ONE rainy Lord’s Day evening two young men plodded along the muddy roads of one of the southern counties of Scotland, disappointed, and somewhat discouraged at not being able to have a gospel meeting in the village they had left. Speaking of Christ by the way, they were returning to a town some miles distant. Near cross-roads one suggested to his companion, who was a visitor in that part, that if he so inclined they might visit an old farmer who lived about a mile and a half off the main road. He knew him to be in an inquiring state of soul; perhaps God would bless the visit, and so their ten-mile walk would not be a bootless journey.
Only too glad for an opportunity to serve Christ, his friend consented, and a few minutes found them with dripping umbrellas making for the distant farmhouse. The twilight, deepened by a wet mist, set in before the steading was reached, where they shortly arrived end received a hearty Scotch welcome. Upon entering, they found the guide man sitting at the little kitchen window, poring over a large Bible, which with spectacled eyes he attempted to read by the fast receding light. This was a good sign; and as he was alone, his wife not having returned from a distant meeting, it was an opportunity for setting forth the Lord Jesus Christ not to be lost.
This old map belonged to a religious race called the “doubters,” too numerous, alas! amongst the decent kirk-going Presbyterians of our land. Well read from youth in the Bible and the Shorter Catechism, whilst revering the Scriptures he could not receive them in the childlike faith that the Father thereby spoke to him. Like many, he “hoped” for acquittal in the great day of judgment through belief in the general “mercy” of God, and then to be cleared partly on account of the sacrifice of Jesus and partly by an honest walk and conversation. Attending devoutly upon the ordinances of grace, he tried to bring up his family in the fear of the Lord.
Holiness of life follows as a result of receiving Christ alone for salvation, as He is freely offered in the gospel, for it is written, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him” (Col. 2:66As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: (Colossians 2:6)).
The stranger asked the farmer what he read, and he answered that it was the fifth chapter of John’s First Epistle.
Without further preface the visitor said, “We met three cows and two men as we came up the road; do you believe me?”
“Yes,” replied the old man.
“How can you so readily believe my word, the saying of a stranger you never saw before?”
“Oh! I have nae reason to doubt your word.”
“Then you simply receive my witness to the fact?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Now turn to the ninth verse of the chapter before you. ‘If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life; and this life is in his Son. He that bath the Son hath life, he that hath not the Son hath not life.’”
There was a solemn pause, during which the conviction of the simplicity of the truth seemed to take hold of the listener’s soul. “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding to the simple.”
The guide wife entering at that moment, a rejoicing child of God, was told the story of meeting the cows and the men. She immediately confirmed it by saying, “It was your brother Sandy and his neighbor driving the kye.” Thus in the mouth of three witnesses was the fact established. God has given three witnesses on earth to accomplished redemption, ―the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three agree (vs. 6 and 8). What more does man require? Believe them and you will be saved.
There was joy in that humble cottage, and after freely partaking of new milk and scones the guests departed. They, however, could not be allowed to go alone, the man and his wife insisting on walking a good mile with them (he without a hat), wishing to hear more of the “old, old story of Jesus and His love.”
How simply we receive each other’s word. The rumor of a railway collision, a shipwreck, or a dynamite explosion, is readily believed without any effort. Why then not as simply accept God’s good news concerning His Son Jesus Christ? Because of the hardness of our hearts. But when once His Spirit opens them, how readily we receive “the engrafted word able to save our souls!” The Holy Scriptures are the only basis for faith to rest upon. All else, ―feelings, experiences, reasonings, and human thoughts, are shifting sand. Rest on God’s immutable Word, dear reader, and peace will be yours. The blood of Christ has purchased peace, the Word of God declares peace, and faith rejoices in it. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“I hear the words of love,
I gaze upon the blood;
I see the mighty sacrifice, And I have peace with God.”
T. R. D.