He
leaned over and pretended to be drawing the soul up with a cord. "He
comes, he comes!" he cried; "God be praised he is safe!" and he
landed him on the Bible. The congregation gave a great groan of
relief. "There he is on the Rock of Ages! No, no, he slips; the
Devil has him!" The preacher tried to rescue him: "He is gone--
gone!" and he bent over the pulpit in agony. The people almost
shrieked. "Gone--gone!" he said again with most moving pathos, and
was still for a moment. Then gathering himself up, he solemnly
repeated the terrible verses: "For it is impossible for those who
were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were
made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of
God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to
renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves
the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame." Zachariah knew
that text well. Round it had raged the polemics of ages. Mr.
Bradshaw had never referred to it but once, and all the elder members
of his congregation were eager in the extreme to hear what he had to
say about it. He boldly declared that it had nothing to do with the
elect.
Pages:
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142