The Pastor. 
 
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 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
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 Wells, John Dunlap, 1815- 
 1903. 
 
 The pastor in the sick-roo 
 
THE 
 
 PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 THREE LECTURES 
 
 DELIVERED AT PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMI- 
 NARY, March, 1892. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN D.KvELLS, D.D., 
 
 SENIOR PASTOR OF SOUTH THIRD STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 
 
 BROOKLYN, N, Y. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION 
 AND SABBATH-SCHOOL AVORK, 
 
 1334 CHESTNUT STEEET. 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1893, BY 
 
 THE TRUSTEES OF THE 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION 
 AND SABBATH-SCHOOL WORK. 
 
 All Bights Reserved, 
 
 Westcott & Thomson, 
 Stereotypers and Electrotypers, Philada. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 This little volume is made up of three lectures 
 delivered to the students of Priucetou Theological 
 Seminary in March, 1892. They are now pub- 
 lished at the request of the professors who heard 
 them. 
 
 Fully recognizing their defects, I offer them as 
 a contribution to a very important branch of 
 pastoral service, hoping that other pastors of large 
 experience may supplement them for the benefit 
 of younger brethren, the salvation of souls and 
 the glory of God. 
 
 J. D. W. 
 
 Parsonage, Brooklyn, N. Y., 
 
 1892. 
 
 3 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SICK-BED 
 AND THE DEATH-BED. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introductory ; the Mulatto Barber 11 
 
 The Sick-bed not a Favorable Place for Finding the 
 
 Saviour 16 
 
 The Death-bed Different from the Sick-bed 32 
 
 The Death of the Wicked 38 
 
 The Death of the Righteous 41 
 
 LECTURE IL 
 
 SALVATION POSSIBLE, AND IN MANY CASES 
 PROBABLE, ON THE DEATH-BED. 
 
 Tendency to Presumption or Despair 51 
 
 Salvation is Possible 54 
 
 The Nature of Conversion 54 
 
 Well-authenticated Cases 57 
 
 Young Man in the Gulf of Mexico 57 
 
 The Dying Robber of the Gospels 59 
 
 Wise to Speak and Pray in Desperate Cases 63 
 
 Dr. I. S. Spencer on Delay of Conversion 64 
 
 5 
 
6 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Difference between Sick-bed and Death-bed not Clearly 
 
 Eecognized 64 
 
 Salvation Probable ; Household Covenant 65 
 
 Little Children of Believing Parents 67 
 
 Last Sermon of Spurgeon 69 
 
 Wayward Youth of Christian Parents 70 
 
 A Personal Incident 73 
 
 Children of Godly Parents cut off Suddenly ; the Young 
 
 Scotchman 75 
 
 Sons of Godly Parents going from Home 76 
 
 Other Children of the Covenant 77 
 
 The Young Woman in Despair 78 
 
 A Sailor Fatally Wounded 79 
 
 An Old Woman Brought to Christ 82 
 
 Alexander, Condemned and Shot 84 
 
 LECTURE IIL 
 
 WEONG TREATMENT OF THE SICK AND DYING; 
 EIGHT TREATMENT OF THE SAME; USES THAT 
 MAY BE MADE OF THEIR EXPERIENCE. 
 
 Wrong Treatment . -, 91 
 
 Students of Theology Winners of Souls 91 
 
 Physicians of the Sick and Dying . 92 
 
 Others should Remember the Weak Body 96 
 
 Haphazard Treatment of the Soul 97 
 
 Irreligious Kindred doing Wrong 98 
 
 Confessors of Christ doing Wrong ; a Sad Case ; . . . . 100 
 
 Heaping up Teachers 104 
 
 Right Treatment 106 
 
CONTENTS. 7 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A Few Well-chosen Words 106 
 
 Form a Right Public Sentiment 107 
 
 A Little Boy Lost and Found 107 
 
 ''Faith Cure," "Mind Cure," "Christian Science" Dan- 
 gerous; Send for a Physician 110 
 
 Shall we Tell the Fatally Sick that they will Die? . . . Ill 
 
 One Counselor of the Unsaved 113 
 
 He should Know that he is Called 113 
 
 Let him See the Sufferer Alone 114 
 
 Every Case a Careful Study 115 
 
 Frequent and Short Visits 115 
 
 Write to the Sick and Dying 116 
 
 The Holy Spirit uses Bible Truth 117 
 
 Hymns and Singing 119 
 
 Narratives of Christian Experience 119 
 
 Pray Much, and Secure Prayers of Others . • 120 
 
 Uses of Death-bed Experiences 123 
 
 No Uniform Rule 123 
 
 In Exceptional Cases 1 24 
 
 In Most Cases 124 
 
 A Christian Lineage better than a Kingly 124 
 
 Records of Conversions 125 
 
 Conclusion 127 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 XTbe H)itference between tbe SicI^*:Beb ant) 
 
 tbe S)eatb*JSeD* 
 
THE PASTOR IN THE SICKROOM. 
 
 I 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 COME to you, brethreD, simply as a pastor. I 
 
 hope to give you three lectures, not with the 
 
 learning of books or of the schools — although these 
 
 are invaluable sources of information on many 
 
 subjects — but out of many years' experience with 
 
 the sick and the dying. I ask you to interrupt me 
 
 at any point in my reading of the lectures if you 
 
 think it important to do so, or to question me at 
 
 the close of each lecture, should it occur to you that 
 
 anything of which I may speak requires clearer, 
 
 fuller or different statement. 
 
 Long before my ordination and installation I 
 
 was drawn into the presence of the sick and the 
 
 dying. The first encouragement I remember to 
 
 have had in laboring for the salvation of one on a 
 
 death-bed was in this place, while a student in this 
 
 theological seminary. Hearing that a young mu- 
 ll 
 
12 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 latto barber was sick and that no one called on 
 him, I ventured to do so. I saw at a glance that 
 there were unmistakable symptoms of j^ulmonary 
 disease, and I determined to be frank and faithful 
 in dealing with his soul. 
 
 He was lying on his bed in full dress, with a 
 guitar at his side and secular music within easy 
 reach. I noticed, too, that on the fingers of one 
 hand there was a profusion of rings. After a few 
 words of ordinary conversation I asked if he had 
 a physician. Learning that he was under the care 
 of a competent man, I asked further if he had 
 been told what was the nature of his sickness. He 
 answered, no, but that he would like to be in- 
 formed. I then felt free to ask if he wished my 
 opinion, and being assured that he did, I told him 
 tenderly but plainly that I feared his disease was 
 incurable, and that I would very much like to 
 know if he was prepared for the life following 
 this, which was evidently very frail and uncertain. 
 He replied that he had given the matter no serious 
 thought, and was wholly unprepared for leaving 
 the world. 
 
 Then, as fully and as earnestly as possible, I in- 
 structed him out of the Scriptures on the deceit- 
 fulness and desperate wickedness of the heart ; the 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 13 
 
 jnst exposure of the unpardoned sinner to the pen- 
 alty of God\s law ; the necessity of the birth from 
 above ; the willingness and ability of Jesus Christ 
 to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by 
 him ; and the presence and power of the Holy 
 Spirit to make the sinner a new creature in Christ 
 Jesus. I told him that he must take the Saviour 
 at his word, repent of his sins and believe the 
 good news of salvation without money and without 
 price, coming to Jesus Christ on his own invita- 
 tion : ^^ Come unto me, all ve that labor and are 
 heavy laden, and I will give you rest/' 
 
 After prayer, and as I was leaving, I begged 
 him to cast himself as he was upon the mercy of 
 God in Jesus Christ ; to do it without delay, and 
 to have no doubts; to confess his sinfulness and 
 transgressions, and to plead for the salvation that 
 would certainly come to him with the knowledge 
 and belief that the blood of Jesus Christ the Son 
 of God cleanseth us from all sin. 
 
 Being very anxious for him, I called the next 
 day, but before I could pass from the door of his 
 room to tlie bed where he lay he reached out his 
 hand and greeted me with words of cheerful hope. 
 He assured me that he had found peace in believ- 
 ing. I feared that he was mistaken — that he had 
 
14 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-BO 031. 
 
 received the Word with joy, but had no depth of 
 conviction or true sorrow for sin or faith in the 
 Saviour. Therefore I carefully questioned him re- 
 garding his views of sin, of repentance, of the new 
 birth, and of the person, the offices and the suffer- 
 iugs of Christ as the only Saviour of sinners. As 
 the result, I could only believe, with wonder and 
 gratitude, that he had indeed so quickly passed 
 from death unto life. There was a change even in 
 the aspect of his room and person. Old things 
 had passed away ; behold ! all things had become 
 new. The guitar and music and rings had disap- 
 peared, though I had not said a word about them. 
 Other persons of larger experience than myself 
 were taken to see and converse with him. All 
 were constrained to believe that the change was 
 real and saving. The effect on the condition of 
 his health was remarkable. He rose from his bed, 
 lived through the spring and summer, and late in 
 the fall it pleased the Saviour to call him home. 
 The day before his departure, I said to him, 
 ^' James, you are near the grave ; does it seem dark 
 and forbidding to you ?" He answered pleasantly, 
 ^' I am looking beyond the grave, and there I see 
 nothing but light ; I am not afraid of death and 
 the grave.'' 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 15 
 
 His death was very peaceful. There was no 
 cloud upon his reason and no darkness in his soul. 
 With an unshaken trust in the Lord Jesus Christ 
 he entered the river, and found the everlasting 
 arms about him all the way over.* 
 
 My close connection with the case of this humble 
 barber has had its influence upon my treatment of the 
 sick and dying during all these later years. With 
 hundreds I have gone as far as possible in their 
 drawing near to the grave. From the bed-sides 
 of many who were sick not unto death I have come 
 back a sad witness, as their after-life unmistakably 
 proved, that their good resolutions were as the morn- 
 ing cloud and the early dew. An interest ofttimes 
 growing to fascination has kept me near the suffer- 
 ers rather to help than to see and hear. Some of 
 the rarest scenes this side of heaven are in the rooms 
 of sickness and death. Others are too appalling to 
 admit of description. 
 
 The results of observation and reflection in many 
 and varying circumstances can hardly fail to be 
 useful to the living, and especially to those who 
 expect to minister in the pulpit and the private 
 house. Some of these results, verified by confer- 
 
 * See tract, James the Barber, No. 673, published by the 
 American Tract Society many years ago. 
 
16 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 ence with other pastors, I have recorded, and hope 
 to make known to you. Cases of exceptional 
 interest have compelled me to change my views re- 
 garding the possibility, and even probability, of 
 salvation coming, by God's blessing, to those who 
 are sick and soon to die, when they who watch for 
 their souls are wise and faithful. For this reason 
 I ask a hearing from you, dear brethren, who are 
 preparing for the sacred office of the Christian 
 ministry and the responsible work of pastors. I 
 am to speak especially, though not exclusively, of 
 those who are believed to be without Christ when 
 they fall sick or are fatally hurt. At best their 
 condition is desolate in the extreme. Some are sud- 
 denly bereft of reason ; others are stupefied by nar- 
 cotics or excited by fever or stimulants. The Ad- 
 versary may assail them with all his subtlety, malig- 
 nity and might because he sees that he has but a 
 short time. Possibly they may be cut off from all 
 communication with those who would gladly point 
 and lead them to Christ. By these and, it may be, 
 other difficulties they are beset. Left to them- 
 selves, they are in danger of becoming victims of 
 fatal delusions. If they have many teachers and 
 conflicting counsels, they can hardly fail to be con- 
 fused and distracted. They may not have a single 
 
THE SICK-BED. 17 
 
 competent and faithful guide, and, failing to lay 
 hold on eternal life, at last die in their sins. 
 
 But I firmly and gladly believe that many sin- 
 ners are called and justified and saved on beds of 
 death. In the fond hope that the number may be 
 largely increased by God's blessing on wise and 
 earnest efforts of Christian ministers and others, I 
 ask to be heard here, where, fifty years ago, I sat 
 with many others at the feet of Dr. Archibald 
 Alexander, Dr. Samuel Miller, Dr. Charles Hodge 
 and Dr. Joseph Addison Alexander, all of blessed 
 memory. 
 
 The main subject of this lecture is The Slch-Bed 
 and The Death- Bed, with the difference between 
 them in relation to salvation. 
 
 Whatever may be the nature of sickness, the 
 hand of God is in it. Second causes, with which 
 we and others have so much to do, are not beyond 
 the control of the Great First Cause. Malarial 
 and all other diseases, with calamities of every 
 kind, are subject to the divine will. And the liv- 
 insr, exalted Christ is given to be Head over all 
 things to the Church. This great truth ought to 
 be recognized and prized more than it is. What 
 can be more comforting when sickness or peril 
 comes to ourselves? So, too, it is our encourage- 
 
18 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 ment in efforts for the salvation of others who 
 are or seem to be not far from death. Yet truth 
 requires me to say that a sick-bed is a most unfavor- 
 able place for laying hold on eternal life. 
 
 To the proof of this I ask your earnest attention. 
 
 1. The invitations and promises of the Bible are 
 addressed mainly to persons supposed to be in 
 health. 
 
 The young are expected to remember their Cre- 
 ator in the days of their youth, while the evil days 
 come not, nor the years draw nigh when they shall 
 severally say, " I have no pleasure in them.'^ These 
 " evil days " come sooner or later, with bodily weak- 
 ness and mental distress. If greatly delayed, they 
 come at last, in many if not most cases, with the 
 decay and depression of old age. It is a fact 
 abundantly verified that few turn to the Lord and 
 find the strong consolations of good hope after the 
 high meridian of life. " I love them that love me, 
 and those that seek me early shall find me.'' This 
 sweet assurance of personal Wisdom is in perfect 
 keeping with what Jesus said long after, taking 
 little children to his arms : '^ Suffer the little chil- 
 dren to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of 
 such is the kingdom of God." 
 
 2. The revealed plan for saving the lost sup- 
 
THE SICK-BED. 19 
 
 poses them, for the most part, gathered in places 
 where the word of salvation is publicly heralded. 
 So it was on the day of Pentecost, when three 
 thousand were added to the Church ; and a little 
 after, when other thousands swelled the number of 
 disciples. 
 
 God's true ministers are ambassadors for Christ. 
 They are messengers, heralds, authorized and com- 
 manded to make known the terms of peace, to pub- 
 lish the glad tidings of great joy. Of course they 
 are required to preach the gospel from house to 
 house as well as in public places ; to single individ- 
 uals, young and old, as they have opportunity. 
 Yet their great commission supposes them to have 
 access to the multitudes where they are gathered 
 together, and not chiefly in rooms darkened by 
 sickness. It is true that large numbers of the un- 
 saved gather on funeral occasions in private houses 
 or places of public worship, out of respect for their 
 fellows whose bodies are about to be buried, or 
 from sympathy with the afflicted, or from a morbid 
 curiosity, and on these occasions the gospel may be 
 faithfully and earnestly preached. But I believe 
 that saving benefits rarely follow. A pastor of 
 great devotion and large experience has left his tes- 
 timony that he never knew a sinner to be awakened 
 
20 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 and brought to Christ as the result of attendance 
 upon a funeral service. His explanation is this : 
 While it is ever true that God waits to be gracious 
 and has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, it 
 is also true that he will not suffer himself to be dis- 
 honored, and the gospel of his grace neglected, by 
 those who will not meet him in his house on ordi- 
 nary occasions, but who are not willing to absent 
 themselves from services for the burial of the dead, 
 for reasons already given. 
 
 It has been my aim throughout my ministry to 
 make funeral services helpful to the living for the 
 consolation of the bereaved and the salvation of 
 the lost. In a single case, conducting the service 
 for the burial of a merchant who had taken his 
 own life, I had reason to hope that one of his 
 salesmen was savingly impressed by the words 
 spoken and the awful solemnity of the occasion. 
 He was received into the communion of our 
 church on confession of Christ, but after some 
 years of consistent living in connection with us he 
 disappeared, and we know not where he is, if he is 
 still among the living.* 
 
 * Since delivering this lecture T have heard of an eminent 
 pastor, whose name I do not feel at liberty to give, who thinks 
 that under his ministry many have been won to Christ by the 
 gospel preached on funeral occasions. 
 
THE SICK-BED. 21 
 
 3. Persons to whom the gospel comes with sav- 
 ing power are supposed to be in circumstances 
 favorable to active and grateful service to their new 
 Master. 
 
 Thus, standing idle in the market-place at any 
 hour, they are called to work in the vineyard of the 
 Lord and receive the wages that he never fails to 
 give to those who serve him. 
 
 Entrusted with talents one or many, they are to 
 use them for increase, that they may give account 
 with joy, and not with grief, and have rule over 
 cities according to their several ability. 
 
 Engaged in the law^ful work of their farms or 
 merchandise, or even satisfied with social delights 
 in their families, they are called to a feast, "a 
 great supper," by One who puts no hindrance in the 
 way of honorable pursuits and domestic happiness, 
 but by his gracious feasts of love prepares his guests 
 for active service and large rewards. 
 
 In this and other parables of our Lord there is 
 no suggestion of sickness and the interruption of 
 the work of life. 
 
