though I don’t see how it can do me much good,” he replied, after a little time.
This was all Peter wanted. He read the parable of the “Pharisee and Publican.”
“Which of them do you like the best?” asked Peter.
“Can’t say I care for that proud chap who thought himself better than anybody else. I like t’other more, a good deal.”
“Because he says, ‘Lord, be merciful to me a sinner’?” asked Peter.
“Ay,” said Hixon, bending down his head. He had for some time ceased to ply his needle.
“Then do you know how God says He alone will be merciful?” Peter asked.
“No, ’cept to them as be sorry for what they have done bad, and try to do better.”
“Oh, no, no! God does not say that; Satan is always trying to make people believe it, because he well knows that if people try to make themselves better, trusting only in their own strength, they will fail. God says that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. By faith ye are saved.” And Peter, in his own simple way, went on to explain that Jesus Christ, by dying on the cross for our sins, has become our Saviour, and that if men will lovingly trust to Him, God will not punish them, but, on the contrary, will look on them as possessed of the righteousness of Christ.
“That’s wonderful,” exclaimed old Hixon, after Peter had explained the truth in several ways to make him understand it. “I can hardly believe it; and yet I suppose if one chap deserved a thrashing from me, and a bigger one said, ‘Thrash me instead,’ and I did thrash him, and well too, I could not thrash the little one also.”