21. Repentance
Repentance
TRUE SHADE SHELTER.—A Chinese convert once illustrated the folly of self-righteousness as follows: “How can a man trust in his own righteousness? It is like seeking shelter under one’s own shadow: We may stoop to the very ground, and the lower we bend, we still find that our shadow is beneath us. But if a man flee to the shadow of a great rock or a wide-spreading tree, he will find shelter from the noonday sun. So human merits are unavailing, and Christ alone is able to save to the uttermost.”
INK BOTTLE ILLUSTRATION.—A negro had been taught by a minister that water baptism was all a man needed to be saved, and no difference what argument the master would produce, the colored man insisted that water saved. At last the master said: “James, if I take an ink bottle, cork it tight, put a string around its neck, and drag it through the river, how long will it take to clean out the inside?” The colored man’s face lighted up, and he said, “You’d never clean it.”
SICK HEATHEN’S IDOLS.—A rich heathen, being dangerously sick, sent for a Christian physician. The doctor agreed to cure him providing he would destroy all his idols first. “Take my keys,” said the sick man, “search my house, and spoil every image you can find.” This was done, but still he did not get well, and complained of the doctor’s failure. “There is one idol yet hidden in your house that must be destroyed before you can recover,” replied the physician. “It is true,” answered the sick man; “there is one, but it is all of beaten gold, and cost me 200 pounds (nearly $10,000). I meant to save it, but here, take this key, you will find it in my chest. Go, break it in pieces.” This was done, and the sick man recovered.
SMASHING THE SIGN.—Burns was once preaching in the open air and after the service a man timidly said to him, “Oh, sir, will you come to see my dying wife?” The preacher consented, but the man said: “I am afraid when you know where she is you won’t come.” “I will go wherever she is,” was the answer. The man then told him that he was keeping the lowest public house in the town. The place at last was reached. After a short conversation with the dying woman, the preacher engaged in prayer, and while thus occupied, the husband left the room. Soon he heard a loud noise, like determined blows of a hammer. What unseemly noise was this at such a time? Was the husband mad? No; only coming to repentance. When Burns reached the street he found the man’s signboard strewn in splinters upon the pavement.
PRINCE AND THE PRISONER.—A German prince once visited the arsenal where the prisoners were kept. The keeper agreed to set at liberty any prisoner whom the Prince might select. He went through the prison and conversed with the men. He inquired into the cause of their confinement and met only with universal complaint of injustice, oppression and false accusation. At last he came to one man who admitted his imprisonment to be just. He said to the Prince: “My lord, I have no reason to complain. I have been a wicked, desperate wretch; I have often deserved to be broken upon the wheel; and it is a mercy that I am here.” The Prince selected him, saying: “This is the man whom I wish released.”
DOD’S TESTIMONY.—Dod said: “If I were to die in the pulpit, I would desire to die preaching repentance; or if I die out of the pulpit, I would desire to die practicing repentance.”