WE are told that Pietro, Duke of Florence, once ordered Michael Angelo to mold a statue of snow—a statue which in the heat of an Italian sun would melt away in a short time, leaving no trace whatever of the sculptor's genius. What a waste of time and skill!
And yet how like this statue is to sinful man; not as God made him, but as he has become in his fall. No sooner does he begin to live than he begins to die, and all his knowledge, skill, and reputation pass away, as if they had never existed.
Aye, and what does the world care about your death? Another name will appear in the death column, a fresh grave, another funeral, while the keen, cold world will rush on with its great tide of human souls, leaving little or no trace of the terrible moment when you sank into eternity.
- - -
The old Roman emperors deified themselves, and were worshipped by the populace. Man's chief end is to glorify himself and to leave God out. Man must exalt the race. Every erection—from the lofty pyramid to the meanest monument that raises its head above the earth—is pointed to by men to glorify the race.
Indeed it would seem, from the way some men talk, that the very heavens declare man's glory, and the earth his handiwork, instead of the glory and handiwork of Almighty God.
Man, in truth, worships himself. Literary, commercial, military, and political heroes are adored with almost superstitious blindness; thousands of victims are immolated every day on the altars of human greatness-a terrible price indeed for the purchase of empty fame.
How truly could God say of many to-day, Thou "hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven... and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified." (Dan. 5:23.)
Remember that you cannot escape from the fact that God must be glorified—glorified either in your blessing or judgment, but glorified He will be. "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils." (Isa. 2:22.) "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man." (Jer. 17:5.)
- - -
You need a divine Savior to prepare you for dying and for eternity. The dark record of your sins is stereotyped on the plates of an irrevocable past, and nothing but the blood of a holy victim can erase it. Jesus is a mighty glorious Savior. He longs to gain admittance to your heart; to possess your soul; to hold for you a glorious destiny. "If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not He that pondereth the heart consider it? and He that keepeth thy soul, doth not He know it? and shall not He render to every man according to his works?" (Prov. 24:1212If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works? (Proverbs 24:12).)
Human works go for nothing, but "this is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." (John 6:29.)
Why not trust Him now? W. O.