ON returning to my native village on one of my summer holidays I was told there had been a stranger in the place who had come to find out if possible the men who some thirty years before had preached in the village where he then lived.
He had come to make known to them his father’s departure to be with the Lord. It appears that it was their father’s desire that these men should be told something of the goodness of God both to him and to his family, now by grace on the heavenly road. This dear aged pilgrim had but passed on in advance into heaven’s bright scenes with the love of God as a banner over Him. My memory still retains the marvelous way the Spirit of God had wrought in this case.
A sister who had been brought to the Lord in Bristol was desirous that the gospel should be preached in this village. After much prayer, two young men placed themselves in the Master’s hands for His use. It meant a cross-country walk of about eighteen miles every Lord’s day after the breaking of bread. But as we shall see through the prayers of the saints, and the Lord’s working with them, blessing followed. Strange to say, the only person the sister bid them not go near was the saved man of whom I am writing. For at that time, according to report, he was the terror of the village. Yet in the goodness of God, this very man was to be the first fish to be caught in the gospel net on that day. A great sinner as he was, he was brought into contact with another great sinner who had found in Jesus a great Saviour.
A shady place under the trees was selected for the first meeting. The tenth chapter of Romans was read. Then the speaker began to show that it was heart work spoken of there—and that nothing could ever have saved us from the enemy of our souls if Christ had not come down to deliver us. After speaking of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ he went on to show how truly divine was that love which led God to deliver up His only begotten Son that we might be saved. Also with what pity and compassion the Saviour must have looked on us thus to offer up Himself a sacrifice to God to redeem our souls from destruction. This love, said he, is what God now commends. This is the love that can reach the very hardest heart and bring a man forth as in this day to decide for Christ and to confess His blessed name before others.
No doubt the speaker sought to show the manner in which God delights to receive all who come to Him through Jesus, who died for their sins. Be that as it may, there was one in that company whose heart had been touched, whom grace had subdued, who felt what none but God could explain, and so it was with this very man who the sister feared would hinder the messengers of mercy from doing what she desired. Do we not see in this that if the desire of the heart is according to the will of God He can and will go far beyond the desire in blessing. From the first the preacher had dealt with the heart by the sword of the Spirit—the word of God.
The meeting was over. It was seen that the manner of the man they once feared was now completely changed. The gospel had been to him the power of God unto salvation. Much blessing was afterward enjoyed in the Lord’s presence with him. As a newborn babe he eagerly drank in the sincere milk of God’s holy word. This is the man whose desire when he came to die was that others should know that his children was on the heavenly road. That road in which the banner of God’s love waved over him as a sinner saved.
And now, dear reader, what have you to say to these things? Are you of those to whom the gospel of God—concerning His Son the Lord Jesus Christ—has been salvation? Or are you among those that are perishing—such things being to them foolishness? If so, may your eyes be opened and your heart be touched by the love that led Jesus to die. I do feel for you all—some of you, how careless! Some so wise in the things of this life, and yet so dark in their minds as to God and His Son. I close with words which the mind of man could never have conceived, nor human lips have ever spoken until brought down from heaven by the Son of God Himself who could say, We speak what we know and testify what we have seen, and this is His wonderful testimony: “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.” My own experience is somewhat expressed by the following lines:
I was blind, but now I see,
My Redeemer made me free;
When beneath that tyrant’s yoke,
All His bands my Saviour broke.
For my sins His blood was shed,
Love the banner o’er my head;
Christ who stooped for me to die,
As my Saviour lives on high.
Rest I’m finding day by day,
Traveling on my homeward way,
Yoked with Christ I journey on,
Singing still my happy song.
Joy in telling all around,
What a Saviour I have found,
For when souls to Jesus cling,
Then their tongues begin to sing.
Heaven with Christ in perfect bliss,
Clothed in spotless righteousness,
All His ransomed ones will share,
But will you be with us there?
E. T.