IN a lowly home, on a lowly bed, a young woman of twenty-one lay dying of consumption. She lay with her eyes closed, but the short labored breathing told that she would soon be “gone.”
Her mother sat silently watching her with almost breaking heart, and as she gazed upon the pale wan face of her dear one, once so blooming, her pent-up grief broke forth, and she sobbed aloud. The dying one opened her eyes and whispered, “Mother.” “Well, dear?” asked the mother, as she tenderly bent over her.
“Mother, you sometimes go to the shop and make purchases, don’t you?”
“Yes, Agnes,” answered the mother a little hesitatingly, for she feared that her mind had begun to wander.
“And, mother, when you pay down the money, haven’t you a right to bring away your purchases?” “Surely.”
The dying girl’s eye lighted up with luster, and her voice thrilled with earnestness, as she again asked, “Mother, when Christ has bought me―bought me with such a price―has He not a right to take home His purchase?” And the mother bowed her head, and her heart, too, was bowed, as she answered, “Yes.”
Child of God, dost thou know from what thou hast been redeemed? ―from all iniquity (Titus 2:14). Dost thou know with what thou hast been redeemed? ―even with the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18, 19). Dost thou know unto whom thou hast been redeemed? ―unto Himself (Titus 2:14). Then trifle not with aught that He has redeemed thee from. Remember “ye are not your own, for ye are BOUGHT with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” Y. Z.