TO a heart that loves the Lord how sweet is the midnight cry, “Behold the bridegroom I go ye out to meet him” (Matt. 25:66And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. (Matthew 25:6)). What emotions it stirs; what affections it moves! For Him we have waited; for Him we long, and now the Spirit’s voice says, “Go ye out to meet him.” He is coming; He is near at hand! Another hour and we may hear His blessed voice calling us up to Himself in the air. We shall see Him―Jesus―our Saviour, Lord, and Friend; Eternal Lover of our souls, and Bridegroom of our hearts. We shall be like Him, and with Him forever. His presence shall be our everlasting joy, His love our portion, His home our resting-place. His heart, too, shall be satisfied then, when He has His blood-bought, and tenderly loved Bride in glory with Himself:
“Oh wondrous day of promise!
The Bridegroom and the Bride
Are seen in glory ever,
O God, how satisfied.”
This, dear fellow-believer, is what we wait for, and long for. Have you heard the midnight cry? Is your lamp trimmed? With loins girt are you waiting for the Lord? These are serious questions, and we do well to put them to our hearts in the Lord’s presence. Happy, indeed, are those hearts when we can sing―
“I’m waiting for Thee, Lord,
Thy beauty to see, Lord;
No triumph for me,
Like Thy coming again.”
Thus sings the happy Christian on his way to glory; but what shall be said of you, my reader, if still unsaved? Dark, indeed, is your outlook. Before you is nothing but an horizon, gloomy with guilt, and its sure and certain judgment.
I have a title without a flaw, and a prospect without a cloud. Your prospect is dark, indeed, without a break in its somber clouds of divine judgment ready to burst upon your guilty, and even now lost soul. But all may yet be changed. Yes, changed in one moment. Look to Jesus, turn to Him, believe in Him, and all shall be forgiven.
God delights in mercy, and there is no limit to His grace, for “the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation.” Yes, it is a wondrous truth that He “is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Had His patience been exhausted yesterday, had the Lord risen up from the Father’s throne, and come for His own, then the door would have been forever shut on you. But, thank God, the day of grace still exists, the gospel trumpet still sounds, and the Spirit of God still labors to win the unsaved sinner, to soften the hard heart, and bless the hitherto Christless soul. Say, dear unsaved reader, will you still refuse the call of grace? Is it wise to trifle with God and His infinite goodness? What greater love could He show than the cross exhibits, and what grater indifference could you manifest than by refusing to turn to the One who hung there? Only in Him is salvation, but in Him is there now, for you, salvation full and free. Free as the air you breathe is the offer of God’s salvation. Take it, I beseech you. “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Ten thousand witnesses around you can testify that true is the word, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” and that “whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.”
Let not 1887 pass away and leave you still among the lost. Be persuaded. Do come to Jesus. Come now. Come just as you Are. Wait for nothing. Delay not one moment. “Behold the bridegroom; go ye out to meet him.” He comes! Another day, another hour, may find the door shut, and you outside forever. It will be of no use to come then. “Too late” and “I know you not” ever go together. Be wise; be in time. Heed the cry of mercy, the call of love, the silvery voice of grace. “Come! come! come unto me, and I will give you rest.” Procrastinate no more, trifle with God’s love and patience no longer. Procrastination is the thief of souls, the recruiting-officer of hell. Enlist not, I implore you, in the laggard host that knocks only at heaven’s door to find it eternally shut, and, in the recoil of startled surprise, falls into the open mouth of hell. Eternity can afford you no comfort, for there is no rest in hell for the weary, nor water for the thirsty. Despair shall seize, and remorse torment you. The deathless worm, the quenchless fire, the bridgeless gulf, will ever be your portion; and the added sting of all will be that you could have been in heavenly glory with Christ, only, you came TOO LATE.
W. T. P. W.