“THERE, Emma, give me your Bible; I’ll cut it in half,” and suiting the action to the word, I made a pretended snatch at the Bible of the young person addressed, and put a hand into my pocket to draw out my clasp-knife.
Of course the Bible was gripped all the tighter, and I did not slash the precious book in two.
Why did I act and speak thus? I will just tell you, dear reader, looking to God to use what I am about to write to your blessing, to your deliverance from the state of soul the dear girl alluded to was in.
And what was that state of soul? One which I am sure many are in at this very moment, and maybe you yourself amongst them.
Very miserable through the conscience having been reached by the ploughshare of the word of sod. Yet, at the same time, apparently, refusing to receive the “oil and wine” of the glad tidings, to comfort your wounded spirit; in fact, believing only half the Bible, receiving only that which, while it paints sin and the sinner in their true colors, cannot carry peace to the troubled soul. Writing bitter things against yourself, all very true, as far as they go, and yet not the whole truth.
Emma and Alice had been friends and intimates for years, connected, too, by marriage in their families, went to the same Sunday School, taught by the same teacher, were deeply convinced of sin the same night, through the preaching of the gospel, both hearing the same word. Alice went home and told her parents, who were believers in the Lord Jesus. They were overjoyed at the Spirit’s work in their child’s soul, took her aside, prayed with and for her, pointed her to the finished and accepted work of Christ, and in a short time had the further satisfaction of seeing their daughter not only convinced of sin and owning her ruin as a sinner, the ploughshare of the word, the two-edged sword of the Spirit, having done their work, but now through looking off, away from self unto Jesus, and resting upon what God’s word said about His Christ and the finished and accepted work of that beloved Son, found “ joy and peace in believing.”
With Emma it was very different; deeper and deeper seemed to sink the arrow of conviction. More miserable every day did she grow, spite of all that was put before her, and even her friend Alice’s entreaties to look away from self and feelings, and everything good, bad, and indifferent, as people say, to that blessed object for the poor wounded heart at God’s right hand in the glory, a risen, glorified Saviour.
Do I address one who, like Emma, can say, “My sin, my sin,” one deeply convicted by the word of God, and yet has no joy, no peace, almost in despair, no rest for soul, morning, noon, or night? Ah I it is very real, is it not? No one knows it but those who have gone through it.
Do I also address one who says, “Well, I know nothing of all this bitter experience. I don’t see why people should make such a fuss. I am not so bad after all, not worse than others.” Do I?
Well, to the first I would say, “Cheer up, my friend, divine surgery is at work, the prop is being skillfully used, you are learning just what Hannah expresses in 1 Sam. 2:6-11, ‘The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: He bringeth low, and lifteth up.’”
To the latter, dear goal, you have at present no part or lot in the matter. You are whole, in your own eyes, and therefore do not need the Physician; you are the Pharisee of Luke 18:11, 12. May you be turned into the Publican of the 13th verse, ere you sleep this night, smite your breast, and cry, “God be merciful to me THE sinner.” He will, and you will then know what the right place before God is, and continue Hannah’s word, learning what she meant by that eighth verse, “He raiseth up the poor out of the dust (the poor in spirit out of the dust of self-abasement), and lifeth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes.”
This, after a long time, Emma learned, and has been for some years rejoicing in the Christ of God; but she now sees that long ere she did find peace and joy she might have done so, by looking away from herself and unto Jesus, and thus taking the other half of the Bible, which tells of how “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,” that He “made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin,” that HE laid iniquity upon Him, and hid His face from Him, till that blessed One cried, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” that the precious blood shed on. Calvary cleanseth from ALL sin, and thus all God’s claims have been met, righteously settled, and that now He justifies all who believe in Jesus.
I have no business to believe one portion of God’s word more than another; and if my conscience has been pricked by passages which show out the holiness of God and the sinfulness of the sinner, and there see that “the chief of sinners am I,” I am bound to accept the other side, that the holy God has Himself, in the person of His Son, provided that which atones for every sin and clears His throne of justice, and thus meets all the claims His justice can advance, and add, “but Jesus died for me.” It is a whole Bible, not half a one, my reader; you must take all or none, for if one side, which condemns, is true, so is the other, which justifies.
Not long since I said to Emma, “You don’t want your Bible cut in half now?” No, indeed, she wanted it all, the truth, the WHOLE truth, and nothing but THE truth. “Thy word is truth.”
S. V. H.