JAMES F—used to call at my place of business. We did a little business together, and I often had an opportunity of speaking to him about his soul; many a time I have held the office door, and pled with him to decide now and accept of Christ, and often have I observed the tear start in the corner of that old man's eye, and steal clown his cheek, but a sudden thought would seize him, and, brushing the tear aside, in a few moments he was as stoical and indifferent as ever.
I remember saying to him one day, "Jamie, I have an impression that, if the Lord tarry, I'll come in here some morning, and the first news that will greet my ear will be this,' Jamie F—is dead;' and I will not be surprised to hear that it has been very sudden, and perhaps the result of an accident arising from one of your drunken bouts." He listened to me very attentively till I had finished, and with a careless and indifferent air he said, “No, no, there's nae fear o' Jamie.”
Not long after this took place I went in to my business one morning, and someone said to me, “Have you heard the news this morning?”
“What news?" I asked.
“Poor Jamie F—is dead.”
“Indeed," I said, "has any accident happened?”
“Yes," was the reply, “he fell over his own window yesterday (Sunday), and broke his neck, and was taken up dead.”
Poor Jamie, I thought, you know all about it now; many a warning I gave you, and many an exhortation to give yourself to Christ, and often I thought you were about to yield to Him, but it's all over now; you are now on the other side, the Lord only knows where you are. I thought of the day I spoke to him of what might happen one day, and did happen, and I also remembered a verse which that day I quoted to him, " He that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy " (Prov. 29:11He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. (Proverbs 29:1)).
Dear reader, how often have you been remonstrated with? How often have you been brought face to face with this most momentous of all subjects? He of whom I have written was a clever intelligent man, but he knew not Christ. You may be the same; you may be clever, intelligent, shrewd, wise, capable of giving a reason for everything you do; to all intents and purposes honest, upright, straight in your dealings, and square in all your actions, with the good of mankind at heart, as you are pleased to put it—and yet after all unsaved; and the mischief of the whole thing is, you are pleased to go on in this condition, careless and indifferent, the devil deluding you and cheating you out of your precious soul! Oh, my friend, in worldly things you would not allow this to take place. Your own interest would be the first thing considered.
Were it a matter of money interest, you would look into it, and not a stone would be left unturned till you had the whole matter satisfactorily gone into and settled. But this is still more weighty, yea, infinitely more so, and still you rush on blindly to your fate! Like James F—, you may think and say, “There is no fear, all will come right in the end; " but the next moment may seal your doom.
Mercy slighted, grace spurned, salvation neglected, and the blood despised, what can you look for but the sentence—upon you as a sinner—to be carried out? “Bind him, hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth " (Matt. 21:1313And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. (Matthew 21:13)).
Or you may be saying in your heart, as the rich man in Luke 12, " Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.”
“Oh, be saved, His grace is free;
Now be saved, Christ died for thee.”
“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
What a salvation! not only from hell, but from everything that opposeth and exalteth itself against God; saved from sin, its power and its consequences, self and its vile corruptions, the world and its vain delusions, its snares and pitfalls, God's grace sufficient for every trial, for every temptation, for every adverse circumstance. He has promised to be with us in them all, and “faithful is he which hath promised." Can you trust Him, sinner? If He saves from the lake of fire, is He not sufficient to save from the power of sin and Satan in this life? "He can save to the uttermost." Could you be wooed by His love? Would you venture His grace? He does not want you to give Him a trial.
Oh no, not for a moment would He respond to such an act; that is the world's way of doing things ("one trial solicited "); but God's invitation is," Come, for all things are now ready." Yea, it is a command as well as an invitation, it is absolute; it is unconditional, it is free; nothing is compromised in the accepting of it, but there is everything involved in the rejecting of it.
“Soon as my all I ventured
On the atoning blood,
The Holy Spirit entered,
And I was born of God.”
May this be the language of your heart now, and know once for all the saving power of God's grace.
Oh, you say, is there not something to do? Yes, after you are saved there is plenty to do; but this not in order to be, but because you are saved. The word for the sinner is, "Done;" the word for the saint, “Do." "Christ has done it all." Do you believe it? Believing it, means your accepting His atoning work as quite sufficient to meet the demands of God and the need of your poor soul. You honor God and His beloved Son when you believe this, and God justifies the soul that honors Him. He breaks his bonds, He sets him free. The Lord enable you just now to trust Him, and enter into the full enjoyment of His peace.
J. G.