The Saturday night after her husband's death, she went to the store for some groceries. It was the usual custom for her husband, when he would hear the door open, to go down-stairs and carry the basket up for her; she remarked, when she returned home and experienced his absence for the first time, "No Papa to come and carry up the basket to-night!" How quickly she remembered this little act of courtesy and kindness on his part. "He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful in much." Gratitude to God and one another for little deeds of kindness is well-pleasing in His sight.
She fed the hungry and clothed the naked; many a loaf of bread she carried with her own hands to the necessitous. Many a poor, crying, shivering, half-clad child was comfortably clothed through her instrumentality: "He that honoreth Him hath mercy on the poor."—Prov. xiv. 31. "The poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always." Shall the Christian's remembrance of these words be overlooked in the great day of reckoning? Will the dear Lord not recognize even a cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple? Verily it shall in no wise lose its reward. To care for the poor is practical Christianity. The question will not be asked in the great day of account: Did you preach long, deep, and eloquent sermons? Or offer long and pharisaical prayers? No. But He will "say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed." Why? "Inherit the kingdom.... For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?... And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
As Christian workers we have constantly to remember that while we are justified by our faith here, and now, we will be judged by our works, yonder.
Henry Law, in "Christ is All," wisely remarks that, "Fruit is the sign of healthy trees, and so works evidence that we have life." "By their fruits ye shall know them." "Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?"
To Die is Gain.
How frail, how short, how uncertain is human life. "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down."—Job xiv. 1. "As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more."—Ps. ciii. 15-16.
"All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away, but the Word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you."—1 Pet. i. 24-25.
These very solemn passages of Scripture reveal to us two distinct lines of thought: First, The mutable; and, secondly, the immutable. If a man die, shall he live again? Ah, it is here, amid the ravages which death makes, that we hear Christ's blessed words, "I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth on me though he were dead, yet shall he live."
While it is true that this body must droop and die, and return to dust, yet death cannot touch the soul. It is immortal, it has been created in the image of God. He is a spirit, and a spirit is indestructible. The essence of the soul is spiritual. From the hour of the new birth, the soul of man begins to ripen for glory. All its powers and capacities are gradually developed and made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.