The writer of these lines, along with a friend, found themselves in O— with the object of distributing tracts and preaching the gospel. We had a wagon with us in which we traveled about from place to place. One evening we came to a fairly large town, where a number of people had gathered together out of curiosity to see us as we drove up in our wagon and offered some tracts. Their surprise was greater, when one of the strange visitors to their town stood up and cried out to them, “We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:2020Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20)). And taking his Testament out of his pocket, he read with a loud voice, the two following passages: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)), and: “Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by Him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38-3938Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38‑39)).
When he had read the passages, he connected them together and directed his remarks to those standing around, who all listened with great attention, others also coming to the doors of their houses to hear what the stranger had to say.
A few minutes thus went by, when an old white-haired woman came slowly down the street and stopped motionless opposite the wagon. Bent forward, the whole weight of her body supported on her staff, she stood there and listened attentively to the words of eternal life being preached.
When the speaker had ended, he stepped down from the wagon, as he wished to speak further with this old woman, apparently eager for salvation, and taking her by the hand said: “You support yourself firmly on your staff, I would like to know if you support yourself like that on Christ?”
The eyes of the old lady brightened, and lifting her eyes to heaven, she said, with great expression, “Yes, sir; that’s just what I do. I lean on Christ.”
“Then, is it also true of you, ‘Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me’?”
“Yes, sir; it is. He gives me comfort, rich comfort.”
“Then you possess a strong staff on which you can rely entirely. And you have need of such a staff. You are old and feeble, I can see.”
“Yes, I am no longer young; nearly ninety, sir.”
We were astonished to hear that. Although the outward appearance of the old woman indicated a great age, we would not have believed her to be that old. In order to prove her a little more, the following question was put to her: “Now, since you have experienced the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord for so long, would you ever think of giving up your Savior in your old age?”
I wish my readers could have seen the old woman answer that question. Raising her bent body to its full height, she replied with an earnestness, which was mixed with a sacred indignation: “What? Give up my Lord? Separate from my Savior? Not for the whole world, sir! What am I saying? Not for the world? No, not for ten thousand worlds!”
We gazed on this old Christian, with heartfelt joy and wonder. There she stood before us, a poor, simple woman, nearly 90 years old; but what sublimity was expressed in her wrinkled countenance — in her whole bearing! How her eyes sparkled with almost youthful fire. During a long life she had experienced the truth of the promises of God and her Savior was of more value to her than “ten thousand worlds.” O, how real, how overpowering is a true, upright Christianity, a living belief in the invisible God and in Him whom He has sent — Jesus Christ. Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed. And should his days reach ninety, or even a hundred years, he will always experience that his belief will be richly rewarded. After a while one of us asked this old lady, now become so dear to us, “Then you have given your whole heart to Christ, haven’t you?”
“Yes, my heart, my soul, my body — all have I entrusted to Him; all belongs to Him.”