Memoirs of Aunt Sarah (1920)

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Memoirs

Aunt Sarah

By MINNA EDGAR.

15th. Thousand, MEMOIRS

OF

AUNT SARAH

BY MINNA EDGAR

AUTHOR OF 'MEMOIRS OF DOCTOR JOHN EDGAR"

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Further copies of this brochure can be procured by applying to MORTON EDGAR, 224 WEST REGENT STREET, GLASGOW, SCOTLAND.

Mary Ann (nee Hancock)

PREFACE

F EW who have been in touch with the "Bible Students" have not heard of Aunt Sarah of the Church at Glasgow. Those who were privileged to know her best realise that her influence still lives with us. No true child of God could be for long in her presence without receiving some spiritual stimulus and cheer.

It is with the desire to let Aunt Sarah yet speak to us that this brief memoir is written. We are persuaded that all who read these pages, and note how the Lord sustained her throughout her Christian pilgrimage, will be stimulated and refreshed. Her constant desire was to glorify her Saviour. May we all endeavour to emulate her in the many ways in which she imitated Christ.

The Divine Plan of the Ages.

This is the book which Aunt Sarah treasured next to her Bible. She was an earnest Bible reader from girlhood, and set great store on the Sacred Word; but she confessed that she never understood its fulness, nor enjoyed its depth of beauty, until she read "The Divine Plan of the Ages."

If you have not read this wonderful work yourself, do so now. It will repay you.

Price : 2/1, or 50 cents (including postage).

Doctor John Edgar's two addresses, mentioned below, can now be procured in booklet form. These two discourses first appeared in "The Glasgow Convention Report for 1909," which is now out of print. For list of booklets and prices, see advertisement at end of this brochure.

MEMOIRS OF AUNT SARAH

Her Conversion.

Aunt Sarah was one of those Christians who could tell the very date of the happy day that fixed her choice on Jesus. It was her delight to recount over and over again the way the Lord had led her to see Him as her personal Saviour. She had been taught that "eternal torment" was the wages of sin, and realised that she was a sinner needing forgiveness. She longed to be "saved," and earnestly sought the help of Christian friends, but failed to find the comfort of full assurance. She determined to seek till she found; and for several weeks, night and day, with deep anxiety she laboured to enter into the rest of faith. There was one whom she feared might prove a rival to the Lord, and might divert her thoughts from spiritual to earthly hopes. In her earnestness, she prayed that this friend, for whom she had a strong affection, might be kept away till the Lord had taken the first place in her heart. In one way and another the counter-attraction was withheld, and Aunt Sarah was permitted to struggle on undisturbed in her endeavours to gain the light.

Many a sleepless hour she passed in great distress. At last, one night, worn and weary, she cried out to the Lord to give her sleep or she would lose her reason. In the morning she arose refreshed. God, in His love and pity, had answered her cry. She marvelled, and gladly accepted this as a token from the Lord. Later, while preparing the breakfast, and slowly stirring the meal into the porridge-pot, she kept repeating these words : " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."

"Do I not believe on Him?" she asked herself. "Surely I do. I believe He died that I might be forgiven!"

She continued stirring the porridge, thinking hard, then suddenly said aloud: "Thou shalt be saved!" Why, then, I must be saved! And is that all I have to do to be saved? Only to believe that Jesus died for me? Oh! that's just grand!"

The Word of God, in its simplicity, spoke peace to her troubled soul. The first step of faith was taken tremblingly and fearfully, and she dared to believe that her sins were laid on Him who loved her and gave Himself for her.

The joy of this assurance had no sooner begun to fill her heart, than doubts were whispered into her mind. She felt the chill of unbelief. The Adversary suggested that it was too good to be true that such as she could be accepted by the Lord. She felt as if the Evil One stood behind her, and "spurtle" in hand she turned round, and, striking at her unseen foe, cried: "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth me from all sin." And that settled the matter. Doubts on this question never troubled her again. Knowing Jesus called Satan "a liar from the beginning," she, therefore, then and there accused her enemy of falsehood. Having, by the Word, vanquished him for the time being, she attended to her work, while wave after wave of holy joy and gratitude filled her being. When telling of this experience, she often remarked: "So I began to make the porridge a sinner, and I dished them a saint." Not only did she believe in the Lord, she gave herself fully to Him.

That evening, for the first time after a long interval, she heard the familiar knock at the hall door. As she joyfully ran to open it, she said triumphantly to the Lord and to herself: "Yes, he can come now, for he can never get the first place in my heart, Jesus is there!"

She opened the door widely, her face radiant with a light it never had before. Soon her friend realised that her affection for him had been displaced, and that Sarah, as her name implies, was now a "princess"—one of the daughters of the King. The dear Lord kept her heart for Himself, and never shared it with another. Doubtless it cost her ardent nature much suffering, but she willingly, with her own hands, put from her a union which she knew would not be "in the Lord." It was not in vain, however, that she made this voluntary sacrifice. The pain it caused deepened and widened the channels of her sympathy as nothing else could have done. Dear Aunt Sarah would not have become so tender and comforting a "mother in Israel" had she never loved and surrendered.

Her early Work for the Lord.

It was soon evident that Sarah Ferrie would not be content to render half-hearted service. Before many days all her friends knew of the change. At once she began to "speak for Jesus," and the Lord used her as a means of bringing many to Himself. She was most diligent in finding opportunities for service, and soon became well known as an earnest and successful Christian worker. She had many natural nephews and nieces—some of whom became Christian fellow-workers with her—but, as her kind and cheerful disposition rendered her a general favourite, before long others also affectionately called her "Aunt Sarah," and this became her accepted designation, even by those who did not know her intimately. She regularly visited the infirmaries and sang to the patients, speaking also to many at their bedsides. The "little woman with the black eyes and the black bag"—a description of herself that gave her some merriment—was eagerly looked for and welcomed by many a poor invalid.

In the bag she carried little tracts and booklets and some sweets, besides her Bible and hymn book. One rarely saw Aunt Sarah without her satchel.

