A young girl, of not more than twenty years, came to a gospel meeting and listened to the grace of God bringing salvation, and the love of Him who gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. All these riches of the mercy of God towards sinners had been presented, and she was urged to receive the message of love.
But the heart of this young girl was filled with the vanities of this world, and of the love of the pleasure it offers for enjoyment.
In excellent health, and seeing before her many years of such delights, she paid no attention to Christ, and He found no entrance into her soul.
But alas! her indifference was but for a little while! How uncertain is that health, and that life on which she depended! A week had not passed before the fever brought her to the gates of the grave.
Only a few days had passed since Christ had let her hear the gentle calls of His grace, and she refused to answer; now it was the fear of appearing before a terrible Judge.
Where now was the charming future that the devil had caused to sparkle before her eyes, to prevent her receiving the word of salvation? Gone, gone forever, to give place to a future of despair without end!
Listen to her last words, O young readers, entwined, perhaps, now as she had been, in the net of the deceiver. Her brothers and sisters surrounded her bed of suffering, but she, occupied only with the loss she had made in deliberately rejecting the salvation God had offered her, cried,
"I am lost, I am going to hell!" then turning to her eldest brother, said, "Read to me some verses of God's Word." But it was too late, and no attention was paid to her request, and she died while thus expressing her thoughts of the terrible future that was opening out for her.
One would have thought that the brothers and sisters of this young girl would have profited by this solemn warning. But how subtle are the wiles of the enemy of our souls. "It is delirium makes her speak thus!" he suggested.
No, it was not delirium, but the fearful reality of the pit that she saw opening before her, after rejecting the only arm that could save her.
Young man, or young woman, reading these lines, it is to you, personally, that this warning is addressed. Listen now to the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, who calls you to Himself to give you eternal life. Do not believe the world, which treats these solemn realities as fables, intended only to frighten.
Ah! yes, it is a reality that you are a lost sinner; a reality that Jesus, the Son of God, is come to save those that are lost —a reality that there is a heaven for those who believe on Him, and a lake of fire for those that reject His grace, and it is not without a reason that He sends this pressing appeal,