"Would it be asking too much, Mr. Branford, for you to tell me as simply as possible how I am to be saved?"
This man, who had been so haughty when in the presence of others, was very humble now.
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved," replied Ray, quickly. And then he silently asked the Master to help him in leading this anxious soul to him.
"Yes; I know," said the merchant. "I have studied those words for weeks. But what do they mean to you?"
"Taking Christ at his word; accepting just what he offers. He tells us that he came to die as our substitute, and, if we will only believe it, he will hold that relation to us. We are to believe it, and show our faith by living up to the fact," said Ray.
The word "substitute" caught Mr. Grafton's attention.
"Substitute!" he exclaimed. "How is he our substitute? How can he be? That is just where my difficulty lies."
Ray gave a deep sigh. How he wished for Mr. Carleton, or even Mr. Gage, to have been there just then! He felt so unable to cope with this great truth, and make it plain to this haughty inquirer; and yet it is doubtful if any one else could have helped the great man at all. He would not have listened to any one as he did to that lad.
"I admit," said Ray, slowly, as though measuring every word, "that there are difficulties in the way of our comprehending just how such a thing could be; but shall we for that reason reject it? We have the fact. May we not accept it and act in accordance with it, even if we do not fully understand all about it? How many times, Mr. Grafton, we do that very thing with reference to the things of this life. I noticed, when down at your office, that you had direct telegraph connection with some of our large cities. Electricity is the agent that you employ to transmit your messages. Do you understand just the nature of it? Why is it that it has such a strong affinity for some things that they become first-class conductors, while other things are as perfect non-conductors? Some things about it you understand; some things about it are still a mystery. But you accept the fact that it will transmit your message, and make use of it daily in your business; and it accomplishes your purpose.
"Now, I admit that the idea of 'God manifest in the flesh,' and becoming a substitute for sinful man, is surrounded with great difficulties. Paul himself has written: 'And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.' But the fact is indisputable. Before you came into the meeting to-night I had read for our evening lesson the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. It is wonderful how the idea of Christ as a substitutionary sacrifice for sin is brought out there in nearly every verse. If not so, what are you going to do with such passages as these: 'Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows'; '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'? No other ultimate thought could the prophet have had in mind but that the Messiah of whom he here speaks was to die in the sinner's stead.