"I don't deny, Mary, that you ought indeed to feel more sorrow on account of your sins, but that need not keep you from Christ; if you wait for more feeling, you will never get it. Come now, just as you are. 'Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.'"
"But it seems to me there never was such a sinner; will Jesus receive me?"
"He says, 'Look unto me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth.' He says, 'I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.' And again, 'Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.' Do you doubt his word?"
"O Miss Layton, what must I do?"
"Just go and tell God what you have been telling me, that you are a lost, ruined, helpless, undone sinner, utterly unable to help yourself, or make yourself any better; cast yourself entirely upon his mercy, pleading for salvation only through the blood and merits of Jesus Christ. He will not reject you; you need not fear, for none ever came to him in the appointed way and was refused. 'I will in no wise cast out.' You have the word of him who cannot lie."
"When shall I do it, Miss Layton?"
"Now; this moment; the present only is yours."
They knelt down, and most earnestly did Miss Layton plead with God for her young friend, that he would pardon her sins, that he would wash them all away in the blood of the Saviour, that he would enable her to lay hold by faith upon Christ, and trust in him alone for salvation. And Mary prayed for herself, confessing in broken words, and with many sighs and tears, her great sinfulness, her entire helplessness, and pleading for mercy only for the sake of Christ.
From that day there was a marked change in Mary Young. An amiable girl she had always been, but now much more so; so willing to do a kindness to any one, ever ready to deny herself that she might give pleasure to others, and so conscientious, so afraid to do wrong, seeming ever to feel herself in the presence of God, so meek and humble, and with a heart so full of love to Jesus, ever striving to lead her young friends to a like precious faith. The language of her heart was,
"Now will I tell to sinners round,
What a dear Saviour I have found."