THE LAST WARNING.
1. Miss Church-Member is now induced to frequent the haunts of vice
in the “Wicked Valley.”
2. The blessed work of Warning as given by rescue bands from the King’s
Highway.
3. The heedless throngs passing by.
4. The experiences at this place of Mr. World and Miss Church-Member.
There was a joyful meeting in the reception room of the Hospital when
Mr. World, returning from his underground experiences, met his beloved
friend Miss Church-Member who had recovered sufficiently to resume the
journey.
In joyful spirits they sauntered forth on the wide and pleasant path,
away from the Hospital and toward their imaginary Heaven.
Miss Church-Member’s face was more cheerful and her footsteps more
buoyant than at any time since she left the Valley of Conviction.
Mr. World, observing her favorable condition, complimented her with
these words: “Blessed be the memory of that Hospital, for I can see
that your face is no more covered with the cloud of care that once
robbed you of so many joys. The unkind intruder has drifted away, and
now the light radiates from your every feature. It is also plainly
evident that you are no more tormented by a troubled conscience.”
“I am glad that my sufferings have not been in vain,” she modestly
declared. “May the new light which you so readily notice in my face
add to the pleasantness of our journey and the profit of our lives.”
Their conversation grew more and more pleasant as they passed through
a long stretch of woodland. They could see beyond, them, and in the
rear, the legions that were traveling the same path and in the same
direction.
Emerging from the woodland they saw that their path came again in close
proximity to the King’s Highway.
The intervening space between the two paths, called the Wicked Valley,
was all astir with every form of evil as practiced in the world of
sin. In this vale nearly every traveler on the Broad Highway tarries
awhile, and many are lured away from the Highway of the King here to
mingle with the servants of Mammon.
Mr. World and his friend paused opposite a cluster of magnificent
buildings with frontage toward the Heavenly Way. Some were used by
vulgar theatricals; some devoted to the sensual dance; some were
occupied by the Devil’s maid-servants in prostitution, and many others
were used as haunts of intemperance and personal pollution.
All along the road to perdition at thousands of places stand such
clusters of buildings, each under the command of one of Satan’s most
efficient leaders.
“Here,” said Mr. World, “let us take a long rest. If you have your
glasses properly adjusted you can see new beauty behind magnificent
walls.”
She looked at first doubtfully. “Ah! I never frequented such places
before. I would not as much as look at them.”
“I doubt not your word, Miss Church-Member, but remember you are growing
older and wiser. You are no more a narrow-minded creature influenced
by prejudice and sophistry.”
She was now in a condition to imagine that much of her earlier
instruction was erroneous. She had not forgotten the teaching of the
sermon in Mr. World’s church. Subsequently she reasoned that the only
way to learn the taste of forbidden fruit was to eat of it.
“I will enter these buildings as a student,” she soliloquized. “I will
be cautious. Surely I have sufficiently clear judgment to discern
between good and evil.”
The crafty Mr. World, having won her confidence, escorted her all
through the Wicked Valley. By a continual palliation she yielded one
point after another until her virtue was sacrificed on a cursed altar.
Satan assisted her in solving many perplexing problems when she reeled
in the realm of doubt.
At the conclusion of their protracted visit I heard the wicked Mr.
World say to his beloved friend: “Your eyes are completely cured. You
may now with safety lay aside the glasses. I hope you will never have
occasion to use them again.”
Of the multitudes that tarried here from the Narrow Way very few went
out at the front door. Having stultified themselves, they passed from
the rooms at the rear, and thenceforth traveled on the other path more
suited to their changed natures.
The two congenial companions, proceeding on their way, soon overtook
a company of church-members.
In the social intercourse which ensued each one resented the criticisms
of those who refused to leave the Old Path.
“Verily,” said one, “I now enjoy more liberty. I believe the road to
Heaven should be as broad-gauged as possible.”
“Certainly it should,” said another. “Those who want to climb hills
and continually suffer inconveniences may do so. As for me, I want to
reach Heaven on the easiest road. I believe this course leads to
Paradise just as directly as the other.”
These utterances were highly complimented by Mr. World, and he said
that he was to be congratulated on meeting and associating with such
congenial people. “On the way on which we are now traveling one can
reach his reward as certainly and as speedily as on any other route.
In addition, one can here enjoy natural and graceful pleasures which
of course are not tolerated under the eyes of selfish and narrow-minded
bigots.”
I saw Mr. World and Miss Church-Member, now more intimate than ever,
pass on alone, ever walking more hastily. Satan had told them, during
their stay in the Wicked Valley, that the faster they journeyed the
sooner and the more certainly would they reach their reward.
Not far from the Wicked Valley there is a section called the Place of
Warning. It has been maintained for thousands of years by virtuous
workers from the King’s Highway. It is the last warning-station that
travelers pass before reaching the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and
here with tearful earnestness do the Shining Pilgrims of the cross
speak their words of last caution, sing their sweet hymns of warning,
and put forth every other loving endeavor in the hope of snatching
some from the thoughtless throngs that go rushing by toward the Dark
Valley.
