"No," I said, decidedly, "there is nothing to do; but there is something to take!"
"Something to take!" she repeated, in somewhat of her old manner. "I suppose you mean that I am to take salvation; but that is so very indefinite, Mrs. Stanley. I know all those set phrases so well; but they mean nothing to me. What is salvation, and how am I to take it?"
"You are quite right," I said, "have nothing to do with set phrases; they are hollow and worthless. You have to deal, not with dead words but with a living Saviour, Mrs. Ellis. It is the Lord Jesus whom I want you to take—as your own Saviour. I want you to take Him as the One who can alone save you from the guilt and power of your sin, and who can alone give you the right to enter heaven. He comes to you, and He says:
"'Take Me, take My love as your own; look upon Me as the One who has died to save you, and then you need not fear.'
"You understand how it is that He is able to save you, Mrs. Ellis, that He has been punished instead of you; that your sins have been laid on Him, and that He has suffered the penalty that your sins deserved!"
"Oh yes," she said, "I know all that with my head; I know it theoretically, but I want to be able to put it into practice. How am I to be quite sure that Jesus has done that for me; how am I to know that He has taken my sin away?"
"Because God's Word tells you so," I said; and I took my Bible from my pocket and read:
"'He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.'"
"Then what is there left for me to do?" she asked.
"Only to accept the Lord Jesus as your Saviour," I said. "Go to Him and say to Him,—