Steven Marsh was the sole legatee of his aunt’s will. The will was short and to the point. It ran as follows:
“To my beloved nephew, Steven Marsh; I will and bequeath my family Bible and all it contains, with the residue of my estate after my funeral expenses and just and lawful debts are paid.”
The residue of the estate amounted to a few hundred dollars. This was soon spent, and for something like thirty-five years Marsh lived in poverty, his chief means of support being a small pension from the United States Government.
All this time he had never taken the trouble to unclasp the brass clasps of the family Bible. At last, when packing his trunk, preparatory to going to live with his son, with whom he was invited to spend the few remaining years of his life, he opened the Bible.
Judge of his intense surprise when he discovered scattered through the book no less than $5,000 in notes.
How bitterly he regretted that he had never opened the Bible till then. How often the pinch of poverty would have been relieved in past years had he only known of his wealth. Vain regrets were his.
But sadder, infinitely sadder than this, was his neglect of the Bible itself and the message it contains. He practically missed a fortune for this life, by neglecting to examine the Bible; but what will a man miss by neglecting the Bible itself? Words cannot answer this question fully.
To miss salvation, forgiveness, eternal life, glory, the knowledge of God’s love, were loss indeed, and the soul who, by deadly indifference, loses these wonderful blessings, must learn, slowly, surely, and bitterly what his loss is, as the uncounted ages of a lost eternity speed their dreary way, without bringing the soul one whit nearer to the terminus of its woe.
For forty years the notes in the Bible had lain idle, but late as. Marsh was in discovering them, he was able in the close of his days to enjoy ease and comfort. But once the soul is in eternity, the discovery of what might have been, will be all too late. O! the unutterable pity of it.
Marsh did not notice the wording of the will— “the family Bible and all it contains” —hence his neglect. But what is infinitely more serious is the neglect of the true riches of the Bible. The Bible is the only book in the world bringing an authoritative message from God, and we neglect it at our eternal peril. That message is as plain as possible. God in pity warns as well as woos.
He tells us plainly:
How mercifully plain are the warnings of Scripture.
And, thank God, the good news of salvation is just as plain. Was there ever such a story? The very greatest event in the history of this world, completely eclipsing and throwing into utter insignificance the greatest events, as men speak, is the death of the Son of God on the cross. There we behold the righteous foundation laid whereby God can justly forgive the repentant sinner.
We see there in the inimitable and beautiful language of holy Scripture how
“Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” Psalms 135:1010Who smote great nations, and slew mighty kings; (Psalm 135:10).
If the truth comes out, how can mercy be shown to us? The truth concerning our lives is sufficient to banish us a thousand times over from the presence of a holy God.
Well might Charles Wesley sing,
“Depth of mercy! Can there be
Mercy still reserved for me?
Can my God his wrath forbear—
Me, the chief of sinners, spare?”
Yes, God’s mercy is greater than your sin, but God’s mercy must flow righteously. The riddle is solved in the atoning death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Either that death will, if accepted by you, be the means of your eternal blessing; or else, despised, will call for unsparing and everlasting judgment to fall upon your head.
How, then, can the sinner appropriate these blessings, without which he is poor indeed? The answer is, by simple faith in and acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal Savior.
Here are the very words of Scripture. What more do we want?
Trust that Savior here and now, and you will be rich indeed.
Satan’s great effort, where he cannot destroy, is to seduce.