ONE of the passengers on an express from the north was by no means pleased as he found himself being carried at a tremendous speed further and further south.
Others on the train might be delighted that they were rapidly making such good progress on their journey, but he was far from feeling comfortable, and with good reason as we shall see.
A postcard from Edinburgh that same morning had asked him to meet a friend, who was traveling from Scotland to the South of England. This he did. The wife of the traveler from the north stepped out of the carriage saying, “You take my seat, and talk with my husband, while I walk along the platform and get some, fresh air.”
At once the two friends entered into earnest conversation, and hardly heeded the sudden bang of the shutting of the carriage door, and the sounding of the whistle; but when the train moved off, the one whose wife was out on the platform jumped up, and he was so anxiously waving to his wife, that he succeeded in frustrating any chance of his friend getting out of the train.
“Ah, well,” he said, in a tone of resignation, “I’ll get out at the next station, hurry back, and tell your wife to follow by the next train!” Instead of slowing up, however, as it neared the next town, with increasing speed the train dashed past, hastening them on and on, far down through the country! He was an unwilling traveler! and though he explained the mistake to a railway official at the station where he alighted, he had to pay the fare, for he was told he had no right in the Company’s train without a ticket.
At his office they wondered where he had disappeared! At his house, they wondered why he was not in at mealtime as usual! Explaining to them afterward, he said, “Like many another, hastening onward to Eternity, I was an unwilling traveler! and yet had to pay the fare thereof!”
That exactly illustrates and expresses the truth. Fast traveling, yes, very fast traveling marks the present age! The great majority like it! The exhilaration, the spice of excitement, the dash and the dazzle―notwithstanding the fact that they enervate and shorten life―are relished by many―especially by the younger portion of humanity.
But some are awakened to the fact that they are on the wrong track! ―that a sinful world is traveling away from God and departing swiftly from all that makes up true happiness! They realize that the downward rush is fraught with awful danger, and that the price which is being paid in morals, health, and otherwise, is beyond estimate. They are unwilling, travelers―but they are travelers on the wrong road all the same! They pay the fare thereof, and the enormous cost appalls them! They are frightened as they become more and more conscious of the degradation and ruin into which they are being plunged.
“I am sowing the wind, and I shall reap the whirlwind!” exclaimed one of the votaries of a God-forgetting world; “but I dare not stop! I dare not stop!” she added. This lady was being carried along by the world’s express to eternity. It was fast traveling truly for her.
Another was helped from this train by a faithful maid. This lady of fashion was a stranger to God’s love made known in Christ; her devoted help was a true believer on the Son of God, the Saviour. Returning home late from a night of pleasure, the lady found her maid waiting up for her. Glancing at the book she was reading her eye caught the word “ETERNITY.” It became printed on her mind. During the night she tossed and tossed and was troubled. The maid came to her side. In those silent hours the two conversed earnestly, with this result, that the lady left the world’s express, and came as a needy sinner to the Lord Jesus Christ; and she soon learned the truth of the Saviour’s words concerning those who belong to Him― “They are not of the world even as I am not of the world” (John 17:1616They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. (John 17:16)).
The hearts of many are failing them for fear today, as they see the cataclysm, so vividly depicted in the book of Revelation, drawing near; but why not obey the Gospel, and owning the sinfulness and need which the awakened soul feels, come to the Saviour whom God has provided? There is salvation in Him.
God, who is rich in mercy, has intervened in this sinful world’s history! He has no pleasure in the way of the wicked, nevertheless, He so loved the world that He gave His Son to be the propitiation for our sins, and those who trust in Him shall never perish.
Moreover, Christ willingly died for our sins. He was buried, but He rose again the third day. Exalted to the right hand of God He is Lord of all, and the Word of God proclaims, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom. 10:99That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9)). Quit the world’s express, and take God’s way of salvation. Don’t delay!
V.