A SUNDAY-SCHOOL teacher thus describes a visit he paid to a little boy belonging to his class: —
“I found him,” says he, “in a dark corner of the room, meekly lying on some tattered rags; his years could scarcely number ten. Oh, what a subject to depict the power of faith and vital godliness! The softest beams of resignation shone richly out from those bright, lustrous eyes, while the poor face was pinched and sallow, shrunk and drawn by pain.... Turning to the mother, I remarked that the child seemed to be suffering much pain. ‘Yes,’ she replied, ‘but he bears it with all the patience of an angel. No word of complaint ever escapes his lips. The only time he cries is when I cry; he weeps to see me weep. Then he entreats me fast to dry my tears, and tells me he will soon be gone “far, far away,” where there will be no more sorrow, no more distress, no more pain; for Jesus will be there, and he shall be with him, happy forever. And, dear mother, he says, you are poor — you have parted with many things with the hope of making me better. When I am gone it will lessen your care; there will be more left for my brothers and sisters. You have been so good to me, pray do not weep mother; I am going to rest.’ Speaking to the precious child, I said, ‘Do you not suffer much pain?’ ‘Yes, teacher,’ he replied, ‘sometimes very much; but it will soon be over.’ ‘Are you not afraid to die?’ ‘No, teacher; Jesus has died for sinners, such as I am.’ But have you not been naughty and wicked before you were ill?’ ‘Yes, very often; but I have learned at school that “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin;” and “if we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved.” I believe, teacher, that he died for me. To die, is to be with him, happy forever.’ In this happy state of mind be continued for a few days, and then breathed his soul in perfect peace and resignation into the arms of the Lord. Previous however, to his death, he called his father and mother to the corner of the room where he was lying, and from his ragged couch he thus pleaded with them: ‘Father, I shall soon die, but before I go I want you to make me a promise. Father, I have often seen you come home drunk. Oh this is very wicked! Oh, do, dear father, leave of and go to Christ; do go, or we shall never meet in heaven.’ Turning with much affection to his mother, he said, ‘Mother, you never go to hear about Jesus on a Sunday. Do go; they will tell you all about Jesus. Do go! Will you not promise me to go?’”
Who could resist such pleading? Three months had nearly passed away, when this little narrative was written. The mother who had been regularly to hear the gospel, was by that time already under deep conviction, often exclaiming, with tears, “Oh that I were a believer!” Of her husband she stated that from the moment that his dying child addressed him as above, he who had previously been an habitual drunkard has never tasted drink, nor never once used the language he had been addicted to; and although this is, so far as it goes, only reformation, it is, we trust, but an outward indication of a deeper and more blessed work going on within. Where may the fruits of this dying child’s plea, applied by the grace of God, end? We doubt not in the everlasting salvation of both his parents. What a joy to him in that day! What a recompense to his teacher! What an example to those little ones who hear week by week at the Sunday-school of the love of Christ!
Have you, dear young reader, believed in Jesus like this poor little sufferer? Poor! nay he is rich, everlastingly rich; eternally happy, for he is “with Christ, which is far better” than anything this poor world can offer. And how? Only through believing in Jesus, whose precious blood, as the child declared with his dying breath to his parents, “cleanseth from all sin.” Have you thus trusted in the blood of Christ? If not, go to Jesus NOW. Go at once. “Do go,” as the dying boy said. You have heard and read of Christ so often: your neglect is worse, far worse than that of children who seldom hear about Jesus at all. May the pleading voice of the dying child follow you, and those two little words, “Do go!” echo in your ears till they lead you to Jesus.
And then when you know HIM, remember how this little boy pleaded with the father and mother whom he loved and wanted to meet in heaven; pleaded till he touched their hearts and persuaded them to “go and hear all about Jesus.”