ARRIVAL OF MR. MARTIN, THE MISSIONARY--HE PREACHES THE GOSPEL TO THE
INDIANS--LAURENCE LISTENS WITH ATTENTION--LEARNS MORE OF THE TRUTH, AND
EXPRESSES HIS WISH TO MAKE IT KNOWN TO OTHERS--THE SPRING RETURNS.
A keen, strong wind was blowing, driving the heavy snow which fell in
small sharp flakes over the ground, when, one evening shortly after the
arrival of Laurence, a dog sleigh was seen approaching the fort. The
sleigh, which was simply a narrow board turned up in front, a slight
iron frame forming the sides and back, and lined with buffalo skins, was
drawn by six dogs, harnessed two and two, while the driver ran behind,
with a long whip guiding the animals. On it came, in spite of the snow
storm, at rapid speed, for the sagacious dogs knew that they had nearly
reached the end of their journey. The traveller, who had faced the
dangers of a long journey over the trackless wintry waste, was welcomed
by Mr Ramsay, who conducted him to the house. Some time elapsed,
however, before he could venture near a fire, after the bitter cold to
which he had been exposed.
"We have been long looking for you, Mr Martin," said Mrs Ramsay, as
she came out to greet him; "and thank Heaven that you have arrived in
safety."
"We should thank the God of heaven and earth for all the blessings we
receive," answered Mr Martin, who was the missionary Mrs Ramsay had
been so anxious should come to form a station near the fort. "I shall
be amply repaid if I am permitted to win souls to Christ in this
neighbourhood."
"It will be a hard task, for they are deeply sunk in heathen ignorance,"
observed Mr Ramsay.
"An impossible task, if man alone were to engage in it," said Mr
Martin. "Man, however, is but the humble instrument; God the Holy
Spirit is the active agent, and with Him nothing is impossible. Let us
labour on, confident in that glorious fact; and whatever may appear in
the way, we may be sure that the victory will be won, not by us, but by
Him, who is all-powerful."
Such was the faith in which the new missionary commenced his labours
among the savage Crees of the woods and plains who frequented the
neighbourhood of the fort. The glad tidings of salvation by faith in
the blood of the Lamb, shed for sinful man, sounded strange in their
ears. Strange, too, it seemed to them, when they were told of His great
love, which made Him willingly yield himself up as an all-atoning
sacrifice of His abounding goodwill; and stranger still seemed His law,
that man should not only love his neighbours himself, but should love
his enemies; should do good to those who despitefully use and abuse him,
and should willingly forgive all who offend him, as he hopes to be
forgiven by God for his offences.
Among his most earnest hearers on the first day he preached the gospel
to the Indians assembled in the fort was young Laurence. He had
sufficiently recovered to leave the house, though he was now always
unwilling to be absent from it longer than he could help. All the time
he was within doors he was endeavouring to learn to read that wonderful
Book, which God in His mercy has given to man, that he may know His will
and understand His dealings with mankind.
Laurence, however, as yet had made little progress in reading, but he
could listen to Jeanie and her mother read to him without ever growing
weary.
Still as yet his mind did not comprehend many of the more glorious
truths, and he held to the idea that he himself had some great work to
do, to merit the love of God and the glory of Heaven.
He asked Mr Martin how he was to set about the work. "I want to be
very good," he said, "and to do something with which God will be highly
pleased, and then I am sure I shall go to heaven when I die."
"My dear young friend," answered Mr Martin, "had you read the Bible,
you would have found that `there are none that do good, no, not one;'
and that `God came not to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance.' God will certainly be well pleased with you, not from any
good works which you can do, but simply if you banish all thoughts of
your own merits, and put faith in His well-beloved Son; then He will
assuredly fulfil His promise to make you heir with Him of eternal life,
and receive you into that glorious heaven he has prepared for all those
who love Him."
"But I am afraid, sir, that I can never have faith enough or love enough
to satisfy God."
"You certainly, my young friend, can never have too much faith or too
much love," said Mr Martin. "But God does not say that He will measure
our faith or our love, or our sorrow for sin, but He simply tells us to
take him at His word, to show our love by our obedience; and then Jesus
Christ tells us what He would have all those who love Him to do, namely,
to follow His example--to make known His Gospel among those who do not
know it. Have you read the account of the thief on the cross?"
"I have heard it," said Laurence. "Jeanie read it to me yesterday."
"Did it not occur to you that, when Christ told that dying thief that he
should be with Him in paradise, it was not on account of his burning
faith, still less because he had performed any works, or because of
obedience, but simply because he believed that He who hung like himself
on the cross was the Messiah who should come into the world to die for
sinful men. But though He saves all who come to Him, simply if they
will but trust Him, He desires these to remain in the world, as He
desired His disciples, to make His Gospel known among their companions,
to tell them what great things the Lord has done for their souls; while
to some He gives the command to go forth with the glad tidings
throughout all lands; and thus He has put it into my heart, and enabled
me to come here to win souls for Him."
Day after day Laurence listened to these and other glorious truths which
Mr Martin unfolded to him from God's Word, and when the missionary was
otherwise engaged, Jeanie or Mrs Ramsay read to him, or assisted him in
learning to read. He felt himself becoming, as he was indeed, a new
creature; his old habits of thought were passing away. He wondered
sometimes how he could have thought as he had done.
"Ah, then I was in darkness," he said to himself. "I knew nothing of
the love of God I knew not how sinful I was, and how He hates sin,
though He loves the sinner. I knew not that God is so pure and holy
that even the heavens are not clean in His sight; and I had no idea how
sinful sin is, how contrary in every way to God. I had little thought
that God, my loving Father, would hear the prayers of so wicked, wayward
a child as I was, and as I am indeed still, if left to myself in my own
nakedness; but I know now that He does not look at me as I am in myself,
but as I am clothed with Christ's righteousness. Trusting in Him, I am
no longer naked, but dressed in His pure and spotless robe, at which God
will alone look when I offer up my prayers; and that, for the sake of
His son, He listens to all who are thus clothed. Oh how thankful I
ought to be that God has made known these joyous things to me!"
When, some days afterwards, Laurence expressed the same thoughts to Mr
Martin, the missionary replied, "Now these things are yours, can you be
so selfish as not to desire to make them known to others?"
"Oh, indeed, I do wish to make them known," exclaimed Laurence. "I
should like to tell every one I meet of them, and to go forth and find
people to whom to tell them."
"Before you do that, you must prepare yourself, you must be armed for
the battle you will have to fight; for a severe battle it is, and you
will find Satan, the great enemy to the truth, ever ready to oppose you.
The thought of this, however, will stimulate you to make the necessary
preparations, by study and prayer; and I trust, Laurence, that some day
God will employ you as His missionary among the savage Indians of this
long-benighted land."