| As the conductor came for my fare on a
streetcar in Buffalo, N.Y., I gave him the leaflet,
"Where Hell Is." In part it read: A young man, while distributing tracts, met some of his old companions who mocked him as he spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ and God's way of salvation. One of them said, "Can you tell me where hell is?" After a moment's hesitation, the young man answered, "'Yes, at the end of a Christless life." The conductor laughed and retorted, "You always give me one of these papers; I suppose you think I'm a wicked fellow. But I'm as good as they make 'em." I held up my Bible, "Do you see this Book?" I asked; "it tells me, 'The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jer ' 17:9). That means your heart and mine. it doesn't sound so good, does it?" "Oh," he said, "'there's plenty of time for me to think about these things; I'm still young." He little imagined "This night thy soul shall be required of thee" (Luke 12:20). On leaving the car I said, "Remember, the time is short. You don't need to go to a Christless grave and to hell. Christ died for the ungodly." This young man had been a conductor only six or eight weeks. I had often given him a tract and talked with him. The next morning I traveled the same car. A new conductor was there. He told me the conductor I had spoken to the day before had intended to take an afternoon off, but jumping from one car to another he lost his footing, was run over by the car and injured. In a few hours he died. I felt very badly, thinking he had found a Christless grave. Later that day I was told he accepted the Saviour and wanted me to know he was not going to a Christless grave." I went to his home. As I looked upon the young man's dead face, I thought, "What an awful warning to anyone who thinks there is plenty of time!" Remember how short life is (Ps. 89:47), "after this the judgment" (Heb. 9:27). God in His love and mercy gave this young man time but, the time was short! Maybe this is God's last message to you! "Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2). Are you trusting that "doing the best you can" will save you? Listen: "he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool" (Prov. 28:26). "He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy" (Prov. 29:1). Why live in fear of the grave? Christ Jesus rose again triumphant over the grave. Won't you come to Him now? Tomorrow may be too late! "He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18). -An incident in the life of Sister Abigail. |