SOME time ago a Christian was asked to visit a young man who was far gone in consumption.
He did so; and to his sorrow found that the young fellow had imbibed the infidel notions of the day. He had received them as something palatable to his natural mind, and, like many more in whom conscience is at work, tried to soothe it (for silence it he could not) by the wretched teachings of men who say in their hearts, "There is no God" (Ps. 53:1). PSA 53:11<<To the chief Musician upon Mahalath, Maschil, A Psalm of David.>> The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good. (Psalm 53:1)
But in the day of sickness the miserable “refuge of lies" (Isa. 28:15, 1715Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: (Isaiah 28:15)
17Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. (Isaiah 28:17)) ISA 28:15-1715Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: 16Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. 17Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. (Isaiah 28:15‑17) was swept away from before him. What had he now to comfort him? Nothing. At the moment when he needed comfort most he found he had been following blind guides who in his extremity left him as in a great morass, wherein he struggled to get free, but he found the more he struggled the deeper he sank.
But God had thoughts of mercy towards His poor, self-willed, lost creature, and He took him up as a trophy of grace.
In such an hour, when all seemed hopeless, the Christian visitor entered his room. For a long time the invalid sternly resisted lending an ear to the messenger of mercy; but his visitor patiently, and with much gentleness, sought to win him, reading to him part of the 3rd of John, dwelling for a little on that portion where Jesus speaks of Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness. Then in his heart commending the sick man to God, he left him.
Not long afterward the Christian was gladdened by the receipt of a letter which told him that the proud heart had been subdued; that the eyes of the dying man had been opened to his true condition; that he saw he was not only bitten by the serpent, but the poison of sin had polluted his nature, so that he was nothing but sin. The ear had been opened, the heart had received, and the eye of the poor sin-bitten one looked away with a look of faith, and was healed.
Subsequently he penned the following interesting and affecting letter to a friend:
“I have had a highly profitable visit from Mr. O. In what a beautifully simple manner he appears to view our redemption by our Lord Jesus Christ! He represented Christ as the serpent lifted up in the wilderness, to cure all those who should look upon it. Now, I am quite familiar with this typical representation of Christ; but when Mr. O. was speaking to me upon the subject my mind and soul seemed to grasp the truth, and drink it in as one would cold water when athirst. In fact, it was like the sun rising and dispelling the thick darkness which seemed, until that moment, to enwrap my soul.
“That evening I felt such joy and comfort that I cannot describe. All the world seemed as nothing to me. I felt myself one of the happiest of mortals, and that my illness was one of the greatest of blessings that ever befel me, in its leading me to the Fountain of Righteousness. I have found great comfort ever since in contemplating Christ as the sacrifice for all sin; and that I have only to look on Him, believe, and be healed. Oh! how delightful is this.
“This simple idea of Christ and His mission perfectly agreed with my conception of God in every other respect. I felt that all must be done by God; and that a merciful and all-loving God had certainly some simple way of drawing poor sinners to Him, quite independent of themselves. But, according to the preaching I have hitherto heard, coming unto God appeared such an overwhelming difficulty, and poor wretched man had so much to do with his own redemption, that it appeared to me quite a hopeless task. But I have felt, or seemed to have a sort of intuitive knowledge, that man could do nothing towards his own redemption, and that it must be wholly and solely God's work, without the least share of man's own endeavor.
“How beautifully does the serpent in the wilderness illustrate this. Supposing the serpent had been lifted up in the wilderness at such a distance that it was necessary for the poor victims of the plague to climb up a high mountain or a tree to get a sight of their redeemer. Oh! how few would have been saved! And those who felt the greatest need of cure would have been unable to attain it, and would still have writhed in the dust in the greatest agonies, until death had put an end to their sufferings. But, blessed be God, this is not the case. We have no mountain or tree to climb; WE HAVE ONLY TO LOOK on the holy and blessed Sacrifice made for our sins, and be healed. We have, as it were, only to look up from the dust in which we are groveling, and behold our blessed Lord, who is brought to us, and lifted up for our sins.
“I think it is. worthy of remark that the serpent was lifted up in the midst 'of the disease; they had not to go to him, but he came to them; the poor wretches had only to look on him and be healed; he was, as it were, lifted up in their very sight.”