Governor Neff, of Texas, visited the penitentiary of that state and spoke to the assembled convicts. When he had finished he said that he would remain behind, and that if any man wanted to speak with him, he would gladly listen. He further announced that he would listen in confidence, and that nothing a man might say would be used against him.
A noted Christian leader, well known to many thousands of God's children for his wonderful messages on the deep spiritual life, passed through a time of great testing. He was old and his life span had nearly run its course. Illness had attacked his brain, just as it might attack the eyes of one or the knees of another, and he imagined that he was lost. He, who had spoken many times on the wonderful security of the believer in Christ, said to the few friends who entered his room that a cloud had passed over his faith, and that his old nature was so terrible that he was sure that he was lost. We do not doubt for a moment that he was saved.
When I mentioned a mutual acquaintance who is a member of the same board, my friend told me of the canny shrewdness which had made this man successful. "I don't know the extent of all his deals," he said, "because I am not on the loan committee, but as a member of the examining committee I see enough to know how clever and foresighted he is." We discussed the functions of a bank director and then I had my illustration.
St. Augustine prayed, "O Lord, deliver me from the lust of always vindicating myself." There can be no doubt, for we know it from the Bible as well as from experience, that self always wishes to vindicate itself. In the Bible self is called "flesh." We are clearly taught there is only one way to deal with it; it cannot be trained, it cannot be reformed. Its heart is incurable, its mind is hatred. The whole message of Scripture is a general declaration that God will not deal with man apart from the cross of Jesus Christ.
A Christian worker spoke of the narrowness of some believers who were not willing to consider others as worthy of Christian fellowship. "They are so bad," said our friend, "that according to them there would be only about five hundred people who are saved." This statement, though an exaggeration, makes us to think about the essential elements of our salvation.
