He had been holding her hand while she sang; he kept it still, and, laying his other one gently on her head, "Zoe, my darling," he said, in tones tremulous with emotion, "it is the one longing desire of my heart that you may learn the full sweetness of that old, old story.

O love! sometimes the thought, 'What if my precious wife should miss heaven, and our union be only for time, and not for eternity,' sends so keen a pang to my heart, that I know not how to endure it." "O Ned! surely I shall not miss it," she said, with a sob: "my father and mother were such good Christians; and you, my own husband, are so good too." "Ah, my darling!" he sighed, "that hope is but as a spider's web.

Do you not remember that passage in Ezekiel, 'Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God'?
And it is repeated again and again, 'Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.' Zoe, dear, no righteousness but the imputed righteousness of Christ can save the soul from death.

He offers it to you, love; and will you continue to reject it ?" "Ned," she sobbed, "I wish I had it: I often think I would be a Christian if I only knew how, but I don't." "Do you not ?" he asked, in some surprise.

"I will try to make it plain.
Jesus offers you a full and free salvation, purchased by what he has done and suffered in your stead, that 'God might be just, and yet the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus.' "'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.' "He bids you come to him, and says, 'Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.'" "But how shall I come ?" she asked.