IT was in a railway carriage. The seats were all occupied, and we were to be there for four hours ere we reached our destination. Gradually the reserve began to break, until most in the carriage were talking either to one or another of their fellow-passengers. After a time the conversation was only between an elderly gentleman and a youth of about nineteen years.
As I sat listening my heart was suddenly drawn to the youth. He was that kind of fellow that makes a dash in the world, as men say. There he was in all the born hast of youth, flourishing his cigar for the view of all present, and emitting great volumes of smoke as though he were some mighty being. The words of King David came to my mind, “God is not in all his thoughts.” How true! If God had been dead, that youth could hardly have cared less. But God is not dead. Jesus is not dead. That lowly Man who trod this earth for none other object than the will of God and the eternal blessing of man, is now seated at the right hand of God, “crowned with glory and honor.” More than that, God has decreed that every knee shall bow to that blessed Jesus. Bowed either by divine love, or divine justice, bow you must.
Reader, are you an infidel, skeptic, atheist, materialist, or some loud professor? Well, such things may swell the bubble of your name in this world, but―that bubble must burst―meet God you must―bow to Jesus and confess Him Lord you shall. Deny it if you will. God says it. It is unalterably true, and woe be to those who continue to forget God.
Speeding on our journey the Spirit of God caused a desire in my heart to speak to that young man. What to say and when to say it I wondered. The only words I could think to say were, “your sins.”
There were now about ten minutes left and our journey was completed.
Toward the end of the conversation this young man said that ere long he would be in America, and that “dollars” were his only object. How he obtained them he cared not. At the sacrifice of everything he was after his “dollars.”
Now came my long-waited-for moment, when I said, “Dollars are not everything; you have a life to live beyond the grave; you must give an account to God of how you have spent your life. Meet God you must, and your sins are on you.”
“Ah,” said he, “I’m going to make a success of life.”
Said I, “Yes, but you have to die, and beware of the crash the other side of the grave.”
We said no more, and in two minutes or so we parted. Eternity will reveal the effect of those few words upon him.
What about yourself, reader? Are you not sinning against God, and after that (almighty?) dollar, perhaps, like thousands more? Beware! God is not mocked. You must meet Him against whom you have sinned. Spurn not His offers of mercy. He loves you too much to let you go unwarned. Turn to Jesus. His mighty heart of divine love waits to make that love dear to your heart, to give you heaven as your home, and bring you into relationship with God as your Father.
Is there anything like God’s salvation, I ask you? How solemn if you refuse it, for God says, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation.” “For if ye believe not ye shall die in your sins.” Reader, if you cling to your sins, beware of the crash the other side of the grave.
H. C. S.