TRAVELING through the magnificent scenery of the Rocky Mountains in America, it is not an unusual thing for the guard of the train to call attention to an erection, not more imposing in exterior than the immense letter-signs floating over the tiles and chimneys of many large cities, calling attention to, the establishment of some enterprising tradesmen. This particular sign is, however, of rare and uncommon interest. The iron work supports a bracket, bearing the three words “THE GREAT DIVIDE.”
The reason these three words stand against the sky in that particular place is this, that the rivers rising upon one side of the erection flow into the Pacific Ocean, whilst those which rise upon the Other side flow into the Gulf of Mexico, and into the Atlantic Ocean. It is to call attention to this remarkable fact that the sign has been erected. A distance of a few feet apart in falling to the earth bears one drop of rain thousands of miles away from another drop, both parts of the same cloud. A gust of wind may separate thus widely two drops falling closely together from the sky!
GOD also has His “great divide,” ―that which divides between saint and sinner, between believer and unbeliever, between the lifeless formalist and the living Christian, between the speculative philosopher and the converted sweep. It is THE GOSPEL OF GOD.
A poet of considerable merit has related to us in lovely verse the tale of a boy and girl, who started life together, hand-in-hand. A tiny babbling streamlet separated them at first, and, as they journeyed, the little stream gathered volume till at length the loving hand-clasp had to be relinquished. On and on they went, till the stream had given place to a stately river, and it was with difficulty they kept sight with each other. The river rolled on, receiving its tributaries, till at length it was more like a lake as it rushed to meet the ocean. Farther and farther the brother and sister separated, till at length they were lost in the mist and distance to each other’s view, and the angry roar of the turbulent river more than drowned their feeble cries, as the mighty river rushed into the still mightier ocean. That journey is the journey of life; the stream, its course from childhood to old age; the terminus, the grave; the ocean, eternity―measureless, timeless, shoreless, unending.
The poet’s fancy may be beautiful. To me it is inexpressibly sad, for such is the illustration of thousands of lives. The difference between two lives may be little in man’s view, but infinite in God’s. Two may live in the same house, eat at the same table, know the same friends, hear the same Gospel preacher Sunday after Sunday, ―and one may be traveling to heaven with its everlasting joys, the other to hell with its eternal woes. One may be husband, the other wife; one parent, another child. Each beat of the heart, each throb of the pulse, each tick of the clock, each rising and setting sun, each waxing and waning moon, all tell the tale that we are journeying. Each moment of time carries on its broad and mighty pinions the whole human race nearer to eternity. Very, very soon writer and reader will have entered that eternity, and it is with trembling anxiety we would ask the momentous question, Where will you spend it?
There are thousands of distinctions in this world, but here is one which divides the world into two great classes―THE GOSPEL OF, GOD. “It is the power of God UNTO SALVATION to everyone that believeth.” “The Gospel of God” is “concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 1:8). “He that believeth on him, IS NOT CONDEMNED: but he that believeth not IS CONDEMNED ALREADY.” “He that believeth, not the Son... the wrath of God abideth on him.”
In the face of these plain, unmistakable statements from God’s Word, I would ask my reader affectionately, On which side of God’s great divide do YOU stand―hell-ward, or heaven-ward?
Do you say you are doing your best; I am sober and steady now; once I was a loose kind of a fish? Stay, my friend, in other words you were reeling drunk into a lost eternity, now you are traveling into it sober. One can excuse a drunk man traveling a dangerous road, disregarding all warnings, but not the sober wide-awake man. You may have got a teetotal suit on, but are you traveling the right road yet― have you been converted? Right glad are we for a man’s own sake if he be reformed; but oh, how awful, if he rests content merely with that!
I heard a young man preaching in the streets of Newcastle two weeks ago, and he told the crowd that once he was an., unconverted Sunday-school teacher. A man near me replied, “And so was I.” I asked him if he were converted yet. He said, sadly enough, “No, I’m not.”
On one side of God’s great divide are not only drunkards and harlots, gamblers and blasphemers, but also unconverted Sunday school teachers, unconverted deacons of churches, unconverted ministers and clergymen. You reply, “Don’t be too uncharitable.” My friend, it is false charity, cruel as hell itself, to conceal the truth, however painful it may be, on such a subject.
The Rev. Wm. Haslam tells us he was converted whilst preaching one of his own sermons in church. Not many months ago a deacon exclaimed, in soul agony, in a Gospel meeting, “I have been a deacon for forty years, and not till tonight have I found out I’m unconverted.” We could multiply examples, but this is enough. We don’t ask you, Are you a church member, do you take communion, do you visit the sick, or sing in the choir? No; we ask you, How do you stand towards Christ? Are you converted? Are your sins forgiven? Which side of God’s great divide are you on?
These are days of heartlessness and indifference. A few years ago infidelity was grim, and its followers were spotted, and avoided by all decent people. Now it is preached from pulpits. It has grown to be a popular pleasure-loving, easy-going, heartless thing. It is chameleon-like. It is coarsely spouted at the street corner, in all its naked, destructive deformity, with its obscene wit, and ancient arguments. It is politely and philosophically preached to audiences, whose belief makes little difference to them so long as they are kept at their ease.
God’s Word makes short work of all this. We may deceive each other, but we cannot God. Believing on Christ, we are either not condemned, or condemned already. So-called good works will not help you in the matter of your soul’s salvation, any more than a murderer whitewashing his cell would help to procure him a free pardon. Nothing would procure that but Her gracious Majesty’s clemency, and nothing will save your soul but God’s free grace.
Not many lines are needed to bestow a free pardon on a guilty criminal, and not many lines are needed to give you the pith and marrow of God’s Gospel―God’s great divide. It is concerning His Son. The apostle Paul insisted upon three great facts. He died, was buried, and rose again, according to the Scriptures. He died, the Just for the unjust—the forsaken of God—the sinner’s substitute, and there on Calvary’s cross atoned for sin. He was buried, the evidence of His death; He was raised, the evidence of God’s satisfaction with His work at the cross.
And now God delights to offer a free, full pardon, to the vilest sinner. “BE IT KNOWN unto you... that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by him all that believe ARE JUSTIFIED from all things” (Acts 13:88). Oh, receive the Gospel, believe on God’s Son, and know that you have passed out of death unto life, and are on the right side of God’s great divide,—heaven’s side,—with the sunlight of God’s love resting on you, rather than His wrath.
A. J. P.