William Stands Firm

William and Elsie Anderson lived in a comfortable home with their six children. William was a mechanical engineer in a local factory. He earned very good wages.

William and Elsie were Christians who loved to serve the Lord. Their oldest son was studying for the ministry. The other children were attending school. The children felt loved and secure under the Christian guidance of their parents. William was a highly respected elder in the church that the family faithfully attended. The Andersons kept Sunday as a day belonging to God. The family attended church twice and observed the remaining hours with Bible study, singing, and prayer.

One Saturday William returned home from work very late. He came home too late to read the Bible and pray with his family before the children had gone to bed. Elsie was still sitting by the fire waiting for him. William told her about the problems that had arisen at work that day. “One of the main pieces of machinery broke down today,” he explained. “Mr. Peters, our manager, ordered everyone to remain at work tonight, and to continue working tomorrow, on Sunday, too. He wants us to repair the machine and catch up with our work so that we will be back on schedule by Monday.”

“But William,” Elsie exclaimed, “Mr. Peters has never asked any of his men to work on Sunday before! What did you tell him?”

William was quiet as he remembered how he had had to stand alone. At last he answered slowly, “None of the other men protested, but I told him that I would work until midnight tonight, but that I would not break God’s command by working on Sunday. I think the others were laughing at me.”

Elsie did her best to cheer him up. “Of course you did the right thing, William. How can Mr. Peters expect the Lord’s blessing on his business if he orders his men to work on the Lord’s Day?”

As the two continued talking quietly, they were suddenly surprised to hear the doorbell ring. It was past midnight, long past the time when they would expect anyone to come for a visit. William quickly arose to open the door. There stood a messenger from the factory. He had a message for William from Mr. Peters: “You are to come back to the factory immediately, William. If you don’t come to help find the problem, we will never be able to fix that machine. And Mr. Peters warns you, that if you don’t come he will fire you immediately!”

William was surprised and angry. “I have already explained to Mr. Peters why I will not work on Sunday. I refuse to do that which my conscience tells me is wrong. He probably thinks I will work anyway for fear of losing my job. Well, tell Mr. Peters that I will not break God’s law for any earthly master, but will obey my Master in heaven. I cannot come in at all today.”

William hardly had time to reflect upon what had just happened when they heard an urgent knock on their door. Mr. Peters himself stood at the door, and it was plain to see that he was very upset. “Look here, Anderson,” he said, “you simply have to come back! We can’t possibly do the job without your help. You are the only one who understands how that machine works. If you don’t come, it will be necessary for me to hire someone from another city, and that would be very costly.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Peters. I’ve already told you how I feel.”

“You’re not being reasonable, William. Listen, I’ll give you a good raise in pay if you come now.”

But William would not be persuaded. He had only one answer: “Mr. Peters, every hour of the Lord’s Day belongs to the Lord. I will not work for you today. I am willing, however, to start at one o’clock Monday morning, but I will not work at all today.”

When Mr. Peters saw that he could not change William’s mind with threats or promises, he became very angry. “Mr. Anderson,” he stormed, “you are a fool. You are fired and will never work for me again!” With that, he left in haste.

William and Elsie sat down in shock. They began to realize what losing this job meant for their family. The Lord had blessed them with a comfortable living and they had no worries about the future. But suddenly they were faced with an impossible situation. Elsie tried hard to be brave. She had listened quietly to all that had been said, but now she sobbed as she tried to comfort her husband. Together they knelt in prayer and asked the Lord to care for them and their children. After casting their cares upon the Lord, they were able to lie down and sleep.

Both parents tried to keep Sunday as normally as possible. They sang the usual songs of praise with their children, and attended church with them. They never spoke about business matters or concerns on Sundays. This Sunday was no different. Their children didn’t even realize that there was a problem. Even though William and Elsie expected a time of trial, they were able to place their burdens before God with the petition, “Thy will be done.”

As the family lay peacefully sleeping, just after one o’clock Monday morning, a loud knock at the door startled them awake. William opened the door only to find his manager standing there again. This time, however, Mr. Peters was in a very different mood. He humbly apologized for speaking so harshly to William before and said, “Mr. Anderson, would you please consider coming to help us now that Sunday is past? We all apologize for how we treated you and promise that you will never be asked again to work on Sunday. We have tried and tried to fix that machine without you, but you can’t believe how many problems we have had. I finally sent all the men home until I could speak to you again. Please come right away to help us out.”

With gladness in his heart, William quickly dressed and went with his manager. He soon found the problem with the machine and had it back in working order in a short time. Mr. Peters and the others were very thankful for his help and were sorry for their earlier treatment of him. How thankful William and Elsie were to see the faithfulness of God to them! What a beautiful lesson they could give their children later that day. They told them about the trial that had come and about how their father had lost his job for refusing to break God’s command. But they especially told them how the Lord had heard their prayer and gave his job back again.

— JL

MY MOTHER’S PRAYERS

A young man on whose mind the doctrine of religion had been early impressed by his pious mother’s instructions, gave way to evil associations and at length went to sea. Although he was early taught to study the sacred Scriptures, and at one period of life gave hopeful evidence that he desired to be guided by its precepts, he fell deeply into sin, and ultimately became, alas, an abandoned and miserable creature. He was thrown into prisons and workhouses, and into dens of wretchedness and vice; but into all these places his faithful mother seemed to follow him with her prayers and tears.

The mother died nearly broken while her son was in prison because he had been convicted of crime. Here he was an object of so much dread that the keepers were afraid to approach him. In about six months, however, the tiger began to grow tame and to the surprise of everyone his inquiry was, “What must I do to be saved?”

I questioned him about his feelings, and he informed me that for two months he had paced his room, with sleepless nights, in agony and remorse, except when his exhausted body would sometimes overcome his painful convictions. I inquired what particular means had led him to his present remarkable change of feelings.

He replied, “My mother’s prayers and counsels! Her last words to me were, ‘William, there is no other name given under heaven among men, whereby you must be saved, but the name of Jesus Christ.’”

His mother’s prayers were answered, and this poor wandering prodigal became a God-fearing soul, a true and consistent follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Children, prize a godly mother’s counsel and tremble at the first step towards breaking a loving mother’s heart. Where one breaker of a mother’s heart is brought to repentence, there are scores who go on in sin and perish.

— Wm. Bradford, a prison Chaplain

(reprinted from Banner of Truth, 1952)

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