When it was over and they were on the way back to their little cabin, Hazel turned to Jennifer.
“Why, I didn’t know we were all sinners, did you, sister? I thought most of us were pretty good and it was only the bad people like tramps and gangsters who needed saving. I used to wonder why they wanted such people saved, when they were so bad,” she said, wonderingly.
“Well, I guess I never thought about it before,” said Jennifer. “I remember Kirsty used to talk about being saved, but I didn’t take much notice of what she said. Though she used to be very particular about my saying my prayers.”
“Do we get Bibles?” asked Hazel suddenly. “Everybody here has a Bible. I’d like to have a Bible and a pencil and a notebook!”
Jennifer gave a quick look toward Jerry. Could they afford Bibles? Of course, they hadn’t spent all their money yet, but there was still a time ahead when this week was over, and that must be considered.
But Jeremy’s eyes met hers and understood.
“Yes, certainly,” he said. “We can go without something else, but everybody here had Bibles, and we must have Bibles, too. If anybody needs to know the Bible, we do.”
“Yes,” said Jennifer, relieved at his decision, “we do! We’ve got to get something that will hold up through hard times, for there might be other hard things ahead, you know.”
That afternoon they went to the little book stand in the corner of the tabernacle and bought some Bibles. Even Robin insisted on having one, so they got him a little red ten-cent Gospel of John, at the suggestion of the salesman. And thereafter they attended every session of the conference with Bible in hand.
And when the evening service opened they were on hand on the minute and joined in all the songs heartily and earnestly. This meeting with hundreds of other young people all intent on the same thing, after their weeks of being cooped up with their own family, was a great experience for them.
But there was one thing that disappointed them, the children at least—for Jennifer would never have owned that she was disappointed—and that was that the young man who had told them about this place, and whose name Karen still insisted was Jack, was nowhere in evidence. They had looked in vain among the audience, and when anyone would come to the platform Karen would stretch her neck and then shake her head toward Jennifer. “Jack isn’t here yet,” she whispered mournfully. But still they all entered into the services themselves so fully that they presently forgot their disappointment and were happy.
It was a different place from any they had ever been. Everything was unexpected and wonderful when it came, and they laughed and sang and felt that they were a part of it all. The messages were plain and simple so that even the children could understand. Even Robin didn’t go to sleep. It was almost laughable to see him sit up there and listen.
“Well, I’m glad we came here!” said Jeremy when they came back to the cabin and were getting ready for rest. And each of the children voiced their opinion in some way.
Day succeeded day in continuous sunshine for which they were thankful, and they grudged each passing day, knowing that this was to end soon.
Without a murmur they trudged the rough paths that led to the grounds. It didn’t seem so far when they were to have a good time when they got there. And it was fun coming home all together.
“I think we are all wery nice,” said Robin solemnly one night as they got him into his pajamas and rolled him into bed. And how they all laughed. Until Robin looked up astonished and said, “Well, aren’t we?”
And the days went on, but still they did not see Jack Valiant, nor yet the doctor who had cured Robin.
The older ones went to every meeting and could not bear to miss a single one, though of course they had to take turns staying home with the little ones sometimes. But the others would take their Bibles and leave the first thing after breakfast and not come back until lunchtime.
The last night of the conference was very wonderful to them all. They had come to feel themselves a part of this great company of believers on the Lord Jesus, to understand that it was their privilege, as well as the rest, to have a part in the precious time of fellowship and praise.
The singing had been especially fine. Everybody called out requests for favorite songs. Individuals from the audience were called up to sing or give testimony. The Graemes sat and watched and listened and wished there were some people at home like these, wished that they might hope to have a fellowship in Christ lasting all the year.
Then the young leader whom they all loved and called by a nickname dear to them came to the front, and after a few words of personal thanks and farewell, he said, “I had a letter this morning from Val!”
A murmur, which grew into a cheer of interest, greeted this.
“Some of you don’t know Val because he wasn’t here this week, and maybe you have never been here before. But I’m sure you would love Val if you had a chance to know and hear him as much as we, who have been with him more or less during the summer, love him. Val, as we call him, or Jack Valiant as the world knows him, is a wonderful fellow, a dear servant of the Lord, and a beloved friend of ours. It was our great regret that he couldn’t be with us through this last week, but he had other engagements to meet, which made it impossible. However, I had a letter from Val today, telling me that he has made definite plans to be with us next summer. He’s up at his old home for a day or two now, where he was born, looking after some repairs on the old house and putting it into the hands of a caretaker for the winter. It’s up in New England somewhere, I forget just the same—something ‘Squam,’ isn’t it? Or is it near Squam Lake? I never can quite remember the name of it. Kennie, do you remember?”
A young fellow in the front seat raised his hand and then jumped up smiling. “Yes sir! It’s North Benton, I think.”
“That’s it!” said the leader. “North Benton. I’ve never been there myself, but since Val was born there I’m quite sure it’s worth visiting, and I mean to go there someday.”
But it was Jennifer whose eyes shone now.