 4. It is an historical fact that the family of God 
 on earth has its chief increase from those who are 
 strong and in health. Under the ministry of Christ 
 and those who served him in the early years of this 
 
22 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 ministration of tlie Spirit, there were many in- 
 stances of individuals, whose names are preserved in 
 the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, turning to 
 the Lord. But they were not persons subdued to 
 sobriety and unworldliness by sickness, possibly with 
 death in near prospect. The miracles of healing 
 wrought by Jesus were largely meant to show that 
 the Son of ]\Ian had power on earth to forgive sins 
 and to prepare witnesses who would show forth the 
 praises of him who had not merely healed their 
 sickness, but called them from death unto life. 
 
 When the Holy Ghost was given to the eleven 
 and their associates, godly men and women, a way 
 was soon made for them to the people of Samaria 
 and Csesarea, of Antioch and the cities of Asia, of 
 Macedonia and Achaia and other parts of Europe. 
 
 To this day, as the so-called " sacramental host,'' 
 under the commission and command of our Lord, 
 we are required to put on the panoply of God, to 
 fight our enemies, which are also his, and to go 
 forth, taking possession of villages, cities, conti- 
 nents, the world, in the name of our Master. 
 
 In a large view, it seems almost as if the God of 
 salvation lost sight of the sick-bed in seeking 
 children for his household on the earth. 
 
 5. In further proof that the bed of sickness and 
 
THE SICK-BED. 23 
 
 death is not a favorable place for finding the sal- 
 vation of God, we should keep in mind the nature 
 of the gospel. 
 
 It is the good news of salvation by faith in Jesus 
 Christ. But it is also a collection of precious truths 
 to be learned, believed and lived. They relate to 
 the being, the character and the perfections of God ; 
 to the spirituality of his law ; to the person, offices 
 and redemptive work of God's dear Sou, our Lord 
 Jesus Christ ; to the person and work of the Holy 
 Spirit, to whom it belongs to convict us of sin, to 
 quicken us together with Christ and to persuade and 
 enable us to embrace him as he is offered to us in 
 the gospel. 
 
 Here, therefore, is a call for sinful man to hear, 
 learn, believe and practice the truth. Happily, 
 his doing this does not depend on the strength of 
 his intellect. I knew a vouno; man, hardlv half- 
 witted, whose whole nature seemed to be demoral- 
 ized, if not demon ized, who was brought to the 
 Saviour\s feet and service under the ministry of 
 young Mr. Malcom, a student of this seminary 
 while I was here, and made eminently helpful in a 
 great revival that resulted in the salvation of many 
 souls. 
 
 Still, it remains obviously true that persons 
 
24 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 weakened, confused and sometimes demented by 
 diseases of the body or tortured by severe pains 
 are not in a favorable condition to receive instruc- 
 tion, or even to listen to the most winsome invita- 
 tions that can be breathed into their ears. 
 
 6. A word should be added here about the con- 
 nection of the body and the mind. They constitute 
 one person. Death parts them, but only for a sea- 
 son. Whatever the change, they will be reunited 
 in the resurrection at the last day. Until death 
 they are held together by a tie never laid bare by 
 the surgeon's scalpel. Loosen the "silver cord'' 
 and the body returns to the earth as it was, and the 
 spirit returns unto God who gave it. Still, person- 
 ality is not destroyed, although it is not what it will 
 be when the body is raised and suited to its new 
 conditions — in light or darkness, with Christ where 
 he is, or severed from him by choice and by his 
 righteous judgment. 
 
 How profound, therefore, the mystery of the 
 union of body and spirit during this mortal life ! 
 '^A sound mind in a sound body" has grown into 
 a proverb. Its truth should arrest and hold the 
 attention of every one who watches for souls, and 
 of all who are yet to find the eternal life in Jesus 
 Christ or die in their sins. 
 
THE SICK-BED. 25 
 
 There are some sicknesses and hurts by which the 
 nerves of sensation are so tortured that the sufferer 
 cries out in his agony and cannot order his thoughts 
 as he would. Tlie tenderest ministry of kindred 
 and pastor utterly fails to find in such a time a 
 convenient season for urging or giving heed to the 
 claims of the Saviour. The patient Job exclaimed, 
 "He breaketh me with breach upon breach; he 
 runneth upon me like a giant." 
 
 There are depressing diseases by which the powers 
 of life are weakened almost to extinction. The 
 blood flows with feeble current through arteries 
 and veins. It may be vitiated by un healthful se- 
 cretions from within or by poisons from without. 
 The lips lose their color and the eyes their lustre. 
 The incubus of unnatural sleep falls upon the pa- 
 tient, and his soul dwells in darkness. He forgets 
 to eat his daily bread. You try in vain to rouse 
 him by the good news of salvation or by any other 
 tidings, and in this condition his body may sleep 
 its last sleep. 
 
 Supposing him to live, it is well if the shadow of 
 an oj^pressive melancholy does not fall upon him. 
 In his brightest moments the hope of any change 
 for the better may die in his heart. I have known 
 Christians of large experience, in these trying cir- 
 
26 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 cumstances, compelled to say that if their salvation 
 depended upon the putting forth of any effort to 
 receive the gospel, they must perish. They could 
 only await the issue of their sickness without fear, 
 knowing whom they had believed, and persuaded 
 that he was able to keep that which they had com- 
 mitted unto him against the day of their departure 
 and the time of his second coming. Indeed, I 
 have been in this condition myself. 
 
 Some diseases excite and exhilarate. Pulmonary 
 affections and many fevers are apt to do this. The 
 circulation is quickened. The brain and the whole 
 nervous system are roused to unwonted activity. 
 The mind may be surcharged with thoughts that do 
 not obey the laws of reason. The wildest delirium 
 often follows, and the patient lives for the time in 
 a world to which the most intimate friends can 
 gain no access. It is painful to witness the wan- 
 derings of the mind even when you have reason to 
 believe that the life is hid with Christ in God, for 
 sometimes they seem to indicate a character the 
 very opposite of that which you supposed belonged 
 to the sufferer. It is more than painful — even ap- 
 palling — to know that in these circumstances per- 
 sons who have shown no signs of an interest in the 
 Saviour apparently become his loving disciples, and 
 
THE SICK-BED. 27 
 
 yet with returning healtli retain no recollection of 
 their thoughts, emotions or words. Many instances 
 have been related to me, by pastors and physicians, 
 of persons in sickness passing through all the 
 stages of awakening, conviction, conversion and 
 the joyful confession of Christ as their Saviour, 
 and yet, on recovering, they have been unable 
 to recall the facts of the most recent past, and 
 have proved by thoir manner of living afterward 
 that no saving change had been wrought in them. 
 In one case, related by the Rev. Benjamin Holt 
 Rice, D. D., then pastor of the Presbyterian 
 church in Princeton, a young lady, the belle of the 
 place (not Princeton), a gay and worldly person, 
 was stricken with typhoid fever. Dr. Rice was a 
 young pastor then, and, having been called to visit 
 her, did so from dav to dav. At last it was 
 thought she must die. Believino^ herself that the 
 end was near, she called to her bedside the members 
 of her family, who knew the vain life she had 
 lived. She told them that she had found peace in 
 believing ; that she believed her sins were forgiven 
 for Jesus' sake, and that she was about to depart to 
 be for ever with him. Bidding them all good-bye, 
 slie begged them to meet her in heaven, and then 
 quietly waited for the change. 
 
28 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 Her pastor had no doubt that she was a sinner 
 sav^ed by grace. He parted with her in the glad 
 hope of finding her at last and for ever among the 
 redeemed in heaven. Calling the day after, sup- 
 posing that she had passed away, he found, to his 
 surprise, that the crisis of her disease had passed 
 and that she was convalescent. He thought it wise, 
 therefore, to discontinue his daily visits for a while. 
 When at last he called and made reference to the 
 change in her views and feelings, he was appalled 
 to hear from her own lips that she had not the 
 slightest recollection of his visits or of anything 
 she had said leading him and her family to hope 
 that she was a child of God. She returned to her 
 old ways of living, and not until many years had 
 passed did she earnestly seek and, as she hoped, find 
 the Saviour. 
 
 On relating the particulars of this case to an 
 aged Christian physician, he matched it by a sim- 
 ilar case, hardly less striking, and reminded me that 
 in the delirium of fever men and women of whose 
 piety there is no reason to have any doubt give 
 utterance to words not at all in keeping with their 
 real character. 
 
 7. I may not pass without notice in this connec- 
 tion a fact which every pastor knows to his sorrow 
 
THE SICK-BED. 29 
 
 — that some persons falling sick, and very anxious 
 to recover, are unwilling to have a word spoken to 
 them on the subject of religion, or prayer offered 
 in their presence, because in such services there is a 
 suggestion that they may not recover. They do 
 not consider that a pastor who is wise and faithful 
 knows much of the sick- room, and comes to them, 
 if not hindered, only for their help. And they 
 may have yet to learn that a good hope of eternal 
 life is a wonderful remedial agent for the suffering 
 body. I am sorry to add that some physicians do 
 not seem to know this, and would ev^en exclude pas- 
 tors from the rooms of their patients if they could. 
 So we have this anomaly — it is worse : I believe 
 it is a wile of the devil — men wait for sickness, 
 proposing then to give earnest heed to the truth 
 of God's word and the salvation of their souls. 
 Then, when sickness comes, they shrink from hear- 
 ing the message of salvation or the prayer of faith, 
 lest they should be compelled to think that they 
 may die and that they are not prepared for the 
 great change. So they rob themselves of all oppor- 
 tunities of salvation. If they recover, they are in 
 danger of being hardened in impenitence and un- 
 belief. Dying, they go unprepared into the pres- 
 ence of God. 
 
30 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 8. It belongs to this part of our subject to make 
 brief refereuce to the well-known eflPects of medi- 
 cines on persons who are sick. 
 
 The effects vary from the extreme of insensibil- 
 ity and unconsciousness to that of intense activity 
 of body and vagaries of mind. 
 
 Narcotics produce effects of the one kind, and 
 stimulants those of the other. In the use of either 
 — and both may be indispensable in opposite con- 
 ditions of the body — the sick are unfitted for se- 
 rious and continuous thought on the great subject 
 of their salvation and the divinely-appointed means 
 by Avhich they are to secure it. Indeed, they are 
 disqualified for all the ordinary affairs of the pres- 
 ent life. If persons have lived without Christ 
 until smitten with their last sickness, and are then 
 stupefied with narcotics or excited by stimulants, 
 they cannot be instructed out of the Scriptures 
 while in either of these two conditions of body and 
 mind. The effort, however, should be made at 
 times of greatest promise, and much prayer should 
 be offered in their behalf. The result may not be 
 known till the great day reveals it. It is wrong to 
 relax effort w^hile life lasts. 
 
 9. I conclude this part of my lecture with the 
 statement of a fact verified by numerous pastors — 
 
THE SICK-BED. 31 
 
 to wit, that of those who profess to have found 
 Christ on a sick-bed, and afterward recover, not one 
 in a hundred — hardly more than one in a thousand 
 — consents to be numbered among the confessors of 
 Christ. I do not inchide in this sad estimate the 
 many who are akirmed by the seeming approach of 
 death, and express their sorrow for misspent years, 
 making solemn promise of amendment in case they 
 recover. A promise of this kind is an easy expe- 
 dient for cahning a troubled conscience. A de- 
 ceived and deceitful heart can hardly do worse. In 
 effect it is the present rejection of the living Christ 
 who waits to be gracious. One cannot be too ear- 
 nest and persistent in telling those who propose to 
 do hereafter Avhat they are not willing to do at 
 once that " Now is the accepted time ; behold, now 
 is the day of salvation." 
 
 In the intervals of pain caused by acute disease 
 and the depression or excitement consequent upon 
 the use of remedies of different kinds, the words of 
 the glorified Christ, spoken in the demonstration of 
 the Spirit and of power by a loving pastor or friend, 
 may reach the heart : " Behold, I stand at the door 
 and knock ; if any man hear my voice and open the 
 door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him 
 and he with me.'' 
 
32 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 The distinction between the sick-bed and the 
 death-bed is easily recognized. In one case the 
 patient recovers and returns to the scenes of his for- 
 mer life ; in the other he passes away, and the places 
 that once knew him know him no more for ever. 
 
 It is true that diseases and medicines may have 
 precisely the same effect in the two cases. Mortal 
 sickness is often attended bv weakness and illusions 
 of the mind quite as serious as any connected with 
 diseases from which persons recover. So, too, the 
 instructions, invitations and promises of Scripture 
 may be as unintelligible to persons sick unto death 
 as to those who continue in life. 
 
 From these and other facts and considerations a 
 very sad and often unwarrantable conclusion is 
 drawn — to wit, that because those who profess 
 conversion on beds of sickness and recover are 
 in most cases mistaken in their hopes and profes- 
 sions, therefore those who make the like profession 
 and die find themselves without God and without 
 hope in the other world. This is not a warrant- 
 able conclusion. It utterlv fails to reco2:nize the 
 difference in the two cases. And because it seems 
 to be the conclusion of great and good men I am 
 the more anxious to mark the difference which is 
 so often overlooked. 
 
THE DEATH-BED. 33 
 
 1. The difference relates to the two classes of 
 persons. 
 
 Those who recover from their sickness have the 
 opportunity of correcting mistakes and verifying 
 results. If they have professed conversion, and, 
 on recovering health, find their hearts still turned 
 away from God, they have strong motives for ask- 
 ing that they may be turned toward him by his 
 saving grace. 
 
 If they have made promises of reformation in 
 case of recovery, and are disinclined or unable 
 to break off their sins by righteousness, and there- 
 fore continue in their old-time unbelief and trans- 
 gressions, they have a most impressive lesson on the 
 deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of their hearts, 
 and yet are mercifully spared to profit by the lesson. 
 In many instances they do at last seek and find the 
 salvation of God, as did the young lady of whom 
 Dr. Rice told me. 
 
 But no such opportunity remains to those who 
 die. If they are deceived, their day of salvation, 
 we believe, is closed. Certainly no day of deliver- 
 ance in the near or distant future is revealed. Even 
 those who teach probation after death, and hate the 
 doctrine of any judgment that decides and so fixes 
 human destiny at death, are not understood to open 
 
34 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 a door of hope to those who die in Christendom, 
 whatever they may do for those who have never 
 read or heard the gospel of the grace of God in 
 this life. 
 
 2. The difference is hardly less patent and im- 
 pressive in relation to the friends of the two classes. 
 It is a painful surprise to a pastor or to any one 
 who has heard the words of the sick telling of peace 
 and hope and heaven, and calling upon kindred to 
 meet them in the presence of Christ, to be told by 
 the persons themselves, a few days later, that they 
 have no recollection of anything that occurred, or 
 of words spoken by them or to them, and to find 
 that in character and life they are what they were 
 before the sickness. 
 
 Or if they have only promised reformation if 
 God would spare them, the surprise is hardly less 
 painful to know that their pledge has no binding 
 force with them — that their words spoken to friends 
 and in the ear of God have no power against old 
 habits of evil. 
 
 Very different is the case of those who, having 
 professed repentance, faith and hope, or with appar- 
 ent solemnity and sincerity promised a new life in 
 the service of Christ and their fellows, die, their 
 spirits returning unto God who gave them. 
 
THE DEATH-BED. 35 
 
 A young lady of exceptional intelligence, a 
 teacher of high grade, with whom I had held 
 very interesting conversations about the salvation 
 of her soul, when near death drew her mother's 
 ear close to her trembling lips, and said in a whis- 
 per, " If I recover, I wish to unite with 
 
 Church '' (naming one that was not the church, or 
 even the denomination, of her family). That wish 
 — never gratified, for she soon died — was an un- 
 speakable consolation to her Christian parents and 
 to all who knew and loved her. We can neither 
 verify nor disprove the change in her that her 
 words implied until we go ourselves into the 
 other world; and possibly not even then. 
 
 But while it comforts us greatly to think that 
 her words to her mother revealed a change which, 
 up to that time, had not been known, we take no 
 hurt ourselves and do no harm to her. Nor do 
 we think her case exceptional. Many children of 
 Christian parents, and others who have had the 
 care of the Church, come to the consciousness of 
 need and the hope of salvation on beds of death. 
 3. The difference between the two classes of per- 
 sons so often referred to, as they are related to God, 
 is too great for us to understand. We may rever- 
 ently think and speak of it. 
 
36 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 That some should live and others die depends 
 upon the will of God. Life and death are not 
 accidents. Our times are in his hands, the num- 
 ber of our months is with him. If life is threat- 
 ened and not taken, God spares it. If it is cut 
 off by disease or calamity, we are taught to say, 
 *• Thou turnest man to destruction, and sayest, Re- 
 turn, ve children of men." Is it not like God to 
 spare the guilty who are self-deceived ; to let them 
 live that they may come to the knowledge of them- 
 selves and lay hold of eternal life ; at least to give 
 them further opportunity to know, every one, the 
 plague of his own heart, and the healing of the 
 plague by the grace and blood, the word and Spirit, 
 of the living Christ? And is it not in perfect keep- 
 ing with what we know by revelation of the love 
 of God that he should desire to have his dear chil- 
 dren with him, and that he should call them hence 
 when he knows it is safe to do so ? The ques- 
 tions are his own : " Have I any pleasure at all 
 that the wicked should die ? saith the Lord God, 
 and not that he should return from his ways and 
 live?'^ We take him at his word. Not more 
 surely have we hope for the penitent robber, who 
 went from the cross to paradise in reliance on the 
 sure word of Jesus, than for many who go from 
 
THE DEATH OF THE WICKED. 37 
 
 the bed of death beyond our sight, mourning for 
 their sin, freely making confession and rejoicing 
 that they have found the Saviour, and eternal life 
 in him, though in their last hours. 
 
