I DO not know that I ever doubted the truth of Christ being the Son of God, for, from early childhood, I was taught to reverence His name, and it was due to pious training, that not until partly through my “teens,” the real activity of sin became evident in my life. But how rapidly it grew! I can remember as I pen these words tonight how I hurried downhill in the pathway of wickedness, until even those who had been companions in the early stages of my career were left behind. But the picture of those dark days, the memory of which brings pain, shall not be drawn. One thing, however, which may be a word of encouragement to some soul, shall be recorded: Jesus saves even the vilest, for He has saved me.
A few years of life passed by, in which various experiences — carelessness, anxiety, strivings, hope, fear, and well-nigh despair — were intermingled. Then came a certain night, never to be forgotten. I was spending the evening with a married sister, whose next door neighbor held Bible-readings in his house, and to these my sister and her husband were invited. There was to be one of these readings on the night of my arrival. I preferred to stay with the children, and my relatives went together, I remarking, in jest, that they might get me an invitation for the next occasion! The following week, when I had forgotten all about my remarks, the gentleman who conducted the readings sent a message that he would be pleased to see me, and, thinking it would pass away an evening, the invitation was accepted.
I had only been in England a couple of months, and the Bible-reading was strange to me. The evening was commenced with a hymn, which I thought a very ordinary one, and the tune execrable, and then a portion of Scripture was read and spoken about. Very quietly the gentleman handled his subject, but inch by inch, so to speak, word by word went home to my heart, and in one short hour I was changed from an indifferent, careless scoffer into a convicted miserable sinner before God.
Can I describe it? No, nor anyone else! It was the work of God by His blessed Spirit, using and applying His word to my consciences. I do not even remember the portion of the word that was read, but I saw that night the sword of the wrath of Almighty God abiding over the unprotected sinner. And what was I? What had I between my sins and a holy God? Nothing— no, nothing. There I stood revealed to myself—a vile, helpless, hell-deserving sinner, naked before God. Oh, reader, have you ever seen yourself thus? Do not measure the extent of your transgressions; one sin, as much as a million, will place you in the sinner’s unprotected condition before the holy God.
My heart was too heavy to say much. I left the house, and went home, and to bed, to be alone. Oh, what agony of mind was mine! I was haunted with the memory of my sins — many of them, long forgotten, rose up before me. Death, the one thing of which a guilty sinner is afraid, stared me in the face, and after death the judgment! —eternal death, not annihilation. How was I to stand then? I was alone, because without Christ, and what terror does this bring to the soul! Slowly and sadly the night passed, and with the morning came a feeling of carelessness again. But, thank God, with that device of Satan to drown my convictions, God gave one word from Himself — “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” I knew the Spirit of God was striving with me; and what if He should go away, never to return, and leave me without hope! Oh, the thought was agony.
As soon as possible I hastened to my sister, and found her, to my surprise, rejoicing in a newly-found Saviour. What a contrast we presented! The day was spent in praying often together, and towards evening she enquired if I might see the gentleman at whose house I had been the evening before.
Bible in hand, I called at the house, told simply and truly my trouble of soul, that I knew myself a sinner in the sight of God, and that if I had to die that moment I should find my portion with the damned. I told the gentleman also that I believed the book in my hand to be the word of God, and was prepared to accept it as such; confessed that Jesus is the Son of God — that He came down from heaven to die for sinners, and that I knew myself to be a needy sinner, and then earnestly inquired if my friend could help me?
He smiled at my earnestness, which not only surprised me, but made me think him unkind. Then he bade me open the Bible at the fifth chapter of St. John’s Gospel, and told me to read to myself two or three times over the twenty-fourth verse: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”
I read the words calmly, quietly, and as I did so God, in His mercy, opened my eyes. When the dark clouds have gathered above, obscuring the sun, and covered the sky with an inky blackness, sometimes just in one little spot there is a break, and a gleam shoots through, brightened by contrast with the darkness around. So it was to my soul as the truth of God’s word burst upon me.
Let us open the Bible and read that verse again: “He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” Oh, joy! I had heard the word many and many a time, and now I believed; I had everlasting life.
The gentleman said nothing. No doubt he was praying. The silence was long and sweet — too precious to be broken. At length I looked up, and through tears of joy said, “Then I have everlasting life?”
My friend replied, “Yes, if you believe what God says in that verse.”
I replied, “Lord, I believe.” And, blessed be His name, I have never doubted Him from that day to this.
Dear reader, again I ask, have you ever realized what it is to stand unprotected from the coming judgment? If you have, and this simple narrative of the Lord’s gracious dealings with a poor sinner has brought the memory of that time back to you, do not put away again the great question. If you do, you may find to your cost that you cannot put away the realities of hell and an eternity without Christ. Oh! let me plead with you, very solemnly and very affectionately. Myself a brand plucked from the burning, I implore you not to let another night, another hour pass, but seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Now He sits as Saviour, and whosoever will, may know Him as such; but to those who refuse Him, He will shortly sit as the Judge. No mercy then! No Saviour then! Nothing but judgment; nothing but torment.
That blessed One, the Lord of life and glory, will soon come to make up His jewels, to gather up to Himself all His redeemed ones, all who believe in Him, all who trust Him. To be left behind is to be left for judgment. “Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:22(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (2 Corinthians 6:2)) — then, will be too late. Sadly solemn will he that cry―
“Too late, too late,
Ye cannot enter now.”
A. L. M.