62. Confessing Sin

Confessing Sin

TWENTY YEARS AFTER.—A hunter was shot dead in the forest by some unknown hand. Twenty years after, his son shot at a stag, but, missing it, hit an unseen man. As he lay dying, he said to the huntsman, “I am the man who shot your father, just here, under this oak. The very ground where we now are was dyed with his blood: and it has evidently been destined that you, son of the murdered man, should on this precise spot, without any thought or intention of such a thing, avenge the act on me. God is just,” he exclaimed, and presently expired.

TWO FLAGS.—When the old Romans attacked a city, it was sometimes their custom to set up a white flag at the city gate. If the garrison surrendered while the white flag was up, their lives were spared; after that, the black flag was run up, and every man was put to the sword. FROM JUSTICE TO MERCY.—A woman arraigned before Alexander the Great, and condemned, said, “I appeal from thee, O king!” Alexander said, “Thou art a mad woman! Dost thou not know that every appeal is from a lower judge to a higher? But who is above me?” She answered, “I know thee to be above thy laws, and that thou mayest give pardon; and therefore I appeal from justice to mercy.”

COLOR TEST.—They tell us that cloth which has been dyed red can never be restored to its original purity. But when a piece of red cloth is viewed through ruby glass, the color is lost. So sins—red like crimson—are lost when the blood of Christ is interposed.

WILLING.—Macdonald once addressed an old man who had lost his sight, saying it would be well if his mental eyes were opened. “I trust they are,” he said. “But what do you see?” “That I am blind—that in myself I am a ruined sinner, but Christ is an Almighty Saviour.” “But what if He is not willing?” “Willing! Would He die for sinners if he were not willing to save them? No, no!”

PAID HIS DEBTS.—Thomas Oliver was a cobbler, who spent his time working, carousing and contracting debts. He congratulated himself on his skill in defrauding his creditors. He was at last rescued, and became one of Wesley’s itinerant preachers. So great had been his wickedness that his friends thought he must have had some terrible fright. His uncle said to him, “Thou hast been so wicked, thou hast seen the Devil.” He resolved to pay the last cent with money due him from the estate of one of his kindred. He bought a horse and started on his memorable journey from town to town, preaching Christ, and paying his debts.

NAILED OVER DOOR.—An Oriental custom tells that when a debt had to be settled, either by payment or forgiveness, it was the usage for the creditor to take the canceled bond and nail it over the door of him who had owed it, that all passers-by might see that it was paid. Oh, blessed story of our remission! See Jesus our bondsman. As the nail goes through His hand, it goes through the bond of our transgressions to cancel it forever.

MARTYR’S ADVOCATE.—Hugh McKail, a Scottish Covenanter, executed at Edinburgh, prayed the night before he suffered, “Now, Lord, we come to Thy Throne—a place we have not been acquainted with. Earthly kings’ thrones have advocates against poor men, but Thy Throne hath Jesus an Advocate for us.”