The temperance movement also claimed her sympathy and support, but she felt this work less congenial. The Saturday night entertainments, intended to afford a counter-attraction to the public house, jarred upon her spirit. After a time she concluded that it was not the duty of "saints to amuse sinners," and accordingly she withdrew from the association. And the same lesson was taught her in private life. After her conversion, she was so wishful to demonstrate to her worldly friends that a Christian need not be melancholy, that she let her humour and lively wit have full play. Sometimes she felt she had gone to extremes in provoking laughter and fun at a social gathering. After an evening of such "innocent mirth-making" she was occasionally troubled in mind, and once wistfully remarked to a Christian niece: "I'm afraid, Minnie, I can't call all that nonsense sanctified humour!" Step by step her Lord led her to devote her winsome joyousness wholly to His service.

It flashed most brightly in the testimony meeting. If Aunt Sarah were present she was usually among the first to recount some evidences of her Father's love and goodness. Those who knew her best are well aware that she had to struggle against a natural shrinking from taking a prominent place. We are glad she overcame so often, for we remember many a helpful lesson she thus passed on to us. She was almost invariably humorous, but the Lord used the laugh to break down any restraining stiffness. It was always easier for others to speak after Aunt Sarah had testified. Besides the laugh helped to fix the lesson in our minds.

A testimony given about ten years before her death still lives in the memory of some. It is so typical of her bright homely style that it will bear recording here.

She sat in the front seat, and as she stood up, turned round with face aglow to tell us of one of her encounters with our old enemy. "I want to tell you of this attack of his," she said, "that we may be the better fortified against his devices. I was having a real happy time the other day, when all at once didn't the devil pull out something from behind me—a something that I had don a long time ago, and that I felt ashamed of—and held it up before my face and said: 'There, now! how do you like that?' As she spoke, Aunt Sarah acted the part, and our eyes as well as our ears took in the lesson. "'Like it!" I cried, 'Why! I don't like it at all!!' and down went my heart to my boots—ay, and right through them too!" And she heaved a sigh that could be heard by us all, but the look of triumph in her eye was undimmed. "Well, I kept looking, and the devil held it up for me to see every bit of its ugliness. The more I looked, you may be sure, the worse I felt.

"But the Lord came to the rescue—suddenly the texts flashed into my mind: 'Forgetting the things that are behind . . . I press on,' and 'Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back' (Phil. iii., 13-14; Isa. xxxviii., 17), and it just seemed as if the Father said to me: 'Sarah, why are you trying to get behind me to look at what I've cast there?' So I cried: 'Lord, I'll refuse to look any more. I'm determined by Thy grace, I will forget the things that are behind.' Oh, how my heart jumped for joy to think that God has covered up ALL my sins. I feel I want to praise Him more than ever, and to press on in the race for the prize set before me."

Believing in eternal torment and the inherent immortality of the soul, she felt it incumbent upon her to solemnly warn sinners of the dreadful fate of the unconverted, but, as she afterwards affirmed, "I never enjoyed telling of that—I liked best to present the love of God." Yes, the eternal torment of the unregenerate is a belief which throws a deep shadow on the character of Him in whom is no darkness at all.

"I never liked to feel that I had to apologise for God in designing such a fate for so many of His creatures. But if the Bible said it then I had to believe, whether I liked it or not. Oh! how grand to know that the Bible teaches no such thing!"

If we would comprehend the full extent of Aunt Sarah's devotion we must bear in mind that she was in no way a woman of leisure. She earned her living as a bedding merchant in the city, but while attending to her business she contrived to spend as much time as possible in more direct service to the Lord. "I was always real hungry for a blessing, and wherever I heard something good was to be got. there I tried to go." Whenever she received it she busied herself to share it with others.

When, from time to time, special services were held for the deepening of the spiritual life, Aunt Sarah was sure to be present. She testified to blessings received at these meetings, and believed that through the help there obtained she entered more deeply into the joys of full surrender. Most of her jewellery was parted with for Foreign Missions, and some favourite trinkets were given to help in the conversion of the Jews. In all this the Lord was preparing her to receive fuller knowledge of Himself. She began her Christian life in the State Church of Scotland, but soon found it too cold and formal. When she came into the light of present truth she was a member of a very earnest branch of the close sect of the Plymouth Brethren. This she designated "one of the best little bits of Babylon that could be found." "The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day," is a text she often quoted, and wherever she saw the light shining, there, by the grace of God, Aunt Sarah followed on.

By and by she began to have doubts about the eternal torment theory. Her eldest sister (Mrs. Hodge, of Gourock) and she often discussed the subject with a measure of timidity and fearfulness, lest they should stray from the teaching of Scripture.

The fate of the heathen also gave them some concern; but, like many others, they could find no comfort save in the words of Abraham: "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" They were assured God could never judge unrighteously, and that as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways and thoughts higher than ours. The more they developed into the likeness of the Perfect Pattern, the less could their hearts be satisfied with the assurance of merely their own salvation and that of the few, who, in this life, find the strait gate and walk in the narrow way.

On one occasion, during a series of meetings for special prayer, after listening night after night to loud, repeated, and long-drawn-out supplications, Aunt Sarah felt her soul revolt at the improper conception of God these petitions betrayed. She told one of the leaders she thought they did not honour the Lord enough. Surely, instead of imploring further, it was now time to begin thanking the Father for all the glorious things He had covenanted to do. She believed the rich promises regarding the prayer of faith offered in Christ's name, and fully assured that she would behold great and wonderful things (Jer. xxxiii., 3; Matt. xxi., 22), determined to sing His praises for the blessings that were on the way.

This incident occurred about a month before the Lord caused His light and truth regarding the "Plan of the Ages" to shine into her mind. Truly her Father heard her prayers, and granted her a rich token of His acceptance.

Her eldest sister came first into touch with the writings of Pastor Russell, and quickly saw that they unfolded many precious truths hitherto hidden from her view. She at once gave Aunt Sarah a copy of the first three volumes of "Studies in the Scriptures" and urged her to read them. So multifarious and incessant were her labours for the unconverted, however, that she had no time for a new study.

