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OPPORTUNITY

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 19, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 47.

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OPPORTUNITY

By Edith O. King

An Incident.

“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” These words, tho written so long ago, are none the less true to-day.”
“But I am not a toper. I take only an occasional glass.”
The first speaker was a young woman with a pleasant, earnest face; the second, Mr. G——, a young man not yet twenty-eight. He was tall and noble in stature and looked the embodiment of strength, yet weakness was manifested in his trembling hands as he placed a chair beside his companion. The relationship existing between these two was that of old friends and schoolmates. The young woman, whom we will call Miss L——, had but lately returned to her home town after some years’ absence. Among the many changes time had wrought, none were more marked than the alteration in this friend of her childhood.
On the afternoon of which we speak, he had called while on his way to fulfil an engagement. She had been praying for an opportunity to speak to him of his soul’s salvation, and now one had come.
In their childhood days they had both been members of the same little Methodist Sunday-school. She had early given her heart to the Lord and had been given additional light; he had drifted away from the influence of the Sunday-school, and the allurements of society and evil associates had drawn him away from God. The pages of his life record of the last few years had been sadly blotted.
The conversation continued:—
“You say you take only an occasional glass, but have you considered that no drunkard becomes such by a single indulgence? The deadly habit may be years in forming, yet at last it fastens itself so firmly as to paralyze the will, dethrone self control, injure the body, wreck the life, and bring everlasting death. Who desires such an end? It is true, as you say, that, in what are called the ‘best circles,’ hundreds of men and women are deceived and ultimately ruined by moderate drink and the social glass.
“You remarked, ‘If the man who uses tobacco will have no place in heaven, but few men will be there.’ Does not the Bible tell us, ‘Straight is the gate and narrow the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it?’ If heaven is not worth all, it is worth nothing. You remember these words, ‘If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.’ Does not tobacco defile the temple—and everything else it touches, for that matter? You know that your cigars are robbing you of your physical strength and endurance, and for the money you spend you receive a weakened heart and shortened days. But, Mr. G——, until you give yourself to the Saviour, until you surrender your will to His, you can not hope to be free from the evil habits that have bound you fast. Jesus alone can give grace to overcome. Why not give your best years to Him who gave His life for you?
“Do not say He can not save you, for ‘He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him;’ He ‘will in nowise cast out’ the contrite one. ‘If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.’ ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ The invitation is to even you, every one that thirsteth, come.
“The days of our care-free childhood are gone and we are here man and woman, with the necessity before us of deciding for eternal life or eternal death. We must serve either God or the Adversary. We must spend eternity either with Christ or without Him. There can be no compromise. ‘Some day,’ you hope to become a Christian. Why not this day? Every one does not live to grow old. While it is always a cause for rejoicing to see a sinner come to the Saviour, yet how pitiable it is that blood-bought men will wait until on the very verge of the grave, when their usefulness is spent, before thinking of the Lord’s claim upon them.”
The two were seated on the vine-shaded veranda. Strains of music came to them through the open window of a neighboring house. Some one was singing to piano accompaniment:—
“Just as I am without one plea, But that Thy blood was shed for me, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.”
They sat silently listening until the song was finished, when Mr. G—— arose to go. He held out his hand; there were tears in his eyes. “Thank you, Miss L——, for your interest in my soul’s welfare. I will think of what you have said. Keep on praying for me. I must hasten now to keep my appointment. Don’t forget to pray. Good-by.”
There was a street car accident—the car Mr. G—— took up town—and he met instant death.
Who can say whether or not he, like Agrippa, had been “almost persuaded” only, or if in the short time left he had “made sure” his calling in God?
Oakland, Cal. EDITH O. KING.