FOR the past week it has been my lot to watch by the bedside of a dying man. Even as I write this I pause, listening for the fluttering breath, which sometimes seems to cease altogether, and then to resume its panting for life.
Of the gentleman’s history I know little, having only recently made his acquaintance. He was a brilliant man of the world, and an eminent physician, with a large practice in the West of London. A few years ago he retired into the country, but paralysis overtook him, and at the ripe age of eighty years, he now lies on his deathbed. The last illness came suddenly, and he soon became unconscious, and has not roused from that state for more than a few minutes at a time.
At any moment he may be ushered into eternity, to spend it—where? What is the state of his soul before God? I cannot tell.
A friend said to me, “He has always led a good life, and has been a regular church-goer.” What is that, in the awful presence of death? “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” He has been a man much admired and respected, clever in his profession, and valued by many friends, but of what avail is it all now that he stands on the brink of eternity, if without Christ, who gave His life a ransom?
I spoke to him of the Saviour’s love, and of His death upon the cross as the perfect sacrifice for sin, by which God can righteously offer salvation to all who will accept it as His gift, but the dim eyes showed no sign of intelligence, and I have little hope that my words penetrated the poor brain. Once, when I repeated to him that well-known verse, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” he fixed his eyes on me with a look so pitifully appealing that my own eyes filled with tears. He made a great effort to speak, but the attempt was unsuccessful. What his thoughts were I cannot tell, for he immediately lost consciousness, and has not regained it since.
Why do I tell you this? It is that you may see the folly of putting off until a more convenient season. This poor old man surely had time in all his eighty years in which he might have turned to Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and his soul’s salvation, but the opportunities slipped by, and now it is, apparently, TOO LATE. Eighty years—wasted! Lived in health, luxury, and worldly enjoyment, but without God, and without hope. How infinitely sad!
Friend, are you counting upon living to a ripe old age, when, after making the most of this world’s pleasures, you will turn to the Lord before it is too late? You may ignore the still, small voice that pleads with you to be reconciled to God, but some day you will wish you had listened, for He has said, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.”
Will you take an affectionate warning, reader? I write this, as it were, from the very presence of death. There is an awful stillness in the room, with the hush of expectancy awaiting the summons of the dread angel. How different it would be with one who could say, “To depart and be with Christ is far better”! Oh, don’t wait, counting upon making your peace with God upon your death-bed. If you will only believe Christ has already made peace through the blood of His cross, and it only remains for you to accept the salvation God offers so freely. The word of God declares that “He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 John 5:1212He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. (1 John 5:12)). “In this is manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Ham. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9, 109In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:9‑10)).
Is it worth the risk you run in putting off? Think of the poor old doctor and his sad end, and don’t let the Saviour say to you, “Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life.” “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
L. P.