She must read her daily portion of Scripture, as well as her religious papers and Spurgeon's weekly sermon, and she would not be denied time for prayer. Her sister tried in vain to thoroughly arouse her to the importance of this fresh light that, surely, God Himself had directed to come within her reach. "I mean to read them, but I am really not able to find the time," she would answer. At last Mrs. Hodge got over the difficulty by sending an urgent invitation to Aunt Sarah to spend a few days with her during the visit of her son and his friend, Brother Hemery; from Manchester.

Greater Light.

While at Gourock she heard "great and wonderful things." Many puzzling questions now became clear to her. Misty, vague wonderings gave place to well-founded hopes, built upon the infallible Word of God. A "thus saith the Lord" settled for her many disputed points. Brother Hemery traced, step by step, God's plan as revealed in the Bible, and demonstrated the distinctive work and purpose of each Age. He opened up to her wondering eyes the glorious hope for the few (the Church) and the blessing for the many (the world in the Age to come). He clearly proved that death—not an endless existence in misery (as the creeds declare), but extinction of being—was the penalty God pronounced upon sin. He opened to her the Scriptures, showing how the man Christ Jesus bore the guilt of all. "He, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man" (Heb. ii., 9). He "gave Himself a ransom for all" (1 Tim. ii., 6). Therefore, every man must, in due time, partake of the benefit accruing to the race by the sacrifice of Christ.

"But would that not mean a second chance?" asked Aunt Sarah.

Brother Hemery proceeded to make clear how the first chance or opportunity for eternal life has never yet been offered to every man; that in this Age only the few have heard with their natural ears, and that even of these fewer still have heard with their understanding.

Jesus said: "He that hath an ear, let him hear," and "Unto you (His disciples, the few with the hearing ears) it is given to know the mystery of God, but unto them that are without all these things are done in parables, that seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing, they may hear and not understand, lest at any time they should be converted and their sins be forgiven them." Aunt Sarah felt as if this familiar passage was being brought for the first time to her attention.

"Did Jesus not wish all to understand His words ? " she queried.

"No," came the answer; "He did not desire that all should know then, nor that all, even now, should know; but the day is coming when all the blind eyes will be opened and all the deaf ears unstopped (Isa. xxxv., 5), because Satan, the 'god of this world,' who now blinds the minds of them which believe not, will be bound, and no longer permitted to deceive mankind in the next Age—when Christ's Kingdom is set up on the earth. Then the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea."

"Yes," she agreed, "that will come to pass in the Millennium. I have always believed that, but what about the unbelievers who die in ignorance now? And what about the heathen?"

After a careful study of Matt. xi., 20-27, in connection with Ezek. xvi. 44-63, Aunt Sarah saw that the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which God, in His wisdom, had seen fit to destroy, were not so evil in His sight as were the Jews who sinned against greater light and knowledge; and yet it was God's purpose to restore both Jews and Sodomites to life and grant them a "tolerable" time in the great day of Judgment; when Christ will reign to bless all.

The Sodomites, not having been so hardened in heart as were the Jews through their resistance to the ministry of Jesus among them, will not require the severe discipline that the Israelites will receive in that day. This is proved by the statement of Jesus that had these cities seen the works of His first advent they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes. If He knew that Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom would have accepted His message had He been sent to them, surely God would know that also, and if God knew that and also had foreseen—as the prophecies clearly show He did—that the Jews would reject Jesus' witness, why did the all-wise, all-loving, almighty and just God not send Jesus to the Sodomites, who would have accepted Him, instead of to the Jews, who rejected Him? And if the Jews, who refused to accept their Messiah, were to be lost for ever, and consigned to eternal misery, why did the gentle Jesus, who came to die for all, thank the Father because He had hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and had revealed them unto babes? And yet the wise and prudent, in their own sight, are the very class that, according to the creeds of men, are doomed to eternal woe.

Jesus rejoiced because He knew that those at present blinded will arise from the sleep of death at His call in the next Age, and will then be granted a full opportunity for eternal life. Those who, at that day, will come into harmony with God's law of righteousness and love, rendering obedience to Christ, the King and Judge, will obtain all the blessings that Adam by his disobedience lost for the race, and that Jesus, through His death, won to restore to all.

It brought great joy to Aunt Sarah's loving heart to be convinced that the future work God had designed for her, and for all His saints, was not to spend eternity singing hymns and playing upon a golden harp in heaven, but to be His great instrument, as a joint-heir with Christ, of blessing all the families of the earth.

In after days she often referred to the satisfaction of heart and mind brought to her by the realisation that she was part of the great seed of Abraham, whom God had sworn not only to bless, but to make the blesser of all (Gal. iii., 8, 16, 29). With her wide knowledge of Scripture she quickly recognised that many seemingly contradictory passages were thus made harmonious, and such verses as Acts iii., 19-21, xv., 14-18, acquired a new and fuller meaning. Before long she saw for herself several instances where the "false limits" of man's teachings had obscured the Word of God, and quoted numerous texts in proof of the truths now being presented to her.

The subject of our Lord's Second Coming had, for many years, claimed much of her thought and study, but only now did she learn the true and worthy object of His return. It made her long all the more for His advent. For years the signs of the times had indicated to her that this great event was almost, if not quite, due to take place. Night after night she had retired to rest hoping to be awakened by the literal sounding of the great trumpet and the voice of the Archangel, to see the Lord descend from the heavens in human form, while she would be "caught up" bodily "to meet Him in the air." She often quaintly remarked, in her desire to press home her teaching on the "rapture of the saints," that "the undertakers will never make any money out of me."

The last evening of her visit in Gourock (7th June, 1897) was the most momentous. It was only a few hours before leaving for Glasgow that she learned how erroneous were her views on the manner of Christ's Second Coming. She had been expecting to see Him as a man in the flesh, in the body of His humiliation, with her natural eyes, instead of recognising through the eyes of her faith and spiritual understanding, the fact of His presence in the world as a glorious spirit being, the express image of the Father's person.

