ABOUT a mile from the town of Olney in Buckinghamshire—Cowper’s Olney—there stands, in the center where three roads meet in the village of Emberton, an old, square clock tower, after the model of a church tower. Beneath the clock the following lines are inscribed:—
“Time’s on the wing, how swift he speeds his way!
Hasting to sink in one continuous day.
Pause, passing traveler—what thy destiny
When death unveils a vast eternity?
Live then to Christ—in Christ eternal gain.
No Christ—no hope, but everlasting pain.”
Pause, reader. If unconverted it is indeed high time you called a halt ere
Death pulls you up
short, once for all.
Where have you come from? Whither are you going? Where will life’s journey, on the road you are now traveling, land you? “What thy destiny when death unveils a vast eternity?” These are questions which might well engage your most serious attention on the threshold of a new year. You have just left 1902 behind, with all it contained of weal or woe, with its long list of unrepented, unforgiven sins to swell the heavy score which a holy God has already entered against you.
1903 stares you in the face. “Time’s on the wing, how swift he speeds his way!” You have just reached another milestone on life’s short journey. But another milestone on the road to—where? Have you been carousing over it—feting the fact that you have let slip, nay, sinned away, another short period of your little day of grace?
Some years ago a young man went home to his lodging in San Francisco, on New Year’s Eve, to dress for a ball. He purposed to
“Kill Time”!
Yes, to “kill time” by dancing out the old, and dancing in the new year, with a number of others as heedless and godless as himself. In the course of dressing he sat down to rest for a moment, but thoughts of home and parents in far-away Scotland, which he had left, tired of restraint, crowded in all unbidden upon his mind. Many a frolic and sin of the past came up before him. Thoughts of God, of judgment merited, of goodness spurned, and of grace rejected were borne in upon him. Instead of sitting down for a moment, he sat for hours in that chair, all unconscious of their flight. At last he roused himself from his long reverie and looked at his watch. It was nearly midnight! Too late, he thought, to go to the ball; besides, he had lost all desire for its dissipation, “Haven’t they watch-night services,” thought he, “in the old country? I wonder if there is such a thing here?” Upon which he rose to his feet, hurried on some clothes, and went out to look for a church or chapel in which a “watch-night service” was being held. He found one and entered.
There God met him. An earnest gospel appeal went straight home to his heart. Thankfully he believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour, and was saved there and then.
And now, my reader, let me answer those questions for you which I suggested for your consideration at the beginning of this paper. I answer them lest, by any means, you should deceive yourself in the replies you give.
Where have you come from?
You came from the hand of God— “We are the offspring of God,” said the apostle Paul to the Athenians (Acts 17:2929Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. (Acts 17:29)). Have you thought of this solemn fact, and that therefore He has claims upon you, and that you are answerable to God?
Whither are you going?
Ah, WHITHER? If unconverted—and it is such I am addressing, yearning for your blessing—if unconverted you are going on as fast as time can take you—accelerated, it may be, by your own dissipation and sin, to death and judgment. For God has said, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this THE JUDGMENT” (Heb. 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)). You can’t get away from these two appointments which God has made, and, depend upon it, they will not get away from you! They are two fixed points, and you are hurrying on to reach them! And denying the existence of judgment will no more do away with it than denying the existence of death—if you were so foolish as to do so—would abolish it.
When death unveils eternity.
Unconcerned reader, what then? The road you are now traveling will land you in destruction (Matt. 7:1313Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: (Matthew 7:13)): your destiny the lake of fire (Rev. 20:1515And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:15)). For of the judgment of the great day we read, “Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” “No Christ, no hope, but everlasting pain.”
Thank God, you have been spared to the “Year of Grace” 1903. And just as the road along which I approached Emberton clock tower, with its quaint old inscription, parted in two, so will you reach “the parting of the ways” the moment you repent and turn to God. Up to now you have been going your own way. “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Prov. 16:2525There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. (Proverbs 16:25)). But the moment The Spirit unveils your danger and you forsake that way and look to God, you enter the narrow way which leadeth unto life (Matt. 7:1414Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matthew 7:14)). Then will you “live to Christ,” and “find in Christ eternal gain.” Do you now ask a question?
How may I find it,
this “narrow way which leadeth unto life?” Or in other words, “What must I do to be saved?” Then we answer in the words of Paul to the conscience-stricken Philippian jailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:1212Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)). What must you do to be damned, did you say? Simply continue on the road you are going.
Nothing more is needed.
W. G. B.