ON the north-east coast, within a mile of the seashore, we lately met with three old men. All are poor, and each is nearing the end of his days. One was toiling up the steps to his lowly cottage on the hillside, when a child said to her parent―
“Oh, father! look at that poor old man; do go and speak to him about Jesus. He looks so weak as he totters up the steps.”
Her father accosted the old man, and spoke of the love of God in sending His Son to die for guilty sinners. The old man turned sharply round, and said―
“I have read about these things for a good many years now, and I don’t believe a word of it.”
Remonstrance was in vain; he walked into his house and closed the door, muttering his unbelief in the word of God.
The second old man was sitting on his donkey-cart, eating his dinner, when we made our acquaintance with him. He told us in answer to the question, “Are you saved?” that he found it very difficult to express his feelings, but assured us of his sincere belief in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“I believe,” said he, “every word that is in the Bible; I do not understand it all, but I believe it; and to explain to you, sir, what I mean, it is just like this: we sometimes have a fish, for dinner; the nice soft parts we eat and enjoy, but the bones, you know, we cannot manage. Now that fish is something like my Bible. I open it, I understand what the apostle John says, and such like; but all the hard parts that I cannot understand, I just leave as they are, like the bone of the fish; but they be all parts of God’s word, just as much as the bones are part of the fish.”
The third of the old men was leaning on his scythe by the roadside, having just left the hay-field. The newly-mown hay suggested the verse, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved,” so we quoted it, adding, “Is the last part true of you?”
A bright smile broke over his wrinkled but cheerful face as he answered, “No, thank God, for twenty years I have been able to say that I am saved,” When asked if he was quite sure, he replied, “Yes, quite; but I feel we do not praise Him enough; the language of my heart is Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!’”
His face lit up as only an old man’s face can when lighted by the beauty of holiness and the joy of God’s salvation, and the tears of joy ran down his cheeks as he dwelt upon the grace of God in bringing salvation to his soul.
Is my reader an old man? Do the dim eye, the gray locks, wrinkled brow, bent back, and tottering steps give him warning that the sands of time have nearly run out―that life’s milestones are almost passed― the journey nearly ended? Let me ask you, dear friend, with all the respect due to your age, “What are your prospects for eternity, and what is your present condition?” Are you, like the first of the three old men, closing the door of your heart upon the gracious invitation of God’s word? If you have hitherto done so, let me beseech you to do so no longer, lest those solemn words, “Because I have called, and ye refused; .... I also will laugh at your calamity, and mock when your fear cometh,” should be true of you.
Do not say you are too old or too ignorant to understand these things; learn a lesson from our second old friend, and receive in all simplicity the gracious words of God. Here is a plain, simple verse, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever” ―yes, “whosoever,” old as well as young: for, as a boy once said, “Whosoever means anybody; you, if you like”― “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” This is one of the “nice easy parts” that our old friend enjoyed. Instead of caviling about things hard to be understood, which, Peter tells us, they that are unlearned and unstable wrest to their own destruction, do be like him, and take God at His word―that plain word that all can understand― “Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out.” Then, instead of looking forward to a dark future, you will be able to rejoice, as did our friend in the harvest-field, and praise and adore as you dwell upon the great love and rich mercy that God has bestowed upon one so long a neglecter of so great salvation.
It would seem to be true that few are saved in old age; but, thank God, there are exceptions, as our reader would have seen, had he visited a fishing station in Scotland a short time since, where the word of God had been preached with power. The venerable old grandfather, and his young granddaughter, both believed in the Lord Jesus to the saving of their souls. What joy in the presence of the angels over these two I and how it magnifies the grace of God, that He can and does save even those whose whole lives have been one long chapter of neglect and indifference. Listen to the closing words of the message of grace: “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely!” H. N.