IN November of the year 1796, after his victory at Arcole, Bonaparte, the Commander-in-chief of the Army of Italy (afterward Emperor of the French), lay encamped with his troops on the plains of Lombardy. It was night, and the camp was still, when the indefatigable general went from his tent, and, alone, muffled in his cloak, went the round of the sleeping camp. Suddenly he came upon a sentinel who was sleeping at his post: quietly, and, without awakening him, he takes from him his gun, and going on duty in his stead, waits until the guard is relieved. At last the soldier is awakened by his footstep, and what is his dismay at finding his general in this position! He utters a cry: “Bonaparte! I am lost!”
“Be reassured, my friend,” replied the general to him, “a brave fellow like you may well sleep after so much fatigue, but another time choose your opportunity better.”
Mark — it was the footfall of the great commander that awakened the slumbering sentry, it was his presence that inspired him with shame and confusion; and the grace of the reply could only make the rebuke ring more loudly in his ears. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, my reader, here is not the place of your rest. Know you not that you are in active service, and that it should be your aim in all things to please Him who hath called you to be a soldier? Have you slumbered? Are you slumbering? It is written that while the Bridegroom tarried, all those virgins of the parable, whether wise or foolish, alas! slumbered and slept. Some He has awakened in His rich mercy, and has shown to them the clearness of “that blessed hope,” that He Himself will soon come to take His people home. Yea, He will not tarry, for He longs to present them faultless before the presence of God’s glory to His own exceeding joy. Awaken, then; the hour is not far distant when in the twinkling of an eye the dead in Christ shall be caught up and the living changed, and all in one unbroken company will be with Christ and like Him forever!
If, on the contrary, you, who read these words, are a rejecter of the offer of grace and mercy that “if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved,” what can the thought of the appearing of the great Captain of salvation bring to your heart, but tremor and fear? Yea, it must be dread because His appearing would be for your eternal judgment. Oh! be warned in time. The Saviour still waits to welcome you, and, with uplifted voice and outstretched hands, He still is pleading, beseeching you to be recoiled to God. The requirements of the throne of God have been perfectly met by the one sacrifice for sins that has been offered, and now the feeblest and the vilest sinner that pleads that precious blood is eternally sheltered from the wrath of God against sin, that will ere long burst upon the world that is guilty of the murder of His beloved Son.
Oh! may you not be amongst those upon whom the day of His appearing will come as a thief, but may God in His infinite mercy, awaken you from the effects of the opiate with which Satan is lulling so many to sleep, the false gospel of “peace, where there is no peace.” Peace with God is offered you now freely in Jesus’ name, and He will soon come and usher all His own into His eternal peace.
“What I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch!”
“The Lord is at hand.”