A few years since, a dear servant of the Lord—a man of color—on his way from London to a town on the seacoast (where he was going on his blessed Master’s service, and also with the hope of recruiting his health a little, which had become much worn down by arduous duties) entered a railway carriage, in which were several passengers. Having had to hurry to the station, he sat down, and, leaning back in his seat to recover breath, looked out of the window.
Presently the train moved on; and, as they passed the busy crowds still left on the platform, he heaved a sigh at the thought of such multitudes of people rushing through this world without, perhaps, any concern about eternity or their immortal souls. It might be the heavy sigh, or it might be his color and general appearance, that attracted the notice of an elderly lady who was seated opposite to him, for he soon became conscious that she was regarding him with marked attention.
After a time, she said to her companion, ‘What an interesting-looking person that is! —he looks ill. What a fine race of people he must belong to! I wonder who he is. Do you think he is a Turk, or a Hindu?” “I should think he is an Indian,” said the young lady. “I wish we could speak to him,” continued the elderly lady; “I quite long to tell him about the way to heaven. How sad it is that such a fine, intelligent-looking people should bow down to images and stocks and stones. What a pity we can’t speak to him, for he does not seem to understand a word we say.” “Perhaps he may be able to read English a little, if he cannot speak it,” suggested the young lady. “You might offer him a tract,” said one of the gentlemen. The elderly lady opened her bag, and, from a number, selected one, which she presented to him with a smile, and a motion to read it. He received the tract, bowed his thanks, and read it through in silence.
During the time occupied by our friend in reading the tract, a conversation arose amongst the other passengers respecting the desirability of increased exertion, on the part of this christian land, to send the gospel to the heathen, and much was said about the great good accomplished in various parts by missionary efforts, &c, &c.
Availing himself of a pause in the conversation, our friend, in good English, thanked the lady for her care for his soul, telling her it was an all-important object to him, adding, “I heard you say, madam, you longed to tell me the way to heaven; have the kindness now to tell me how I may be sure of going there—I want to hear that. This tract does not tell how I may be sure now that I shall be saved. It tells me to repent of my sins and to pray, but how can I know when I have prayed and repented enough? Can you not tell me plainly how I may be sure of getting to heaven? Have you no other book that tells a poor sinner how he may get to heaven?”
“Ο yes,” said the lady; “the Bible, which is the word of God, was given on purpose to show the way to heaven. Read the Bible, and pray, and you will be sure to go to heaven.”
“Can you show me in God’s word where that is said? Where does it say if I pray I shall go to heaven? I want to be sure of that. Have you a Bible, madam? and can you point out the words which plainly tell how I may be sure of that?”
She had no Bible in her bag. The other three passengers were appealed to for a Bible, but no one carried a Bible about with them.
At last our friend drew the precious volume from his pocket, and, holding it up, said, “Is that the book you mean, madam? If it be the word of God, given on purpose to show the way to heaven, it will surely give plain directions. Will you kindly show me where?”
The lady took the Bible, and, turning over the leaves, confusedly said, “I do not know exactly where to find what I want to show you, but it says if you repent of your sins, and pray earnestly, you will be saved.”
“That does not satisfy me. How am I to know that I have prayed enough to satisfy God? Can you not point out one portion that is enough for me to rest upon?”
Turning to her young companion, she said, “Can you find it?” Receiving a reply in the negative, the poor lady applied to the others in turn; and the Bible was offered to each of the passengers, with the entreaty that they would point out some portion that told plainly how the sinner was to get to heaven. But all confessed their inability to recollect where such passages could be found.
The lady, returning the Bible, said, “Well, I cannot find the place, but if you will call upon the Rev. Mr.—, when you reach F—, he will tell you. He is a very good man, an evangelical clergyman; and he will be happy to direct you.”
“But, madam, we may never reach F—. The train may run off the line, and we may all be killed. We may have a collision. Many things may happen; I do not know that I may live to see F—. Can none of you Christians tell a poor foreigner how he may be saved? You are moved with pity for his darkness and ignorance, can you not help him to the light?”
“I have told you, you must pray,” said the lady. “The Bible says so.”
He took his Bible, and, opening at John 3:14-10, read out the verses; “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Then John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24): “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on’ him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life;” and 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): “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.” “Are these the portions you mean, madam?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said, “that is what I could not remember.”
“But you told me I must pray and repent. This precious book tells me to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and I shall be saved—to believe on the Son of God, and I shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Praise to His name! the poor foreigner can trust that blessed word, and know he is safe for heaven—safe through the work of that Lord Jesus Christ which was finished on the cross more than 1800 years ago; and is happy in knowing he is justified from all things, in virtue of that blood shed for sinners, and not by his own prayers and repentance—happy in knowing He has made peace by the blood of His cross!”
He then proceeded at some length to set forth to the astonished fellow-travelers the love that led God to send His Son into this world to die for sinners, and the love that brought the Son to do the will of His Father, &c, &c.
“Stop, sir!” exclaimed one of the gentlemen angrily; “this is no place for such holding forth. It is neither the time nor the place, sir.”
“When is the time, and where is the place, in this christian land, for a Christian to speak of Christ?” calmly, but earnestly, asked our friend.
“Sunday is the time, sir, and the church is the place, but not in a railway carriage. This is a very improper place.”
They had reached the end of their journey, and they parted, to meet no more on earth, for our beloved friend and brother was soon after taken to be forever with the Lord.
Note. —The foregoing incident is not only striking, But very suggestive and illustrative. Here we have a number of professing Christians, all seeming very anxious about the state of the heathen, and appearing to feel the importance of sending the gospel to them; and yet, when appealed to by one who, for aught they knew, was but a poor heathen, and entreated to tell him the way of salvation, they proved themselves utterly ignorant of it; and, not only so, but one of their number angrily stopped him when, in the fullness of his heart, he sought to tell them of God’s blessed way of saving sinners.
Christendom—“wise in her own conceits”—vainly imagines that she will be God’s instrument in converting the heathen. Alas! alas! she is only a stumbling-block to the heathen, and will never be used to convert them at all. “God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name”—not to convert them all. How are the heathen to be converted? Hear the divine reply—“God be merciful unto us (Israel); and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.....God shall bless us (Israel); and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.” Psalm 67.
It is through Israel, and not through Christendom, that God will ultimately bless all nations. Now He is gathering out a people, and He is using His own word, far and wide, to this end. But how important for the beloved servants of Christ to work with a divine object before their minds. Would it cripple their energies or clip their wings? Nay, it would only guide their movements. (Ed.)