EVERYBODY was astir and all seemed more or less excited, for the port was at length in sight. The long voyage with its tossings and sickness, monotony and frivolities was at an end, and few seemed sorry that it was so. There were two people on board, however, whose feelings must have been vastly different as the good ship neared the jetty. One was on the tiptoe of expectation, eagerly straining her eyes to catch a glimpse of the one who was to make her his bride on the coming day. The other, a poor criminal, in charge of an officer of the law, going to meet the judge for a very serious offense.
As I watched the faces of the two I fell to musing. I thought of the voyage across the waters of Time to the shore of Eternity, a voyage which all are taking. I thought of the end of the voyage when the trifles of Time, its sins and pleasures, will be left behind. Ah what kind of a reception will the voyagers receive when they reach the end of the journey, and what will their feelings be as they approach the vast forever?
The Word of God can tell us: we learn from its sacred pages that every man, woman and child belongs to one of two companies. One company, like the bride on our ship, will meet the Bridegroom. He shall meet them amid the triumphant shouts of heaven, for they are dear to Him. He loved them and gave Himself for them, and ransomed, blood-washed, and saved forever they shall share His home and His throne as His bride.
Alas! for the other company, they shall meet the Judge. Nor is there any doubt as to how the case will go with them; they are "condemned already," and at the judgment bar of the great white throne will receive in perfect justice their eternal sentence. But what makes the difference between these two companies?
Are not all sinners alike? Yes, truly, "all have sinned," but some have believed God's wondrous gospel; they have heard and believed that "God is Love"; they, by faith, have seen the way in which He has proved His love in giving Jesus to die for them, and knowing themselves to be sinners, indeed, they have fully accepted God's wondrous salvation, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. The other company—the judgment bound sinners—are not worse than those who are on their way to heaven, but they reject or neglect God's offered mercy they will not have His salvation. They have turned from Jesus, and beside Him there is no Savior. The only just and possible consequence of their folly is judgment after death and the lake of fire forever. Have you thought of the end of the voyage, my reader? and, if so, how will you meet it? Are you looking for the Bridegroom or dreading the meeting with the Judge?
J. T. M.