Moody and the Dying Soldier.
After the battle of Pittsburgh Landing and Murfreesboro' I was in a
hospital at Murfreesboro'. And one night after midnight, I was woke up
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 "chaplain!"--I wasn't a chaplain--and he
said he wanted me to help him die. And I said, "I'd take you right up in
my arms and carry you into the kingdom of God if I could; but, I can't
do it; I can't help you to 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." And I said, "But He
came to save sinners." I thought of his mother in the North, and I knew
that she was anxious that he should die right, and I thought I'd stay
with him. I prayed two or three times, and repeated all the promises I
could, and I knew that in a few hours he would be gone. 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 me and said, "Is that
there?" I said "Yes," and he asked me to read it again, and I did so. He
leaned 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. Oh! how it was lit up! What a change had come
over it! I saw hits lips quivering, and I leaned over him and heard, in
a faint whisper; "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so
must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on Him should
not perish, but have eternal life." 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 then went up in one of Christ's
chariots and took his seat in the Kingdom of God.
You may spurn God's remedy and perish; but I tell you God don't want you
to perish. He says, "As I live I have no pleasure in the death of the
wicked." "Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die?"
A Child at its Mother's Grave.
I remember seeing a story some time ago in print. It has been in the
papers, but it will not hurt us to hear it again. A family in a Southern
city were stricken down with yellow fever. It was raging there, and
there were very stringent sanitary rules. The moment anybody died, a
cart went around and took the coffin away. The father was taken sick and
died and was buried, and the mother was at last stricken down. The
neighbors were afraid of the plague, and none dared go into the house.
The mother had a little son and was anxious about her boy, and afraid he
would be neglected when she was called away, so she called the little
fellow to her bedside, and said, "My boy, I am going to leave you, but
Jesus will come to you when I am gone." The mother died, the cart came
along and she was laid in the grave. The neighbors would have liked to
take the boy, but were afraid of the pestilence. He wandered about and
finally started up to the place where they had laid his mother and sat
down on the grave, and wept himself to sleep. Next morning he awoke and
realized his position--alone and hungry. A stranger came along and
seeing the little fellow sitting on the ground, asked him what he was
waiting for. The boy remembered what his mother had told him, and
answered, "I am waiting for Jesus," and told him the whole story. The
man's heart was touched, tears trickled down his cheeks and he said,
"Jesus has sent me," to which the boy replied, "You have been a good
while coming, sir." He was provided for. So it is with us. To wait for
results, we must have courage and patience and God will help us.
"You Know Me, Moody."
Well, let me illustrate it then, and perhaps you will be able to
understand it. Suppose I am dying with consumption; which I inherited
from my father or mother. I did not get it by any fault of my own, by
any neglect of my health; I inherited it, let us suppose. Well, I go to
my physician, and to the best physicians, and they all give me up. They
say I am incurable; I must die; I have not thirty days to live. Well, a
friend happens to come along and looks at me and says: "Moody, you have
got the consumption." "I know it very well; I don't want any one to tell
me that." "But," he says, "There is a remedy--a remedy, I tell you. Let
me have your attention. I want to call your attention to it. I tell you
there is a remedy." "But sir, I don't believe it. I have tried the
leading physicians in this country and in Europe, and they tell me there
is no hope." "But you know me, Moody; you have known me for years."
"Yes, sir." "Do you think, then, I would tell you a falsehood?" "No."
"Well, ten years ago I was far gone. I was given up by the physicians to
die, but I took this medicine and it cured me, I am perfectly well--look
at me;" I say that it is a very strange case. "Yes, it may be strange,
but it is a fact. That medicine cured me; take this medicine and it will
cure you. Although it has cost me a great deal, it shall not cost you
anything. Although the salvation of Jesus Christ is as free as the air,
it cost God the richest jewel of heaven. He had to give his only Son;
give all He had; He had only one Son, and He gave Him. Do not make light
of it, then, I beg of you." "Well" I say, "I would like to believe you,
but this is contrary to my reason." Hearing this, my friend goes away
and brings another friend to me and he testifies to the same thing. He
again goes away when I do not yet believe, and brings in another, and
another; and another, and they all testify to the same thing. They say
they were as bad as myself; and they took the same medicine that has
been offered to me, and it cured them. He then hands me the medicine. I
dash it to the ground; I do not believe in its saving power: I die. The
reason is, then, that I spurned the remedy.
So it will not be because Adam fell, but that you spurn the remedy
offered to you to save you. You will have darkness rather than light.
How, then, shall ye escape if ye neglect so great salvation? There is no
hope for you if you neglect the remedy.
Rational Belief.
Once there were a couple of men arranging a balloon ascension. They
thought they had two ropes fastened to the car, but one of them only was
fastened, and they unfastened that one rope, and the balloon started to
go up. One of the men seized hold of the car, and the other seized hold
of the rope. Up went the balloon, and the man who seized hold of the car
went up with it, and was lost. The man who laid hold of the rope was
just as sincere as the man who laid hold of the car. There was just as
much reason to say that the man who laid hold of that would be saved
because he was sincere as the man who believed in a lie because he is
sincere in his belief. I like a man to be able to give a reason for the
faith that is in him. Once I asked a man what he believed, and he said
he believed what his church believed. I asked him what his church
believed, and he said he supposed his church believed what he did; and
that was all I could get out of him. And so men believe what other
people believe and what their church believes, without really knowing
what their church and other people do believe.