A NEW occupant in one of the beds of the little village hospital attracted my notice, when I went in one afternoon to visit another sick man. I turned to show a little sympathy to the stranger, and hearing he had badly fractured his thigh, I said, "I am sorry you have met with this accident. It is a sad business when the husband and father is laid aside.”
He turned his face towards me with a bright smile, and replied, "Ah, but I am well provided for; I have long ago made provision.”
The smile was so happy that I thought there must be a deeper meaning in the words, and said, "Well provided for? I am glad; but is it for time, or for eternity?”
“Well, when you come to think on it, miss, it's for time; — I'm in two clubs.”
“And what provision have you made for eternity?" I asked.
“For eternity?" he repeated; "why, I hadn't thought of that—nothing.”
I sat down on the edge of the little bed, and looking him earnestly in the face, said—
“What! two clubs for time, and nothing for eternity? And yet time is so short, and eternity, how long! My friend, does not this seem folly?”
“Well, so it might be, miss, now you put it in that way.”
“Indeed it is terrible madness. Only think, you had two clubs to fall back upon when you broke your leg, but if that accident had brought death to you, you had no provision —nothing for eternity. I have not the gray hairs that you have, but, thank God, many years ago, through His grace, I made my provision for eternity. Let me beg of you to do the same.”
“Yes, miss, I reckon you are about young enough to be my daughter, and it is high time I began to think of another world. But then, you see, I have always been a very temperate man; lived honest, and I think I have as good a chance of going to heaven as any one. I'm what one would say is thoroughly respectable.”
“It is strange, though," I remarked, gravely, "that God does not say one word in His book about thoroughly respectable people getting to heaven.”
The sick man looked uneasy, and fidgeted in his bed, then said, "Doesn't He, miss? I'm no scholar, and I have not read the Bible; I wish I could.”
“What do you think of a verse like this, that I have many times read in the Bible, ‘All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God'?”
“Well, yes, to be sure, all have sinned; but I thought if one turned over a new leaf as one got old, and said one was sorry, and all that, one might be sure of getting to heaven.”
“You told me a few moments ago that being a thoroughly respectable, honest, temperate man gave you a good chance of heaven, and now you talk of someday turning over a new leaf and being sorry, so that you allow that you are a sinner, after all. Now what do you think your turning over a new leaf, as you call it, will do for God? And will your being sorry blot out any one of your sins? If you had run up a long bill at the baker's, which you were quite unable to pay, would your telling him you were sorry you had got into his debt take that debt out of his books and set you free?”
“No, to be sure it would not.”
“And do you think God is going to be less just as to His accounts than a tradesman of this world? Depend upon it, since He has said you have come short of His glory, He will have a reckoning with you as to that short-coming. No reforming or turning over new leaves could bring God glory as to the sins of the past, or blot one of them out of His book. He says you have come short' in all His claims upon you. You know when a man wants to get into the army they measure him to see if he is up to the standard for height, and if he comes short, he is rejected; they will not have him for a soldier; you have heard of that?”
“Aye, miss, I know about it; of course they won't have him if he comes short.”
“And do you think God will be less particular about people coming short of His standard than the Queen is about those who come short of hers?”
My poor friend closed his eyes and writhed uneasily.
I said, "I am afraid I am troubling and worrying you, and I wanted to tell you something to comfort you.”
“Nay, miss, you don't trouble me, it's my leg that troubles me.”
But, as I rose, I felt it was more than that, and as I took his hand to wish him good-by, said, earnestly, "Now, do think as you lie there, that you have sinned and come short, that you are lost, and have no chance of heaven. Then, think that Jesus died for the lost ones; ask yourself what has His death done for you, and do get some sure provision for eternity, as well as your two clubs for time.”
D. & A. C.