Dr. Smith, a well-educated man, lived until past middle age "without God in the world." He was well-known in the town where he lived as a boon companion of all who loved drinking and gambling and all the amusements of the thoughtless and worldly. Heavy family trials failed to stop him in his course of folly. The death of his second son in the army, and after that the loss of his third and youngest boy, who died at a boarding-school, made only a passing impression on his conscience. Time wore on, and at fifty years of age, as he said, he "had not one serious thought.”
An able preacher of the gospel lived in the same town as the doctor; but the doctor, who had heard the preacher spoken of, felt the greatest contempt and almost hatred for him―so much so, that on one occasion when he was making a professional call on a sick woman, seeing the preacher coming towards the house, he hastily left the room, ran downstairs, and made his escape through the back garden.
One Lord's Day afternoon―some weeks after this occurrence―he was on his way to see a patient. He had to walk past a park where a crowd had gathered. As he was threading his way through the people the following words fell upon his ear: "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.' It is the blood, and the blood alone, that cleanses from sin!” The preacher was no other than the man he despised. The doctor liked neither the speaker nor his words, "Sin! Sin!" He went on, and determined not to think of it.
Exactly one week after this an acquaintance called and asked the doctor to go out with him. He did so and, as they talked, they strolled on till, hardly knowing it, they were at the same corner where he had been the previous Lord's Day.
The preacher was again at his post and, singular it was, the very same words were being uttered by him when the doctor and his friend reached the spot. Surely, it did not happen by chance, but was thus ordered by God. Again the words, “‘The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.' It is the blood, and the blood alone, that cleanses!" rang out to the doctor's ears.
This time the words seemed to burn into his soul like fire. He could not sleep that night. SIN was staring him in the face.
Was he a sinner? Ah, he must banish such thoughts from his mind, or he would become utterly miserable. How heartily he wished that he had never heard those words! the same words, too, one Lord's Day after another!
The next day, and the next, he drank more than usual; but as soon as the effects of that had worn off the dreadful thought of sin returned. Thus more than a week went by, and then the doctor unburdened his difficulties to one who, he thought, would prove a wise friend. This was the reply he got: "My good fellow, you must be failing in health. I would advise you to find some new amusements and forget these melancholy ideas!”
But, instead of feeling happier, the doctor's anxiety continually increased. Conscience, once awakened, finds rest only at the feet of Jesus. What could he do? The sins of his whole life seemed to rise up before him, and a long, black catalog it was! He was afraid to go to sleep, lest he should die before morning and be summoned to give an account of himself to God. Thus, day and night, he was miserably unhappy.
Finally a thought struck him: "I will write to that preacher himself; perhaps he could help me!" He wrote, mentioning his trials, and asked for a private talk with him.
Gladly the preacher responded, and called upon the sin-convicted man at the earliest opportunity. It was evident that the Holy Ghost had used that short portion of one verse of God's Word to pierce his heart through and through, for truly, "The Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword.”
It was now the preacher's privilege and pleasure to tell the sin-burdened man of the Sin-bearer, to proclaim to him pardon through the "blood that cleanseth," and to say, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!”
They paid each other many visits. The doctor began to read the Bible for himself, and to value it as a "lamp unto his feet, and a light unto his path." Ere long he knew what it was to believe God, to be a new creature in Christ Jesus, and to have "joy and peace in believing.”
"Blessed, blessed news:
Mercy e'en for thee,
Flowing from the heart of God,―
So vast, so full, so free!”