Here is a story of a minister who spoke boldly and truthfully to one perishing.

An eminent clergyman of New york was once requested to visit a lady in dying circumstances, who, together, with her husband, openly avowed infidel principles, though they attended on his ministry. On approaching her bedside, he asked her if she felt herself a sinner and perceived the need of a Saviour. She frankly told him she did not, and that she wholly disbelieved the doctrine of a Mediator.

“Then,” said the minister, “I have no consolation for you, not one word of comfort. There is no a single passage in the Bible that warrants me to speak peace to any one who rejects the Mediator provided for lost sinners. You must abide the consequences of your infidelity.”

Saying that, he was on the point of leaving the room, when some one said, “Well but, sir, if you cannot speak consolation to her, you can pray for her.”

To this he assented, and kneeling down by the bedside, prayed for her as a guilty sinner just sinking into hell, and then arising from his knees he left the house.

A day or two after, he received a letter from the lady herself, earnestly desiring that he would come and see her without delay. He immediately obeyed the summons, but what was his amazement when, on entering the room, she held out her hand to him and said with a smile, “It is all true, all that you said on Sunday is true! I have seen myself the wretched sinner which you described me to be in prayer. I have seen Christ that all-sufficient Saviour you said He was; and God mercifully snatched me from the abyss of infidelity in which I was sunk, and placed me on the Rock of Ages. There I am secure: there I shall remain. I know in whom I have believed.”

-Taken from The New Cyclopedia of Illustrative Anecdote, Rev. Donald Macleod, 1872, pg. 284

Morals of the story:

1) The Lord saves people by opening their hearts to the truth about sin and their need of a Mediator: Jesus Christ.
2) To offer words of consolation to an unbeliever is like holding their hand as they descend the steps to hell.
3) There is never a situation where prayer is not a necessity.