SOME years ago were in Lyons, and it so happened that we were close to the spot where the famous clock was about to strike an evening hour. We drew near to see and hear this extraordinary piece of mechanism.
The very appearance of the ancient construction was weird, and fixed at once our gaze. The quaint curves for marking the apparent position of the sun at the solstices and equinoxes, and the curious arrangement of the chiming bells, with figures emblematic of Time, Death, and Life, seen in the dim twilight, gave a ghostly appearance to the clock. On the very top stood a wooden angel holding a large hour-glass in its hand.
The hour arrived. The image of a cock rose and crowed, the chimes sounded sweetly through the deepening gloom, and the angel turned the hour-glass, so that the sand began to mark the first moments of another hour. We were deeply impressed as this strange old machine called our attention to the flight of time.
It matters little what kind of instrument may be used to a waken a soul―a sim pie dial or a more or less complicated clock. We wish to insist upon the value of time, and upon the importance of seizing the occasion offered to the sons of men as each hour is proclaimed.
This may possibly be read by someone who is not prepared to die. We know not what may happen in an hour, nor in a minute. It is probable that all those who read this little serial have often been warned not to let any interval of time pass before the great question of their eternal happiness be settled. It is not necessary, perhaps, to call up the remembrance of the symbolical angel and the glass; but, what is more important, a voice comes from heaven, saying, “Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation.” It is the Lord Himself who calls, and who warns us all of the importance of the present time. Oh, if you have not yet believed in Jesus and trusted in His precious blood, now is the time as you read these lines, before any more grains of sand run down into the lower part of the hour-glass. No one can say when the thread of his life shall be cut; no one knows how much or how little sand there is to run out. Now is the time to lay hold of the certain word of the Lord, who offers a present salvation to every believer. A true Christian might say: ―
“The glass has turned, and hark I the measured chime
Proclaims another hour of passing time:
Untold its value, as it swiftly flies;
The new-born hour appears, runs out―and dies!
“Now is salvation nearer than the day
When we to God from idols turned away.
Scant is the measure, quickly runs the sand,
Christ on the threshold―on the latch, His hand!
“Darker the shades around of evening lower;
‘Watch!’ He has said, ‘for no man knows the hour.’
The minutes, rushing onward, swiftly pass―
Wake, sleeper, wake, as turns the warning glass!
“Soon in the Father’s presence we shall stand:
‘Forever!’ measured nor by wheel nor sand.
Teach us eternal worth, while moments flee,
Whether we live or die, O Lord, for Thee!”
E. L. B.