p. 19 | The Way of Salvation

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 19, 1866

The Way of Salvation.

In a valuable little book called ‐The Blood of Jesus,‐ is given the following apt illustration of the method of a sinner’s salvation.

While standing on the platform of the Aberdeen Station of the Northeastern Railway, I observed a carriage with a board on it intimating that it ran all the way from Aberdeen to London. The doors of it were open; the porters were putting passengers’ luggage on the top of it; and a few individuals were entering, or about to enter, its different compartments. They looked for this particular carriage as soon as they had passed through the ticket office; and upon seeing ‐London‐ on it, they entered, and seating themselves, prepared for the journey.

Having furnished themselves with tickets and railway guides, and satisfied themselves that they were in the right carriage, they felt the utmost confidence, and I did not observe any one of them coming out of the carriage and running about in a state of excitement, calling to those around them, ‐Am I right? am I right?‐ Nor did I see any one refusing to enter, because the carriage provided only for a limited number to proceed by that train. There might be 80,000 inhabitants in and around the city; but still there was not one who talked of it as absurd to provide accommodation for only about twenty persons, for practically it was found to be perfectly sufficient. Trains leave the city several times a day, and it is found that one carriage for London in the train is quite sufficient for the number of passengers; and on this particular day I noticed that so ample was the accommodation, that one of the passengers had a whole compartment to himself. The carriage is for the whole city and neighborhood, but carries only such as come and seat themselves in it from day to day.

God in his infinite wisdom has made provision of a similar kind for our lost world. He has provided a train of grace to carry as many to Heaven, the great metropolis of the universe, as are willing to avail themselves of the gracious provision.

When we call you by the preaching of the gospel, the meaning is, that all who will may come, and passing through the booking-office of justification by faith alone, seat themselves in a carriage marked, ‐From Guilt to Glory.‐ Whenever you hear the free and general offer of salvation, you need not stand revolving the question, ‐Is it for me?‐ for, just as the railway company carry all who comply with their printed regulations, irrespective of moral character, so if you come to the station of grace at the advertised time, which is ‐now,‐ for, ‐behold now is the accepted time,‐ you will find the train of salvation ready; and the only regulation to be complied with is that you consent to let the Lord Jesus Christ charge himself with the paying for your seat, which cannot surely, be anything but an easy and desirable arrangement, seeing you have no means of paying for yourself.

Were you coming to the railway-station with no money in your pocket, and anxious to travel by a train just ready to start, in order to be put in possession of a valuable inheritance left to you by a friend; and were any one to meet you at the door of the ticket-office and say, ‐I will pay your fare for you,‐ you would feel only highest satisfaction in complying with such a regulation; and is it not an easy matter for you on coming to the station of mercy, to submit to the regulation of the gospel, to let Jesus pay your fare for the train of grace, that you may take your seat with confidence, and be carried along the new and living way to everlasting glory?