WHAT strange characters one meets with in this world, and what ridiculous views are sometimes held upon religious matters, almost enough to evoke a smile, were it not for, the seriousness of the subject.
“And how long has that house stood empty?” I asked of a man industriously stacking turnips on the other side of the fence.
“A long while, sir.”
“That’s a pity,” said I, “for it’s a nice house. The fact is it’s built too close to the cemetery, and people don’t like to be reminded every day of their lives that perhaps their turn will come next.”
“There you are,” exclaimed the man, straightening himself up, and coming as close to me as the intervening hedge would allow;” and you call this a Christian country, with its religion and its preachers, some of them, they tell me, drawing their £6,000 a year, and all that for talking about things they know nothing whatever about. Why, what is there to be afraid of in death?”
“The thing to be afraid of is not so much death,” I replied, “but what comes after death, in the resurrection day, the day when all those graves in that cemetery yonder will open, and be made to give forth their dead. Don’t you believe there is to be a resurrection?”
“Why, certainly not,” shouted my friend from over the hedge; “and there are these men with their ₤6,000 a year paid for their religious talking, and I tell you, they know no more about it than you or I do,” and so he went on with increasing emphasis.
I held no brief for these highly-paid ecclesiastical officials, and so I replied: “Let us leave these £6,000 gentlemen alone for the moment; there’s a book, my friend, that you can buy for one penny, one copper penny — now you can’t complain of that price! Get that book and read it, it will tell you all you want to know on the subject of death and the hereafter.”
“There you are with your religion again,” he shouted; “I tell you I’m just as well off as you are with all your religion.”
“Now,” said I, “be reasonable about it. You can’t be as well off as I am. You believe that death is the end of you; you do not believe that the dead will rise; you do not believe that there will be a hereafter, and therefore you have made no preparation for it. On the other hand, I am convinced that death is not the end of any man; I am satisfied that there will be a resurrection of all, both of the just and the unjust; I am persuaded that there will be an eternal hereafter for everyone, and therefore through God’s grace I have made preparation for the journey, and I can say that I am ready — ready, not from anything that I have done or could do, but through what Christ has done for me when He died for sinners on the cross. Now, you must admit that if I am altogether deceived, I shall at any rate be no worse off than you by-and-by; but if I am right, and you are the one that is deceived, you will be infinitely worse off than I am in the end. The fact is, my friend, the devil is fooling you. There will be a hereafter for you, and the devil has hoodwinked you, and made you think there will be none.”
At this my friend over the hedge got a little quieter, but still persisted that he did not believe that reading the Bible would do him any good.
“Well, you try it,” said I, “you can get a New Testament for one penny; and God will judge you not by what the £6,000 gentlemen say, but by what the penny Testament says. Read that penny Testament — read it every day of your life. You think it will do you no good, but the devil is fooling you again. It will do you good, for in all the years that I have lived I have never yet seen the man who has diligently read the Bible, who has firmly believed it, and who has honestly sought to shape his life according to its teaching, that has not had his life made holier, purer, and happier than it was before. Have you?” I asked, addressing a man who had all this while kept stacking the turnips, though, at the same time, I could see he had thoroughly appreciated the conversation.
“No, sir, that I haven’t either,” was the ready response.
“No,” said I, again addressing the first speaker, “but I’ll tell you what I have seen; I’ve seen many miserable men in this world, miserable through drink, and lust, and every form of sin — men who have left the Bible out of their lives, and who have lived, and apparently died, without God, and without Christ and without hope. Take my advice, friend, get that penny Testament as soon as you can, read it every day of your life, believe it, and live according to it. It will make you happier here, and give you a certain hope hereafter.”
“Thank you sir. Good-day to you. I’ll take your advice, sir.” And so we parted.
And now, reader, what will that dear man find when he reads that penny Testament? In the first place, that he is a sinner, for it says that, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:2323For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23)).
“But he knows that already,” perhaps you reply.
Yes, but it makes all the difference when that solemn truth comes home to the soul, with all the awakening power of God’s revelation applied by the Spirit of God to the conscience.
In the second place, he will learn that Christ Jesus died for sinners, for it says that—
There was only one way in which Christ could save sinners, and that was by dying for their sins. Not His blameless life, but His sacrificial death could atone for sin. And “He died for our sins, according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:33For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; (1 Corinthians 15:3)).
Oh, my dear reader, will you not read your Bible diligently, believe it unquestioningly, and seek to live by it more closely? It will do you good both in this world and in the next.
A. H. B.