6.
“FEAR not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour.... Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee.... Fear not: for I am with thee.” (Isa. 53:1-51Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? 2For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:1‑5).)
So speaks Jehovah, the God that cannot lie, and He that changeth not, to His poor and afflicted people, that at all times they might trust (oh, precious word!) on the name, promise, and oath, of God, and rest their all on Jesus, God’s well beloved Son. How lovely, how condescending, of God to speak thus to us, that we may know where our great strength lies, and in the time of Satan’s greatest conflict with our souls, to be able to “overcome him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of testimony.” May we, dear reader, know the help of Jehovah at such times, and rest on “the Rock that is higher than I.”
Mrs. A― was a person once of respectable walk and circumstances in the world, and being of a thoughtful mind, she read much, but without any saving knowledge of Christ. In her declining years, like many others, she became an inmate of the Workhouse, where her behavior and address at once commended her to all who saw her, or with whom she was associated; but she was without Christ. By an accident she broke her arm, and God seems to have used it to break her heart. She never saw her salvation in a clear light by resting on God’s Word, but was like Bunyan’s Little Faith, poor, and ofttimes in want to the end of her journey. She was most cruelly used by Satan, and he seemed to make sport of her, like the Philistines did over Samson, until she was brought into a state of mental derangement, which made her day and night cry out most piteously and incessantly, I am lost! I am lost! pray for me, pray for me, I am lost! I know not what I am saying, but I cannot help myself; I must say it,” &c., &c. This was the state she was in one Lord’s day afternoon when the visitor called to see her. She tried to stop talking by holding her tongue in her hand, but nothing would stop it, it was most painful to hear her, and ended by her being removed to a lunatic asylum, where she remained a few months, and then returned to her place in the Workhouse, terribly shaken, her body very weak, her mind quieted, but not comforted. Such was her state when through sickness she was laid on what proved her death-bed.
Another inmate in the same ward was Mrs. B―, an old woman, very much bent through age and infirmity, but of a happy mind, for she could tell of the love of Christ, and rejoice in. God her Saviour. God had given her much peace. She would say to the visitor,
“‘Payment God will not twice demand,
First at my bleeding Surety’s hand,
And then again at mine.’”
No, no; Jesus paid my debt long ago on the cross; He shed His precious blood for me; though my sins were as scarlet, I am as white as snow, and though red like crimson, they are like wool, all cleansed, all finished: therefore I rest for all in the precious blood of Christ. I am full of thankfulness for the blessings of the Gospel: what I say is from the heart―all in Christ―no self―all Christ.” Such was this dear saint of God, and happy indeed have been the times spent in her company. She, too, and at the same time, was taken in her last illness.
One Lord’s day afternoon, when I visited this infirm ward, in which these dear creatures were located, I found them both in bed very ill, and much cast down: no hope, no hope, all dark, all black, was the only reply that this dear old saint could make to any remark about her salvation, or the love of Christ. The enemy was permitted to sift and harass her for awhile. Mrs. A― was in a very desponding state of mind, without any hope, and could only request that she might be prayed for. I was much exercised in soul about this matter having found them both in such a distressed state; the Lord helped me to open my mouth and speak the simple gospel of God’s love and grace, as was shown to the thief on the cross, who was a reviler, a great sinner, yet in his last moments he looked, spoke to, and trusted in Jesus, and found mercy and salvation through the blood-shedding of Jesus Christ, his Substitute, and Saviour. Before leaving the ward, after speaking, I found dear Mrs. B― in a happy state indeed, her face glowing with joy, and her hands clasped together over her breast, she repeated, “All joy―no cloud now, the cloud is all gone; the blood of Jesus cleanseth from all sin-all bright,” &e., and in that happy state, thank God, she remained for several weeks, until nature was entirely exhausted, and she sweetly slept in Jesus. A few days before she died, she said to the nurse, “Precious Jesus, precious Jesus.” The nurse said, she never spoke after that; with her dear hands clasped together, which she never unclosed, she looked so happy. Such was the nurse’s testimony to the death of this dear saint. “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me.” (Psalms 23:44Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4).)
Mrs. A― was in a more quiet state of mind than when I first came into the ward, but could only say, “I hope God will have mercy upon me, and save me; do pray for me.” I left her after commending her to the Lord, and on my next visit found her much weaker in body, and could only say, “I do hope God will save me; do pray for me;” and in that state she remained, yet quiet, and calmly hoping on, until God took her away. She died, too, about the same time as the other inmate.
Dearly beloved ones, who visit the death-beds of the poor, you feel yourselves much cast on the Lord for strength, grace, wisdom, and power for work like this, feeling that we are still in the flesh, yet these things bring their own reward; for those that water and comfort others, are also watered and comforted themselves. The great enemy of souls is constantly at work, and is such a hater of the blood of Jesus Christ, which is the only subject, thank God, that we can present to any poor sinner, especially the dying, that he uses all the artifices he can to bear on the Lord’s little ones laboring in this sweet employ, and if not kept and led by God himself, we should fail. What, then, we need is, almighty strength and power to overcome, grace to persevere, knowing that the battle is not ours, but the Lord’s. We want wisdom to put Christ and His precious blood before the sinner, in such love and manner, as shall commend the cross and Him that died thereon, and in the power of the Holy Ghost, that God may be glorified, and sinners saved to His praise and glory. But “who is sufficient for these things?” May God be pleased to lay it on the hearts of His dear people to pray for those who labor in the Lord’s vineyard, and also that He would send more laborers forth; “for the harvest is plenty,” and fully ripe, although the laborers are few.
And now, poor sinner, whoever you are, should God call you away from this world, what hope have you? without Christ you are lost, without the blood of Jesus sprinkled on your conscience and heart, you will perish; may you fly to Jesus and be saved, before it is too late, before the door is shut.