“That’s it!” she whispered to Jeremy. “That’s where Kirsty lives. North Benton, Vermont! Now we’ll know how to find Kirsty!”
“So, I’m just announcing to you right now that Jack Valiant will be here at this conference next summer for probably three or four weeks, the exact dates to be announced later, and I hope you’ll all plan to come and find out what a wonderful message he has.”
But it was Karen’s turn to lean over triumphantly and whisper now.
“There! What did I tell you? His name is Jack! He just said so, and that’s what some of them called him the night I was here first.”
Jennifer smiled, but her eyes were dreamy. She was thinking of a boy about fourteen years old who took her fishing when she was nine, and comparing him with a young man who had stood in their cottage the night that Robin was so sick and watched her when the doctor came. Could they possibly be one and the same? The young man who had crawled under their car and helped to mend it? It would be just like the Jack Valiant she had known.
That evening the man who spoke arrested their attention at once.
“I want to ask a question tonight,” he said, “that thousands of people are asking: Where are the dead?”
Jennifer and Jeremy gave a startled glance at each other.
“As I would not have the slightest idea where the dead are apart from what God as revealed in His Book, I shall simply tell you what He says.
“In the first place, we understand from His Word that the ones God calls ‘the righteous dead’ are not in the same place with the ones He calls ‘the wicked dead.’
“‘Righteous’ ones, dead or alive, are in God’s sight, those who have received Christa as their righteousness. The ‘wicked’ ones, dead or alive, are those who have not. In the times before Christ came, the ‘righteous’ were those who believed He would come to take away their sins. The ‘wicked’ were those who did not.
“The ‘wicked’ are not yet in hel
l, the lake of fire. There is no one in the lake of fire. And, by the way, if any of you young people have been taught that the lake of fire is not real fire but symbolic, if that is so, what must the reality be?”
Although the speaker’s voice was quiet and solemn, as though it almost held a sob, the children’s eyes were wide with awe.
“But God never prepared the lake of fire for men! It was prepared for the devil and his wicked angels. God does not delight in consigning anyone to that place. It is only those who choose the devil instead of Christ who shall have their wish and go there.
“But not one soul it there yet. The place of the wicked dead at present is in the heart of the earth, and always has been ever since the first wicked man, Cain, died. The Hebrews called that place of the wicked dead, ‘Torments.’ The Lord Jesus Christ Himself spoke of it as such, for there is only misery there. But it is not the lake of fire.
“But ‘Torments’ is only one part of the great space reserved in the heart of the earth for the dead. That great space is called ‘Hades,’ or ‘Sheol’ in Hebrew. Both names mean ‘place of the dead.’ Hades is divided into two parts, and a great gulf lies between the two sections. ‘Torments’ is one part.
“But while the other part used to be the place of the righteous dead and was called ‘Paradise,’ or ‘Abraham’s bosom,’ it is empty now! Satan used to hold captive in Hades every soul who died. But Christ, when He died, went down there and fought with Satan and overcame him, and wrested from his hand the ‘keys’ of that place. Remember how He said when He appeared to John years after He had ascended to heaven, ‘I am he that liveth, and was dead. . .and have the keys of hell and of death’? Hades is translated hell in our English Bibles, but remember, it is not the lake of fire.
“We read in Ephesians four that when the Lord Jesus ascended to heaven after His resurrection He ‘led captivity captive.’ That is, He took with Him to heaven all those righteous dead who had been held captive by Satan in Paradise, the second part of Hades. From that time on their souls have lived in heaven with Him, although they shall not receive their bodies, glorified, until the day when Christ comes back to take all of His own up from the earth to heaven, to the place He has gone to prepare.
“We understand from this that Paradise, the place of the righteous dead, has been in the third heaven, God’s Home, ever since Christ ascended. That is why the second section of Hades is empty. We know also that Paradise is up there now because Paul tells us in second Corinthians twelve that he was ‘caught up to the third heaven. . .into paradise.’
“It is most comforting, isn’t it, to know that every person who has received the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior here on earth goes immediately there, to be with the Lord, when he leaves the body. For Paul said that for a Christian to be ‘absent from the body’ is to be ‘present with the Lord.’ Could anything be more wonderful than to look into the face of the One who loved us enough to die for us? And then to live there with Him forever!
“Many people wonder why God has not told us more about heaven in the Bible. I believe it is because if we knew more we should die of homesickness. David said, ‘In thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.’ Need we know more?
“You say, ‘How about my loved ones? How may I know that they are there?’ We cannot always know. But you may know that if they put their trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior while on this earth they are surely there. And if you do, you will surely go there, too, and shall surely see them again. And even if you are not sure that they trusted God to save them, you can be sure of this, that God gave them every chance. You cannot know what transaction they had with Him at perhaps the very last moment. Surely you can trust them with Him. If you cannot trust the One who died for you, who can you trust?”
Jerry cast a radiant look at Jennifer and saw quiet tears of joy on her face.
