p. 243 | Out of the Ark by Talmage

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Aug 14, 1879

Out of the Ark.

By Talmage

Do you know the reason why the people stayed outside and perished? Why, I sup-pose that some stood out because they thought that after a while they could go in. They said to themselves, "I must get richer, I must get more flocks, I must culture my lands better." Or they may have said, "That ark has been open so long, it will continue to be open; I can go in another time." The Lord waited 120 years in the case of Noah's ark. These people all the time were delaying and procrastinating. Meanwhile the heavens were filling with water and the storm was brewing. They had come to their last year, to their last month, to their last week, to their last day, to their last hour, to their last minute; but suddenly an ocean dropped from heaven, and an ocean surged up from beneath, and God rolled earth and sky in one—a wave of awful destruction.

But I think that some of these people were kept out of the ark for fear of being laughed at. I suppose a man to be starting towards that ancient ark, and people gather round and say, "Ha, ha! see, he's going into the ark; what an absurd thing! Why, there's going to be no storm, and if there is, that ship won't outride it. Come and see him. Look! this is too good to keep. Just look. Ha, ha! going into the ark!" And so the man turns back. He couldn't bear to be laughed at, and so he perished in the deluge. And I suppose in this house there are hundreds of people who are being laughed out of their best interests. And for fear of being scoffed at and derided there are hundreds of people drawn away from God and heaven. Oh! these scorners, what can they do for you at last?

When you are on your dying pillow will they come to comfort you? In the great day of eternity will they bail you out? They can keep you out of heaven, but can they keep you out of hell?—Talmage.