There is a final end to everything, even to the long-suffering of a more than merciful God. There is a last call to everything; a time when the last note of appeal dies away and is gone finally and forever. Whether it be a simple call to duty or the all and eternally, important call to repentance and reconciliation with God.
The fact that the call has come again and again, and still appears to be forthcoming, is no proof whatever that it will always come. There must be a last and final call. The fact that a man is well to-day is no proof whatever that he will not be a cold corpse to-morrow. Indisputable facts refute such logic every day.
“Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were.” Ah, yes, but they will not always so continue.
A last call came to the Antediluvian world, and they, who had for a long time scorned the warning, perished miserably.
A last call came to the Johnstown people to escape to the hills, but they had often heard it before, and they laughed at the fears of the lone horseman as he galloped through the town shouting the swift words of warning.
Where are the signs of His coming? Ah, they will never be seen by the disobedient. To them he shall appear as a thief in the night, when least expected. If there is a sign it will be that, but all too late for them, The door will then be shut.
But God’s Saints shall have escaped to their Pella in the Air.
It is an awful thing, terrible beyond all possibility of description, when the Spirit of God leaves a soul. Hope is removed, the Spirit has plead for the last time, and has taken His final departure, grieved away, forever beyond recall. Darkness ensues, harbinger of certain eternal night. All chance is gone forever, the doom is sealed, blackness of despair seizes upon the soul. There is nothing left now but “a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation,” while fiends of hell wait eagerly to drag the doomed soul to its final, everlasting and inexpressible torment.
Horrible picture! How would you sleep to-night were you to realize that God’s blessed, pleading Spirit had left you at last and forever?
Ah, it is hope alone that keeps men alive. Presumptuous, it may be, in the case of many, but hope nevertheless.
Were men to fully realize themselves eternally lost they would plunge headlong into hell by an act of their own hands, without delay. The human mind could never stand the strain and keep its balance, necessary for this life. But the last call is coming, (has come to many); the last call to individuals, the last call to a rebellious world.
All down the ages God has plead and called, but men, for by far the most part, have closed their ears and sealed their doom; plunged wilfully into a self-chosen, devil’s hell.
And now, once more, at the very ends of the Age, God calls again.
What shall the answer be?
Oh, eternal, final destiny surely hangs upon the decision of this hour, for the present race.
THE LAST CALL, the Midnight Cry, is now upon us, sounding clearly in our ears - “GO ye out to meet Him.”
God will give us this one more chance, the last. One more chance to seek Him; one more chance to work for souls.
“See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh.” One more call to mercy, before the flood-gates of His anger shall be opened wide; the vials of His wrath be poured out upon a slumbering, cursed world.
For “as it was in the days of Noah, so also shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man.” But it is mercy, then judgment on a corresponding scale.
A final call, then the Great Tribulation.
A WORLD-WIDE REVIVAL, then Judgment upon the whole earth. The magnitude proves its significance.
All is expectancy, politically, socially, financially, religiously.
Some tremendous event is about to transpire. To the Christian it means the coming of his King.
To the worldling the perfection of his dreams, the deceptive Anti-Christ.
Arthur T. Pierson has lately said: “I believe the Christ will return and end this Dispensation between 1910 and 1935.”
D. L. Moody said when dying: “I know how much better it would be for me to go, but I believe we are on the eve of another Revival like that of ‘57, and I want to have a hand in it.”
Evan Roberts has said: “It is light the world around. Jesus is coming soon.”
Hudson J. Taylor, (now in glory) said, ten years ago, in Shanghai, China: “Brethren, I have a conviction which I believe is of the Lord, that in the next ten years there will occur one of the bloodiest wars in the world’s history. In this war Russia will be the leader on the one side. The sentiment of the Christian nations will generally be against Russia. Contemporaneous with this conflict there shall burst out a Revival such as was never known in the Christian Church, and which shall spread throughout the world, turning many unto righteousness.
And, my brethren, it is moreover my conviction that immediately following this mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the Lord Himself, will come.”
How shall we use the last few uncertain days left us?
How will we wish we had used them when we meet our King?
We may no longer presume on time, for “time shall be no more.”
The “fire” alarm has sounded; answer quickly to the call. Rush to the rescue.
“Howbeit when the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” - in you?
F. BARTLEMAN,
Los Angeles, Cal.
“Tract.”
Written, March, 1906.
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