56. Our Assurance

Our Assurance

GRAIN BY GRAIN.—An old writer says, “Suppose a little bird is set to remove this globe by taking from it one grain of sand at a time, and to come only once in a thousand years. She takes her first grain, and away she flies on her long and weary course. When a thousand years have rolled away, she comes panting back for one more grain of sand; and this globe is again lessened by just one grain of its all but countless sands. So the work goes on. That little bird will one day have finished her task, and the last sand will have been taken away; but even then Eternity will have only begun. Its sands are never to be exhausted.”

IF I COULD COME BACK.—Summerfield, when dying, said to a friend in the room, “I have taken a look into Eternity. Oh, if I could come back and preach again, how differently would I preach from what I have done before!”

KNEW NOT VOICE.—A traveler once asserted to a Syrian shepherd that the sheep knew the dress of their master, not his voice. The shepherd, on the other hand, maintained it was the voice they knew. To settle the dispute, he and the traveler exchanged dresses, and went among the sheep. The traveler in the shepherd’s dress called on the sheep and tried to lead them, but “they knew not his voice,” and never moved. On the other hand, they ran at once at the call of their owner, though thus disguised.

WHAT PERSUASION?—A soldier lay dying. A visitor asked him, “What church are you of?” “Of the church of Christ,” he replied. “I mean of what persuasion?” “Persuasion,” said the dying man. “I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall he able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.”

BROTHERLY LOVE.—Thomas Samson was a miner. The captain of the mine said to him, “Thomas, I’ve got an easier berth for you, where you can earn more money; will you accept it?” “Captain, there’s our poor brother Tregony. He is not able to work as hard as I am. I fear his toil will shorten his life. Will you let him have the berth?”

YES, I KNOW HIM.—A woman, lying on a bed in a dreary infirmary ward, said: “If you heaped up my bed with gold and silver, if you could give me the queen’s carriage and horses, and her palace and her garden, and all her beautiful flowers, and health and strength to enjoy it all,—I would not take them, if they would hinder me from going home to my Saviour. They talk of the pains of dying; what will they be to me? They will but hurry me to Heaven and to Jesus.”

LUTHER’S LAST WORDS.—As Luther lay dying, Br. Jones said to him, “Do you die firm in the faith you have taught?” He opened his eyes, which were half closed, looked fixedly at Jones, and replied, firmly and distinctly, “Yes.” He then fell asleep. Soon after, those nearest saw him grow paler and paler; he became cold, his breathing was more and more faint; at length he sent forth one deep sigh, and was dead. His last words are given as, “Take my soul up to Thee, Father; into Thy hands I commend my spirit.”

COOKMAN’S ASSURANCE.—As Alfred Cookman was dying he said: “I am sweeping through the gates washed in the blood of the Lamb.”