ONE summer morning I started with a party of young friends to visit a little village about five miles distant, of much historical interest.
It is said that some of the battles in the Wars of the Roses were fought there, but no traces of war can now be seen; the soft turf and grazing cattle forbid the thought of bloodshed, or the clash of arms.
While my party were climbing the mounts, and exploring the moat, which I already knew so well, I turned my steps towards some cottages, asking my God and Father to give His child a message of peace to some heart there.
The village lay bathed in sunlight, and the inhabitants surely knew but little of the strain, and hurry, and bustle of life; for not a soul was to be seen, or a sound to be heard in the quiet street. I knocked at a door which stood ajar, and it was immediately opened by a bright-looking old woman.
I think I see her now, as she stood before me leaning upon her stick, her sweet old face furrowed with wrinkles and surrounded by a snowy cap tied under her chin; her short cotton gown just down to her ankles, covered by a clean white apron, and the little time-honored three-cornered shawl pinned over her shoulders.
A look of surprise came into her face as she saw a stranger at the door, but she responded to my “Good morning" with a low curtsey, and said, with a smile, "Will you please to walk in, miss?” Wiping a chair, upon which there was not a speck of dust, she placed it for me, and then seated herself opposite in the chimney corner.
After a little friendly chat, during which she told me she was over eighty, I said, “May I ask you if you know the Lord Jesus Christ?" Without a moment's hesitation she clasped her hands together, and looking up, said, with deep earnestness, “I love His blessed name!”
The answer came so unexpectedly, it was so different from what one so often receives in reply to such a question, that it thrilled me with delight. “Oh, I am so glad," I said; "then He is your Saviour, and your sins are forgiven!”
The brightness faded from her face, and slowly she replied, "Why no, miss; I should not like to say that.”
“Not saved," I said,” and yet you ' love His blessed name!’ Why, my friend, bow is that?”
“I'm waiting for a signet, miss. My mother had a signet afore she died. She see the Saviour hanging on the cross right agin the foot of the bed. He held out His arms to her, and said, ' Come unto Me;' and then she felt very happy, and she knew she was all right. And I'm looking to have such a sight when my time comes.”
I confess I was disappointed.
To think that this poor old dear had been taught by the Spirit of God to believe in and to love the Lord, and yet she did not know that " he that believeth, on the Son hath everlasting life" (John 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)).
“You are making a great mistake, my clear old friend, "I said." Never, from beginning to end of the Bible, will you find that God promises you a sign.”
“Why, don't He, now? Well, I'm no scholard, miss.”
“Let me tell you what He does say. Shall I?”
“If you please, miss.”
“Well, first of all, will you tell me what sort of people Jesus died for?”
“Why," she replied quickly, "in course He died for good people.”
“Did He?" I said." My Bible does not say so.
Think again.”
“Well there, I can't find it in my mind to tell you, miss.”
So I took my little Testament, and read very slowly and distinctly from the fifth chapter of Romans, eighth verse: —" God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
I read it twice, and on looking up the second time, was surprised to see the tears coursing each other down the dear old lady's cheeks. Oh! the power of God's Word “Well," I said, " now what sort of people did Jesus die for?”
She did not speak; her feelings choked her, and I waited anxiously for her answer.
At last it Caine, and it was worth waiting for.
“Well, there. I never heard the like o' that. Why, it says He died for sinners, and I’m a sinner!
He must ha' died for me.”
“Of course He did. How glad I am you know it," I replied.
“And to think I should never ha' knowed it afore! I do love His blessed name!”
Only those who are privileged to carry God's blessed message of love, and, so, often have to tell it to deaf ears and dull hearts, know the joy of seeing it received and believed in with such childlike simplicity. And if it be joy to the messenger, what must it be to the Master! He sees of the fruit of the "travail of his soul, and is satisfied.”
Reader, have you satisfied the heart of the Saviour-God?
I found afterward that my old lady had long known and loved the Lord Jesus. He was her joy and comfort.
But one thing was wrong. She knew she was not what a holy God could call good. Still she hoped to become better, and that at the end God would forgive her. But there was no rest for her heart in this. How could there be? Suppose she never got good enough for God. No wonder she could not say she was saved. But God saw her heart's deep need, and light from heaven flashed in upon her soul even now. By faith she saw that the One she loved and trusted had made Himself chargeable with her eternal salvation.
Not because she was good, but because she was not good. He, who is now in heaven, had been down to earth, and in His own body had received from God the sentence which had been passed upon her: "The soul that sinneth it shall die." Yet He was without spot or blemish—"knew no sin!”
O wondrous sight! God's own Son, the Prince of Life, hangs dead upon the cross!
Why? Sinner, it was for thee!
Thus only could thy sin be atoned for, else wouldst thou suffer for it forever in hell.
See how God loves you. Rather than that you, the guilty one, should perish, He hath made Him (Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:2121For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)).
And now, in glory, the man Christ Jesus answers to God for everything that is against the sinner who trusts Him. “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God” (Rom. 8:33, 3433Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 34Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. (Romans 8:33‑34)).
That is what the old lady now saw for the first time, and from that moment she never doubted her salvation again.
I saw her but a few times after this.
“Bless yer sweet face," she would say, as I entered her little cottage. But she is gone home now, and l shall soon see her again where we shall together gaze upon His face who has won our hearts by His unutterable love, and taught our lips to say, “I love His blessed name!”
Unseen we love Thee, dear Thy name;
But when our eyes behold
With joyful wonder, we'll exclaim,
“The half had not been told.”
For Thou exceedest all the fame
Our ears have ever heard;
How happy we who know Thy name,
And trust Thy faithful word
J. W.