At the close of a gospel service, the preacher asked such as knew the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, to speak to those near them about their souls!
O! how I longed that evening to tell others how much the Lord had done for me, but more courage seemed needed than I could muster, and the company began to disperse. Left almost alone in the great building, very much depressed at my faint-heartedness, I sauntered to the door, purposing to seek grace to be a more faithful servant in the future.
A woman with a little girl stood in the door, but I was so occupied with myself that I had almost passed them, when I felt constrained by one word— “now.” This word in a moment so filled my mind, that I turned to the woman, and asked if it were well with her soul.
She burst into tears, and in her distress said that she dared not leave the place without having the question of her soul’s welfare settled, and that she was lingering in hope of someone speaking with her. Reentering the hall, we sat down, and on hearing again the glad tidings of the Savior’s finished work, the woman with joy received Him, and went away praising God.
This poor woman was a seeker. She knew her need of a Savior; she knew what it was to be lost; she knew something of the reality of eternity, and so she realized the truth of that passage in Proverbs 8:17.
“Those that seek Me early shall find Me,” and, to her joy, she learned that the blessed Son of Man came into this world “to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10.
Let me ask any reader, who is still undecided, to go back to the time when first the strivings of the Holy Ghost with him were known. How long ago is it? And are you yet unsaved? How often since that first awakening has the tender, pleading voice of Jesus been heard at the door of your heart? Yet, again and again, you have answered,
“Not yet—not yet—a little more delay, a little more pleasure.”
But what shall it be when this little more time is spent? What then, when this life is gone by? The rich man said to himself, “Soul, take thine ease,” and God’s words to him were, “Thou fool,” and he died, and was lost.
For a few moments, calmly and soberly look the matter of eternity fairly in the face. What are you doing? Resisting the Holy Ghost. Terribly solemn is the position in which you, who once were near the kingdom, stand at this moment. Sins and iniquities are piled up like a great mountain, and the wrath of God is abiding on you (John 3:36), yes, abiding on you—and yet—O! miracle of grace!—within your reach, as it were, are shelter, peace and rest.
O, come to Jesus now—just as you read these lines—tell Him all you know yourself to be, a guilty wretch, deserving nothing but an endless hell, a sinner without strength, and with no merit and no hope but in Him, and just cast yourself, in all your helplessness, upon Him, and here is His blessed word,
“Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:37.