And then when it was all over, how they lingered and hesitated to go away and leave that sacred place where they had come so near to God and had begun to understand His Word. They wandered into the book stall and bought a book or two by some of the speakers. They bought a few pictures and trinkets and reminders, some framed Bible verses to hang on their walls; for Karen a tiny gold cross on a little chain, in remembrance of the cross that led her to a friend who took her home when she was lost.
“And now I’m saved!” she said with shining eyes. “I’m not lost anymore. Because I have Jesus!”
Chapter 20
The Graemes had forgotten all about precautions. In this heavenly atmosphere it did not seem possible that policemen could pursue them and herd them back to Aunt Petra. They sat among the happy throng and did not fear. They smiled and talked to the rest as if they were a part of one big happy family. They forgot to guard their names from being heard. They even gave their home address to some new friends they had made during that wonderful week at the conference.
And then to crown it all they went fearlessly to the conference dining room to have breakfast with those who had stayed over. For the ban against children had been raised because the conference was over, and all who were left might join them.
Robin was so intrigued with the sight of all those people at the many tables that Jennifer could scarcely coax him to give attention to eating.
And when they packed up and drove away at last there were still some friendly faces who stood around and waved their hands and smiled for farewell, saying: “See you next year!” and the Graemes nodded and called back “Oh yes, we’ll be there!”
And so they started on their way.
Their time of exile was almost over, and now they had only to make the pilgrimage to the one place Jennifer had had in mind when she first started out to get away from her relatives. They were going to find Kirsty if they could. And it seemed strange that not until the night before had they known where even to try to find her. But here they were on the way to her at last!
They didn’t realize that the children had taken in where they were going until, on the second day of their journeying, Karen said happily, “We’re going to see Jack pretty soon now, Jerry; how soon will it be that we shall find Jack?”
“Why, kitten, I don’t know that we’ll see Jack Valiant this trip at all. I’m pretty sure from what the fellows said at camp that he isn’t where we’re going now, anymore. They said he was going to be up in Canada speaking, that he just went to Vermont on business. We’re not going to see him now, you know. We’re going to find Jennifer’s old nurse, Kirsty.”
“But I wanted to see Jack!” said Karen with a hint of wailing in her voice. “Why can’t we go to Canada? Why can’t we go and find Jack?”
“Not now, Karen,” soothed Jerry. “We’re going to visit Kirsty if we can find her.”
They took the journey slowly, stopping at tourist inns on the way, just homey little old-fashioned quaint houses with pleasant rooms and nice homelike meals. They seemed to have forgotten their fear of being followed. They talked much on the way about the things they had heard at the conference, until one afternoon Hazel said thoughtfully, “We’re all different, aren’t we? I wonder what the aunts will think about it when we get home. Because, you know, they all go to different denominations, and I don’t believe any of them ever read the Bible.”
“Oh, Hazel, don’t talk that way. We’ll have to live the new Life we have found,” said Jennifer, “and then perhaps the aunts will want to be different, too.”
“Oh yeah?” said Tryon. “Well, we’ll have to be going soon if we’re aiming for that result. Personally, I think it would be easier to try to convert anyone but Aunt Petra.”
They smiled at that, and then they began to talk about the differences there ought to be in their lives if they were really going to witness for Christ as they had started out to do.
They talked about it more or less every little while that day and the next, and when they were not talking about it, most of them were thinking about it.
It was toward night and gr
owing dusky in the twilight when at last they reached North Benton. And partly by asking, and partly by what Jennifer could remember, they at last drew up in front of Kirsty MacCarra’s little plain house on the hillside above the road.
It was Kirsty herself who came out to see who they were, thinking they were strangers in need of direction. Then it was Kirsty who came flying down to the road to look in their faces and hear for herself just who this was that had come to see her.
“Oh, Kirsty, Kirsty dear!” cried Jennifer, her voice full of happy tears. “To think I am really seeing you again, here in the dear little hillside house that I loved so much! And you haven’t changed at all, except your hair is a beautiful silver! Oh, Kirsty! Don’t you know me? Don’t you know Jennifer Graeme? The little girl you took care of so long ago?”
Kirsty’s face lit up and she cried out, clasping her hands to her breast. “Oh, and is it wee Jennifer Graeme? Indeed I have no forget ye, my wee little girlie. You’ve grown big and lovely and opened like a flower. But I would have said this one was my wee Jennifer—” And she pointed to Karen, and then looked first at one and then at the other.
“But you’ll be comin’ in the noo, and let me be lookin’ ye over. And who are these?” She looked at them all curiously. “The big one’s like yer mither, he’s that good-lookin’ an’ with her eyes, and the laddie” —pointing to Tryon— “is yer feyther over again. And the ithers, I kin see a little of both the feyther an’mither. The wee one’s got his mither’s smile.”
Robin was looking at her with solemn eyes, and suddenly he broke out:
“Is that your Kirsty, Jen’fer? I wike her!” And his own radiant smile came forth like sunshine.
Kirsty made them get out of the car and come in, and when she got them all seated she went from one to the other getting acquainted, then turning to hug Jennifer again, and looking back to Karen.