Chapter 16: The Supreme Test

THERE can be no greater test of the reality of the work of grace that God has wrought in the hearts of so many Brazilians than the final supreme test of the hour of death. The following case is a remarkable example.
No more devout and fervent Roman Catholic than Dona Bernardinha lived in Entre Rios, and as she could both read and sing she was sought after for many miles round the city to lead at any special religious function, which often partook somewhat of the character of an Irish wake. Above the ordinary intelligence, in her way she feared God, though a firm believer in the miraculous and saving virtues of the numerous images that decorated her house; and she was generally esteemed and looked up to as a model Catholic.
Yet in spite of all this, like so very many in this land, she lived with a man who was not her husband.
In the early part of 1902 the writer and some companions passed through her village, and two open-air meetings were held, one being close to Dona Bernardinha’s house.
She felt compelled by a strong impulse to listen to what these men had to say about the God she believed in, though they were reported to be Protestants, and therefore very dangerous and detestable people; and as she listened the first ray of truth went home to her heart. She did not break away at once from her sins and idols, but the words she had heard were never forgotten, but often thought over; and when two years later we re-visited the city and held public meetings in the Town Hall, this woman was among the first and most eager attenders.
Obtaining a Bible, she was confirmed in her opinion that we preached the truth. These meetings Continued some weeks; but before the first ten days had passed Dona Bernardinha surrendered to the claims of the Lord, and, standing up in the midst of a crowded meeting, gave public testimony to the knowledge of the forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ, From that time she became a changed woman, and her life began to react on all around her. The man she had lived with was converted also, and they agreed to separate, he already having a legal wife who had abandoned him.
Within a few days of her conversion she brought round to the house where we lodged a sack full of wooden saints, crucifixes, rosaries, and other superstitious relics, of which, with her entire approval, we promptly made short work, calling her to note that if they were so holy and miraculous as reported they ought to have enough power to save themselves from the ax and flame to which we subjected them.
This new convert now became as zealous in the cause of Christ as she had been in that of Rome. The people were astonished; and though she was shunned by some as a heretic, she was covertly visited by many who desired to look into these things. In spite of persecution and much bodily weakness she witnessed a bold confession before all, and daily grew in grace and in the knowledge of her Lord.
She had been, however, for many years afflicted with a terrible organic disease, which little by little began to undermine her life. Though many a time the Lord met her in quickening power, yet some two years after her conversion her illness suddenly took a serious turn. She felt fully persuaded in her mind that her departure was at hand, and gladly waited for the end.
With such terrible rapidity the disease developed that soon it was known all round that Dona Bernardinha was dying, and visitors became frequent. With all the intense suffering, with her body all disfigured, she never complained or fretted; and when some of her visitors expostulated with her to try some new drug or other, or call to her God to take away her suffering, she would raise her poor dying body in bed, with great effort assume an attitude of prayer, and cry, “O, loving Father, if it be Thy desire to teach me ought thereby and mold me to Thy will, or if these here, through the example of my patient endurance and faith, may be drawn to Jesus, O Father, increase my sufferings, spare me not, withhold not Thy hand; only that Thy grace uphold me, that I may have strength and patience to endure, that Thy Name may be glorified, and that these may know Thee as I know Thee!” — and then, exhausted by the strain, she would sink back on her bed again, and a strange awe and hush would pass over those assembled in her little hut. Sometimes she would turn to those about her and say, “Don’t be sorry for me, for to die is gain; I go to a place whose glory and joy far exceed the imagination of man;” and she begged the few believers not to weep for her when, she died. Sometimes when the little room was crowded with visitors and the conversation took a turn she did not like, she would rise and kneel in her bed and pray for them all with such earnest fervor that many hearts were melted as in God’s presence. To all she spoke of her Lord, exhorting seriously several backsliders to look upon her condition and poor half-dead body, and to ask themselves who was the better off, and if they were as ready to meet God as she was.
Several weeks passed by, and as the time grew shorter she seemed all the more eager to make use of it for winning souls to Christ. Her joy and peace of heart were unabated to the last, and often when she was too weak for anything else she would lie quietly, softly crooning over her favorite hymn, “O doce e meu descanco” (“Safe in the arms of Jesus”).
The last days of this dying saint spoke more eloquently and effectively to the people of Entre Rios as to the power and reality of the Gospel than all our previous efforts; and only the last day will show the far-reaching and eternal effects of such a death in Christ.
The little town was deeply moved, and her funeral was attended by some fifty villagers. Among the little group of converts not one tear was shed; but when her favorite hymns were sung, and the native pastor’s earnest words and closing prayer ended the ceremony, many an unbelieving heart was touched, many a new desire and ambition created, and many a seed sown which in God’s own time will spring up into everlasting life.