Seated in a row, close by the sea shore, about a dozen young girls might have been seen night after night through the summer, in the pretty little fishing village where I spent my holidays when a boy. Hymn singing was not so common then as now, but that company of happy girls did make the village ring as their sweet voices blended in singing their favorite hymn, the opening lines of which are:
“In the Christians’ home in glory,
There remains a land of rest,
Where my Saviour’s gone before me,
To fulfill my soul’s request.
He has fitted up the mansions,
Which eternally shall stand;
My stay shall not be transient,
In that holy, happy, land.”
They had all been converted during a time of special meetings in the village the previous winter, and now they kept together, as little Christians should, apart from their old companions and their former ways. It was not all smooth sailing with them, especially when they gathered on the sea-beach to sing Immanuel’s praise.
A band of godless girls, such as they themselves had been before their conversion, met together for the purpose of annoying them, calling names, and otherwise mocking, while they sang the praises of the Lord. One of the ringleaders of this band, was a girl named Nancy, a fisherman’s daughter. Nancy was not ashamed to show her colors on Satan’s side. She played all sorts of tricks on the young Christians, and kept the villagers in fun, by her witty sayings and wicked jests. Nancy knew better, but as is often the case, Satan was urging her on in her opposition to the Gospel, to help her forget her own condition as a lost sinner on the way to the pit.
The Christian girls made Nancy the subject of special prayer, and they believed that God would yet save her. She had served the devil faithfully, and they were firm in the conviction that she would yet as faithfully serve the Lord Jesus.
But as it often happens, the answer to their prayers came sooner than they thought. One morning, while one of the Christian girls was along the shore, she saw Nancy coming along, and fully expected to have the usual onset made upon her, but to her amazement, Nancy came up smiling, and in a subdued voice, said,
“Mary, I was converted yesterday, and I’ve been looking for you all morning to tell you.”
Mary could scarcely believe it; it seemed to have been wrought so suddenly. But when Nancy told the whole story, and how troubled she had been for long, but tried hard to hide it, Mary praised the Lord, and greeted Nancy as a sister in Christ.
“You’ll come down to the shore and testify tonight Nance; mind, there must be no hiding of your light beneath a bushel,” said Mary, as she hurried off to tell the good news to the others.
When the circle of Christian girls gathered that night, Nancy was one of the number, and there was many a wondering look among the fisher folk, as they saw Nancy’s well-known form, and heard her sing with all her might,
“My old companions, fare ye well,
I will not go with you to hell,
I mean with Jesus Christ to dwell,
Let me go, let me go.”
Nancy proved by her life and walk, that she was truly converted, and many heard from her lips, the wonderous story of the love of Jesus.
Loved reader, has there been such a change in you? Have you been truly converted to God?
ML 12/26/1943