"For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper … and precious shall their blood be in his sight" (Psa. 72:12, 13).
CHAPTER XVIII
DISCOVERS THE EXISTENCE OF GOD'S WORD
O precious volume! only in thy pages
We read the duty of all our race;
Only thy sunbeams, shining through the ages.
Reveal the wonders of saving grace.
—Daniel S. Warner.
Edwin had heard that there was such a book as the Bible, but that the Bible was a good book or of any more value in the world than the almanac or the "Book of Black Arts," that had been in the home of Mrs. Fitch, had never been suggested to his mind. So of course he did not know that the Bible was God's great message to the world. It was therefore a wonderful thought when the truth first dawned upon his mind.
The little group that had been present at the time of his conversion were the first to explain the matter to him, and when Mrs. Kauffman added, in words that he could understand, that the Bible contained the story of Jesus, she found that he had never heard that there had ever been any one on the earth by that name. It was a long story, but after hearing a little, Edwin was anxious to hear the remainder, and when his kind friend had finished speaking, he asked simply, "Was Jesus God's son and yet a man just as I am?"
"Yes," Mrs. Kauffman replied; "God made man in the first place, good and pure like himself, and he was made master of all that was in the world. In return for all these blessings, God demanded obedience and said that death to all the human race would be the penalty for his disobedience."
Then she related that man yielded to sin and fell from the holy state in which he was created, receiving as his penalty eternal banishment from God's presence, and she went on to tell of the provision that had been promised at the time of the fall.
"For more than four thousand years," she said, "this awful blight of sin continued; then Jesus, the provision that God had promised, came into the world to live a life of perfect obedience to God. And God sent to all the world by his Son the message that any and all who would follow Christ's example and live as he had told them at the first to live, would be forgiven and with his Son would become a part of his own great family (Heb. 5: 8,9). God in this way formed a bridge across the gulf that had been fixed between the sinner and his Maker. Now it is possible for any one who will, to cross the bridge and to enter heaven, but they must prepare for the journey before they die."