Dear Friends: I will tell you the story of the Lord's dealings with me, and how He brought me to Himself.
When I was quite a boy, I often thought about the things of God. My mother was a true Christian, and she took me with her when I was very young to hear the Gospel preached, but I am sorry to say that at the time I had little heart for such things.
When I was twelve or thirteen years of age I began to be really anxious about my soul. There was a great struggle went on for some time within me; the Spirit of God was striving with me; but I quickly stifled my convictions, and settled down into carelessness again. It was just then that several of my schoolmates died, and again I was aroused to think about my soul. Death and the judgment were before me also. I knew that I was unprepared to meet them, and my sleepless nights were spent in thinking of how I could meet God. O how long-suffering was the Lord! He might have cut me down as a cumberer of the ground, and if He had, my soul would have been lost forever.
Dear reader, do not trifle with the living God. He spared me, but hundreds have been cut down. Do not count upon His long-suffering, or continue in your rejection of His Son. A few years later, I left the home of my childhood, and soon after joined the army. The "way of transgressors is hard," and so I found it. Careless and Christ-less, my life sped on. The Bible my mother gave me on leaving home was neglected-never once opened.
A younger brother had become a Christian, and he, along with several others, were praying for my soul's salvation. I was at home on leave, and while I was living with this brother, a lady spoke to me about my soul. She said,
"It is mean of you to serve the devil, and then give the last few days of your life to God."
That struck me forcibly, and I could not shake off the thought. But then, what was I to do? My time was up, and I had to join my regiment. My anxiety deepened; I knew that I was lost, and Satan did his utmost to keep me so. Many a weary hour I spent pacing to and fro, and wondering what I could do to find rest.
Many from my regiment were leaving for the War. I volunteered to go, in hope that the excitement and the change would take away my thoughts of death and the judgment; but the Lord, whose eye was upon His wandering sheep, prevented my going.
By a simple accident my wrist was sprained, and the enforced relief from active duty gave me time to ponder over my past life. One Sunday evening I went to hear the Gospel. The preacher` came up at the close, and spoke to me of Jesus. Just then a verse I had heard years before came to my mind. It was this,
I went to the barracks that night with a settled peace filling my soul. Jesus is mine, and He has kept me and sustained me from day to day, and
"Soon He will come,
And take me safe home,
And make me to sit
With Himself on His throne."
Dear young friends, remember your time on earth is short. Swiftly, though silently, you are being borne on to eternity. Have you ever quietly considered where you are to spend it? Pause and think. The Son of God has died that you might live. He shed His blood -for your salvation.