SOME time ago I had occasion to pay the sum of four pounds to a tax collector, and as he was handing me the receipt, I said, “It is a good thing not to owe anything to any one." “It is indeed,” said he; "but very few have that to say." “Well," I replied," I can say it. I do not owe a single farthing on the face of the earth; and, what is far better than all, I do not owe anything to the throne of God on the score of guilt. I owe an eternity of worship on the ground of pardon; but not a fraction on the ground of my sins. I have a receipt in full for all my heavy debt to Eternal Justice. May I ask if you can say the same?”
Well, I think I can," said he.
"And, pray, what is the receipt?" I inquired.
“I have the inward experience and conviction that my sins are forgiven.”
"Oh!" said I, “that will never do. It is all very well to have ' the inward experience and conviction,' but, as a receipt, it is not worth a feather. I have 'the inward experience and conviction' that I have paid you these four sovereigns; but, were I to leave your office without a receipt, and then in the providence of God anything were to happen you, your successor might call upon me to pay the money over again; and if I refused to pay, he might bring me into the county court. I might say to the judge, ' My Lord, I have the inward experience and conviction that I paid this tax to the late collector.' Would his lordship or the jury accept such a plea? Most assuredly not. They would demand the receipt. Without this, all my inward experience and conviction would not be worth a rush.”
My friend the collector saw the force of this, and said, "Well, I suppose the receipt is the atoning death of Christ.”
“No," I replied, " it is not. Do you not see the difference between these four sovereigns which I have handed to you, and the receipt which you have handed to me? Those satisfy you; this satisfies me. I can walk out of your office with a most comfortable inward experience and conviction, because I have your receipt, which perfectly secures me from all possibility of any further demand for this tax!'
This, too, seemed plain to the collector's mind; but he seemed at a loss for an answer to my question, and was really interested to know about this wonderful receipt. I said, “The blood of Christ has paid the dreadful score, the ransom due for us. He, blessed be His peerless Name, has perfectly satisfied the claims of the Throne of God on our behalf. He took our place, He stood in our stead, He bore all our guilt, all our sins, in His own blessed body on the tree. He perfectly met our whole case, and glorified God about our sins. He was made sin for us. He got what we deserved, that we might get what He deserves. He was condemned and punished in our stead, that we might be justified and accepted in Him. In a word, His most precious death perfectly satisfied God on our behalf.
“And now, as to the receipt. What is it? It is a risen and glorified Christ at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens. This satisfies us, and forms the solid and impregnable basis of our inward experience and conviction that all our sins are forgiven, all our guilt canceled, all condemnation removed. ‘He was delivered for our offenses, 'here is the payment of the debt. ‘He was raised again for our justification; ' here is the precious receipt. The Man who bore our sins on the tree is now on the throne. How did He get there? Eternal Justice placed Him there. On what ground? On the ground of the complete putting away of all our offenses, all our sins, all our guilt. The crown that adorns His blessed brow,—and not our poor inward feelings, or our frames or our evidences,—is God's receipt in full for all we ever owed Him.
“Hence, then, if the devil, or any other accuser, comes to challenge us, what shall we say to him? Shall we refer him to our inward experience and conviction? Surely not. What then? Show our receipt. Point to the Man in the glory, —the glorious Victor, with the diadem of glory on His brow. This is our one grand and all-sufficient answer to every accusing voice, come from whom or whence it may. We must never attempt to reply to an adversary by appealing to aught in or of ourselves,— our repentance, our exercises, our conversion, our frames, our feelings, our evidences, our altered habits, our new tastes, our changed opinions, our good works. Our one appeal, our only reference, must be to God's receipt in glorified Man on the throne of the Majesty in the heavens. This, and this alone, silences every accuser, satisfies conscience, tranquillizes the heart, and glorifies the Divine Three in One, throughout the everlasting ages.”
C. H. M.