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THE UNSEEN LINE

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 12, 1870

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 35, No. 17.

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THE UNSEEN LINE.

By THOS. J. CROSS.

There is a time we know not when, A point we know not where, That marks the destiny of men, To glory or despair.
There is a line by us unseen, That crosses every path, That hidden boundary between, God's patience and his wrath.
To pass that limit is to die, To die as if by stealth, It does not quench the beaming eye, Or fade the glow of health.
The conscience may be still at ease, The spirit light and gay, That which is pleasing, still may please, And care be thrust away.
But on that forehead God has set Indelibly a mark Unseen by man; for man, as yet, Is blind, and in the dark.
And yet the doomed man's path below, Like Eden may have bloomed, He did not, does not, will not, know, Or feel that he is doomed.
Oh! where is this mysterious bourne, By which our path is crossed, Beyond which God himself hath sworn That he who goes is lost.
How far may we go on in sin? How long will God forbear? Where does hope end—and where begin The confines of despair?
An answer from the skies is sent, Ye that from God depart, While it is called to-day repent, And harden not your heart.
The sentiment contained in the foregoing lines, which I have copied, awaken thoughts that are solemn and impressive. There is, evidently, an important point in every one's history, that marks his future destiny for weal or woe, a point beyond which if we go, it is at our peril. Felix trembled when the truth was brought to bear upon his conscience. But his decision was, Go thy way for this time, and when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.
Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian, is the language of another. But there he paused, nor does it appear that he ever embraced Christianity, or that the other ever found a convenient season.
Take one more case: The young man who came to our Saviour with this important inquiry, What good thing shall I do to inherit eternal life? But upon hearing the conditions, he went away sorrowful. He wanted eternal life, but his love for the treasures of this earth was too strong. Therefore he turned away with sadness, to return no more so far as we are informed.
Then it appears that mercy may be rejected, the Spirit of God grieved, until it will leave the sinner to choose death in the error of his ways.
How awfully solemn the moment when the Spirit knocks at the sinner's heart for the last time.
The heavenly dove moves, a sensation is produced, the messenger lingers, an eternity of importance now trembles upon the issue. Again the answer is, Go thy way.She plumes her wing, and is forever gone. This, we believe, is no fancy sketch. When this is the case there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. May none of us ever know, from experience, what it is to grieve away the Spirit of God; for then the door will be shut, the dead line crossed.
All are invited. Whosoever will, may come and partake of the waters of life freely, without money and without price.
How then shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? Therefore, whatever else we fail in securing, let us not fail in securing a consistent and well-grounded title to eternal life, and an unending felicity in the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. THOS. J. CROSS.
Blue Earth Co., Minn.