From the town of Perth, in Ontario, Canada, runs a long straight road known as “the Scotch Line.” Many fine old Scotch families have farms along this road.
They are good farms, in a good country. One of these farmers said not long ago that he would not change that part of the country for any place in the world! We fear that many of them would be quite satisfied never to move on to the heavenly country either.
One day late in autumn, a number of years ago, a stranger went down the Scotch Line with a bag of books, and at every farm on the Line he left a copy of one of these books.
The books were “Grace and Truth,” written by a Scotchman, W. P. Mackay.
The winters about Perth are long and severe, and during the long dark months, when nothing could be done in the fields, there was ample time for reading. The winter was more than half gone when one of the farmers happened to be at a neighbor’s house. The neighbor was full of a wonderful new joy that had filled his whole heart and soul. He could not keep it to himself, and as soon as his friend arrived he began to tell him of the salvation that had come to his home. The neighbor listened in amazement and at last asked: “Where did you learn all this?”
“Last autumn some man left a copy of a book at our house. I never looked at it till lately, but a few weeks ago I read it, and now I know that I am saved.”
“What was the name of the book?”
“‘Grace and Truth.’”
“‘Grace and Truth’! Seems to me I’ve heard those words before, but I can’t think where. Oh, yes, I do remember now. A man left a book by that name at our house and I’ve been tearing the pages out for shaving paper all winter. That’s where I’ve seen those words.”
“Is any of the book left?”
“Yes, it’s about half left.”
“You go right home and read it.”
He did go right home and he did read it, and he was saved through reading the half of the book that had escaped his shaving.
Friend, are you saved? You may be, just as quickly as those two Canadian farmers were.