MANY of our readers will have heard of the sad disaster which recently occurred in Switzerland. Suddenly the lower end of the glacier of Bionnay became detached from Mont Blanc, and fell into the torrent beneath, carrying away with it the little village of that name. The masses of ice and the wreck of the village formed a dam, which held up the waters for some time, until they suddenly broke through the obstruction and burst like a cataract into the mountain stream, known as the Bon Nant, which flows by St Gervais les Bains.
Here stands a large hotel, at an altitude of about 2,000 feet above sea-level. At about a quarter-past two in the morning the people in the hotel were awakened by a terrific noise of rushing water, and the crashing of rocks one against the other. Then a furious gust of wind drove through the gorge. The next moment a torrent of water, carrying with it fragments of rock, trees, and debris of all description, hurled itself upon the hotel. Of the five buildings of which it was composed three were utterly destroyed, another was nearly so, while the fifth remained almost untouched, owing its safety to its position, which was high above the course of the Bon Nant.
Many of the visitors and the employees were ushered into eternity in a moment, over a hundred persons losing their lives either here or in the village, through the catastrophe.
Now we do not for a moment suppose that these persons who were thus suddenly cut off were greater sinners than others; but surely the Lord would have those who remain take such solemn catastrophes to heart, that they may repent before Him, ere their summons into eternity shall come. On the occasion of a catastrophe in our Lord’s time, He said― “Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:4, 54Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? 5I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. (Luke 13:4‑5)). But alas, thousands are occupied with the natural causes of the accident (!) and lose sight of what God has to say in it altogether.
Man’s life is always uncertain. He has no lease of it. All are exposed to be called out of this world by the way of death at any moment, from, one cause or another. Whether a man may die from a malady, from the decay of nature, or be cut off suddenly by an unforeseen calamity, is impossible to foresee, and the summons oft comes, unexpectedly. Death is an inexorable foe. The sinner must receive sin’s wages. “It is appointed, unto men once to die” (Heb. 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)). Death may in some instances be staved off for a while through, care and human skill, in the mercy of God, but there is no getting rid of it. The great question for each is, Are you prepared to meet it?
Little did the villagers at the foot of Mont Blanc, and the visitors and employees at the hotel in the gorge beneath anticipate, when they went as usual quietly to rest, that they would wake in eternity! They had probably no more thought of dying than has the reader of these lines. But in a moment they were overwhelmed. Fast asleep, in the dead of night, the awful avalanche of water and mud and debris came down from the heights above, and swept them away. Reader, what a solemn picture of the wrath of God! It is revealed from heaven, and hangs over the guilty lost race of man. Now is the world’s dark night. Millions are fast asleep, in false security. Life on the earth hangs, as it were, upon a thread. Who can tell the moment when the door of grace will be closed forever, and the awful avalanche of God’s wrath again sweep the world of the ungodly?
Once already has His solemn judgment overwhelmed the whole human race (one family excepted) (Gen. 6, 7). But, alas, how many are willingly ignorant of it! Again, God threatens judgment, not by a flood of waters, but by the bowls of His wrath and the intervention in power by His Son. But, “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah centered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:26, 2726And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. (Luke 17:26‑27)). How is it with thee? Has the enemy of God and of thy precious soul lulled thee into false security? Art thou found today amongst the class who cry, “Peace and safety,” as though no judgment were hanging over a lost world? “Many,” says the Word of God, “shall cry peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them,... and they shall not escape.” Art thou, my reader, among the sleepers in this day of grace?
In a moment the merciless torrent of the swollen Bon Nant did its deadly work. Scores who were in the way of its course were buried in the descending deluge in a moment. No warning but a furious gust of wind, which a terrible deluge of rushing waters and mud and crashing rocks, followed so quickly―an irresistible falling mass, ―that most even of those who may have been aroused from their unconscious sleep, but awoke to a few moments of awful anxiety, and then were overwhelmed. And after death the judgment (Heb. 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)).
Reader, if thou hadst been one, where wouldst thou be now? The Lord knows the secrets of all hearts, and many of those who were thus suddenly ushered into eternity may have been believers on the blessed Son of God. If so, sudden death for them was sudden bliss. But, alas for all who were unprepared! Ushered into eternity in a moment in their sins, to stand before God in the day of His awful judgment, and to hear the sentence of everlasting banishment into the lake of fire, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:44-4844Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 45And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 46Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 47And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: 48Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. (Mark 9:44‑48)). God says it, and means what He says. Oh, sinner, flee to the shelter of the blood of Jesus now. Shed for rebel sinners on the cross, the vilest may be cleansed in that blood, and be made whiter than snow. The self-righteous and the religious professor need it as much as the abandoned and the profligate. Its virtues are without fail for all who trust them. “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)).
Some marvelous escapes are reported, says the account of the accident. The mercy of God, through human instrumentality, opened a way of escape. Those who heard of it, and availed themselves of it at once, escaped the death that overtook the rest. A moment more, and they too would have been too late. A resident physician, through his extraordinary presence of mind, saved the lives of some fifteen persons. On hearing the noise of the approaching torrent, he hastily opened the door of all the bedrooms nearest his own, and rousing the inmates, succeeded in leading them through a window to a place of safety.
