“TELL me a story, please, Edith"; and a small hand was coaxingly laid on my arm, and a very pleading little face looked up to mine.
“Tell you a story, Bessie! I wonder what kind of a story would interest you most.”
“A. true story, or, of course, I should not care for it. Tell me about something that happened when you were a little girl—the best thing you can remember.”
“The best thing I can remember in connection with my own early life is that, when I was a little girl, not quite eleven years old, the Holy Spirit of God showed me what I was—a sinful and lost child, and then led me to trust in the Lord Jesus as my Saviour. But you will not understand my story unless I begin at the beginning, and tell you that, as my mother died when I was a little baby— too young to remember even now how she used to look—I went to live with my grandparents. They were very kind to me; indeed, if I had been their own little girl they could hardly have been more so. I was not sent to school, but my grandmamma taught me at home, and so I learned not only to read and write, but many other things that were useful for me to know. I was very fond of reading, and read a great many books, and I cannot remember a time when I did not love to read the Bible. Once, when I was about five years old, after I had been reading about the Lord Jesus, I cried so much that my grandmamma thought I was ill, or in pain, and I could not tell her what my trouble was, for I did not know the right words, but I know now that it was the sense of unpardoned sin. Child as I was, I felt myself to be a sinner against God. After that, while I was still only a little girl, the Holy Spirit often strove with me, but I would not yield to His gentle whisper in my soul, urging me to be a Christian. I kept putting it off, thinking that I did not understand how I could go to Jesus; and that it would be easier when I grew older. But the Lord Jesus looked in love and pity; He thought about me, cared for me, though I did not then know Him as my Saviour.
“When I was about ten years of age, a lady, who was slightly acquainted with my grandmamma, called at our house, and asked if I might be allowed to attend the Sunday-school. I wished very much to go, but my grandmamma would not consent. But did the lady give it up, and say, It is no use trying; that little girl will never be allowed to be a Sunday scholar? Oh, no; she had read in the precious word of God, And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.' (Gal. 6:99And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. (Galatians 6:9).) In a few weeks she called again, asking, as a favor to herself, that I might be allowed to go just for once.' She did not meet with a refusal again.,
“The following Lord's Day I was taken by her to the Sunday-school. I was placed in the Bible-class, though by several years the youngest there. A very earnest, faithful teacher won my affection at once, and week by week I used to kneel in prayer, and ask God, who I felt quite sure was able to do all things, to make my grandmamma willing before I asked her that I might attend the Bible-class. I had not attended it very long before I became really anxious to know how I could be saved. I did not understand how I could go to Jesus, for I knew that He was no longer a man upon earth. Often I thought I would tell my teacher how much I longed to be a child of God, and ask her how I could become one. But Satan, who always seeks to hinder souls from coming to the Saviour, put something in the way time after time, so that my teacher never knew that the heart of at least one little girl in her class was burdened by a sense of sin— was longing, oh, so deeply, for peace and pardon.
“Sometimes I used to write a note to ask, What must I do to be saved ' but when the time came to give it to my teacher, I thought I had not written it well enough for her to read, or else I had held it in my hot hand till the outside looked quite soiled, and I would not give it to her.
“But the Lord, who knew my need, met it in His own way. I told you, Bessie, at the beginning of my story that I was very fond of reading. We had a library in connection with the school, and I enjoyed reading some of the books very much. One afternoon a book was placed in my hands by the teacher who attended to the library. I did not think at first that I should find it interesting, for there were not any pictures in it, and the binding was worn and old.”
“What was the book about?”
“It was a true story of one of God's servants—one who was used in bringing many souls to Christ. In that book I found the answer to the question I had so long been asking. Four lines of poetry showed me God's way of peace. They were: —
“Believe on Him who died for thee;
And sure as He has died,
Thy debt is paid, thy soul is free,
And thou art justified.
“I was alone when I read these lines, and I said, I know it was the Lord Jesus who died for me, and I think these words must be true, they are so like some I have read in the Bible: ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.' (Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31).) So, very simply trusting in Christ, I knelt down and thanked God, who had so loved me as to give His own Son to bear the punishment I deserved, and believing—I knew, because the word of God said it—that I was saved. And the One who saved me when a little girl of eleven years old is the One whose own words are, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.'" (John 10:27, 2827My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (John 10:27‑28).) C. J. L.