I HAD taken my seat alone in a fast train leaving B—for the North of England, when, just as the guard’s whistle was blowing, a tall military-looking gentleman entered the compartment, making some remarks about the sultry morning as he did so. I replied to his remarks, then silence ensued, as we were strangers to each other.
As we were rushing along my thoughts turned to things of eternity, and how speedily souls were hurled into it by railway accidents and other things. What a fearful thing a lost eternity must be! Who can measure it? “The wicked shall be turned into hell”!! (solemn words); “The wicked shall be silent in darkness”!! (Psa. 9:1717The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. (Psalm 9:17); 1 Sam. 2:99He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. (1 Samuel 2:9)); and other scriptures crowded into my mind. Wondering whether my companion was a “converted” man or not, I tremblingly took from my pocket a number of little books, and handed him one entitled “Is it settled?” (I believe this was the title.) Finding he received it courteously and read it carefully, I was emboldened to address a question to him, when he had finished its perusal, and the following conversation ensued: ―
“May I ask whether it is settled yet, sir?” meaning, of course, the question of his sins and his eternal destiny.
Drawing himself erect, he replied, “I prefer not to answer such a question to a stranger.”
“Very good, sir,” said I, leaning back disappointed and grieved.
Still we rushed on, and the possibility of an eternal separation between myself and my companion forced itself upon me and made me long more than ever that he might have the same assurance of salvation that I myself enjoyed. I made bold to approach him again.
“Pardon me, sir, addressing you again, but had I continued the conversation, started by yourself, as to the weather, or turned it to the war or politics, would you then have raised any objection to conversing with me?”
“No, but to my mind religion is nothing more than hypocrisy. The fact is, I am a detective, and my business is to unearth a great deal often covered up under the cloak of religion.”
“Excuse me, sir, do not speak too fast. I grant you there may be many hypocrites, but do not please blame religion. Now, sir, just consider for a moment. Is this hypocrisy? We are fellow-travelers in this train; I judge by your accent that you are a native of Scotland. I was once a fellow-traveler with a Scotchman who was used of God to open my eyes to the fact that I was a poor perishing sinner on the road to hell. I shall thank God for all eternity that I ever met R―M —. He is now in heaven, and if this train meets with an accident and I am killed, I shall join him. But if you were killed also, I should have eternally to regret that I had never spoken to you, my fellow-traveler to eternity. I am a stranger to you; you neither know where I come from, nor where I am going; my name and business are unknown to you, and will ever be so, as far as I am concerned. What selfish end can I have to serve? Your first answer would have repelled me forever if I had not loved your soul sufficiently to break the ice and approach you again. Is there any hypocrisy in my speaking to you about your soul? Are not the things of eternity of more moment than the things of time. Why then, as men, should we not speak freely to each other concerning them?”
“Well, sir, I must say I had not thought of that. Of course there cannot be any hypocrisy in what you are now doing, and I must admit I spoke too fast. I do not know why we should be so unwilling to speak on the things of eternity, for, as you say, they are of more moment than the things of time. Perhaps my profession has something to do with it. I am now going to the N―Races, and often in such places the wickedness and sin I witness makes me shudder and wonder what the end will be.”
“But now, sir, you have said that you are a detective; tell me, did you ever know one of your Judges to pardon a prisoner you had brought before him?”
“No, certainly not.”
“No, that could never be. I have been on juries, and we have sometimes taken the prisoner clean out of the hands of the judge by bringing in a verdict of “Not guilty.” But when we returned with a verdict of “Guilty,” the judge could never release the prisoner, but must pass upon him the penalty of the law. Now, sir, I have no doubt you are pretty much where your fellow-countryman met me, i.e., acknowledging that you will have to meet God someday, and hoping that He may find sufficient goodness in you and your works to clear you at last, that heaven may be your portion? Have I not guessed right?”
“Yes, I think that is pretty much how I have looked at things. But I think I see what you mean by the judge not being able to clear the prisoner― that is not his work. Justice must be upheld.”
“Exactly, and for that reason we ought to have to do with God now about our sins while He is making Himself known as a Saviour. The fact is, our trial is over, and three words describe our condition in Romans 3:19,19Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. (Romans 3:19) viz., ‘Guilty before God.’ But, sir, there is no reason why you should go before the Bar of God, ‘The great white throne,’ there to receive the due reward of your deeds, for Another, even Jesus the Son of God, has died, the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God’ (1 Peter 3:1818For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1 Peter 3:18)). God has found a way to maintain every attribute of His being, and at the same time express His love. ‘He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.’
“See, I beseech of you, how wonderful is God’s way of salvation. A prisoner stands in the dock charged with a great crime; the witnesses having been heard, the jury retire, and shortly return with the verdict of guilty. A hush is all through the Court. ‘And what will the sentence be?’ is the inquiry of every mind. Why does the judge wait, and what does that look of pity mean upon his face? Ah! he loves the prisoner, and wants to release him. But justice, as you have said, must be upheld. A stir is seen in the Court, and forward steps a young man. ‘Tis the son of the judge. Reading that look of pity upon the face of his father, and out of pity for the prisoner, he offers himself to bear the penalty of the prisoner’s crime, that his father may gratify his heart by clearing the prisoner! See how the prisoner breaks down and weeps in the presence of such love.
“Now, sir, you have not so seen it in any Court of Justice in which you have been. But this feebly represents what has really taken place for both you and me.
‘God could not pass the sinner by,
His sin demands that he must die;
But in the cross of Christ we see
How God can save yet righteous be.
The sin alights on Jesus’ head,
‘Tis in His blood sin’s debt is paid;
Stern justice can demand no more,
And mercy can dispense her store.’
Why should you not here in this railway carriage turn to God, confessing that you are a sinner deserving the judgment that rests upon you, but plead the merits of Christ’s atoning blood that you may be justified? I turned to Him thus, under the gun-shields of H.M.S. ‘R― on the West Coast of Africa, fourteen years ago; the burden of my sins was rolled away then and there, and I have been a happy man ever since. The happiest life is the one spent here for the will of God with eternal joys in prospect.”
The train was now slowing up. My companion rose from his seat, and grasping me by the hand tightly said: “Sir, in every way you have the best of it, for even in this life it must be far happier to go on with a clear conscience than an accusing one, to say nothing of the future. I would give anything to be like you. Good-bye, sir, and thank you very much.”
I trust by this time that that dear man has turned to a Saviour-God who can now, since Christ has died, “justify freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
Are you, my dear reader, neglecting salvation, and vainly hoping that the Judge will clear you at the “Great white throne”? Read Revelation 20:11-15,11And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11‑15) and flee from such a fatal delusion, I pray you. “The second death, which is the lake of fire,” awaits you if you miss the “salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”
The children of Israel began their year under the shelter of the blood in Egypt, and you now may begin your New Year―and a Happy New Year it will indeed be―if only you take your place as a sinner before God, and ask Him to cleanse you through the blood of Jesus, and fill your heart with His boundless love.
“Come to the Saviour now,
He ready stands to bless;
He bids thee nothing bring,
Only thy guilt confess.
No anger fills His heart,
No frown is on His brow,
His mien is perfect grace,
He bids thee trust Him now,
Come, come, come.”
E. E. C.