IV.
(Continued from p. 274.)
It was his practice every morning to take his Bible into the closet where he slept, and sing some verses of a Psalm, then read a chapter, and afterwards pray. He often prayed fervently for his father. As soon as he returned from school he took his Bible again, and read and sang and asked a blessing upon what he had been learning at school. He spent much of his time during the day in singing God’s praises. He was never idle, and often employed himself in drawing. On his mother noticing ejaculations of praise written here and there, she said to him one day—”You should not do the like of that.” He said—”When I think of God, I forget, and just write down what I think.” He was fond of astronomy, and on reading the discoveries made by it, he would say—”What a great and glorious God we have!”
On coming home from church on that day when he took his last illness, he complained of a pain in his back. His mother told him he must stay at home from the Sabbath School that night. He said he would go and hear about Christ. He came home very ill, with a bad pain in his head, which continued, gradually getting worse till Saturday. On Saturday forenoon he cried out, “My God, my own God, help my head or take me to heaven,” and then taking his mother’s hand, he told her he was dying. She asked him if he was afraid to die. He said, “No, he wished to die, if it was God’s will,” adding that sweet word, “Sleep in Jesus makes me happy when I think on the grave.” Though he had formerly a great aversion to medicine, he now said he would take whatever the doctor ordered for him, in case God would be angry with him for refusing it; but he said that he felt he could never recover. On Sabbath morning, while rather quiet, he cried out—
“This is the day that Christ arose
So early from the dead.”
“He lay in the grave,” said he, “and rose for my justification. His own Word says it, and it makes me all glad.” On Monday he asked for his mother to send for his teacher. He said he loved him much, and when asked why he loved him, he said, “Because he loves God, and I love every one who loves Him.” He was
particularly pleased at his teacher’s visits, and at one time said—”How glad I am that he is not tired of coming to see me; how happy he and I will be in heaven for ever!”
He asked one day—”What day of the month is this?” On being told it was the tenth, he said—”That good lady that brings the tracts is not come; I would like to see her before I die; I know she is a child of God: she goes about to see and make bad people good. Thank her mother, when I die, and tell her I’ll see her in heaven. My mind loves her for giving us the tracts: tell her to continue to give the tracts, that wicked people may be the better of them.” He used to keep and collect together the monthly tracts as they were delivered, and he took great delight in showing them to any person who visited the house. He was anxious also to pay for the tracts which he relished so much, and had resolved on collecting five shillings for this purpose, but his means were so slender that he died before he collected this sum.
He once said—”I think, mother, I belong to Him.” His mother said—”To whom?” He answered—”To God—the faculties of my soul, my understanding, my will, my affections: I’m God’s boy altogether, mother. Will you tell everybody what justification and sanctification is? I wish the whole world would love God and serve Him.” His patience and resignation were most remarkable. In great pain, he said one day—”How I thank God for this sore head, for it was sent to take me to heaven.” One time, when expressing his conviction that he would go to heaven, he was told that all who died did not go to heaven. He said—”I know that, but all for whom Christ died go there; and He died for me.” At another time he said—”I must sing a louder song in heaven than the holy angels.” His mother asked him how. He said—”My song will be to Him who washed me from my sins in His own blood. O how I love Him!”
At one time he seemed to get quite insensible, so as not to notice anything. When he revived again, his mother asked him if he felt anything when he was in that state. He said he did, though he could not utter a word. “My tongue couldn’t speak,” he said, “but my mind was speaking all the time, and saying, O Lord, send Thy Spirit into my heart.”
He admonished his father to beware of provoking God, and in a little after he said to him—”Trust in God, father, that is what you should do, but the wicked
cannot trust in God. If you do not seek Him you shall never see me more till I be a witness against you at the last day.” On the Monday before his death, he said—”I have got no sleep for two weeks, with this awful pain in my head, but I will get a sound sleep soon.” The pain was so severe that he never slept ten minutes at once during his illness, but he never uttered a discontented word the whole time. His head having been blistered one day, when dressing it, his mother said—”My afflicted boy!” He immediately replied—”Your happy boy! Mother, you shall soon see that head with a crown of glory upon it.” This was on Monday afternoon. He then asked if it was five o’clock. His mother said it was after four. He continued to ask repeatedly if it was five, and said he was to be well at five. He then said, “Three Persons in the Godhead—God the Father made and preserved me; God the Son came into the world and died for me; God the Holy Spirit came into my heart, and made me love God and hate sin.” After this he spoke but little, he got so weak, till exactly at five o’clock he slept in Jesus, on Tuesday evening, the 16th of August 1836, being just about eight years old.