I HAD offered several times to visit a prisoner, who had been convicted in the U. S. court of murder, and who was sentenced to be executed in a few weeks. But from the fact that he had been unjustly dealt with by the judge, he almost savagely refused to see any one, and stolidly gave himself up to die, wishing only to be left alone. One morning, however, a dispatch was received that the President had pardoned him.
Filled with joy on his account, for there were many grave doubts of his guilt, I hastened to take the news to one who had been particularly active in procuring a petition for a commutation of his sentence to imprisonment for life, hoping that if he did well in prison, in a few years he would be released. Here was the announcement of something better than we had looked for. Yet it was only one little paragraph among the telegraphic dispatches to the Associated Press, and not an official document, duly signed and sealed. Might it not be a mistake? We felt sure of one thing, that he had been distinguished by some act of mercy, and so hastened to see him. We told him all we had heard and felt, fearing the effect of disappointment, in case it should be found to be imprisonment for life.
As we spoke, it was interesting to notice the struggle going on within him, as betrayed by his countenance. One moment joy covered his face as a halo, and he seemed to be another man; then came the anxious look of doubt. Dare he be really happy? What a difference the two words, pardoned and commuted, would make to him! The one meant a new creature, a new life. It would be like a resurrection, for he was as good as dead, with only two weeks, and then the scaffold! In it, were joy and peace, and the fullness of hope. The other kept him under condemnation still. It was only an indefinite reprieve, a dreary, ignominious, aimless living, and in the end a death of shame; or at best, the uncertain hope that some time, far away, at last, he might be saved. Receiving the one, he could boldly say, "Who is he that condemneth?" Under the other, he would be all his lifetime subject to bondage. The former was grace, the latter law. We left him hoping that he was saved, but not able to say, "I know.”
And this, it seems to me, illustrates the condition of many in regard to their eternal salvation. They are not confident, they only trust they may be saved, and how ardently they do pray to be saved "at last." Thus many of those who confess the name of Christ are kept in fear and doubt, by an uncertainty in regard to the message delivered to them. How can such be happy, or have peace of mind, and what kind of testimony can they give to the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ? God has made clear and repeated declarations of the ground on which he confers pardon, that the iniquity of which we are guilty, and for which we are condemned, is laid on Jesus. "He hath made him sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." "He was wounded for our transgressions, the chastisement of our peace was upon him." "Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, and that he rose again according to the scriptures." And this is declared to be the gospel. "He rose again for our justification," and "by him all who believe are justified from all things." "Unto you therefore is preached the forgiveness of sins.”
This poor prisoner had no such warrant as this, for believing he was pardoned. We that spoke to him dare not give him such assurance. There were special grounds for doubt, for whatever was done, might have resulted from political reasons; or if he were pardoned, it would be upon the thought that the man might possibly be innocent; and how could we know that such had been the thought of the executive? But in the word of God, we learn that God has paid the sin laid on another; the punishment has been executed He has raised Jesus from the dead, and there is the proof forever, that He is just in pardoning, and the soul is warranted in entering into rest. It is not honoring God to doubt. It is discrediting His word; for he assures us He does not desire our death, He has all He wants in Jesus. Our fear is not humility, but presumption, for it is denying the virtue of Christ's work. Such a feeling is bondage. There is an anxiety yet, and a looking within one's self for something, some work of the Spirit it may be, that shall help, or make one feel more worthy of forgiveness.
Do not those who teach the word fail oftentimes to give the "sure" testimony? A lady, over ninety years of age, who had long felt her need of salvation, came to one who knew the grace of God, asking him what she should do, for she felt her time was short. "Why, madam," said he, "Christ has done all for God, and for you." "Ah," she replied, "they never told me that;" and, accepting the truth, she at once received peace. “These things are written that ye may know ye have eternal life;" and as those who believe in the Son of God, it is our blessed privilege to say," we have known and -believed the love that God hath to us.”
But some may say, This case of the prisoner was an individual one, and if a pardon came, he would be assured of it, for his name would be specially mentioned; how can I know the assurances of God are for me personally? Well, this same President, among the early acts of his administration, issued a proclamation of amnesty and pardon to certain rebels, excluding certain classes, and including all others. Now, how should any one of the included class know he was released? Would it not have been sheer folly and infidelity, not to have gone forth free as a citizen, fearless of judgment or arrest? And why? Because he belonged to that class, though himself not named. Even so our gracious Lord has named the classes to whom forgiveness is offered, on grounds forever settled, and infinitely glorifying to himself. These classes are "sinners," "the ungodly," those "without strength," those that "labor, and are heavy laden," and "whosoever will." Are you included? Then, take the peace He has made, and rejoice that by His grace He has of a rebel made a son. God is satisfied with Christ; Christ is satisfied with His own work. Arc you?
T. P.