"Ah! let us take heed that our own words condemn us not," faltered Grace. "We have seen that the love of the Saviour to us has exceeded all other love; has not our ingratitude to Him exceeded all ingratitude beside? On the very night before He suffered, did not the Lord utter the words, 'If ye love me, keep my commandments?' And how has that dying charge been fulfilled? Have we not, at least too many of us, quite forgotten the Saviour? Have not our hearts been as cold and dead, our conduct as careless and sinful as if we had never known His love, or heard of His holy commandments?"
"Well, well, we all go wrong sometimes; but the Lord won't judge his poor servants," said Ann, in a tone which seemed to say, "Let's have no more of this preaching."
But the heart of the heathen whom he addressed
seemed cold and hard as the iron itself. What cared Tippoo's servant
if the prisoner suffered, what cared he if he died?
"If we be His servants!" exclaimed Grace, with earnestness, "but let us not forget that God's Word declares, that 'if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His'; yea, the Lord Himself hath said, 'He that is not with me is against me; no man can serve two masters,'—if we be not heartily upon the Saviour's side, we are upon the side of the world and Satan."
"It's just like this, I take it," said the nurse, "it's just as if Baird had chosen to forget all about his country and his duty, and had gone into the service of Tippoo, and had even fought in his cause."
"He'd have been a vile rebel," cried Ann.
"And have been punished as such," observed Grace. "What would have been to him the name of Englishman? It could only have increased his shame; and what to us will be the name of Christians, if we are found in the ranks of Christ's foes? Oh, let us pray that we may be of the number of those who are saved from wrath by His death, and freed from sin's prison by His grace, and who bravely fight in His cause against the world, the flesh, and the devil! To such the victory is certain, to such the crown is sure; we shall be 'more than conquerors through Him who loved and gave Himself for us.'"