THERE lives in the United States at the present moment a servant of the Lord, who some years ago was an infidel lawyer in St. Louis. He was cured of his infidelity and converted to God in an unusual manner, as the following description shows.
“During the progress of a great revival, which he ridiculed, he was on his way to a drug store to procure some medicine for his sick child. It was a bright afternoon on a Lord’s day, and a street preacher was proclaiming the gospel to an immense crowd in one of the worst quarters of the city. The curiosity of the infidel was excited, and he stopped for a moment on the edge of the vast throng to see what the gathering of so many persons meant.
“Not a word the preacher uttered could he hear; but near him, and mounted on a wagon, stood a man who was pouring forth a volume of blasphemy and obscenity and hate, cursing the Bible and Christ and Christianity.
“The infidel noticed that he had quite a group of sympathizers around him, who laughed at his coarse jests, and loudly applauded his vile sentiments.
“But he also noticed that this group was made up of the very scum of society. Thieves, burglars, bloated drunkards, men and women and half-grown lads, upon whom the police kept a watchful eye, constituted the admiring audience of the foul wretch, who was flooding them with his tide of filth.
“The lawyer, after a while, bowed his head in utter shame, as he reflected that he was thoroughly identified with these disreputable sinners. It is true that he was an infidel on far higher grounds, resting his skepticism upon intellectual and scientific objections to the Bible; but he remembered that the arguments and witticisms of his class of thinkers dribbled down through the various strata of the community, becoming dirtier and more offensive at each successive descent, until they reappeared at the bottom in the disgusting shape that faced him from the wagon of the infidel orator.
“He walked away mortified; and without attending one of the revival meetings, without hearing a sermon, he renounced infidelity, became a Christian, and determined to devote the remainder of his days to the defense of the cause he had sought to destroy.”
It is rather fashionable just now to pose as intellectual, so intellectual indeed that we cannot receive the things so firmly believed by our forefathers. If any of our readers are afflicted with this shallow learning we affectionately ask them to mentally review the company in which they find themselves, and having done so to thoughtfully consider this one verse: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” (Rev. 21:88But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8).)
Make no mistake, my friend, there is indeed a God of love, who yearns over your soul, and has given His own Son up to the death of Calvary’s cross that forgiveness might be made a possibility for you; but the fact that He is love does not mean that He is weak and indifferent to sin. Far from it; He is light as well as love, righteous as well as merciful, and if you are filthy and go with the filthy here, you must not be surprised if it is said of you: “He which is filthy, let him be filthy still.” (Rev. 22:1111He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. (Revelation 22:11).) Your portion in eternity would then be the lake of fire, with the filthy as your companions in despair.
Far removed from that dreadful abode is the home of light and love where Jesus is. It is indeed a home, for they who have their portion there dwell beneath a Father’s smile. Their only title to it is redemption; they have been washed from their sins in the Saviour’s blood. Into that place nothing that defiles will ever come.
Here in this world our destinies for the world to come must be fixed. In which company do you find yourself today, and when life is over in which place does your destiny lie? Shall it be heaven or hell?
F. B. H.