Brother Hemery pointed out to her the change of the word "coming" to that of "presence" in the R.V. margin, and emphasised the great difference in the meaning of these two words. Thus, instead of looking for signs that the Master was about to arrive (of the day and hour of His coming none on earth was to know beforehand), we are exhorted rather to look for signs whereby we would know when He was present—that His arrival had already taken place. As gently as possible, her brother in the Lord unfolded to her his belief that the time prophecies of the Bible, as well as the signs of the times all pointed out that the Lord had returned and was already present doing a work preparatory to establishing His Kingdom on earth. Matt. xxiv., 27 was read with new and startling meaning. The word "lightning" was shown to be a poor translation of the Greek word "astarpe," which signifies "bright shining" (as given in Luke xi., 36), and really refers here, as the context indicates, to the sunlight which shines always from the east even to the west, while, on the other hand, lightning flashes in a variety of directions, wherever the electrical forces producing it may be discharged. When the word "presence" is substituted for "coming," the statement is seen to declare that the presence of Christ will be like the sunlight, gradually illuminating the world. Those who are awake and watching, the children of the light, are the first to discern and rejoice in His presence. The children of the night and of the darkness will awake when the Sun of Righteousness will arise in His full glory, and all the sin-sick will rejoice in the healing to be gained through the influence of His rays. "As it was in the days of Noah (the days when Noah was present on the earth) so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man (when He will be present on the earth). They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark . . .

even thus shall it be in the days when the Son of Man is revealed " (Luke xvii., 26-30).

Aunt Sarah cried out in amazement: "He's here! The Lord has come!" She could hardly restrain her excitement. Question after question came tumbling forth, and, like snow before the early sunshine, her difficulties dissolved in the new-found light. At last she had the right understanding of the Lord's return. She concluded that, after all, the symbolic seventh trumpet and the voice of the Archangel had suddenly awakened her to see the glorious sunlight of her Lord's presence, stealing unawares, like a thief, upon the world. Brother Hemery had never, in all his experience, met with one so "ripe and ready" to discern the truth now due to the household of faith. Her nephew and he felt it wise to give her a word of warning that she must not expect to find all ears as open to the truth as her own had been, and remarked that the truth was like a sword, dividing friend from friend. "Ah!" she quickly replied, "my friends are not of the worldly so-called Christian class—mine are the real jewels of the Lord." She was impatient to get home with the good news, and determined to quickly arrange to have a meeting gathered together of the best of her religious associates. There and then Brother Hemery was engaged to give them a discourse on the "Plan of the Ages." When the time for leaving came, she could hardly tear herself away, and she had to run to catch the last train. Brothers Hemery and Hodge accompanied her to the station, and just as they parted they exhorted her to be careful as to how she told of the fresh light she had gained.

The train had scarcely started when Aunt Sarah, with joy beaming in her face, began to tell a lady—the only other occupant of the compartment—of the good things she had been hearing, and ended by asking her in an earnest tone if she knew the Lord had come! At the first station the lady changed in haste into another carriage, and Aunt Sarah was alone for the rest of the way!

One night, a few days after her Gourock visit, doubts and questionings arose in Aunt Sarah's mind about the Lord's Presence. She found it difficult to get entirely free from long-cherished ideas. What about the descent of Jesus on Mount Olivet? How should that be understood? And then He was to come suddenly to His temple! (Mal. iii., 1). "The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in, behold He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts," kept repeating itself in her mind. As she brushed out her long hair before the mirror, she wondered where this temple could be, and asked aloud: "Where is Your temple, Lord?" doubting if He could be present on the earth when, as yet, there was no temple ready to receive Him. As she gazed abstractedly into the glass, brush in hand, suddenly, like a flash, the words: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you" (1 Cor. iii., 16) illuminated her mind. "Oh!" she cried; "Your temple is here! And, Lord, You have come to it!" At once she saw that the Lord could find no earthly building a fit habitation for Himself, but could dwell by His Spirit only in the consecrated hearts of His espoused; and only to these He revealed, by His Word, the signs of His return to earth—"We walk by faith, not by sight." Her gratitude and welcome to her King expressed itself in tears as she renewed her vow of consecration.

Early Labours in the Harvest Field.

To be convinced of the truth was to Aunt Sarah a commission from the Lord to proclaim it. Despite warnings not to be too expectant that her friends would see eye to eye with her, she was so confident of the sincerity of their desire to know and do the will of the heavenly Father that she joyfully made arrangements for the meeting Brother Hemery had agreed to address.

About thirty of her most intimate religious associates were invited, among whom were some well-known evangelists and diligent Christian workers. As she glanced over the audience she was glad and thankful that the Lord had blessed her efforts to gather together such a godly company. Speaking of it later, she said the cream of her fellow-la bourers were there—indeed, la crème de la crème of God's people in Glasgow.

In his lecture, Brother Hemery sought to make clear how the death of one man, Christ Jesus, could be a "corresponding price," a ransom for all. He emphasised that Jesus was the "Son of God," and not, as the creeds erroneously state, "God the Son." He proved that to redeem man it was necessary for Him to lay aside the spirit nature that He possessed while with the Father in glory, and become flesh and yet separate and distinct from the rest of mankind, who are sinners and condemned to death. Jesus being born of the virgin Mary, was "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners," and, though on the human plane, still the Son of God. Adam, also, when pure and sinless, fresh from the hands of His Creator, was designated a Son of God (Luke iii., 38). He was in the image of God, and the federal head of his race. The man Jesus, matured at the age of thirty, in full possession of all His rights to perfect human life and its earthly blessings, could offer Himself as Adam's equivalent—a ransom or corresponding price. Adam lost perfection of being and life by his fall, not only for himself but also for the whole human race. Jesus, surrendering His unforfeited life, became the Redecemer of Adam and his race. The possible race in the man Jesus offset the race in Adam. The balance was perfect.

Brother Hemery showed how the Father, accepting of Jesus' sacrifice, raised Him from the dead "a new creation," and highly exalted Him to a more glorious condition and nature—raised Him to have "life in Himself," immortality, and that now Jesus is on the throne of His Father, the express image of His Father's person.

Jesus can now give human life and its accompanying blessings to whomsoever He will, and-in due time, as the Second Adam, will give life to the entire race. But first, before the blessing of the world can take place, the Church, the Bride of Christ, must be perfected, proved and made worthy like her Lord, through suffering and death. To her is given the privilege of surrendering by faith the perfect human life she sees awaiting all the obedient in the next Age. Now cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus, she offers herself a "holy sacrifice," and shares in Christ's death, that she may share also in His resurrection, and become partaker with Him in the Divine nature and glory.

