A Voice from the Workhouse
Table of Contents
A Voice From the Workhouse: Part 1
The following notes have been sent to us by a dear christian friend; and we give them to our readers as a very fine illustration of the statement, that a Christian is not a poor man with large expectations, but the present possessor of unsearchable riches in Christ. It is good to be permitted to breathe an atmosphere so intensely real, in this day of shams.
A sick ward in a workhouse makes a good classroom sometimes for learning the all sufficiency of Christ. When we went in that Thursday afternoon (Feb. 6), old James in his quiet corner did not at first notice us. He was looking up steadfastly into heaven. They say in the night he often breaks out into singing, and that it is always the same full joy and peace in believing, whoever is there to see the shining of the light through the poor old broken pitcher. You know lie is quite deaf, and paralyzed down one side. Some fragments of his earlier history we have gathered up. Evidently preaching Christ has long been his delight, and if from a pauper's mattress now, "It don't matter where I am," he tells us; "I can't be worked here. When Christ is with me, He fills my heart with love, overflowing love. It's the fountain of love. I can't fathom it. It's love without a bottom. I don't want to boast of myself, but I may boast in the Lord. I often wish I were dead and gone home, but I he here till my appointed time, till my change come.".××
One of the old men put two or three of our snowdrops into his left hand: his right hand is clenched and powerless. That drew his attention, and he said so brightly, "' Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.' There is God in that. No painter could make one like it. We shall be dressed in white, white robes, and palms of victory in our hands, and we shall have the white stones too, and His name written on our foreheads, and we shall walk the golden streets." " I wanted to see you," lie said, pausing a little, " I wanted to tell you about last Monday night. I could not say, ' Thy will be done.' It seemed impossible for me to say it—I could not say it in truth. My lips could say it, but not my heart. And I thought over the tracts you had given me, I looked at all the apostles, at last I looked at St. Paul. 'Thy will he done: I wanted to get up so much. St. Paul had a thorn in the flesh, he prayed three times that it might be taken away. I have prayed. But Jesus says, ' My grace is sufficient for thee;' and so I lies contented. I can say it was one of the hardest things to me. It was impossible to say, ' Thy will be done/ See how the Lord removed the burden. I could not see anything that comforted me till I looked at Paul. I can see it ever since. It's the same promise now as then. I believe Jesus troubles as much about me as lie did about Paul! Paul was a sinner, and I am a sinner. He died for sinners such as I am. f My grace,' Jesus said; that's for me as well as Paul. I did not think I could have lain here two and thirty weeks, I did not think I could have lived so long. \ But' My grace is sufficient for thee.'" (And literally the dear disciple's mouth was filled with laughter.)
"He cheers me," he went on, exultingly. "I know He will lay no more upon me than He will enable me to bear. He gives me grace and strength according to my day. I trusts Him! I know He will do all things well. Here I lies; I can't do naught, nor stir. But like Paul says, I can do all things through Christ strengthening me. ' When I am weak, then I am strong.' When I meditates on the blessed Lord, I seems too lost to feel pain."
Then, after a brief silence: " What a blessed tiling it is the Lord knows our thoughts. I've been thinking that perhaps the Lord spares my life to give me to see that I ain't fully believed in Him. I didn't believe I had anything on my mind, but could just trust the Lord. But I had, you see. 4 Thy will be done 'I could not say; I hadn't given A voice from the workhouse Î
Him my desire, my will, I wants to live without any will of my own. I wants He to do His own will and not my will. We are blind, narrow sighted creatures till He lets light in upon our hearts."
Presently he continued, 'Ί have been like a running over well, praising the Lord for His mercies. It puts me in mind of what our Lord said to the woman at the well, 'springing up! The passages of scripture and the hymns springs up in my mind one after another as fast as I can say them. I've no temptation to tell of but that one. God says He will make a way for our escape."
When the large print hymn book was put into his hand open at "Lord, I can see, by faith in thee, a prospect bright, unfailing," and his spectacles reached down from the shelf, he read it down with marked delight, taking up one verse especially: -
"Ο how I thirst the chains to burst,
That weigh my spirit downward;
And there to flow in love's full glow,
With hearts like thine surrounded."
" Praise the Lord, that I can say from my heart!"
"High in the Father's house above" was next pointed out to him: -
" With Him I love, in spotless white,
In glory I shall shine;
His blissful presence my delight,
His love and glory mine."
"My delight! my delight! it is my delight, through mercy. Bless the Lord, it's all the blood of Jesus. It's redemption through Thy blood, the forgiveness of sins, as fits us to see Thy glory."
"All taint of sin shall be removed,
All evil done away;
And I shall dwell with God's beloved
Through God's eternal day."
"I'm very thankful for your kindness," he said, quite unconscious of having kept himself the " more blessed" place of giving, for we were simply listeners, receivers of the living water as it flowed. " A cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple shall in nowise lose its reward." " When saw we thee sick or in prison? they said. And Jesus answered, Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." He knows our thoughts—they come from Him. What good we do, it's for Christ. It's Christ in you, the hope of glory. May I be built up in Him!
