SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 7002, 26 April 1884, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

-' BY DAVID ANDERSON MOXEY, M.D.

THE "MAIN SHEET."

Among the number of those who are anxious about their' souls, in connection with the great work that God is now carrying on through the agency of Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey, it may be that some who read the Christian are just at the stage of their spiritual history wherein the following letter wnß useful to" the recipient of it, himself a man.. who. came under concern about his futnre at one of Mr. Moody's meetings in Scotland. The person indicated was an officer in the mercantile marine, a man of superior breeding and intelligence. He went to several of Mr. Moody's meetings, and was conversed with by one and another, my wife being among the number. It was thought that he had come out of darkness into light, and one night I.was introduced to him as a recent convert. • Soon after, I received a letter from him, the general drift of which is sufficiently expressed in the following words, which I quote from it :-•-."■ I was sorry to have to leave home so soon, for I felt as if I could get some good from you, whose faith seemed to be so strong. ' I want to get that faith and trust. I want to know that I have got it. Can you help me ? .... I am anxious to receive your reply to my question —Can you help me ?" • I answered as best I could, and enclosed several tracts that I thought might assist him. His second letter came four days later, saying:—"Your remarks are very comforting, and I trust will help me out of my great difficulty. But I muse take time, and study your, letter and Bible references, and examine myself, to see if I have a real faith. I pray for it night and morning,.and try to be earnest in my prayers. The books you have, sent I shall study carefully, and hopa to get some help from them." • Again 1 wrote to him, and a few days after came his third letter, saying, "I thank yon for the plain way in which you havo put before me the matter of feeling ; also, your remark, 'Examine Christ (not yourself or your faith), and see. if you can aa implicitly trust Him with your soul as you ca.i trust a bank with your money.' I aay to myself that I do trust Him—that I know He can save me, that I know His blood via shed for me, &c; still I am not sure if 1 fully realise it all. I'seem to be like the one in the pamphlet you sent me, ' I have long tried to be religious, but cannot.' Only I cannot say as he did, ' I see it now.' I keep your letterr.ih my pocket, and often take it out to read, hoping that light will come to me. I have a friend.here who is very anxious that I should be confirmed in the English Church. I object, as I belong to the Scotch Church, and am a -member of it with my wife, but, if being confirmed by the bishop was going to benefit me in any way, without detriment to my standing in my own church, I should be glad to have it done. I would like your opinion on this subject. What I mean by benefit is, if it (this confirmation) will help in any way to give me the light I am wanting ?" At this juncture it dawned upon me that I had been on the wrong tack'with him in my attempts to argue and explain. Here, evidently, was a man who was dead in earnest, and who, 1 believed, was willing to come to God in his own way, only the devil was raising difficulties. Th<s seemed to be a case wherein the man mast be brought at once to a definite transaction with God—a deliberate, conscious surrender of self, and acceptance of Christ. I accordingly wrote a letter to that end, grounding it wholly on God's Word. Let me introduce the letter by my correspondent's answer to it. He writes:—"l am most happy to tell you that, through your letter, I'have got hold of the ' main-sheet' now, and with God's help will never let go of it. I si\w it all at once on reading your letter ; and as I could say. from my heart that I believed God raised Christ from the dead, and that I was willing to accept this living Christ as my Lord, I followed your advice, and it seems as if a load was lifted from off my mind ever since."

Here is the advice referred to, ay contained in my letter, and may God blass it now, dear reader, to the salvation of your aoul : "'lf thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heat t that God raised Him from \\he dead, thou shalt be saved' (Bom. x. 9, B. V.). In this one verse yon. have the entire conditions of salvation. Bead it carefully; note the two conditions—con" fessing something, and believing something; and then ask yourself, 'Am I willing now, at this moment, to accept Jeans as my Lord ?' If your heart replies, ' Yea ; God knows I am!' then kneel down and say to Him aloud, ' Lord Jeans, I really believe in my heart that God raised Thee from the dead, and that Thou art listening at this moment to my words —and *how, acoording to this verse, written by the Holy Spirit of God, I hereby come to. the point of decision, and now, at this moment," deliberately, willingly, and thankfully, I confess with my mouth that I take Thee to be my Lord, my Master, my Saviour; and I give myself to Thee, the beßt way I know how, body and soul, for time and eternity. ; Lord Jesus, I do not merely say I do this, but I really mean it and do it. Amen.' When you have done this, and really done it, as really as your wife did, when ahe aooepted you as her lord (her husband) —she did not merely say she accepted you, but she did accept you—then you have God's Word to your soul, ' Thou shalt be saved,' in other words, 'That is salvation.' He does not ask you to feel or realise salvation. He relieves you of all doubt, or trouble, or speculation, or anxiety on the subject, by coming down with His Almighty snail! He taken all the responsibility, and says—That is salvation, feel or ho feel. When you believe that God in this verse, in the last four words, speaks the truth, says only what He means, and means just what He says, then kneel down a second time, snd humbly and gratefully thank Him for saving your soul." . Let me add the following lines as-singu-larly appropriate :— ,-.'• " ! 'Tls done, the great transaction's done— T am my Lord's and He limine; Ho drew me, and I followed' on, "" Charmed to confess the voice divine. , High heaven, that heard the solemn vow. That vow renewed shall daily hear. Till in life's latest hour I bow, And bless in death a bond so dear. The subjoined passages of Scripture are recommended for perusal : —John i. 12, 13; 1 Gor. xii. 3; John iii. 3, 16, 18, 36, and v. 24; Acts ii. 36 ; viii. 37 ; xiii. 38, 39 ; Bom. v, 1 ; viii. 1 ; 1 John v. 19, 20; ii. 12; iii. 1, 2 (B. V.). Bead also Num. xxiih 19 j James i. 17; 2 Tim. ii. 13 (B. V.) 1 ; Heb. xiii. 8; 2 Cor. i. 20; Psalm exxxviii. 2; Luke xxi. 33.