* Scottish Tract Magazine, DEC., 1844.
Honor J—, the subject of the following narrative, was an aged woman, who lived at Mouse Hole, Mount’s Bay, near Penzance, over one hundred years ago. She and her husband numbered one hundred and sixty-four years between them, and had been married fifty-six years, and brought up a large family. They had retired from business and lived frugally: their cares were few since their children had settled in life, and they thought to end their days in peace. They attended on the outward means of grace but their hearts were little affected by the truths they heard.
In the Summer of 1841, Honor J— was taken ill, and she began to fear that her sickness was unto death. In early life she had thought that all was well with her, and now she found that her past life would not bear examination, and she was filled with fear. She read, and tried to pray, but still her cry was, “It’s no use, there’s no mercy for me; my day of grace is gone; four-score years in sin is a long time to repent of.” She continued in this desponding state for three weeks.
One day she felt an unusual desire to pray, and retired to her bedroom for this purpose. She had with her a book containing several tracts: this lay open before her. She tried to pray and then to read, but alas! with little comfort, her hands hung down, and her knees were feeble. She raised her book, and read the following passage, “Behold! Christ invites you in the gospel; God is waiting to be gracious; Jesus is ready to receive you; He is come to seek and to save that which was lost,” (Luke xix, 10). “Him that cometh unto me,” he says, “I will in no wise cast out,” (John vi, 37.) “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” (Matt. xi, 28.) “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” (Acts xvi, 31).
These words impressed her mind with a power that she had never felt before. She called on her aged husband, who came quickly, but being himself ignorant of the power of God, he could only wonder. Then he called his son, a pious man, who instructed and comforted his mother.
For some days she felt so happy, she scarcely knew what to do. She said, “Then I, even I, believed in the Lord; that was the word, Acts xvi, 31-34. Then I was enabled to believe in Jesus. Praise the Lord! To think that I, a sinner like me, of four score and two years, should find mercy; O! praise the Lord! Since I have known anything I have sinned: fourscore years in sin, and after all to be saved! Oh, He is a precious Saviour to me! I am very happy; I do desire to live to the Lord, his Word is sweeter than ever.”
After Honor J— had thus received the good news of salvation through the blood of the Lamb she was tried and tempted, but was enabled to hold fast the beginning of her confidence, steadfast unto the end. Though weak in body, from her age and illness, she cried unto the Lord in the time of trial, and he delivered her. Her usual expressions were, “Jesus is precious”: “Almost gone!” and “Fourscore years in sin!” “Praise the Lord that He found me.”
She had many conflicts with the enemy especially the week before she died. Satan suggested, “It is too late now; you cannot expect after four-score years of sin to be saved; whatever others may do, you must be a lost soul; There is no hope for you.” But she was always enabled to trust in God, and say, “No, no; thou Lord will never leave me now.” “With this answer,” she said, “the tempter always left me but night and day he came again.”
She said—”It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good. I have done with the world; my sins are pardoned, and I am going home. When I think on my past life, I am forced to say, How good the Lord is! how merciful to an old sinner almost gone!”
This aged woman but young disciple, was regularly visited by Christian friends, until the day of her death; she never lost her evidence; she rejoiced in Christ Jesus, and had no confidence in the flesh. When the comfort of the rod and the staff of Jesus in the valley of the shadow of death was mentioned, she whispered, “No darkness!” She was deeply concerned for the spiritual good of her husband and family. She was much in prayer and had the full possession of her faculties to the last. Having rejoiced in the treasure she so lately found, she calmly resigned herself to the divine will, and gently fell asleep in Jesus.
“By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,” (Ephes. ii v 8). As it has been said of the Saviour’s act of grace to the dying malefactor, that it was, “One instance of conversion at the eleventh hour, that none might despair, and one only that none might presume.” So may all who read this account, make haste to fly from the wrath to come.