BOTH NEEDED THE GRACE OF GOD

Ashamefaced employee was summoned to the office of the senior partner to hear his doom. The least that he could expect was a blistering dismissal; he might also be sent to prison for years. The old man called his name and asked him if he were guilty. The clerk stammered out that he had no defense. "I shall not send you to prison," said the old man. "If I take you back, can I trust you?" When the surprised and broken clerk had given assurance and was about to leave, the senior partner continued: "You are the second man who has fallen and had been pardoned in this business. I was the first. What you have done, I did. The mercy you have received, I received. It is only the grace of God that can keep us both." [Knight's Master Book of Illustrations, Walter B Knight, Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan,1973].