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THE STORY OF A BIBLE

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International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 23, 1887

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 13, No. 24.

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THE STORY OF A BIBLE.

“Did he leave any message for me?” “Yes, and he cursed the day that he ever saw you.”
This was the answer given by a nun to a lady in London, under the following circumstances, which were related to me by a gentleman of culture and piety, as we were sailing along the coast of Norway, from Trondhjem to Bremen, in and out among the beautiful fords and snow-capped mountains.
Monsignor Capel was asked by a lady of position in London, “How can I find peace of mind?”
Instead of pointing her to Christ, and telling her that he atoned for our sins on the cross, he bade her dismiss such unwelcome thoughts, and attend places of amusement.
One day she followed a crowd of people into Exeter Hall, expecting to have her mind diverted from serious thoughts about the future by a musical entertainment. She was surprised when she found herself in a great religious meeting. Annoyed at this, she attempted to get out, but in doing so she knocked some umbrellas onto the floor, and, abashed, took her seat.
Her attention was soon riveted upon the speaker. He explained our relation to God, as under condemnation already, and spoke of Christ’s suffering on the cross as an atoning sacrifice, and of God’s willingness for his sake to pardon, and by his Holy Spirit to change our hearts and fit us for Heaven. She was deeply moved, and at the close she said to someone near, “Can I speak to the gentleman who has just addressed us?”
Soon after, in conversation with her, he said, “You will find the truth which I have mentioned often repeated in the Bible.”
“But I have no Bible,” she replied.
He quickly handed her his own, saying, “I have pleasure in giving you mine.”
Sometime after this, the high Catholic dignitary, remembering the advice he had given this lady, sent a priest to inquire about the state of her mind. Instead of needing his help, he soon found that she was able to direct him in the way of life.
Before leaving, she gave him the Bible that had been given her at Exeter Hall, and begged him to read it with prayer, and to trust in him who “bore our sins in his own body on the tree.”
Sometime after she received a note from the priest, asking her to call upon him.
As she was about to take her son to Eton College, she did not accept the invitation at the time.
When she called, some weeks after, she was shown into a room where there was a coffin, and in it the body of the priest. Beside it a nun kneeling in prayer. The lady approached, and asked, “Did he leave a message for me?”
“Yes,” was the reply. “He wished me to say, if you called, that he died in the full faith of the Catholic Church, and that he cursed the day he ever saw you.”
The poor lady turned away, greatly distressed, saying to herself: “If I had gone to his bedside when he sent for me, I might have pointed him to Christ, and he might have been saved through faith in him; but now, alas! it is too late. I fear, through my negligence, he is lost forever.”
This reflection produced such an effect upon her that it destroyed her peace of mind, which she sought to overcome by foreign travel.
One day in Rome a lady approached her and said: “Do you remember standing by the coffin of Father —, and the dreadful message delivered to you?”
“Yes,” she replied, “and it has followed me night and day.”
“But it was not a true message. The words he bade me to deliver to you were these: ‘Tell her that I bless the day I ever saw her, and that I die in the full faith of Jesus Christ. Tell her that the Bible she gave me was the means of leading me to trust alone in him for pardon. Tell her I shall meet her in Heaven.’ And then,” added the nun, “he gave me that precious Bible, which has also been the means of leading me to see myself a lost sinner, and Christ as my only Saviour. Will you forgive me for telling you that falsehood?”—Morning Star.