"Tis all my hope and all my plea,
For me the Savior died!'
" If I live, it's by His grace I live to Him. If I die, I trust through His grace and strength I shall be landed on Canaan's happy shore—I feel happy," he said, with an emphasis that is quite indescribable. " I feels very weak, but I am strong in the Lord, I think stronger than when I was well. I can see more of the goodness of God, I can see more of His grace and strength now I am ill—now I am laid in this form. May the Lord mold me and fashion me in His own righteous image. I can't stir, I can't get up. I'm a monument of pardoning mercy.
" I don't know when I may die, it might be in a moment. I feels very weak. But one thing I know, that when Christ appears I shall be like Him, for I shall see Him as He is. When this poor corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality, then shall be fulfilled that saying, Death is swallowed up in victory. Ο death! where is thy sting? Ο grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be unto God that giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! _........
" I shall never see you again perhaps in this world, but I thank you, and shall as long as I live. God forever bless you. I wish I could hear you speak. Jesus Christ can hear, and He knows, that is the best of it. I shall greet you on the banks of deliverance, where the Savior will be, and all the apostles and prophets, and all the noble army of martyrs as kept the faith and died for the cause of their Master, Jesus..
"When Elijah was hid in the cave, the Lord went to him and asked ' What doest thou here, Elijah?' ' It's because of thy enemies. They have killed thy prophets with the sword and I am left alone.' 'Why, Elijah! the Lord says, ' I have seven thousand men who have not bowed to Baal. Why art thou afraid? I am thy God.' Seven thousand men! Glory to God! What a lot! So you see when he was so much frightened, the Lord is strength. The Lord went to him. He knowed his weakness. ' I have seven thousand men that have not bowed the knee to Baal,' to the wicked one. Seven thousand souls as Elijah didn't know of! So, you •see, the Lord has hundreds and thousands of precious souls as loves and serves Him, besides we. We don't know 'em. But then we shall......in the eternal world of joy."
(To be continued, if the Lord will.)
A Voice From the Workhouse: Part 2
Feb. 10. (Notes, verbatim.) " Since I've seen you, I've had temptations from the devil, but he could not overcome me. He said I was deceiving myself. He said I was a sinner. But I said Christ came into the world on purpose to save sinners. He came again. He said to me, ' Your faith is 110 good.' I said, ' There's the cross. There's the blood of Jesus. Is that any good? I believes in it. Mine is not a dead faith, it's a living faith. There's two sorts. Faith without works is dead.' So he vanished away at that, when I telled him about the cross, and the blood of Christ. He thought of doing me, I suppose, because I was weak. But I was under the care of Him that bears the world and all things up. How could I sink? My faith is an unshaken faith. It's a full grounded faith. I know what the faith of the world is. A faith without works is dead. But when we have the faith of Christ, we be strengthened. It's like a wall of fire about us. We're kept from the enemy.
" Christ did not die in vain. I know in Him I have life. And He is able to keep that I have committed to Him. I committed my soul, and my body, and my spirit, and all that I have to Him. I have given up the world, and I've given up myself. I lie in His hands as the clay in the hands of the potter.
" We may be deformed now, but the days are coming when we shall be like the Lord. There's a day coming when we shall have a glorified body, and be filled with that full glory which we can't enjoy so much till we experience that change.. How long! I wish the day was here.
" We poor creatures, wandering through the wilderness, are saved by faith and by hope. The Lord is my strength and my salvation. Let the devil tempt as much as ever he will, I will never give up that faith. I've committed my all to the Savior, and I trusts Him. I trusts when I can't see.
" So I aint had Satan since. The blood of the cross quite settled him. He said Christ died for some, for some He did not die. But I telled him he were a liar from the beginning, and he continued so still.
" I never shall be lost! I am saved! I have that hope in me, the evidence I am the Lord's. He has spared my life for some end. It's for His glory, I hope. I hope to praise Him while I live. It is but a short time I shall have strength to speak good of His name. He is not willing that any should perish. Like this tract says ("Words of Truth''), it's impossible to be saved without being born again, we cannot see God. But there's a faith as will carry us through this dark vale of tears to that celestial hill—the pilgrim's home. I feel at this time so firm in Christ. I enjoy sweet communion with my Savior. I have peace—peace which the world cannot give or take away.
" I don't deceive myself. I am not out of my mind. I was; but I am in my right mind now. The Lord have removed those doubts and fears; those slavish, unworthy doubts and fears, the Lord have removed them all. I am full of light. I am full of love, full of joy, full of peace. All through Jesus Christ—not of myself. I know that in my flesh dwells no good thing. I have a hope blooming with immortality. My life is hid with Christ in God—blended with Him—grounded in Him—settled in Him. When I enjoy the Savior, can I be wrong? When Christ is formed in my heart, can I be wrong? No, devil; it aint me! I didn't use to feel like this; but thou hast changed me from darkness to light, Lord Jesus. Thou savest me from the power of the devil. The devil shall not have dominion over me. The flesh, I know, is weak; but the spirit is strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. I shall rejoice with angels and archangels. I shall have nothing to do with the blackness of darkness. It don't matter where I am now; the Lord is with me—my hope, my strength, my safeguard, and my tower, " whereunto I continually resort." I can carry all my troubles to Him. He cares for me. Yes, the Lord cares for me! My name is written in heaven; my name is written in the Lamb's book of life. And it's all alone of His mercy; it's all alone of His free gift; it's all alone of His grace. Yes, it's the grace of God that's in my heart. Ο that I may ever be like a little child! Ο may I hang on Jesus, may I trust in Him at all times, and pour out my heart before Him—the strength of my heart and my portion forever—my God!
