A man opened the door of a book store, in the windows of which were many copies of the Scriptures, and books relating to them. He walked to the end where the book-seller sat at his desk, and said, “I am from B. and was told that there is in this city a place where poor people may obtain a Bible free. Is this it?”
“What do you want to do with a Bible?” ask the bookseller.
“I want to read it,” quietly replied the man. “I have never owned anything but a New Testament, and now I want the whole Bible.”
“And do you pray over it?” continued the bookseller, “do you realize it is the Word of God, and that you need the Holy Spirit to lead you to the right understanding of it?”
The man felt at once the bookseller was interested in his soul, and in order to explain and assure him that he had not read his New Testament in vain, he said,
“I have been a professor of religion for some time.”
“Ah, but that is not necessarily being a child of God,” pressed the bookseller, “and I am anxious to know if you are a child of God.”
“Well, I hope so,” was the hesitating reply, “but you know none of us can be sure of that.”
“Are you sure of the judgment?”
“O yes, I am sure of that,” and the man began to look very earnest.
“Well, sit down here,” continued the bookseller, “and tell me on which side of you is the judgment— before or behind?”
“O,” he replied, “it is before me, of course, for the judgment in only at the end of the world, and that hasn’t come yet.”
“How do you expect to escape it?”
“Well, I am trying earnestly to live a Christian life. I am trying to do what good I can in my poor way, and I do hope in that way to be found worthy to escape and to have eternal life.”
“Now, let me tell you my story,” said the bookseller; “I also believe that the judgment is at the end of the world, and though this has not come yet, I can tell you that the judgment is behind me. Being sure of its coming, I anticipated it in my mind, and found then that being a sinner I was ‘condemned already.’ As my sins came out there in the light of the ‘great white throne,’ I could not but see that all hope was over,— I was lost, and so, instead of trying to escape, I pleaded guilty. At the same time, however, I saw that it was for these very sins Jesus had suffered judgment upon the cross. He, ‘the Just,’ was there suffering ‘for the unjust.’ Besides, I knew He was no more on the cross, but up there in the glory, and I said,
‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life.’ “
Instantly the man’s eyes glittered like diamonds, and taking hold of the bookseller’s arm in both his hands, he said, with intense earnestness, “I see it! I see it!” and off he went, as one who has found a new treasure.
“Beloved, now are we the children of God.”
Death and judgment are behind us,
Grace and glory are before;
All the billows rolled o’er Jesus,
There they spent their utmost power.
Jesus died, and we died with Him,
“Buried” in His grave we lay,
One with Him in resurrection,
Now “in Him” in heaven’s bright day.