 In any case the difference of which I speak is so 
 great that those who minister to the sick, not know- 
 ing whether they are to recover or not, have no 
 right to be indifferent or hopeless because they 
 may have seen many recover and make void all 
 their professions and promises. 
 
 At best the sick-bed is not favorable to thought 
 and feeling and decision in relation to the tilings of 
 God and the eternal life which is his gift in Jesus 
 Christ. But it often proves to be the only place 
 remaining to the sick, and we should act intelli- 
 gently, prayerfully, persistently and hopefully on 
 the supposition that it is. 
 
 As an incentive to the wise and faithful treat- 
 ment of the sick and dying, of which I hope to 
 speak particularly in the last lecture, I give here 
 some of the contrasted experiences of the wicked 
 and the righteous. In both cases there are great 
 varieties. 
 
 Some who die in their sins verify the words of 
 Scripture : ^' Terrors take hold on him as waters, 
 a tempest stealeth him away in the night. The 
 
38 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 east wiDcI carrieth him away, and he departeth : 
 and as a storm hurleth him out of his place. For 
 God shall cast upon him and not spare ; he would 
 fain flee out of his hand f *^ This is the portion of a 
 wicked man with God ;'' " The wicked is driven 
 away in his wickedness f " If ye believe not that 
 I am he, said Jesus, ye shall die in your sins/' 
 
 So I have seen an ungodly man come to his death. 
 He had lived without God in the world. A lovely 
 daughter, dying in the faith of Christ in my pres- 
 ence, called him to her side and secured from him 
 the promise that he would attend the Sunday ser- 
 vices of the church where she had found peace in 
 believing. For two or three Sundays he did so, 
 and then relapsed into his old ways. Suddenly, 
 after two or three years of persistent violation of 
 his promise, he was summoned to his death. I was 
 sent for in great haste, and found him in sore pain 
 of body and agony of mind. All that I could do 
 was to speak a few words of instruction and invita- 
 tion from God's word and offer prayer. But he 
 died as he had lived, and, so far as I know, with- 
 out a ray of light. 
 
 I will not utter the fearful words of maliVnant 
 rage that have fallen from human lips in dying 
 moments. Some resist death as long as possible. 
 
THE DEATH OF THE WICKED. 39 
 
 and openly declare that they will not die. I have 
 in remembrance the case of a comparatively young 
 lawyer who almost defied death, and boldly pro- 
 claimed his determination to live. 
 
 I have known a man to spend his last strength 
 in trying to strike a Christian minister who strove 
 to lead him to Christ. A young woman of high 
 social position and many accomplishments utterly 
 refused all the offices of a kind pastor, under the 
 awful conviction that she had destroyed her own 
 soul ; and she gave utterance in lier last hours to 
 the direst hatred of the blessed Redeemer. 
 
 Francesco Speira professed the evangelical faith 
 in the days of the Reformation under Luther ; but 
 he afterward abjured it, and became the prey of 
 remorseful despair until he died. The intolerable 
 conviction that he was for ever lost caused him at 
 times to roar like a beast, and yet in his despair he 
 could not repent ; and so he left the world. 
 
 Some of "the wicked have no bands in their 
 death.'' They have their good things in this life, 
 and make no provision for the life to come. Judg- 
 ing themselves as good as their neighbors, and bet- 
 ter than some confessors of Christ, they die — regret- 
 fully, but not in despair, for God gives them strong 
 delusions to believe a lie. 
 
40 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-BOOM. 
 
 Others — ^and they are many — die in a moment, 
 in the twinkling of an eye. They are on sliipboard, 
 and go down into the depths when the cyclone 
 smites them ; or on the cars in the wreck or the 
 flames ; or their hearts fail as they sit among their 
 kindred or walk the streets or pursue their callings 
 or their pleasures. And many fall in the deadly 
 strife of arms, covered with martial glory, honored 
 of men, but utterly destitute of holiness, without 
 which no man shall see the Lord. 
 
 But there is a class of persons of whom I shall 
 have something hopeful to say in the next lecture. 
 They are in very close relation to the people of 
 God. Children of the covenant, they have borne 
 the sign and seal of the righteousness of faith from 
 infancy. Or, if this is not the case, they belong to 
 Christian households. From childhood thev have 
 been taught the truths of Scripture by believing 
 parents and have been claimed for God. Coming to 
 their death by sudden calamity or after short sick- 
 ness, they deeply feel their need of Christ, and may 
 not be classed with those who have no hope in their 
 death. 
 
 I close this lecture with a delightful theme — the 
 Death of the Righteous. " Precious in the sight of 
 the Lord is the death of his saints.^' 
 
THE DEATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS. 41 
 
 Aarox died in Mt. Hor, aud was gathered unto 
 his people. 
 
 It was made the duty of Moses to go up into 
 Mt. Nebo and die, and be gathered unto his peo- 
 ple ; but he was allowed first to see the good land 
 that God was about to give to the children of 
 Israel. 
 
 Stephen, the first Christian martyr, stood before 
 the council that condemned him, and they saw his 
 face as it had been the face of an angel. Cut to 
 the heart by liis words of truth, they gnashed on 
 him witli their teeth. '^But he being full of the 
 Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, 
 and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on 
 the right hand of God." As the stones smote him 
 he called upon God and said, " Lord Jesus, receive 
 my spirit.'^ Even after this " he kneeled down 
 and cried with a loud voice. Lord, lay not this sin 
 to their charge. And when he had said this, he 
 fell asleep." " He fell asleep" — language that our 
 Saviour authorizes us to use in speaking of the 
 Christian's decease. " Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, 
 but I go that I may awake him out of sleep." And 
 therefore St. Paul wrote, " If we believe that Jesus 
 died and rose again, even so them also that sleep in 
 Jesus will God bring with him." 
 
42 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 In anticipatioi] of his own martyrdom, Paul wrote 
 these brave words to Timothy, his own son in the 
 faith : " I am now ready to be offered, and the 
 time of my departure is at hand. I have fought 
 a good fight, I have finished my course, I have 
 kept the faith : henceforth there is laid up for me 
 a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the 
 righteous judge, shall give me at that day ; and 
 not to me only, but unto all them also that love 
 his appearing.'^ 
 
 PoLYCARP, who died in the flames of martyr- 
 dom A. D. 155, is reported to have exclaimed, "O 
 Father of thy beloved and blessed Son Jesus 
 Christ ! O God of all principalities and of all crea- 
 tion ! I bless thee that thou hast counted me worthy 
 of this day and this hour, to receive my portion in 
 the number of the martyrs, in the cup of Christ/' 
 
 John Owen, author of many standard works, 
 and among them The Person and Glory of Christy 
 was born 1616, and died near London in 1683. 
 ^' Oh, Brother Payne," he said, ^' the long-looked- 
 for day is come at last, in w^hich I shall see the 
 glory in another manner thau I have ever yet 
 done or been capable of doiug." 
 
 Thomas Halyburton, professor of divinity in 
 the University of St. Andrews, died there A. D. 
 
THE DEATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS. 43 
 
 1712. On his death-bed he testified, "Here is a 
 demonstration of the reality of religion, that I, a 
 poor, weak, timorous man, as much afraid of death 
 as any, am now enabled, by the power of grace, 
 composedly and with joy to look death in the face." 
 
 Richard Cecil, born 1748 and dying 1810, 
 gave this testimony: "My first convictions on the 
 subject of religion [he was once an infidel] were 
 confirmed by observing that really religious persons 
 had some solid happiness among them, which I felt 
 the vanities of the world could not give. I shall 
 never forget standing by the bedside of my sick 
 mother. " Are vou not afraid to die ?" I asked. 
 " No ! no !'' was her reply. " Why does the un- 
 certainty of another life give you no concern?" I 
 asked. She answered, "Because God has said, 
 ^ Fear not ; when thou passest through the waters, 
 I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they 
 shall not overflow thee.^ " He adds, " Let me die 
 the death of the righteous." 
 
 John Wesley, the founder of Methodism (1703- 
 1797), closed his long and useful life with these 
 words : " The best of all is, God is with us." 
 
 Thomas Scott (1747-1821), shortly before his 
 departure, said, " This is heaven begun. I have 
 done with darkness for ever, for ever. Satan is 
 
44 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM, 
 
 vanquished ; nothing now remains but salvation 
 with eternal glory.'^ 
 
 Mes. Elizabeth Harvey, the wife of a mis- 
 sionary in Bombay, exclaimed, "If this is the 
 dark valley, it has not a dark spot in it. All is 
 light, light/' 
 
 Wanting words to express her views of the maj- 
 esty and glory of Christ, she added, "It seems 
 that if all other glory were annihilated, and noth- 
 ing left but his bare self, it would be enough ; it 
 would be a universe of glory." 
 
 So we are reminded of blessed Rutherford's 
 words, in one of his charming letters : " Heaven 
 and Christ are the same thing." 
 
 The testimony of Dr. Edward Payson (1783- 
 1827) of Portland, Maine, is remarkable for its 
 clearness, comprehensiveness and preciousness. 
 Few persons, after living, as he did, in glad, some- 
 times melancholy, yet always intense devotion to 
 the service of Christ and his Church and cause, are 
 permitted to say much on the bed of death. Like 
 his brother Henry, a ruling elder of our church 
 when I became its pastor in 1850, he was of a ner- 
 vous temperament, and suffered often from deep 
 depression of spirit. Dr. Payson is said to have 
 spoken thus at different times on his death-bed : 
 
THE DEATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS. 45 
 
 " My God is in this room. I see him, and oh, 
 how lovely is the sight ! How glorious does he ap- 
 pear ! worthy of ten thousand hearts, if I had so 
 many to give !" 
 
 At another time, when his body was racked with 
 inconceivable pain, he exclaimed, as if returning 
 from a field of conflict and victory, " The battle's 
 fought ! the battle's fought ! and the victory is won ; 
 the victory is won for ever ! I am going to bathe in an 
 ocean of purity and benevolence and happiness to all 
 eternity. . . . The celestial city is in full view ; its 
 glories beam upon me ; its breezes fan me ; its odors 
 are wafted to me ; its music strikes upon my ear, 
 and its spirit breathes into my heart. Nothing 
 separates me from it but the river of death, which 
 now appears as a narrow rill which may be crossed 
 at a single step whenever God shall give permis- 
 sion. . . . The Sun of righteousness has been draw- 
 ing nearer and nearer, appearing larger and larger 
 as he approached, and now he fills the hemisphere, 
 pouring forth a flood of glory, in which I seem to 
 float like an insect in the beams of the sun, exult- 
 ing, yet almost trembling, while I gaze on excessive 
 brightness, and wondering, with unutterable wonder, 
 why God should deign thus to shine upon a sinful 
 worm." 
 
46 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-BOOM. 
 
 The Eev. Eichard W, Dickinson, D. D., of 
 Ford ham, N. Y., with his family about him, look- 
 ing heavenward and reaching out his arms as if to 
 embrace the Saviour coming to receive him to him- 
 self, simply said, ^' My crucified and risen Lord V^ 
 
 Mortimer Strong, a deacon of our church, 
 raised himself up in the bed, and with firm voice 
 and deepest emotion exclaimed, 
 
 " Lend, lend your wings. I mount, I fly. 
 O Death, where is thy sting ? O Grave, where is thy victory ?" 
 
 And, finally, the Eev. Charles Hodge, D D., 
 whom so many of us knew and honored and loved, 
 " seeing his widowed daughter weeping while she 
 watched him, stretched his hand toward her and 
 said, ^Why should you grieve, daughter? To be 
 absent from the body is to be with the Lord ; to be 
 with the Lord is to see the Lord ; to see the Lord 
 is to be like him ! ' 
 
 " To a loving inquiry of his wife he once said, 
 ' Yes, my love, my Saviour is with me every step 
 of the way ; but I am too weak to talk about it/ 
 Once she asked him if it would comfort him if she 
 should repeat aloud his favorite hymn. He an- 
 swered, ^ No, dearest ; I am repeating it over and 
 over again to myself all the while.' " 
 
THE DEATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS. 47 
 
 It was the hymn of Mrs. Weiss, daughter of the 
 Arclibishop of Dublin, composed on her death-bed. 
 
 I make record of the entire hvmn as revealinof 
 the dying thoughts of the great and good man so 
 long professor in this seminary : 
 
 Jesus, I am never weary 
 
 When upon this bed of pain ; 
 If thy presence only cheer me, 
 
 All my loss I count but gain. 
 Ever near me, 
 
 Ever near me, Lord, remain ! 
 
 Dear ones come with fruit and flowers, 
 Thus to cheer my heart the while, 
 
 In these deeply anxious hours. 
 Oh, if Jesus only smile ! 
 
 Only Jesus 
 Can these trembling fears beguile. 
 
 All my sins were laid upon thee, 
 
 All my griefs were on thee laid ; 
 For the blood of thine atonement 
 
 All my utmost debt has paid. 
 Dearest Saviour ! 
 
 I believe, for thou hast said. 
 
 Dearest Saviour ! go not from me ; 
 
 Let thy presence still abide ; 
 Look in tenderest love upon me : 
 
 I am sheltering at thy side. 
 Dearest Saviour ! 
 
 "Who for suffering sinners died. 
 
48 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM, 
 
 Both mine arms are clasped around thee, 
 And my head is on thy breast, 
 
 And my weary soul has found thee 
 Such a perfect, -perfect rest. 
 
 Dearest Saviour ! 
 Now I know that I am blessed. 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 Salvation possible, ant) in man^ cases 
 probable, on tbe Beatb^BeD* 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 SALVATION POSSIBLE, AND IN 3IANr CASES 
 PROBABLE, ON THE DEATH-BED. 
 
 A T first thought it may seem to be a waste of time 
 to state aud prove what none holding to the 
 truth of Scripture will deny. But there are some — 
 I hope Dot mauy — who have do coDtrolliDg belief 
 that the lost may be found aud saved in the last 
 hours of a siDful aud wasted life. A Christian 
 pastor told me that his experieDce with DiaDy who 
 professed to fiDd Christ as their Saviour, or prom- 
 ised ameudmeDt of life if God would spare them, 
 while OD beds of sickDess, and afterward recovered, 
 was so dishearteniDg that he had ceased to make 
 special eiforts for the salvation of the sick. A 
 very sad mistake ! Worse tlian a mistake ! While 
 there is life there is hope. James M. Campbell, in 
 his little book, Unto the Uttermost, has well said of 
 the Christian ambassador, " Down to the dying 
 moment he is to stand beside the sinner, telling of 
 the mercy that stoops to receive the fragments of 
 a wasted life; telling of the blood of sprinkling, 
 
 61 
 
52 THE PASTOR W THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 and challeuging earth and hell to show a sin it 
 cannot cleanse." * 
 
 The difference between recovering from sickness 
 to prove one's profession false, and dying possibly 
 to prove it true, we have already seen, is too great 
 for the human mind to compass. 
 
 There are two extremes, to one or other of which 
 we tend in relation to those for whose souls we 
 watch, especially when the circumstances are pecu- 
 liarly trying : one is presumption, and the other 
 despair. And to one or other of these extremes 
 the unsaved are in danger of being driven in times 
 of severe and deadly sickness. 
 
 "Men of the world," as we are w^ont to call 
 them, busy with the affairs, the ambitions, the 
 pleasures of this life, if they allow themselves to 
 think seriously of the life to come, hope to have 
 leisure and disposition to prepare for that other life 
 when they have achieved success or when the solem- 
 nities of the last sickness are upon and around them. 
 This is presumption. 
 
 When the leisure of retirement from active bus- 
 iness is theirs, the disposition and ability for the 
 mightiest of all human enterprises, the laying hold 
 
 * The book carefully read is helpful ; but there is much in 
 it I cannot receive as true. 
 
SALVATION POSSIBLE. 53 
 
 of eternal life, are seldom given them. And when 
 sickness comes, with its pains and exhaustion, its 
 distraction and fear of death, the necessity of sub- 
 mitting to medical treatment, and, it may be, the 
 careful exclusion from their presence of all who 
 would speak to them of Christ and the great salva- 
 tion, — if they retain reason and consciousness they 
 begin to recognize the difficulties in their way, and 
 may go to the other extreme, sinking into hopeless 
 despondency, the sinful despair of unbelief. 
 
 While not forgetting that the general drift of 
 Bible teaching and divine providence, with the 
 main facts of human experience, is strongly against 
 the delav of conversion until sickness comes, we 
 should fortifv ourselves with strons: reasons for 
 believing that conversion, and therefore salvation, 
 is possible when death is near. 
 
