WHEN it pleased God to save my never-dying soul, and to give me perfect peace respecting the forgiveness of my sins, through faith in the work of the cross for me, I longed to see others brought to know the gospel, and took every opportunity of speaking to whom I could, of the salvation there is in Christ.
A poor old man and his wife, who went into the country in the summer to earn sufficient to keep them in the winter, worked on our farm in harvest time, lodging in the barn at night. They were very clean people, and they did their washing and mending on Sunday afternoons, so as to be ready for the coming week. I longed that these poor people should know the love of Jesus, and, as they always took themselves to one spot for their Sunday work—down a lane some short distance from my cottage—I had no difficulty in finding them, and with Bible in hand went to them, saying, “I am come to read the Bible to you, if you will let me.” “Oh, come, ma’am,” gladly said the old woman, and they began to put away their washing. Assuring them I would not stop long, I read about the resurrection, and told them they would have to die, and that they would rise again, and stand before God, pardoned or unpardoned, They listened with great attention, and thanked me for reading to them.
The next Sunday I started off to them again with my Bible, and as soon as they saw me coming the old man got up, and taking his great coat, spread it out upon the bank for me to sit upon, both of them greeting me with, “Welcome, ma’am! Welcome, ma’am! do sit you down, and read to us.”
How delighted I was to be received in this way! Poor old people! They drank in the word of God, the one as eagerly as the other, and began to ask many questions, so many that I could not answer them, for at that time I had not been converted to God more than two years, and all I knew of the, gospel was that it gave peace with God through the blood of the cross. I felt I just needed to be always looking up at Jesus, at God’s right hand, seated there for me, a poor saved sinner.
I continued to go down the lane to the old couple every Sunday afternoon when the weather was fine; and when it was wet, they came to our kitchen, and heard the Scriptures read to them, and it would have done my readers good to have seen their gratitude. Seeing that God had opened their hearts, I took them to some gospel services, and as the old woman was afraid the people would be looking at her, as she said she was not tidy enough to go to such a place, she was set up with a bonnet and shawl, and she and her husband heard the word preached a few times.
Neither of them said they were really saved, but we were assured God had put His grace into their hearts, although they could not acknowledge the wonders of His love to them in saving their souls. They remained on the farm some six weeks, and left our neighborhood after harvest.
That part of my story which has to do with the reaping has now to come. Nearly twenty years had passed away since the incidents just narrated occurred, when, a short time ago, one Sunday morning, I was passing down a road near my cottage, and observed an aged man sitting under a large tree, reading a book. I said to the friend with me, “Let us pass over and see what book he has.” The man took no heed of our coming, his head was bent over the book, so I walked up close to him, and glancing over his shoulder saw that it was the New Testament.
“You love the word of God, do you not?” said I, interrupting his reading.
He looked up, and, fixing his eyes earnestly on me, exclaimed, “Yes, ma’am, I do; and surely you are the lady who taught me to read it, down in yonder lane.”
“Where then is your wife?” I inquired.
“She is gone to glory,” said he, “just a little first, you know, and it won’t be long for me before I follow her. She died so happy that I could not fret for her.”
The man was bent down with age. He had again found some work in the neighborhood, and thus we met once more.
Oh! what joy it is to see the seed growing up into everlasting life! God’s precious book was a treasure to him indeed. And so it is to me, dear reader, for in passing through many deep trials the love of Jesus and His blessed company have always been with me. Will you not have Him for a Friend for yourself? Fellow-Christian, sow beside all waters. God will water His own precious seed, and it shall spring up, and bring forth fruit, some thirty, some fifty, and some a hundredfold.
F. T.