The Mt. Sterling advocate., 1902-11-12
ands of witnesses to the conscious
of q .o... I:~4h

experience OF the new Dlrtn
Being "compaseed about with so
great cloud Of witnesses" "how
shall we escape if we neglect so
great salvation whith at the first
began to be spoken by the Lord
and was confirmed unto us by them
that heard him."
In earlier life the writer fre-
quently sat under the preaching of
onea who was high-toned in his
morality and pure in his life among
men. At that time he was pre-
eminently the foremoat leader of a
great denomination. He preached
many sermons from many pulpits;
he founded number of churches;
he was the author of many reli-
gious books and the editor of the
leading organ of his denomination.
After years of ceaseless activity
he was brought to his death bed.
For days and weeks he tossed in
feverish restlessness of soul, say
ing mournfully, ~ cannot recover,
and am not prepared TO meet my
God"
A regenerated man watched by
his bedside, and reminded him
again and again of the good work
of his past life, only to call forth
the distressing reply, Nothing l
have done avalls now, am not
prepared to meet my Cod" Com
forting passages for the christians
we're read from the word of God,
hymns of courage and strength
we're sung, but 81 am not prepared
to meet my God" rang like heart
breaking refrain through the sor-
rowful days and nights of restless
ness and suffering.
Finally, it occurred to the watch
er that a Nicodemus lay on the
pillow before him-a master in
Israel" who knew not these things.
He said, "My brother granting
, that your morality and all your
good works are as nothing, there i:
yet time for you to prepare to meet
! your God. Open your heart now
and receive Christ as your Savior
Trust the Spirit to bring you u
: the New Birth now" The dying
man listened moment, raised hi
emaciated body from his bed
stretched his hands as far as pos
sible upward as if getting a grasl
. on heaven, and exclaimed, "That'l
IT. that's it Oh, that's it2" anC
: dropped back on his pillow in per
y feet peace. In those few moment
of trust, he had been born again
a All fear of death was gone. Hi
l spirit had entered a great cain
i that lasted through the dying hour
The late Rev. DR.. Palmer, of New
i Orleans, related when preaching il
e the church of which the writer is
T member, an incident that occurred
e in his earlier ministry. He had
s wealthy parishioner who devote,
II all available time to deeds of char
e ity. Almost daily her carriag
s was driven to her door in the earll
:. morning, articles of food and cloth
IS ing were placed in it, and then sh
II entered and drove for hours fro1
IS house to house of the poor, minis
n tering to their necessities. Dl
e Palmer often said to her that h
would hardly know how to conduc
the work of the church withou
: her, that he had no one else in al
his congregation who responded s.
= promptly and generously as she t.
% his every call in behalf of the worl
!. OF the church and that God woul,
. reward her for her faithfulness
: Her unvarying reply was "If cal
only get to heaven at last, l ask n
:, other reward" Years went on
and DR.. Palmer did not once sus
= pect that she was relying on he
upright life and good work for he
salvation.
. Finally she lay on her death bee
|; and all was darkness. DR.. Paine
f was unremittingly in his pastora
, services. Day after day he read t
4 her from the Bible, repeated hymn
) and religious poems that wer
= adapted to her condition as he un
: derstood it, and reminded her 0
. the "good works with which sh
h had filed the years. Still ther
i was no light. Finally he saw tina
great crises in his own life con
fronted him. He went to hi
prayer-closet and said, Lord,
- have made use of all the knowledg
l have gained from the theologica
n seminary, from thy word and fror
4 my experience as pastor, and stil
!, this soul is going out in darkness
4 My ministry seems failure sine
- i have not been able to teach s
good woman how to die. If
get no further light from Thee,
shall conclude that l have misse
e my calling, and will abandon th