 1. One of these reasons is the nature of con- 
 version. 
 
 I use the word "conversion" in the popular 
 sense, as including the regeneration of the sinner 
 by the Holy Spirit, and his consequent turning 
 unto God throuo;h Jesus Christ. In this view it 
 comprehends effectual calling, faith in at least its 
 first act of looking unto Jesus, and repentance, the 
 two graces last named rooting themselves in the first. 
 
54 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 The Westminster Assembly's Shorter Catechism 
 is helpful here, for its definitions are not only 
 Scriptural, but clear as crystal, and they set no 
 limit to the saving power of the Holy Spirit 
 while the earthly life continues : 
 
 " Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, 
 whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, en- 
 lightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, 
 and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and 
 enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered 
 to us in the gospel." 
 
 " Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby 
 we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as 
 he is offered to us in the gospel." 
 
 " Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby 
 a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and appre- 
 hension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with 
 grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, 
 with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obe- 
 dience." 
 
 Rarely as this may be thought to occur, it is quite 
 within the power of the Holy Spirit and the grace 
 of God on a death-bed. The effectual calling or 
 the new creation of a lost sinner is always, we be- 
 lieve, the instantaneous work of the Holy Spirit. 
 Saving faith and repentance follow. The sinner 
 
SALVATION POSSIBLE. 55 
 
 is passive iu tlie birth from above. He may have 
 in his mind aud lieart the word of God as the 
 iiistrumeDt by means of which the work is effected, 
 and yet not know when or how the great change is 
 wrought. ^' The wind bloweth where it listeth, and 
 thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell 
 whence it cometh and whither it goeth ; so is every 
 one that is born of the Spirit.'^ 
 
 Even if a sinner on his death-bed is indifferent 
 or presumptuous or despairing, others who love his 
 soul may be prayerful and importunate in seeking 
 his salvation. In that case it may please God that 
 the blessing shall come as to the paralytic borne by 
 others and laid at the feet of Jesus for healing. 
 
 If you are ministering to the sufferer, you may 
 be gratefully surprised to see the proofs of the 
 Holy Spirit's presence and saving power in his 
 agitation, in his new views of sin and righteousness 
 and judgment ; in his sorrow for his sinfulness and 
 transgressions, of which, at last, he has begun to 
 take account as in God's presence ; in his confession, 
 his godly sorrow, his prayer for pardon and his 
 humble and glad reliance upon Christ as his Saviour 
 and Master. The agitation of the trees of the wood 
 and the lifting up of the great waves of the sea are 
 not stronger proof that the winds are abroad than 
 
56 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 such chaDges in a sinner are proof that the Holy 
 Spirit has begun the work of his salvation. And 
 we ouglit to be quick to recognize the work for 
 which we have wrought earnestly with God and 
 faithfully with man. 
 
 The analogy of all creative acts of which we have 
 any knowledge strengthens our belief that the be- 
 ginning of this saving work is instantaneous. " God 
 spake and it was done ; he commanded and it stood 
 fast." He said, " Let light be/^ and light was. 
 And as if on purpose to associate the two creative 
 acts in our minds, we have the words of the Holy 
 Spirit by the Apostle : " God, who commanded 
 the lio;ht to shine out of darkness, hath shined in 
 our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of 
 the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.'^ 
 The principle of the new life is given to the sinner, 
 dead in trespasses and sins, by the Spirit of God 
 and in the use of some portion of the word of 
 reconciliation. Whether the eartldy life after that 
 is measured by years or moments, salvation is sure. 
 All else follows in a revealed and, so far as we 
 know, a changeless order. " \Yhom he did pre- 
 destinate, them he also called ; and whom he called, 
 them he also justified ; and whom he justified, them 
 he also glorified." Justification, adoption and sane- 
 
SALVATION POSSIBLE. 57 
 
 tification are the fruitage of regeneration. They 
 come as the blade, the ear and the full corn in the 
 ear from the precious seed which God quickens to 
 a plenteous harvest. 
 
 The process may be miraculously, and of course 
 graciously, quick, reminding us how easily and in- 
 stantly, in one case, by the will and word of Jesus, 
 water was converted into \\\Q best of wine. In all 
 ordinary cases there must be the vine, the fruitful 
 season, the leaf, the blossom, the clusters of juicy 
 grapes, the wine-press or the treading of feet, the 
 wine-vat, the wine-cellar and the long years before 
 the water becomes the beverage that men thirst for 
 and enjoy. 
 
 2. There are well-authenticated cases of conver- 
 sion with death in immediate prospect, but averted 
 at the last moment, and giving the convert the priv- 
 ileo;e of bearino; witness for himself. 
 
 I have Ion 2: been familiar with a well-authen- 
 ticated case of this kind. A young man from the 
 city of New York was lost overboard in the Gulf 
 of Mexico. Sinking beneath the waters, he soon 
 became unconscious, and in that condition was res- 
 cued and after a time resuscitated. The account he 
 gave on coming back to life, and afterward, was of 
 great interest as bearing upon this point. 
 
58 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 DiiriDg the moments that j^assed before he lost 
 coDSciousness he had many and momentous thoughts. 
 Their multitude was the measure of time. Moments 
 seemed to be lengthened to hours, until at last he 
 appeared to himself to die. But in those swift 
 moments he had time to review his life. A deep 
 conviction of his ruin and helplessness as a justly- 
 condemned sinner was the result. But he saw with 
 equal clearness the open door of hope. It pleased 
 God, as he believed, to reveal to him the way of life 
 through Jesus Christ, and to enable him to take the 
 first steps therein. He had been taught the great 
 truths of the gospel before, but had never received 
 them as a revelation and conveyance of life to him- 
 self. Now they became his by the teaching and gift 
 of the Holy Spirit. He consciously received Jesus 
 Christ as his Saviour, and Master for the little 
 remnant of his life and the eternity that was be- 
 fore him. 
 
 Happily, the companions of this young man were 
 quickly directed to the spot where he lay. Restored 
 to consciousness, he found himself, as he hoped, a 
 new creature in Christ Jesus. He retained a vivid 
 remembrance of the covenant he had made with 
 God with death in view, and faithfully performed 
 his vow. Beturning to his home in New York, he 
 
SALVATION POSSIBLE. 59 
 
 openly confessed Christ, "svho sought and, he be- 
 lieved, found him when douhjv lost. Years of sin- 
 cere devotion gave pleasing evidence of the reality 
 of the change, and he departed at last in the 
 blessed hope of the life everlasting. 
 
 There is one case of conversion shortly before 
 death, the record of which is preserved in the New 
 Testament. Regarding this, therefore, there can be 
 no doubt. But I call in question the warrant for 
 the inference that there is only one, lest we should 
 believe in death-bed conversions. As well infer, 
 because there are few records in the Scriptures of 
 triumphant departures, that the saints of old did 
 not in many cases close life in peace and joy. 
 Better adopt the view of Augustine, that ^' There 
 is one instance of death-bed repentance recorded in 
 the Scriptures — the penitent thief — that none 
 should despair ; and only one, that none may pre- 
 sume.^' 
 
 I believe that in the aggregate there are many 
 instances of salvation coming to sinners on beds of 
 death, and that God will graciously own pastoral 
 wisdom and fidelity to the large increase of the 
 number. 
 
 The case referred to by Augustine, in language 
 often quoted, has special claims upon our thought. 
 
60 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM 
 
 I share in the wonder and gratitude of those who 
 have made it a careful study, and trust you will 
 pardon my lingering upon it a little, even though 
 I have nothing new to say. 
 
 " With Jesus our Lord two thieves {Xr^aral, rob- 
 bers) were crucified, one on the right hand, and 
 another on the left." Each of the four gospels 
 makes record of the fact, yet no two in precisely 
 the same words.* 
 
 The ^^ disciple whom Jesus loved" contents 
 himself with the simple but aifecting record : *' And 
 two others Avith him, on either side one, and Jesus 
 in the midst." 
 
 The Evangelist^ Luke alone twice calls them 
 malefactors {xaxoopyot, evil-workers). The arrange- 
 ment of the three crosses and their victims Avas a 
 device of the haters of Jesus to put upon him the 
 greater shame. They had no thought of fulfilling 
 prophecy in thus literally numbering him with 
 transgressors, and of preparing the way for a most 
 wonderful work of saving grace. The enemies of 
 God and man often defeat themselves by choosing 
 their own way. Never before had such a scene 
 been witnessed in Golgotha. It cannot be repeat- 
 
 * Matt. 27 : 44; Mark 15 : 27; Luke 23 : 32, 39-43; Jolin 
 19:18. 
 
SALVATION POSSIBLE. 61 
 
 ed. The central cross was the cynosure of all 
 eyes. It bore the Lord of glory — the Son of God, 
 made the Son of man — that the sons and daufrhters 
 of men might become the sons and daughters of 
 the Lord Almighty. And these were the hours of 
 his greatest weakness, shame and anguish of spirit. 
 
 It seems incredible that in these solemn and 
 awful hours the people whom he had served in 
 many ways should revile him ; that even the chief 
 priests and scribes and elders should invent terms 
 of reproach and blasphemy ; and, strangest of all, 
 that the thieves also which w^ere crucified with him 
 should cast the same in his teeth. But such is the 
 testimony of the writers of the first two gospels. 
 
 What a treasure, therefore, is the third synoptic 
 gospel, tliat gives the final fact regarding one of 
 the malefactors ! It is Luke, called elsewhere '' the 
 beloved physician," who makes the record to which 
 I refer, in these impressive words : " And one of 
 the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, 
 savins^, If thou be the Christ, save thvself and 
 US. But the other, answering, rebuked him, say- 
 ing. Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the 
 same condemnation ? And we indeed justly, for 
 we receive the due reward of our deeds ; but this 
 man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto 
 
62 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into 
 (in) thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Ver- 
 ily I say unto thee. To-day shalt thou be with me 
 in paradise." 
 
 This is tlie record entire. This man felt the pangs 
 of true grief for his sins in the very presence of the 
 crucified Jesus. The fear of God fell upon him. 
 He acknowledged the justice of his condemnation 
 under human law and his deep guilt under God's 
 law. He felt most keenly that because he was 
 a criminal in relation to men he was a sinner in 
 relation to God. Wronging his fellows, he had of- 
 fended God. Gladly would he have led his fellow- 
 criminal to repentance, confession and prayer, but 
 he tried in vain. Wonderful change ! The Holy 
 Spirit was his teacher. No voice of his fellow- 
 men helped him. Pitiful women stood afar off be- 
 holding, but their eyes and thoughts were on their 
 expiring Lord. Only Christ himself answered 
 him. And what an answer ! It was better than a 
 coronation. " To-day shalt thou be with me in 
 paradise.^' We do not know that any other words 
 than those already quoted passed between them. 
 But they were enough. They did not overtax even 
 a dying man. The remaining hours of his mortal 
 agony, we suppose, were spent in looking unto 
 
SALVATION POSSIBLE. 63 
 
 Jesus, listening to the gracious words that fell from 
 his lips, beholding him as he gave up the ghost, 
 and then waiting till death should set him free to 
 join his Lord and Saviour in the paradise of God. 
 One such case is enough. It compels the belief 
 that the salvation of the lost is possible on the bed 
 of death. It demands of us the recognition of 
 this possibility in the most desperate cases. Better 
 speak words of life in the ear that seems closed for 
 ever than be silent when an immortal soul is in 
 peril. I once read short portions of Scripture and 
 prayed in few words at the bedside of a man who 
 could not see nor speak nor move, and continued to 
 do so, visiting him day after day, when he was 
 thought to be unconscious and quite beyond all 
 helpful ministry. But he rallied at last, remem- 
 bered every interview, heard and considered all 
 that was read and spoken to him and the prayers 
 offered, and was tliankful for the effort made in 
 his behalf. He did not recover from his sickness, 
 but he had hope in his death, and we shared 
 with his kindred in the belief that he died in the 
 Lord. 
 
 Still, it is not wise or safe to wait for a last sick- 
 ness for opportunities to win souls to Christ. I 
 cannot forget the impressive words of the Eev. Dr. 
 
64 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-BOOM. 
 
 Spencer in the last of three published sermons on 
 ^* The Delay of Conversion.'' 
 
 " I must confess to you/' he says, " that I can 
 think of no words, form or figure to express the 
 diminutiveness of that hope with which we preach 
 the gospel to the graceless on their beds of death. 
 What becomes of those who die we know not — 
 thank God, we know not. But among all the in- 
 stances of supposed conversion on a sick-bed which 
 I have known (and I have known many in a min- 
 istry of twenty-five years), only four of those who 
 recovered gave any evidence in after-life of the re- 
 ligion which they thought they had gained when 
 sick. . . . What a lesson on the delay of conver- 
 sion ! What an appalling lesson !" Then he en- 
 laro-es on the difficulties and dano-ers of those who 
 come to their last sickness without a well-tried hope 
 in Christ. 
 
 Let the great lesson of these strong sermons re- 
 main. They are the testimony of a great and good 
 man — one of the most faithful and successful pas- 
 tors I have ever known. But in passing to the 
 other part of our subject, viz. Salvation Probable 
 on a Death-Bed in certain cases, I cannot with- 
 hold the suggestion that the difference between 
 a sick-bed and a death-bed is not recognized as 
 
SALVATION PROBABLE. 65 
 
 it should be. It does not follow, as a known 
 truth, because so large a proportion of those who 
 think they have found Christ on a sick-bed, on 
 recovering find themselves mistaken, that a like 
 proportion of those who say for the first time on 
 their death-bed that he is all their salvation and 
 all their desire are mistaken too. 
 
 The conversion of the jailer of Philippi occurred 
 in very close relation to death threatened by his own 
 hand. But there is another feature of his case that 
 deserves notice in this connection. It is said of him 
 that after receiving the answer to his question, 
 *^Sirs, what must I do to be saved ?'^ — ^'Believe 
 on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved 
 and thy house,'' he took Paul and Silas, " the same 
 hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and 
 was baptized, he and all his, straightway." 
 
 Already Lydia and her household had been bap- 
 tized. 
 
 In one other case we have the Apostle's testi- 
 mony, '^ I baptized also the household of Stephanas." 
 Here, therefore, were these households brought into 
 covenant relations with God, and baptized in visible 
 recognition and token of the relation. I am not 
 now assuming that there were young children in all 
 or any of these families, and consequently pleading 
 
66 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 for infant baptism. It rests upon firmer ground 
 than this. It is enough to claim that in these three 
 cases the household covenant was kept clearly in 
 view. It was as dear to St. Paul, a converted Jew 
 and the founder of many Christian churches, as to 
 Simon Peter, who, on the day of Pentecost, said, 
 ^' The promise is unto you and to your children, and 
 to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord 
 our God shall call," And it was no dearer to him 
 than to the prophet Joel, eight hundred, and to 
 Abraham, nineteen hundred, years before Christ. 
 That old covenant stands in all the fullness of its 
 benediction for parents and their children and chil- 
 dren's children to this day. Even the Decalogue, in 
 its second commandment, reveals God as " showing 
 mercy unto thousands of them that love him and 
 keep his commandments." And these " thousands " 
 we believe are generations. 
 
 The covenant with Abraham was partly in these 
 words : " And I will establish my covenant between 
 me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their gene- 
 rations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God 
 unto thee, and to thy seed after thee." 
 
 When, therefore, the salvation of God comes to 
 the head of a house, a blessing is diffused through 
 the household. In by far the larger portion of the 
 
SALVATION PROBABLE. 67 
 
 Christian Church the younger members of a family 
 receive the siiirn and seal of the ri<i:hteousness of 
 faith in holy l)aptism when the older believe the 
 gosj>el. And whether the baptism come to adults 
 or infants, it has precisely the same meaning : 
 "Baptism is a sacrament, wherein the washing 
 with water in the name of the Father, and of the 
 Son, and of the Holy Ghost, doth signify and seal 
 our engrafting into Christ, and partaking of the 
 benefits of the covenant of grace, and our engage- 
 ment to be the Lord's/' 
 
 Hundreds and thousands of children and youths 
 and adults the world over bear this sacred seal on 
 their persons. Many have come to years of full 
 responsibility without meeting the engagement to 
 be the Lord's which their parents made for them at 
 their baptism. They may fall sick and die as well 
 as others. We do not forget that the household 
 covenant is not unconditional. Eli and Samuel 
 and Aaron and David had sons who departed far 
 from God, and so far as we know they died in their 
 sins. But the privileges of parents under the former 
 dispensation are not denied to parents under this. 
 The advantage is with the new and latter until the 
 Lord shall come. 
 
 Here, I think, is laid a broad and deep fouuda- 
 
6S THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 tion for the hope that many children of the cove- 
 nant are saved by grace in their last hours. The 
 Rev. James W. Alexander, D. J)., in his Plain 
 Words to a Young Communicant^ expresses the 
 opinion that in the trying circumstances of a last 
 sickness not a few are thrown back upon what he 
 calls 'Hhe faith of their childhood," and, coming to 
 the consciousness of need, find it all supplied in 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 I fully believe, whatever exceptions there may 
 be, that salvation flows as a river, broad and deep, 
 in the channel of the household covenant. 
 
