A traveling salesman had business engagements which sometimes brought him to a small iron-working town. When business is brisk at this town, the mills are kept running night and day. The steam hammers, some of them several tons in weight, are constantly kept working, beating out the huge masses of molten iron, thereby causing the very ground to shake beneath their heavy and oft-repeated falls.
To this constant noise the inhabitants of that little town had grown quite familiar; so that in spite of the heavy thuds of the ponderous hammers, men, women, and children could sleep quite soundly through the night without the least disturbance. The salesman, however, could not sleep. The din of this heavy hammering drove all sleep from his eyes so that whenever he was called into that locality he always arranged for sleeping accommodations somewhere outside the iron-mining town.
One night, however, from some breakdown in the machinery, these steam hammers suddenly stopped working; and the consequence was that nearly the whole of this town woke up.
What awoke them? Not the oft-repeated stroke of the heavy hammers, but their sudden cessation.
How this reminds one of the state of multitudes of precious souls in the present day. While the gospel hammer is kept at work—and "is not My Word a hammer? saith the Lord"—thousands within sound of it are fast asleep. Let the "hammer" come down ever so heavily, they slumber on. They seem to find a lulling comfort in the idea that they live in a Gospel land where the Gospel is preached all the time.
But the time will come when the true workmen shall all be summoned away. "Call the laborers home" shall be heard from their Master's lips. The hammer of the Gospel of God's grace and glory shall suddenly cease, and never give another stroke. Then shall there be a great waking of gospel hardened slumberers, and throughout the length and breadth of Christendom shall the bitter cry be heard, "Lord, Lord, open unto us.”
How solemn all this is! It is a matter of prophecy today; yet, before your earthly sun is set, it may become a matter of history, it may have taken place.
Remember the waking-up day will come. If you never wake before, you will certainly wake up in the Day of Judgment.
O friend, wake up now! While the Father's arms are still open to welcome, while the Spirit is still here to strive, while the Savior still waits to bless, O come!