ETERNITY, AND WHERE SHALL I SPEND IT?
MR. MOODY, in a sermon in Chicago, told the following:— When I was there (in London) in 1867, they told me a story of something that happened in that city, which made a deep impression on my mind. A young French nobleman came over from Paris, and brought letters from the emperor. He was troubled in his mind, and they thought he was going to be insane. His friend, Emperor Napoleon III., wanted Dr. Forbes Winslow to do all he could to save this young man, for he thought a great deal of him. So he wrote a letter, and the doctor was of course very much interested in the French nobleman, and tried to find out the cause of the disease. He knew there was something weighing on his mind, and he tried to find out what had brought him into that state. He said to him, “Have you lost any property?” “No, sir.” “Well, what is it that troubles you? There is something floating on your mind.” He said he did not know that there was anything in particular. But the doctor said: “I know better. Have you lost any relations?” “No; I have not lost any during the past few years.” “Well, what is it that is troubling you? Have you lost any reputation or standing in your country?” “No.” And the doctor kept urging, and finally he said, “Well, now, I must know what is floating upon your mind before I can help you.” At last the nobleman, as if ashamed, replied briefly as follows: “Well, doctor, my father was an infidel. But for the last two or three years this word has haunted me by day and night—eternity, and where shall I spend it?” He became excited, and arose and began to walk the room. Said the doctor, “Take your seat and be calm. You have made a mistake, sir. You have come to the wrong physician. I cannot help you.” And the man sprang to his feet and said, “Doctor, is there any hope? I am haunted with this horrible thought day and night. I lie down at night and try to go to sleep for an hour, but at midnight I wake up and it comes to me—eternity, and where shall I spend it? and you speak as if there was hope for me.” The doctor replied, “For years I was an infidel, and I found hope in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.” And then he opened the Bible and read the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah: “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him; with his stripes we are healed.” He read on through the chapter. The young nobleman looked at the doctor, and said, “Do you believe that Jesus Christ was with God in Heaven, and that he voluntarily left and came down here and suffered and died that we might be saved?” “Yes,” said the doctor, “I do believe it. It was that, my friend, that brought me out of infidelity; and I have got it well settled in my mind where I am to spend eternity. I am to spend it in those mansions that he has gone to prepare for me.” And he preached Christ, and told him of Heaven. Then they both got down on their knees, and he prayed with that man. And when I was there in 1867, that young French nobleman was writing to Dr. Forbes Winslow as one Christian writes to another. The question was then settled, and the man was troubled no more.