IT was in the month of March 1894 that I sat in the bungalow of a noted godly missionary in the neighborhood of the city of Hyderabad, in the Deccan, India. The thermometer stood at 93 degrees, and was not much lower at night, so that sleep was unrefreshing, and it would soon be time to think of moving to a cooler climate ere the heavy rains should burst.
We had had many long talks over the state of the Mohammedans, and the awful hatred to the name of Christ and the way of salvation.
One morning a tall, handsome young man called for an interview.
I was introduced to him. He was a fine-looking native, very dark-skinned, who had had an excellent education in one of the colleges in India, and spoke English perfectly—a Mohammedan by religion, and a devout one. After a little general talk, I said:
“May I, sir, ask a great favour of you? I am an Englishman on a short visit to India, and I have had no opportunity of hearing direct from a Mohammedan what is the central fact or hope in his religion. Could you put it before me simply, tersely, and in a way that I might easily understand?”
“Certainly, and with the greatest pleasure. We believe in Mohammed as the last and the greatest of the Prophets.”
“Who came before him?”
“Well, there was a succession of holy, good men, teachers and prophets, such as Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Samuel, Daniel, Christ, and others, and, last all, came the greatest of them all—Mohammed.”
“Do you ever pray to him?”
“Of course not. He has been dead these hundreds of years.”
“Then what can he do for you?”
“Nothing at all. How can a dead man help anyone? What an idea! He can hear nothing, see nothing, do nothing.”
“Then I don’t quite see what good he is, or why you venerate him so.”
“Well, he is God’s great revelation, and his words abide as written in our holy book, The Koran.”
“And what is the truth about God?”
“We believe, first, that there is only One True God.”
“So do we.”
“Then, that this One True God is Almighty.”
“So do we.”
“Then, that this One True God is also All-Merciful.”
“So do we.”
“Therefore at the close of each day at sunset, every true Mohammedan kneels down with his face toward the sun, and says his prayers, asking God to forgive his sins, and God does so.”
“How do you know that?”
“It can’t be otherwise. God is Almighty and All-merciful. He cannot but forgive sins when asked in the right way.”
“But how do you know it, sir? Has He told you so?”
“Don’t you see there is no alternative—He must. Being Almighty and All merciful He cannot do otherwise.”
“But then, you want some proof. Now, if I am not thought rude, may I ask, how do You personally know that God has forgiven you your sins?”
“I think I kind of feel it every evening.”
“Then you have no other evidence of it?”
“No; but that’s enough.”
“Do you ever go to bed, sir?”
“Of course I do, and to sleep too.”
“And then, what happens to your feelings? They go, too, do they not? And if the feelings of pardon go, does not the pardon go along with them? I should think it was a most risky thing to go to sleep and lose the feeling of being forgiven. Suppose you die in your sleep, would it not be most serious?”
“Well, now, really, I never thought of that before. Yes, I’m afraid it is much more serious than I had imagined. I hardly know what to think about it. But tell me, what do you know more than we?”
“Well, sir, a good deal; and, first of all, will you allow me to say that you have omitted a very important fact from your definition of God? You have said that He is Almighty and All-merciful, but you have left out that He is All-righteous, and that is as important as the other two. Being All-righteous He cannot possibly give to anyone an illegal pardon. If He pardons any sin, He must do so in a way that can never be challenged or called in question by anyone at any time, and I doubt if you have thought of that carefully. It is a most important factor in the whole question.”
“I don’t understand what you mean, I can’t see any sense in it. God being Almighty can do anything.”
“No, sir, you are not quite correct there. He cannot do a wrong thing, an unjust thing, an illegal thing. He dare not. Righteousness is as essential a quality of His nature as power and love.”
“I declare I can’t see any sense in your remarks.”
“Then allow me to try and make it plain by an illustration. Supposing you had committed some crime, which was a breach of the laws of your country, that you had been arrested, found guilty, and sentenced to ten years’ penal servitude quite justly; and then suppose your friends had gone to your Nizam with an earnest petition for your forgiveness and release, and he had been pleased of his goodness to pardon you and send down word for your immediate release, having the power thus to pardon any whom he choose, would such an act have been merciful?”
