THE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
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Signing His Mame By James H. Brookes
who really believes that God has blotted out as a thick cloud his transgressions, and, as a cloud, his sins; and God declares He has done this for every one who simply trusts in Jesus alone for pardon and eternal life. The transgressions which once like a thick cloud, charged with tempest and fire, gathered above him, are all gone, and the sins that like lighter clouds hid the heavens have entirely disappeared, leaving only the clear, sweet blue of God’s infinite and unchanging love. “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin,” (1 Jn. 1 :7 ). _ But what a note of encouragement comes from that silent coffin to Christians to “be instant in season, out of season” (2 Tim. 4 :2 ). Nay, what a voice of cheer comes down from the presence of the Lord saying, “In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good,” (Ecc. 1 1 :6 ). The lady who gave that little slip of paper to the man with a sin-burdened heart, may have gone away from the meeting discouraged because she could do nothing. She will probably never know on earth the consequences of a simple and single act of loving service for the Master,'but at His coming what gladness will thrill her soul to find that she led one at least to Jesus! But it will be observed that she used the word, the writ ten word of God. The repeated conversations, illustrations, and arguments, if such were employed, of a minister of the gospel, did not accomplish the work wrought by one verse in the hands of a faithful, Christian woman. Those hands may have been feeble in themselves, but they held “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6 :17 ); and this was “mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds” (2 Cor. 10 :4 ); “for the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two- edged, sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4 :12 ). If the reader of these lines knows that he is willing at least to believe in Chris't as his Savior, let him hear the voice of God sounding from heaven, and recorded by the Holy Ghost in the sacred Scriptures, “I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sin s;” and let him sign his name to it as true. Then let him take the same word, or another verse, and hand it to some troubled one, or to some one who ought to be troubled, re membering that of all who are saved it is written, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” (1 Pet. 1 :23 ).
MINISTER of Christ was once asked to conduct the funeral services of a gentleman whose name had never been mentioned in his presence. Arriv ing at the house which death had entered, he was ushered into a large room where the body lay in a coffin, surrounded by a number of acquaintances and friends. He glanced at the dead man but had no recollection of ever having seen him, and wondered why he had been requested to go to such a distant part of the city. In a little while he was conducted to another apartment to see-the widow, who at once explained why she had sent for him in her sorrow. She told him with tears that it was her husband’s wish to have him present at the burial, be cause the servant of the Lord had talked with him two or three times during the progress of a great revival more than seven years before. “I had forgotten all about it,” was the reply, and have no recollection whatever of seeing your husband at any time. But amid the ■ large number with whom conversation was held while the meetings con tinued, it is not strange that memory failed to recall one whom I did not know.” “I am not sure,” she said, “that your words helped him out of his darkness and distress into the light and liberty of the gospel, but the word of God did in a marvelous way.” Then asking her sister to bring the family Bible, she took from it a little slip of paper on which was printed a single verse. “A lady,” she continued, “whom I had never seen before, and whom I have never seen since,' ap proached us one evening as we were leaving the building* in which the meeting was held, and gently asked, my hus band to accept that little piece of paper, and then she im mediately disappeared, and I would not know her if we were to meet again face to face.” ' . ~ At this the minister took the paper, a n d . noticed the words, “I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy trans- gressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins” (Isa. 44 :22 ). But these! were not the only words. Just beneath on the mar gin was written, “John Wingate, March 4, 1874.” The paper was cheap and faded, and many such slips with a verse o t Scripture could be purchased for almost nothing. Perhaps the lady who gave the text to the man had paid nothing at all for it, and it required very little effort to place it in his hand, but the fruit of so small a service will be seen while an eternity of glory endures. “My husband,” said the weeping widow, “was in deep gloom that evening and told me it seemed he could never be saved. But when we reached home, he thought of the paper, and taking it from his vest pocket he slowly read, ‘I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins.’ He was silent for awhile; then turn ing to me with a trembling voice he asked if it could be true. I replied that it must be true, because God said it in His word, and after a moment more of silence, his face lighted up with joy, and he exclaimed, “I will sign my name to it as true, and true for me.” From that moment all was peace, and he lived for more than seven years in the faith that God of His own grace had blotted out his transgressions and sins with the precious blood of Christ. Of course the verse was the text of the funeral discourse, and as the minister held aloft the slip of paper, he asked whether there were any unsaved friends present who were willing to sign their names that it was true. A man can not be in doubt and uncertainty concerning his salvation
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