THE ROAD-SWEEPER; OR, TWICE AT CHURCH IN

SEVENTY YEARS.

Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."-ISAIAH i. 18.

DON'T want anything of the kind, I don't do anybody any harm, I'm all right enough," was the answer of an aged road-sweeper, over whose head had passed upwards of seventy winters, to one of the Scripture Readers of a northern district, who had offered him a tract, and spoken a few words to him about his soul. The tract was refused; religion was treated with contempt. Alas, how often are these the thoughts, if not the very words of the men of this world! What do they want with religion, who "don't want anything"? Why need they ask for pardon, who "don't do anybody any harm"? Why go to CHRIST for salvation, when they are right enough without Him"? "Who is the LORD, that I should

obey his voice? I know not the LORD."

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Pharaoh's heart was not harder than that road-sweeper's, when he uttered those words. But those words were uttered in a time of health and strength, when death seemed distant even to one who had already passed the allotted time of three score years and ten. The next time our Reader saw him he was in bed, spitting blood. It needed little now to convince him of the shortness of time, and the nearness of eternity. The third chapter of St. John was read, and the nature and effects of the new birth fully explained to him. But all was a perfect mystery. He could neither read nor write, and had lived in the most complete ignorance, with regard to spiritual things, that can be conceived. The Reader endeavoured to point out to him the sinfulness of men by nature and by practice; his absolute need of a Saviour from the wrath and condemnation of GOD, who is holy, just, and good; that God so loved the world, that He gave His Son to die in the sinner's stead; that His justice was thus satisfied; and that, by faith in the blood and righteousness of Christ Jesus, and in the atonement which He made when He bore our sins on the Cross, we sinners are reckoned just and righteous for His merits' sake, and not

our own.

The Reader then entreated him to look unto Jesus for pardon and salvation, and to pray for the Holy Spirit to take of the things of Jesus, and to show them unto him. "I never said a prayer in my life," was his reply; "I don't know how to pray." So the

Reader set to work to explain to him the nature of prayer. He asked him, if he had offended his best friend, and wished to be reconciled to him again, whether he would not ask his forgiveness. "Yes," was the man's reply. "Then go," said the Reader, “just as simply to God. It is not the form of prayer which God delights to answer, but the sincere desire of the heart and soul; and if you only say, with a broken and contrite heart, God be merciful to me a sinner; pardon my sins for Christ's sake,' the Lord will in no wise turn a deaf ear to you, or cast you out." "I will ask my wife," (who was sitting by), said the poor man, “to tell me, for she knows better about these things than I do." The Reader explained that it was a personal thing between him and his Maker. "But I have never had any learning," he said, adding that he could not recollect ever having been to church, or chapel, but twice in his life, and then he could not understand what "the parson said. Before leaving, the Reader kneeled down in prayer, that God would bless His own Word, and that what the poor man knew not, God would teach him. The old man repeated the prayer after him, which greatly encouraged the Reader, who resolved to make him a subject of special prayer at his own little meetings on Sunday and Friday evenings.

On the following Sunday the Reader again visited the old man, and read to him the first chapter of the first Epistle of St. John. But so complete was his ignorance of spiritual things, that he felt quite at a loss how to make himself understood. He had to explain to him the meaning of every word, such as "faith," "salvation," &c. Nevertheless he felt encouraged, and continued to visit him four or five times a week for seven or eight months, always reading a portion of God's Word, which would, he trusted, through faith in Christ Jesus, make even this poor ignorant one "wise unto salvation." On one occasion, when the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans had been read to him, he said to the Reader, "what a blessed thing it must be to understand, and to feel as you do." He then explained that he had lost his parents when very young, and for many years he had worked in mines. "During that time," he said, "I had many very narrow escapes from death, and I now see God's great goodness in sparing my life." His great sorrow was that he could not read God's Word for himself, in the Reader's absence. On another occasion, when the fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah had been read, and his attention called to the free grace and mercy of God, and to His gracious and loving invitations to the chief of sinners, the old man burst into tears, and sobbed aloud. "Oh, I feel I have been a great sinner; I wish I could read," and again he sobbed aloud, his breast heaving with convulsive sorrow. The

Reader assured him that the invitation was to him, and to every sinner, who had need of forgiveness, and desired rest for his soul. It was an invitation to high and low, to rich and poor, to learned and unlearned. "God is no respecter of persons." It was an invitation to come to HIM, who alone could give peace and joy and lasting satisfaction to the immortal soul, THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, who is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life." "And though you cannot read," said the Reader to him, "you can hear and believe; and 'faith cometh by hearing,' the Bible says, 'and hearing by the Word of God."" After prayer the Reader took his leave, the old man heartily thanking him for the visit, and entreating him to come again soon.

