A. M. Coker

“ And when Phil had fallen asleep his mother lay awake, restlessly tossing to and fro, recalling what her boy had said. There rose before her the memory of a life-time's sin. Could all that be forgiven at once? Nay, surely not. She must make herself a little better before she could expect God to help her. But (and a shudder passed through her) perhaps while she was trying to make herself better the call might come to her, as it had to Jasper, and find her not ready. ”

“ Ah, 'tis a bad thing to be without Christ so long, and only to find Him just at the last! These boys here," and he looked lovingly at Phil and Rob, "they won't ever have to feel as I do now; for they have begun young to love Jesus; and if it hadn't been for them, sir, I'd never have thought about these things. 'Twas their talk and their hymns that told me about Jesus. And your card that you gave to Rob for me was the very beginning of it all;" and the old man laid his hand tenderly on Rob, who stood listening with wonder to all that Jasper was saying. ”

“ On the last day of the old year he, with his mother and Rob, had stood by the open grave, and seen the body of Stephen Mellor laid in its last resting-place. A dreary time it had been, up there on that exposed bleak portion of the cemetery known as the paupers' ground, amid a drizzling rain and fog, to stand the only mourners, shivering and silent. Yet hardly sorrowful, as the husband and father was committed to the earth, there to await the resurrection morning. ”

“ I'm ashamed of myself that I haven't been long ago; but you see I've only just found out that 'tis all for me. Wonderful! wonderful!"
As he said the words, his eyes fell on the text that had been almost the first ray of light in that dark shed.
"And look here, Rob, if your Mr. Armstrong is up there Sunday, I'd like to tell him that I know 'tis true God cares for me. I didn't believe it when you brought home the card; but—but I know it now. Bless His Name!" And as he spoke his eyes filled with tears of grateful joy.
"Oh, Mr. Jasper, how glad Phil will be that you're going on Sunday! ”

“ So rejoice in the Lord, my brother, and be glad." With these cheering words Mr. Armstrong bade him good-night, promising to pay him a visit before long. And then, between the boys who loved him so dearly, Jonas Jasper walked slowly home, after this his first visit to the Mission Hall; and that night, from the dreary attic in which Phil and Rob lay down to rest, there went up heartfelt praise to God as the two lads knelt to say their evening prayer; and Phil, in simple, touching words, thanked God for the answer given, because Mr. Jasper loved their Jesus too. ”

“ Jonas was the first to break the silence. "Dear me," he said, "my old back isn't so fond of stooping as it used to be; it begins to cry out now. I must rest a few minutes."
Rob looked up. "I suppose, Mr. Jasper, you are getting old."
"I suppose I am, Rob; I shall never see seventy-nine again."
The child opened his eyes. "Seventy-nine? Why, Mr. Jasper, I should think you'll soon have to die, won't you?"
"Bless the child! where do you get your talk from? Die? No. Why, there's lots of folks live to be ninety and more. Of course there's no knowing. I shall have to go when my time comes;" ”

“ From Phil, Forbes had heard something of the story of Jasper's conversion, and so he was glad of an excuse to go up and rejoice with him in his new-found happiness. But on reaching the shed, and gaining admittance only after repeated knockings, he was surprised to find Jasper sitting with his face buried in his hands, and the tears falling from his eyes.
"Why, Jasper, what's the meaning of this? I thought to find you brimful of joy. What ails you, man?" and the constable laid a kindly hand on the old man's shoulder, as he repeated his inquiry. ”

“ I'm down here in my old shed, and the Lord's up in heaven, a mighty way away; and yet those boys often tell me He's here! Anyhow, it don't seem much like it! I wish I knew things rightly;" and Rob's words came back to him, "I suppose, Mr. Jasper, you'll soon have to die?"
It was a terrible thought; but he faced it then. "Yes; I shall have to die, and I daresay I shall be all alone in this dark place when I do die; and I'm afraid of the thought, I'm afraid to meet God; and why? Because of sin." ”

“ Mellor, you haven't got so many years of sin to look back upon as I have; but the Lord has saved and forgiven me, and He'll do the same for you. Look there!" and Jasper pointed to the Christmas banner; that was the text that made it all plain to me. "'Unto you,' that's me; 'this day,' that's now; 'is born a Saviour,' that's just what I want; and it's for you too, Mrs. Mellor; and you ask the boys to sing to you the hymns they sang to me on Christmas night, and I'm sure He will do as much for you as He did for such a black sinner as me." ”

“ Jasper shook his head. "No, no," he said; "I'm breaking up, as folk say. This cold weather has cut me very sharp, and I'm not the man I was, even three months ago. I did get up to the Hall last week, but I'd all my work to reach home again; you see, 'tis a tidy step from here to John Street. Rob terribly wanted me to go again Sunday, but my knees are so stiff with rheumatics I couldn't walk, so he stayed here and sang to me; and then Phil came in later and read to me, and told me what the preacher had been saying—about heaven, wasn't it? Ah, 'twill be beautiful to get there." ”

“ To him and Phil had come one great joy. Ever since Jasper's death their mother had gone with them every Sunday evening to their much-loved Mission Hall; she was getting quite known there now, and some of the folk had been to see her.
But one day who should come but Mr. Armstrong himself! Neither Phil nor Rob was at home—much to their grief, when they heard he had been; but it was Mrs. Mellor he wanted, and after a few words of kindly inquiry he made known the purport of his visit.
"Mrs. Forbes is finding the work up at the Hall too much," he said. ”

“ Mellor's life.
A few days more, and she with the boys had moved into small but clean rooms, not far from the Mission Hall. Friends had provided some additional furniture, and so amid brighter surroundings the winter passed away, and spring filled the earth with gladness—a gladness that found its way into the Mellors' home, and stayed there too. For it was God Himself who put the gladness into their hearts—a joy that no man could take from them—even His own presence and peace.
And so the years rolled on, and Phil's dream of being Mr. Cross's shopman was realized. ”

