In one of the fairest districts of a beautiful section of the country is a little village—beautiful to the casual eyes; but to the discerning heart of a spiritual person a pall of moral darkness obscures the beauty of the scene.
Here lived Dame Halberd, a most eccentric character. She had little in common with her neighbors, shunning them as even she was shunned by them. When we became acquainted with the old lady her life had already run the appointed span of seventy years. Strange it is to think that one who so long had bitterly resisted God's loving-kindness, and had grown old and hard in sin, could be dear to Him. Indeed, God had chosen to pluck her as a brand from the burning, and to shed abroad His light and love in her dark old heart.
It was on a Sunday afternoon that a little party of Christians entered the village to tell out the story of Christ and to make His word known. They took their stand on the street not far from Dame Halberd's cottage. At the close of the preaching some of the party approached her house with gospel tracts. When the old dame appeared at the door, she was brandishing a heavy club and screamed at the top of her voice: "Go back with ye! Read your books at home. A passel of cobblers and tailors ye are. If ye come here, I'll beat your brains out!”
Surely her case would seem hopeless! But God acts in mysterious ways, and He had a way to reach the seared conscience and hard heart of this old sinner. Living with Dame Halberd was a daughter-in-law who was in the last stages of an incurable disease.
One of the Christians braved the old lady's displeasure and entered the house to speak to the dying woman and point her to Jesus, the Savior. The old woman did not refuse this comfort to her daughter, though she herself would not stay in the room. However, curiosity was strong in her nature; and, wondering what would be said, she took a seat on the stairs where she could hear without being seen.
Sad to say, the message had no effect on the one for whom it was intended. The daughter shortly afterward passed away, giving no glimmer of hope to those who cared for her soul. But the Word, as a nail fastened in a sure place, had convicted Dame Halberd of sin. How marvelous are the ways of God! She who had resisted all her life was convicted by the Word which smites and heals—which wounds and binds up. "Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up." Hos. 6:11Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. (Hosea 6:1).
Distressed in soul, she invited the gentleman to come again. He gladly went, and the comforting words he carried were like seed dropped into the plowed up field of good soil, taking root and bringing forth fruit. Dame Halberd's heart had been prepared for the entrance of the Word; it took root and produced joy and gladness in her soul.
Joy unspeakable became hers. "Happy!" said she one day, 'Happy! I'm as happy as a queen!" And what was the ground of her joy—the confidence of her boast? "The blood of the Lamb," which had cleansed her from all sin.
"Loving Him that begat," she "loved those also who were begotten of Him." None were more welcome to her house now than "the passel o' cobblers and tailors" whom she had formerly driven from her door. During the brief period of life granted her after conversion—about two years—she continued happy in the joy of God's salvation.
Reader, have you been turned from darkness to light? Is the blood of the Lamb your only hope and confidence? Can you say now from the depths of your heart: "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth me from all sin"?