The speaker was allowed to proceed undisturbed for about an hour, but he saw from his hearers' faces that prejudice and preconceived ideas were barring the entrance of the truth. At last one rather pompous minister arose, and, bristling with suppressed feelings, announced that he desired "to ask our young friend a question on a certain point, that will require only a 'yes' or 'no' for answer."

Many murmured their approval of his suggestion, and Brother Hemery consented to the question being stated.

"Will our young friend tell us if he believes Jesus was Divine while on earth. Yes or no ? "

Realising that the questioner might easily have misconstrued some of his remarks, Brother Hemery began to explain what he understood by the term "Divine," but he was not allowed to continue. The voice of the minister grew hard and stern as he repeated his question, and demanded yes or no for an answer. Brother Hemery quietly replied : "No, Jesus was not Divine during His sojourn on earth."

With a triumphant "Ah! I thought this was the teaching," and with a gesture of offended piety, the questioner made a movement towards the door. One by one the entire audience arose and followed him. Many were the lamentations over Aunt Sarah's deflection from the constricted path of orthodoxy. She defended the truth with some vigour, and replied to some questions put before her with such clearness and assurance, that one missionary, looking around on the astonished group, and lifting up his hands in consternation and surprise, declared : "Why, Aunt Sarah has swallowed this American doctrine holus bolus!"

On another occasion, when with a company of her old friends, and seeking to help them see the beauty of "restitution," and "death the wages of sin," one remarked that he feared she had gone off her head, and another that she had a devil. But one minister, who sat quietly listening to those cutting remarks anent Miss Ferrie's fall from truth and grace, looking kindly into her distressed and disappointed face, exclaimed with sympathetic penetration : "Ah! she hasna' lost her Jesus. I see Him in her eyes!"

The following incident, which occurred many years after her "change of views," reveals the bitterness that was engendered in the hearts of these religious associates by her faithfulness to the Word of God.

One afternoon, as she was on her way to pay a visit, Aunt Sarah noticed an old friend, an evangelist, coming down the road towards her. Several years had passed since they had met, and her heart warmed up at sight of him. She knew that he, poor man, still taught the errors she had been so mercifully freed from, and was still an opposer to the truths that she rejoiced in, but, remembering the fellowship they had long enjoyed together, and believing that m spite of his erroneous beliefs, he still loved the Lord, she stopped as he, unaware of her approach, drew near.

Holding out her hand she kindly greeted him. He stopped abruptly, recognised her, and, staggering a few steps away, held up his arms in front of him, as if to ward off a blow. Averting his face, he uttered a peculiar quavering cry, and kept retreating from her, while with wide-spread hands, palms outwards, he motioned her away.

Poor Aunt Sarah gasped in amazement, while her heart seemed for the moment to stand still. In her bewilderment she also stepped backwards a few paces, then, recovering herself, quietly walked away.

Shortly afterwards she glanced backwards and saw her former friend still waving his arms before him, and heard him emitting his strange moaning cry.

When telling of the occurrence, Aunt Sarah assured us that it was a real satisfaction to have it so forcibly demonstrated to her that she had become to some at least of her old associates part of "the offscourings of all things," but she confessed the suffering, though short, had been keen.

Some of her religious friends felt that Aunt Sarah's sudden change of beliefs and enthusiastic efforts to make these known must be due to mental unbalance. They persuaded her relatives to consult a doctor as to the state of her mind. Doctor John Edgar was called in, but, to their surprise, he pronounced her mentally sound.

A few years later, after Doctor Edgar had become to her a brother in the Lord, they often humorously recalled the incident. At that time the only interest he had in her was that of a doctor towards his patient. He could not remember the subject of their conversation, but was glad he was used to certify that she had the spirit of a sound mind.

The news of Miss Ferrie's "new religion" spread quickly among her associates, but few troubled to investigate her so-called strange beliefs.

She published a statement of the reasons for her change of views, expressing her clearer hopes, and, besides circulating it among her former co-labourers, she presented many of her intimate religious friends with three volumes of the "Studies in the Scriptures," or "Millennial Dawn," as the work was then beautifully named.

Though for a long time no response came to encourage and cheer her, she toiled on, content to suffer being misunderstood, enduring some little persecution and isolation. To her who so loved fellowship, this separation must have been very trying. Save for occasional talks with her sister in Gourock, and her married niece, Mrs. Greenlees, for months she had no fellowship. She eagerly seized, however, whatever opportunities came her way to tell the Glad Tidings, and used her daily avocation as a means for serving the Lord. She put some copies of the "Studies in the Scriptures" and various booklets in her shop window, and inside had neat little pigeon-hole shelves arranged to contain the various tracts and pamphlets in order, to be ready for handing out to her customers as she changed the subject of conversation from bedding to doctrine.

An elderly relative, who frequently stepped in to see her, used to ask with a touch of sarcasm in his manner : "Well, Aunt Sarah, have you got anyone into your new religion yet?" Aunt Sarah would reply: "Not yet! But if the Lord keeps me waiting it will be all for a purpose."

One old friend asked her : "To what sect do you now belong? Tell me, Aunt Sarah, what are you?"

The answer came slowly as she thoughtfully replied : " What am I? I am just a voice crying in the wilderness,

' There standeth one among you whom you know not.' "

But the wilderness was not a barren place to Sarah. There, as she often declared, the Lord spread for her a table, and she realised a closer union with Him than she had ever previously enjoyed.

She grew strong as she waited on God. The more she studied, the more convinced she became that the teaching of Pastor Russell is indeed harmonious with the whole Bible.