 1. In some cases — many, we may hope — the 
 change is wrought in very early life, though not 
 clearly recognized by parents and friends. Or they 
 may be surprised now and then with almost un- 
 conscious acts on the part of their children, com- 
 pelling the thought that the fear and love of God 
 have been planted in their hearts. 
 
 Suddenly fatal sickness falls upon them, and 
 death is at hand, but there is no slavish fear. 
 They assure those who care tenderly for their sal- 
 vation that they can remember no time when they 
 did not love and trust the Saviour and desire to 
 please him. They have never been prayerless. It 
 has long been their wish to confess Jesus as their 
 
SALVATION PROBABLE. 69 
 
 Saviour, and it has grieved them not to come to the 
 Lord's table with his people. But they have been 
 kept from it in accordance with a custom that has 
 not favored early admission to it — a custom, I be- 
 lieve, more hurtful than helpful to the young, the 
 household and the Church. Nor can I think it 
 pleasing to the Saviour. No one doubts, when 
 children of this class have departed this life, that 
 they have gone to be for ever with the Lord. 
 Surely the terms of admission to the Church tri- 
 umphant must suffice for admission to communion 
 with the Saviour's disciples on earth. 
 
 I cannot withhold, in this connection, a few 
 words from the last sermon delivered to his own 
 people in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, by the Rev. 
 Charles H. Spurgeon, on the morning of June 7, 
 1891. The very next day he had the chill which 
 was the beginning of his fatal sickness. 
 
 He was speaking on the words, " And his men 
 that were with him did David bring up (to Hebron), 
 every man ivith his household.''^ His words are all 
 the more suggestive because he was a Baptist. 
 
 '' There is a Hebron," he said, " where Jesus 
 reigns as anointed king, and he will not be there 
 and leave one of us behind. His poor people who 
 have been with him in faintnessand weariness shall 
 
70 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 be with him in glory, and their households. Hold 
 on to that additional blessing. I pray you, hold 
 on to it. Do not let slip the words and their house- 
 holds. I fear we often lose a blessing on our 
 households through clipping the promises. When 
 the jailer asked what he must do to be saved, what 
 w^as the answer ? ^ Believe on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ and thou shalt be saved.' You have heard 
 that answer hundreds of times, have vou not? 
 Did you ever hear the rest of it ? Why do preach- 
 ers and quoters snip oif corners from gospel prom- 
 ises ? It runs thus : ^ Thou shalt be saved and thy 
 house.' Lay hold of that blessed enlargement of 
 grace." 
 
 Shall we that believe in the household covenant 
 have painful doubts as to the salvation of our 
 children who die without fear and claiming the 
 Saviour as their own ? 
 
 2. In many cases the change from death unto 
 life manifestly has not been wrought by the Holy 
 Spirit up to the time of the last sickness. The 
 folly of youth has continued. A wayward spirit 
 in relation to parental authority and the restraints 
 of the school and the church mav have been dom- 
 inant, and even defiant. They have been taught 
 the truths of God's word in the home, the sane- 
 
SALVATION PROBABLE. 71 
 
 tiiarv, the Suuday-school and, it may be, the col- 
 lege. Prayer has been offered for them continual- 
 ly by parents, kindred, pastors, teachers, churches, 
 and by many, too, who may have gone before into 
 the heavens. At last they are arrested by fatal 
 sickness. The Saviour's will and hand are in the 
 arrest. He stands at the door and knocks. Is he 
 less concerned to save than we are? less than 
 Satan is to destroy ? He sends his messengers to 
 them. Is there no sign of his willingness to save 
 in this? By his word and Spirit he shows to many 
 the plague of their hearts and constrains them to 
 ask for the healing of the plague. Conscience at 
 last is fullv aroused. There is recollection, sorrow, 
 confession, inquiry. What must I do to be saved? 
 It is the old question. And the old answer is the 
 true one — the whole of it, because it brings to view 
 the household covenant : " Believe on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and thy 
 house.'' Parental faith comes to the rescue. 
 Covenant blessings are importunately sought. The 
 God of salvation hears for Christ's sake. He is 
 not w^itchino; to kill, but to make alive. The 
 wonders of salvation are all his, and bring glory to 
 his name. The time element does not mean so 
 much to him as to us. William Jay once said that 
 
72 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 \ Christ is able " to save to the uttermost ends of the 
 earth; to the uttermost limits of time; to the ut- 
 termost period of life ; to the uttermost depth of 
 depravity ; to the uttermost depth of misery ; and 
 to the uttermost measure of perfection/^ And 
 Spurgeou, quoted by the same writer (James M. 
 Campbell), says : " If you are so far gone that 
 there seems to be not even a ghost of a shade of a 
 shadow of a hope anywhere about you, yet if you 
 believe in Jesus you shall live. Trust in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, for he is worthy to be trusted. 
 Throw yourself upon him, and he will carry you 
 in his bosom. Cast your whole weight upon his 
 atonement; it will bear the strain. '^ 
 
 This sweet truth, tenderly reiterated in the ear 
 of the dying who have long neglected it, may be 
 blessed of God to moving their sorrow for him 
 whom they have pierced, and their joy that he 
 Avaits to be gracious, and is willing and able to save 
 them in their last hours. 
 
 If any pervert the truth that sinners are saved 
 even in such circumstances, and therefore continue 
 to neglect the great salvation in time of health, 
 delaying conversion for the time of sickness, they 
 have reason to fear that when at last they call, if 
 ever thev do, God will not answer. 
 
SALVATION PROBABLE. 73 
 
 Will you pardon an allusion to a personal inci- 
 dent ? It had much to do with correcting what up 
 to that time had been, I think, a false estimate of 
 ray own with regard to responsibility for the per- 
 version of facts as to death-bed repentance, especial- 
 ly w^hen published to the world. 
 
 Being in London, England, in the fall of 1858, 
 I was invited to address the Young Men's Chris- 
 tian Association. About six hundred were present, 
 many of them not disciples of Christ. In urg- 
 ing them to embrace the gospel without delay, I 
 related the leading facts in regard to a young man 
 of promise in the office of the Atlantic Mutual In- 
 surance Company of New York City, who was 
 fatally hurt one Saturday night, and, after seven 
 days and seven nights of unutterable agony, died 
 in the peace which only the gospel can give. As I 
 was wnth him more or less all through that event- 
 ful week, and after every interview made careful 
 record of his words and changing experiences, and 
 also wrote letters to him instructing him in the 
 truths of the gospel and the w^ay of salvation, to 
 be read to him by his mother when, for any reason, 
 I could not see him, I was able from memory and 
 heart to give the diary of that wonderful week. 
 Especially I related how, from my first interview 
 
74 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 with him, on Monday, July 20, 1857, until Wed- 
 nesday morning, the 22d, he said strongly that he 
 was "not prepared for death, and knew that he 
 was a lost soul, and deserved to be lost, because, 
 while he knew his duty, he would not mind God.'' 
 
 But the story is quite too long to relate here. 
 Let it be enough to add that on the afternoon of 
 that day, Wednesday, July 22d, he greeted me with 
 the glad tidings that he had found peace in believ- 
 ing. He gave a most satisfactory account of the 
 change, and good reasons for the hope that was in 
 him. Nor did it afterward fail — except during 
 two or three dark hours, from which he emerged 
 into the clear light of an endless day — as all who 
 knew him best believed. 
 
 On the platform, as I gave the narrative, was the 
 Eev. T. W. J. Wylie, D. D., of Philadelphia, Pa., 
 then a stranger to me. Deeply affected, even to 
 tears, he accompanied me to my hotel, and urged 
 me to publish the account which I had given oral- 
 ly. I told him that while I could eavsily do it, as 
 my notes were full and consecutive, yet I had not 
 thought of doing it. I had no question, nor had 
 others who knew the facts, as to the reality and 
 blessedness of the change, but I was afraid the liv- 
 ing might pervert the lateness of the conversion to 
 
SALVATION PROBABLE. 75 
 
 their own delay in seeking the Saviour, and die in 
 their sins. Dr. Wylie reasoned earnestly with me. 
 He said the unsaved perverted even the gospel. I 
 had all the facts. I could not be held responsible 
 for the perversion of them by others, but I would 
 be responsible if I withheld them from the knowl- 
 edge of others, and so virtually suppressed them. 
 
 I promised to consider what he said, and finally 
 I acted upon his suggestion, and the Carters in New 
 York and houses in London and Edinburgh pub- 
 lislied the narrative. A year or two ago the Messrs. 
 Carter gave the stereotype plates to me, and I gave 
 them to the Board of Publication. Under a slight- 
 ly changed name, Saved by Grace; oVy The Last 
 Week in the Life of Davis Johnson, Jr., it is now 
 published by the Board, and I am thankful to know 
 that it has not lived so Ions: in vain. 
 
 I ought to add that the young man was the son 
 of Christian parents. His father had been for many 
 years an elder in a Reformed (Dutch) church, 
 though at the time a member of our church, and 
 the son was taught the Scriptures from his youth. 
 
 3. But the children of godly parents may be cut 
 off more suddenlv still. 
 
 Some years ago I was called to visit a young 
 Scotchman, not long in this country, who had taken 
 
76 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 employment for the time in a distillery. Caught 
 in the machinery, he was so fearfully torn that he 
 lived but a few hours. Far away in the old coun- 
 try, his believing father and mother knew nothing 
 of his hurt until, a few days later, I wrote them 
 of his death. Up to the time of his fatal injury 
 he had made no confession of Christ as his Sav- 
 iour. He had been baptized in infancy on the faith 
 of his parents. Well instructed in the Scriptures 
 and familiar with the Assembly's Shorter Catechism, 
 much precious truth was in his memory. Under 
 the help given him by the Holy Spirit, the truth 
 seemed to find its way at once to his heart. He ac- 
 knowledged his sinfulness, transgressions and guilt. 
 Of a quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, 
 he was eager for instruction, receiving the truth in 
 the love of it, and accepting Christ as his Saviour 
 with all readiness and gladness of heart. It was a 
 sacred pleasure to stay by him, leading him Christ- 
 ward and heavenward, although the throbbing of his 
 fliiling heart could be seen through the opening the 
 cogs had made. 
 
 4. Many sons are sent or go from their Christian 
 homes never to return, and yet to be found, as I 
 trust this young man will be, safe in the Father's 
 house at the home-coming of the godly parents. 
 
SALVATION PROBABLE. 77 
 
 Overtaken on the sea or the land by sickness or ca- 
 lamity, they are suddenly confronted with death, 
 are thrown back upon tlieir childhood's instruc- 
 tion, and, by the watchful Spirit of God, come to a 
 better than even their childhood's faith. The loving 
 Saviour, quick and eager to find his erring ones, 
 meets them in the person of some faithful messen- 
 ger, a Christian fellow-sailor or soldier or chaplain, 
 and draws them to himself, it may be amid the ter- 
 rors of the shipwreck or the battle-field. Shall the 
 suddenness of their departure deprive him of his 
 purchased rights, or kindred and friends of strong 
 consolation ? The water does *not drown nor the 
 bullet strike them without the knowledge and will 
 of the living Christ. Quicker even than water 
 drowns or a bullet flies the Holy Spirit may give 
 life to an instructed soul. 
 
 5. There is a class of the children of the cove- 
 nant who live in sad estrangement from Christ till 
 they are not only mature in years, but some of them 
 past the meridian of life. They may be restrained 
 by education, by conscience, by all the influences of 
 Christian homes, from outbreaking wickedness, and 
 yet have no knowledge of the plague of their own 
 hearts. Or they may break loose from all re- 
 straints, and, like the prodigal, follow the desires 
 
78 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 and devices of their own hearts until confronted by 
 death and compelled to consider their ways. 
 
 Some years ago I was asked to visit a young 
 woman, the child of a believing mother who had 
 entered into rest. The daughter had attempted to 
 take her own life under the impression that she had 
 committed the sin that hath never forgiveness. 
 
 She was caught in the very act and carefully 
 guarded by day and night. When convinced that 
 she had not committed the sin, the nature of which 
 she did not know, and that it would be a most fool- 
 ish, cowardly and wicked thing to take her own 
 life, she gave me her promise that she would not 
 attempt it again. And when told plainly that, al- 
 though she had not committed that sin, she had 
 sinned far more deeply than she knew, but not 
 more deeply tha'n the Saviour knew, she was en- 
 abled to cast herself as she was upon him, and to 
 accept his grace and blood, even himself, as all her 
 salvation and all her desire. That was the be^in- 
 ning of a happy and useful Christian life which 
 continues to this day. 
 
 A young man who was carefully reared in a 
 Christian home was impelled by an uncontrollable 
 passion to go to sea. With the consent of his par- 
 ents, he embarked on a whale-ship bound for the 
 
SALVATION PROBABLE. 79 
 
 South Atlantic. The Bible given by his mother, 
 with the request that he would read it daily, was in 
 his chest, and up to the time of which I have oc- 
 casion to speak had been used but little if at all. 
 He was a sailor among sailors, and lived as he 
 pleased, though happily there was a Christian ship- 
 mate in the crew. 
 
 After a prosperous voyage the ship was about to 
 return to the North, and he was greatly elated with 
 the near prospect of seeing his parents and revisit- 
 ing the scenes and companions of his early years 
 havino; tales of travel and adventure to tell. But 
 in stowing down the oil when the sea was rough a 
 sudden lurch of the vessel brought a cask of oil 
 against him with such force that both his legs were 
 crushed and he received other injuries that soon 
 proved fatal. He knew from the first that he 
 could not live. His Christian shipmate at once 
 shared the deep concern he felt for his salvation. 
 He was sent to the chest for the long-neglected 
 Bible, and asked to read where it told how to get 
 ready for death and heaven. He turned to the 
 fifty-first Psalm, and, coming to the 10th verse, 
 " Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a 
 right spirit within me," he was requested to " hold 
 there." "That is just what I want," said the 
 
80 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 dying sailor. " How shall I get it ?" " Pray God to 
 give it for Christ's sake/' was the answer. ^' Oli, 
 yes," the other exclaimed ; " Jesus is the Saviour." 
 — "Shipmate, it is an awful thing to die, and I've 
 got to go. Oh, if mother was here to tell me how 
 to . get ready !" and he trembled with emotion. 
 After a short pause, in which he seemed to be in 
 deep thought, he said, " Do you know of any place 
 where it is said that such sinners as I can be 
 saved ?" The words, " This is a faithful saying, and 
 worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came 
 into the world to save sinners, of whom I am 
 chief," and " He is able to save them to the utter- 
 most that come unto God by him, seeing he ever 
 liveth to make intercession for them," were read. 
 " That's plain," he said. " Now, if I only knew 
 how to come to God !" " Come as a child to a 
 father," \vas the answer. *^ How's that?" he asked. 
 — " As the child feels that his father can help 
 him in danger, so you are to feel that God can help 
 you now. And as the child trusts his father by 
 fleeing to him, so you must trust Jesus by casting 
 yourself upon him." He lay a little while en- 
 gaged in earnest pleading with God, as was evident 
 from the few words that were overheard. Then 
 the tears began to run down his face and a bright 
 
SALVATION PROBABLE. 81 
 
 smile played like a sunbeam on liis features. " He 
 forofives me, and I shall be saved," he said with 
 great sweetness of voice and manner. And as 
 death came he said, "ile's come! he^s comeT' 
 ^^AVho has come?'' asked his shipmate. "Jesus 
 has come," he whispered; and so his life here 
 came to an end. 
 
 I will not doubt that the compassionate Saviour 
 revealed himself to this poor sinner in the little in- 
 terval between the hurt and the dying. Surely our 
 compassion is not greater than his. 
 
 What reason can any one give for assuming that 
 a man in such distressing circumstances, earnestly 
 desiring to find the way of life, confessing him- 
 self a sinner and pleading for pardon and accept- 
 ance with God for Jesus' sake, must be deceived? 
 Better a thousand times believe that the Saviour 
 is at the door; that he has arranged all the circum- 
 stances for arresting and saving one that w^as lost ; 
 that the Holy Spirit waits for some lover of the 
 truth to give voice to his saving word ; that you 
 are yourself the very person, if the providence of 
 God our Saviour points to you ; and that holy an- 
 gels are ready to carry the ransomed soul to the 
 opening heavens. 
 
 At the communion of the church of which I am 
 
 6 
 
82 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 the senior pastor, held Juue 20, 1852, of the four- 
 teen persons recognized as having been received by 
 the Session, one was a young girl sixteen years old, 
 now the devoted wife of a Christian minister and 
 the mother of Christian children ; another was a 
 woman more than seventy years of age. Although 
 the widow of a deacon, she had never knoAvn real 
 soul-trouble for her sins until a few weeks before. 
 Looking from her window at an early hour one 
 morning, she saw an aged couple whom she knew 
 well on their way to a meeting that was to be held 
 in our prayer-room. She instantly felt a deep con- 
 cern for her salvation. On the next Lord's day 
 she was iu her place in the house of God. I knew 
 nothing of her anxiety. The text was '^Quench 
 not the Spirit.'' She thought the sermon was pre- 
 pared for her. After a fortnight of deep heart- 
 searching and most agonizing conviction of sin, she 
 found the Saviour, and great peace in believing. 
 A few months later she fell in a street of New 
 York, was carried to the house of a friend, and 
 died, broken in body, but healed by the blood and 
 touch of Christ, a joyful witness to the last of the 
 power and preciousness of saving grace. 
 
