Nellie’s father was a commercial; often away from home and exposed to temptation in hotels and clubs, where his business led him, and—as many have found in similar circumstances—easily led into habits which in his heart he hated and knew to be wrong. It was a great grief to his young wife, who had left a happy home for his sake, to see her husband become a drunkard and lose all interest in his home, for the company of gamblers and theater-goers, with whom most of his evenings were spent. It was the pain and the sorrow of this that led her in the day of her distress to the Lord Jesus, to find in Him salvation and peace. Since the day of her conversion she had meekly borne the sorrow of her position, and daily prad that God would reach and save her husband.
They had a little daughter whose name was Nellie, and she was a great comfort to her mother. The dear child had learned at Sunday School to sing many of the precious Gospel hymns with which we are all familiar, and she sang them in the house to cheer her lonely mother in the evenings. The day of the Sunday School trip came round, and Nellie was in the country with the rest enjoying a day in the fields and woods. Wandering from the rest while gathering primroses, the dear child became lost in the wood, and when the hour for returning home had come, she could not be found. When they arrived in town and told of Nellie being lost, the mother was frantic with grief, and the father, indifferent as he was, became ashy pale. Four of the male teachers volunteered to accompany him to search for the lost child, and after several hours they found her asleep in a corner of the field, grasping in her hand a bunch of primroses. When he saw the sleeping child he burst into tears, and the four Christian men, seeing the favorable opportunity of pressing home upon him his own lost condion and bringing him into the presence of God, said, “Let us kneel down and thank God for finding Nellie safe and sound.”
He could not demur—indeed he had no desire to do so, for God had spoken to him that day, and he was in deep, soul trouble. When they had finished praying, Nellie’s father was still in tears, and seeing their chance, they pressed home upon him the claims of God and his need of conversion. Willingly did he listen to the truth, and told them how ashamed he was of his conduct toward his wife, and of his sin before God. It must have been there sitting on the green grass that he yielded himself to Christ and was saved by grace. When Nellie opened her eyes and saw her father she hugged him round the neck, and he covered the bright cheek with kisses, saying,
“Daddy is saved and going with Nellie now.”
Lifting the child in his arms, he carried her home with the bunch of primroses in her hand, which in her simplicity she handed to her mother as they entered the house, saying, “Daddy is saved now, Mamma,” which time has proved he truly was that day.
Never does he see a primrose by the wayside, but it reminds him of that day on which Nellie was lost in the field and he was found of the Saviour.
It is a very real thing to be saved. I wonder if you know it yourself personally, reader? You need to be, as surely as Nellie’s father, although you may not have gone so far into open sin as he did. You are a sinner all the same, with a sinful nature, and the only remedy is to accept Christ as your Saviour, and set on the way to heaven. This you will be when, like Nellie’s father, you cast yourself upon Him wholly, Who is “Mighty to save.”
ML 12/30/1945