AS I took my seat in a railway carriage some time ago where there were four other passengers, my attention was especially drawn to one, an elderly lady, who, although looking very ill and worn out, could not keep silent.
It was easily noticed that her brain was overbalanced, but what was occupying her mind for the time? More than once I caught the words, “the ransomed”— evidently the subject of the conversation. Presently she rose from her seat, and seating herself by me, immediately asked the question— “Are you one of the ransomed?” On replying “Yes,” she said, “The King is coming, think of the lost ones, ransom them in;” and so she continued in that strain without a pause until I had to leave her at the next station.
These two sentences, although uttered by one whose intellect was weak, are worth passing on, and to you, my reader, I would repeat the question, “Are you one of the ransomed?” If not, then you are still a captive of Satan, but we can tell you that the Redeemer has been here: Jesus “gave his life a ransom for all.” The price of the sinner’s redemption has been paid, the cost His precious blood. Now, if you trust Him, you may be free.
“He breaks the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood avails for thee.”
But do not delay, “Because there is wrath; beware lest he take thee away with his stroke, then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.”
Fellow-believer, to you I would pass on the next sentence, “The King is coming, think of the lost ones.” They are perishing around us on every hand. Oh! may we be more earnest in winning them for Christ. May they be delivered from going down to the pit, for He has found a ransom.
“Gather them in! for there yet is room
At the feast that the King has spread;
Oh, gather them in! — let His house be filled,
And the hungry and poor be fed.
Gather them in! for yet there is room,
‘Tis a message from God above;
Oh, gather them into the fold of grace
And the arms of a Saviour’s love.
Out in the highway, out in the by-way,
Out in the dark paths of sin,
Go forth, go forth, with a loving heart,
And gather the wanderers in.”