The Remarkable Life and Death of a Little Dutch Boy

Taken from the Lethbridge, Alberta, NRC bulletin

Johannes Middel was born in 1832. He was a particularly beautiful child, like the infant Moses, and his godly father (who later became a minister) felt there was something remarkable about him. He begged the Lord to show him what he should call the child, but for two days after his birth, he received no answer. When, on the third day, however, supplicating the Lord regarding the child on the day he had to register his birth, he felt constrained to open the Bible and was arrested by the words, “His name is John” (Johannes in Dutch). At the same time he felt such a heavenly glory in his own soul and seemed to see such beauty in the name, which means the grace of God, that he went to his wife with much joy and said to her, “Dear heart, his name is John.” She looked at him full of wonder and said to him that three hours before, when in prayer over the same thing, those very words were impressed on her mind, and ever since she had been begging that he might be given them, too. This was a wonderful confirmation to him, and he hastened to the office to register the birth.

Some people called it enthusiasm when he told them about it, but the child’s whole life and death showed the work of the Lord. The grace of God appeared remarkably early in him. He used to listen with the greatest attention to the family worship and the many prayers of his father and mother, and from the age of two years, he endeavored to pray for himself. He longed to be able to read the Scriptures himself and was untiring in his efforts to learn, and by the age of four years he could read tolerably well. The Holy Spirit had already convinced him of sin, and his childish prayers for forgiveness were most touching.

At that time there was much persecution of the godly who had separated from the state church, and when he heard it he would often burst into tears; then, raising his little hands on high, he would look up and say, “Oh Lord, take care of Thy people and keep them from their enemies. The ungodly are so wicked. Oh, do take care of Thy Church.” Love to God and his neighbor was his chief characteristic. He wanted his father to explain to him anything which he read in the Bible and could not understand, and by the time he was five he had a clear and lively sense of the misery of man, the absolute necessity of the operations of the Holy Spirit, and the necessity of Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation. He loved all the psalms that spoke of repentance and learned them by heart with amazing alacrity. While he used to sing these psalms to his own melodies, he did not feel he ought to sing the psalms of praise as he had not yet received the forgiveness of his sins. He was much loved by some of the godly, and sometimes they would speak as if he were saved, but he would stop them and say, “I am only a little bit converted, and I’ve got to be wholly converted, haven’t I, Father?”

Once in his absence, his mother said to his father, “What a comfort this boy will be to us in our old age!”

He replied, however, “Dear heart, you may count on it, God is ripening that child early for glory.”

Sometimes, when his father was away from home, the workmen in the factory, where he was the manager, would start fooling around. If Johannes heard it, he would say to them, “Don’t you know that God sees and hears everything you do, and He has a remembrance book always before Him? God punishes for every sin. You must not do that anymore but pray to God to convert you, for if you are not converted you will be lost forever. Please promise me that you will not do it again, but ask the Lord to forgive you and convert you.” The majesty of God weighed heavily on him—amazingly so. Once, while he was standing at the door, five boys passed by cursing and swearing. He ran quickly indoors and in great distress and crying bitterly sobbed out, “Oh Mother, Mother,” but could get no farther.

His father said, “My dear Johannes, what is the matter? What makes you cry so much?”

It was nearly twenty minutes before he could stop crying and then said with such heartfelt grief, “Oh Father, those boys were taking the Name of God in vain and swearing! ” for some time, he continued to cry and then begged his father to kneel down and pray to the Lord to convert those boys.

Johannes delighted in the company of godly people and listened to their conversation with rapt attention. What he could not understand he asked his father to explain to him afterwards, and then he would meditate over it and pray about it. He was particularly sympathetic with children who had ungodly parents and who, according to his judgment, must be lost if they were never taught the way of salvation. Once, he saw in the distance some children in fancy dresses dancing in front of an organ. He seemed greatly distressed and said, “Father, if those children should die dancing like that, they would go to hell, wouldn’t they?”

His father replied. “Their parents force them to do so, but who knows that they may sigh under it inwardly?”

For some time, he continued to cry and then begged his father to kneel down and pray to the Lord to convert those boys.

“Oh Father,” he replied, “what wicked parents they must be! Let us pray for those poor children and for their parents that God would call them by His grace.” Immediately, deeply moved, he fell on his knees begging his father to pray. Sometimes he prayed as many as thirty times a day—in fact prayer seemed an absolute necessity to him, and he evidently had a feeling that he would not be long in this world.

When he was five years old, Johannes contracted chicken pox, which was accompanied with a very high fever. The doctor considered him in critical condition, and when the little boy realized this, it was touching to see him. Feeling that he had not received the forgiveness of sins and that he could not be saved without it, he kept wringing his little hands and cried out continuously day and night, “Oh, I’m so frightened, so frightened.” Yet, he kept on praying. Sometimes he screamed with fear at the thought of dying in this condition, while the enemy attacked him unceasingly. Asked if he were in pain, he would say, “Oh Father, what is the pain in my body? It is far less than my poor soul. Oh Father, my poor soul still has no forgiveness!” Then again he cried aloud, “I’m so frightened! Oh Father, oh Mother, do pray for me!” They did pray for him continually, but he never felt it was sufficient and knew that only the Lord could bring deliverance and tell him that Jesus died for him.

On the fourth day, he suddenly seemed quieter. He had turned his face to the wall and could be heard pouring out his heart to God. At last he broke out into singing the last verse of the seventh psalm (Dutch rhymed version), Psalter 13:7:

Because He is righteous His praise will I sing,
Thanksgiving and honor to Him I will bring,
Will sing to the Lord on whose grace I rely,
Extolling the Name of Jehovah Most High.

His face beaming with heavenly joy, Johannes then told his father he had received the forgiveness of all his sins, that Jesus was his Savior, and that he was going to heaven to praise Him forever and ever.

After this, quite exhausted, he fell back on the pillows in a faint. Remedies were applied and he revived a little, but after this the sickness increased, and he was not able to talk very much. Nevertheless, several times he waved his hands joyfully on high to show how happy he was to be going to heaven. On the day of his death, his speech returned for a little while on three occasions. During one of these, his father said to him, “My dear little Johannes, haven’t you any fear at all now?”

He answered, “No, Father, no more fear.”

“Dear child, can you really fully believe that all your sins are forgiven?”

He said, “Yes, Father, for now I am wholly converted. Oh Father, wholly. Now I am going to my dear Lord Jesus.” After having said this, he raised his hands toward heaven.

“But, my dear child, you have always loved us, your dear parents, so deeply. Would you not like to stay a little longer with us?”

“If it is the Lord’s will, Father.”

“But supposing He would give you a choice and said, ‘Johannes, you may go to heaven, or stay a little longer with your parents.’ If the choice were yours, what would you answer?”

“Oh Father, then I would desire to go to heaven—go to heaven!” As he said this, he looked upward with eyes full of heavenly joy, clearly full of holy longing to be with Christ, which is far better. He spoke repeatedly in a similar manner and of the blessed prospect before him even up till three or four minutes before he breathed his last. Now he is above, singing the song of the Lamb.

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen