p. 14 | Studies in the Christ-Life at Brother Eldred's

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jul 24, 1907

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 30.

Studies in the Christ-Life at Brother Eldred's

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

Twelfth Evening's Study.

JUST at this moment the door-bell rang sharply. Sister Eldred groaned inwardly. Why must their cozy, pleasant, profitable study be interrupted, especially just now—just as Mr. Field had become interested enough to ask a question, and such an important and vital one, too?

Ah, how little we know of the wonderful ways of Him who is perfect in wisdom, and who never makes a mistake, even in the seemingly small affairs of the earth-life of His children! Sister Eldred glanced questioningly at her husband, and hurried to open the door.

"Good evening, Mr. Allan; come in and join us in our Bible study," said Brother Eldred, cordially.

"Bible study? Well, now—that's rather a new departure for me, Mr. Eldred," and the newcomer smiled dubiously, as he continued: "I just stepped in to inquire about the lease of that house I understood you had for rent. I hope I'm not intruding."

"Intruding? O no; we're always glad to welcome our friends; but you have not lived in the village long enough to have heard that we observe the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath of the Lord, according to the commandment, and that the day properly begins with the setting of the sun. So, you see, as we can do no business on this evening, we would be very much pleased for you to join us in the reading."

Mr. Allan's face was a study as he seated himself rather uneasily in the chair offered him, and accepted the proffered Bible, while Brother Eldred continued:

"We were about to answer a question which our friend, Mr. Field, propounded just as you entered. Will you kindly repeat your question, Mr. Field?"

"It was this: supposing the Bible account of the temptation and suffering of Jesus Christ to be true, what was the real object of it all? and why did God allow His Son to suffer and die for a world of guilty men? It has always seemed unreasonable to me that the innocent should suffer for the guilty. I was taught from boyhood to regard the story as a myth, and Jesus Christ simply as a great and good man, and that if I was ever saved, I must save myself."

"You are not the first who has been led to question the vicarious atonement," replied Brother Eldred, while Sister Eldred again quietly repeated her favorite text:

" 'For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' "

At once Mr. Allan's face took on a softened expression, and his eyes filled with tears as he exclaimed, turning to Sister Eldred:

"O madam! I've been trying to get away from that verse for years, tho I've not heard it repeated since my mother died with it upon her lips. But I don't know how to believe on Him, and, as Mr. Field says, it seems unreasonable and unnatural that the innocent should die for the guilty."

"And yet," replied Brother Eldred, "we see the same principle carried out in nature, and we do not think to question it. If the blossom did not die, the fruit would never appear; and constantly some of the brain cells and muscular tissue of these wonderful bodies of ours die, that the body may be kept in health and strength and activity. If one part of the body is wounded, at once the little blood corpuscles fly to the rescue like tiny soldiers, to give their life for the life of the body. Will Mr. Allan please read Rom. 5:6, 8, 9?"

Tillie handed her open Bible to him, and he read slowly and thoughtfully:

" 'For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. . . . But God commendeth His love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath thru Him.' "

For a moment there was silence. The Holy Spirit was striving to obtain a foothold in hearts filled with unbelief and doubt. At last Sister Eldred spoke:

"Yes, it must be thru Him. We are as unable to keep or to save ourselves as is a drowning man in the midst of the ocean; but Jesus Christ came to offer us the rope of salvation. We must grasp the rope by faith. These are the terms. If we refuse, we are lost, lost!"

A tear shone in Sister Eldred's eye, and her husband added:

"But did you never think, Mr. Field, how unreasonable is the idea that Jesus Christ was merely a good man? If He were not the Son of God and the Saviour of the world, then there remains but one alternative—He was an impostor, because He claimed to be the Son of God."

"O, that could never be, never!" exclaimed Mrs. Field, shuddering. A troubled look flitted across Mr. Field's expressive face, as he said:

"I had never thought of it in just that light before. No; I am not at all willing to call Him an impostor."

"His words and His teachings are too wonderful for that; don't you think so, father?" questioned Mildred, earnestly.

"True, true, my daughter; these things are all so strange and new to me. As I said, I must take time to study the Bible more in the future. But," turning to Brother Eldred, "I have always believed the resurrection of the dead to be an impossibility. You remember I told you I was something of a Sadducee."

"Of course if it depended upon men, Mr. Field," interrupted Tom, "there could be no resurrection from the dead, but as Florence quoted, Jesus says, 'I am the Resurrection and the Life.' That alters the question entirely. Why, if God made these wonderful bodies of ours, could He not bring them again from the dead?"

"But, my son," commented Brother Eldred, "while your reasoning is good and plain, we must not forget that the things of God are spiritually discerned, and that we can not believe unless God gives us faith. Let us read together the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians."

At once every member of the little reading circle opened the Bible, and the wonderful chapter was read. It was Mr. Allan's turn to read the fifty-fifth verse: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" He became deeply affected, and, as the little circle broke up, after appointing the next evening's meeting, he exclaimed tremblingly:

"Will you pray for me, Mr. Eldred? I believe God sent me here to-night."

That evening, as Mr. Allan walked homeward under the silent stars, the angels of God recorded the first prayer he had offered for many a long year.

(To Be Continued.)