“MAKING THEM AN ENSAMPLE.”
By T.
We are furnished with some striking examples of God’s forbearance with sinners, and also of His invariable purpose to destroy sin. He bears long with the erring, and every one can testify that an unseen power, following him all his life, has been ever striving in his mind to turn him into the path of truth and uprightness. Every one that can possibly be induced to yield to the good, by forsaking the evil, will be graciously taken into the arms of Divine Love. But the individual who persistently refuses the entreaties of the heavenly Father, will, by his own course of action, so harden himself in evil that a time must come when he is no longer impressed by motives of goodness. And when such a condition is reached by the sinner, of course he has closed his own probation. He has become a confirmed and unredeemable rebel against the kindest solicitude that Heaven can offer. When a whole city reaches such a condition of depravity that good impulses no longer come into the mind of any one in it, God destroys it, as was the case with Sodom and Gomorrah. When the whole race goes wrong, He destroys it, as He did the old world by a flood. And even when angels sin, God, who is no respecter of persons, visits them with their just punishment. The Bible statement upon these points is very clear. It reads: “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; and delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked.” 2 Peter 2:4-7. Then the casting down of the sinning angels, the destruction of the old world, and the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, have been made “an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly.” Thus the Bible makes a very plain statement of the case. So when this world again reaches the condition that it is overflowing with corruption, God will surely overthrow it. This is a fact that the Word of God clearly states. Now ask yourself the question, What is the condition of the world to-day as you actually see it? Think for yourself upon this most important question. A great many brilliant speakers and writers would have you believe that the world is getting better and better, and that it is hastening on to a time of universal peace. But what mean these daily accounts of fraud and robbery? What mean these murders and all sorts of awful crimes? What mean the drunkenness and licentiousness all over the land? Your eyes can not be closed to it. With the facts before you as they exist, allow the Spirit of God to impress you with their great significance. Your mind is doubtless troubled over the condition of the world to-day. Then go to the Book of books, and therein you will learn that Jesus is coming again. And these things that are troubling you are among the evidences that the day is near. Are you ready for it? If not, get ready soon; for the time can not be long deferred. T.