 I have mentioned her case because it shows the 
 patience, the compassion and the fixed purpose with 
 
SALVATION PROBABLE. 83 
 
 which the Saviour keeps watch over individual 
 souls, and surpasses and surprises us in saving some 
 whom we might pass by as hardly responsive to 
 any influence of truth by which others are won to 
 Christ. Death-bed repentances of younger persons 
 are not more wonderful, and they are not limited to 
 the children or descendants of Christian parents. 
 
 I close this lecture by giving somewhat in detail 
 an incident that I often recall with tender interest 
 and cannot forget while life lasts : 
 
 Through the whole history of South Third 
 Street Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, N. Y., the 
 prayer-meeting following the communion has been 
 devoted especially to parents and their children, 
 though we commonly include Sunday-school teach- 
 ers and their scholars. 
 
 Knowing that the Rev. Nathaniel Hewitt, D. D., 
 pastor of the Presbyterian church in Bridgeport, 
 Ct., was the guest of one of our elders who lived 
 not far from the place of meeting, I hastened to 
 the house and asked him to be present and make an 
 address. He would not promise to do so, as he was 
 in one of his melancholv moods. He told me to 
 go on with the service, and that if he came it 
 would be quite late. And, sure enough, he came in 
 while I was speaking to the people. He was tall 
 
84 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 and large (I had almost said immense, for he had a 
 most impressive presence) and deeply solemn, wear- 
 ins: on this occasion a fur muffler hi2:h around his 
 neck and face, for the weather was cold. It was 
 evident that he was deeply affected by the sight 
 that met his eyes on entering the place — a large lec- 
 ture-room full of parents and their offspring, teach- 
 ers and their scholars. He did not decline the 
 place that I at once offered him in the pulpit. 
 Without removing overcoat or muffler he began 
 with these very words : 
 
 " This is a great subject, a very great subject — 
 the Supremacy of God in the Family.^' Continu- 
 ing:, he said that the children of Christian house- 
 holds sometimes pursued a violent course in rela- 
 tion to God, and he pursued a violent course 
 toward them. In illustration of this, he stated that 
 during the war of 1812-15 he was pastor of a 
 church in Plattsburgh on Lake Champlain. On 
 one occasion General Macomb, who was in com- 
 mand of the American forces stationed there, sent 
 for him, that he might visit and instruct twenty- 
 four soldiers who for serious offences had been tried 
 and condemned to be shot. Six were to suffer the 
 extreme penalty of the law the following day. The 
 others, though they knew it not, would be reprieved. 
 
SALVATION PROBABLE. 85 
 
 On his mournful errand he went to the guard- 
 house, and from a list furnished him read the 
 names of all the condemned men. All answered to 
 their names and came forward with the exception 
 of one, a man of high social position but of desper- 
 ate character. He refused to leave his bunk. 
 With the others Mr. Hewitt spent several hours, 
 reading suitable portions of Scripture, preaching 
 the gospel and offering fervent prayer that they 
 might be saved. Late in the night he left them, 
 returning the next morning early to his work of 
 mercy. As he tenderly addressed them man by 
 man, not yet knowing who were to live and who 
 to die, he came at last to a Scotchman named Alex- 
 ander. This man welcomed Mr. Hewitt with joy, 
 and at once related the experience of the night and, 
 briefly, his career from boyhood. On retiring to 
 his place of rest he had been confronted with the 
 sins of his whole life. Sleep fled. He remembered 
 with deepest sorrow and pain his wayward conduct 
 from his youth. He was a child of godly parents 
 and many prayers. The very words of his father's 
 intercessions in his behalf at the family altar came 
 clearly to his mind. He recalled the answers to 
 questions in the Shorter Catechism, and many por- 
 tions of Scripture. From all the love and re- 
 
86 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-BOOM. 
 
 straints of his home he secretly fled at the age of 
 thirteen years, and for more than twenty years he 
 had been a wanderer and vagabond on the face of 
 the earth and on the sea. At last he had been sud- 
 denly and justly arrested by the strong arm of 
 military authority and power. During the night 
 just past he saw the utter ruin in which he was 
 involved as a criminal under human law, a trans- 
 gressor under God's law, and now condemned, with- 
 out reprieve, to die an ignominious death ; for he had 
 learned this. 
 
 But the discovery of his helpless ruin was ac- 
 companied by another, equally clear. He saw the 
 way of life through Jesus Christ. He saw plainly 
 that the glory of Christ's person and offices and 
 work answered to the deformity and guilt of his 
 person and life. He was looking unto Jesus, cling- 
 ing to him as his Saviour, and awaiting without fear 
 the moment of his execution. 
 
 Mr. Hewitt was greatly moved in recognition of 
 the matchless grace and power of the Saviour in 
 relation to this sinful child of the covenant. Call- 
 ing the other five men, who were at last made 
 known to him as about to die, he gave them in- 
 struction suited to their sad condition, and told them 
 of the grace of God in Alexander's case, entreating 
 
SALVATION PROBABLE. 87 
 
 them to trust in the same Saviour. While thus 
 engaged he felt something fall on his ear and neck, 
 and, looking up to see what it was, he found one 
 of the officers standing a little above him, weeping. 
 And in that moment of silence the officer, tenderly 
 addressing Alexander, begged him, if he could die 
 peacefully and in hope of eternal life, to look up 
 into his face and smile. He instantly gave the 
 sign of inward peace and hope. Shortly after, the 
 quick firing of a platoon of soldiers dismissed him, 
 as Mr. Hewitt believed, to his Saviour's presence. 
 
 Some years later Mr. Hewitt was traveling in 
 Vermont, and, having occasion to pass through a 
 toll-gate, was accosted by the keeper with the ques- 
 tion, "Sir, were you not the minister at Platts- 
 burg during the last war?" Learning that he 
 was, the gate-keeper stated that he was one of the 
 eighteen soldiers condemned to die, but reprieved, 
 yet during all that awful night expecting to be shot 
 in the morning. The instruction then given had 
 been owned of God to his conversion. 
 
 Have you a doubt, dear brethren, that salvation 
 is possible on a death-bed ? and that in some cases 
 it is probable, and even more than probable ? Im- 
 perfect as the argument of this lecture has been, I 
 sincerely hope that in your own ministry you may 
 
88 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-BOOM, 
 
 have the joy of winning many souls, and that you 
 may despair of none while life lasts. I can speak 
 confidently of one thing : when you have taken the 
 soul of another upon your soul shortly before it 
 leaves the world, and thought of its worth, felt its 
 danger, prayed for it, and, as you believe, by God's 
 blessing upon the truth won it to Christ, the all- 
 sufficient Saviour, you will let no opportunity pass 
 to give help to every other soul under your care 
 that is ready to perish. There is exquisite, sacred 
 joy in being used to voice the words of the silent 
 Holy Spirit, and to make known in this way the 
 present but unseen Saviour to one who needs noth- 
 ing so much as to touch him by faith and be saved 
 by his grace. 
 
 " They that be wise shall shine as the brightness 
 of the firmament; and they that turn many to 
 righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever." 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 MrouG treatment ot tF^e Slcli ant) B^ing ; 
 IRtGbt treatment ot tbe Same ; Xllses tbat 
 ma^ be properly /IDabe of tbetr iEjpeti«= 
 ence^ 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 WRONG TREATMENT OF THE SICK AND DYING. 
 
 T DO not speak to you, gentlemen, as if you were 
 preparing to be trained nurses, though that is a 
 noble calling, and you may often do good service 
 by wise suggestions as to the proper care of the 
 body. But you are chiefly to watch for souls as 
 they who must give account. 
 
 I refer mainly to the treatment of the sick and 
 the dying, which, by God's blessing, may be their 
 preparation for the life that remains to them here 
 and the endless life of the future. The responsi- 
 bility of their treatment is shared by physicians, 
 ministers, kinsfolk, friends, and sometimes by paid 
 nurses. 
 
 In critical cases it may not be easy to decide 
 which of the two, the body or the soul, shall have 
 the first care. We can reach the soul with saving; 
 truth only through the body. The Holy Spirit 
 may use truth long before learned to reach and save 
 the soul when we seem to be cut off from all ac- 
 cess to a dying person by reason of his bodily con- 
 
 91 
 
92 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 ditiou. If the sickness is manifestly unto death 
 and the patient has given no sign of vital union to 
 Christ, the physician and friends should interpose 
 no obstacle to wise efforts for the instruction and 
 salvation of one so soon to know the great things 
 of the other life. Everything should be made sub- 
 ordinate to this end. 
 
 1. And here, first, I have a word to say about 
 physicians in their relation to persons who are very 
 ill and may be near to death. 
 
 My own experience has been perhaps exception- 
 ally pleasant, for the reason that I have been asso- 
 ciated mainly with Christian men in the medical 
 profession. They have welcomed me to fullest pos- 
 sible co-operation with themselves. Nothing but a 
 hindrance that I recognized as real has kept me 
 from the presence of their patients. I shall never 
 forget the deep concern felt by Dr. Mason, for- 
 merly of Brooklyn, now, I have no doubt, in heaven, 
 that one of his patients who had come to the bed 
 of death might have a Christian hope before sub- 
 mitting to a very dangerous operation. Dr. Mason 
 assured me that he would not proceed until he was 
 satisfied, through me, that the sufferer had found 
 rest and peace in Christ. And he shared in the 
 great joy when I was permitted to say to him that 
 
WEONG TREATMENT. 93 
 
 I believed his patient was ready for life or for in- 
 stant death as the resnlt of the proposed operation. 
 It was not fatal, but it brought no relief, and he 
 soon fell asleep in Jesus. 
 
 I cannot withhold here a reference to John Au- 
 gustus McVicker, M. D., of New York City, who 
 died in March, 1892, aged seventy-seven years. 
 Dr. McVicker was for many years a devoted, 
 earnest and leading member of St. George's Prot- 
 estant Episcopal Church in Stuyvesaut Square. 
 Of him it was said that "besides his great skill 
 as a physician for the body, he w^as also a born 
 benefactor to the soul of every suiferer who came 
 across his path. Morning, noon and night the 
 Master's teachings were omnipotent with him." 
 
 In only one instance do I remember to have felt 
 it my duty to administer reproof to a physician 
 who attempted to restrict my attentions to a dying 
 patient whom I thoroughly knew and who earnestly 
 desired frequent and short interviews with me. 
 The physician was a young man, and I told him 
 plainly that I knew more of the sick-room than 
 he did, and that I could not be controlled by what 
 he had said. He had the good sense to ajiologize 
 and to admit that he had made a mistake even with 
 reference to his patient. 
 
94 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 It is clear enough that unless a physician knows 
 a minister to be wise in dealing with the sick — one 
 who at once perceives what is helpful and what is 
 hurtful — he must decline taking the responsibility 
 of encouraging, or even permitting, his visits. He 
 is waging a battle with disease. On the two sides 
 in the conflict are life and death, and he is with the 
 ^^ life.'^ Whether Christian or not, he ous^ht to be 
 intent on diagnosing the disease, watching symp- 
 toms, administering remedies and noting their ef- 
 fects. He may therefore quite forget that he is 
 dealino; with one who has yet to lav hold on eternal 
 life while his grasp on the present life may be 
 daily growing weaker. Or if he should recognize 
 this sad condition of his patient, he may share a 
 belief that is too common, that one who is distracted 
 by the pains of the body and near to death is quite 
 beyond the reach of salvation by faith in the Sa- 
 viour. He ought to remember that what is impos- 
 sible with men is possible with God ; that while the 
 sufferer is passing beyond his skill and beyond all 
 remedial agents for the help of his body, he has 
 not passed beyond the reach of Him who gave life 
 to the dead. He should therefore gladly co-operate 
 with ministers or others who wisely seek to point 
 and lead the dying to Christ. 
 
WRONG TREATMENT. 95 
 
 It is unspeakably sad when pliysicians who are 
 in daily contact with the sick and dying have no 
 care for human souls. After all, the healing of the 
 body and its endless weal — for it shares the destiny 
 of the soul — does not depend on human skill alone. 
 It is said of Christ that " himself took our infirmi- 
 ties and bore our sicknesses.'^ It is not wise nor rio:ht 
 to make nothing of Ciirist while ministering to the 
 body. Of Asa, one of the kings of Judah, it is said, 
 " In his disease he souo^ht not to the Lord, but to the 
 physicians.^' Consequently the words follow imme- 
 diately: "Asa slept with his fathers, and died in 
 the one and fortieth year of his reign.'' I would not 
 dare to reverse the order, putting the physician be- 
 fore the Lord. Looking unto the Lord and send- 
 ing for the physician with faithful regard for his 
 counsel will ensure the best results. 
 
 The physician in all ordinary cases has no more 
 reason or right to exclude the minister, Avho seeks 
 the salvation of the soul for eternity, and of the body 
 with it, than has the minister to exclude the phy- 
 sician, who aims to heal the body for the few and 
 uncertain years appointed it for life on the earth. 
 And it may be well to repeat the belief which I 
 share with manv who are wise, that the word of 
 God, and prayer ministered wisely, gently, sincere- 
 
96 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 ly by those who come to the sick in the name of 
 the Lord, are among the most powerful of all rem- 
 edial agencies. For nothing is more depressing to 
 the sick than mental anguish, the tortures of an ac- 
 cusing conscience and the consequent fear of dying 
 apart from Christ. On the other hand, tlie breath- 
 ing of peace into a troubled soul and the hope of 
 eternal life through Jesus Christ have, in well-at- 
 tested cases, so quickened the restorative powers of 
 nature as to turn the tide of sickness and prove the 
 best possible help to the physician in bringing his 
 patients back to health. 
 
 2. Pass now from physicians to others who are 
 called to visit the sick and the dying. In our concern 
 for their souls it is a great wrong to forget the 
 weakness of their bodies. Often the powers of life 
 are so far exhausted that anytliing more than the 
 recital of an invitation or promise of the Scriptures 
 and prayer in a few sentences, and all in a subdued 
 voice, would be a cruelty and failure. 
 
 Some are weaker even than this. They may not 
 be able to speak, and yet they show by signs which 
 can be understood that they are not beyond the pos- 
 sibility of being reached by the word and Spirit of 
 truth and life. To withhold a word in season and 
 to refrain from offering audible prayer in such cases 
 
WRONG TREATMENT. 97 
 
 is to take a respousibility from which a true winner 
 of souls may well shrink. 
 
 I have known instances whereall the sensibilities of 
 the body and the activities of the mind have seemed 
 to be in suspense, and yet the sufferers were not 
 known to have found rest in Christ. Not to have 
 spoken plainly, as if sure of a hearing, would have 
 been to lose the only opportunity likely to be given 
 for seeking to save those who were ready to perish. 
 
 When the way is clear for repeated visits and 
 free and full conversation, there is such a thing as 
 disregarding the laws of the mind itself by present- 
 ing truth in other than the divine order and pro- 
 portions. Haphazard work with the soul is worse 
 than such work with the body, even as the life of 
 the soul is more precious than the life of the body. 
 We may mar if not thwart the work of the Holy 
 Spirit by adopting methods not in keeping with 
 those which he is wont to bless. As in revivals, so 
 called, appeals to the emotions instead of instruction 
 to the mind may produce effects which are mistaken 
 for conversion, yet which soon come to naught, so an 
 unwise counselor may deal with one sick unto death. 
 He may calm his fears and awaken his hopes by 
 assuring him that all will be well with him at last; 
 that the heavenly Father, whose child he is, will 
 
98 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 not permit him to perish ; that if his loving dis- 
 cipline does not complete its work in this life, it 
 will be continned in the next until the most way- 
 ward of his offspring have been saved. 
 
 A young man whom on his death-bed I was ear- 
 nestly trying to lead to Christ, when near the end 
 of life startled me one day by saying plainly that 
 he knew he '^ must go to hell '' (that was his own 
 language), but hoped he might escape at last, when 
 he had suffered the just punishment of all his sins. 
 I told him earnestly and with deep emotion that, 
 dying with such a lie in his right hand, he had no 
 ground for hoping that he would ever be saved. 
 To my great relief and joy, I found at my next 
 visit that he had not only abandoned the strong and 
 fatal delusion, but that he was rejoicing in the hope 
 of forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus Christ 
 our Lord. 
 
 A Universalist friend of mine, the able and pop- 
 ular pastor of a neighboring church, thought I was 
 cruel in the extreme in so dealing with the young 
 man ; but the young man himself and his friends 
 were most thankful for the counsel given him, and 
 one of his dying wishes was gratified — that I might 
 support his head when he passed away. 
 
 3. The immediate kindred and friends of the 
 
WRONG TREATMENT. 99 
 
 sick and dying have great responsibility for their 
 treatment of their loved ones. 
 
 Some utterly ignore the Bible and the Christian 
 religion for themselves and families. Enjoying 
 a thousand blessings of Christianity through life 
 without discerning whence they come, they still, 
 almost without exception, desire for themselves 
 and kindred the rites of Christian burial, but, with 
 strange and dark unbelief, they keep the teachers 
 of religion from the rooms of their sick and dying 
 friends. And yet even they load the caskets of 
 their dead and the tables near them with floral 
 crosses and crowns and harps, as if in solemn 
 mockery of the realities of the gospel which they 
 represent. 
 
