A LITTLE ago in the State of Missouri, I was visiting a pretty little town in the service of the Lord. When leaving, and while waiting for the train, I gave away some Gospel papers, and when the train arrived, got on, and soon found myself in a seat with a lady who had received one of the papers. She was very pleasant, and glad that I should share the seat with her. I thought to myself, “Here is a Christian, or one who will be glad to hear about the Lord." The train started, and after looking up, I went at my work.
“Are you a Christian" I said. “Are you saved?”
“Yes," was her ready reply, but in a way that led me to suspect that her condition was not what her answer implied.
“Are your sins forgiven?" I asked.
“Well, I have never done anything that is wrong;
I have no sins to repent of; I am not afraid to meet God.”
“But do you not believe God's Word?”
“Oh, yes; I read it to my husband very often; he has lost his sight, and I read it through to him.”
“What does God say in His Word? Does He not say, ' There is no difference, for all have sinned? '
Moreover, does He not say that ' the whole world standeth guilty before God? ‘And does He not speak of man's condition as being sinful, lost, ungodly, unrighteous, and condemned?”
“Well, I have never sinned; I do not see what He has to condemn me for?”
“My dear friend, allow me to say that since we have been sitting together you at least have made God a liar four times; and if you have never sinned before, you are guilty now of one of the greatest sins on record, that is, making God a liar. He says that you are a sinner and guilty, and you say you are not. 'Let God be true, but every man a liar'” (Rom. 3:44God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. (Romans 3:4)).
Much more was said, she keeping to her ground of self-justification and condemnation of God, and I to my text, "All have sinned,"—all are guilty and condemned, and needing God's mercy.
Just then I noticed an old gentleman sitting in the seat in front of us, and half listening to our conversation. I handed him a little book, entitled “Saved." After a few moments he handed it back to me, saying, "I have no use for it.”
I replied, “I hope you do not reject the Savior; you are an old man, soon to go the way of all the earth, soon to meet God, and the great question with you is, How will you meet Him? Where will you spend eternity?”
“I don't believe anything of the kind," the old man replied, “no one knows anything about God.
As for the Bible it is what the priests have got up to frighten people with; I don't believe a word of it.”
Thus with the old man all was surrendered,—God, the Holy Scriptures, every ray of light that came from Him; all was given up or refused, and he himself left in the awful and dreary darkness of unbelief. A willing dupe and slave of Satan, led on blindly to hell.
One thing during the conversation struck me, as illustrating the utter folly of the old man's position.
I said, “Supposing at midday, when the sun is in his strength, a man were to say, ‘The sun does not shine.' What would people say of him?”
“They would say that he was a fool," was the ready response.
“Certainly they would, and the. Word of God says, ' The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God' “(Psa. 14). In the midst of God's creation, surrounded with His glorious works, for you to say ` There is no God,' makes you a very great fool; and with the sacred Scriptures before you, telling you of God's great love in the gift of His Son to save man from impending wrath, makes you a greater fool still.”
Thereafter we reached our destination, parted, and were soon lost to each other in the multitude of a great city; but to meet again, “For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:11, 1211For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. 12So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. (Romans 14:11‑12)).
Sin takes various forms; with some it is self-righteousness, and making God a liar; with others, like the old man, it is denying His very existence, and scorning revelation. But in each case it is sin, and sin and God cannot go together; therefore if man will cleave to his darling sins, refusing the “fountain that is open for sin and uncleanness," there must be an eternal separation between him and God.
O that men would be wise and consider their latter end!
“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isa. 55:7-97Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:7‑9)). E. A.