DYING WORDS
On the edge of a green piece of paper shoved under his wicket
a Dallas bank cashier read:- This
is the last of a £20,000 fortune spent on wine, women and song. I am now in jail awaiting execution for
murder.
A daughter was once called to
the bedside of her dying father. Well, Mary, he said, I
have not done my duty to you. Oh yes, you have father, replied Mary. You have sent me to church and Sunday School. Yes, said
the dying man sadly, but I should have taken you.
All is
now lost; finally, irrecoverably lost.
All is dark and doubtful.
-GIBBON.
I am about to take a leap in the
dark. I shall be glad to find a hole to creep
out of the world at.
- HOBBES.
My sufferings are intolerable; I
have within me a hundred years of life but not a moments courage. Give me more laudanum that I may not think of
eternity.
- MIRABEAU.
I am
abandoned by God and man! I shall go to
hell!
- VOLTAIRE.
I would give worlds, if I had
them, if the Age of Reason had
never been published. 0 Lord help
me! Christ, help me! Stay with me; it is hell to be left alone!
- TOM PAINE.
I am
suffering the pangs of the damned.
- TALLEYRAND.
Oh, that I was to lie upon the
fire that never is quenched a thousand years, to purchase the favour of God,
and be re-united to Him again! But it is
a fruitless wish. Millions of millions
of years will bring me no nearer to the end of my torments than one poor hour. Oh eternity, eternity! forever
and forever! Oh, the insufferable pangs
of hell! - SIR FRANCIS PORT.
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But
there is no valley here!
- D. L. MOODY.
I am in perfect peace, resting
alone on the blood of Christ. I find
this amply sufficient to enter the presence of God with.
TROTTER.
When Faraday was lying ill, his physician, Dr. Latham, found in tears, his head
resting on a table on which lay an open Bible.
I am afraid you are worse, said Dr.
Latham. It is
not that, Faraday replied with a sob; but oh,
why will people go astray, when they have this Blessed Book in their
hands?
I look,
as the chief of sinners, for the mercy of God in Christ to life eternal. And I lie adoring the sovereignty of God in choosing
such an one, and the mercy of God in pardoning such an one, and the patience of
God in bearing with such an one, and the faithfulness of God in perfecting His
work and performing all His promises to such an one.
- CHARLES SIMEON.
John Knox, as a young man, was an eye-witness of the martyrdom by
burning at the stake of that marvellous man of God, George Wishart. He could never get
over the triumphant march of that victorious martyr into the flames of death
(Savage). He started to read the Book that had been the
cause of Wisharts condemnation for heresy and he
soon found a precious promise into which he cast the anchor of faith. And this is life
eternal, that they might know thee, only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou
hast sent (John 17: 3). The last words of the old reformer were, Go! Read where I cast my first anchor. And his wife got a Bible and read again the
text wafting him into heaven on the breath of the
verse that brought about the regeneration of a nation (John 17: 3).
King Edward the Confessor, nearing the end, said:- Weep not, I shall
not die, but live; as I leave the land of the dying I trust to see the
blessings of the Lord in the land of the living.
No man can say I did not preach
the love of God!
- W. G. ELMSLIE.
When Dr. Arnold, of Rugby, was in his last agony, his lips moved and his
hands clasped, and all at once he exclaimed in firm and final tones:- Jesus saith unto him, Because thou hast seen Me, thou hast
believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
Can this
be death? Why, it is better than
living! Tell them I die happy in Jesus.
- JOHN ARTHUR LYTH.
Henry Bewley, of Dublin, when upon
his death at the friends who were surrounding him, and said to them:- See that ye have the characteristics
of the three people that lived in the home at Bethany - namely, the life of a
risen man like Lazarus; the work of loving service as revealed in Marthas
activity; and the spirit of devout worship and loyal love which was evidenced
in Mary.
On the tomb of John Bacon, the Sculptor, by his order
was placed the following inscription:- What I was as an artist seemed to me of some importance
while I lived; what I really was as a believer in Christ Jesus is the only
thing of importance to me now.
Queen Victoria had these words placed on her husbands tomb: Farewell, well-beloved!
Here at last I will rest with thee, and with thee in Christ I shall rise
again.
David Brainerd in his dying hours wrote this letter to his brother Israel
Brainerd, then at College:- My dear Brother, it is on the verge of Eternity I
now address you. I am heartily sorry
that I have so little strength to write what I long so much to communicate to
you. But, let me tell you, my brother,
Eternity is another thing than we ordinarily take it to be when in a healthful
state. Oh, how fixed and
unalterable! Oh, of what infinite
importance it is, that we be prepared for
Eternity! I have been just a-dying now
for more than a week; and all around me have thought me so. I have had clear views of eternity, have seen
the blessedness of the godly, in some measure; and have longed to share their
happy state; as well as been comfortably satisfied, that through grace, I shall
do so; but oh, what anguish is raised in my mind, to think of Eternity for
those who are Christless, for those who are mistaken, and who bring their false
hopes to the grave with them! The sight
was so dreadful, I could by no means bear it: my
thoughts recoiled, and I said, under a more affecting sense than ever before,
Who can dwell with everlasting burnings!
Oh, methought, could I now see my friends,
that I may warn them to see to it, that they lay their foundation for Eternity
sure. And for you, my dear brother, I
have been particularly concerned; and have wondered why I so much neglected
conversing with you about your spiritual state at our last meeting. Oh, my brother, let me then beseech you now
to examine whether you are indeed a new creature? If you cannot answer positively, consider
seriously the frequent breathings of your soul; but do not, however, put
yourself off with a slight answer. If
you have reason to think you are graceless, 0 give yourself
and the throne of grace no rest, till God arise and save. But if the case should be otherwise, bless for
His grace, and press after holiness.
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