“ God was to them so very real. But this had come home to the boys in different ways. The absorbing thought in Phil's mind was God's intense hatred of and detection of sin, in every shape and form; while to Rob, God in His wonderful constant personal love was his constant joy. So they helped each other, and Phil's tender conscience was often a safeguard to Rob, while his simple confidence in the love of Jesus was a comfort to his elder brother.
But there was one great and mutual trouble: never yet had they succeeded in persuading Jonas Jasper to go with them to John Street. ”

“ Has your past, with all its sin, been blotted out of God's sight in the precious blood of Jesus? He offers now to do it, if you will come to Him, not excusing yourself, but confessing your sin; for 'if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin.' Then we can begin to talk about a better 'henceforth;' for when God forgives a man, He gives him a new heart, which is a new power to lead a new life; a life henceforth not unto themselves, not just seeking their own pleasure, but the pleasure and the glory of God. ”

“ After some minutes he put it down wearily, saying, "'Tis such a lot of reading, and I can't find it; but Phil will know, and I'll ask him, and be sure to tell you."
"All right, Rob! But anyhow you're sure it's there?"
"Oh yes, because teacher read it out of his Bible, and then he chalked it on the board for us to learn; but Phil always finds the verses himself as well. You see, he's so clever, and then he's five years older than me." And with this excuse for his inferior capacities, Rob set to work at his rags again, and Jasper to his thoughts. ”

“ The Lord tells us we shall go no more out for ever, bless His name! But I must be off now."
"Wait half a minute, Forbes, will you? I want to speak to you about something;" and Jasper rose from his chair, and going over to the shelf, reached down the old pickle jar, that contained the savings of so many years. "There isn't so very much," he said; "but what little I have put by is here. I'd like to be buried respectably, and then, if there's anything over, why, it's for the boys, bless 'em. ”

“ For they were fast friends, Rob and Jasper, in spite of the nearly seventy years that lay between them. Perhaps, if the truth were told, that child could do more with the old man than any one living. Phil, too, was a favourite, but Rob stood first in Jasper's affection; and it was a real pleasure to him when the cold weather put an end to the Mellors' wandering life, and brought them back to that wretched attic in Preece's Place which Rob had called "home." ”

“ Not that they amounted to much; but still there was enough to keep Jonas from the workhouse yet a while, even if he "retired from business," as folk say. That was the one dread of his life—lest he should end his days as a pauper. But of the afterward of those days he never thought, or of the moment when pauper and prince alike should stand before God in judgment, to give an account, not of poverty or of riches, but of how they had treated the Lord Jesus Christ, whom God had sent to save sinners. ”

“ And when, on the way home, they passed the shed, all closed and silent, Rob shuddered afresh, and creeping closer to Phil, burst again into tears.
"Shan't we ever go in there any more, Phil?"
"I expect not, Rob; you see 'twill be pulled down soon, and you know it is very nice for Mr. Jasper not to have to turn out, and I expect Jesus knew how 'twas troubling him, and so He took him right away, and we must be very glad for him, Rob." ”

“ Filthy as we are, He can just take us and wash away all our filth, and soften our hard hearts, and make something altogether new out of us. 'Tis very wonderful, and I don't know that we can quite understand how He does it; but you see, like the rags in the mill, the master undertakes to do it all, and he knows how and he does it, and so the Lord will undertake to wash the blackest sinner white; and He'll do it too, if we'll only let Him; and when the Lord takes a man in hand it's astonishing what He can make of him, no matter how worthless he seems to be. ”

“ It's enough to make one shiver, when you see how soon anybody may be gone."
And so Phil, in his simple way, told her all he knew of God's plan of salvation. "And if we come to Jesus, mother, and ask Him to forgive us, He will, and He'll wash away all our sins, and then, if our sins are all gone, we needn't be afraid to die." ”

“ Phil was silent for a moment, and then sitting down, he said, in that queer, old-fashioned way of his, "I think that's what God's Word generally does, Mr. Jasper; it shows us up. Mr. Armstrong said the other day that we don't find out how filthy sin makes us until we see what God says about it in His Word. Every wrong thing we do or say leaves a stain upon us, and then, when we put our lives alongside of God's Word we find out how filthy we are; and so I was thinking, you didn't know how dirty your old wall was until Rob put up the clean text. ”

“ I don't quite know how we are going to get all we want; but I'm sure that we shall. It's the clothes are the trouble; rent and food I can manage, and mother says I can get a deal more for my money than she can; only, you see, clothes cost such a lot. But I'm not afraid, and perhaps some day, sir, I shall be your shopman instead of your errand boy (for I mean to stay with you, Mr. Cross) ; and then when I'm dressed so respectably, you'll forget how shabby poor little Phil Mellor was."
Mr. Cross laughed; like every one else, he had been irresistibly attracted by the lad ”

“ I think the same might be said of a good many here to-night, and there's nothing has more power to trouble a man than his own thoughts. Poverty, pain, sorrow, all are easier to bear than an accusing conscience, a haunting memory, a condemning thought, for it's a trouble you can't get away from. ”

“ For a moment there was no answer, and then, raising his head, Jasper said, "'Tis stupid of me to give way like this, but—but 'twill be the death of me."
"Death of you! What do you mean?"
"Why, don't you know? Haven't you heard that they're going to turn me out—out of my old place, where I've been for more than forty years? They might let it 'bide as 'tis a little while longer. I shall soon be gone, and then they can do as they like; but 'tis hard on an old man to pull his place down, and turn him out when he's close upon eighty. ”