By the Editor Who is Worse Than a Devil?
A SINNER who does not believe in the love of God, and the sacrifice of Christ, is worse than a devil. And this is the proof. The devils believe and tremble, they know and fear God. A hardened sinner is worse than a devil, because he does not tremble. And you, reader, perhaps do not tremble. You would tremble if you had a sword held at your throat; or a pistol pointed at your head; or if you were dying, and had but a few hours to live. God’s sword hangs over you this moment. You are in danger of the flames of hell. You are in the sinking ship, soon to be engulfed in seas of wrath. You may die this night. You are a dying sinner in a dying world, and you may never live to see another daybreak. It is astonishing how people cling to life. A man of eighty comforts himself with the thought that some have lived to ninety. A man of ninety thinks he may go on to a hundred. The child looks on to manhood, and manhood to old age. Oh! reader, I implore you, get to the end of yourself. Lose all faith in self and have faith in Christ; nothing will save you but that. Let your belief in Christ shine out a bright star upon the horizon of your life, leading you on day by day, as the star did those of old, to the place where Jesus is. Let nothing come between you and Christ. Banish your pre-conceived notions; your wrong ideas of God. In simple faith accept what God so freely gives—ETERNAL LIFE—and accept it now, for now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.
A French nobleman went to consult a doctor. He said: “My father was an infidel, my grandfather was an infidel, and I was brought up an infidel; but for the last three years I have been haunted with the thought of eternity. I cannot sleep, I am ever thinking. Where shall I be when I am dead? It is all dark.” The doctor said he could not help him; he had come to the wrong person. He exclaimed: “Must I always be haunted in this way? Is there no hope?” “Yes,” said the doctor, “There is hope. I cannot do anything for you, but the Lord Jesus Christ can.” The doctor read the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah to his patient, and spoke to him of the love of Jesus, how He had left heaven and had been here to save men. Then the nobleman asked, “Doctor, do you believe that? Do you believe that Jesus Christ came down and died that we might live?” “Yes,” was the answer, “and that was what brought relief to my own aching heart.” Then the doctor prayed with him, and shortly after he was saved. Oh! “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” What glorious words are these, “Thou shalt be saved.”
“Thou shalt be saved.” Oh, words of everlasting certainty. Were they breathed only for one to hear? No; thou shalt be saved if thou trusteth in Jesus. Art thou in earnest, reader? Art thou desirous after salvation? These words are addressed to thee. They tell thee that if thou wilt believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt know God as Father, Christ as Saviour, and the Holy Ghost as Comforter. “Thou shalt be saved.” Yes, they mean that thy sins may be blotted out. That heaven shall shine before thee as thy home, while the peace of Christ shall garrison thy heart. That if the Lord should come tonight, He will take thee to be with Himself forever. “Thou shalt be saved.” Yes, these words declare that through faith in the risen Jesus the world shall lose its hold upon thee, death its sting, the grave its victory. And all things become thine since “thou art Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” Then thine eternal life shall be apart from earth, “hid with Christ in God”; and thy position shall be “seated in heavenly places in Christ.” “Thou shalt be saved.” Yes, if thou wilt believe on the Lord Jesus Christ there’s not a joy that heaven knows but shall be thine. Not a throb of love in the heart of Christ but thou shalt share it. Not a note in the heavenly melody but thou shalt hear it. Not a song breathed there from lips redeemed but thou shalt join in it. “Thou shalt be saved.” Yes, saved from sin, Satan, death, and hell; from the fearful consequences of thy guilty past, from the fears, doubts, difficulties, and despairs of a heart that knew no rest. Anxious one, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”