“And you are that man, and so the Lord has spared you and your wife and little ones. O Ned, dear, ask him to make their mother a Christian too.”
“My darling, I will; I do every day of my life,” he said with emotion, and holding her close.
In another moment the carriage had drawn up before the veranda steps and Herbert, who had arrived and dismounted a little in advance of the others, hastened to assist them to alight.
“Why, Zoe, dear girl, how you are trembling!” he exclaimed, as he lifted her out and set her on her feet. “Don’t allow yourself to be so agitated; the danger is past, and by God’s great goodness we have all escaped injury.”
“Yes, yes, I know it!” she said, “but the shock was very great, and I cannot get over it yet.”
She and Edward went directly to their own apartments, taking their babes with them; for Zoe seemed unwilling to lose sight for a moment of any one of her three treasures.
“The sweet pets!” murmured Zoe, leaning over them, her eyes full of tears. “O Ned, suppose they, or even one of them, had been struck by that tree and killed or badly hurt, how could we have borne it—you and I?” She ended with a storm of tears and sobs.
“Only by the strength that God gives in proportion to our needs, dear little wife,” Edward answered, holding her close and caressing her with great tenderness. “He is ever faithful to his promise to his people. ‘As thy days, so shall thy strength be.’”
“But I cannot claim that promise,” she sobbed, laying her head on his shoulder, while he clasped her close. “But I want to be a Christian. My heart goes out in love and gratitude to him for sparing to me my life, my dear babies, and most of all my best and dearest of husbands.”
“And I should be very, very desolate without you and yours, love,” he returned with emotion; “I cannot feel that I could do without you even in another world. Ah, dearest, why delay any longer? why not come now—at this moment—and give yourself to God? Surely you cannot refuse, cannot hesitate when you think of all his loving-kindness to you and yours.”
“I do want to be his,” she said, “but the way does not seem quite clear to me; can you not tell me just how?”
“It is very simple. Just tell him that you are a lost, helpless sinner, ask him to forgive your sins and save you from them. David’s prayer was, ‘Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.... Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me’—petitions that he is both able and willing to grant. He says, ‘him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.’ Delay is very dangerous, dearest, as the experience of this evening may well convince us; we are sure of no time but the present. ‘Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation.’”