IT is related of a dying infidel watchmaker in the Midlands that, during his last twenty-four hours, he repeated over and over again these words, “I’m going, I don’t know where!”
The language of his lifetime had been, “I’m going, I don’t care where.” But now that the weight of death’s icy hand was upon him all his hardened carelessness and bravery forsook him; and had you investigated what was wrapped up in that dying cry, “I’m going, I don’t know where,” there is little doubt you would have found that it meant this, “I’m going, utterly overwhelmed with the question, WHERE?”
Who has not heard the excited cry of some angry foot-passenger as he but narrowly escaped the wheels of a passing conveyance, “Why don’t you look where you are going?” or the sharp retort of the ruffled driver, “Why don’t you look where you are going?” One meaning, “Why be so careless as to do me an injury?” and the other, “Why be so reckless as to run the risk?”
One ship, we will suppose, is passing another on the high seas. They are sufficiently near to exchange greetings.
“Whither bound?” inquires the officer in charge of one of the vessels.
“Don’t know,” is signaled back from the captain of the other ship.
“He doesn’t understand the question. Ask again— ‘Whither bound?’”
“Don’t know,” is again the answer returned.
“But is she not an English vessel of such a Line?”
“Yes.”
“Then inquire once more ‘Whither bound?’”
And then, as before, is signaled the same unaccountable answer, “Don’t know” only this time he adds, “NOBODY CAN KNOW!”
Who would not judge such a man to be more fit for a madhouse than for the command of a first-class British trader? or else that one so utterly reckless deserved to have his certificate canceled the next port he called at?
But stay, my unconverted reader, What are all the fine ships in the world, with their costly cargoes into the bargain, in comparison with the value of your one soul? Yet if we cry “Whither bound?” would your answer be more satisfactory than this captain’s? Consider.
We are reminded, as one year follows upon the heels of another, how rapidly we are approaching the end of life’s little voyage. The end? Yes, think of it—THE END!
No one on earth can assure you of even one more New Year’s Day in this world; and with this in view we cannot forbear raising the passenger’s cry in your ears, and ask, “Why don’t you look where you are going?” We do not raise the cry angrily, but we could not help raising it anxiously. The issues are so tremendous, the consequences of neglect so serious, that with all the earnestness we possess we would not only ask, “Why don’t you look where you are going?” but, “Why don’t you know? for you may know.”
“I do not feel disposed to face such questions,” you may possibly answer. Permit the writer, then, to face them for you, and in the light of God’s word to make bare the root of the matter. The secret of the mischief is simply summed up in two words—fear and unbelief. To explain. Are you not conscious of the fact that to look where you are going would effectually spoil all your present enjoyment—the pleasures of sin? You shut your eyes, therefore, to what lies before you, and, willingly ignorant, go blindly sinning on. You are afraid to look. Again, if you believed the truth of Scripture about your God-forgetting worldly course, you would know well enough where you are going. In proof of this, carefully note the following statements:—
“When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth DEATH.” (James 1:15). “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of DEATH.” (Prov. 16:25). “Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into JUDGMENT.” (Eccl. 11:9).
What a ring of reality there is about these statements. What certain evidence that death and judgment are the inevitable results of a course of sin. But, alas you close your eyes for fear of being made uncomfortable; you harden your heart in unbelief, and persistently sin on. Be honest with your own soul: is this not the truth? Are you not both fearful and unbelieving? And are not these the two great reasons why you are not a Christian today?
Some there are, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, who know that their names are written in heaven—written in the book of life. Yours is written also—written in the book of truth. Nor is this any secret, for if you had the courage to look for yourself you could easily find it. It is in Rev. 21:8, in the verse which begins with
“The FEARFUL and UNBELIEVING,”
and ends with
“THE SECOND DEATH.”
Is it not high time to awake, think you? Oh! that God would bring you to repentance ere you lay this message aside. That “going I don’t care where” kind of spirit won’t do for a dying hour, depend upon it, and remember
“There are no pardons in the tomb,
And brief is mercy’s day.”
GEO. C.