"He who is often reproved and hardens
his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed,
and that without remedy!" Proverbs 29:1
Not many years ago, an eminent
London clergyman observed among
his regular hearers, a young man
whose appearance excited in him
an unusual interest. He took pains
to learn the young stranger's history,
and found that he was the son of pious
parents, and had been trained to respect
the gospel of CHRIST.
A devout mother had added
to her prayers the fervent precept,
do not consent!" (Proverbs 1:10)
The young man at length was missed
from his place in the church. The watchful
eye of the minister sought for him in vain.
He had met with a company of witty and
engaging skeptics, who had persuaded
him to abandon the house of prayer,
for the more "manly" entertainments
of their infidel club, where the ribaldries
of atheists were rendered more palatable
by the lively jest, and the exhilarating glass.
His conscience stung him, but their
merry laugh soon drowned the troublesome
remonstrance. He proved to be an apt
scholar in the ways of sin. His Sunday
instructions among the skeptics soon
prepared him for the haunts of revelry,
and for those chambers which lie nearby
the door of Hell. A short career of reckless
dissipation did its work of ruin upon his
slight and delicate frame.
His former pastor, who had well-near
forgotten him, was one day surprised
by an invitation to visit the unhappy
youth on his dying bed. He found him
sinking rapidly, and sinking without hope.
As the man of GOD approached the bedside,
the young man hid his face and refused
to speak to him. Finding it impossible to
draw a word from the wretched victim
of remorse, who was just about entering
eternity in such a state of sullen despair--
the minister offered a fervent prayer and
turned away. He reached the door, his
hand was upon the latch, when the young
man suddenly rose in the bed, and beckoned
him to return. He went back and leaned his
head over the bed to receive the message.
The young man threw his arms about
him and drawing his head close to his
lips, whispered in convulsive accents,
"I am damned!" and then sank back
silent on his pillow. No further efforts
or entreaties could rouse him.
The heart-wrung pastor pleaded with
him, but in vain. Having pronounced
his own awful doom--
his lips refused to speak again;
and before the clock struck the hour
of midnight, his unhappy soul was
in the eternal world!
Young man! as you read the appalling
narrative of the poor profligate's doom--
you may be reading your own!
If your feet have forsaken the house of GOD--
if you have been seen on the seat of the scorner--
if you have returned home at the midnight hour
from the card table, or the drinking circle--
you have good cause to tremble!
Persist in your course of self-destruction,
and you may meet that young man in
the world of eternal despair!
Partners in misery, you may, to all eternity,
curse yourselves as the authors of
your own damnation!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
GraceGems has published Timothy Shay Arthur's superb and helpful 5 page story, "Guests in the Heart".
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