A FEW months ago an elderly man, living in a little town in Wales, who had led a very careless and ungodly life, suddenly gave evidence of a great change, and commenced to attend certain popular religious meetings. All who knew him could not fail to remark the new course of life he was pursuing.
Shortly afterward he fell ill; and one day a Christian woman having called at the house, was asked in by his wife to see him. After speaking to him about his illness, and expressing how glad she was to hear of the change in him, she added “It is a good thing for you that― came to this town.”
“Oh,” he replied quickly, “don’t you give the credit of it to them. I go to their meetings, bemuse I feel myself too degraded to go anywhere else. But,” he added emphatically, “it was this which did the work.” And as he uttered these words, fumbling in his pocket, he drew out a worn and well-thumbed copy of The Gospel Messenger. How the book had got there, he said, he could not tell. But one day, when he went out as usual into his field, putting his hand into his pocket, there it was. On opening it, his eye fell on “words which,” to use his own phrase, “went through me.” It was a moment he never could forget. The tears rolled down the old man’s cheeks as he thought of hiss long life of sin and forgetfulness of God, and recounted the blessing he had received through grace.
It appears that his visitor had been in the habit of leaving this silent messenger every month with his wife; and it was she, no doubt, who had put it into her husband’s pocket. And God in His rich grace had been pleased to use its contents to the conversion of his soul. A short while after, the old man passed away happily to be forever with the Lord.
“Words which went through me.” The Word of God is living, powerful, and operative. It is sharper than any two-edged sword; and it pierceth to the dividing of bones and marrow asunder. It discerneth the thoughts and intents of the heart (Heb. 4:1212For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)). Dear reader, has it gone through you?
God is working in grace, and meeting and saving poor sinners on all hands. He would have His house full. Have you had to do with Him? Your only opportunity to become the recipient of His grace will very soon be past. We are in a death scene, and each one’s natural life hangs, as it were, upon the very slenderest of threads. He who gave it may take it again at any moment. And He is the Holy One, to whom each must render an account of the deeds done in the body. Are you prepared to meet Him? Can you conscientiously reply, Yes? If not, arouse thee, dear soul, at once. There is not a moment to be lost. The eternal future is at stake. You had far better never have been born than miss the salvation of God. The awful alternative is an eternity in darkness and banishment from God.
Now, blessed be His name, he lingers over this poor lost world under judgment to the very last moment, not willing that any should perish. But there is a limit to the day of His longsuffering and grace, and that limit you might reach at any moment. If you meet Him in your unconverted state, there is not a single ray of hope for you. It is impossible that a sinner in his sins can enter and abide in His holy presence; yea, utterly impossible.
But in His great grace, fruit of the love of His own heart, He has provided a great Saviour and a great salvation for all. That Saviour is Christ, His Son; and the ground of that great salvation is His finished work on the cross. Troubled soul, He offers now that precious Saviour to you. What think ye of Christ? None other can meet your deep, deep need. His precious blood alone can cleanse you from all your guilty stains. His work alone can deliver you from sin and Satan’s power. God has been glorified in Him, and as a just God waits to justify. Unconverted soul, you are under His judgment, but God’s beloved Son took judgment’s bitter cup at the cross and emptied it, that He might righteously save you.
Whosoever as a self-judged sinner believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, shall never reap judgment. Pardon and peace are his now, with the bright and sure prospect of eternal glory. Is this your portion, dear reader? If not yet, we pray you consider it ere it be too late. There is danger ahead, eternal danger! Have to do with God now, in this the day of His grace. Own your guilt, confess your sin, cry “lost.” Then believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. God will cast all your sins into the ocean’s depth, He will remember them no more. He will justify, reconcile, and save you with an everlasting salvation. May He graciously grant that His word in this little paper may go through you also, that like the old man of whom we have written, you may be saved.
E. H. C.