THOUGH I think our talks about Susie's school-days have been pleasant ones, I must not forget that, weak and small as the afflicted child was, she had a treasure of such value that gold and gems could not buy it-a never dying soul, so precious that the only way in which it could be redeemed was by the Savior, the Son of God, dying upon the cross. If you will open your Bibles at the first Epistle of Peter, and read the eighteenth and nineteenth verses of the first chapter, you will see for yourselves what the word of God says about the great cost at which every one who belongs to Christ has been redeemed.
I am sure all of you know that the Lord Jesus is a seeking Savior. (Luke 19:1010For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10).) And though little Susie often felt very sorry when her kind teacher Carrie, who you will remember was deaf, dumb and blind, told her by signs of all the Savior had suffered, it was not till the Holy Spirit skewed her herself as a lost and sinful child that she really came to Jesus and trusted Him as her own precious Savior.
I am sorry I cannot tell you just how and when Susie went to Jesus for salvation. Perhaps it was in the schoolroom while lessons were going on, or it may have been when she was alone, like a young Scotch girl of whose conversion a friend was telling me only a few days ago. I wonder if her true story will interest you as much as it did me? You shall hear it.
Her name is Maggie, and she lives in a fishing-village only a few miles out of Edinburgh. Maggie was very fond of going with her father to the meeting where a few Christians met every Lord's day, to remember the Lord's death in the breaking of bread. There was no meeting in the village where Maggie lived, but I think she rather enjoyed her long walk of quite four miles along the sea-shore, taking care always to be ready in good time so as not to keep her father waiting.
About four years ago, one of the Lord's servants, who knew Maggie quite well, noticed that her rosy face had a sad, almost a troubled, look on it, and felt sure the little girl was not happy. Drawing her to him at the close of the meeting, Mr. Roberts soon found he had not been mistaken as to the cause of Maggie's sorrow, for, as she told him between her sobs, "She did want to love the Lord Jesus, only she did not know how.”
It was "the old, old story" of a giving God, of a seeking Savior, of the love of Christ to sinners, that Maggie's friend had to tell the weeping girl. Opening his Bible at 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), he asked her to read the beautiful verse for him (one I am sure we all know). If Maggie then and there had simply believed in Christ, of course she would have gone home a very happy child, with her burden of sin all gone; but it was not till two or three weeks after, when Maggie, who had not been quite well, was keeping house all alone one Sunday evening, that she really trusted herself to Jesus.
Maggie was fond of reading, and as she turned the pages of a little book called "The Gospel Messenger" (published at the same office as the one you are reading), her eye fell upon a verse from God's own word, "He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." (Isa. 53:55But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5).) She read the words over and over again, and then by faith she just looked right away to Jesus, and thanked Him for having borne all her sins in His own body on the cross. She asked Him, too, to make her His loving child, His faithful little servant.
And so her tears were all dried, and the new deep joy of simply trusting Jesus made her life a very bright and happy one. She still loves to go to the meetings, but 1 think they must seem quite different to her now, for about a year since, to her great delight, she was allowed to take her place at the Lord's table, there to join with others in loving obedience to His own word, "This do in remembrance of me." (Luke 22:1919And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. (Luke 22:19).)
Maggie has known sorrow, too, for only a few weeks ago the Lord took her dearly-loved father to be with Himself. His illness was only a short one, but peace, the peace a risen Savior gives to those who trust Him, filled his soul. Seeing Maggie crying, as she sat by his bed, he laid his hand tenderly upon her head, saying as he did so, “Dinna fret, lassie, dinna fret."
Soon after he asked," Can't you help father sing a hymn, Maggie?"And though she felt very sad and lonely when the parting came, Maggie knows her father is with Christ," which is far better.”
But some of you are getting tired, and say, "You would like to hear more about Susie." Did she tell any one of how the Good Shepherd had sought and found her, a little straying lamb? Oh yes; taking the hand of her blind friend Carrie, she would spell the precious name of Jesus, adding, "He died for me. He loves me. I need not speak to Him on my fingers, but I talk to Him in my heart." I do not think she wrote many letters, for like most deaf mutes she found it difficult to express herself clearly on paper.
Any of my young readers who have received letters from the deaf and dumb will understand what I mean. Bertie says he does not know any deaf mutes, and wonders what sort of letters they write.
Can I show him any? I have just taken a paper from my desk, given to me some time ago by a young woman who is deaf and dumb, so I will copy it for him. I expect the writer, Mary Ann R., chose the form of question and answer because she thought it would be the most easy.
“Question. If you were to die would you go to heaven?
“Answer. Yes.
“O. How do you know?
“A. Because the Lord Jesus loves me.
“Q. How can you be sure that He loves you?
“A. Because He died for me.
“Q. When did you begin to love Jesus?
“A. When I was about ten years old. I was away from home at school.
“Q. How did you learn you were a sinner?
“A. The Bible says there is none righteous, only One; that is Jesus.
“Q. Are you ever tempted to do wrong?
“A. Yes, very often.
“Q. How do you know that you are saved?
“A. Because my sins are all gone. All washed away by the precious blood of Christ.”
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SUSIE WAS OFTEN FOUND KNEELING DOWN.
I cannot tell you how glad and thankful I was to get the paper you have just read, and to know the one who wrote it had really and truly been taught of God to know and own the Lord Jesus as her own precious Savior. His desire for us is that our lives as well as our lips should witness that we belong to Him, and Susie skewed by the cheerful, loving obedience in the schoolroom, as well as by gentle, unselfish ways in the playground, that she was trying to please and follow Christ.
Her quick temper had often led her into outbreaks of passion when teased or offended by her schoolmates. But when told that it would grieve the Savior to see her angry, she seemed greatly troubled, and asked, "What shall I do when the girls vex me?" Her teacher told her to ask Jesus to help her. She smiled, and held up both her thumbs, it being her way of saying the advice was "very good.”
Afterward when missed from her playfellows, her teachers knew where to look for, and often found Susie kneeling by her little bed. Once when asked why she had run away from a merry game, her reply was, "I was just going to be naughty, so I came to tell Jesus I was sorry and ask Him to keep me.”