By and by she heard that a little company who had similar hopes and beliefs met regularly in a tiny dingy hall in a poor locality, and as, for the first time, she passed through the narrow close and up the dark stair, she determined that if she could meet the Lord and His freed men there, she would find delight in frequenting it. She soon discovered, however, that the leader of the meeting was not at all clear on some of the main features of the truth, and that some in the class were apparently further advanced than he. Sometimes, also, those who were invited to address the Sunday evening gatherings were ignorant of the fundamental doctrines. Realising that the meeting was unprofitable to her, and that she learned more by spending her Sundays in private study and prayer, she wrote, placing the matter before Brother Hemery, asking his advice. His answer was a reminder that the will of God was her sanctification, and whatever course she took should be with a view to the promotion of that end. She, accordingly, ceased to attend this meeting, which, before long, was disbanded.

Encouragement.

Sister Greenlees was as zealous in seeking opportunities to spread the Glad Tiqings as Aunt Sarah, but by her circumstances was more hampered in her efforts. Although, like Aunt Sarah, she had given most of her jewellery to help in mission work, a five-diamond ring, which had been a present from her mother, was still a valued possession. Knowing her aunt had used up all the money she could possibly spare in the purchase of the literature she had given away, she obtained her mother's permission to sell her ring, and gave Aunt Sarah part of the proceeds to purchase more volumes.

They asked the Lord to guide them in giving away the books. Among others, Aunt Sarah was led to think of some business friends with whom she had had long and friendly intercourse, and with some trepidation she presented several of them with copies of "The Divine Plan of the Ages." She waited results with a measure of hopefulness, though willing to see no fruit from her labours, if that should still be her Father's will for her.

Not many weeks elapsed before she received her first great encouragement in her work. One day, while in a warehouse on business, one of the heads of the firm came forward with some eagerness and said: "That's a fine book you left for me the other week, Miss Ferrie!" Her heart beat quickly as she assented. Circumstances allowed of little more being said at that time. Those who knew Aunt Sarah need hardly be told that she discovered business required her to call again very soon. On this occasion the same gentleman left his desk and came forward to speak with her. With greater emphasis he again remarked: "That is a fine book you have given us, Miss Ferrie. We are reading it and enjoying it, and would like to have some copies to give away to our friends."

"Oh! Mr. Edgar," she said, "I would like to have a long talk with you about that book."

In a busy office it was not convenient for them to discuss the questions that she knew from experience would probably arise in his mind. He had known her from girlhood and had always taken a kindly interest in her business affairs, but as he then smiled down on her, and spoke of the pleasure he had in seeing the wider view of God's love and mercy, she felt there was now a new and stronger bond between them. Before she left he handed her a one-pound note, saying: "Buy books with it!" Grasping the money, and holding it fast, she went down the stair into the street as if on wings.

"The very feel of that pound was good to me!" she remarked afterwards. It sent a thrill of joy through her, for it evidenced much genuine interest in and appreciation of the Truth. Her delight and gratitude brimmed over in praise and thankfulness. What good fruits from the sale of the ring! How her niece would rejoice! As one after another of Mr. Edgar's family came into the Truth, Aunt Sarah would remark: "Another jewel of the Lord gathered in place of Minnie's diamonds!" When at last she could count five of them as one with her in the Lord, she felt her cup was running over. Whenever she saw any of the five manifesting evidences of growth in grace and knowledge, or saw them specially used of the Lord, she compared it to the sparkling and the flashing of the diamonds.

About the same time Aunt Sarah received further encouragement through an old friend and her husband, telling of their thankfulness "for these three books you gave us." Although not associated with her in religious work, their friendship was in the Lord and dated from a year after Aunt Sarah's conversion. At the close of one of Mr. Moody's meetings on a beautiful summer Sunday morning, in the year 1874, Aunt Sarah, with her usual readiness to help, asked an earnest listener who sat beside her if she were a Christian.

"No, but I'd like to be," came the answer.

In the course of a short conversation, Aunt Sarah told how she had found rest in the Lord.

Although what she then said did not seem to help her companion in her endeavour to find the path of life, yet it was the beginning of a life-long Christian friendship. Next Sunday morning, at the sparsely-attended prayer meeting arranged for young converts by an elder of the Established Church which Aunt Sarah attended, she was astonished to see her new acquaintance come in. It was only then they learned that, although quite unknown to each other, they had for years frequented the same place of worship.

At the close of the little service, Aunt Sarah introduced her new friend, Miss Sharp (who afterwards became Mrs. Tait) to the leader, with a word as to her spiritual condition. An earnest talk followed. He enabled her to see that already she was justified by her faith in Christ, and that the sanctification she yearned for is not, like justification, the work of a moment, but is a gradual growth continuing throughout the life of the true believer.

Brother and Sister Tait were the only two of her old friends in the Lord who came into the full knowledge of present truth, but along with them came three of the latter's sisters, all of whom had been scholars in Aunt Sarah's Sunday School class.

The Back Shop.

Aunt Sarah's bedding shop had fairly large premises at the back. Here it was furnished with sofa, table, and chairs, and a cheery fire burned in the grate. Wednesday afternoon was a half-holiday for the shop assistants; and she saw in this an opportunity to use her warehouse in the Lord's service. Then the sewing machine and articles used for business purposes were placed on one side, and with the help of screens and curtains the back shop became a cosy parlour. Here, for a long time, she had regularly enjoyed a season of fellowship with her friends.

After she came into the Truth and her former associates had separated themselves from her, the back shop seemed desolate. But it had been devoted to the Lord, and although, through her faithfulness to His Word, it remained unused, it was only that the Lord might, in due time, the more abundantly magnify Himself through it.

About a year and a half later the parlour began to fill again. The first week-night meetings of the friends was held here on Wednesday evenings. Brothers Crawford and Cormack, whom Aunt Sarah had met in the dingy hall in the city, regularly attended, and proved a help in the Bible study.

Now and then the class was cheered and stimulated by the welcome presence of the late Brother MacKerrell of Greenock. On Wednesday afternoons a few sisters gathered for fellowship and to recount experiences, as well as for mutual assistance in answering puzzling questions. Sometimes a Bible reading or "Chart Talk" was given. All these gatherings are precious memories to those who were privileged to meet there. The numbers steadily grew, for every one who sought to herald the Glad Tidings found some hearing ears and hearts prepared for the word of the Kingdom. Every few months fresh impulse was received through the pilgrim visits of Brother Hemery from Manchester. His able and untiring efforts to instruct and exhort the friends were greatly blessed of the Lord for the building up of the Church.

