“I WONDER, Harry, that you are 1 not afraid to die. I am terribly afraid!” were the words of an old man to a little boy, who lay on the next bed to him in a large ward of one of our city hospitals.
Harry was about eleven years old; his fevered cheek, too bright eye, and quick breathing telling plainly that his short life was fast nearing its end.
Mr. Clayton, a Christian visitor, had just been pressing the old man to accept by faith immediately pardon and eternal life, as the free gift of God’s great love in Christ Jesus.
“I know it all,” he had replied, “but I do not understand how I can get it, or how I can make it my own.”
“How did you get it, Harry?” the visitor had asked, turning to the dying child.
“Why,” said the boy, “when the Lord Jesus said to me, ‘Come unto Me... and I will give you rest’ (Matt. 11:28), ‘I just said with all my heart, ‘Yes, Lord, I come,’ and He was true to His word, and gave me rest. And when He said, ‘Come now,’ I just said, ‘Yes, Lord, now; not tomorrow.’ And when He promised to forgive me freely, to make me His own, and fit me to be with Him forever, I just said, ‘YES, LORD,’ for I knew He could not break His word. How could I say ‘No’ to Him?”
Tears filled Mr. Clayton’s eyes as he listened to these simple words of unquestioned faith.
“Yes, Thomas,” he said, “Harry has told us the truth; it is just saying ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to God’s own words. It must be one or the other. It is a solemn thing to know, if we are not sang ‘yes’ to His gracious invitations, and to His blessed promises we are sang, ‘No, Lord, I do not believe Thee.’
‘No, Lord, I will not come to Thee!’ "
After praying with them, Mr. Clayton left. Just as he did so, the old man himself turned to the child to know why he was not afraid to die.
“I have nothing more to tell,” said Harry, “nothing but just that I say, ‘Yes, Lord,’ to whatever Jesus says to me. If you are afraid, Mr. Browne, it must be that you are saying, ‘No.’
“You are right, Harry. I have been saying ‘No!’ all my life to His gracious words; but it is too late now. I wish I had known before that it was just that — saying ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ Oh, that it had been ‘Yes’ that I had said!”
“But, Mr. Browne,” said the child, “it is not too late; ‘Jesus is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him.’ Heb. 7:25. Uttermost will surely reach as far as you — as far as now. ‘God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ John 3:16. That ‘whosoever’ must mean you as well as me. Will you not now say, ‘Lord, I believe Thy words, that whosoever believeth shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Yes, Lord, I believe.’ "
The sick boy was exhausted through the very earnestness with which he had told out the glad, good news. They were his last words, for when Browne awoke in the morning and turned again to speak to the dear boy his bed was empty. During the night Harry had quietly passed away to be with Christ, and his body had been silently removed.
Old Browne’s days were not much longer. But his state of mind was very different after that last conversation he had with Harry. Now he believed that the Lord’s invitation and His promise were both addressed to him personally, and often as the precious words were repeated you could hear him say, “Yes, Lord, Yes.” No longer did he in unbelief say, “No!” but he received God’s words with a grateful “Yes!” When his last moments came, when he would leave this world and depart to be with His Saviour, his words were like those of old Simeon. “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace.” Luke 2:29.
ML-01/27/1963