IN a little cottage on a moor in Cornwall, I many years ago, a few Christians were accustomed to meet weekly for prayer and praise. Sarah, the youngest daughter of the family, was much opposed to these gatherings, and absented herself when possible. The child of many prayers, she still followed the bent of her own will, and in a fit of passion left the peaceful home of her childhood, and never returned to it. A life of sorrow and privation followed this rash act. Walking from place to place, selling a few pins and needles, she gained a scanty subsistence; but ill-clothed and ill-fed, exposed to all kinds of hardships, her naturally strong constitution gave way, and consumption of the lungs was the result. It was then that those prayers in that far-off cottage were to be answered.
Several Christians called on Sarah during her long illness, and spoke faithfully to her of her state as a guilty sinner before God. The Holy Spirit’s work was manifestly seen, for she became very anxious about her soul, and eagerly listened to the blessed story of redeeming love. By the grace of God she soon found joy and peace in believing the precious record, “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” And now the new-born soul thirsted for the sincere milk of the word.
One friend often had the happy privilege of reading to her the word of God, and once, when calling as usual, found her on her knees by the broken bedstead, “having a little talk to her blessed heavenly Father.” When sorrow was expressed that she should be disturbed, she replied, “Oh, my dear, I often have a little moment or two during the day with my heavenly Jesus, and I have just been asking Him to muzzle my mouth, that I may not say one single word to grieve Him.” In reply to a question she answered, “Yes, I know, I am sure that I am saved; I have the testimony of that book, though I can’t read it.” Another time she remarked, “What a blessing it is to wake up in the morning and think that we are the deal children of God.” When the hymn was repeated, “There is a Name I love to hear,” she said, “That is a sweet name — sweeter than honey! It is a handsome name,” she added. On another occasion she said, “If I had two thousand tongues, I would use them all to praise the Lord; I want my very fingers to praise Him; I want the birds and trees to praise Him, too.”
One day, in acute suffering, she said, “Every limb in pain, but I can thank Him for it all.” She liked to place “her dear Saviour’s book” under her pillow, because the name of Jesus was in it; and when wakened by her cough in the night, would feel for her Testament to have the joy of knowing she had His dear name near her. After a distressing fit of coughing, her first words were, “Bless the Lord.” When a portion of the gospel by John was read to her, she said, “The Lord had such beautiful ways with Him”; and when she had counted the various names given Him in the first chapter, she exclaimed, “Praise the Lord for every one of those beautiful names.”
A christian lady who had been very kind to her, told her one day that she was going to visit a gay relative who delighted in pleasure, adding, as she spoke of the kind of amusement in store for her, “I don’t want to go, but I must please my husband, and he wishes me to be present.” Sarah at once replied, “Oh, yes, my lady, we must please our husbands, but we must resist the devil; and the Bible says, ‘Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing.’” A wonderful reply from one who had never read the word of God in her life.
To the praise of that Name, so dear to her, it must be stated that when Sarah’s heart had been won by “her heavenly Jesus,” she did not forget her beloved relatives in Cornwall, and deeply was her grief expressed in loving letters that she had ever treated them so unkindly, and had her health permitted would have taken the long journey in order that she might see them once mere, and receive the forgiving kiss.
Gradually, Sarah became weaker and weaker, till one day, during a severe fit of coughing, she broke a blood vessel, and quickly the desire of her heart was granted— to be “absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”
Dear reader, can you say, like poor Sarah, “I know, I am sure that I am saved”? If not, remember “the time is short”; in the twinkling of an eye the Lord Jesus may come, and then, if still unsaved, your day of grace would be over. God says, “All have sinned;” “The wages of sin is death;” “And the sting of death is sin.” Wisdom’s children justify God; they plead guilty, and say God is right and we are wrong; and God delights to justify those who justify Him. (Luke 7:29-3529And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. 30But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him. 31And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like? 32They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept. 33For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. 34The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! 35But wisdom is justified of all her children. (Luke 7:29‑35); Acts 13:38, 3938Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38‑39)) E. W.