“I SOON found out after I came to live with you, miss, that though you were such a loving family, there was not a bit of godliness amongst you, and then I began to look to the Lord for you, and asked Him that some of you might be saved, and very soon I saw He was beginning to work.”
The speaker was a quiet-looking man of middle age, who, sometime previous to this, had came to live with Mrs. E―, the widowed mistress of the house, in the capacity of shepherd.
How much that family owed to that simple Christian man! His prayers were as a hidden spring of blessing to them, for God gave an abundant answer.
Soon after Robert the shepherd had entered Mrs. E―’s service, her only daughter began to be troubled by the thought pressing on her that she was not right with God, and therefore not prepared to die; and oh! what should it profit her if she should gain the whole world and lose her own soul?
With no other thought but that salvation must be deserved and worked for, she spent many weary months in trying by every means she could think of to get peace with God. The utter failure of these efforts proved to her that she could do nothing whatever towards saving her soul, but she was learning from Scripture what greatly surprised her―that God, in virtue of Christ’s atoning death on the cross for sinners, was offering full forgiveness of sins to everyone who turns to Him, without work or merit on his or her part, for Christ “his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:2424Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:24)). As a sinner all she had to do was to believe and accept what He had thus purchased for her at such infinite cost. This at last she did, simply trusting the Lord as her Saviour, and resting on God’s word, “that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 2:55For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; (1 Timothy 2:5)), and that “his blood cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)). Then knowing on the authority of God’s word that she was saved, and saved forever (John 10:2828And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (John 10:28)), her heart overflowed with joy and thankfulness.
When she tried to show her eldest brother his need of the Saviour, he exclaimed, “Why, what do you mean? What am I doing that is wrong? If I am not going the right way, it will be a bad look-out for a good many. I don’t see what more God can require of me.”
After some time he was induced by great persuasion to read the Word of God for himself. As he read chapter after chapter, light from its inspired pages broke in upon his dark soul. “The Spirit began to strive with me,” he said, “and I saw that I was lost, and a great sinner. I saw, too, that my being such a pattern to other young men, and my going to church and taking the sacrament regularly, were things altogether apart from the question of my soul’s salvation, for I saw that Jesus Christ had come into the world to die and make atonement to God for me as a sinner.” Then afterward the verse, “The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin,” brought him into full peace with God.
A few months previously this brother had written to an aunt and uncle concerning his sister, saying, “Something very strange has come over―. She takes not the slightest interest in anything, and says she cannot do so until she knows she is saved! I have asked her why she does not consult you and uncle about it, but she says neither of you are Christians, and therefore you cannot help her.”
On reading the letter his aunt burst into tears, exclaiming, “She says I am not a Christian!” If her niece had said this of her uncle she would not have been surprised, for he had never made any profession of religion, but it seemed almost incredible that it could have been said of herself, and she was deeply hurt.
Though outwardly commendable, her husband fully realized that he was “not a Christian,” and he was one of the first to seek and find the Saviour. With herself it was more difficult. Kind-hearted and generous, she had been pronounced “a most estimable woman,” as indeed she was. It was hard to find that this weighed nothing in the matter of her soul’s salvation, for even “our righteousness” before conversion (i.e., turning to God) “are as filthy rags” in His sight (Isa. 64:66But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (Isaiah 64:6)). She had to learn that she could not stand before Him on any other ground but that of the atoning death of Christ, and that her only claim to this mercy was that she was a sinner. It was a humiliating experience to her, as it is more or less to every one; but its lesson was now learned, and as she was sitting alone one day, feeling “weary and worn and sad,” the words of the Lord Jesus came forcibly to her remembrance, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:2828Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)).
“But if I do come, He will not receive me,” she said half aloud.
Again the Lord’s words came to her mind in greater power.
“Lord, I do come,” was her glad response. She then found in Him a resting-place, and He then made her glad.
In the meantime Mrs. E— ‘s six remaining sons had been either written to, or spoken with, on the subject of their souls’ salvation, and each, one after the other, though with widely differing experiences in their steps from indifference to conviction, and then conversion, confessed Christ as their Saviour.
Mrs. E―herself had known all that was going on in her family, having read the letters sent home by her sons, but she had given no clue as to its effect on her own mind, until one day she said, as if involuntarily, “My children are all saved, and I am left out.” They gladly showed her how they had been saved, by taking their place before God as sinners, and then trusting in Christ as their Saviour. A few days after she said, with a very happy face, “Oh! how simple it is, just taking what has been done for me.”
