I had given away some gospel books to my fellow passengers in the railway coach. When the train stopped, I got off and started towards the little town. Soon I was overtaken by a farmer. He spoke to me and said he had heard that I had been engaged in a good work.
"Are you, too, a Christian?" I inquired.
"Do you see the lights in yonder chapel? We had a meeting for the Sunday school there last evening," he replied.
"Indeed. Then you are interested in such matters. Are you a Christian, sir?" I repeated.
"We had a collection last evening for the schools," said he.
"Really! But are you a Christian?"
"I gave five dollars to the good work, sir! Besides doing the schools good, that is a good example, eh?"
"Well, but are you a Christian? Or, speaking more plainly," (for the farmer seemed deaf as a stone to my question) "are your sins forgiven? If you should die this moment, are you ready to enter God's own presence?"
"Tut, tut," said the old man, "who knows that? Have I not helped the good cause for the Almighty?"
"Then do you think that God needs your five dollars?" I asked. "You seem to set much value upon your gift. He tells us not to let our right hand know what our left does, and He loves a cheerful giver."
"I have helped on the good cause," said the farmer. Stepping out with fresh energy, he repeated, "Five dollars, sir!"
"Man!" I cried, "God does not want your miserable gift. Do you mean to go out of this world offering Him your paltry money? He is freely offering to you, lost in your sins, the value of the precious blood of Christ. You are turning from this unspeakable gift, His own dear Son, to boast how you dragged out a bit of money from your unwilling pocket."
At this point the old farmer, annoyed at my plain speaking, yet fully self-satisfied, turned down a dark lane where, in the distance, a light in a window marked his dwelling. As he went he repeated, "I gave five dollars to the schools last evening."
The hardened conscience of the old farmer displayed the secret of his heart. His high idea of his good works was told out with native bluntness. How many there are who, like him, cover up with religious politeness their self-righteous thoughts! Yet they fancy that money given on Sunday or a large subscription to charity is, to say the least, one step up the ladder to heaven.