Once upon a time there came to my house one of a black and stern aspect. He smote the door. I tried to bolt it, to hold it fast. He smote again and again, till at last he entered, and with a rough voice he summoned me before him, and he said, I have a message from God for you. You are condemned on account of your sins. I looked at him with astonishment. I asked him his name. He said, My name is the Law. And I fell at his feet as one that was dead.

As I lay there, he smote me. He smote me till every rib seemed as if it must break. My heart was melted like wax within me. I seemed to be stretched upon a rack, to be pinched with hot irons, to be beaten with whips of burning wire. An extreme misery dwelt and reigned in my heart. I dared not lift up my eyes, but I thought within myself, there may be hope, there may be mercy for me. Perhaps the God whom I have offended may accept my tears and my promises of amendment, and I may live. But when that thought crossed my mind, heavier were the blows, and more poignant in my sufferings than before, till hope entirely failed me. and I had nothing wherein to trust. Darkness, black and dense, gathered round me. I heard a voice, as it were, of rushing to and fro, and of wailing and gnashing of teeth. I said within my soul, I am cast out from God's sight. I am utterly abhorred by God. He has trampled me in the mire of the streets in His anger.

Soon another came by, of sorrowful but of loving aspect, and he stooped over me and he said, Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light. I arose in astonishment, and he took me, and he led me to a place where stood a cross, and he seemed to vanish from my sight. But he appeared again, hanging there. I looked upon him as he bled upon that tree. His eyes darted a glance of unutterable love into my spirit, and in a moment Looking at him, the bruises that my soul had suffered were healed. The gaping wounds were cured. The broken bones rejoiced. The rags that had covered me were all removed. My spirit was as white as the spotless snow. I had melody within my spirit, for I was saved, washed, cleansed, forgiven through Him who hung upon the tree.

Oh, how astonished was I that I should be pardoned. It was not the pardon that I wondered at so much. The wonder was that it should come to me. I wondered that he should be able to pardon such sins as mine, such crimes so numerous and so black.

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