I listened and heard a voice from the Place of Warning speak to a
motley crowd that were passing.
“Whither go ye, whither go ye?”
“We go to a better place called Heaven,” answered one of the company.
“Then come hither and go on the Path of Life. The way on which ye are
now traveling leadeth unto everlasting death.”
“Aha! Aha! Aha!” cried they all. “We are well informed about the way
and need no foreign voice to give direction.”
Then came the solemn hymn of warning in words so tender and clear that
each one could hear every sentence:
“There’s a sad day coming,
A sad day coming.
There’s a sad coming by and by;
When the sinner shall hear his doom:
‘Depart, I know you not.’
Are you ready for that day to come?”
CHORUS:
“Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready for the judgment day?”
The words had not yet died on the air when a young man ran hastily
from the company toward the Way of Life. His companions then gave vent
to their ridicule, some even going after him and endeavoring to pull
him back, but without avail.
Some sang an idle song to drown the hymn of warning that still rang
in their ears. Others engaged in boisterous conversation, and still
others mocked with foul profanity. They passed on, and as far as I
could see them they were pushing on to the Valley of Death.
I saw another man who was heavily burdened with pieces of timber on
which was written: “Faults of Church-Members.” He also came to the
Place of Warning.
“Throw off the cumbersome weight you are carrying on your back, and
travel on the way where your burden will be light,” came a friendly
voice from the Rescue Station.
“I am not so foolish as to throw away my only hope,” he answered with
unthankfulness in his tone.
“‘Your only hope,’” repeated the voice of warning, “how can you explain
such foolish words?”
“With passing ease. I will soon come to the River of Death and with
these boards I can make myself a raft whereon I can pass over safely.”
Then spoke the voice of warning clearer than before:
“O, foolish man! Knowest thou not that the River of Death, toward which
thou art rapidly moving, cannot be crossed in a bark so frail? I have
seen millions who tried in vain to ride its angry currents, but they
sank beneath its dark waters. Come, O mortal man, if thou hast nothing
better on which to depend, listen to the voice of wisdom and come,
without delay, to the Path of Glory.”
But the man passed on. I watched him till he reached the river, and
saw him go from the shore in his self-constructed raft.
“I sink! I sink! Save me!” he, cried in utmost agony of terror as his
little raft whirled about, leaving the poor self-deceived fellow to
the mercy of the waves.
I saw others as they passed the Place of Warning. Thousands and tens
of thousands, some now totally deaf to every voice of warning, some
with cotton-filled ears, and others with instruments of music with
which they drowned the calls of warning.
Many more passed by who carried little balloons of self-righteousness
with which they expected to rise above the murky River of Death.
A young woman, who moved more cautiously, stopped at the Place of
Warning and listened attentively.
Directly a voice spoke to her: “Not far hence, O mortal woman, there
is a wide river. It surges on forever. No one who goes this way can
escape its waters. Listen now to the voice of Wisdom. Leave this
blood-marked way of misery and woe, and come to these happier dominions
where ‘her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.’”
“Surely I will not be lost,” she replied. “I am depending on the mercy
of God who is too kind to be unjust. I will come out all right in the
end.”
“Take heed, my friend,” pleaded the warning voice. “You are hoping for
mercy at the dividing line between time and eternity. Better forget
not what the Scripture saith. ‘He that is unjust, let him be unjust
still: and he which is filthy let him be filthy still.’ So thou canst
not wilfully neglect so great salvation and hope that God will cover
at last all thy folly. ‘Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the
day of salvation.’ ‘To-day, if ye hear his voice, harden not your
hearts’”
“You have said nothing new to me. They are the old thread-bare passages
that I have heard from my youth up, and I am minded to accept a broader
view of these statements than you seem to take of them.”
At this she tossed her head haughtily and continued her journey,
resolving more firmly than ever that she would not spend eternity
outside the Gates of Heaven.
When she came to the Dark Valley and to the angry swelling currents,
her pitiful prayer broke out from the long-covered depth of her soul.
“Mercy, O mercy, to a wretch like me!” But no hand came to her rescue.
I saw Mr. World and Miss Church-Member as they approached the Place
of Warning. They heard the sweet music, rendered so excellently, but
gave no attention to the sentiment expressed by the words. They listened
only to the harmony of sounds.
“O, Miss Church-Member!” pleaded a voice, “you who were once so
earnestly engaged on the King’s Highway, will you not, before you reach
the River of Death, forsake your perilous course and walk on the path
of life eternal?”
These words, which would have once brought conviction to her heart,
only brought vanity to her head. “‘Judge not, that ye be not judged,’
and go speak to the lost, not to me so well equipped to meet the direst
foe. Turn your words to those on the other path, who go hobbling along
in misery, not fit to live or die.”
“Come, come!” put in Mr. World, “your pearls before swine are only
trampled under foot. Forget not so quickly the teachings of our Lord.”
As they passed on, in a self-righteous manner, she cheerily looked
into his face and said: “It was kind in you to come so promptly to my
rescue. I might have prattled there a whole day and yet not have shown
them half their folly.”