“THE TEMPEST MAY BREAK TO-MORROW.”
By A. Smith
“The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.” Zeph. 1:14. Why will not men and women be forewarned, and do some of the weeping now before it is too late? The Bible appeals to the people to “lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.” Joel 1:8. God commands the watchman, “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” Chapter 2:1. That solemn alarm is now being sounded throughout the world. It comes in earnest appeals from the word of God. Jesus said: “As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matt. 24:37. For one hundred and twenty years Noah proclaimed to the people of that generation that a flood of waters would come upon the earth to drown that wicked race. With solemn mien and tones of entreaty he pointed to the slowly building ark as the only hope of salvation from a watery grave. “Many at first appeared to receive the warning; yet they did not turn to God with true repentance. They were unwilling to renounce their sins. During the time that elapsed before the coming of the flood, their faith was tested, and they failed to endure the trial.”—“Patriarchs and Prophets,” page 95. As it was then, so it is now. Many at first confess the truth of the last solemn warning, and some, perhaps for years, become identified with the faithful few; and then, because of the prevailing wickedness of the last days, their love grows cold, their light becomes dim, and before they know it, the most solemn appeals from the Bible, and the most vivid assurances from the moral, social, and political conditions of the world concerning the proximity of that awful day, cannot awaken them to but little more than a half-aroused confession of the fact, to be followed by slumber still more profound. “This death stupor is from Satan.” Where are the people of the land, even among God’s remnant few, who tremble in view of their danger? The alarm that should seize upon the people of the Lord now, is a vivid apprehension that their robes of character may not be spotless before God. It is well expressed by Paul: “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” Heb. 4:1. Not those who run well for a time, but “he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” Matt. 10:22. Day and night we should plead with God to keep us from falling into the deceptive snares of Satan. If the sinless Jesus needed to pray most earnestly and frequently, how much more do we! There came a time when the antediluvians awoke to their condition. On the eighth day after Noah entered into the ark, the heavens became overcast with clouds, the deep roar of the thunder shook the earth, and the long-predicted rain began to fall. Then the hopelessly lost race pleaded with agony for one more opportunity to hear the entreating voice of Noah. Oh, how quickly they would accept salvation! But it was too late. So, when the final day of mercy will have passed, and multitudes awake to the fact that they are lost, the strong man, unaccustomed to tears, will cry bitterly. How much more those who did not have the courage to confess and obey the truth when convinced of their duty; and especially those who turned from the truth to the world, or, though still identified in name with God’s people, failed in obtaining the needed preparation. “Come into the Ark of safety,
Come in and be saved to-day;
The tempest may break to-morrow,
Come into the Ark to-day.”