During World War I soldiers were being moved pretty rapidly. In a town in the south of France a regiment had halted briefly for a period of rest. A Bible seller was there too, carrying on his work of distributing and selling small Bibles. He was surrounded by a group of soldiers, and one soldier stepped forward. Speaking to the Bible man in a serious voice he said, “You have convinced me of my need of possessing a copy of the Word of God. But oh!” he went on with a deep sigh, “I have not a cent to buy it with.”
“That need not matter,” the seller at once replied. “If you are so anxious to possess a copy of God’s Word I shall not let you go away without giving you one, even though I have to pay for it myself.”
Taking a small book from his packet, the Christian handed it with pleasure to the soldier. But to his surprise, scarcely had the soldier got possession of the book when he burst out laughing.
“You are done for, my fine fellow!” he cried. “I am Joker Number One of the regiment. It’s as plain as the nose on your face that I fooled you. When I am dead, do you see, my dear friend—”
Here the Christian interrupted him by exclaiming: “After death, poor man, the judgment will follow—and what a judgment! Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.”
For a moment the young soldier appeared to be silenced, but his laughter soon returned and he called out to the others: “I do believe that the old boy wants to insult me.”
“Give me back the book,” said the Christian earnestly.
“Oh, no, old fellow,” replied the soldier. “Whatever was given was given willingly, so I shall keep it. It may be of use to me; isn’t that what you wish? Much obliged to you!”
Sadly the Christian went away after giving that last serious warning: “Be careful what you do, for it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
His heart was heavy with deep sorrow and compassion for the young man, and he cried in prayer to God: “Lord, pardon him! O God, cause the Word to reach his conscience. Convert him! Save him!”
After several months in which he continued to distribute his Bibles, the Christian stopped in a small village and went to an inn to rest. He soon saw that the landlady, an elderly woman, was in deep grief. Sympathetically he inquired the cause, and she replied, “Only a few hours ago my son—the happiness of my life—was placed in the grave.”
“I have a book,” said the Christian, “which I never open without finding some comfort. Let me read a few lines of it to you.”
He drew from his pocket a small New Testament and began to read to her. As he read, the woman snatched it out of his hand and exclaimed, “You wicked man! You have stolen the most precious thing my son left to me!”
Then glancing hastily at the book, the poor woman dropped it on the floor in astonishment. “No, this is not my precious book,” she said. “Mine is torn. Forgive me.”
Running from the room, she returned with a New Testament like the one the Christian had. But it was not complete. Many pages had been torn out of it. The Christian opened the little book and read: “Received from a Bible man in France. Despised at first and badly misused, but afterward read, believed, and loved as the instrument of my salvation. J.L., 4th Company, 6th Regiment of the line.”
The young soldier had told his mother that, on the night before his last battle, serious thoughts came into his mind. The words of the man whom he had tricked came back like a thunderclap: It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
“What if tomorrow I should fall into His hands!” he thought.
All through the night this thought haunted him, and as soon as it was light he took out the book to read it. He was astonished when, instead of the threats which he expected to read in its pages, he found appeals such as: God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved!
By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.
Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
This last verse deeply affected him and he kept it in his heart. Injured in the battle, the wounded soldier was able to be sent home for a little while before he died, and he comforted his mother’s heart with the news of his eternal salvation.