IN a remote fishing town there lived a very godless fish-woman, who earned her scanty livelihood by carrying fish into the country.
Grace was very old; and lived all alone; she loved nobody, and thought nobody loved her. For upwards of forty years she had never entered a church or chapel, for she hated the Lord’s people, and would insult them whenever she could, Worse than all, she hated Christ. Even amongst her rough, ungodly companions, old Grace was well known as one who took Christ’s precious name in vain.
One day, whilst selling fish some miles away in the country, a heavy shower came on, and Grace took shelter in a cottage where a servant of the Lord was visiting and talking to the inmates, He soon offered a tract to the old fish-woman, but she refused it, saying she could not read. Then he asked her to hear him read it whilst they both waited for the rain to cease.
The tract mentioned some little blind dogs, whose owner told his servant to drown them, because they did not open their eyes. The man threw them into the pond, and as the little blind dogs touched the water, they opened their eyes. Alas! too late! they soon sank, and were drowned. There was, of course, much more in the tract; but it was this story that made a great impression upon old Grace, and for nearly eighteen months after this she found herself constantly repeating, “too late,” and wishing she could hear about “the little blind dogs” again. She still kept aloof, however, from all the Lord’s people, and her own associates were not likely to help her.
During the winter I was staying for a short time at the village where the old woman lived, and a young Christian came to me, asking me to visit her.
He had been distributing tracts in various courts and lanes, and having rapped at Grace’s door, she had invited him in, telling him she could not read, but if he would read to her, she would listen.
He had read to her for a little while, when the word of God seemed to reach her heart, and she called out to him to stop; for she saw it all now, and was saved! Her joy was so great on finding what a Saviour the Lord Jesus was, that the young man did not know what to make of her, so came off to me to ask me to visit her. I found the dear old woman almost beside herself with joy and thankfulness for the great salvation which she knew she had received.
It was, indeed, a blessed sight to see this aged one brought out of darkness into God’s marvelous light, and accepting without a doubt the full, free, glorious gift that was offered her.
The ill-lighted cottage room, so scantily furnished, and bare of all but just the necessaries of life, seemed now lighted up with a brighter light than that afforded by the dim candle and the few coals in the tiny grate. Old Grace was now an heir of glory, and her face was radiant with joy as she told me how the Lord had died to save her, and had washed away her sins in His own precious blood.
From this time she hungered and thirsted to hear God’s Word read, and drank in the truth most eagerly, receiving it as simply as a little child.
A few days after her conversion, I had been reading Luke 22, and when I came to the account of the Lord’s supper, and read the words, “This do in remembrance of Me,” she exclaimed, “And why should not I remember Him, too! He died for me.”
Those whom she had formerly hated, because they were the Lord’s people, she now delighted to call her brothers and sisters in Christ, loving them for His sake. Her whole life was so changed that it could not fail to attract the notice of, and meet with mockery from, her old companions. They would taunt her with such words as “Where’s thy tongue, Grace?”
“Ah!” she would reply, “the tongue that blasphemed Him once, shall only praise Him now!”
“Those folk have bought thee, Grace!”
“No! I have been bought with something better! even the precious blood of Christ.”
Earnestly she sought to win others to Christ, and carried a supply of tracts in her fish-basket to the country whenever she was able to go.
A week after her conversion she went to a very godless farmer, whom she had known for many years, and told him what great things the Lord had done for her soul; and the Lord used her to bring this dark old man to see that he was a sinner, and that there was a Saviour for him.
Soon after this she was laid low with a severe attack of bronchitis. Knowing she was very poor, and needed help, I offered her a little money; but she seemed quite grieved, and did not wish to accept it, saying, “I did not come among you for what I could get! I would rather work for you with my basket than take anything, thank you.”
My visit was now drawing to a close, and I had at last to say “good-bye” to my dear old friend, with whom I had spent many happy hours over the word of God, When I told her that I was going away, it was at first a great grief to her, for having had plenty of leisure, I had been able to spend a good deal of time reading to her, and now she would be left very much alone.
“Grace, you must not be so grieved,” I said, “for I am going to stay with my dear mother, who is older even than you are. You have Christ, but I am not sure whether my mother has.”
At once she replied, “Oh! go, go to your mother; I’ll not ask you to stay again. I will not stop praying for her.”
The Lord heard her prayers and ours. My dear mother received the message of salvation, the story of how old Grace was saved being very helpful to her, showing that it needs not to be learned, or clever, to receive Christ, but only to come, and by faith to take the gift of eternal life offered so freely to rich and poor, old and young.
My dear mother has gone to be with the Lord, whom she learned to love in her eightieth year! But dear old Grace is still left down here, and bears a bright, clear testimony to what the Lord can do in saving sinners even at such an age from a life of such sin and darkness. Unless ill in bed, she is never absent from her corner at the meeting; remembering her blessed Lord in His death; and ever delights in hearing the Lord’s servants tell of the love of her Saviour.
Soon after leaving my dear old friend I obtained a copy of the tract about “the blind dogs,” and sent it down to her, for she was very desirous to have a copy, that being the first thing which opened her eyes to see her danger of being “too late.”
“O Lord my God, in Thee do I put my trust.” Ps. 7:1.
ML 03/20/1904