Time passed on swiftly with this interesting family; and after having partaken of some plain and wholesome refreshment, and enjoyed a few hours’ conversation with them, I found it was necessary for me to return homewards. The disposition and character of the parties may be in some sort ascertained by the expressions at parting.
“God send you safe home again,” said the aged mother, “and bless the day that brought
you to see two poor old creatures, such as we are, in our trouble and affliction. Come again, sir, come again when you can; and though I am a poor ignorant soul, and not fit to talk to such a gentleman as you, yet my dear child shall speak for me; she is the greatest comfort I have left; and I hope the good Lord will spare her to support my trembling limbs and feeble spirits, till I lie down with my other dear departed kindred in the grave.”
“Trust to the Lord,” I answered, “and remember his gracious promise: ‘Even to your old age I am He; and even to hoary hairs I will carry you.’”
“I thank you, sir,” said the daughter, “for your Christian kindness to me and my friends. I believe the blessing of the Lord has attended your visit, and I hope I have experienced it to be so. My dear father and mother will, I am sure, remember it; and I rejoice in the opportunity of seeing so kind a friend under this roof. My Saviour has been abundantly good to me in plucking me ‘as a brand from the burning,’ and showing me the way of life and peace; and I hope it is my heart’s desire to live to his glory. But I long to see these dear friends enjoy the power and comfort of religion likewise.”
“I think it evident,” I replied, “that the
promise is fulfilled in their case: ‘It shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.’”
“I believe it,” she said, “and praise God for the blessed hope.”
“Thank Him too, that you have been the happy instrument of bringing them to the light.”
“I do, sir; yet, when I think of my own unworthiness and insufficiency, I rejoice with trembling.”