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This true story was originally written by Frances Bevan and may be found, unabridged, in her book Prayers and Promises. A version was also published as “Fifteen Hundred Miles on Foot”.
Around 200 years ago, there was a young man in Germany whom we may call Nicholas. He was raised in religion, but he was a worshipper of pleasure—so much so, in fact, that he was notorious for his pursuit of pleasure and for his indifference to both good and evil. But, like you and me, he had both a memory and a conscience.
Nicholas began to remember the many wicked things he had done and the warnings he had received. His conscience convicted him. He thought, “It may be true that there is an eternal punishment for sinners!” He had heard of the “judgment seat of Christ” and of the “lake of fire”; and he thought, “If anyone is ever likely to be there, it is myself—for I have never seen or heard of anyone who has sinned as I have done.”
The more he thought of these things, the worse he felt. No longer were his sins pleasurable to him. The horrors of hell haunted him—he longed for deliverance from his past, from his guilt—from himself! He hoped that there might be some way for sinners to be saved, but he despaired of ever discovering it. He had heard much about penance and purgatory, but he feared that a long life of penance and a thousand years in purgatory would not be enough to find for him the favor of a holy God. Nicholas knew that he was not fit even to be seen by a holy God. What could he do?
He had heard of the La Trappe monastery whose rules and restrictions were the most severe of any, and he decided to go there to seek his soul’s salvation, if possible. He would be-come a monk and embrace and endure all of the harsh discipline demanded, if only he could be sure of pardon in the end.
That monastery was about fifteen hundred miles from his home, and he walked the whole distance, being now too poor to travel otherwise and because he thought that the long hot journey, begging as he went, might count as a part of his penance.
Finally, faint and fearful, he reached the old building. He rang the bell. An old monk slowly opened the door.
“What do you want?” asked the aged monk.
“I want to be saved,” replied Nicholas. The monk invited him inside.
“Now, tell me what you mean,” said the old man.
Nicholas answered, “I have been a far greater sinner than anyone I ever heard of. I do not think it is possible that I can be saved. But, I am willing to do whatever may be done; if only I may have a faint hope at last that I may escape eternal punishment. If it must be by spending all of the rest of my life in penance, the harder it is the more I shall be thankful. Only tell me what I must do, and I will do it gladly.”
“If you are ready to do what I tell you,” replied the old monk, “you will go back to Germany. There has been One down here Who has done the whole work in your place before you came—and He has finished it. He did it instead of you; so, there is nothing left for you to do! It is all done.”
Nicholas was stunned.
“Who has done it?” he asked.
“Did you never hear of the Lord Jesus Christ?” replied the old man.
“Yes, of course I have heard of Him.”
“Do you know where He is?” enquired the old man.
“Yes, of course I know. He is in heaven,” replied Nicholas.
“But tell me,” said the old man, “do you know why He is in heaven?”
“No, except that He is always in heaven.”
“He was not always in heaven,” replied the old man. “He came down here to do the work you want to do yourself. He came down here to bear the punishment of your sin. He is in heaven now because the work is done. If It were not so, He would still be here. He came down to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself!”
“Do you not know what He said on the cross? ‘It is finished.’ What was finished?—the work you want to begin! And now, if you want to add the chief sin to your wicked life—and to do something worse than all you have ever done—you may stay here and cast contempt on the blessed and perfect work of the Son of God by taking upon yourself to do what only He could do, and has done, and has finished. It would be as if you said, ‘Christ has not done enough. I must add to the work which He has declared is finished.’”
“It may seem strange to you that I stay here where Christ is insulted, but I am old and can only walk to the gate. I cannot leave. But you can go, and I urge you to go back to your friends and to tell them what the Lord has done for you. Stay three days, and I will tell you all I can, and then you must go.”
“And so,” said Nicholas, later, “I stayed three days, and the old man told me much more of the work of the Lord Jesus—not only what His death had done for me, but also how He had risen again to give me eternal life, and how He had won a place for me in heaven, above the angels, where He is waiting for me and for all who believe in Him. And so I returned to Germany, and I tell any who will listen the blessed news of the perfect work of Christ.”
Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. 1 Peter 3:18
Now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Hebrews 9:26
Friend, did Jesus do this for you? Do you rest in Him and in His work?
(This article is also available as a full-color gospel tract, BTP #40650. Ask about other large print gospel brochures in this series.)