VERY early one morning in the spring of 1864, a dear lad, not yet into his teens, was lying in bed in his cottage home on the small farm of H—on the east side of the Cheviots in Northumberland. Though just a lad he lay in deep distress, for some time previous he had made a very great discovery—he had seen himself in the sight of a righteous God to be a guilty, hell-deserving sinner, and this was the cause of his restlessness that morning.
But if he was concerned so deeply about his sinful condition, and so deeply anxious to be at peace with God, there was One whose eye was watching all that was going on in that dear lad's soul, and that heart was yearning for his blessing, even that same blessed One whose deep compassion is illustrated for us in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10), and who as the Good Shepherd went forth to seek the lost sheep (Luke 15) and who Himself said in Luke 19:1010For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10), "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Well, that morning as our dear young friend lay there in such deep distress of soul, like a flash there came to his memory a verse of a well-known hymn:—
“All burdened with sin and wholly undone,
To a Savior that died let us fly,
For, till washed in the blood of a crucified Lord,
We can never be ready to die.”
The remembrance of that verse led that dear lad to look away from himself and his sinfulness to the Lord Jesus, and to put his faith in the mighty work which He accomplished when upon the dark Cross of Calvary, and he saw that there all his sins and the judgment he so rightly deserved on their account were borne by the Lord Jesus, and he did "fly" or, in other words, he rested his soul on the finished work of the Lord Jesus, and at once entered into peace through "the blood of a crucified Lord.”
Many years have rolled past since that eventful morning, but our dear friend, now an old man, still holds on his way, sustained by the grace of the One who met and saved him in early years, and has also used him during these many years as a means of blessing to many others.
The foregoing narrative we were privileged to hear from his own lips at our little gospel meeting one Lord's Day night two or three years ago, and it is now sent forth in the earnest hope that any, who read these lines who are burdened with a load of guilt and sin as he was, may also be enabled to look away from themselves to the Lord Jesus, and rest their souls on the finished work of Him who also said while here in this world, "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." (John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37)). May we be able to sing:—
“My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesu's blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesu's name
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.”
J. W. DODDS