The Love of God Commended
W. Hay Aitken, M. A. Romans 5:7-8 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.… Some years ago a young English lady, moving in the highest circles of fashion in Paris, happened one day to be slightly indisposed and lying upon her bed, when her sisters came into the room in a state of great merriment, and said to her, "There is a mad fellow come over here from England — a revival preacher. They say it is the greatest joke in the world; he goes ranting away in English, and one of the French pastors does his best to interpret what he says into French. All the world is going, and we are going too," and off they went. They had no sooner gone than this girl, as she lay in her bed, felt an indescribable desire to hear him too. She rang the bell for her maid, and said, "I want to hear this revival preacher; dress me and order a carriage." Her servant expostulated with her: "You really should not think of it, ma'am; I am sure you are not fit to go." But she would not be put off. So she went, and was shown to a seat in front of the platform and there sat directly in front of the preacher. By the time the hymn was sung and the prayer over I suppose she began to feel somewhat solemnised. Then came the sermon, and the preacher stepped right to the front of the platform, and looked her full in the face with a keen, searching glance, and said, "Poor sinner, God loves you!" "I do not know what other words he may have spoken," she afterwards said. "I dare say he said a great deal, for he preached a long time; but all I know is that I sat there before him with my head buried in my hands, sobbing, sobbing as if my heart would break. My whole life passed in review before me. I thought how I had lost it and wasted it, and all my life had turned my back upon God, to live for sin, and worldliness, and folly. I had spurned His entreaty and rejected His call; and yet, O my God, is it true, is it true, that all the while Thou hast been loving me? These words kept re-echoing over and over again through my mind, Poor sinner, God loves thee! I do not know how I found my way home. The next thing I remember is that I was lying prostrate upon my face before God, the tears still streaming from my eyes, as I lifted up my heart to God, and said, 'It is true, it is true. Thou hast been loving me all the time, and now Thy love hath triumphed. O mighty Love, Thou hast won my poor heart! Great God, from this moment forward I am Thine.'" (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. WEB: For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a righteous person someone would even dare to die.