"How long have you been lying here, Mrs. Bond?”
This question was addressed to an old woman whose worn and troubled face told a tale of years of suffering.
"Oh, a long while now," she replied wearily: "and I don't suppose I shall ever get about again.”
"Are you a Christian?" returned the visitor.
"I'm trying to be one," she answered, almost hopelessly. Her friend was silent for a moment; and then, as if a new thought struck him, he inquired, "Do you ever try to be Mrs. Bond?
"No!" she replied, "I am Mrs. Bond.”
"How long have you been Mrs. Bond?" he pursued. "Ever since my marriage day," she answered, in some surprise.
"And have you no doubt about it?”
"None whatever," she returned, unhesitatingly. Holding up her hand, she added, "I have known I was Mrs. Bond ever since that ring was put on my hand.”
"That is just how it is with me," the visitor said. "I do not try to be a Christian; but I know I am one, and that I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ ever since I put out my empty hand and received Him as my Savior. It is by nothing that I have ever done or ever could do that I gained everlasting life, but simply by believing God's record that 'while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,'—just receiving Jesus as my substitute, and believing that now, 'being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.' Rom. 5:8, 98But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. (Romans 5:8‑9).
This was new light to the poor soul, who was struggling on in darkness and doubt, seeking by her own endeavors to earn that everlasting life which God will sell to no man, but which He bestows as a free gift upon "whosoever believeth.”