A CHRISTIAN friend writes this morning: “The Lord has been speaking loudly. One lady retired to rest on Saturday night and was found dead in the morning. A business man to whom I had often spoken, fell dead at his office; but as it has been said, All men think all men mortal but themselves. May the voice of warning be heard before it be too late.”
Sudden deaths are by no means uncommon. It is a fatal mistake to put off the decision of the affairs of the soul to a deathbed which may never come. We want to urge all our readers, in this the beginning of the year 1904, to
Decide at once.
The above two cases have taken place in a town only sixteen miles from where we write.
Only last summer we were holding some gospel services in a village close by. One Sunday night, on crossing the green, a Christian woman accosted me, saying, “Oh, I do wish my boy would come to these meetings, but I cannot induce him to.” The lad was standing with a group of others at the end of the green; it was their habit to spend the Sunday evenings smoking and amusing themselves.
To those who know the awful truths of death, judgment, and eternity, the prevailing indifference of the times in which we live is truly terrible to contemplate. Men are hurrying on to the eternal world, and never give themselves time to ask,
Where shall I spend eternity?
It seems hopeless to reach such. They will not come and hear. You may urge and entreat them, but all in vain. Thank God! there are some that will listen, and with such it is the evangelist’s happy privilege to deal. And so casting a regretful look across the green, I stepped into the mission hall.
The place was packed, and the weather being hot, the windows were opened wide. Soon the meeting was in full swing, and the Spirit of God was felt to be powerfully at work.
Passing down the passage at the close, we remarked to a Christian helper what a refreshing sight to see such a crowded room. “Ah,” replied he, “but you did not see all; there was quite a crowd listening at the window.” We afterward learned that the Christian mother’s son was amongst the number. Had we told that lad in the full vigor of early youth, “This will be
the last Sunday of your life,”
most probably he would have smiled incredulously, and yet it was so. The following Thursday evening, remarking to his mother that he did not feel very well, he retired early to bed. At five o’clock in the morning he was dead.
Whether or not he had received the message of God’s love to him, a poor sinner, we cannot say. The coming day will declare. But what we say to you, dear reader, is,
Decide at once.
Two weeks after the above sad incident had happened, a Christian fisherman, an earnest preacher of the gospel residing but a few miles away, was sitting in his cottage at tea. Some boys were throwing stones, and he stepped outside to warn them, when one stone foolishly flung struck him on the head, and he dropped down dead. We had heard that dear man most earnestly pleading with a large company of people only three weeks before. He had given out the well-known hymn:
“Will your anchor hold in the storms of life,
When the clouds unfold their wings of strife?
When the strong tides lift, and the cables strain,
Will your anchor drift or firm remain?”
We can still see his happy face before us, and hear the earnest way in which he sung the words of the chorus:
“We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll;
Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Saviour’s love.”
Happy man! All was well with him. He stepped from that humble cottage into the Paradise of his Saviour’s presence. Reader, how is it with you? If sudden death were to overtake you,
Are you ready?
If you have learned your guiltiness before God, if conscience is troubled about your sins, we would most earnestly and affectionately point you to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only Saviour, but, thank God! an all-sufficient Saviour. That work He accomplished at Calvary has once and forever satisfied all God’s righteous demands, and all who will come simply trusting in Jesus and His finished work are accepted before God, in all the infinite value of Christ’s sacrifice, and in all the absolute perfection of His person.
Why not trust Christ now?
Begin this New Year with Christ. Come to Him as a lost sinner; trust Him for salvation; range yourself on His side. Then should death come, you need fear no evil; should the Lord come and take His own away, He will take you, too, to those mansions of love and light and song; or, should He leave you here for a little longer, you will have greater joy than the world possesses — the joy of abiding in His love, of following and serving Him “till He come.”
“Chosen not for good in me;
Wakened up from wrath to flee;
Teach me, Lord, on earth to show
By my love how much I owe.”
A. H. B.