WHO is your master? “My master! I do not own any man as master.” Perhaps not, but for all that you have a Master, every man has one. There are two beings more powerful than yourself. One is Satan, the other is God. You are controlled by one or other. Not that Satan’s power is equal to God’s. He, like yourself, is a being who owes his existence to God. He fell from his first estate, is doomed to endless misery, and his great business now is to drag you, and others, down to share his condemnation.
He gets the mastery over people in very subtle ways. He is a wily serpent. If you are fond of money he will lure you on to grasp it by any means in your power. If you are fond of self-gratification he will pander to your lusts. He does not present himself openly to you and say, “I am Satan,” he gilds the pill and conceals the poison. But of one thing you may be certain, he will not alleviate your misery when you come to die. He has no comfort for you in sickness, no consolation in a dying hour. You may serve him well in health and strength, and he will torment you in sickness and need.
Come with me to a cottage in the village of—. A servant of Christ is there, trying to speak of the Saviour to a poor wretched woman. “Don’t talk to me of pardon,” she fiercely interrupted. “What is His blood to me? Do you think I sinned without warning, and despised and disobeyed and hated God without knowing what would be the end of it all? No, no, I knew it well; I hardened my heart until now it’s like this stone I am sitting on. Do you think ‘twill soften after all these years, or that Satan will lose his grip until he has got me into hell? Look here, ‘tis begun already; I tell you there is a burning and a gnawing and a torment here that never cease. Did I not strive against the Spirit of God, and listen to the foul things Satan led me on to do? Do you think I had no father or mother or minister to instruct me that ‘whilst we were yet sinners Christ died for us’? Do you think the devil is such a fool as to be cheated of his prey now?”
Thus she raved on and would listen to no word of mercy. Not long afterward a messenger came running breathless up to Mr. H— ‘s home. “Oh, sir, L—is dying, such a dreadful scene. She says her master the devil has come to carry her to hell, and that her hour has come. She cries out she cannot die and she will not die. Oh, the agony and despair written on her face! She says she could never endure to burn forever and ever. Susan, the sick-nurse who has attended all the death-beds in the village these thirty years, says she can stand it no longer. Do, sir, come down and see what can be done.” Mr. H― went. In vain he spoke of pardon for crimes of the deepest dye, of the mercy of God for the vilest sinner. In a frenzy of agony as she thought of the past, and dread and despair for the future, her soul passed into eternity.
Reader, this is no fiction, the facts are on reliable authority. If you die in your sins your eternity will be spent with that woman and her master.
But now let me tell you of another Master. His name is Jesus—God over all, blessed forever. He is my Master. I long that He may be yours. He never leaves or forsakes those who confess Him as their Lord. He saves them to start with, keeps and cares for them until the end, and then conducts them through the portal of glory to a home of life, light, rest, joy and peace. In circumstances of deepest want He can so fill hearts with His love that they rise superior to all their surroundings.
Come with me to a hovel in the village of H―. We will push aside the sack hanging at the door. Inside is an old woman sitting on the only seat—a rude stump of wood, her long bony fingers stretched over a few embers in a grate made of rough stones and a piece of iron grating. She is deaf, and it was only when J. A. S.— lifted up his voice and said, “Mother, I am a child of God and have come to talk to you about good things,” that she discovered she had a visitor. She started to her feet, raised her tall bent form to its full height, and said: “May the Lord bless you, I want to know more about these things. I am always thinking of them when I am here all alone; now speak to me.”
Sitting down he opened his Bible and read, “Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” She rose again from her seat, pointed to the humble cot with its few contents and said, with deep emotion, while joy kindled her eye and lighted her withered checks, “Why, I have got more than He had, I have got all this and HIM TOO.”
Yes, her Master was with her, she had Him too. In her old age, weakness, and poverty He remained faithful. He loved and cared for her as much when she could not actively serve Him as in the days of health and strength.
He is such a blessed Master, I would fain plead with you to enter His service. He will welcome you even if your health has been ruined, and your life spent in the devil’s service. If you open your Bible and read the thirtieth chapter of first Samuel, you will read of a man whose master had left him, left him to die when he could serve him no longer. Now we are told four things which happened to that man. The first, he was found in a perishing condition and brought to David. Now that is just what we want to do with you. We would be like David’s servants, and set you before our Master. He is looking for such as you. You are ready to perish. He is ready to save—even you. They “found” him.
This gospel magazine is one way in which my Master finds His servants. We would fain find you, and bring you to Him now. There is nothing but blessing in His heart for you. The next thing we read is, they “gave” him bread, and he did eat; and they “made” him drink water. My Master is both the Bread of Life and the Water of Life. He waits to bestow both on you. Eating this Bread you shall never perish, drinking this Water you shall never thirst. It is for whosoever will, free for all, you among them. Most masters want a good character when they engage a servant, also strength and ability for work. My Master welcomes those who have bad characters, or no character at all. He takes those who are without strength.
“The chief of sinners He receives,
His saints He loves and never leaves.”
Whether young or old, rich or poor, in my Master’s name I claim you for Him. He created you, and purchased you at the cost of His life-blood. I challenge you. Will you dare to refuse the claims of Jesus who bought you at such infinite cost? May you say, “I yield, I yield.”
David’s servants made the perishing man drink water. We cannot make you, but there is One who can. The Holy Ghost can bow the stoutest heart.
Every one of us who have bowed to Jesus and owned Him as our Lord can say―
“Why was I made to hear Thy voice,
To enter whilst there’s room,
While thousands make the wretched choice,
And rather starve than come?”
How gladly we respond―
“‘Twas the same love that spread the feast
Which sweetly forced me in;
Else I had still refused to taste,
And perished in my sin.”
That same love seeks you, would win you, draw you, compel you, even you.
H. N.