the hand of her
husband tightly, she said, "John, it's getting dark. Take my hand. For
over fifty years we have traveled together, and you have led me. Now
it's getting dark, and I cannot see the way. John, come with me, won't
you?"

But John could not go, and with tear-filled eyes and trembling voice, he
said, "Anna, I cannot, cannot go. Only Jesus can go with you."

She was a little girl of ten years. The angel of death was hovering over
her bed. The end was drawing near. She said to her father, who was
standing by the mother's side at the bed, "Papa, it's getting dark and I
cannot see. Will you please go with me?"

With heart breaking, the father had to say, "Child, I cannot, I cannot
go with you."

The girl turned to her mother and said, "Mamma, then you will, won't
you?"

But the mother, in turn, amid her tears, replied, "Child, I would, but I
cannot. Only Jesus can go with you."

=_The Personal Pronouns Change_=

It is interesting to note the change in the personal pronoun in this
verse. Up to this point the Psalmist has been speaking in the third
person and using the personal pronoun "He"--"_He_ leadeth me." "_He_
maketh me." "He restoreth;" _he, he, he_. When he comes to speak of the
valley of the shadow of death, however, the third personal pronoun is
changed to that of the second person, "Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for _thou_,
(_thou_--not _he_, is with me, but _thou_) art with me." There is no
room for a third person in this valley. If one does not have Christ as
Saviour and Guide in the dark hour of death, he goes through the valley
of the shadow all alone. Surely, without Christ with him man will
stumble and fall in this valley.

Poor indeed is that soul who, when his feet are about to enter the
valley, has no Guide, or, when he comes to the brink of death's river,
has no Pilot.

Oh, to have no Christ, no Saviour,
How lonely life must be!
Like a sailor lost and driven
On a wide and shoreless sea.

Oh, to have no Christ, no Saviour,
No hand to clasp thine own!
Through the dark, dark vale of shadows
Thou must press thy way alone.

--_W. O. Cushing_

But what a blessing and comfort it is for those who know Christ as
Saviour and Comforter, to have the assurance that in that last hour of
life He is by their side to guide them. It was doubtless this thought of
the presenc