I TELL you I’ll drink till eternity's bell rings," so said Andrew Wilson, a stout-looking, and, what the world would call, well-to-do farmer. So he said and so he did, for assuredly it did ring for him one clay, when he little expected to hear it. One Whit-Monday, while sitting drinking in the public-house of the little village near which he lived, he suddenly expired. His loud laugh, coarse jest, and profane tongue, were silenced at last.
Time for him was now no longer, and eternity was begun. Eternity—that he had talked of, scoffed about, yet all the while believed in; yes, he was now in eternity. His body was put into a cart, covered over with a little straw, and taken home to the farmhouse; then, in a few days, there was the funeral. But the soul; ah, the soul! People around were awe-stricken— spoke in hushed whispers of him for a short time, and then he began to be forgotten, till God spoke again.
A younger brother, named John, who was following hard on in the same course of ungodliness and profanity, while away one day with his horse and cart for coals, was seized with a sudden illness, and with difficulty was got home. It soon became evident that the hand of death was upon him, and an aged neighbor was sent for "to speak to him,"—one who was well known to all around as a simple-hearted and true Christian. He came, but found the dying man hardened and careless as ever. What was God's love to him? He was blind to it. What was the Savior's call to him? He was deaf to it.
The good old man, in distress, knelt to pray for him, but found that he could not. Speaking of it afterward, he said—" I never felt anything like it in all my life; I wanted to pray, but I couldn't pray; the very room seemed filled with the presence of the evil one, and I was glad to get away.”
Shortly afterward poor John Wilson died.
Unsaved one, why do I tell you this? In order that you may beware of being “hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." Every day that you stay away from Christ the hardening process goes on, and there is less likelihood of your ever being saved at all. For remember, that what I have told you did not occur on the lively Continent, the far backwoods, or the wild prairie, but in Scotland, that has been termed the "land of Bibles," and at a place, too, where the Gospel had been faithfully preached.
Do you think that those brothers were always so hardened? Indeed they were not, and would probably at one time have recoiled with horror at the prospect; but they became so. In Rom. 1:2121Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. (Romans 1:21) we read of some who " became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened; "and again," Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap” (Gal. 6:77Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7)). People speak about "turning to God when they like"—of “repenting on their deathbed;" but in those two you have now been reading of, in the one case there was no deathbed, and, in the other, although there was, yet there was no repentance. Listen no longer to Satan's lie; linger no longer on the wrong side, but haste to Christ. Think what a dreadful thing it is to be under the hardening process.
“Oh, but," you say,” these are extreme cases, and do not at all apply to me. I am not a drunkard, or as wearer; indeed, my life has not been a bad one, but quite the opposite. I am looked up to, and respected by all." But God's Word says, "All are under sin;” "all are gone out of the way;" "all are become guilty before God;" "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Read Rom. 3.) And again: “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them" (Gal. 3:1010For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. (Galatians 3:10)). Have you ever stood and watched workmen building a wall? Is it enough for them to think that it is straight, or to hope so? Do they content themselves by saying, “It seems straight; it looks straight “No; they apply the plumb. And if you let the plumb-line of God's Word be applied to you, you will have no more to say about being “not very bad.”
But if the Word tells you that you are “condemned already," it also tells you of the way of escape. Yes, it tells of One who took the place of the guilty—went under the condemnation—bore the curse, suffered the Just for the unjust, “that he might bring us to God." I ask you to ponder over those blessed yet solemn words in John 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)-" He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. "Remember it is not" he that is a drunkard, —a swearer—a profligate," but" he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." Which is it to be with you?
Under the wrath, or under the Refuge?
“No wrath God's heart retaineth
To usward who believe;
No dread in ours remaineth
As we His love receive.”