“IT was midnight, when all had retired to rest, I and not only so, but it was midnight in my soul. I lay awake thinking, with no small exercise of soul, of the possibility of sacrificing the eternal joys of heaven for the transient pleasures of earth.
“As I lay there my sins rose up before me, sins that I had long forgotten. My anguish of soul was great. The remembrance of my mother’s prayers and my father’s entreaties seemed only to add to my anguish. I thought of the eternal future I was fast hastening to, and of the God whose untiring love and patience I had spurned.”
But He was about to snatch another “brand” from the burning; about to set another captive free.
Six months previous to this, a tract lay upon the table which bore the above title, “Though your sins be as scarlet.” The words seemed to force themselves upon me with irresistible power, and kept ringing in my ears from sunrise to sunset. The tract told briefly of a young man who one evening was on his way to a scene of pleasure, but was suddenly brought to a standstill by a man thrusting a tract into his hands bearing the title, “Though your sins be as scarlet.” He was arrested then and there, like Saul of Tarsus on his way to Damascus. Annoyed at being thus so rudely interrupted in his pursuit, he made an effort to cast the tract from him. But the Spirit of God had already done His convicting work in his soul, and he was constrained to turn into a hall where the Gospel was being preached that evening. Remarkable to say, he there heard the very words from the preacher’s lips that had been the means of arresting him in the tract. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isa. 1:1818Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18)).
What wonderful and assuring words! To that young man they were used; to my own soul also. But have they not a voice to you, my reader? Have such blessed words no charm for you? Is there nothing in them that would suggest to you the gracious attitude of the blessed God? Think! The question of your sins is a serious one. With Him about them you must have to do, sooner or later. To Him you must render a strict account. You will do well to consider the present situation. You may be shrewd enough in matters of business, far-seeing with respect to things of time and sense; very little escapes your observation. How strange that you have not observed, this time―this “COME NOW” of the blessed God. If you accept the invitation―and it is surely a worthy one―it will, indeed, be well with you; but if you reject it, what then? Who can tell the remorse that will fill your soul on that day when you will certainly be compelled, not invited, to hear His voice. But then it will be the voice of pronounced judgment. We would beseech you, therefore, to “come now.”
It may be that one who is reading this paper is weary and sin-sick. To such the words are surely addressed, and we are glad to tell you that God has made provision for you in the sacrifice of His beloved Son. To Him we point you, and say, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:2929The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)). His work, His worth, is great before the blessed God. He alone can fully estimate its efficacy. If only you knew this, what peace and joy would fill your soul! The Lord Jesus said to the woman at the well, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and Who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water” (John 4:1010Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. (John 4:10)). What you need is living water. That spring never runs dry. It flows from a living Saviour at God’s right hand. You have proved, it may be, the emptiness of that which the world offers. To say the least, it is not soul-satisfying. “He that drinketh of this water shall thirst again.” How true, as thousands have proved. Oh, that you may prove the blessedness of accepting in this day of marvelous opportunity the Lord Jesus as God’s great and eternal gift. But it is written, “See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh; for if they escaped not that refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven” (Heb. 12:2525See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: (Hebrews 12:25)).
“No curse of law, in Thee was sovereign grace,
And now what glory in Thine unveiled face!
Thou didst attract the wretched and the weak,
Thy joy the wanderers and the lost to seek.”
E. J. E.