The squire belonged to a class of persons who appear to despise the Word of God, and, consequently, to hate the name of Jesus. On one occasion he was visited by a well-known Christian whom he charged on no account to name the name of Jesus Christ while in his home. After some thought, the Christian assented, and in his conversation spoke of God only as displayed in creation. He extolled the exhibition of power and wisdom in the works of God, and the perfection of His handiwork. Then he took his leave.
Invited by the squire to repeat his visit, the Christian did so. This time he spoke of God in His righteousness, in His holiness, in His majesty, in His hatred of sin. And again he took his leave.
At this point the squire's conscience was reached. The arrow of the Almighty penetrated the joints of the harness in which his infidel system had encased him. He was a convicted sinner. The flimsy cobwebs of rationalism gave way before the stern realities of his personal guilt and the holiness of God. The proud, self-sufficient skeptic became a humble, broken-hearted penitent.
When the Christian called again, he found the squire in a state of intense mental anguish. The weight of God's claims was heavy upon his conscience, and he acknowledged his own utter incompetence to meet them. God in creation and providence was immeasurably far from him. That great gulf between him and his Creator he could never bridge. He was wretched; and in the depth of his wretchedness, he begged his Christian friend for relief and comfort.
"No," he said, "I can do nothing for you. You have strictly forbidden me to name the only One who can do you any good or afford you any peace.”
This was a time for profound decision in the spiritual history of the squire. The entire superstructure of rationalism, skepticism, and infidelity had given way. He beheld it all as a mass of ruins, and himself a ruin in the midst of ruins. Neither creation nor providence could furnish a resting-place for his poor burdened heart and guilty conscience. He had, under the blinding power of a senseless unbelief, sedulously excluded from his thoughts the only "name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
The precious, peerless, powerful name of Jesus is the only ground whereon "God can be just and the justifier" of the most ungodly sinner that believeth; but this man had built up a system for himself in which the name of Jesus, the Christ, had no place. But Christ is the only platform on which a holy God and a guilty sinner can meet. The miserable man had shut out Christ—he would not have Him; and his motto was, "Oh, breathe not His name!”
What a moment! The poor squire was really in the depths of misery. What could he do? There was a link missing. Where could he find it? Something was needed which his infidel system could not supply. A holy God! —how could he meet Him? A righteous God!—how could he stand before Him? A sin-hating God!—how could he ever approach Him?
It was indeed a moment for profound thought—a a solemn crisis, a time never to be forgotten. He earnestly begged his friend to speak freely now and help him find the right way. The door of his heart, so long locked tight by the strong bolts of infidelity, was now flung open. His conscience was fully reached. The plow had done its work, and the Christian had but to enter with the seed-basket and sow the seeds of a full and free gospel in the deep furrows of a convicted soul.
How gladly did the Christian preach Christ-that long-rejected, much-hated name! Before the story of the cross of Christ the squire's proud infidelity melted. In that cross of shame, he saw the lowly Nazarene gloriously vindicated and all the claims of God and conscience fully met.
This was enough. In the presence of Jesus the squire found rest for his troubled soul. He saw in Christ the only One who can fill every need between the throne of God and the deepest depths of a sinner's moral ruin. He found his all in that very name which he had disdained and so strictly forbidden to be named beneath his roof.
"He that believeth
on ME hath
everlasting life.”