AFTER the battle of Pittsburg Landing and Murfreesboro, I was in a hospital at Murfreesboro. And one night after midnight, I was awakened and told that there was a man in one of the wards who wanted to see me. I went to him and he called me a “chaplin” and said he wanted me to help him die. I said: “I’d take you right into my arms and carry you into the kingdom of God if I could: but I can’t do it; I can’t help you die.” And he said, “Who can?” I said, “The Lord Jesus Christ can, —He came for that purpose.” He shook his head and said “He can’t save me; I have sinned all my life.” I said, “But he came to save sinners.” I said I wanted to read him a conversation that Christ had with a man who was anxious about his soul. I turned to the third chapter of John. His eyes were riveted on me and when I came to the 14th and 15th verses, he caught up the words, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life,” he stopped and said, “Is that there?” I said, “Yes,” and he asked me to read it again and I did so. He leaned on his elbows on the cot and clasped his hands together and said: “That’s good. Won’t you read it again?” I read it the third time and then went on with the rest of the chapter. When I finished his eyes were closed, his hands were folded and there was a smile on his face. He opened his eyes and said, “That’s enough; don’t read any more.” He lingered a few hours and then pillowed his head on those two verses and went up in one of Christ’s chariots and took his seat in the kingdom of God.
ML 11/05/1916