 One of the last funerals at which I officiated was 
 that of a dock-loafer who fell overboard and was 
 drowned, so far as we know, while plying his un- 
 lawful craft and with all his sins upon him. Yet 
 the pure flowers were made to publish him a saint. 
 
 Others closely connected with the dying wait till 
 the last moments of life, and then send tearful mes- 
 sengers to some accessible minister to hurry to the 
 suflerer's help, when he ought to have been called 
 weeks before. Quite lately a case of this kind oc- 
 curred near me. A young man was about to die. 
 
100 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 For some time he had felt that his days were num- 
 bered, and had asked that a minister might be re- 
 quested to calL He had seen one of his sisters fade 
 away and die of the same disease. Happily, too, 
 he had heard from her lips words of trust in the 
 Saviour and of the hope of heaven with which she 
 closed her short life and cheered her friends. He 
 longed for a like experience, and repeated his re- 
 quest day after day that some minister might be 
 asked to call. For trivial reasons this simple re- 
 quest was not granted. At last, how^ever, and sud- 
 denly, his family saw that he was dying. A sister 
 was despatched in all haste for me. Bathed in 
 tears, she begged me to come quickly. I went 
 immediately with her, but before w^e reached the 
 house her brother was dead. 
 
 There is another class of persons, of whom I 
 speak with great reluctance. They are members 
 of Christian churches. From a perverted love and 
 an erring judgment they keep from the death-room 
 all suo^o^estions of dangler to their kindred soon to 
 die, and all the consolations of religion, as if they 
 could in that way exclude death itself. 
 
 A letter of a Christian w-oman known to me 
 from childhood long ago gave me the sad particu- 
 lars of a case that greatly afflicted her at the time, 
 
WRONG TREATMENT. 101 
 
 as the invalid was a very dear personal friend, to 
 whom slie would g;ladlv have borne the tidins^s of 
 salvation by Jesus Christ, but was not permitted to 
 do so, on pain of being excluded from her presence 
 and losing the friendship of the family. 
 
 The sufferer was the oldest daughter in a house- 
 hold of great wealth and refinement. Her parents 
 were both members of an evangelical Christian 
 church. They knew, for the physicians had told 
 them, that there was not the least hope of her recov- 
 ery. They were liberal, kind-hearted and tenderly 
 devoted to their children. Upon this daughter they 
 had bestowed the rarest opportunities of education. 
 All that money could do to minister to the culture 
 of her mind, the gratification of her tastes and her 
 social enjoyment had been freely done. She had 
 traveled widelv in other lands, and had "come 
 out," as the phrase goes, with utmost zest in tlie 
 circles of wealth and fashion in the city where she 
 dwelt. She was known in these circles as singular 
 for the richness and beauty of the laces she wore, 
 the value of her diamonds and other jewels and 
 the general magnificence of her attire. 
 
 At length a fatal and very distressing malady 
 fastened itself upon her. A visible and sure de- 
 cline began, lasting almost a year. Yet all those 
 
102 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 precious months were spent by her family in the 
 most careful, systematic and successful concealment 
 of the certainty that she must soon die. The phy- 
 sicians, of whom she had several, were charged in no 
 case to Avhisper her danger or make known the na- 
 ture of her disease. She was deliberately and often 
 assured that she would soon be able to endure the 
 fatigue of foreign travel. Although daily declin- 
 ing; in streno-th and becomino; more and more ema- 
 ciated, she fondly believed that she would soon be 
 well. When one of her physicians proposed and 
 urged treatment that would leave a stain upon one 
 of her arms for some time, she declined it because 
 she wished soon to appear in society. 
 
 This deception on the part of her friends and de- 
 lusion on her own part continued to the last. When 
 it was known that she might die any day or hour, and 
 certainly could live but a short time, she was prom- 
 ised presents of great value on her recovery, and 
 was allowed to purchase costly jewels to be worn at 
 some future day. 
 
 She had Christian friends who yearned over her 
 with inexpressible tenderness. One at least remon- 
 strated with the father, mother and sister. This 
 friend begged the privilege of reading to the sufferer 
 and making known to her her true condition. But 
 
WRONG TREATMENT. 103 
 
 she was charged not to interfere with the plan of the 
 family, and, though watching with the sick girl night 
 after night, was never permitted to be with her alone. 
 Even the pastor of the family was allowed to visit 
 her only on condition that he should not make known 
 to her the secret of her near dissolution nor in any 
 way awaken her fears. A very dear friend sent her 
 a beautiful bouquet of flowers, with a note attached 
 referring to their frailty and suggesting hers. The 
 note was detached, and although the girl asked if one 
 did not accompany the flowers, an evasive answer 
 was given, and she was not allowed to see what 
 her friend had sent. 
 
 At last the hour of her death came. The fam- 
 ily and two physicians were present, watching the 
 flickering flame of life. In a despairing voice the 
 dying one said to one of the physicians, ^' I believe 
 I am dying." As there was no response, she gasped 
 out the words once more : " Doctor, I believe — I — 
 am — dying." He simply answered, ^^I understand 
 you." Not even then was a word of helpful truth 
 or earnest prayer uttered in her hearing, and with 
 the sacred name, ^' O Lord ! O Lord !" on her dy- 
 ing lips, she ceased to breathe. 
 
 Who of us could bear the responsibility of treat- 
 ing child, sister, friend, parishioner, in this way for 
 
104 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 months in succession ? I think anj pastor would 
 be justified in declining to visit a dying person 
 under such restrictions. 'No wonder that the room 
 where this young woman died was closed to all 
 other occupants, and that parents and friends had 
 great sorrow for many years. 
 
 This case does not stand alone. Many reverse 
 the order of the two values, putting the natural life 
 above the eternal, and sinking the latter out of 
 view. 
 
 A Christian physician to whom I related the 
 facts given above said that a case similar to it had 
 lately come to his own knowledge. A father whose 
 only daughter was on her death-bed, with but a 
 few days to live, carefully concealed the fact 
 from her. Friends were encouraged to send her 
 presents at his expense, and he said plainly that he 
 would shoot any one who made known to her the 
 certainty that she could live but a short time. 
 
 There is one other kind of wrong treatment of 
 the sick and dying that should be noticed with 
 strong disapproval. I mean the multiplying of 
 teachers, the obtrusion upon them of many coun- 
 selors, and especially if they are of different schools 
 of theology and of strong sectarian habits of mind 
 and heart. 
 
WRONG TREATMENT. 105 
 
 In all critical cases many teachers distract and 
 weary the suiferers. There is danger of having 
 discordant counsels given. And the impression 
 may be made that many guides are needed, as if 
 reliance were placed rather upon the guides than 
 upon Christ, who said, '' I am the Way and the 
 Truth and the Life." Even two are not always 
 better than one, unless they have an understanding 
 that they will support each other in uttering the same 
 truths and in trying to arrest and hold attention by 
 such concurrence of testimony, while agreeing to- 
 gether in asking the heavenly Father, in Christ's 
 name, for the salvation of the person or persons 
 wdiom they earnestly desire to win to Christ. 
 
 Unwise friends are in danger of going from one 
 extreme to another — from doing nothing to doing 
 too much. Seized at last with the idea that one 
 whom they love is in peril of his life and is not 
 prepared for the great change, they attach too 
 much importance to the number of teachers, and 
 not enough to a wise choice of one who knows 
 the sick-room well and is faithful and competent 
 in seeking to win souls. Happy the families that 
 are instructed in these great matters, and that are 
 blessed with wise Christian physicians and pastors. 
 
 In passing to the second part of our subject, 
 
106 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-BOOM. 
 
 viz. The Right Treatment of the Sick and Dying, 
 I need hardly say that great wisdom and sincere 
 love for the Saviour and the souls of men are 
 always needed. With sanctified common sense 
 one will be very sure quickly to perceive what is 
 best and what should be avoided. 
 
 If the sufferers are Christians and are very weak, 
 a few well-chosen words of Scripture and a brief 
 prayer with good cheer from a loving, sympathetic 
 and happy heart may be all-sufficient, and will do 
 good like a medicine. 
 
 For an aged disciple of rare intelligence and con- 
 secration, belonging to a different denomination 
 from my own, but under my pastoral care, I pre- 
 pared from day to day, at her own request, brief 
 meditations on suitable texts of Scripture. She 
 was too weak to endure conversation or to meditate 
 profitably by herself, but she could joyfully read 
 a short page of devout thought suggested by differ- 
 ent portions of God's word. 
 
 I have often been in the rooms of dying saints 
 who could bear only a few whispered words. A 
 pastor or friend refined and sensitive will study 
 and observe all the proprieties of the sick-room, 
 and will find that sometimes silence is better than 
 speech. Sometimes, too, his mission will be best 
 
RIGHT TREATMENT. 107 
 
 accomplished by merely leaving his name with the 
 family, with the assurance for the sick one that he 
 is remembered in prayer by his pastor. At times, 
 however, it may be inexpedient to leave any mes- 
 sage for the sick one who is so low. Then all that 
 the pastor can do will be to call upon the family. 
 
 But I am to speak chiefly of the right treatment 
 of the sick and dying who are without the good 
 hope of eternal life in Jesus Christ. 
 
 1. A first duty, I think, is to assist in forming 
 a correct public sentiment in regard to the appalling 
 danger of those who fall sick in this sad condition. 
 Let the tidings spread from pulpit to pulpit, from 
 house to house, from suppliant to suppliant. Al- 
 ready there is such a sentiment in reference to 
 persons brought into sudden peril of their bodily 
 lives. A thrill of horror pervades a whole com- 
 munity when it is known that a house in which 
 there are sleepers is on fire or that a child is lost. 
 When I lived in Princeton and Avas a student in the 
 seminary, a little boy about seven years old, who 
 had been plavino^ in a lumber-vard till a late hour 
 in the afternoon, did not return home and could 
 not be found. He was traced as far on the road 
 to Lawrenc^eville as a cottage where he had asked 
 for a drink. Near it bars in the fence revealed 
 
108 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 a pathway into the fields and clumps of trees. 
 Later it was found that he had passed through 
 these bars. The bells of the seminary and college 
 sounded the alarm. Professors and students and 
 citizens by the hundred came together, were or- 
 ganized into searching parties and went out with 
 lanterns far into the chilly night. Some of us 
 continued the search until the break of day. At 
 last the poor child was found by a bird-dog. He 
 was lying in the deep grass, unconscious, chilled 
 to the bone by the low temperature of the uight, 
 and would probably have slept the sleep of death 
 if left to himself. He was borne to his humble 
 home in the strono; arms of a man no wav related 
 to him as a kinsman. I have never forgotten the 
 thrill of nerve and heart when the tidings rang 
 out through the still air of the morning : " He is 
 found ! He is found, and is living but unconscioitsJ^ 
 Again the bells were rung. Men of all ages and 
 ranks and characters greeted each other with 
 utmost joy. Tears were on many faces in the street 
 and in scores of homes. Every mother felt the 
 gladness of a personal deliverance. And yet that 
 little boy was unknown to most of the men who 
 made long and painful search for him, and not 
 one in a hundred of the men and women who 
 
RIGHT TREATMENT. 109 
 
 wept for gladness when lie was found had any 
 personal knowledge of the child. 
 
 There is no deep feeling like this when it is 
 known that one who has no hope iu Christ has 
 fallen sick and is in danger of death. Even in 
 such cases the chief anxiety seems to be for the life 
 of the bodv. The sickness is not taken to heart 
 by many persons as calling for special and per- 
 sistent effort for the salvation of the soul. We 
 reproach ourselves for want of feeling. We can 
 explain the general indifference only on the mourn- 
 ful theory that in preparation for meeting God 
 safely one need not be greatly concerned about 
 being born again, with faith in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ and holiness at least in its germ. 
 
 T think we should do what we can, from the 
 pulpit and the press and by visitation among the 
 people committed to our care, to change this apathy 
 to rational concern. If one falls dangerously 
 sick, who, it is feared, has made no preparation for 
 death, the fact should be known by those of his 
 kinsfolk and acquaintances who believe in the 
 power of prayer. The longest life is well spent 
 only when it is a true preparation for the life 
 beyond. But here one is in great peril, who, it is 
 believed, has yet to take the first step heavenward. 
 
110 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 How appalling ! But God waits to be gracious. 
 Christ is able to save to the uttermost all who come 
 unto God by him. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit 
 of Truth, the Author aud Interpreter of the word 
 which his faithful messengers earnestly make 
 known. Pie can waken the dead and lead them 
 to Christ ; therefore w^e clierish hope to the last. 
 And this we ought to do all the more fondly if 
 we find ourselves and others as intensely aroused 
 as when the bodily life of child or adult is brought 
 into sudden peril. 
 
 2. A duty that cannot be too strongly stated 
 devolves upon those who are nearest the sufferers 
 in family relations. 
 
 These have the sick completely in their power. 
 Under a false view of the relation of means to 
 ends — faith and prayer to sickness — some are 
 known to refuse all other agencies for healing. 
 I believe that this folly, to call it by no harsher 
 name, has cost many precious lives. " Faith 
 cure," "Christian science'^ and " Mind cure " may 
 be classed too:ether. I mention them in this con- 
 nection only to say with stronger emphasis that 
 those w^ho have very sick persons in their families 
 in all ordinary cases should early call to their help 
 a competent physician, and while carefully obeying 
 
RIGHT TREATMENT. Ill 
 
 his directions sliould co-operate with him to the 
 utmost of their power. They should be sure uot 
 to work against liini purposely or by neglect. If 
 the sickness falls upon some poor kinsman or neigh- 
 bor, let them use their kind offices to secure a phy- 
 sician. It seems almost unnecessary to add that they 
 should be sure of competence and fidelity in the 
 person who is called to guide the sick in the way 
 of life. 
 
 3. It is sometimes a perplexing question, Shall 
 minister or physician or any one else inform those 
 who are fatally sick that they cannot recover? 
 
 If, beyond all reasonable doubt, the dying are 
 ready for the great change, it is of little conse- 
 quence wliether they are told or not. There may, 
 however, be some matters that they Avould wish to 
 arrange if they knew that life was about to close — 
 some farewell word they might desire to speak, or 
 some testimony for Christ to give to the living. 
 These are reasons for telling them frankly yet 
 gently that the end is near. 
 
 If they are not Christians, and are flattering 
 themselves that thev will yet recover while all 
 others believe that they can live but a short time, 
 let them know, as best you can, that life is waning 
 and eternity nearing. I can recall no instance, 
 
112 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 in a pastorate of more than forty-two years, in 
 which a person unprepared for death, and yet not 
 far from it, could have been wisely deprived of 
 the knowledge of the fact. Such information 
 wisely and tenderly given is of great use in rous- 
 ing the careless to the necessity of preparing for 
 the change and giving earnest heed to instruction 
 and prayer. I have never known it to destroy or 
 depress the powers of life. 
 
 " Conversation does not hurt me/' said a young 
 Irishman to Dr. Spencer in one of his last inter- 
 views ; " and it would be no matter, you know, if 
 it did. I am soon to go. Earth has done with 
 me. The grave lifts up her voice to claim me. I 
 am preparing to say, ^ Yes, I come.' ^' Most of 
 the sick will be found to share in this feeling. 
 If we have dealt openly with them, we cannot 
 well help showing them that our chief concern is 
 for their salvation. They will see that we make 
 everything subordinate to this, and will learn at 
 last, under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, that 
 the gospel they have neglected through life after 
 all is the best gift of God to sinful men, and that 
 all its blessings are as free to them as the service 
 we gladly render or as the air they breathe. 
 
 I was once urged by a father whom I well 
 
RIGHT TREATMENT. 113 
 
 knew to see his dying sou. He had been fatally 
 hurt, and died a few days later. I went with the 
 father at once, but told him by the way that I 
 could take the responsibility of caring for his son 
 only on two conditions : one, that I should have 
 full charge of his instruction ; and the other, that 
 I should decide when to tell him that his hurt 
 was fatal. The father gave his consent with tears, 
 fearing that his son could not bear to learn that 
 his end w^as near. But the father had reason, be- 
 fore the end, to rejoice that he consented. 
 
 4. In most cases of fatal sickness the responsi- 
 bility of being the religious counselor falls, or 
 should fall, upon one person. The duty of the 
 family is partially discharged in making the selec- 
 tion of one believed to be competent for the sacred 
 duty. It may be one of their own number, or some 
 friend of the sufferer, or the pastor of the congre- 
 gation to which the family belongs. In either case 
 the duties of the one chosen are very serious, and 
 should be well understood. 
 
 (1) He ought to be fully convinced that he is 
 called in the providence of God, as well as by the 
 choice of his fellows, to the solemn dutv. Other- 
 wise he may have serious misgivings, and at criti- 
 cal moments, when important decisions must be 
 
114 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 promptly made, wish that another were in his 
 place. If he is the pastor of the household, he 
 need have little doubt regarding his duty. And yet 
 a devoted Christian minister, who is now vener- 
 able for his years and his excellence of character, 
 told me a few days ago that, having been called 
 as a young j^astor to visit a dying person in his 
 congregation, he was greatly alarmed, and hardly 
 knew what to say or do, wishing earnestly that he 
 might be relieved from the responsibility of guid- 
 ing a soul so near to the other, world. 
 