Many a happy tea-party was held in the back shop. The table was enlarged by means of a board on trestles, and many willing hands assisted in getting all things ready for "the business brothers and sisters" when they would arrive after their day's toil was over. Among those who gave freely of her time and strength was Sister Emma Ferrie, Aunt Sarah's sister-in-law. Her assistance was much appreciated by the friends as well as by Aunt Sarah herself, who continually affirmed that she could never do so much in the Lord's service, both in and out of the shop, were it not for "all dear Emma does for me." The loving harmony manifested by all the friends was very sweet—a foretaste of the heavenly joys. The thought of the eternal nature of our relationship as brothers and sisters in Christ helped us to consider our friendship very precious and sacred.

Aunt Sarah was a born organiser. She kept us all busy. No idlers could hope to remain long in her company. They either felt compelled to do something or became so uncomfortable that they withdrew.

The beginning of the volunteer work planned by Brother Russell, found Aunt Sarah keen to make full use of such a grand chance to give Glasgow a witness. All the tracts we received from America were stamped with her business address and an invitation to the reader to call or write for more literature.

Many who came in response looked for a bookseller's shop, and gazed enquiringly when they found the given number was a bedding warehouse. Before long, a glass case that hung at the door, or a book or two reposing among the mattresses in the window, caught their eyes, and a minute later they were inside conversing with Aunt Sarah. The enquirer for books was always made far more welcome than the purchaser of bedding.

On special occasions, when large religious meetings were announced in the city, Aunt Sarah was usually the first to propose "serving the audience with tracts!" We gathered in the back shop for our instructions and our bundles, as well as to encourage each other for the fray. Some of us went out with grim determination not to give in to the flesh, but Aunt Sarah was an example of loving grateful service. One babe remarked: "It's easy for you, Aunt Sarah, to give out the literature. I believe you actually love doing it." "My word, that I do! And I believe you like it too. Now, don't you think it just fine to have such good things to give away! I'm sure you do!"

In the Train.

A journey by rail meant, to Aunt Sarah, an opportunity for witnessing which she was keen to take advantage of. Most people, in looking for a seat, seek a carriage where there is plenty of room, but it was not so with her. She always selected a well-filled compartment, and tried to make a choice of her company.

To see a person dressed in mourning would be a call to her to take a seat close by. Seldom did Aunt Sarah travel without requesting that if any one in that train was hungry for the truth, the Lord would arrange for her the opportunity to present the glad tidings. On many occasions she was glad to note that He answered her prayer.

Few are so apt as Aunt Sarah was in bringing the Bible into the conversation. Her bright, loving face and cheery manner enabled her to say and do many things which, from others, would have been resented. Then her sweetie-bag was a grand introduction—a neat, tiny article of brightly coloured silk, which she always carried with her, filled with "imperials"—a hard sweet that would not soil the most delicate gloves. If by good fortune someone coughed, Aunt Sarah would at once dive into the recesses of her black velvet satchel, and taking out the bag, would pass it open to the afflicted one with a kindly smile and a warm invitation to have a sweet. Then she would turn to the others in the compartment and say: "I think we'll just pass round the bag—a sweet's not a bad thing. There, I'm sure this little girl agrees with me!" As Aunt Sarah would remark, in telling us how to do it, "Then all the folk now being in a good humour, they could hardly refuse to accept something real good—a tract!" These she kept in her satchel neatly folded, and assorted so that she could easily find the one she desired. A soldier would as soon go to battle without his ammunition as would Aunt Sarah set off without her tracts.

On one occasion, two mothers, with some children, were among her fellow-travellers. After she had given the little ones a sweetie each, one of the women volunteered the information that they were all returning from a holiday. "Ah!" cried Aunt Sarah, sympathetically, "it's real good to have a holiday. And it is good to know the poor world is soon going to have a grand holiday that will last a thousand years!"

Of course, the ears of all in the compartment were opened by this statement, and soon she had an interested audience listening eagerly while she unfolded the plan.

Often, in lieu of a better opening, Aunt Sarah would remark how everybody seemed to travel nowadays, and yet so few knew that all this travelling was foretold in the Bible as a sign of the "time of the end." Then Dan. xii., 1, formed the basis for a talk on the signs of the times. She never forced her remarks on anyone, but gently felt her way, eager to step in where the Lord opened the door.

Her zeal in making use of railway travelling was much encouraged by a testimony Brother Phillips gave at a convention a few weeks before his death. He was a "commercial," and regularly visited in rotation several towns within a certain radius of Glasgow. He usually travelled by the same train on each route, and as it is the habit of commercials to fraternize in groups in the various compartments, he first gave out tracts to all his acquaintances, and then going each morning into a different compartment he served its occupants with the literature. Did he then feel that he had finished his witness on that route? Not at all. From that time he endeavoured to catch an earlier train, and served all its regular patrons in a similar way.

Though the opportunities for service are necessarily far more restricted on tramway-cars than when travelling by rail, even here Aunt Sarah found openings for her zeal. Once, while seated beside a lady who had forgotten her purse, and was unable to pay her fare, with thoughtful gentleness and courtesy she proffered the necessary coppers. So much was the lady impressed by the sweet smile and graciousness of the donor that she felt she could not refuse the kindness. She readily responded to her overtures to conversation and quickly found herself deep in a religious talk.

Aunt Sarah told of the good time coming, when people will never need introduction, because the spirit of love will dominate every heart.

"Why, the folk will all be eager to do a bit of kindness to one another," she explained. "Everybody will be looking for somebody to help, they will all be that anxious for a chance to show they have learned it is more blessed to give than to receive."

When they parted, Aunt Sarah had the lady's address and an order for "The Divine Plan of the Ages" in her bag.

I wish all could see her shining face, as she told "how good it was of the Lord to give me such a fine chance."

Her Colporteur Experience.

Even with all her privileges and opportunities for usefulness, Aunt Sarah often wondered whether she could take any course which would enable her to render greater service. She knew that "the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord," and earnestly sought His guidance. Finding by experience that the Lord blessed her efforts to sell Scripture Studies, she gave up her shop and launched forth as a colporteur. She was then in the fifty-fourth year of her age.

