Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

prehended that he should not recover, and therefore calmly prepared for death. About two hours before his death he declared that "he still felt the comfort and joys of assured salvation by Christ Jesus." And when the time of his departure was come, he said, "O that joy! O, my God, when shall I be with thee?" Thus he peacefully expired, in the twenty-third year of his age.

22. PETUMBER.

"He knows, and knows no more, his Bible true

A truth the brilliant atheist never knew;

And in that volume reads, with sparkling eyes,
His title clear to mansions in the skies."

PETUMBER, a native of India, was the child of idolaters, and was himself an idolater. In advanced life he became acquainted with the Gospel. He embraced the truth, afterward became a preacher of it, and died cheered by the hopes religion imparts.

In his last illness, when Mr. Ward was standing by his bedside, the good old man broke out in such moving strains as the following:-"I do not attribute it to my own wisdom, or to my own goodness, that I became a Christian. It is all grace—it is all grace! I have tried all means for the restoration of my health. All are vain: God is my only hope. Life is good-death is good; but to be wholly emancipated is better."

His patience was great. He said once or twice, "I am never unhappy that it is so with me: my spirits are always good." He would say, with a moving and childlike simplicity, "He is my God, and I am his child. He never leaves me. He is always present." Alluding to the introduction to several of the Epistles, "Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ," he said several times, "Peace! peace! I now find in my own heart that peace."

He entreated his wife to make Christ her refuge, that they might meet again in heaven.

Within a few days of his decease he seemed to long, though without any signs of impatience, to depart; and spoke of his removal with as much composure as though he was familiar with the place and company to which he was going.

On the morning of his death he called the brethren to come and sing. While they were singing a hymn, the chorus of which runs,—

"Eternal salvation through the death of Christ,”

the tears of joy ran down his dying cheeks; and at that blessed moment his soul departed, leaving a smile upon his countenance, which imparted to it so pleasant an aspect that at first one or two of the missionaries hesitated whether he was dead or not.

23. FERRAO.

FERRAO was an East Indian idolater, but becoming a convert to the Gospel, was baptized in 1811. After this he appeared a pious and conscientious Christian, and died happily, in September, 1813.

Not long before his departure he was visited by Mr Leonard, who informed him that death was nearer than he supposed, "On hearing this," Mr. Leonard states, "he fixed his eyes upon me with a mixture of tranquillity and delight, and then, closing them, continued in a state of meditation for some time; after which he said, The Lord is my portion; he now supports my feeble frame, while death is performing its office.' Of himself he said, 'I am indeed the chief of sinners.' I then asked him how he enjoyed so much peace and tranquillity under such a weight of guilt, especially as

[ocr errors]

he might now expect to appear before a sin-hating and a sin-punishing God in a few short moments. He replied, Christ has removed the heavy load; he died that I might live; he bore my sins in his own body upon the accursed tree; and I can now realize his presence in the sweet consolation I experience, and through a sense of his dying love, and his willingness and equal power to save a sinner, vile as I know myself to be.'

"I asked him (as I was about to depart) if he felt disturbed at the near approach of death: he looked at me with a smile, and said that death had lost its sting, that he could now meet him with joy. I then asked what he wished I should pray for on his account; whether the Lord would continue him longer upon earth, or take him to himself. He replied, "The latter. I have been too long from him: I can now see Him as through a glass darkly; but I feel the strongest desire to see him face to face, to be like him, and to enjoy his presence forever.""

[ocr errors]

'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord!"

24. "ME," A BLIND WARRIOR.

THE narrative given in "Williams's Missionary Enterprizes in the South Sea Islands," of ME, an old blind warrior, is so interesting an exemplification of the simple power of Christ's truth as to demand insertion. It shows, also, that the energy of the Gospel is the same in all climes, and among all people:

66

On the first Sabbath after my return I missed old Me, and not receiving the hearty grasp of congratulation from him to which I was accustomed, I inquired of one of the deacons where he was, when he informed me that he was exceedingly ill, and not expected to recover. I determined, therefore, to visit him immediately. On

reaching the place of his residence, I found him lying in a little hut, detached from the dwelling-house; and, on entering it, I addressed him, by saying, 'Me, I am sorry to find you so ill.’

"Recognizing my voice, he exclaimed, 'Is it you? Do I really hear your voice again before I die? I shall die happy now. I was afraid I should have died before your return.'

"My first inquiry related to the manner in which ne was supplied with food; for, in their heathen state, as soon as old or infirm persons become a burden to their friends, they are put to death in a most barbarous manner. . . . In reply to my question, Me stated that at times he suffered much from hunger.

"I said, 'How so? you have your own plantations ;' for, although blind, he was diligent in the cultivation of sweet potatoes and bananas.

66 6

'Yes,' he said; 'but as soon as I was taken ill the people with whom I lived seized my ground, and I am, at times, exceedingly in want.'

“I then inquired what brethren visited him in his affliction to read and pray with him. Naming several, he added, 'They do not come so often as I could wish; yet I am not lonely, for I have frequent visits from God. God and I were talking when you came in.'

"Well,' I said, 'and what were you talking about?" "I was praying to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better,' was his reply.

"Having intimated that I feared his sickness would terminate in death, I wished him to tell me what he thought of himself in the sight of God, and what was the foundation of his hope. 'O,' he replied, 'I have been in great trouble this morning, but I am happy now. I saw an immense mountain with precipitous sides, up which I endeavoured to climb; but when I had attained a considerable height I lost my hold, and fell to the

bottom. Exhausted with perplexity and fatigue, I went to a distance, and sat down to weep, and, while weeping, I saw a drop of blood fall upon that mountain, and in a moment it was dissolved.'

"Wishing to obtain his own ideas of what had been presented to his imagination, I said, 'This was certainly a strange sight: what construction do you put upon it?'

"After expressing his surprize that I should be at a loss for the interpretation, he exclaimed, 'That mountain was my sins, and the drop which fell upon it was one drop of the precious blood of Jesus, by which the mountain of my guilt must be melted away.'

66

I expressed my satisfaction at finding he had such an idea of the magnitude of his guilt, and such exalted views of the efficacy of the Saviour's blood, and that, although the eyes of his body were blind, he could, with the 'eye of his heart,' see such a glorious sight. He then went on to state that the various sermons he had heard were now his companions in solitude, and the source of his comfort in affliction. On saying, at the close of the interview, that I would go home and prepare some medicine for him, which might afford him ease, he replied, I will drink it because you say I must, but I shall not pray to be restored to health again; for my desire is to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better than to remain longer in this sinful world.'

[ocr errors]

In my subsequent visits I always found him happy and cheerful, longing to depart and to be with Christ. This was constantly the burden of his prayer. I was with him when he breathed his last. During this interview, he quoted many precious passages of Scripture; and having exclaimed, with energy, 'O death, where is thy sting? his voice faltered, his eyes became fixed, his hands dropped, and his spirit departed to be with that Saviour, one drop of whose blood had melted away

« AnteriorContinuar »