WHILE traveling in a railway carriage a week or two ago I was drawn into conversation with two young women, one of whom was most anxious to travel abroad. Her companion told of her experiences in South Africa, India and Malta, mentioning the trials she had gone through both on sea and land, from storms, fevers and insects in different parts: still her young friend seemed undaunted in her desire to see for herself these lands about which she had often heard. Then came the question of the cost of such a passage as that to South Africa.
After talking for some time I ventured to remind the would-be traveler of a far better land than any we had yet spoken of, where heat and cold, disease and suffering, disappointment and death never come. The passage also was free and the way clear, only waiting for her acceptance. I told her, too, of the One ready to receive her in heaven; while in the countries we had mentioned there was no certainty of even a temporary home for a stranger, and not a friend to greet her.
Never shall I forget how the look of eager interest on the young woman's face changed to one of indifference, nay even of disgust, at being reminded of the fleeting things of time and of the loving Savior, who was waiting for her.
Dear reader, have you accepted the offer of a free passage to a better land? Secured at such a cost— even the cost of the death of God’s' only and beloved Son. If indifferent to such an offer I beseech you to consider of what vast importance must be the salvation of your soul, when God had to spare His only Son to die in order to make a way of salvation for you. Think how He has thought and planned for you. Oh! own your poverty and accept His riches before it is too late.
“Life is real, life is earnest,
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.”