HAVE you ever thought that when your life is brought to a close you will at once enter into a state which will last forever and forever? A few days ago I was passing through one of the busiest streets of the city of London, and saw amongst the crowd of street-hawkers one very poorly clad man with a placard in front of him, having printed on it, in large letters, the words—
ETERNITY!
Shall we meet each other there?
I did not stop to inquire what he was selling, but I could not dismiss the words from my mind. It has made me feel quite sad as I have thought of the multitude of precious souls hastening on to eternity, without a Saviour; and as I knew some verses about this important subject, I have decided to write them out for our dear young readers; and have asked God to bless the reading of them to your souls, so that when you leave this poor sin-stricken world you may go to be with Jesus in heaven, where there are fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore.
“Count the gold and silver blossoms
Spring has scattered o’er the lea;
Count the softly sounding ripples
Sparkling on the summer sea;
Count the lightly flickering shadows
In the autumn forest glade;
Count pale nature’s scattered tear-drops
Icy gems by winter made;
Count the tiny blades that glisten
Early in the morning dew;
Count the desert sand that stretches
Under noon-tide’s dome of blue;
Count the notes that wood-bird’s warble
In the evening’s fading light;
Count the stars that gleam and twinkle
O’er the firmament by night.
When thy counting is all done—
Scarce eternity’s begun,
Reader! pause! where wilt thou be—
During thine Eternity?”
“Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to He shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.”
“I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.”
ML 09/23/1906