The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1869-04-14
The Old Scotch Woman's Faith.

BY the side OF ripping brook, IN one OF
the secluded glens of Scotland, there stands
low, mud matched cottage, with its neat
honeysuckle porch facing the south. Be-
meath this humble roof, on snow-white bed,
lay, not long ago, old Nancy, the Scotch
woman, patiently and cheerfully awaiting the
moment when her happy spirit would take
its fight to ''mansions in the Skies expe-
riencing, with holy Paul, eve knOw that if
our earthly house of this tabernacle were dis
solved, we have building of God, house
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens"
By her bedside, on small table, lay her
spectacles, and her well-thumbed Bble-her
'barrel and her cruse," as she used to call
it-from which she daily, yea, hourly, spir-
itually fed on the "Bread of Life" A
young minister frequently called to see her.
He loved to listen to her simple expressions
of Bible truths; for when she spoke of her
''inheritance, incorruptible, undefled, and
that fadeth not away" it seemed but little
way off, and the listener almost fancied he
heard the redeemed in heaven saying, "Unto
Him that loved us, and washed US from our
sins in His own blood"
One day the young minister put to the
happy saint the following startling question:
''Now, Nanny" he said, "what if, after all
your prayers, and watching, and waiting,
God should suffer your soul to be eternally
lost?" Pious Nanny raised herself on her
elbow, and turning to him wistful look, laid
her right hand on the "precious Bible which
lay open before her, and quietly replied,
sac, dearie me, is that a the length you
haze got yet, man? "-and then continued,
her eyes sparkling with almost heavenly
brightness, "God would haze the greatest loss.
Poor Mamie would but lose her soul, and that
would be great loss indeed; but God
would lose HIS honor and His Character
Haven't l hung my soul upon His exceed
ing great and precious prOmises? and if
He brak' His word, He would make Himself
liar, and a the unsverse WOuld rush into
confusiOn'"
Thus spake the old Scotch pilgrim. These
we're among the last words that fell from her
dying lips; and most precious words they
were-Gke "apples of gold in baskets of sill
yer" Let the reader consider them. They
apply to every step of the pilgrims path,
from the first to the last.
By faith the old Scotch woman had
cast her souls salvation upon Gods promise
in Christ by the Gospel. She knew that
His dear Son had said, "He that heareth
my word, and believeth on Him that sent
me hath everlasting life, and shall not come
into condemnation, but is passed from death
unto life" She knew that God had said,
"By Him Christ all that believe are justi-
fed from all things" that "the blood of
Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all
SIM" for Gle bare our sins in His own
body on the tree" This was his first step.
And all through life the Scotch pilgrim hung
upon HIS exceeding great and precious
promises" for all things and in every hour
of need. The divine argument of Romans
viii. was hers by faith: "He that spared
not His own Son, but delivered Him up for
us all, how shall He not with Him also freely
give US all things?" In every sorrow she
had found Him a Every present help in
trouble" and now, about to leave the weary
wilderness for her everlasting home, could
she think that He would prove unfaithful to
His word? No. Sooner than poor old |,