WHAT ARE WE AT?
I HEARD A STORY; I think it came from the North Country: A
minister called upon a poor woman, intending to give her help;
for he knew that she was very poor. With his money in his hand,
he knocked at the door; but she did not answer. He concluded she
was not at home, and went his way. A little after he met her at
the church, and told her that he had remembered her need: "I
called at your house, and knocked several times, and I suppose
you were not at home, for I had no answer." "At what hour did you
call, sir?" "It was about noon." "Oh, dear," she said, "I heard
you, sir, and I am so sorry I did not answer; but I thought it
was the man calling for the rent." Many a poor woman knows what
this meant. Now, it is my desire to be heard, and therefore I
want to say that I am not calling for the rent; indeed, it is not
the object of this book to ask anything of you, but to tell you
that salvation is all of grace, which means, free, gratis, for
nothing.
Oftentimes, when we are anxious to win attention, our hearer
thinks, "Ah! now I am going to be told my duty. It is the man
calling for that which is due to God, and I am sure I have
nothing wherewith to pay. I will not be at home." No, this book
does not come to make a demand upon you, but to bring you
something. We are not going to talk about law, and duty, and
punishment, but about love, and goodness, and forgiveness, and
mercy, and eternal life. Do not, therefore, act as if you were
not at home: do not turn a deaf ear, or a careless heart. I am
asking nothing of you in the name of God or man. It is not my
intent to make any requirement at your hands; but I come in God's
name, to bring you a free gift, which it shall be to your present
and eternal joy to receive. Open the door, and let my pleadings
enter. "Come now, and let us reason together." The Lord himself
invites you to a conference concerning your immediate and endless
happiness, and He would not have done this if He did not mean
well toward you. Do not refuse the Lord Jesus who knocks at your
door; for He knocks with a hand which was nailed to the tree for
such as you are. Since His only and sole object is your good,
incline your ear and come to Him. Hearken diligently, and let the
good word sink into your soul. It may be that the hour is come in
which you shall enter upon that new life which is the beginning
of heaven. Faith cometh by hearing, and reading is a sort of
hearing: faith may come to you while you are reading this book.
Why not? O blessed Spirit of all grace, make it so!