He did go next day, subsequently repeating his visits as frequently as his other duties permitted. And though the aged sufferer was oftentimes in great pain, he always listened to the Word of God with deep interest, and almost breathless attention. Sometimes he would exclaim, "I pray the Lord to forgive me. I hope God will have mercy upon me." He seemed specially interested in the reading of such portions of the Word as the 23d, the 32d, the 86th, and the 103d Psalms, and the 3d and 7th chapters of the Book of Revelation. But the old man was getting weak, and feeble, and could say but little. The tears trickling down his furrowed cheeks alone told of the emotion within. On one of the Reader's last visits, he read in his ears the eleventh chapter of St. Matthew, calling his special attention to the three closing verses, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." At these words he exclaimed in an ecstacy of delight, "Ah! that is a blessed promise indeed," and he seemed to realize that, since Christ had so graciously invited him to come to HIM, he need not fear a hearty welcome, and a free gracious pardon for all the past. His last hour was now drawing near. The Publican's prayer had been adopted as his own prayer; and his last uttered words were, LORD, take me; LORD, receive my soul." He had repeatedly asked for our Reader, whom he wished to tell that he was going to be "with Christ," to thank him for all his kindness to him, and to say that he had been the means of leading him to Jesus, and so had been the means of the salvation of his soul.

THE INFIDEL SHOEMAKER; OR, FORTY YEARS

ABSENT FROM CHURCH.

"As I live, saith the LORD GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live."-EZEK. xxxiii. 11.

HEN I get into a house I begin at the bottom, and work my way up to the top," writes one of our Readers in a northern district, in many of the streets of which every room is a separate tenement, occupied by a separate family. Having on one occasion, thus "worked his way" to the top, he knocked at the back-room door, and was summoned to "come in." On entering the room he found an old man of seventy, sitting with a son, about forty years his junior, working at his trade, as a shoemaker. Being a perfect stranger to them the Reader at once introduced himself, and explained the object of his visit.

Religion, he soon discovered, was not an agreeable subject, or one with which they were at all familiar. They would have greatly preferred that the subject should drop as soon as commenced; or, at least, be put off till a more convenient season. Nevertheless, thought our Reader, whose sense of his responsibility was great, "whether they will bear, or whether they will forbear," he must speak unto them, and tell them, "Thus saith the LORD GOD." Seeing their complete ignorance as to spiritual things, and assuming their ignorance of the Word of God, he began, with a view to draw out some observations from themselves, with the creation of man. He showed them that "God created man in His own image," and, having given him "dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth," "put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it, and to keep it."

As a test, moreover, of man's obedience, "God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." The tempter came, man disobeyed God's command, and fell, bringing down upon him the known consequence of sin, death, bodily and spiritual, temporal and eternal. He showed them further that, as "by man came death," so "in Adam all die;" for "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." "There is none that doeth good, no, not one." He then read the awful sentence, "the soul that sinneth, it shall die," and explained that "without shedding of blood is no remission," and the necessity of "holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord,"

closing with the words of the Psalmist, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."

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At these latter words the old man exclaimed, Oh, but I don't believe there is such a place as hell. I will never believe God made man, put a temptation in his way, and, because he fell into it, is going to punish him for it. I believe there is a supreme power. I believe everything in nature may be a part of that power. But, however that may be, I believe God is too good and too just to punish in this world, and in the next too, if there is another world." The Reader pointed out the absurdity of such notions, even in the face of natural reason, for, if Nature was God, the old man must know perfectly well, that it was neither good nor just, according to his own interpretation of those words, inasmuch as it extended to poor suffering men neither pity nor help here, and gave him no hope whatever beyond the grave. He then opened his Bible, and showed them the vast difference between the ideal god, and the true and living God-the "God that made the world, and all things therein," the "Lord of heaven and earth," —infinite in mercy and love, full of compassion, and long-suffering, "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." For "God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." He then left them, beseeching them to do justice to GOD, and to read and study His Word.

A few days afterwards, the Reader paid them a second visit, when they again brought forward the same objections, which the Reader again refuted, showing them that God had mercifully set before us an open door, the way of life and the way of death, leaving us free to choose which we will follow. He then read from the thirty-third chapter of Ezekiel, "As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" He then went on

to show them that whatever man lost in Adam is more than made up to us in Christ; that the promises of being "heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ," and "to sit with Him on His throne," were not made to Adam, or to the holy angels; and that Adam's righteousness, and that of the angels, was at the best but a created righteousness, whereas the believer in Christ has an imputed righteousness, "even the righteousness of God," which is "unto all, and upon all them that believe." The old man seemed interested, and the Reader, on taking his leave, invited them to come to a Bible Class, which he intended to commence on the following Tuesday evening at his own house.