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A NEGRO'S EXPERIENCE

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Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Feb 17, 1881

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 7, No. 7.

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A NEGRO'S EXPERIENCE.

As I passed a small colored church I halted a moment to speak with the aged sexton who was sitting in a pensive mood upon the front steps. His once stalwart form was much bent by reason of the weight of years and the infirmities of age. His locks were silver, while his real ebony face was lighted up with an expression of the purest kindness. I said:—
“Uncle Payne, where were you raised?”
“Ober de mountains, sah, down in ole Forquier.”
“What is your age?”
“I's nigh on to eighty, so de white folks say.”
“Well, you are getting quite aged, Uncle Payne!”
“Yes, sah, I's gettin' ole, and has spent de most ob my life in sin an' folly, serbin de debil.”
“Ah! that is bad, Uncle Payne; but how long since you became a Christian?”
“Sens jis' afore de wa', sah.”
“Well, it has been a good while since then, Uncle Payne; you should have considerable experience by this time.”
“Yes, sah, I ought to hab, but I's jis' now learnt how to chaw the crusses.”
“How is that, Uncle Payne? I do not quite understand what you mean.”
“Well, sah, you see I came to Jesus, an' gib my heart to him, and for a long time, I thought de Lord must be feedin' me wid pie an' cake, an' all good things. I was not pleased if he didn't, but now I's satisfied any way. I can take a crus' from his hand as well as anything. I's got de witness in me.”
I went away pondering over what I had heard. I said, “Oh! there is the secret—‘the witness in me.’” How many are there who follow the Master not because of the miracles which he did, but because they eat of the loaves and fishes and are filled! How many seek “the pie and the cake,” but spurn the idea of crusts though presented by the Father's hand! We must take the crust as well as the cake, if we would have the witness in us.—Messiah's Herald.