Charlie, as he was called by all who knew him, was a young fireman employed on the Pennsylvania Railroad. Bright and merry, he was a favorite with everyone.
One thing, however, Charlie lacked; and that one thing was most important of all. In spite of the prayers and pleadings of his dear Christian mother, he was not saved.
Again and again his mother reasoned with him about his soul, and warned him of his danger. Often when he took his dinner bucket to go on his runs she would fondly kiss him and say: "Charlie, dear, I shall be so uneasy while you are gone. You might get killed, and your soul be lost; and then your poor mother would truly grieve.”
On the same railroad there was a Christian engineer, Billy Martin by name, who was much attached to Charlie. Billy often spoke to him about his need of salvation, and read the Scriptures to him. Sometimes the tears would start to Charlie's eyes and trickle down his cheeks. He would say that he wanted to be a Christian and was going to be some day, but that there was plenty of time. Besides, he was engaged to a young lady who was fond of parties, dancing, and card playing. She had told him that if he became a Christian she would have no more to do with him. She did not want an old "goody-goody" for her husband.
"But," said Charlie to his friend Billy," "If you can get her to consent, I will promise to be a better lad, if only to please mother.”
Charlie seemed not to realize that "being a better lad" would in no wise meet his need before God. What he needed was conversion to Him. He was a poor unconverted sinner going down to hell as quickly as time could carry him. Turning over a new leaf and trying to do better would not put him on the road to heaven. He needed to have his sins washed away through the blood of Christ. In a word, it was not reformation, not morality, but a Savior he needed. And this he did not seem to understand.
But Billy Martin persisted in trying to help his friend. He got him and his fiancée together, and prayed with them. They talked the matter over, but she would not yield. She wept, but refused to give up the pleasures of the world just yet. They would be married in a few weeks, she said, and then they would both become Christians and live happily.
In due time the wedding day arrived. Billy was one of the invited guests. He reminded the young couple of their promise, and begged them to commence their married life by coming to the Savior and trusting in Him for salvation. But with one excuse and another they put it off; and as time passed on, they seemed to grow more careless and hardened than ever.
One day a terrible thing happened. As Billy was getting off, his engine a boy came running up to him and said: "Charlie was hurt in a smash down the line this morning, and his wife wants you to go up to his house as soon as possible.”
Billy did not wait to wash or eat, but hurried off to see his young friend.
Charlie lay upon his bed unconscious. He was seriously hurt and had passed through fearful suffering. His wife was weeping heartbrokenly. As Billy came in she said, "Oh, if Charlie dies and is lost, it is my fault." In her remorse she prayed to God to spare her husband.
For long hours the faithful engineer watched by the dying man. Awful hours they were, for the poor sufferer, during his brief moments of consciousness, realized his doom. His last whispered words were, "I put it off too long! My last chance is gone. I am lost! I am lost! Lost!”
After the funeral, Billy pleaded again with the heartbroken young widow.
"Will you not now take Jesus to be your Savior?" "I must get things settled first," she replied, "and then I will think about it.”
"Oh," said Billy, "don't say that. Settle this great matter with God first, and let business come afterward.”
But she would not be persuaded. She promised not to put it off as Charlie had done, but insisted there was time enough yet.
At length a dear little baby boy came as a cheer and a solace to Charlie's wife. When it was about three weeks old, an urgent message was sent to Billy. The young mother was dangerously ill; would he go and see her?
We will let Billy tell the story of that visit in his own words.
"I went up; but when I was taken into that room, what did I see? I saw the woman who had promised God, time after time, and promised her husband and me, that she would give her heart to Jesus. She was dying without Christ. Oh, the agony of that woman! In her delirium, she said over and over again that she had caused Charlie to lose his soul. Now through her own neglect her own soul was damned forever.
"I prayed for her; I read God's Word to her. I tried to get her to accept Jesus as her Savior. I told her that though she had rejected Him so long and so often, yet Christ was waiting and willing to receive her, even at her last moment.
"She only moaned that she had caused her dear husband to be lost. As she grew weaker, her stiffening lips repeated over and over: 'Lost! Lost! Lost forever.' So she died.”
As I write the sad words, tears unbidden fill my eyes. Can you, my reader, hear the inexpressibly sad story of the way these two young lives ended without being moved to your very soul? If you can, your heart is indeed hard. But the blessed God bends over you with deep compassion. He calls you, beseeches you, commands you to turn to Christ in repentance and faith, that you may be saved.
Jesus, by His dying upon the cross, has made it possible for a sinner like you to be saved. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”