Early next morning Mrs. E— drove to a neighboring village, where her mother and two unmarried sisters resided. The early visit and the expression on her face showed that something more than common had taken place, and her sisters closely followed her into the room where their mother, a fine old lady of nearly ninety, was sitting; but had a thunderbolt fallen at their feet they could hardly have been more surprised than when their elder sister, the moment she was seated, turned to their mother and said “Mother, are you saved?”
“Ye―es, my dear, I hope so,” stammered the old lady.
“Then how is it you never told me?” demanded her daughter in a tone of mingled rebuke and astonishment.
Conscience-stricken, her mother made no reply. It may be she had never been able “to read her title clear.” In her youth she had been a member of a Bible class, held by the wife of the well-known Mr. Fletcher of Madeley, and doubtless the good seed then sown had taken root in her heart, but there had been but little in her life to help, and much to hinder, its growth. Anyhow, no one had ever heard her speak a word for Christ, though her meek and quiet spirit and blameless life would have given weight to her words if she had.
But how anyone could know Christ as their own Saviour without trying to bring those around them to Him, or warning them of their awful danger in neglecting God’s salvation, was now beyond Mrs. E― ‘s comprehension.
As her mother still sat in troubled silence, she turned to her indignant sisters.
“A―, are you saved?”
“I am quite as good as you,” was the sharp retort.
“Are you saved, J―?”
“I am quite as religious as you.”
Both answers told their own tale, but their sister’s question had brought conviction to them that they were not right with God, and soon their hearts’ cry was, “What must I do to be saved?” A― was the first to find peace. J—, the younger sister, passed through deeper waters. “What shall I do, oh! what shall I do?” she almost groaned out in the realization of her own helplessness and sinfulness.
“Aunt J—,” said her niece, to whom these words were addressed, “Christ died for you, a sinner.”
“Christ died for me, a sinner,” she repeated, as if trying to grasp the meaning of the words; and as she went about her household duties, the words continually fell from her lips, “Christ died for me, a sinner, for me,” and then she simply believed and rested on the precious truth she was stating, and consequently peace and joy filled her heart.
Others of the family died, neglecting or rejecting God’s salvation, which alone could have delivered them from a lost eternity.
One of these was a cousin, nursed on her deathbed by Mrs. E— ‘s sister, A―, who tried to rouse her from her false peace by showing her that she too was a lost sinner, and as such must come to Christ for salvation, but the dying woman coldly resented any such thought. “I have no need of what you are saying,” she said; “I was made a ‘member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven,’ in my baptism, and nothing more is required”; and grounded and built up in this delusion, she died.
It seems strange in these days of free access to the Word of God, that any should be found blinded by teaching so utterly opposed to it. But though the Bible may be in every house, yet too often its life-giving words are unread, with the awful consequences that souls pass into eternity as ignorant, of the full free salvation Christ died to bring to them, as if they had lived in a heathen land.
Robert had been greatly cheered and encouraged by God’s manifest answers to his prayers, but still there was often a cloud in his own spiritual life. He was what is called a “doubting Christian,” and could tell of “fearful dark times” when “the enemy well-nigh got the mastery,” and when, if it had not been (as he thought) for his own agonized wrestling’s with God in prayer, his soul would have been lost. He knew Christ as the Saviour who had died for him, but not also as the One who “ever liveth to make intercession” for him (Heb. 7:2525Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)). Miss E—often spoke to him of the eternal security of every believer in Christ. “Nay, nay, miss,” he would say sternly, “you are all wrong there.”
“But I know it deep down in my own soul, and, better still, Christ says, I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand’” (John 10:2828And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (John 10:28)).
“It is eternal life while you keep it,” argued Robert.
Years afterward when they met again she found Robert’s views unchanged, for he had never studied the Scripture on the subject; but one evening she placed his own family Bible in his hand, and pointing to Romans 8:38,39,38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38‑39) said, “Read that, Robert.” And while he slowly read through the verses, she raised her heart to God in earnest prayer that He would enable him to bow to the precious truth they contained. As he reached the end, a look of glad surprise overspread his face. Springing up and holding out the Bible to her, he almost shouted in his excitement, “See that now! ‘nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ Well, well! Why, I always thought it was shall be able to separate our love from God,’ and that always seemed such an easy matter. But you see it is nothing shall be able to separate God’s love from me. And yet the sermons and sermons I have heard, always putting it the other way about. Well, well!”
“He that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”