IT is midnight. A score of loud-voiced clocks I are sounding the dirge of a dying year, and in a few seconds cheery chimes from steeple and tower will be welcoming the advent of a new one.
Standing alone in the theater which was to become the scene of her many triumphs is a brilliant young actress. It is Marie Bashkertsheff, whose name is remembered by thousands as one of the most shining ornaments of the stage. But in the lone midnight hour of the dying year she is there, not to win the applause of multitudes, not to perform her part in a thrilling drama, but to secure, if possible, the object of her ambition in another way.
She has determined to test the truth of the old-time superstition, that a wish uttered as the old year fades before the new, is sure to be granted. Watch in hand, she stands; fast fly the moments; and precisely at midnight she utters in one word her dearest wish:
“FAME!”
The empty galleries re-echo the word. And Marie Bashkertsheff steps forth to devote her life to the pursuit of her idol.
Suppose the old superstition were true. Suppose that at a given moment any wish that you expressed was certain to be granted, what would you wish for? Could you have stood by the actress's side in the vast, empty theater, what word would have been upon your lips as the expression of your dearest desire?
Some would cry "Gold"; others "Pleasure"; others "Power"; others "Revenge." What would your wish be? Would your desires and ambitions be bounded by time, or would they run on into eternity? Would their fulfillment make you happy forever, or for your present life only?
Thousands can tell you that their deepest longings for eternal satisfaction have been granted. They have a peace, a joy, a treasure that does not belong to this world. Their rapture is great, and will be greater by-and-by.
Would you know the secret? Let me tell you in one word JESUS.
Is your heart empty, unsatisfied, joyless? The love of Jesus can fill it to overflowing with the supremest happiness. Have you been sowing seeds of sin, and do you dread to reap the harvest? The precious blood of Jesus can wash your sins away. His faithful word can remove every fear from your soul.
Let me tell you the story. Deep compassion for us sinners dwelt in the heart of God. Rather than let us perish without hope, He gave His beloved Son. Men rose up against Him, and in the blindness of their hate they slew Him. But it was not alone the malice of wicked men that He endured. He became the Sin-bearer, and God poured out the vials of wrath upon His spotless head. He was punished instead of us.
Risen from the dead, He is enthroned in majesty at God's right hand, a Savior for all who will accept Him.
To believe in Him, to trust Him, to claim Him as your own personal Savior: this is the way to be blessed.
They who put their soul's confidence in Him are forgiven, saved, made heirs of heaven, and will spend their eternity with Him in glory.
Is there anything you could wish for better than this? Any desire that can for a moment compare with it? What are fame, money, pleasure, power, in comparison with this?
Reader, this best of blessings, this boon of heaven may be yours. You have but to flee, sin-laden and weary, to the feet of JESUS. He will welcome and save you, and fill your heart with heaven's joys. Has He not promised: “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.' "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst?”
“Come, ye weary, heavy-laden,
Bruised and ruined by the Fall;
If you tarry till you're better,
You will never come at all;
Not the righteous,
Sinners, Jesus came to call.”
H. P. BARKER