“FROM the age of ten years I had been fond of gambling, and although I had commenced with very small sums I eventually became an inveterate gambler. The chains of sin tightened around me, and I entered into betting transactions which far exceeded my income. Then as loss succeeded loss I added to my record the sin of dishonesty.
“I was employed by a large company, who entrusted me with considerable sums of money, and by a simple system of falsification of accounts I was enabled to appropriate certain sums without fear of immediate detection. It soon became evident to me, however, that the time was not far distant when my embezzlement would be discovered, and I accordingly enlarged my stakes hoping that I should win sufficient money to meet the deficiency before my employers became acquainted with my guilt. With feverish anxiety I scanned the racing news, frequently to find that I had lost by ‘a short head,’ and then I would turn my face heavenward and blaspheme God, as I thought that such an insignificant trifle as two or three inches in a race should cause my ruin.
“At last a crisis was reached. I knew I must at once refund the amounts I had taken or be discovered and branded as a thief. Filled with anxiety and apprehension I decided to take a drastic course. Collecting all available money, I caught the express for London en route for Sandown Park Races, where I resolved to stake all on the chance of winning; intending, if I won, to return and put my accounts in order, but fully determined that if I lost I would bring an end to my career by suicide.
“How I went through the maddening excitement of the race meeting I know not, for the horse on which I thought my life depended was not among the winners; and I found myself at the end of the day a ruined man within five minutes of a suicide’s hell, for my mind was now set on taking my life. I was walking along the road, after spending my last pence in drink, when suddenly and without any apparent cause I stopped, and said aloud, ‘If this is all the devil has for me after all these years, and well as I have served him, I’ll turn to God and serve Him, late as it is.’ But the enemy was not prepared to lose his captive easily, and there followed a fearful inward conflict. Time after time I stopped in front of policemen but could not get the words out. After some hours of mental agony, however, the step was taken. I related my story to an officer, and was marched off to the Metropolitan Police Station—thus giving myself up to the law and—to God.
“As in a dream I heard the command, ‘Step in here!’ and mechanically I, obeyed. A sharp slam, a turn of the key, and I was a prisoner. Throwing myself on to the cold floor, forgetful of all else save my unendurable load of guilt before God, my anguish of soul found expression in these words, ‘O God! save me, for Christ’s sake,’ I shall never forget the tremendous emphasis I put upon that precious word ‘Christ.’ I had heard but little of the gospel of the grace of God, but this I knew, that God could save for the sake of His beloved Son, and that was enough. A few moments passed and I had the consciousness that God had heard and answered my cry. I rose to my feet with my soul at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. For the first time in my life I was a free man, yet strange to say at the very moment when I was for the first time a prisoner.
“It was somewhat remarkable that just at that time the sound of singing should reach me. I eagerly listened and caught the words―
‘What can wash away my stain?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
Oh, precious is the flow,
That makes me white as snow,
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.’
“I afterward learned that an open-air service was being held outside the police station, but the singers that night little thought that in the heart of one of the prisoners there was such a joyful response to the beautiful words of their hymn. From that day to this I have never had a doubt as to the forgiveness of my sins, and I adore the grace of God that met a poor sinner like me in my dire extremity and saved me eternally for Christ’s sake.
“It must not be supposed, however, that I escaped the consequences of my path of sin. During the three months I spent in the lonely prison cell, and subsequently by many sorrowful circumstances, I learned something of what that solemn word means, ‘Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.’ I proved that God’s governmental dealings with man to go steadily on, while His grace may pardon and save the sinner. There was moreover the anxiety that the company whom I had robbed should have restitution of the amount, and this in an unlooked-for way has been effected.
“Nevertheless I have, in the great mercy of God, had the assurance throughout that in the sight of God I am ‘justified from all things,’ and have proved the power of Christ to deliver me from the snares that once entangled me. Truly God has fulfilled His own word— ‘For God speaketh... that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.... Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave and his life to the destroyers. If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man his uprightness, THEN HE IS GRACIOUS UNTO HIM, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.... He shall pray unto God, and he will be favorable unto him, and he shall see his face with joy ... He will sing before men, and say, I have sinned and perverted that which was right, and it hath not been requited to me: he hath delivered my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall see the light. Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man’ (Job 33:27-29,27He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; 28He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. 29Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, (Job 33:27‑29) R.V)”
Perchance, my reader, you are held captive by the chains of sin, and are hastening along “the broad road which leadeth to destruction.” Your money, your character, your prospects, your health, and more than all, your soul of priceless worth, are at stake, and unless God in His great mercy sees you, as He did the subject of the above true narrative, you will assuredly lose all. Beware lest that great enemy of your soul succeeds in his foul design, and you are found beyond the reach of mercy, with no hope of escape and no expectations but a vast forever of woe.
Consider—as you value your soul—the marvelous offer that the God of all grace is making today. On account of the divine satisfaction He has obtained in the finished work of Christ, God is righteously prepared
To blot out forever all your past;
To deliver you from the captivity of sin;
To bring you into relationship with Himself;
To make you supremely happy in this present life; and
To give you eternal security.
His conditions are “repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.” Will you not accept God’s terms and close with Him today?
It is possible, however, that you may be flattering yourself that you have not been guilty of such crimes; that you are a respectable, orderly person of good character, and hence are passing God’s offer on to someone else. Dear friend, do not allow yourself to be deluded any longer by the god of this world, who has blinded your mind to your true condition in the sight of God. “I have heard the voice of thy words saying, I am clean without transgression, I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me. Behold, in this thou art not just” (Job 33:8, 9, 128Surely thou hast spoken in mine hearing, and I have heard the voice of thy words, saying, 9I am clean without transgression, I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me. (Job 33:8‑9)
12Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man. (Job 33:12)). God has declared, “There is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”; and it behooves you to avail yourself of God’s salvation and receive pardon and peace which are still to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then instead of your expectations resting on a bare chance, a forlorn hope, a doubtful prospect, your eternal blessing will be a joyous, positive certainty, based on the immutability of the Word of the living God, and your present joy will be found in Christ, the living glorified Saviour who is at this moment at the right hand of God, waiting to bless YOU.
F. S. M―H.
REPENTANCE is the judgment which the soul passes upon itself in the presence of God, believing the testimony of God. Repentance is not the steppingstone to conversion. Repentance is taking God’s part against myself, and judging that what God says of me is true, believing His testimony. Faith is the soul’s reception of a divine testimony; repentance is the result in the soul of that reception.
W. T. P. W.