AFTER revelry comes regret. This is true, as all will testify in this present time. Sin may have a sweet taste, but there is bitterness in the dregs.
But what burdens my heart as I write is not the sorrow that sin will bring upon you now. It is, your future that I think of, unsaved reader. IF YOU CONTINUE SUCH YOU MUST DIE. You may have years of pleasure, you may grow rich, you may get friends and fame, but you have to die.
But is death to be feared? I met a retired American army officer, on board an ocean steamer, not long ago, and he told me that he had been brought within an inch of death, and that his friends got alarmed, and wanted him to pray, but he said, “I was game, and would not.” Empty brag. The devils tremble; men have more bravado, but less wit.
But is death to be feared? A man broken down by hell’s slavery said, “I should have committed suicide but for what came after death.” Oh! ye sinners, guilty and death-bound, ye might sport gaily, from day to day, to the very portals of death, were it not for those two words in God’s book, “AFTER DEATH.”
I was sitting beside an open window. In the street below stood a long line of coaches. It was a sad day in the house opposite. The remains of the late owner were to be borne away to the silent grave.
A few days before, death, like a bird of prey, had made a fell swoop upon him; the cigar fell from his lips, and without a word he was gone. “Sudden!” did you say? It was solemn, awfully solemn, to be flung like that from a gay world into eternity. The gold left, pleasure over, friends gone. ALONE, and in eternity. The great forever commenced, but where? I had known him as a prosperous, thorough-going man of the world, but the curtain dropped on that, and the world saw him no more.
Oh! it is a solemn thing to die, deeply solemn; but TO BE DAMNED, what tongue can tell the awfulness of that?
And knowest thou, unconverted reader, that thou art in danger of being damned-yea, positively, in danger of being cast at any moment into hellfire; and wilt thou be indifferent, wilt thou hurry on to ETERNITY, utterly regardless of the judgment thy sins deserve, and which must overwhelm thee in ghastly and irretrievable ruin? Oh! then listen―
“In the depths of hell,
Poor sinner, thou ‘shalt be,
Unwashed, uncleansed, unknown,
God’s remedy,
With all the lost, in endless woe,
Without one ray of hope, or spark of joy,
Thou’lt spend ETERNITY.”
“God’s remedy,” did that strike you? would you like to know it? Is there a desire in your heart to escape the richly merited judgment? Then, thank God, we can speak to you of a Saviour. His name is Jesus. Precious name to believing hearts. He who bears it sits upon the throne, the crown of glory encircles His worthy brow. Once He left that place, sent in love from God. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:1515This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15)). To the cross He went, to bleed and die, that through His death blessing might flow to you. “Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:66For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)). What a simple and blessed statement. Does that mean you, my dear reader? Will you take the place of an ungodly, wrath-deserving sinner? If so, you may take the Saviour, for He died for such as you. His blood can wash away the foul stain of sin. His blood can make you clean.
“Let everybody know it
That Christ has set you free;
And if it sets them longing,
Say, Jesus died for thee.”
J. T. M.