Perhaps he marked that passage after he had had a talk with me. How well I remember the earnestness with which he pressed salvation upon me that day—explaining the simplicity of trusting Christ and His blood for pardon—and assuring me that if I only yielded myself to the Lord I should understand the peace and joy he talked about. But it was no use. I remember I only chaffed him, and said mockingly that his God was a myth, and time would prove it, and he answered,
“Never. ‘Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My Word shall not pass away.’ He may come to-night.”
I laughed and said, “What odds will you take? I lay you long ones.”
Another passage marked was 1 Samuel ii. 2, “Neither is there any rock like our God,” and lower still “Man who built his house upon a rock.”
I had no need to look that out. I knew what it referred to, and then my eye caught Matt. xxvii. 51, “The earth did quake, and the rocks rent.” That was when Christ died to save sinners, died to save me—and yet I had striven against Him all my life. I could not bear to read more. I shut the book and got up. There were some texts hanging over the fireplace:
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.”—Acts iii. 19.
“The blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanseth us from all sin.”—1 John i. 7.
“Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”—2 Cor. vi. 2.
As I turned to leave the room these caught my eye, and I said, “Well, I have been a fool.”