IN one of the many dark villages of Spain several persons were lately brought into the marvelous light of the gospel of God’s grace. Although isolated from other Christians, having only an occasional visit from any of the Lord’s servants, those young converts were kept bright in the joy of salvation; and meeting together on the Lord’s days, to read the Scriptures, encouraged one another in the faith.
Such proceedings could not fail to attract attention in a Roman Catholic village, and though the consistent lives of the Christians excited some measure of admiration among their neighbors, still they were stigmatized as heretics by the community in general.
An aged shepherdess, named Beltazara, who lived in a lonely hut on the hillside above the village, heard of the joy and peace that some of its inhabitants had found, and sighed that she knew nothing of it. In her old age and loneliness, she had long pined for the assurance of a bright and eternal home, where her wearied spirit would find the love and the rest that had not been her portion in this world. From her very small earnings, she weekly laid by a little sum, which she handed over to the priest, that he should purchase for her an entrance into heaven; but her troubled conscience made her still uneasy, lest it should prove insufficient to bring so great a boon, much as she had to stint herself to give it.
At length, Beltazara determined to seek out those who were rejoicing in a present salvation, and to unburden her mind to them. The little band of Christians welcomed her lovingly, and, hearing her trouble, rejoiced to find that she was a hungering soul.
Shortly after this, two Christian women, who labored much for the Lord in Madrid, visited this village, and were at once asked to speak to Beltazara. They had long conversations together, (luring which, with many tears, Beltazara declared her readiness to give anything or to do anything for her soul’s salvation. She was slow to drink in the wondrous truth of God’s love in providing a Saviour, and her anxiety of soul seemed at first but to deepen. Far into the night she would stay, in eager converse with her patient teachers, who simply and earnestly sought to make it plain to her that Jesus had died to purchase pardon for the sinner, and that now it was offered to her freely, “without money and without price.”
Beltazara’s astonishment was great when she at length grasped the fact that the priest was powerless to open the gates of heaven to her, and that her hard-earned savings had been but thrown away. Not long afterward she was enabled to simply cast herself, as a lost sinner, at the Saviour’s feet, and, fully trusting in His finished work, she received forgiveness of sins, and life everlasting in Him.
Beltazara now proved the enmity of the world, for “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Her humble dwelling was attacked, great stones being hurled at it by the angry Roman Catholics, which not only threatened the destruction of the little hut, but also endangered her life. However, God graciously preserved her, and kept her faith from failing, and enabled her to stand unflinchingly for the Lord.
The priests became thoroughly alarmed, seeing one after another of their flock abandoning the idolatrous practices of their fathers, and forsaking the worship of saints and images. They made a house to house visitation, carefully choosing an hour when they would find the women alone, hoping that in the absence of their husbands they would the more easily win them back again. Many of those simple souls could not even read, but, spirit-taught, were enabled to silence their opponents. One, who was rather more intelligent in the word than the others, was a special object of the priests’ attack. They remained about an hour and a half in argument with her, Beltazara being present. The missioners declared to this woman, that as a heretic, she was condemned already, and going straight hell.
“Then, if you please, sirs, what must I do be saved?” repeating the question of the Jailor in Acts 16.
They replied, “Burn the Protestant books; return to the church of your fathers; confess your sins to the priest; do penance, and if you wish to read a gospel, we will give you one that is suitable for you.”
“How different is your gospel from that of Paul,” she quietly replied. “He says, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.’ (Acts 16:31). Thanks be to God, I have proved the blessed truth of it in my own soul, and not for all the world would I part with His precious word.”
And so the baffled priests had to leave as they had come, having utterly failed in persuading this faithful disciple of Christ to return to her delusive religion.
Beltazara’s delight, at their defeat, was unbounded. The dear old woman, wishing to express her satisfaction at the divine wisdom with which her friend had met their arguments, sought to bestow a reward according to her means. Drawing a penny from her pocket, she said to a little girl standing near, “Run and buy her a small loaf, for she has answered very well.”
I cannot tell you more about Beltazara at this time, but I would ask you, dear reader, if you have learned what God taught this poor woman, that salvation is “without money and without price”? (Isa. 55:1), or are you bringing something to God, thinking to purchase it? No doubt you do not offer him money, as Beltazara did, through her priest, but you may be bringing Him your good deeds, your prayers, or your religious observances. God can no more accept these, than He could her money, to purchase admittance into heaven, Oh! I pray you, come to the Saviour just as you are, a poor, vile, guilty sinner. Trust to the finished work of Christ, which is all sufficient for the soul’s salvation. Let the language of your heart be:
“Lord, I come, my sins confessing,
Jesus’ blood my only plea,”
and you will prove that God is true to His word: “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23).
W. W. H.