"But the Fearful"

 
THE gospel was being preached, and the evangelist, after speaking of the freeness of salvation as it is typified by “the fountain of the water of life” (Rev. 21:66And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. (Revelation 21:6)), passed on to the more solemn message in the eighth verse.
Dwelling on the fact that “the fearful” are placed by God first in the list of those “who shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Rev. 21:88But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)), he related the following illustrative incident.
After a gospel meeting, the preacher, passing from one to another, stopped before a man known to him, and asked him, “Are you going to decide for Christ now?”
“No,” was the reply; and in excuse was given, “I lack the moral courage.”
Time passed, and the same query was repeated. “Not yet,” was the answer; “I lack the moral courage, but I am about to take a farm at a distance, where I am unknown, and then I will decide for Christ.”
A further period elapsed, and the evangelist received a message that the man who had thus replied to his questions was dangerously ill. Hastening to his side, he sought once more to put the gospel before him, but in vain!
“No, it is too late! You only mock me! Do not stay to add to my sufferings!” and the awful lament fell from his lips, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and I am not saved.”
With a sad heart the servant of God was obliged to go.
As the dying man grew worse, so dreadful was his state that his friends were forced to leave him, and only his wife remained to see the end.
As the sun sank in the west the spirit of the dying farmer took its flight. Just before he passed away he made an effort to speak. His wife, leaning over him, caught these words: “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and I am not saved.”
“Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded... I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh” (Prov. 1: 24, 26). “Beware lest He take thee away with His stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee” (Job 36:1818Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee. (Job 36:18)).
Dear reader, which of the above will you have? You must have one or the other. Under the shelter of “the blood of the Lamb” you will be sheltered from His wrath. Rejecting His blood you will be forever enduring “the wrath of the Lamb.” Again we ask, which will you have? S. E. B.