There is a well-known story told of Napoleon the First's time. In one
of the conscriptions, during one of his many wars, a man was balloted
as a conscript who did not want to go, but he had a friend who offered
to go in his place. His friend joined the regiment in his name, and
was sent off to the war. By and by a battle came on, in which he was
killed, and they buried him on the battle-field. Some time after, the
Emperor wanted more men, and by some mistake the first man was
balloted a second time. They went to take him, but he remonstrated.
"You cannot take me."
"Why not?"
"I am dead," was the reply.
"You are not dead; you are alive and well."
"But I _am_ dead," he said.
"Why, man, you must be mad. Where did you die?"
"At such a battle, and you left me buried on such a battle-field."
"You talk like a madman," they cried; but the man stuck to his point
that he had been dead and buried some months.
"Look up your books," he said, "and see if it is not so."
They looked, and found that he was right. They found the man's name
entered as drafted, sent to the war, and marked off as killed.
"Look here," they said, "you didn't die; you must have got some one to
go for you; it must have been your _substitute_."
"I know that," he said; "he died in my stead. You cannot touch me; I
died in that man, and I go free. The law has no claim against me."
They would not recognize the doctrine of substitution, and the case
was carried to the Emperor. He said that the man was right, that he
was dead and buried in the eyes of the law, and that France had no
claim against him.
This story may or may not be true, but one thing I know is true: Jesus
Christ suffered death for the sinner, and those who accept Him are
free from the Law.
Green Fields or Desert?
When I was out in California, the first time I went down from the
Sierra Nevada Mountains and dropped into the Valley of the Sacramento,
I was surprised to find on one farm that everything about it was
green--all the trees and flowers, everything was blooming, and
everything was green and beautiful, and just across the hedge
everything was dried up, and there was not a green thing there. I
could not understand it. I made inquiries, and I found that the man
that had everything green, irrigated; he just poured the water right
on, and kept everything green, while the fields that were next to his
were as dry as Gideon's fleece without a drop of dew.
So it is with a great many in the church to-day. They are like these
farms in California--a dreary desert, everything parched and desolate,
and apparently no life in them. They can sit next to a man who is full
of the Spirit of God, who is like a green bay tree, and who is
bringing forth fruit, and yet they will not seek a similar blessing.
Well, why this difference? Because God has poured water on him that
was thirsty; that is the difference. One has been seeking this
anointing, and he has received it; and when we want this above
everything else God will surely give it to us.