I WAS traveling from Lancashire to London by the Midland Railway. All had gone right until we passed Leicester. As we drew near the village of Kibworth, I found the train proceeding slowly, and wondered what it meant, as being an express, our first place of stopping was many miles beyond.
Being alone in the compartment, I was spending a little time on my knees in prayer, when I heard the guard calling aloud to the signalman as we came to a stand. He then came along and told the passengers that we were to get out of the carriages, as there had been a breakdown just ahead, and the train must wait until the line was cleared.
It was a cold day, and the passengers were glad to get into the station and enjoy what little warmth the fire afforded.
After we had been there a short time, one of the passengers spoke out loudly and said, "If we had been killed, I have insured my life for five hundred pounds.”
Though a very young man, I felt I ought not to be ashamed, and so I said in a tone loud enough to be heard by all, "My friends, I have not insured my body, but I have insured my soul.”
No reply was made, but the passengers were left to consider the two insurances.
My dear reader, it may be that you like my friend have made ample provision for your body, but what about your soul? Have you Made any provision for that? If not, why not? Is it of such little value in your estimation, that you can afford to let the matter stand over until you have satiated yourself with earthly pleasures, and drawn near to the end of your life; and then when you are no longer able to indulge as formerly, you will give attention to its interests?
If such is the case, surely you must set a very low estimate upon the value of your soul. Listen to these words, and then you will see your mistake, "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his awn soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”
These are words uttered by One Who knew far better than you or I can know what is meant by the loss of the soul.
Think for a moment of the countless millions of wealth the world contains, and learn that in comparison with the value of the soul it is as nothing. Then reflect, that in order to save the soul, it necessitated the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The loss of the soul is a matter of which neither you nor I have but little conception. To be shut out of heaven means to be shut up in. hell; nothing that defileth enters heaven. All who reach that holy place must have a nature fitted for it. God in His mercy has made a provision for man's need, a way of escape from the consequences of sin. That way is in the gift of His beloved Son, Who in order that He might suffer in our stead, took upon Himself a nature like unto ours (sin excepted), and suffered, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.
My dear reader, let me urge you to make sure work for eternity. Suffer not the perishing things of time to interfere with the true interests of your soul. Heaven with its untold joys may be yours, if you are but wise to listen to the voice of God bidding you to turn to Him. It may be that some clay you intend doing this, but that you are so engrossed with the world, that you have not time to attend to it now. Let me ask, when will you have time? "Now is the accepted time: now is the day of salvation.”