MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS,
There are few boys and girls who have not heard of the recent inventions and discoveries, by which people can now "write at a distance," as the word "telegraph" means, without the aid of wires, and is therefore known as wireless telegraphy. Certainly it is puzzle enough to most of us, how this can be accomplished even with the aid of wires; only we have become so familiar with the telegraph posts, that many of us have ceased to wonder, since we experienced our first youthful disappointments at being unable to see any faint pink papers flying along the wires! No doubt we all know. better than that now, and realize that the message is the result of certain effects, seen or heard by a person who is on the look-out for a message at the terminus, as the result of the efforts of another person to communicate it, it may be, from a very considerable distance away.
It would be beyond the powers of the writer of this letter to explain the "why and wherefore" of all this. But these new inventions have at least shown us that the telegraph wires, to which we in our ignorance had attached so much importance, are the least important part of the whole thing, seeing that, under certain favorable conditions, it is possible to do without them; and that what is most essential of all, and without which these wonderful inventions and discoveries are absolutely powerless, is that there should be someone on the look-out for the message, who, when the alarm bell has rung, is all attention, and someone moreover, who has a message worth sending.
It is clear, therefore, that apart from the sender and the receiver, all these wonderful discoveries would be useless, however we might admire the way by which it becomes possible to communicate. Perhaps these considerations may set our young friends thinking of God's wonderful plan of salvation. The glory of devising such means that "his banished be not expelled from him," will ever be His; but unless we are on the look-out for the message, the benefit will be quite lost to us.
Compared with the marvelous unfolding of God's love in the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ, the wonders of creation are as nothing; and yet what a store-house of marvels is the universe, the secrets of which, the great scientists are only just beginning to obtain a peep into. Yet, believe me, some of the "lesser lights" are so proud of what they have been able to discover, that one would think they had invented the atmosphere itself, instead of having just learned how to make use of it.; in short, that that they had created the horse, instead of having only learned how to drive it!
The glories of God's creation pale before the surpassing wonder of the Creator God becoming man, to give Himself a ransom for Adam's guilty race.
Coming back to our telegraphy, one thing we have to note, and it is that those who make use of it require faith. So it is clear that if the apostle Thomas had not thoroughly learned the lesson the Lord Jesus taught him, after His resurrection, telegraphy would have been quite useless to him. He would have said, "Except I see the signature of the friend who has sent it, I will not accept the message," and by the time the properly signed letter had arrived, confirming the message, as is customary in business houses, the opportunity which rendered a telegram essential, would have gone.
No doubt the apostle Thomas' speech, as to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, sounded very wise and cautious; but I would like to point out that although he was allowed all the proofs that he asked, he was rebuked by the Lord Jesus, in a way that made him thoroughly ashamed of his heartless demands.
In the same way however, people are in this day acting so as to imply that they really doubt whether the God Who has created the marvelous facilities of speech, and means of communication with one another which we enjoy, has Himself actually spoken to us by His Son. And although He has warned us that there is no way of escape if we neglect His great salvation, revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is a solemn fact that those who are neglecting the scriptures (God's writing from a distance) will realize the folly of their unbelief when too late—indeed, will as it were, receive the letter confirming the telegram, in hell where hope and mercy never come." There will be no doubts there; clear and tormenting will the lost opportunities continue their endless, agonizing refrain.
We want our young friends to see, that all these doubts and misgivings cannot affect the fact, that God has in mercy sent a warning message to all, to "flee from the wrath to come," and that He has raised up attendants, who are busy receiving and handing on His messages.