“Certainly it would.”
“But would it have been right?”
“No, indeed, it would not. It would not have been fair to the rest of the community.”
“Exactly so; and now I can use your own words to prove my point on the greater matter. God cannot pardon you, or anyone else, simply on the ground of mercy. Wrong has been done, injury has been done. Sin is a destructive force, and it would not be fair to the rest of the community.”
“But what is the community in this case?”
“A great unknown, unnumbered host of unfallen holy ones surround the throne of God. These are the angelic hosts who have been spoken of as ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; and others besides. If any such went to heaven, he would be amongst this community, and they would intensely resent such pardoned sinners being admitted into their company. If it would be unfair and wrong here, it would be a thousand times more so there. In fact, the thing is an impossibility. The throne of God is established in righteousness, and nothing can possibly be allowed to happen to undermine or question that righteousness. Forgiveness, as you imagine and suggest, would be that very thing. The law has claims that have first to be met and settled, and until they are, nothing more can be done in the way of divine pardon.”
“Then, what have you more than we to meet this?”
“A great deal, and it is most important.”
“Would you mind telling me?”
“Not at all, if you would like to know. It is this: I personally have a Friend, whom I have known now for some time, a very remarkable and wonderful Person. Some long time ago He very kindly looked most carefully and fully into this whole question for me, and undertook to settle Himself in the full and proper way all the claims that the Law of God had against me in the matter of sin. He was in a position to know the whole thing in a way I did not, and could not, and He has undertaken the same thing for many others beside me.”
“How extremely interesting. I never heard of such a thing. Who is He? Where does He live? When did you see Him last? He must be an extraordinary Person!”
“Yes, that is just the fact. Let me tell you a little more. Not only has He undertaken the whole thing, but has Himself become responsible for all contingencies, bearing all losses, and submitting to all the penalties that were legally due, and had to be enforced for all sin against God’s law.”
“How very extraordinary! I don’t think you mentioned His Name, did you?”
“All of us who know Him personally are profoundly thankful to Him, because it has taken away the great difficulty between us and God. There is no further question of right in the matter. It is right and just for the All-merciful and All-righteous God thus to forgive any that accept what this Friend has done in satisfying all legal liabilities.”
“Do tell me His Name, and where He lives.”
“Well, sir, this Friend’s name is the Lord Jesus Christ, who long ago visited this earth, and on the Cross bore all our sins and their penalty, and has now ascended, and is alive and in the presence of God for us, able and willing to administer the results of His own wonderful Sacrifice on the Cross. He can hear and answer prayer too, being alive from the dead.”
The mention of that Name produced the most extraordinary sudden change in my Mohammedan friend. His eyes flashed fury and wrath. He sprang from his chair, and looked as though he would have drawn his dagger from his belt and stabbed me on the spot. Fortunately, a big table was between us. I bade him be seated, and behave himself, and listen while I told him again what were the grounds on which alone divine pardon could be given to any sinner.
But the mention of that Name, that blessed Name, was the signal for such an outburst of hate and scorn, in the midst of which he rushed out of the bungalow, and I saw him no more.
Mohammedan hatred to Christ is strong, bitter, and relentless, awfully sad and hopeless. But what about the hostility to Christ in human hearts in the English-speaking world, that know better how to conceal it, but who are practically possessed by it? “The carnal mind is enmity against God” (Rom. 8:77Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (Romans 8:7)), and it is a small matter as to what phase of manifestation it takes on.
Are you a lover or a hater? Neither, perhaps you would say. He says, “He that is not with Me is against Me” (Matt. 12:3030He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. (Matthew 12:30)). There is no such thing as neutrality. If not committed to Christ definitely, authoritatively, then you are reckoned an enemy, a foe of God, not of the Mohammedan type possibly, which is bitter and bloodthirsty, but none the less under the control of the great foe, the Prince of Darkness.
Death of His Son.
G. S.