READER, thy time on earth is short. Each closing year, each setting sun, each tick of yonder clock is shortening thy days on earth, and swiftly, silently, but surely carrying thee on—on to eternity and to God. The year, the day, the hour, the moment will soon arrive that will close thy life on earth, and begin thy song in heaven or thy wail in hell. No future hour shall come to bring thee back to earth again, thou art there forever—for eternity.
Today thy feet stand on time’s sinking sand—tomorrow the footprints remain, but thou art gone—where? Into eternity.
Today thy hands are busy at work, thine eyes are beholding, thy mind is thinking, thou art planning for the future; tomorrow all is still—the folded arm, the closed eye remain, but thou art gone—gone to eternity. Others were once busy as thou art, healthy as thou art, thoughtless as thou art, they are gone—gone to eternity. The merry voice, the painted clown, the talented artist whose presence made the theater and the pantomime an attraction for thee, are gone, they are removed far from the region of fiction to that of reality—the reality of eternity. The shrewd merchant whose voice was so familiar to thee on the crowded exchange is silent, he buys and sells no more—he has entered eternity.
And, reader, thine own turn to enter eternity will shortly come. Ask thyself honestly, “Am I prepared for eternity?” Give thy conscience time to answer. Listen! It speaks to thee today, drown not its voice lest it speak to thee no more. Let the heaven and the hell of the future stand before thee in all their realities, one of these must be thine eternal dwelling-place, and today is the time to make thy choice. Tomorrow may be too late—one day behind time. Which art thou living for? Which art thou traveling to?
To go from the haunts of sin, debauchery, and vice to the presence of God and the Lamb—impossible; from the crowd of the condemned to the crown of glory—no, never! God says, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3). Reader, has this ever happened to you? Have you been born again for an eternal heaven? If so, well; but if not, the horrors of an eternal hell are awaiting you, and today you are nearer its unquenchable flame than you have ever been before.
Halt! Why will you meet God with an unsaved soul? He wills it not. Today He pleads, “Turn ye.... turn ye, why will ye die?”
Today He points you to the Son of God, once uplifted on the cross, groaning, bleeding, dying, for sinners. Yes, reader, for the lost the soldier’s spear brought the blood from His side—for the helpless and undone He cried in triumph, “It is finished,” and for you there is salvation free today, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16).