and it is a free gift _for us_. Can you buy it? It is a free gift,
presented to "whosoever." Suppose I were to say, I will give this
Bible to "whosoever"; what have you got to do? Why, nothing but take
it. But a man comes forward, and says, "I'd like that Bible very
much." "Well, didn't I say 'whosoever'?" "Yes; but I'd like to have
you say my name." "Well, here it is." Still he keeps eyeing the Bible,
and saying, "I'd like to have that Bible; but I'd like to give you
something for it. I don't like to take it for nothing." "Well, I am
not here to sell Bibles; take it, if you want it." "Well, I want it;
but I'd like to give you something for it. Let me give you a penny for
it; though, to be sure, it's worth twenty or thirty shillings." Well,
suppose I took the penny; the man takes up the Bible, and marches away
home with it. His wife says, "Where did you get that Bible?" "Oh, I
bought it." Mark the point; when he gives the penny it ceases to be a
gift. So with salvation. If you were to pay ever so little, it would
not be a gift.