DEATH IN THE CUP.
The rolling year again brought the winter. During the coldest weather
there was little to be done on the farm, and Wullie and Rab spent many
days at home. One very cold evening Rab went out "to look after the
coo," as he told his wife. While he was at the cow-shed, Donald
McPherson, who was passing that way in hope of seeing his old comrade,
approached him softly.
"Come awa wi' me to Daft Jamie's, and get a drop to warm you this cauld
night."
"I canna gang, Donald. It isna gude for me nor you to gang there."
"Hoot, man! I'll be bound ye are as dry as a fish oot o' water."
"Weel, dry or no dry, I canna gang. I hae na claes on that would keep me
frae the cauld to gang that length, and but a puir pair o' auld shoon to
my feet; and if I went to the hoose to get better, Jeannie would say,
'Where are ye gaen?' and Wullie would say, 'What are ye after noo?' Sa
ye see yoursel' I canna gang."
"I hae it. Ye jist gang in and say ye are but noo tauld to gang for the
doctor for a seek neebor."
"Na, na. I canna lee, wi' a' my fauts. I would liefer rin fast eneuch to
keep mysel' warm."
"Weel, do that," said the tempter; and Rab consented, though rather
reluctantly.
He did run fast enough to keep himself warm while going; but alas for
the home-coming! He had, of course, drunk more than was good for him.
Mrs. McAllister, who feared another visit from honest Wullie, urged
Donald to take him home. Donald took him a part of the way and left him.
"We hae had a gude auld-fashioned time tagither," said he; "but noo ye
maun hasten hame. Rin, for the life o' ye!" But poor Rab did not
comprehend his situation; he could not have hurried if he had. The cold
soon benumbed him; his feet refused to carry him, and he soon sank down
into the snow.
Meantime he had been missed at home, and search had been made for him.
It was a long time before it entered into the minds of his family that
he might have gone to Daft Jamie's. But with the thought Wullie quickly
seized his brother's plaid and his own, and hurried in the direction of
the inn. He had gotten about half the distance when he found the object
of his search. He succeeded in arousing him, wrapped him in his plaid,
and took him home as fast as his ill condition would permit. Rab was
allowed to remain near the fire until he was supposed to be warm. Then
Wullie offered to "loose his shoon." To his horror he discovered that
his feet had been frozen.
It was a trial to all, but particularly to Rab, that he had to be kept
in the house with sore feet. Still, no one at first realized the extent
of the injury; and many days had elapsed before a conviction fastened on
Rab's mind which found expression in these words:
"I will hae to lose my taes."
"No so bad as that, I hope," said his wife.
"I see nae help for it. Oh, why did I gang oot that unlucky night! I
wish I had let the coo gang withoot her supper; then I wouldna hae seen
Donald. I am afeared I will be a cripple a' the rest o' my days; and if
I am crippled in sic a way, I will never shaw my heid again."
"But, Rab, ye might hae been frozen to death; think o' that!"
"Ay, I hae thought o' that; and I hae thought o' anither thing, and that
is just this: Donald McPherson will hae gray hairs on his heid before I
forgie him for that night's wark. I would hae been at hame in my warm
bed but for him. I was aboot my ain business, and had nae intention o'
gaen to Daft Jamie's, when he cam along, and naething would do but I
maun gang wi' him. But, as God helps me to keep my promise, I will never
be found wi' him again."
"I am glad to hear ye say that," said Jeannie, "and I hope ye will stick
to it as lang as he is the same wild, warthless Donald; but if God
s'ould change his heart, it would be different, ye ken."
"It is my opeenion that God's grace will never reach Donald."
"Ye maunna say that. Wullie would tell ye no to limit the grace o' God."
"Ay, and Wullie would say there is mercy for me; but I canna feel sure
aboot it."
"And why s'ould there not be mercy for you?"
"Because, Jeannie, I hae been, and am still, a great sinner."
"Weel, Rab, it was but yester morn that I read in the gude Book, 'They
that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick;' and I
thought to mysel, here Jesus holds oot hope for the warst o' folk."
"It would seem so, Jeannie, but I ken little aboot sic things."
"And I am nae judge o' thae things either, although I would fain learn
aboot them. We will ask Wullie."
Accordingly, after Wullie had returned from his work, and had settled in
his favorite corner, with Jamie on his knee, Jeannie began to speak upon
the subject uppermost in her mind.
"Wullie, doesna the Bible hold forth hope and pardon to the warst o'
sinners?"
"Of course it does. Wha says it doesna?"
"Rab says he doesna feel a'thegither sure aboot it."
Wullie smiled a glad smile, not unmingled with surprise, while he
answered, "If you will test the promises, Rab, ye will ken better than
to doot them. Only turn to the Lord wi' full purpose o' heart. Tak the
promises as your ain, and cling to them, and ye shall save your soul;
for the Lord is ever ready to hear all that call upon his name."
"I hae only lately begun to think aboot sic things. I had some
conversation to-day wi' Jeannie that led her to speak to you aboot it."
"It is the strivings o' the Spirit, Rab. Oh, that ye would 'seek the
Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near!' He is
near to you noo. He is speaking to your conscience. He has said, 'Let
the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and
let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to
our God, for he will abundantly pardon.'"
"I am sure I would like to have that abundant pardon. But there is are
thing I canna mak clear in my ain mind. I canna weel see what maks sic a
difference between us. It may be that you are to be saved and I am to be
lost. Ye ken the ministers preach that one is sure to go to the gude
place, and anither to the bad, according to God's plan."
"I ken, Rab, some say that. But I dinna fash my held aboot election
while I can find sic words as these: 'Say unto them, 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?'"
"But, Wullie, might not that be only for the chosen people, the
Israelites?"
"Na, Rab, na. 'The Gentiles shall come to Thy light.' And listen to
this: 'Ho, _every one_ that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he
that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.' And again: 'Come unto me, all ye that
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' This is eneuch for
me; for I ken weel our blessed Maister wouldna call us to him to send
us empty awa."
"Weel, Wullie, there be folk wha say ane thing, and folk wha say anither
thing. Wha kens wha has the right o' it?"
"I will tell ye, Rab; ye just read the Ward o' God for yoursel. I am
sure ye are nae fule; and if ye were, ye could understand eneuch to be
saved; for the Bible declares that the wayfaring man, though a fule,
needna err therein. Noo read for yoursel, as I said, and tak the plain,
simple truths o' the Bible. Dinna gang aside frae the general course to
pick at what ye canna understand, for in so doing ye may wrest the
Scriptures to your ain destruction. Nane by seeking can find out God;
neither can they understand all the wards o' him wha is infinite in
wisdom."
"But what wad ye think if ye were in the kirk and ye s'ould hear it
sounded in your ears that some were left to eternal death?"
"I would no dispute it; but I would whisper softly to my heart sic
passages o' the Holy Ward as these: 'As Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whasoever
believeth in him s'ould not perish, but have eternal life.' 'For God so
loved the warld that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whasoever
believeth in him s'ould not perish, but have everlasting life.' 'For God
sent not his Son into the warld to condemn the warld, but that the warld
through him might be saved.'"
"That you would say to yoursel; but if a man was in trouble aboot the
doctrine o' election, and s'ould ask ye to comfort him, what would ye
tell him?"
"I would say, dinna meddle wi' decrees. Never gang back o' the promises.
They are strang eneuch to bear us up, and sweet eneuch to comfort us;
and I think a' we hae to do is to lay hand o' them as they are held oot
to us. And I will tell ye, Rab, what I honestly think: mair folk catch
at the question o' election as an excuse for putting off God's claims
upon them, than through fear that they are not o' the elect."