“There no stranger-God shall meet thee,
Stranger thou in courts above;
He who to His rest shall greet thee,
Greets thee with a well-known love.”
J. N. D.
ONLY one chapter of my story remains to be written now—the last—for Lizzie was very near the end of her journey, nearer perhaps than any of her friends thought; for to those who did not know her well enough to notice how rapidly her little strength was failing; she seemed not only brighter but better in her general health than she had done for months or even years past. But “the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him."(Psa. 25:1414The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant. (Psalm 25:14).) And Lizzie, I think, knew that the time of her home-going was not far distant. To her it was only going to be forever with the One who had loved her, and washed her from her sins in His own precious blood. She had never been a great talker, but when she spoke of unseen things it was with the quiet, happy confidence of one in the present enjoyment of them. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God bath prepared for them that love him. But God bath revealed them unto us by his Spirit" (1 Cor. 2:99But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (1 Corinthians 2:9)) was a scripture Lizzie loved to dwell upon.
I do not think, however, that on the bright August morning when Lizzie and her friend Ivy left their quiet little home for their autumn holiday either really thought a parting was so very, very near, or that within a few weeks one would have entered into the rest of being forever with the Lord, the other leave the seaside lodgings where in past years the resting time had so often been pleasantly spent, and return alone to her home, that could only be to her an empty and silent one.
The watering-place chosen for their holiday was one on the South Coast; between it and the Isle of Wight lay the blue waters of the Solent. Lizzie, though she owned to not being quite well, went for daily walks and seemed to enjoy the change of scene and fresh sea breezes as much as she had always done.
For more than twenty years Lizzie's birthday had always been spent away from home, and it came before she had been quite a fortnight at S—. Now the children of God, who really know that they stand before God in a new place, won for them by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, do not often think or talk much of birthdays, and I should not have told you of Lizzie's had it not been for two or three things connected with it. It was her last and she was seventy years of age, though she never gave those who knew her best, the idea of being so old; even the doctor who attended her in her last illness found it difficult to believe there had not been some mistake about her age.
The morning's post brought her quite a number of letters and tiny love tokens from absent friends, and when Ivy read her their kind wishes she seemed greatly pleased, and asked that some verses sent in one of her letters should be re-read to her. I will copy them, as perhaps some of our young readers may like to pass them on to some aged friend or relative—
THREE SCORE AND TEN.
Three score and ten, swiftly fly the hastening years,
Now through the sheen of smiles, now through the gloom of tears;
Now in the hurrying work, now in the quiet rest,
Now in the throes of pain—the good God knoweth best.
Three score and ten, still the saying, faithful, true,
That Jesus died for sinners; Ah! message ever new;
And the sinner loves the Savior, and loving learns to long
For the rest which now remaineth where love is cleansed from wrong.
Three score and ten! O, happy walk with God:
Happy for joy and sunshine, happy for chastening rod;
Dawn shall it prove of endless day, through which shall ever rove
Thy soul 'midst heavenly glory, bought with eternal love.
E. I. G.
Lizzie's illness began two days after her birthday, and though during the three weeks that followed she suffered greatly, the Lord not only kept her in perfect peace, but when the end came He put her very gently to sleep. The nature of her illness made it very difficult for her to speak plainly, but among the last words Ivy caught were, "Never leave Thee, never forsake Thee, no, never, never.”
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