“BUT my dear sir, these things do not apply to me; I am a man of the world, you know. My cousin, A. M―, is, as you say, a splendid fellow, and, though he is an evangelist, there is no one whose company I enjoy more than his. And then there are my sisters, I know they are right. I have had a great deal of light set before me, yet here I am a man of the world, as I said, with no wish to be any other just at present.”
“‘Just at present.’ Then you do think of altering your course some day?”
“Oh yes, I’m not going to be such a fool as to neglect my soul altogether. I hope to turn to God before I die.”
This “man of the world” was, while speaking, on the rails to join a sporting friend for a fortnight’s holiday. A hale hearty man he then appeared, with the flush of health upon his cheeks, but disease was already sapping his vitals.
But what a boast, “a man of the world” that had slain the prophets of God! that had beheaded the forerunner of Jesus! and has now consummated its guilt by crucifying the peerless Son of God upon a gibbet between two thieves. Such is the world, and Scripture says, “The whole world lieth in the wicked one.” Who is that? “Satan,” “The god of this world!” (2 Cor. 4:44In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2 Corinthians 4:4)).
Don’t boast of your liberty then, O man of the world―you are the dupe of the devil and the slave of Satan!! And, what is more, you are the
“ENEMY OF GOD.”
Only a few weeks more and this “man of the world” found himself suffering from a disease, which, the doctor assured him, would end in death. Now, when he could have the world no longer, he, according to his word, turned to God and prayed for forgiveness, and,
OH AMAZING GRACE!
he was forgiven, and rejoiced in the knowledge of it. For long years he had known that God could righteously justify the ungodly through the work of Christ, but still went on enjoying “the pleasures of sin,” and at the very last turned to God as a sinner to become the subject of His grace!
Do you say, “That is just as it should be”?
I am amazed at your low thought of righteousness! What would you think of a naval officer, trained by the British Government, if he deserted and spent his years treacherously playing into the hands of every enemy of his country; and then, in old age, returned and asked for a pension? You would despise him. Of course you would!
But this is exactly what you are doing, if you are thinking of turning to God for mercy, with the miserable fag end of your life! Would you think of handing to your visitor the most faded, drooping rose you could find in your garden? “Of course not,” you reply.
And yet you are thinking of treating God in this way! Did you so treat your friend you would account him righteous if he spurned the offer of that faded rose? Take care lest you should miss your opportunity while you are young. “Christ died for the ungodly,” and has become the “Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him” (Heb. 5:99And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; (Hebrews 5:9)). Turn to Him for forgiveness and salvation now, and He will receive you.
But if you go on in your sins and in allegiance to the world which has crucified Christ, your sovereign, the devil, who has succeeded so well with his words “Too soon!” may blast your soul throughout the endless ages of eternity, and whisper in your ear at the close “Too late! too late!” The writer witnessed a short time ago the distress of a man whose bitter wail was “Too late! too late!”
Listen to the Word of God, “Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.”
“Into the depths of endless woe,
Rejecters of the Saviour go;
Forbid the thought that you, who read,
Should longer have no sense of need
Of th’ only way to realms of bliss―
O sinner! hast thou thought of this?”
E. E. C.