NEAR the ancient village of Ribchester, in a picturesque part of Lancashire, I met one summer morning an elderly man, who proved to be an Irish laborer seeking work, not a common “harvestman," but a fine intelligent-looking old man, who held himself erect, in spite of years and a bundle on his shoulder.
I handed him a leaflet as I passed, and he thanked me with no ordinary civility; and as soon as he had observed the heading he called me back.
Thinking he meant begging, and not wishing to be detained, I threw him a "copper." But the old man said, “It was not that I wanted. This tract says, ' We are all miserable sinners,' and I wanted to tell you I was once a miserable sinner, but I am now a happy sinner.”
Having been more than once taken in by tramps I cautiously replied, “Indeed, how did that come about?”
“Through a little girl," said the old man.
“Oh, she opened your eyes, did she?”
“No, sir, she was the instrument God used to open my poor blind eyes. I thought her a little angel, but she told me she was more like a devil.”
Having still some misgivings about the man, I simply asked him, “What part of Ireland do you come from?”
“From Westmeath," he replied;" but it is many years since I was there.”
“Were you a Catholic?”
“No, my people were High Church, but that is pure Romanism. Are you a preacher of the Gospel, sir?”
“Not by profession; that is to say, I am not paid for it. The salvation of God is free.”
“And I believe," said the Irishman," that the Gospel ought to be free, " and on this he proceeded to enlarge with some degree of spiritual intelligence.
By this time we were seated at the roadside, and the old man related, with extreme rapidity and native eloquence, what, I could not question, was the true account of his conversion.
The effect of the little girl's words, under the hand of God, was to show him that he was a lost sinner. "Ah," said he, “how few of these religious folks have found out that they are lost sinners!
I turned to them for instruction, for I was a poor scholar and could hardly read, but I found most of them to be nothing but whitewashed hypocrites I was in such a state, man I thought I was too bad to be saved, there could be no mercy for me.
I went from one to another, but could get no one to understand me. They thought I had murdthered somebody, and so I had—it was the Son of God I had murdthered—and I came to the conclusion that God had made me to damn me.
“At last I bethought me of a Cornish gentleman who might help me. So I went to him. I was in such a state of wild despair that my eyes appeared to be almost starting out of my head.
When he saw me he said, ' There's something wrong with you, William.' Yes, there is something wrong with me, sir,' said I, and I told him my state of despair. But oh, he did nothing for me. He treated it laughingly and said, ' Have you read the life of Mr. So-and-so? "No, sir,' said I, and he asked me if I had read the life of this one and that one, and said they would soon put me right.
“Well, I went away more confirmed than ever in the thought that there was no hope for me. God had made me to damn me.”
“How did you get peace at last?" I said.
“GOD REVEALED HIMSELF TO ME," was his reply; and he continued, “I never knew anything more wonderful except the conversion of Paul.
When I left the Cornish gentleman, I threw myself down in a field in sheer exhaustion and utter despair, and presently I fell into a sort of trance. In the far, far distance heaven seemed to open, and I could see Him, and could faintly catch the music of heaven. Then He said to me, 'Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which, God hath prepared for them that love him ' (1 Cor. 2:99But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (1 Corinthians 2:9), and read the following verse). I saw He had not made me to damn me. I knew He loved me, and I was saved.
“I at once thought every one would feel as I felt; but oh, my good man, I could get nobody to understand me. So many are just nothing better than whitewashed hypocrites, who have never felt themselves lost.
“You can soon find out," said he, “where a person is who begins to talk religiously. Just ask them, ' How were you brought to see yourself a lost sinner?”
My friend spoke so rapidly and yet so correctly that I said, “I wish I could speak as fast as you do.”
“Ah," said he," I have often had to thank God that I was no scholar, for I know if I had been I should just have been puffed up. It took me three hours the first time I tried to read the 3rd chapter of John, and I only got as far as the 16th verse and then fell asleep, with a mold, candle in my hand, which burned down into the socket, caught the curtain, burned a hole in the pillow, and awoke me by singeing my hair. I had to pay my landlady a sovereign next morning before she would be satisfied.”
I cannot recall everything the dear old man said; but it was a rare treat to listen to such words from one to whom God had revealed Himself, and the things He had prepared (on the ground of the precious blood of Christ) for a man who knew he only deserved damnation at His hands, He carried credentials in his coat pockets in the shape of a Testament and daily text-book, and though he could not read writing, he had learned to read the Bible so as to quote it with accuracy; and he certainly understood it better than many “divines.”
It was a pleasure to tell him of “that blessed hope," and he seemed readily to grasp the truth of the Lord's coming for His saints.
I could not help thinking, as we parted, "None teacheth like Him," and it was most cheering to reflect that God has doubtless many a gem hidden now to all eyes but His, save as His Spirit causes them to shine in some humble sphere, as in the case of this itinerant laborer, who considered five pence an hour a tempting sum, to be refused because it would throw him into the company of fellow-countrymen who would not put up with one that was not a co-religionist.
May all who read this story know the heart of God and the things “which he hath prepared for them that love him," through the precious blood of the Man we had murdered.
“The very spear that pierced His side
Drew forth the blood to save,”
and "God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ " (Acts 11:36).
E. B. G.