IN passing a cottage on the outskirts of a town in Surrey I was struck with the conspicuous position of a large sheet almanac. The cottage door was partly open, giving a full view of the almanac, which was placed close to the door post. Two verses of Scripture on it, in clear, bold type, could easily be read from the road. They seemed like messages from God to anyone passing the door, telling that “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 the other, “He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)).
I often passed by the cottage, for it was near where I was staying for a short time. The door always seemed to be left open wide enough for the almanac to be fully seen. The first opportunity I had I visited the cottage.
“Will you tell me who gave you this almanac?” I said to a very old woman who came to the door.
“A lady always leaves me one every Christmas,” she replied, and then invited me in.
As I entered I pointed to the words and read them. “He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.” “Have you heard and believed?”
I asked her.
“I hope so!” was her answer.
“But don’t you know? Are you not sure?”
“I know that I have Christ,” she replied with deep feeling.
“How was it? Will you tell me about it?”
“Well, it was that almanac two years ago. That verse you have just read was on it then, and it was always catching my eye. One night I could not sleep for studying it over, and then at last it all came quite clear to me.”
“You mean you heard and believed God’s Word when He said He had sent His Son to die for you as a sinner?”
“Yes, that was just it!”
“And have you ever had any doubts about it since?”
“Well, I have often been a good bit troubled, but I can’t say I have ever doubted that I am saved. I know I am saved.”
How simply she had taken God at His word, and rested her soul upon it. Before I left I asked her how old she was.
“Ninety-four,” she answered. “Ah! if I had not read those words then, I could not read them now, for my sight has got too bad. I can’t go about to tell folks, but I always put the almanac there close to the door, so that they can read the words for themselves, and you would be surprised to see how many come on to that step, and seem to study over those words.”
Fellow-Christian, does not this old woman put many of us to shame? Are we doing all we can to enable our friends and neighbors “to read the words for themselves.”
There may be those around whom the question, “Are you saved?” would rouse to a sense of their awful danger in neglecting eternal things. Perhaps some whose hearts are aching to know how they can get peace with God, for few in these darkening days ever hear of the atoning death and blood-shedding of Christ on their behalf, that God, in virtue of that great redemption price—paid on Calvary’s cross for sinners, freely forgives everyone who turns to Him.
F. A.