"I hae only lately begun to think aboot sic things. I had some conversation to-day wi' Jeannie that led her to speak to you aboot it."
"It is the strivings o' the Spirit, Rab. Oh, that ye would 'seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near!' He is near to you noo. He is speaking to your conscience. He has said, 'Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.'"
"I am sure I would like to have that abundant pardon. But there is are thing I canna mak clear in my ain mind. I canna weel see what maks sic a difference between us. It may be that you are to be saved and I am to be lost. Ye ken the ministers preach that one is sure to go to the gude place, and anither to the bad, according to God's plan."
"I ken, Rab, some say that. But I dinna fash my held aboot election while I can find sic words as these: 'Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?'"
"But, Wullie, might not that be only for the chosen people, the Israelites?"
"Na, Rab, na. 'The Gentiles shall come to Thy light.' And listen to this: 'Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.' And again: 'Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' This is eneuch for me; for I ken weel our blessed Maister wouldna call us to him to send us empty awa."
"Weel, Wullie, there be folk wha say ane thing, and folk wha say anither thing. Wha kens wha has the right o' it?"
"I will tell ye, Rab; ye just read the Ward o' God for yoursel. I am sure ye are nae fule; and if ye were, ye could understand eneuch to be saved; for the Bible declares that the wayfaring man, though a fule, needna err therein. Noo read for yoursel, as I said, and tak the plain, simple truths o' the Bible. Dinna gang aside frae the general course to pick at what ye canna understand, for in so doing ye may wrest the Scriptures to your ain destruction. Nane by seeking can find out God; neither can they understand all the wards o' him wha is infinite in wisdom."
"But what wad ye think if ye were in the kirk and ye s'ould hear it sounded in your ears that some were left to eternal death?"
"I would no dispute it; but I would whisper softly to my heart sic passages o' the Holy Ward as these: 'As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whasoever believeth in him s'ould not perish, but have eternal life.' 'For God so loved the warld that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whasoever believeth in him s'ould not perish, but have everlasting life.' 'For God sent not his Son into the warld to condemn the warld, but that the warld through him might be saved.'"