A Royal Academician
|
THOMAS SIDNEY COOPER, R.A., the famous
painter, was born in 1803, and died in 1902. After
a long career as an artist, he was brought to the Lord
in 1889.
To the editor of a magazine, who requested the opinion
of a number of prominent men on the Bible, he wrote the
following simple yet beautiful confession of what the
Bible had done for him:
"DEAR SIR,--You ask me what I think of the Bible.
It brought me to see I was lost in sin, and had no power
to save myself. It showed me how I must get God's for-
giveness for all my iniquity.
"It told me the door of mercy was open, and salvation
was to be freely had.
"It showed me the wonderful sacrifice of Jesus Christ,
and through His precious blood
all my sins are washed
away. ‘For [H]e hath made [H]im to be sin for us,
who
knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of
God in [H]im’ (2 Corinthians 5. 21).
"I am thankful to say I read the Bible daily,
at 9, at 1,
and at 10 p.m., and would recommend your readers to do
the same. Yours faithfully.--THOS. SIDNEY COOPER."
The following was written by his wife, relative to an
illness he had some little time before he went home:
"On one occasion the doctor said, ‘Everyone is asking
how you are, Mr. Cooper.’ He replied, ‘It is very kind,
but I am less anxious they should hear about my health,
than that they should hear that God has redeemed me, by the
Blood of His beloved Son, for "an inheritance incorruptible,
and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in
[H]eaven" for me. I want everyone to know that I am
going to enjoy that inheritance with
Christ.’
"One day he was speaking of the certainty of
salvation,
and said, ‘If anyone asks me how I know that I am saved,
I should say I know it better than if I had heard an angel
out of Heaven say so, for I might make a mistake about
that, but I cannot make a mistake about the Word of God.
The Lord Jesus said, "All that the Father giveth [M]e
shall come to [M]e [and I have come to Him]; and him
that
cometh to [M]e I will in no wise cast out." The Father has
made my soul a present to His Son, and
I know that He
will not take me away from Him.’
"A friend said to him, ‘We must prepare
for death.’
He replied, ‘The Cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ has done
that for me.’"
|
|