" Whatever may come, I hope to fight the battles of the Lord, and to be a witness for Christ. Ο that I may be a true witness. Ο bless God that, through mercy and through grace, I've the love of Christ that strengthens me and supports me from day to day. Soon this poor lisping tongue will be silent; but I shall behold Him. I shall hang upon thee, Lord Jesus; I shall trust in thee. Thou hast promised never to leave me nor forsake, but to be my strength."
Speaking of conversion, later on, he said, with deep solemnity—-the "unseen" things in view—"It's a great change. It's as big a change as from day to night! We can't see ourselves till then—like the blind man that came to the Lord. We are wonderfully made."
Some notes, taken down at different times, have not as yet been transcribed.
Feb. 27. His greeting was, " Here I am, but it is the hand of God. I can say at this time, with a true heart, that Christ is precious beyond everything in the world. His names are all so clear, so precious: I would not part with one of His names for the world. I am speaking from experience. He is called a Savior, and He is able to save me to the very uttermost. It says He is called Jesus, and I could not part with that name. And He is called the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God! How precious, how deep everything is in His name! He is the Firstborn! Our righteousness; our all in all. He knows every thought, every interest of the heart, glory be to His name! He knows our temptations and our afflictions. He is our great High Priest. I bless God, He is able and willing to forgive us our sins........ He is called Wonderful, and 'Counselor.' I feel Him to be ' Counselor.'—He puts all the good thoughts into my heart. He is the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. I could not barter one of those names for ten thousand worlds. He is everything.
" He is called the Good Shepherd......He says He is the Door.......He is called the Vine. Every branch that beareth fruit, He purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. My religion would be vain, if I did not love His name. I bless God there is a reality in true religion. There is a love that casts out fear, all slavish fear. I bless God that I feel Him at this time precious to my soul Christ is formed in me. But I feel sometimes a little tempted of the devil, and I have been a little tried since I saw you. He says I brags too much about religion. I telled him, I did not think there could be too much about a Good Master, that has done so much for me. I said that I were blind—He opened my eyes. I was in darkness—He gave me light. Can I speak too much in His praise? Can I speak too much about Jesus, who did so much for me? The Lord have forgiven all my sins, and written my name in the Lamb's book of life. I know that when I shall lay this poor weak body down, I have a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. And that is not all He has done for me, but He keeps me in perfect peace from day to day. My mind is set on Him. Whether I wake or sleep, I am the Lord's: I am sure I am. The witness is within. I know the outward show, I've known it for years; it's nothing but a shell.—There's no kernel in it, no inside. No, it's all formal; it's all destitute of the Spirit of God, the love of God, the power of God. But I am made a new creature in Christ Jesus. He have such a lot of names, and they're all endeared to me that I can think of. He's my first thoughts and my last thoughts. He makes all my bed in my affliction. I lies here today as though I had but just laid down, and I've laid nearly five and thirty weeks on my back. I can't stir, I can't stand of myself. But here I lies, as though it were just now. What a blessing! It must have been the Lord. When I was well, I did not think I could have done it. I'm a monument of His holy mercy. I feel I'm a growing in grace. I am growing in the knowledge of Christ. I never could say what I can say now from my heart. Jesus loves me, and I live in Him. He is in me and I am in Him. We be riveted together, as it were. He is an unchangeable Friend, and I trusts Him. I feel God is my Father through Christ. I am washed. I am being sanctified and made meet for heaven. I feel the pardon of my sins, and I seem to feel the love of Christ, and such a love for heaven! I have no fear of hell. I've no fear of any torment, no fear of any trouble, If I were to die today, I've got assurance—I've a living faith. I seem sometimes a mystery to myself. I never saw God, I never saw Christ, but I have faith. I believe in them as though I had seen them today with my bodily eyes. I have never seen heaven; never seen God nor Christ; but my faith is so strong, I can see them as fair as I can see the light. We need not go many miles to see Jesus. If I had to walk to Calvary, to Gethsemane, I never could. But I can go, bless God, in a moment. I have Him in my heart. God is my record, that what I say is truth. I shall have to appear before Him, and give an account of the deeds done in the body; and if I lie before Him on this bed, and don't speak the truth, hell must be before me, and a hot one!
" May I improve my time. God has given me a talent, and if all the devils were in this room, I'm determined to own Christ as my all. If He takes me in a moment away from the world, I will own Him as my Savior and my God. He is the Son of God: I know it; I believe it. He was the Man of sorrows once, and acquainted with grief. But He is the God of my salvation."