A MAN was passing along a highroad one day, when he saw a boy standing on the edge of a chalk-pit which was being worked at the time.
“Look well to your footing, my lad!” he cried, for he thought it not unlikely that the bank might give way. The boy, thinking he was safe enough, paid no heed to the kind warning. He did not care to move, but stood gazing idly before him. Suddenly the edge fell in with a terrible crash down he went headlong, and was buried in the rubbish. Help was at hand, and the men worked hard to dig him out; but twenty minutes elapsed before they could reach him, and when at last they succeeded it was too late. Smothered in the debris, the boy had lost his life because he would not heed the warning, “Look well to your footing!”
Reader, where are you standing? The edge of a cliff, the brink of an abyss, though undermined and ready to fall, may nevertheless look green and fair to the eye, and to a superficial observer as sound and firm as the solid earth around. So religiousness has a most specious and attractive appearance to the heart, just because, like itself, it is “deceitful” —aye, and “desperately wicked” too, for was not religiousness in the van of that multitude which, eighteen hundred years ago, cried. “Crucify him! crucify him!” (Mark 15:10-1410For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy. 11But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them. 12And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews? 13And they cried out again, Crucify him. 14Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him. (Mark 15:10‑14)). Yes, the religious of that day were the most persistent, the most bitter enemies of Christ, and are still. The openly profane, the infidel, the very atheist has some, though it may be an involuntary, respect for a consistent Christ-like deportment; but the religious hate it with an intensity equaled only by that of the high priests, elders, and pharisees of the old time. An orthodox belief, a mass of forms, a moral exterior, which, like a whited sepulcher, does but hide the corruption working within; much acquaintance with “the plan of the Gospel,” but entire ignorance of the Person it sets forth; a strict attention to self-imposed duties and so-called spiritual exercises, taught by the precept of men, —these are the things that go to make up religiousness, and with this Satan deceives the sinner, and hides Christ from his view. On this platform thousands take their stand, and not a few in total ignorance of the true nature of their “footing.” The poor foolish boy on the edge of the chalk-pit thought he was safe enough. He did not intentionally place himself in danger; but when that warning reached his ears, all the responsibility of his position became his own.
Reader, “look well to your footing,” and if indeed it be that your standing is in religiousness instead of CHRIST, turn and flee while you may. Every moment increases your danger — the responsibility now is all your own — the warning has met your eye; God grant that it may reach your heart.
You are not addressed as one who is intentionally deceiving others by a profession which you know to be unsound, but as one who, it may be, has unconsciously taken his stand upon the hollow and dangerous ground of that thing which has mocked the God of grace and love so long. It is ripening fast for judgment. The cry has long since gone forth, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord.” Will you turn a deaf ear to the command?
Engulfed in the ruins of that on which he had taken, and in spite of the warning, kept his “footing,” the boy lost his life. In your case, far more than this little space of earthly existence is at stake. Your position now is willful; you can plead ignorance no longer. Go to Christ at once. He “came into the world to save sinners.” If you take your stand on anything short of HIMSELF, it will fail you in the hour of your utmost need, and the consequences will be eternal. Once engulfed, it will be forever and forever. The blood of Christ is your only refuge; let it be your only trust — the alone ground of your confidence. All else is unsafe — nay, more, it is destruction. “Look well to your footing!”