It was a little cottage, a small company, and a young and untrained preacher. But the Spirit of God was there in convicting power, and as the speaker pressed upon his hearers the importance of accepting God’s great salvation, the soul of one young woman was thoroughly aroused by the stirring question, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?”
As she passed along the country road on her homeward way, these words were ringing in her ears, wakening the slumbering conscience, and causing deep anxiety as to her eternal destiny.
But the devil, the great enemy of Christ, was there, and at once set to work to hinder this precious soul from heeding God’s warning, yet loving voice, and he had a capital tool with which to work. Christmas was drawing near with its round of gaiety and pleasure, and our young friend was to take no unimportant part in the tableaux vivants and other amusements which were being arranged for the close of the year. She knew that if she confessed herself a follower of Christ, she could not consistently take part in these worldly entertainments, and accordingly she endeavored to stifle the voice of conscience and forget the warning words she had heard. But this was not to be. At the house where our young friend lived, a Christian had placed on the walls of his home a large sheet-almanac, on which to her astonishment and dismay she found the question she was trying to forget, staring her in the face,
“How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?”
But in spite of this earnest appeal to her soul, she still resisted. The weeks passed by, and Christmas came with its round of merrymaking fun, and frolic; but though she took part in it all, there was no pleasure for this sin-burdened soul. A short time after, she confessed to a Christian friend that it had been the most miserable Christmas she had ever spent, and now, disappointed with the world and its misnamed pleasures, she turned to the loving Savior, and, blessed be His name, she met with a hearty welcome and found true joy and satisfaction in Him.
Reader, a few days ago, you doubtless received from many loving lips the kindly greeting of “A Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.” If you have come as a guilty sinner to the Savior, you have found in Him the secret of all true joy and happiness, and can sing with us,
“O Christ, in Thee my soul hath found,
And found in Thee alone,
The peace, the joy, I sought so long,
The bliss till now unknown.
Now none but Christ can satisfy,
None other Name for me,
There’s love, and life, and lasting joy,
Lord Jesus, found in Thee.”