ONE evening a young lady received a message begging her to come at once to see old Mrs. G., who was dying. Now Miss S. knew that Mrs. G., had lived without God in the world, and, filled with anxiety for the immortal soul about to pass into eternity, she set off immediately for the poor woman's home.
“Home “did I say? Mrs. G.'s dwelling was a dark, miserable cellar, without windows, and only lighted by a pane or two of glass at the top of the door. When Miss S. reached the door, she stood still for a few moments to accustom her eyes to the gloom into which she was going.
What a scene lay before her! On a wretched bed in a corner of the cellar lay poor Mrs. G., and the visitor could just distinguish amid the darkness the figures of four Irishwomen, who were standing around her, wailing over her as though she were already dead, and they were "keening" at her “wake.” Over the bed hung the dying woman's daughter, clothed literally in rags, and eagerly crying, "Mother, mother, say `Our Father!' say it after me!" And then she went through the prayer, mispronouncing the words, and mixing them in such a fashion that they made no sense at all.
The visitor, who had been standing unobserved in the doorway, now came forward. The Irishwomen ceased their wailing. “Here’s the Teddy!" they cried; "here's the blessed angel!” and they made way for her to approach the bedside. “It all right, miss," said the dying woman's daughter; " it's all right, she's said ' Our Father.' "
Oh, how successful Satan is in blinding the eyes of his victims! Where do we read in the Holy Scriptures that a soul is made fit for the presence of God by saying, " Our Father which art in heaven " ? Scripture points us to Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood " (Rom. 3:24, 2524Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (Romans 3:24‑25)), but this poor dying woman was not asked to trust in the precious blood, which alone could cleanse away her sins, and be her passport to heaven. Could she truthfully call God her Father? How could the repetition of the words save her soul?
Miss S. bent over the bed, and spoke of the love of Jesus, but could not tell whether the poor creature heard her or not, for she was very deaf, and showed no signs of consciousness.
“She always went to her chapel when she was young," said one of the Irishwomen. As if her chapel-going could atone for a life of terrible sin!
Then the visitor knelt down and prayed, while the Irishwomen kept up a chorus of groans and exclamations of “Oh, the blessed angel! Hark at her! oh, the blessed angel!"
All this time the dying woman lay apparently unconscious, and feeling that she could do no more, the visitor left.
The next day old Mrs. G. died—" died and made no sign."
Most likely our readers are shocked at the ignorance of the poor degraded women who surrounded Mrs. G.'s bedside, and would not expect to be saved by repeating the Lord's prayer; but if resting on a respectable life, church or chapel-going, saying prayers or alms-deeds, in what consists the difference between such religion and that of poor Ann G. when she said, "It's all right, miss, she's said Our Father “? God's way of salvation is through faith in Christ! “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of ourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." (Eph. 2:8, 98For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8‑9).)
C. H. P.