WHILE making a few visits in the district in which I live, I knocked at the door of Mrs.―. Knowing that God had lately been showing to many in the neighborhood His way of salvation, I asked her, after a little conversation, how long it was since she had known the Lord Jesus as her Saviour? A sad expression came over her face as she said, “Ah, but I am not saved yet!”
I tried to show Mrs.―that God desires that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth: and then, turning to the well-known scripture, John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24), asked her to read it for herself. As she read the words of Christ, “He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life,” I stopped her, and asked―
“Have you got everlasting life, Mrs.―?”
“I could not say that,” she replied, earnestly.
“Then you do not believe what God says to you; read it again.”
When Mrs.―had read the verse, I said, “Hath everlasting life. ‘I wonder whether God is telling us the truth when He says everlasting life’!”
Mrs.―looked startled. “If God says so,” she said, slowly, “I must have it.”
“Look at your Bible,” I said, “and see whether God says so.”
Oh, what joy broke over her face when she simply believed the words of Christ, and by trusting those blessed words knew that she had “everlasting life”; knew that she should “not come into condemnation,” but had “passed from death unto life.”
Presently, turning to a young girl, about fifteen years of age, Mrs.― said to her―
“Oh, M., don’t you see it? It’s awfu’ plain.”
Before long, M. too received the truth of God’s salvation, and ran home to tell her father and mother that she knew the Lord Jesus as her own Saviour. Before I left, the husband came in, and as soon as the wife saw him she said, in her simplicity―
“Oh, let Willie see it! let Willie see it!”
“Only God can give him eyes to see,” I said.
“Only speak to him, as you spoke to me,” pleaded the wife; and I did speak to her husband, but he had not yet seen himself to be a lost sinner, in need of salvation, and so, for the time at least, the words fell upon careless ears. God grant that he may yet know what it is to be one of those “lost” ones whom Christ came to seek and to save! R. M.