A WHOLE family stood around the dying bed of an aged mother. She had been a christian for more than half a century, and now, being more than four score years of age, she lay waiting for the summons home.
One of her hands was clasped in that of a daughter, and while the suffering saint continually pulled at her daughter’s hand, she repeated again and again in a dying whisper the one word, “Come.”
For three days and three nights she lay thus, while the children expected every breath to be her last. Upon the third day a granddaughter, who noticed how fixedly the dying christian appeared to be looking in the direction where a daughter was standing, exclaimed, “Look, auntie, how grandma is staring at you.”
“No; she is looking beyond me,” replied the aunt; and added, “Oh, if your grandmother were only able to tell us what she is looking at!”
Hearing a sort of gurgling sound, the daughter bent over her dying mother, who distinctly, but with great difficulty, ejaculated, “Hev — hev — heaven!”
This word came with emphasis. She had heard what had been said — she was looking at heaven.
Soon after this, and just before she ceased to breathe, she sighed out, “Oh, come! oh, come! oh, come”
And so she is, “forever with the Lord.” Yet her words still echo, “Come, oh, come!” Aged friend, will you not respond to that voice from the grave — “Oh, come”? “All things are now ready.” There is no occasion to wait. Christ hath said, “Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.” So that He is ready to receive you. “Whosoever will, let him come, and take of the water of life freely.”
Aged sinner, grown gray in the service of Satan, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”
There may be one weary of the “heat and burden of the day.” The sun of life is at its meridian, and the weary man stands in the thickest of the fight. Oh, weary warrior, “come” to Christ! He is the only Captain who can and will fight for you, and give certain strength for the conflict, and positive victory over your foes. “To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart.” “Come,” for in Him is rest; He is a shelter from the storm, a covert from the tempest, and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
Come to Jesus, you who are feeling the guilt of sin, for “His blood cleanseth us from all sin.”
“Next door to death He found me,
And snatched me from the grave,
To tell to all around me
His wondrous power to save.”
And if, dear reader, like myself, you are a mariner upon life’s tempestuous ocean, come for Christ is a Pilot who will safely guide to the port of eternal peace.
Oh, how sweetly does the Spirit of God call to the young, “Come!” The world is a wilderness, deceitful and false, though fair it appears to the young.
“Come to the Saviour, make no delay.”
For God has said He will guide thee by His counsel, and afterward receive thee to glory. My young friend, cry to God Say, “My Father, Thou shalt be the guide of m) youth.” And He hath said, “Those who seek Me early shall surely find Me.” In finding Christ, dear young friend, you will find all that your soul requires. Perhaps you may have tried by prayers, or tears, or penance, or in some other way to save yourself. Be certain that is all in vain, for nothing but the blood of Christ can atone for sin, and no other but the Spirit of Christ can guide us to heaven. If we want Christ we may have Him.
“All the fitness He requireth
Is to feel our need of Him.”
R. C. C.