 (2) It is very important to see the sufferer alone 
 sometimes, if not always. He may wish to make 
 statements about himself that he cannot get his 
 own consent to make in the presence of the family 
 or any one but his religious teacher. When one 
 has lived for years without revealing thoughts and 
 feelings on religious subjects, there is great reluct- 
 ance to speak of them except confidentially to some 
 one who is accepted as a religious teacher. This 
 is true of persons in health when awakened to ask 
 about the way of life. Every pastor knows that 
 inquirers are apt to seek counsel privately, and not 
 of any in their own families. When, by the grace 
 of God, salvation comes to the anxious soul in 
 health or sickness, the reasons for privacy no 
 
RIGHT TREATMENT. 115 
 
 longer exist, but until that time one responsible for 
 telling a dying person what to do to be saved 
 should share in the desire to be without the 
 embarrassment of having others present. 
 
 (3) Let a thorough and prayerful study of every 
 case be made, that instruction may be wisely given. 
 Better trust the care of the body to physicians who 
 are careless in their diagnosis and treatment, or to 
 those of different schools of practice, than immortal 
 souls, as yet unsaved, to teachers who make no 
 careful inquiry regarding heredity, temperament, 
 idiosyncrasy, history, character, manner of life, 
 if these are not already known. It is true that 
 "as in water face answereth to face, so the heart 
 of man to man ;'' yet is it equally true that the 
 dying may differ in many respects from each 
 other, and should be well known bv those who are 
 called to give them counsel. Unlike in age and 
 intelligence, they may be still more unlike in 
 regard to the knowledge and treatment of Bible 
 truth, which, so far as we know, is the Holy 
 Spirit's only instrument in saving adult sinners. 
 
 (4) In most cases frequent and short visits are 
 better than infrequent and long ones. They are 
 less exhausting to the sick ; they are the best proof 
 of sincere love and deep concern ; they win confi- 
 
116 TEE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 dence, and are most helpful to arouse what may 
 sometimes be a perverted or slumbering coDscience; 
 and they serve to fix salutary impressions of vital 
 truths on what may come to be an enfeebled under- 
 standing and failing heart. And, besides all this, 
 if there are evidences of the birth from above, 
 there will be need of instruction in the great 
 truths of God's word. Jesus said, '^ Sanctify them 
 through thy truth : thy word is truth." 
 
 (5) One cannot always enter a sick-room when 
 he would gladly do it. A wise and affectionate 
 letter sent through the mail, and then another and 
 another, may open a door otherwise closed, and 
 prove to be the beginning of a blessed ministry. 
 And after the door is open and one has freest 
 entrance, letters may be more helpful than inter- 
 views only, for they can be read and often re-read, 
 until the truths they contain are fixed in the mind. 
 
 A youth who was known to me to be sinking 
 under pulmonary disease said to his father, in 
 reference to myself, ^^ Ask him to call, but request 
 him to say nothing about religion and not to pray, 
 for that will make me think I am going to die.'' 
 
 I called by invitation, chatted a few moments 
 on commonplace subjects and said good-bye, taking 
 the young man at his word in regard to the subjects 
 
RIGET TREATMENT. 117 
 
 of " religion " and ^^ prayer." But I determined 
 to win my way to his sick-room as a messenger of 
 Christ, andj having sent one or two letters to him 
 by mail, I was soon asked to call. I found my 
 letters lying on a stand close beside him, with his 
 Bible there too. The letters had been read more 
 than once, and, finding that he prized them greatly, 
 I continued to write for sixty consecutive days, 
 making frequent visits also. The last letter was 
 written and read on the day of his death. They 
 are now bound, and treasured by the family as the 
 counsel given to one who was very dear to many 
 hearts as he passed from death unto life, and came, 
 before he left us, to the glad confession of Christ, 
 and at the last, as we believe, to the joyful depart- 
 ure to be with Christ. 
 
 But whether one speaks or writes to the sick, it 
 should be always remembered that the word of 
 God is the instrument by which the Holy Spirit 
 puts forth his saving power in ^^ convincing and 
 converting sinners and building them up in holi- 
 ness and comfort through faith unto salvation." 
 Let one think what that word has been and is to 
 himself, and in preparation for his work let him 
 saturate his own soul with it. Then he will speak 
 out of the abundance of his heart. Readins- or 
 
118 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-BOOM. 
 
 repeating it, he may wisely give the sense in words 
 easy to be understood. If the meaniug is clear, 
 let him rely consciously on the Spirit of Truth to 
 interpret and apply it to the soul. Often it is wise 
 to select passages by book and chapter and verse, 
 and mark them for others to read at the bedside. 
 It is important, too, in the use of Scripture to 
 have regard to the divine order and proportions of 
 truth. The saving work of the Holy Spirit has 
 two principal parts. "When he is come,'' said 
 Jesus, " he shall reprove the world of sin, and of 
 righteousness, and of judgment.'' The reasons 
 follow. This is one part. " He shall glorify me, 
 for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto 
 you." This is the other. It is equally important, 
 for " No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but 
 by the Holy Ghost." It belongs to him to reveal 
 Christ's divine person, his perfect character, his sa- 
 cred offices, his redemptive work and his willingness 
 and ability " to save to the uttermost all that come 
 unto God by him." Nor should it be thought 
 enough to point the dying sinner to the divine Sa- 
 viour as if he were only far away in the heavens. 
 His glorified humanity does not limit his deity. 
 As he dwells in the heart of the believer bv faith, 
 it is his privilege to urge the unsaved one to come 
 
RIGHT TREATMENT. 119 
 
 to the Saviour, to believe that he is present, and, 
 as Dr. James W. Alexander wrote of him, " the 
 most accessible being in the universe.'' It is our 
 duty and privilege to win souls to Christ, to take 
 them with ourselves to his presence and make 
 intercession for them, giving them to understand 
 that under this ministration of the Spirit they do 
 not need to think of him as coming down out of 
 the heavens to enlighten them in the knowledge 
 of the truth, but rather as passing from the heart 
 of the believer to their hearts. 
 
 (6) It is helpful to have knowledge of Christian 
 hymnology for use in the sick-room. If one can 
 sing the sweet truths of the gospel in " psalms and 
 hymns and spiritual songs," so much the better; 
 but care should be taken not to excite mere emo- 
 tion before the mind is well supplied with Bible 
 truths. 
 
 How precious are the hymns beginning with the 
 words "Come, humble sinner, in whose breast;" 
 " I'll go to Jesus though my sins;" "Just as I am, 
 without one plea ;" " Jesus, lover of my soul ;" 
 " My faith looks up to thee," and many another 
 in common use ! 
 
 (7) It is a great help to those who are feeling 
 after Christ on a dying bed to be told how others 
 
120 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 during their last clays have found peace in believ- 
 ing, and have witnessed a good confession before 
 leaving the world. And it gives them great con- 
 fidence in one who has the responsibility of in- 
 structing them to learn from his own lips what 
 the Lord has done for his soul. It is wise^ there- 
 fore, in some cases to tell the story of one's early 
 faith and, it may be, later conflicts, for the Adver- 
 sary is often very cruel and aggressive in dealing 
 with those who have but a short time to live. 
 
 (8) Having given heed to the important matters 
 already noticed, it remains for one to cast himself 
 in his helplessness upon the God of all grace for 
 direction, support and results. Let him never lose 
 sight of the sovereignty and supremacy of God 
 in saving sinners. It is his prerogative to have 
 mercy upon whom he will have mercy ; to send his 
 saving word and renewing Spirit to the heart of 
 the sufferer about to die, or to leave him in the 
 darkness of unbelief and death. Let no one com- 
 plain of this, but, with sweet and conscious acqui- 
 escence in the unknown will of the Lord of life, 
 go on with his humble and beneficent work, giving 
 line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little 
 and there a little of precious truth. Let it be 
 adapted to a case that has been carefully studied ; 
 
RIGHT TREATMENT. 121 
 
 and it should never be forgotten that in the build- 
 ing of character for eternity, as in the building of 
 the temple-walls in troublous times, the work is 
 not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of 
 the Lord. One may well rouse himself to intelli- 
 gent, persistent and hopeful effort by reflecting 
 that the salvation of a soul, always impossible to 
 man, is possible to God in the most adverse cir- 
 cumstances ; that '^ man's extremity is God's op- 
 portunity," and that when effected the salvation 
 brings glory to God, produces joy in heaven, gives 
 life eternal to an immortal soul, w^ith large reward 
 here and hereafter to the souFs winner. 
 
 For these and other reasons let the minister 
 avail himself of all possible help in his work. 
 The word of God is powerless unless accompanied 
 by the Holy Spirit. He is given in answer to the 
 prayer of faith. In this, as in many other import- 
 ant matters, " two are better than one." Jesus 
 said, " If two of you shall agree on earth as 
 touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be 
 done for them of my Father which is in heaven.'' 
 The limitations of asking are not hard to find. 
 We act under a divine commission in seeking; the 
 salvation of souls; therefore we may assure our- 
 selves that Christ is himself interested in what so 
 
122 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 deeply concerns us. But we may not dictate while 
 we ])ray without ceasing. Pray in secret, by the 
 wayside, in the family. We may take the dying 
 and lay them at the feet of Jesus by the faith that 
 makes the transaction very real ; remembering 
 that one borne of four was laid at his feet in 
 Palestine, and that when " he saw thei?- faith, he 
 said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.'' 
 Therefore let others come into the secret of the 
 dying sinner's need and peril, and secure their 
 prayers. Let intercessions of faith be offered 
 where Christians meet for praN^er, and let the rep- 
 resentatives of many homes bear the burden of the 
 imperiled soul away with them, until from many 
 closets and family altars fervent supplications shall 
 be offered to the Hearer of prayer. If they fail 
 to secure the very thing reverently asked for, they 
 cannot fail to bring large benediction to those who 
 offer them. A Christian Church is an organized 
 part of the great kingdom of priests. It is graced 
 with authority and power to make intercession in 
 the name of Christ and to offer the sacrifice of 
 praise and thanksgiving. And every believer may 
 be an Israelite indeed, one of the princes of the 
 earth, having power to prevail with God and men. 
 Meetings for prayer have new interest when they 
 
USES. 123 
 
 are thus connected with the saving of souls that 
 are ready to perish. The suppliants come to 
 expect triumphs of grace; and as from time to 
 time, in the history of individual churches, tidings 
 come of salvation found even on the bed of death, 
 there will be not only joy in many hearts, but a 
 new consciousness of power for all church work, 
 and a firmer faith that heaven and earth are very 
 near each other and service here a preparation for 
 service there. 
 
 It remains now only to notice briefly some of the 
 uses that may he loisely made of death-bed experiences, 
 
 1. There is great variety in results. Personally, 
 I wish that services for the burial of the dead micrht 
 be greatly simplified and expenses reduced. 
 
 Moreover, if anything is to be said of the depart- 
 ed, it were better reserved, I think, to be spoken 
 at one of the regular services of the house of God. 
 Saving impressions are rarely made on the minds 
 and hearts of unsaved persons who flock to fune- 
 rals but neglect sanctuaries. True, indeed, " it is 
 better to go to the house of mourning than to go to 
 the house of feastino- • for that is the end of all 
 men : and the living will lay it to his heart.^' 
 But the living who lay it to heart are chiefly those 
 who already have life in Christ. 
 
124 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 2. Only in cases that are quite exceptional can 
 a minister wisely speak plainly of the dead who 
 have wasted life and seemingly died in their sins. 
 And then it should be only with the approval of 
 the kindred and for the benefit of the living;. 
 
 3. If the deceased indulged the hope of salva- 
 tion only in their last sickness, there is need of 
 careful discrimination in what may be said of 
 them. 
 
 In some cases the evidences of repentance and 
 the acceptance of Christ as the Saviour may be 
 most convincing and inspiring to many witnesses. 
 Joy and praise and wonder fill all hearts. There 
 is an opportunity to magnify the grace of God 
 before the living and to instruct and comfort 
 mourners. 
 
 4. We ought to keep in mind life-long character, 
 fixed habits, education, employments, associations. 
 We may not make light of the effects of disease 
 and of remedies on the action of the mind and the 
 words of the mouth. Nor should we lose sio-ht of 
 lineage near and remote, ancestral faith and inter- 
 cessions or the lack of them. Pravers not less than 
 alms are for a memorial before God. A Chris- 
 tian lineage is better than a kingly one. The 
 accumulated intercessions of the pious for many 
 
USES. 125 
 
 generations are a power in the kingdom of GocFs 
 grace. He does not forget them, nor should we. 
 It may be wise to give prominence to this truth in 
 speaking of the dead who, even in their last days, 
 come to the glad recognition of it, and call in 
 faith and repentance upon the God of their fathers 
 and mothers. The streets of villages and cities 
 resound with the joy of those who have found 
 even a child that was lost. Nothing should hinder 
 the thanksgiving of those who have reason to be- 
 lieve that a soul dead in trespasses and sins has 
 been made alive in Christ even on a death-bed. 
 
 The Spirit of Truth has preserved for us the 
 written account of the change in the dying robber 
 and his quick entrance into paradise with Jesus 
 himself. The same Spirit may be asked to direct 
 his servants, who desire to know what he will have 
 them do, in helping the living through the experi- 
 ences of those who have passed away. 
 
 5. Records of conversions, the deceased being no 
 longer present Avitli the living, are very different 
 from records of remarkable conversions published 
 to the world by the converts themselves or by 
 others while the subjects of them are still living. 
 One cannot but tremble for professed converts 
 when, shortly after their change, from their own 
 
126 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-BOOM. 
 
 lips or pens or through the agency of others the 
 story of their conversion is published. It is not 
 every mature Christian who could hear from the 
 pulpit or read in papers secular or religious the 
 story of his new life in Christ and suffer no harm. 
 
 But the case is quite different when the converts 
 have left the world. If their experience has been 
 either usual or exceptional, throwing strong light 
 upon God's methods of dealing with souls, as they 
 cannot be hurt by its publication, it may be our 
 duty to give it to the world not only for the com- 
 fort of the sorrowing, but for the good of others. 
 
 Nor should we pay too much regard to the 
 danger of the irreligious perverting such narra- 
 tives. Nothing escapes perversion. The goodness 
 of God, the gospel of the grace of God, the loving 
 invitations and commands of God, — all these make 
 their appeal to multitudes in vain. God's ambas- 
 sadors, sent to publish the tidings and conditions 
 of peace, become a savor of life unto life to some, 
 but of death unto death to others, yet equally a 
 sweet savor of God in them that are saved and in 
 them that perish. Yet is it blessed for them to de- 
 liver their message, and leave results with God. 
 
 A plain statement of what has been done in 
 behalf of the deceased, of the intense concern felt 
 
USES. 127 
 
 by many for their salvation, and of the individual 
 and associated efforts to win their souls is a revela- 
 tion to the world of the great danger of all Avho 
 are not in Christ, of the nature of Christianity and 
 of what sinners must do to be saved. 
 
 The Church itself is edified by accounts of con- 
 versions occurring in the last days of life, and the 
 methods God owns in securing them. They help 
 young Christians. They comfort aged saints. 
 They are suggestive to those who have little if any 
 experience in leading souls to Christ. They illus- 
 trate the value of the household covenant in many 
 cases. They bear witness to the power of inter- 
 cessory prayer. They encourage pastors to make 
 record of facts relating to the salvation of souls, 
 which, if not set down at the time, are lost to 
 memory, but, preserved, become precious. 
 
 Brethren, my work is done. Imperfect I know 
 it has been. I bring it hither and lay it on your 
 hearts. You liope to live and work for the Master 
 and for souls. Whether here or in other lands, 
 your field will be the world — and the dying world, 
 for which Christ died. Do not despair of any soul 
 while life lasts. Even if reason seems to be 
 dethroned or the soul lost to consciousness, let not 
 even this hinder your confidence in God and in the 
 
128 THE PASTOR IN THE SICK-ROOM. 
 
 power of his grace. " I am he that liveth and was 
 dead ; and, behold, I am alive for ever more, 
 Amen, and have the keys of hades and of death." 
 These are words of the glorified Christ to the apos- 
 tle John. No door for their departure out of this 
 life is opened to the dying without his will. Call 
 upon him in faith and submission in their behalf, 
 and though you may not know results with certain- 
 ty in this life, you will wait calmly, more than sat- 
 isfied to have him do all his holy pleasure. 
 
 I am thankful to the faculty and to you, the 
 students, for the privilege of bringing to this be- 
 loved place some of the fruits of pastoral services 
 continued through many years. More than thirty 
 years ago I thought of asking to be allowed to 
 speak to the students then present, but I was timid 
 and did not venture. These later years have added 
 to the strength of my conviction that to despair of 
 the sick and dying and leave them without special 
 solicitude and effort for their salvation is to wrong 
 one's own soul as well as theirs, and to dishonor 
 the gracious Saviour who said to the dying robber, 
 " To-day sJialt thou be with me in paradise.''^