THE WONDERFUL FIRE.
'Polly, my dear,' said grandmother the next day, as she was washing the
babies, 'I didn't forget what you asked me to do last night; but I'm
afraid, my dear, I'm very much afraid.'
'What are you afraid of, granny?' asked Poppy's mother.
'Why, I'm afraid of getting cold and hard again, my dear,' she said;
'it's all very well for Poppy, but I've been putting off so long, I'm
afraid of slipping into all the bad, old ways again. Why, my dear, I've
tried to pray and to read my Bible scores of times before, but my mind
has soon gone a-wandering away to my chickens, or to my butter or to
the bit of washing I do for the Hall, and all such like things. Now, my
dear, how do I know it won't be like that again?'
'Ye can't get cold and hard, granny, if the fire burns bright; and the
Lord will keep it alight. He will indeed.'
'What do you mean by the fire, my dear?'
'Why, granny, I saw it at the Mothers' Meeting, Miss Lloyd showed us it,
such a pretty picture! I've often thought of it since.'
'Tell me about it, my lass, if it won't bring the cough on.'
'No, I feel so much easier to-day, granny, it doesn't hurt me to talk
like it did last week. I'll stop if it tires me. Well, there was a fire
in the picture, burning on the hearth, a bright, cheerful, little fire,
like I used to make of an evening when John Henry came home. And in
front of the fire, granny, was a man throwing buckets full of water on
it to put it out; but the fire was blazing away, and did not seem a bit
the worse for it.'
'That was a queer thing, my dear!' said granny.
'Yes, but Miss Lloyd showed us that, behind the fire, on the other side
of the wall, another was standing; and this one was quietly pouring oil
into the fire to keep it burning. And it never had a chance of going
out, granny, for the oil did it a deal more good than the water did it
harm.'
'Well, my dear,' said grandmother, 'of course it would be so: oil makes
a deal of blaze when it falls on fire; but what has that got to do with
me and my poor old heart?'
But Polly had a bad fit of coughing, and the good old woman would not
let her answer her question till she had had two hours' quiet rest. Then
she seemed brighter again, and was able to go on.
'Miss Lloyd explained it beautiful, granny. She told us the fire was the
work of grace in our hearts. As soon as we trusted our souls to Jesus
to be saved, she said that fire was lighted, the good work was begun.
But then, she said, "Don't forget you've got an enemy. Satan will try to
put the fire out. He'll send somebody to laugh at you, or to plague you
about turning religious. That's one bucket of water! He'll send you a
lot of work to do, to try and make you think you've no time to think
about your soul. That's another bucket of water!" He'll have all sorts
of pleasures, and cares, and difficulties ready, all of them buckets of
water, granny.'
'Ay, my dear, I see that, and I'll be bound there's a bucket not far off
coming on my poor little fire. But what about the oil, my dear?'
'I'm coming to the oil, granny. Satan has his buckets of water, but the
dear Lord has His bottle of oil. It's the Holy Spirit, granny, who alone
can make us good, or keep us good. And if the Lord puts His Holy Spirit
in our hearts, it's of no use Satan trying to put the fire out; he'll
have to give it up for a bad job. Reach me the Testament, granny,
there's a verse I'll read to you.'
She turned over the leaves for some time, and at last she found the
words she wanted, and she put a mark against them, that granny might
find them for herself when she had gone away.
The words were these, 'He which hath begun a good work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.'
'Polly, my dear,' said granny, after a pause, 'do you think He'll do
that for me?'
'Do what, granny?'
'Do you think He will give me His Holy Spirit?'
And then Polly's mother gave grandmother another text; but this time she
did not find it, for she knew it by heart, 'If ye then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts unto your children, _how much more_ shall your
Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?'
Grandmother sat by the side of the bed long after Enoch and Elijah had
fallen asleep. She seemed to have no heart to bustle about that morning.
She wanted to feel sure that her soul was safe.
And when she thought that Poppy's mother was fast asleep, with her
babies lying beside her, granny knelt down and said aloud, 'O Lord, I'm
a poor sinful old woman, but I want Thee to save me. O Lord Jesus, Thou
hast died for me. I trust my soul to Thee. Here it is, I put it into Thy
hands. Oh give me Thy Holy Spirit; keep the fire bright in my soul,
please, Lord Jesus, do. Amen.'
But Poppy's mother was not asleep, she was only lying with her eyes
closed. And as the old woman got up from her knees she smiled, and said
softly,
'The soul that to Jesus has fled for repose,
He _will_ not, He _will_ not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavour to shake,
He'll never, no never, no never forsake.'
'Amen,' said granny, 'Amen.'