YES, sir," said the merchant,” this book is my book of life. It is my consolation, my support, my hope. When my last hour comes I will meet it calmly, resting upon the certainty that I have made a good use of the talents which God entrusted to me.
Yes! in this book rest all my hopes, both for this world and the next!” The words were spoken confidently, and almost triumphantly. At least, so it seemed to the Christian visitor, who was sitting in the merchant's office, and listening with surprise and grief.
What book was it, think you, to which the speaker referred, and which he called his “book of life"? The Bible? To what other book could he possibly refer in such terms?
No, it was not the Bible. We will let the merchant himself answer our question.
“If you were to read this book," he said, it you would find some names in it that would surprise you. But I have never shown it to anyone, for it contains the secrets of others.
This book is a record of all the services which I have ever rendered to anyone. It is secured from every eye except my own, for I keep it in this box, of which I alone have the key. And look at the inscription.”
The visitor glanced at the writing on the cover, and read these words:
“To be placed in my coffin without being opened.”
Some comment was evidently expected from him, and quietly seeking God's help and guidance, he said: “I would like to ask you if, in those moments which come to us all (for we are all sinners), when conscience rises up to accuse us, and we feel we are guilty in God's sight, do you then find that anything in this book can give you peace? Does it lead you to believe yourself pardoned, and justified before God?”
The merchant leaned over, and laid his hand upon that of his visitor.
“Sir," he said, “if this book had not power to give me peace I would burn it, and never give another halfpenny to the poor. Yes, I know that I commit sins; I have my faults, like everyone else. But this book reassures me. When I look over it, I feel that my account stands well, and that there is sufficient recorded in its pages to make all my faults and sins be forgotten.”
Are you ready, my reader, to exclaim with me, “What a delusion! What a fearful, soul-destroying mistake! "? It was that, indeed.
For a man to imagine that his kindness to the poor and other "good deeds" possessed merit enough to atone for his sins is one of the most fatal delusions that one could have. To think that anything except the atoning work of Christ could settle the question of our sins, that anything but His precious blood could cleanse away our guilt, is an error of the first magnitude.
Some years passed since the visit paid by the Christian to the office of the merchant, and now the latter was laid upon his dying bed.
His sufferings were great, but his mind was clear. He sent a message to his Christian friend, begging him to come to his bedside, which he gladly did. As the visitor entered the sick-room, what should he see, lying beside the dying man, but the register of his good works.
“It will be a relief to me to confide in you,” he said. “It was hard to give up a delusion which I had treasured for thirty years. But the veil was torn away, and there was revealed to me the utter worthlessness of the book I had so prized.”
His face beamed with gratitude and joy.
“Imagine," he continued, "what would have been my state if I had ended with this thought: I have labored for myself, and have received my reward. But I saw that, far from having atoned for my sins by my good works, those very works were in themselves full of sin; and that I was a lost sinner, in danger of eternal death, and with no power to save myself. And then, for the first time in my life, I felt my need of a Savior, and I thought of Him who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich.' And now I treasure in my heart those words which once were so distasteful to me: "By grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Eph. 2:8, 9.)
The next day he passed peacefully away.
- - -
Such was the conversion of this self-righteous and self-satisfied man.
And what of you, reader? Are you putting your trust in anything that you are, or that you hope to be? If so, let me warn you that you are making a fearful mistake. The only ground upon which we can safely build is the finished work of Christ.
“PEACE IS POSSESSED by those who simply hide
In Christ alone, and in His words confide;
They read their pardon, written full and plain
By God Himself, who sees them without stain.”
There is no other way to be saved. Kings in their palaces and nobles in their mansions, equally with the unfortunate denizens of the slums and lodging-houses of our big cities, must be saved, if they are to be saved at all, because of what Christ has done for sinners, when He hung as the Sin-bearer on the Cross.
I hope you, my reader, have this firm foundation as the ground of your confidence.
H. P. B.