Tom had learned by bitter experience that sin and sorrow are inseparable twins, and they seemed to dog his path wherever he went. He tried to escape by abandoning the city for the prairies, then in a business career, and then in married happiness. He tried going to churches of every denomination, but in vain. He finally found deliverance one cold winter night when a fellow-employee opened his Bible and read to him: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isa. 1:1818Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18)).
The story begins when Tom, as a world-weary young Englishman, resolved: “I’ll find peace on the prairies. So far from the big cities, there can be no sin. There I will turn over a new leaf and start life all over again.”
A few months later found him in his chosen field, an employee of a prosperous Canadian farmer. William, the farmer, was a powerful man with a kind face and luxuriant beard. He and his wife owned and operated the farm together, and outwardly everything appeared serene. Tom thought that at last he had found a secure and peaceful nest.
After the first day’s work and the hearty meal that followed, to Tom’s surprise, William suggested that they sit down “and have a little chat about the Bible.” The suggestion created a ripple of resentment in Tom. The Bible was never read in his old home in England. Besides, he had come to Canada to turn over a new leaf, not to turn over pages in the Bible!
William soon told Tom that, although he had read the Bible through three times, he still could not understand it. “Look at Moses,” he reasoned. “He sinned only once and was barred from entering the promised land. So what chance have we?”
The next evening William again suggested that they “have a little chat about the Bible.” This time he introduced the “meditation” with a declaration that “after all, I do have a chance to get to heaven, because I have never turned away anyone who came to me for help.”
At this point his wife, who had been a silent listener, spoke. “William,” she said, “remember how you lied to that man when you sold him the cow?”
“That’s enough from you,” snapped William angrily.
“But William, you did,” she insisted.
Poor William! If only he had known and believed that the one ground of peace with God and the only title to heaven is the shed blood of Christ. Tom could not tell him what he did not know himself.
The nagging pangs of conscience which had prompted Tom to leave England were not in the least eased by William’s groping for peace and his doubts about reaching heaven. This shattered Tom’s dream of finding peace on the prairies, and eventually he forsook the farm to find work in the city.
He soon found work in a bank, and in this sense of financial security, he married and “settled down.” He and his bride decided that they should go to church. It seemed the normal thing to do.
But which church? It was agreed that they would try them all and then choose. Eventually, having attended practically every church in the city, large and small, and finding satisfaction in none, they “gave up on religion.”
By this time Tom had been promoted to a position which brought him into contact with another worker, Wilson, who was a Christian. Tom did not know that, for Wilson never spoke about religion, but Tom could not help noticing how different he was to the rest of the staff-how kind he was to everyone, and all the things he did to help him and others. There is something about that man, Tom thought. I like him.
One afternoon Wilson said, “Tom, you have listened to a lot of things in your life; now, how would you like to listen to the truth?”
“I’ll listen to anything,” answered Tom carelessly. “I’ve heard everything else; I’ve been everywhere and am ready to go anywhere.”
“I’ll meet you at the corner at seven tonight and take you to hear the truth,” said Wilson.
Tom was there when Wilson arrived, and together they walked to a little gospel hall. It was the most unpretentious place-a small room with bare walls and no furniture except a plain table and rows of chairs. A group of people were already seated. Everyone held a well-worn Bible, even the little children.
A peaceful atmosphere pervaded the whole scene, but Tom felt like a caged bird. When someone put a Bible in his hands, he could not turn to a single verse. How stupid he felt!
“What am I doing here?” he muttered. “I must be crazy. Once I’m out, I will never come back!”
But three weeks later he was back in that same little room, drawn as if by some invisible Power.
“What is happening to me?” he asked himself. “Am I becoming weak-minded?”
Then one night after work Wilson said he would walk partway home with Tom. This time he soon turned the talk away from business to eternal things. Taking a small Bible from his pocket, he read: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” Then he turned to 1 Cor. 2:1414But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14) and read: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.”
“Tom,” he said, “do you want to continue being a natural man?”
Tom did not answer, but his thought was, “It is a cold night. Why doesn’t he go home to supper? Why does he bother with me?”
But Wilson kept on. He told of Christ dying on the cross as the sacrifice for sin.
“Think of it, Tom,” he said. “Jesus did it all. There is nothing left for you to do. And now God is ready to forgive every sin you have ever committed, and He says He will remember them no more. It’s all on account of what Jesus has done for you. ‘As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us’ (Psa. 103:1212As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:12)), and that’s a long, long way, Tom!” Wilson then left Tom, and Tom went home-but not to supper!
As Tom told us this story about himself, he concluded by saying: “I went up to my room and knelt beside my bed, and there and then I accepted Christ as my Savior. After all my wanderings, I had at last found the key to peace with God. That was over sixty years ago, and God has kept me ever since.”