How forcibly this illustrates the simple Gospel! A man realizing the impending danger, rouses the sleepers, throwing the door of escape wide open before them, and leads them to a place of safety. Sleeping sinner, on the brink of death and eternal woe, arouse thee. Death and judgment are swiftly approaching. There is not a moment to be lost.
Now is the time, or it may be never. Christ is that door. There is a place of safety. It is in Him who died for us and rose again. Remain slumbering and sleeping another moment, and the door of escape may be closed, and your eternal doom sealed. Awake, awake! “God hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead” (Acts 17:3131Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:31)). The day is nigh, even at thy doors. Flee to the only refuge while thou mayest. The coming Judge is a present Saviour. He died for rebel sinners, the ungodly, the lost. Sinner, on the brink of endless woe, the blessed Son of the living God calls to thee from the glory, Come unto Me. None other can save thee from the coming wrath. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me” (John 14:66Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)); “Now is the accepted time” (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)).
All who heard the physician’s voice, and fled by the door to the place of safety to which he led them, were delivered from the awful torrent which swept scores away. All who hear the Lord’s call, speaking to heart and conscience through His servants, in His? grace, flee to the Saviour, and are safe from the, wrath of an offended God. Love it was that provided so great salvation at such a Cost, viz., the life’s blood of His own dear Son. Love it is that holds back yet a moment the long-threatened stroke. Love it is that calls thee, sinner, to arouse thee while thou mayest. Love it is that has opened wide the door of salvation through the finished work of Christ. Love it is that bids thee find a present refuge and everlasting salvation in a risen Christ, triumphant on the throne of God.
The hairdresser of the establishment also improvised a bridge over which twenty persons safely crossed to a sheltered spot, where they were all rescued alive. It was a critical moment. Their lives were in the greatest jeopardy, when a friend pointed them to the improvised bridge, and they were soon in a safe shelter. Again we remind thee, reader, of the awful danger to which thou art exposed. It is a critical moment for this poor world. But there is a way of safety out of the doomed place. Christ is the bridge that will carry safely over all who trust to Him. And a safe shelter is alone to be found in Him who bore the stroke of Divine justice and judgment on our behalf on Calvary. Raised and glorified, Christ is crowned on the throne of God, a safe Shelter, a present Deliverer, an everlasting Saviour for every one that believeth. All who crossed the bridge that spanned the gulf between the endangered building and the place of safety on the other side, were rescued alive. All who wake up in the day of God’s abounding grace, ere the besom of judgment shall sweep the guilty nations of the earth, and flee from this world of sin, and darkness, and death, to Christ, the only bridge of safety, are already completely sheltered. He is risen out of death, and those who are found in Him, are beyond death and condemnation, and will surely be rescued from the whole scene of the enemy’s power, to enjoy eternal life with Him in the everlasting glory of God, instead of being swallowed up in the awful gulf of everlasting woe.
Once more, foolish sinner, careless worldling, sleepy professor, we call to thee in the name of a Saviour-God. By His infinite mercies, in the name of Jesus Christ who died and rose, by the glories of heaven, and by the horrors of hell, we appeal to thee. Flee from the wrath to come. Flee now. Flee to Christ. A moment more, and thy lot may be eternally sealed. Procrastination is the thief of time. The last grain of sand in the hour-glass of thy short span of life will soon have run through. The beat of the pulse of thy life on earth will shortly cease. The last breath in thy body of sin and death will soon be drawn. Eternity is before thee, at thy very door. Thy life is as a vapor (James 4:1414Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. (James 4:14)). All that is of true and lasting value appeals to thee to be decided for Christ. If thy tongue wags in argument, instead of confessing Him as thy Saviour, Lord, and All, it is but a further proof of God’s Word, as to man’s fallen condition, and, the natural hatred of thy heart to Christ. Lovingly a Saviour in glory, Jesus the Lord, pleads with thee about thy precious, never-dying soul. Be wise while ‘tis called today.
“Dark though thy guilt appear,
And deep its crimson dye,
There’s boundless mercy here,
Do not from mercy fly:
Oh doubt no more His word,
There’s pardon full and free,
For Justice smote the Lord,
And sheathes her sword for thee.
Come, come, come.”
To talk of thy works, thy religious doings, thy Christless profession, is vain. No sin-stained works of thine can atone for sin, or aid one iota in thy salvation. It is Christ thou needest, and Christ that thou must have. Thousands seek to live Christ in order to get Christ; we must receive Christ to live Christ. We receive Him by faith, and then we live by faith of Him. The danger is imminent. The warning comes to all who read these lines. It may be the last. Here is the Gospel message. Neglect or despise it, and thou art without excuse. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (16:31). Saved now, saved forever, saved to follow in His steps, saved to glorify His Name, saved to await His return, and then saved into the everlasting glory of our Saviour-God.
E. H. C.
OUR place, our standing before God, is no longer in flesh. It is in Christ. Christ, as man, has taken quite a new place, to which neither Adam innocent, nor Adam sinner, had anything to say. The best robe formed no part of the prodigal’s first inheritance at all; it was in his father’s possession, quite a new thing.
J. N. D.