THE KING’S BUSINESS
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He took hold of her hand and said, “Wife, there will be no excuses at the bar of God: let us pray.” They got down together on their knees and earnestly, cried to God for mercy. When they arose from their knees they were changed— fundamentally changed. During that very afternoon he went out and no less than twenty of his companions were won to God through his testimony and pleading. He lived that changed and trans formed life for many years in the city of Rochester. What happened to that man that day? You say “ Sal vation came to his house'.” But what was this thing that you call salvation ? What was the essence of the things that happened to him? It was some thing very real, and it caused a very real and fundamental change in the man’s life. An article in the will of the late J. Pierpont Morgan brings this mat ter of salvation to our minds from another angle. This remarkable arti cle reads as follows: “ I commit my soul into the hands of my Saviour, in full confidence that, having redeemed it and washed it in His most precious blood, He will present it faultless be fore the throne of my Heavenly Father.” What did he mean by this article? Did he mean that God was going to do something for him in the crisis of death that had no relation with the life that had gone before, in the way of immediately presenting him faultless irrespective of the kina of life he had lived up to that mo ment ? At first Mr. Lee spoke of his good works, and he did not evidently feel the need of any outside help to save ,him from anything. On the other hand, Mr. Morgan had nothing at all to say about his good life or works, but he simply talked about what Jesus did and was going to do for him. These two attitudes represent two
conceptions o f salvation which have been more or less prominent through out history. They seem absolutely contradictory. The one seems to say that we are saved by works irrespec tive of faith. The other seems to say that we are saved by faith irre spective of life and works. But Mr. Lee had a very real experience which fundamentally changed both his atti tude and his life, and we think that the New Testament answer to our questions will come along the line ol that experience. Let us now endeavor to get the New Testament answer. The New Testament answer is Christ’s answer to the questions. There is no contra diction between the answer that Christ gave to. these questions and the answer which Paul and the rest of the apostles gave later on. The word salvation was only used ' two times by Christ, so far as the record is concerned. Once when speaking to the woman of Samaria and once in the house of Zacchaeus. But the cognate word “ to save” was quite frequently used by Him in ref erence with different phases of human life. Let us take a few examples from this gospel of Luke. In chap ter six, verse nine, Jesus used it in His question to the Pharisees, “ Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good, or to do harm? to save a life or to destroy it?”. Then in chapter seven, verse fifty, it is used to define what happened to the woman who anointed the Saviour’s feet. “ Thy faith saved thee.” In 8:50 Jesus used it to de scribe what happened to the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue when she. was raised from the dead. In the same chapter He used the word to describe what happened to the woman who was cured of an issue of blood. “ Thy faith made thee whole.” Again in chapter 17:19 He used it to de scribe the healing of the leper. “ Thy
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