ONE day, while speaking to a crowd of people in a small village, this scripture flashed across my mind; “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished.” (Prov. 11:2121Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered. (Proverbs 11:21).) After pointing out from God’s word man’s utter ruin, and God’s remedy, I drew the attention of the people to a sad event, which had lately occurred in the neighborhood.
A wealthy farmer, who was out riding late at night, and in an intoxicated condition, had fallen into the river which ran through the next village, and was drowned. Divers came from Liverpool, but were unable to find the body. It was recovered afterward by a man who was walking along the riverside, though the poor body could hardly be recognized.
Then there came the funeral; but what about the never-dying soul? Those words rang in my ears — “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36, 3736For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? 37Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8:36‑37).)
After again warning the people, I turned homewards, and, while on my way, was met by some people from the village in which I lived. They told of the sad death of one whom I knew to be an open enemy of God and God’s people. Two men in the village had joined together to steal some fowls, but they were found out. The policemen were searching the house of one of the men, when the other who had taken part in the robbery, rushed out of his house saying, “The police shall not take me!” He ran across the fields, but stumbled near the bank of the river and fell in. The few spectators seemed powerless to render him any assistance, and, after throwing up his arms and crying wildly, “Oh, save me! save me!” the man went, unprepared, into the presence of the God he had sinned against.
Has not this a word for those who are going on in their sins, unprepared to meet God? How marked is the contrast between a saved and a lost person I One, trusting in Christ’s work on the cross, knowing that the precious blood has washed away all his sins; the other dreading to think of the future, trembling at the thought of judgment.
God grant that those who are in the latter condition may believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved, so that, if suddenly called to die, they may be ready, and not pass into the presence of a Judge, but into the presence of the One whom they love because He first loved them. J. Sp―n.