A railway train was climbing a very steep grade up the mountainside and a lady passenger became very nervous. As the conductor passed through the car she clutched his sleeve and asked:

“Conductor, suppose anything goes wrong with the engine while we are climbing the mountain, what will happen to us?”

“The air brakes are good, madam.”

“But suppose something goes wrong with them?”

“We have other brakes, madam, and they are in good condition.”

“But suppose all the brakes fail, what then?”

“That, madam,” answered the conductor earnestly, “depends upon how you have lived.”

When I was a boy at school I saw a sight I can never forget—a man tied to a cart and dragged before the people’s eyes through the streets of my native town, his back torn and bleeding from the lash. It was a shameful punishment. For many offenses? No! For one offense. Did any of the townsmen offer to divide the lashes with him? No! He who committed the offense bore the penalty of all. It was the penalty of a changing human law, for it was the last instance of its infliction.

When I was a student at the university I saw another sight I can never forget—a man brought out to die. His arms were pinioned, his face was already pale as death—thousands of eager eyes were on him as he came up from the jail in sight. Did any man ask to die in his room (stead)? Did any friend come and loose the rope, and say, “Put it around my neck, I will die instead?” No! He underwent the sentence of the law. For many offenses? No! For one offense. He had stolen a money parcel from a stagecoach. He broke the law at one point, and died for it. It was the penalty of a changing human law. In this case also it was the last instance of capital punishment being inflicted for that offense.

I saw another sight I shall never forget—myself a sinner, standing on the brink of ruin, condemned to eternal punishment in the lake of fire. For one sin? No! For many, many sins committed against the unchanging laws of God. I looked again, and behold, Jesus Christ became my Substitute. He bore in His own body on the tree all the punishment for my sin. He died on the cross that I might live in glory. He suffered, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring me to God. He redeemed me from the curse of the law. I sinned and was condemned to eternal punishment. He bore the punishment and I am free.

The law of God required a perfect righteousness which I never had. Again, I looked unto Him and found that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. The law required spotless purity and I was defiled with sin. Again, I looked unto Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. I was a child of disobedience, a child of wrath.

“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” (John 1:12).

I found in Him not only my Substitute, but the full supply of every need of my life. I long to tell you of this Saviour.

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

—Sir James Y. Simpson, M.D.

The Discoverer of Chloroform