A Solemn Warning.
READER, let me ask you a solemn question. Worlds cannot tell—eternity cannot tell—how awfully momentous a question it is. You may soon be lying on the bed of death. The sunken cheek, the glazed eye, the last convulsive gasp, are CLOSE upon you. Just imagine it for a moment, and with the dark picture before your mind, let me ask, How will it be with YOU then? How is it with you wow? Have you FELT yourself to be a lost and guilty sinner? and have you fled to Jesus for refuge as your ONLY hope for time and eternity? If not, what reason have you for believing that you WILL BE ABLE to do so THEN? Delay hardens the heart, darkens the mind, aggravates your sin, makes heaven farther, hell nearer, warnings powerless, the world stronger, Satan mightier, and condemnation certain.
Oh, reader, heed this warning! God is speaking to you now. He has spoken to you hundreds of times, and you have turned away. He has whispered to your inmost soul that He is willing to receive you just AS YOU ABE, in all your sins, in all your deadness, and darkness, and unbelief, and with all the guilt of a past life pressing you down beneath its heavy load, and still you have turned away! Often and often has He pressed you with sweet encouragement to take His offered hand of welcome, telling you that His grace has met your case, that His blood should cleanse you, His love forgive you, and His fullness supply all your need, and still you have turned away! He has whispered that this world, with all its pleasures and amusements, its mirth, merriment, and revelry, can never make you happy; that apart from Him life is not life, but death, and out of Him all joy is madness; that there is a dreary blank in the midst of all you enjoy; that the secret, undefinable want which you feel is the want of His friendship; and that nothing else will ever remove that sense of hollowness within which now casts a shade over your life; and still you have turned away and refused to be blessed!
Oh, reader, God has had long patience with thee, and thou halt not given heed! That patience will soon be exhausted and turned into wrath, and that wrath shall turn all thy hope into despair. In that solemn hour what will you do? Will pleasure be pleasure then? Will it not be gall and wormwood? Will the world’s gay glitter bewilder you then? Where will be the spell of its beauty, the music of its syren song? Will not its joys be forgotten dreams? Will not the freshness of youth be faded, the ties of kindred be broken, the gladness of companionship be at an end, and the old familiar voices of earth have died away? Will not all be covered with a cloud in that day? Have you, then, made up your mind to “sleep on and take your rest?” to love darkness now, and to dwell in darkness forever? to be a sinner now, and a companion of devils hereafter? Is heaven a dream, and hell a fable? Is there nothing terrible in the devouring fire, the everlasting burnings? Is there nothing bitter in the dregs of the cup of trembling, in which is filled up the wrath of God? Is there nothing sweet in the light of heaven, or the glory which God hath prepared for them that love Him? Is there nothing desirable in the joy of the Lord, the peace that passeth all understanding, the rest that raineth for the people of God? Is guilt better than pardon? Is wrath better than love? Is death better than life? Is damnation better than eternal blessedness? Are the burning flames as pleasant as the cool waters of the fountain of life? Oh, reader, trifle not with thy Maker! The door of mercy is still open, and again God is pressing thee to enter. Be persuaded. Arise! flee to the refuge! The fountain for sin is open, and Jesus waits to welcome thee. He asks no price, no gift, no preparation. Come just as thou art, in all thy sin. No matter how guilty you are, how far you have strayed, or how long you have slighted Him. Only come! “The blood of Jesus Christ which cleanseth from all sin,” says, Come! Every voice above you and around you says, Come!