What They Lost

IT is quite a common thing to hear people say they cannot obey the truth, especially that they cannot keep all the commandments of the decalogue, because they will have to lose so much; they fear they cannot make a living. The following incident may be instructive to such:—

Near London there lived an old couple. In early life they had been poor; but the husband became a Christian, and God blessed their industry, and they were living in comfortable retirement, when one day a stranger called on them and asked their subscription to a charity. The old lady had less religion than her husband, and still hankered after the Sabbath earnings and easy shillings which Thomas had given from regard to the law of God. So when the visitor asked for their contributions she interposed and said: "Why, sir, we have lost a deal by religion since we first begun, my husband knows that very well. Have we not, Thomas?" After a solemn pause, Thomas answered, "Yes, Mary, we have. Before I got religion, Mary, I had an old slouched hat, a tattered coat, and mended shoes and stockings; but I have lost them long ago. And you know that, poor as I was, I had a habit of getting drunk and quarreling with you; and that you know I have lost. And then I had a hardened conscience and wicked heart, and ten thousand guilty fears; but all are lost—completely lost, and like a millstone cast into the sea. And, Mary, you have been a loser, too. Before we got religion, Mary, you had a washing-tray. And you had a gown and a bonnet much the worse for wear; but you have lost them long ago; and you had many an aching heart concerning me at times; but those you have happily lost. And I could even wish that you had even lost as much as I have lost; for what we lose for religion will be an everlasting gain."

It is a pity that, when people open a debt and credit account with the Lord, they so generally forget his mercies. But in the book of the Lord about all that will be found will be his mercies and our errors and shortcomings. Here we look too much upon our services and our trials and our crosses. If our afflictions turn us toward the Saviour they will work for us. 2 Cor. 4:17, 18. But if they cause us to repine and fret, then they will work against us. It was in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, where he said, "I am the man that hath seen affliction," that he also said of the mercies of the Lord, "they are new every morning." Even so it is. Our lives, all along, have been dotted with places of trials and sorrows; but the mercies of God have flowed in one continual stream. Of him we receive "life, and breath, and all things." Acts 17:25. Every breath which we draw makes us his debtor. And the intercessions of Jesus continually "holdeth our soul in life." Ps. 66:9. Everyday blessings and privileges are but mementos of the riches of his grace. If we had done all his righteous will we should yet be unprofitable servants; we could not benefit him; our righteousness could not reach to him. Ps. 16:2. It can be no gain to him that we make our ways perfect. Job 22:2, 3. "If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?" Job 35:7. But we have not done our whole duty; our ways have not been perfect before him. We have "done despite unto the Spirit of grace." Heb. 10:29. Mercy, through the name of Jesus of Nazareth and the cleansing power of his blood, is all the plea that we can make. This truth is very often confessed, but very seldom felt. If it were generally felt, we should not so often find people claiming the privilege of making terms with God. They are willing to serve him if it involves no personal inconvenience and no earthly loss. Poor souls! what a terrible delusion they are laboring under. How deep is their self-deception, and how bitter will be their disappointment when they will be rewarded according to their works, and not according to their confidence or their profession. Matt. 7:21-23.