|
BY PASTOR HARMS OF
HERMANNSBURG.
Some time ago, I stood by
the bedside of a sick labourer, who had a wife and four children. He had
lain sick for three weeks, and the sickness had exhausted all his means.
Death was near, and he rejoiced; he wished only that once again we might
partake of the Sacrament of the Supper. Many friends and neighbours
assembled, and we sang—
"Who knows how near my end
may be?"
He sang steadily with us,
for he knew the beautiful hymn by heart; his wife and children joined
also. We ceased with the fifth verse—
"Let heaven to me be ever
sweet,
And this world bitter—let me find
That I, 'mid all its toil and heat,
May keep eternity in mind;
My God, for Jesus' sake I pray
Thy peace may bless my dying day."
I noticed that the tears
stood in his eyes, but I said nothing, and we celebrated the Lord's death
in the memorials of His body and blood. His eyes streamed with joy. When
the blessing was pronounced, we sang the exquisite verses of the same
hymn—
"And I have eaten of His
flesh,
And drunk His blood—nor can I be
Forsaken now, nor doubt afresh,
I am in Him and He in me;
My God, for Jesus' sake I pray
Thy peace may bless my dying day.
"Then death may come or
tarry yet,
I know in Christ I perish not,
He never will His own forget,
He gives me robes without a spot;
My God, for Jesus' sake I pray
Thy peace may bless my dying day."
The friends and neighbours
left after they had heartily pressed his hand, and said, "We shall meet
again with the Lord Jesus." I remained alone with the sick man and his
family. Then I asked him why he wept during the hymn? was he perhaps
troubled by the thought of parting from his wife and children? He looked
at me steadfastly, almost reproachfully, and answered—"Does not Jesus stay
with them? Has not the Lord said that He is a Father of the fatherless,
and a Judge of the widow? No; they are well cared for. I have prayed the
Lord that He will be their Guardian. Is it not so, wife? You are not
troubled; you are not afraid; you believe in Jesus." "Surely," she
replied, "I believe in Jesus, and rejoice that you go to Jesus. I shall
follow you with the children in His own time. Jesus will help me to train
up the children through His Holy Spirit."
"Why did you weep, then?" I
said.—"For joy; for I thought if the singing is so beautiful here, oh, how
beautiful will it be when the angels help in it! And I wept for joy that
this blessedness is so near."
Then he motioned to his
wife. She understood, and went to the shelf and brought down a little
saucer in which her husband kept his money. There were six groschen in it,
all that remained of his store. He took them out with trembling fingers,
and laid them in my hand, and said, "The heathen must have these, that
they also may know how to die in peace." I turned to his wife, who nodded
assent, and said, "We have talked it over already. When everything has
been reckoned for the funeral, these six groschen remain." "And what
remains for you?" "The Lord Jesus," she said. "And what do you leave to
your wife and children.?" "The Lord Jesus," he said; and whispered in my
ear, "He is very good, and very rich."
So I took the six groschen,
and laid them in the mission-box as a great treasure, and it has been a
struggle for me to pay them away. But if they had not been paid away, the
dying man's wish would not have been fulfilled.
That night he fell asleep.
And he was buried as a Christian ought, with sermon, and hymn, and prayer,
and tolling of the bell. And neither his wife wept nor his three eldest
children, neither in the church nor at the grave. But the youngest child,
a boy of five years, who also followed the body, wept bitterly. I asked
him afterwards why he wept so bitterly at his father's grave? And the
child made answer, "I was so sorry that father did not take me with him to
the Lord Jesus, for I had begged of him with my whole heart that he would
take me." "My child," I said, "your father could not take you with him;
only the Saviour could do that; you should pray to Him." "Ought I, then,
to pray to Him for it?" he asked. "No, my child," I said; "if the Saviour
will take you, He himself will call you; but if He will have you grow up,
then you must help your mother, and have her to live with you. Will you?"
He said, "I would like to go to Jesus, and I would like to grow up, that
mother might live with me." "Now, then," I replied, "say to the Lord Jesus
that He must choose." "That is what I will do," he said, and was greatly
delighted and in peace. |
