The dying man lay still for some minutes; then a light broke over his face, and he repeated,—"Only to be sorry—He knows I'm truly sorry—and to trust in Christ—who died for me. That's all 'the work of God.'"
And so, just when the bitter punishment of all his sins was near at hand, the Saviour's sacrifice brought peace and light; and Farmer Bluff began the life that might have been so full of fruit in this world and the next, had he but commenced it earlier.
But next time Hal came upstairs to see him, he said he had been thinking there was one thing he could do. "I could warn some other sinner what an awful grief it is to go down to the grave with nothing but a wasted life," said he; "and maybe they might listen to a man who hasn't many days to live."
So Hal brought Dick and Bill to see the dying man; and Farmer Bluff talked to them in a way that neither of the boys ever forgot.
"There's one thing more I want to do before I die," said Farmer Bluff to Hal, when they were gone. "I feel the end is coming fast; another day I mayn't have strength. That mug. It's on the chest of drawers. Bring it me, will you?"
Hal fetched the silver mug, and brought it to the bed.
The old man took it in his hands and turned it over many times.
"I want to give it to you," he said at length; "because I'd like it melted down. I wouldn't like to put the blame of all my folly on this silver mug; because the evil was inside me, in my evil heart, that nothing save the grace of God could change. But it seems like part of the old life. It stood there by my side and tempted me; and I should like to feel that when my body's underneath the grass, the old life is all done away. No matter what you make of it, so you promise me to have it melted down."
"I promise," answered Hal.
And the farmer put the mug into his hand.