Being anxious that Glasgow would not be without a depot for the publications of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, she praised the Lord that, when her door was closed by His providence another was opened. After the death of her old friend, Mr. Edgar, three of his family came to live in the city, and their new home was ready to take the place of her shop as an agency for the literature.

The first scene of her labours as a "professional" colporteur was Swansea, South Wales. She enjoyed the work but found it very exhausting. She sorely missed the fellowship of her friends in Glasgow! Letters were poor substitutes for the loved voices and faces!

She sought to benefit, however, by all her new experiences, and tried, while "living in a box,"—as she termed the life of moving from place to place with all her belongings in a trunk—to develop patience and contentment. It was when packing for these journeys that she discovered in the traveller's receptacle called a hold-all, an illustration of an oft-quoted and much-loved text—Rom. viii., 28: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose."

At a testimony meeting she told what pleasure it gave her to find this helpful illustration. "Packing up was always a great trouble to me, so I knew the Lord had special lessons for me through it, and therefore special blessings too! I found if there was an article of an awkward shape that I could not get nicely fixed in my trunk, I said: 'Well, I'll get it into my hold-all.' And the heavy things—boots, etc.—that would make my trunk such a weight for the poor porter, I laid to one side, and the bulky things for which I could find no room—Oh! then the hold-all could take these. And, then, when my box was all ready, locked and strapped, I nearly always saw something I had forgotten to put in, and for a minute I would feel bothered, till I remembered, with a sigh of relief, that it could go into the hold-all. 'Dear me!' I thought to myself, 'whatever should I do without that hold-all?' And then, as I thought of how good it was of the Lord to give me such a fine big hold-all, it struck me He had given me a spiritual hold-all for my pilgrimage in the narrow way—and that it could be as large as my faith. Rom. viii., 28 holds all things that happen to me, for I am one of those that love God, one of His called ones.

"Now, I'll give you an example of what the spiritual hold-all will take in. A sister and I were going on a journey.

We had had a great hurry to catch the train, and arrived just in time to see it going off. You know how you feel when you see the last carriage sliding away from you! The sister was worried a bit, but I just said : "Well, my dear, you and I will put this into the hold-all. Losing this train is just one of the 'all things' that will work out for our good. My! we don't know but the Lord has somebody in the next train that is just ready to get the truth from us. We'll wait and see!' And when we did get the next train, my! I tell you, I gave out the tracts quick, and had such a nice talk with a lady."

Aunt Sarah, with glowing face, often assured us that it was only when we put our sorrows and difficulties, our trials and troubles into the hold-all, that they are carried for us. "According to your faith be it unto you."

In a few years, owing to increased infirmity, the colporteur work had to be given up as a regular occupation. But the Lord used her greatly in a more private way.

Some considered Aunt Sarah rather eccentric, and certainly many of her doings and sayings were peculiar to herself. But he who thoughtfully sought to analyse the elements of her unique personality easily recognised that it was her simple strong faith, buoyant hope and overflowing love that lent distinctiveness to her individuality. Her unbounded confidence in the power of God to fulfil the prophecies and promises of His Word, combined with a vivid imagination, enabled her constantly to picture in her mind the coming Golden Age. Indeed, it might be said that by her faith she was always there. It became, therefore, natural for her to speak of it familiarly and with great assurance. She saw in the common things of life illustrations of the greatest verities, and sometimes startled others by her naive symbolisms of spiritual realities.

In no way was her inimitable style more marked than in her method of instructing inquirers. Although homely to a degree it was pointed and direct, and fairly bristled with illustrations. To her the "immortality of the soul" was the fundamental error, and none was keener than she in detecting any haziness of mind on that subject. "Have you seen life and death yet?" she would earnestly inquire. She aimed at helping her listener to see that "as black is the opposite of white," so death is the antitheses of life. "Now, no one has any difficulty in understanding what death means when you are speaking of a dead dog; but, my! speak of death when referring to a human being, and see how confused they are as to what that means! They will tell you the real man, the soul, never dies, but the man's body dies, and then the man himself gets more alive than ever he was, and in a minute or two knows far more about you and everything else than he did when he was living! Ay! and feels more too—specially if he was not a Christian! But the Bible says: "The soul that sinneth it shall die!" Yes, it was the soul Adam, the living being, that sinned, and, therefore, it must be the soul Adam that bears the penalty of sin. Many think that when God said to the sinner Adam: "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return," He meant that only the body was to die, and that the soul would live on somewhere and endure misery. But it is not possible for a soul to live apart from a body. Tell me, where was Adam before God created his body? Why! he did not exist at all! There was no Adam till the body was formed and got life. When God breathed life into the body He had created from the dust, that very instant Adam came into being. And therefore he went out of existence the very instant the body ceased to live. I am sure that is as clear as noonday to any reasonable mind. Just to take the Bible's statements drives the mists of error away."

Aunt Sarah and the Children.

It was a real treat to hear Aunt Sarah tell children the "old, old story." A great favourite with the young, she had a happy knack of interesting herself in their concerns. Her warmly expressed appreciation of any little kindness made them seek an opportunity to do more. She pictured the grand time children will have in the Millennial Age when all the prophecies concerning the earthly phase of the Kingdom will be fulfilled. For a boy to own the finest menagerie in existence would indeed be grand But what will be his delight when man's lost dominion over the animal creation is restored! The power of the most wonderful lion-tamer and serpent-charmer pales, like a candle light in the sunshine, when compared with the tremendous sway then to be exercised by even a child. Isa. xi., 6-8, pictures not a man cowing one or two low-spirited lions cooped up in a cage, but a little child fearlessly leading out in the open a wolf and a lamb, a leopard and a kid, a lion and a calf, all of them together as a happy harmonious family of docile pets. Not a hint of anxiety depicted lest the wolf, the leopard, and the lion should get "out of hand" and prey upon the lamb, the kid, and the calf, or fight with each other. The control is complete! So also in the second picture presented—a tiny baby plays hide and seek with an asp, while a toddling mite searches in the adders' den for an additional playmate.

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