CONVERSION OF THE EARL OF ROCHESTER
The Earl of Rochester was one of the most witty and learned men of his time, but one of the most recklessly profligate. Most readers will have seen the account of his conversion and death-bed scene by Bishop Burnett. He had rejected the Bible without studying it; but when he read the history of our Lord, and compared it with the prophecies, especially the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, which has more the appearance of a history than of a prophecy, not only was his judgment convinced, but his heart was changed, and he "rejoiced in Christ Jesus." The following incident shows how his mind was first turned to religion. It is said that, walking in the neighborhood of Oxford in the days of his folly, in company with the Duke of Buckingham, a profligate infidel like himself, they were met by a member of the university, famed for his piety, who was reading the Bible as he walked along. The earl accosted him in a style not unusual at that time:— "Pray, master student, can you tell
Which is the nearest way to hell?" Taking his eye off the book, he answered:—
"By Buckingham, as people say,
But Rochester's the nearest way." Rochester was struck; said to his companion, "What if there should be a hell after all?" He became a convert, but Buckingham died as he had lived, a miserable infidel. Who then will dare to trifle with the word of God? "Within this awful volume lies
The mystery of mysteries.
O happy they of human race,
To whom our God hath given grace
To read, to learn, to watch, to pray,
To lift the latch and find the way;
But better he had ne'er been born,
Who reads to doubt, or reads to scorn."