HOW simple is the way of salvation, and yet many anxious, seeking souls remain in doubt and perplexity because they do no enter into the meaning of the words, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved”! They do not see that it is a simple trust in Christ, and in what He has done, that they require. Faith has no merit―it is like the empty hand, held out to receive the gift―and only through faith can we be saved. We must cast aside our own righteousnesses, which God declares to be as filthy rags, and take God’s word as He says it: “By grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.”
This condition of trusting partly to self and yet hoping partly in Christ, was that of a friend of mine, Mrs. B., a kind-hearted woman, honored and beloved by her children, and respected by her friends.
When on a visit to a daughter, Mrs. B. became acquainted with a blind girl, who was greatly afflicted, and who was given by God to rejoice in the furnace of affliction, Mrs. B. contrasted her own circumstances with those of this young woman; she considered the girl’s peace of mind, and her own unrest and dissatisfaction, and was astonished. This peace of soul, she said, had the effect of thoroughly arousing her own anxiety; but, strange to say, instead of seeking the peace where the blind girl had found hers, Mrs. B. became the more eager in her good works.
Being asked one day if she did not know the Saviour as precious to her, Mrs. B. burst into tears, exclaiming, “Oh that I could feel He were mine!” She continued in this state of mind, until one day she read the pages of a gospel paper, setting forth the truth of the work of Christ upon the cross, and showing that by His blood our sins are washed away. The Spirit of God applied the message of truth, and so led her from her own doings to an implicit trust in the great atonement of Jesus, and she became a rejoicing and happy believer; indeed, the joy that filled her soul illumined her countenance, and gave a happy testimony to the power of saving grace. Often would she exclaim, “Why did I not see it before?”
A few months after she had been turned from self-trust, to trust in Jesus, she was laid aside with severe illness. For several weeks her sufferings were intense, but her Saviour was ever to her a living and bright reality. She loved to contemplate her association with Him in the glory, longing earnestly for the time when she would see Him as He is, and dwell with Him forever.
One day, during her illness one of the highest-born in our land, who is kind towards those in a lowly station of life, visited her, and was greatly struck with the calm and peaceful expression of her face. This lady, in gentle sympathy, remarked what a blessing it was that she was so lovingly cared for by her children, and on the dying believer expressing her gratitude for this favor, the Lady further remarked, that her love for them must intensify her sorrow in parting with them, never to meet again this side of eternity.
A bright smile lit up the face of our dear Friend, as she exclaimed, “But think of what I am going into―even to live with Christ forever!” Which testimony filled the gracious visitor with astonishment.
Thus, in the ways of God, the testimony of the blind girl led Mrs. B. to seek His salvation, and eventually the testimony to God’s Christ reached one of the great and noble of the earth. Reader, whether the humblest or the highest on earth, all alike need Christ, for life or death, for time and eternity. P