I'LL be at home or in hell in five minutes!" So said a reckless nobleman maddened with drink, as he staggered from a wayside inn on to his horse, and digging his spurs into the sides of the animal, plunged into the darkness of the night. The road from the inn which led to his house was rough and dreary, and characterized by steep and dangerous descents. Regardless of this, and turning a deaf ear to the warnings and entreaties of his friends, he dashed ahead. Steadily the moments sped on, yet harder he spurred his steed, and faster it flew, making the hills ring with the clatter of hoofs on the hard ground. Two minutes passed—three—four—then suddenly the gallant horse stumbled in the darkness, and swerving like a derailed locomotive, dashed headlong into a stone dyke which skirted the country road. His friends were soon on the awful scene, and every assistance was given, but, alas! too late. In a few moments the nobleman breathed his last. What a terrible awakening! Flung by one fell stroke from a merry world into a Christless Eternity. Yes, 'twas very sad, and as I stood gazing at the stones laid crosswise in the old gray dyke to mark the spot, the thought flashed through my mind, "After this the judgment.”
Have you ever thought of this all-important matter? Remember that Time is flying, and Death will ere long overtake you. What an awful thing it will be if you have nothing but this world when you come to die. Your Eternity will be a lost one, and throughout its countless ages you will ever remember that you lost your soul and Christ for the trifles of a passing world.
But stay! Why hurry on to Eternity like the reckless nobleman, utterly regardless of the judgment your sins deserve, when God in His boundless love has provided a way of salvation? "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)). What a simple and blessed statement! That is the unchanging proof of God's love to sinners. Apart from the suffering and death of Christ, God's love would never have been made known, but now the ocean of love has found a channel, and it is freely flowing for every sinner tinder heaven. Oh, then, when you scan these lines, will you not enter among the "whosoever," and believe in Him whose precious blood was shed on Calvary's Cross that you might have everlasting life? Risk no longer the sudden snapping of the "silver cord" to rush you into a Christless Eternity. Defer not the question of the salvation of your undying soul, or, like the nobleman, you may come to a sudden and a sad end.
D. J. B.