A LITTLE while ago a young man came to ask me to write him a testimonial that he might send to the managers of the railway company. He wanted to apply for the post of engine-driver, and as I had known him for years I could certify that he was thoroughly trustworthy, sober, steady, honest, and industrious. These seemed very necessary qualifications for such work, and when I tell you that he was a strong, well-built youth, intelligent and active, you will think there could be little fear of his being refused the situation. And yet he failed to obtain it.
Upon enquiring it came out that his height was just half-an-inch beneath the company's standard. This was a great disappointment to Tom, and in tones of much annoyance he said to me, “I didn't know before that I was such a wretched little beggar!” In vain the clergyman of our parish kindly wrote to the managers, representing that as the company was likely to procure a really valuable servant, they might waive that half-inch in the young man's favor; the law was inexorable, and poor Tom was refused. That unhappy half-inch settled the matter—he came short, and there was nothing more to be said about it.
The other day I was begged to go without delay to a young man in the last stage of consumption. I had known him from his childhood, and he had been at one time in my Bible class. I knew his life was exemplary, so gentle, kind, and good at home; so steady and conscientious in his work; and also so religious. In fact, everyone spoke well of dear Harry, and all were sadly grieved to see him thus fading away. His sister, with tears in her eyes, told me how very ill he was, and added, "And you know, miss, he has always been so good, and yet, as one of my neighbors was saying, “nothing but Jesus will do for dying hours."
This showed me that I was not alone in doubting as to whether Harry was indeed upon the Rock. I drove the next day to the village where he was lodging. He had rallied so far as to be able to leave his bed, and I found him comfortably settled in an armchair by a blazing fire. He smiled a pleased welcome as I came in, and, in reply to my enquiries, said he felt much better today. I could see, however, that he was in a very feeble state, and, fearing to weary him with too long a visit, I soon brought our talk round to the subject I had most at heart.
“I am sure, dear Harry, you have not been so long ill without having serious thoughts about eternity." And, as he assented gravely, I added, " I know you have always been so good and steady, that I should like you to tell me how your life looks to you now that you may, perhaps very soon, have to stand before God."
Harry gazed at me earnestly with his dark, wistful eyes, and then said, "I'll tell you how it is, miss: I have tried to be good, I have tried my very best, and I have kept very steady; but, when I think of going, it does seem to me I cannot just put the finishing touch; there is always something still lacking, and I am not satisfied— it won't do!”
Poor Harry had found out, as Tom had done, that he was beneath the standard, and was, after all, a wretched sinner.
He listened intently while I told him that nothing less than the blood of Jesus could wash his soul white enough for the eye of the holy God—that nothing but that finished work on Calvary's cross could meet the righteous claims of God, or satisfy his own guilty conscience.
“You thought you would make a ladder up to heaven by your own good works and your moral life, but the ladder will not reach, and God has, as it were, now knocked you down to the very foot of it. Harry, He would have you know that if you are to be saved at all, it must be simply as one of the lost sinners for whom Jesus died. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." You have tried to get to heaven as one of the righteous, whom He did not come to call (Luke v. 32), and you have found out that it will not do; will you come to Him now, taking the very low place of the sinner for whom He bled and died? "
“Yes, miss, indeed I will," he answered earnestly; "it is what I want to do."
So I knelt by his side, and simply told the Lord Jesus all about it, and prayed Him to receive Harry at once as a poor, undone, lost sinner, who could only cry to Him for mercy, having nothing of his own to plead.
Reader, have you found out that you are half-an-inch short of God's standard? Truly, I greatly doubt whether you come anything like so near to it as that—yet if you will allow only that you fail by the half-inch, remember it involves utter rejection. There is no lowering of God's standard to suit your size, and you had better face this fact without delay, as you value your soul.