"No, Sir," said the nurse who attended Voltaire in his last illness. "No, Sir; not for all the wealth in the world would I see another infidel die.”
What a testimony to the horrors of infidelity! Thomas Paine, that low-lived debauchee, died crying, "Christ have mercy on me!" Infidelity will not soften a deathbed. Men may live without religion, but they do fear to die without it.
Even with the most profligate and hardened, conscience at last makes itself heard. It speaks in tones of thunder to their terror-stricken hearts. "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." There may be a species of pleasure in the pursuits of the ungodly; but it is evanescent and short-lived, and its light too often expires amid the blackness of darkness forever.
Only God can satisfy your soul. When Alexander the Great conquered the whole known world, he was not content, but sat down and wept like a babe because there was no other world to conquer. The whole world did not satisfy him. And a Roman emperor who had exhausted the whole round of worldly delights offered a large reward to anyone who discovered a new pleasure. Would that have given him lasting joy?
No, dear friend. Be assured of this one thing; without the love of Christ in your heart there is no peace, no joy, no happiness for you. Having Him, you will have that which alone can satisfy the yearnings of your soul, and afford you in every scene and circumstance abiding peace and joy and happiness.