One needs to be careful when considering someone’s final words. Reported final sayings are not always true. Writer, Oscar Wilde, is supposed to have ended his life with the words, “Either the wallpaper goes or I do.” I have it on good authority (Google!) that what he actually said was, “This wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death!”
It’s also helpful to remember that in their last moments people are not always the most lucid and in some instances a drug induced stupor may lead to words being said that are totally out of character. We need to be cautious and not read too much into someone’s final words.
And yet, having said all that, one could expect a person’s passions and priorities to be reflected in their final words.
Recently I read a collection of famous last words from some of the worlds’ leading atheists and agnostics and they were then contrasted with the final words of some prominent Christians. Again… caution is needed. It’s possible for a sceptic to die with the illusion that despite his rebellion against God he is going to a wonderful after-life. It is equally possible that saintly Christians have a difficult deathbed, in which demonic influences attempt to rob them of their peace with God.
However, despite all those qualifications it seems fair enough to say that there are often some lessons to be learnt from the final words of leading figures in the respective fields of faith and scepticism.
Christopher Hichens, a prominent sceptic and author of the book, “God is not Great”, is recorded to have uttered his final words: “What’s the use? …Capitalism …Downfall!” British atheist philosopher, Bertrand Russel, said before his death, “I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive.” Psychiatrist Sigmund Freud is said to have died after saying: “Now it is nothing but torture and makes no sense anymore.” And then there are the last words, “Goodnight, my kitten,” spoken by writer, Ernest Hemingway to his wife, before he took his own life at the age of 61. Hemingway once wrote, “All thinking men are atheists!” Back in the 1400s, ruthless Italian politician Cesare Borgia’s last words were: “I have taken care of everything in life, only not for death—and now I have to die completely unprepared.” Long before that, the Roman emperor, Julian the Apostate, who reintroduced the persecution of Christians, died after saying: “And yet Thou hast conquered, O Galilean!” – an admission that Jesus Christ whom he had opposed was the Victor.
None of those saying provide any hope or comfort for those who want something to hold onto in the last moments of life. But allow me to compare those statements with those of some prominent Christians.
Not long before he died, evangelist Billy Graham said, “Because of the hope we have in Jesus we can all be in heaven someday forever.” When John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim’s Progress died his final words were a wonderful testimony to his faith in Jesus Christ: “Weep not for me, but for yourselves! I go to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will, no doubt, through the mediation of his blessed Son, receive me, though a sinner; where I hope we before long shall meet, to sing the new song, and remain everlastingly happy, world without end. Amen.” Many leading Christians have died with the words of Jesus on their lips, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When Bishop Hugh Latimer was about to be burnt at the stake he said to his fellow victim, Nicholas Ridley, “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England as (I trust) shall never be put out.” I should add that many martyrs who were sentenced to death for their faith, died singing God’s praises.
The US senate chaplain, Rev. Peter Marshall, once explained to his son what death was like for Christians. He asked, “Do you remember times when we went out for the night and you fell asleep in a bed at the home of the folk we were visiting?” He then explained: I then carried you to the car while you were asleep and in the morning you woke up in your own bed. That’s what death is like for those who trust in Jesus. We fall asleep here but then wake up, home with Jesus.
John Westendorp