The following striking illustration of the effect of delay in serving God is by James Drummond, in “Parables and Pictures”:
There was once a horse that ran away in the morning and did not return till evening. When the master upbraided him, the horse replied, “But here am I, returned safe and sound. You have your horse.” “True,” answered the master, “but my field is unplowed.” If a man turns to God in old age, God has the man, but He has been defrauded of the man’s work.
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REPENTANCE, NATURE OF
No more vivid illustration of what evangelical repentance is can be framed than that which is found in the Greek original, “straphate,” rendered “convert,” which means to face about, or turn around, in allusion to the movement of a ship when it is put about on an opposite course; or to the action of a flower when it turns its face toward the sun. The change of mind becomes a change of life.
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REPENTANCE, PRACTICAL
When Thomas Olivers, the Welsh cobbler who became noted as a Methodist, itinerant and a hymnist, turned from a reckless life, carousing and incurring many debts, to a profession of a change of heart, he deliberately set about settling his financial obligations, nor ceased until the last penny was paid.
He brought forth fruit meet for repentance. (Text.)
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