THE QUIET HOUR.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 2 August 1924, Page 15

THE QUIET HOUR.

(Published by arrangement with ,the Hawera Ministers’ Association).

THOUGHTS ON ETERNITY

There is an Eternity, and every living soul can decide just what his Eternity should he. Header, have you made your choice!-' What is it? ‘Why Tarriest Thou?’ This question was addressed to Saul of Tarsus. Here are four reasons why men tarry: First.—They tarry for the reason that they have never enjoyed the feeling of being a Christian, a true follower of Jesus Christ, and are waiting until they think they are better men. There are some people who honestly think this. What did Jesus Christ say about the matter He said, simply, “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Jesus is the soul’s Physician. The more sick and sorrowing you are from the sin the greater you are in need of Hi* services. “Ho that cometh unto Me j will in no wise cast out.” Yes, lie can save the lowest man or woman that ever lived.

Second.—Others will say they are waiting until they are sure they can hold out. They will confess they have tried and failed. Oh, heed this warning, that continuance in sin is mighty poor preparation for righteousness. Christ says He is “able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.” And again He says, “None can pluck them out of My Father’s hands.” If you depend on your own strength you will utterly fail, but if you trust Him He will bring you through. “Fear not, I am with thee” is the promise and the panacea.

Third —There are many more who wmdd come to Christ if..they could do the things they want to." If they could dance and jazz, play cards, gamble, drink and c-arouse, dress as the worldling, attend theatres, look upon questionable, unsavory, immoral, suggestive scenes, be permitted under certain condition to hop into Satan’s pleasure (?-> motor trips, and he whirled around on a sight-seeing tour, where Indifference, Pleasure, Greed, Lust and Infidelity are flaunted, day and night. Reader, you know you cannot do this; the laws of Eternity are against you; there is no question but that if you make Eternity subservient to your time and your pleasures you will perish. God must be served! Fourth.—Another class of people will tell you they are waiting until they die to he reconciled to God. What a preposterous proposition! Live for self, for the world, indulge in sin, have all the pleasures you want, spreading evil influences, and at the close of life want to get into Heaven! „ Have our readers any guarantee of life for a day, an hour, a. minute? Deathbed conversions are very few, scarcely one in a hundred takes" place. What a risk you are running. Decide how whom ye will serve. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a. man soweth that shall he also reap.” “He that soweth in the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.” The end of such a method of living is obvious. It is like a death ride to Eternity! The harvest of casualty is disease a*id death. A sea anemone, as found in the Pacific waters, is nothing but a stomach and its appurtenances. ..It clings to the rock where it was born, reaches out with pliant tentacles to satisfy its appetite, and, collapses an c ] disappears. So are those who live on the low level of sin’s indulgence. The harvest time come, loss of manhood and womanhood will reap death and corruption and everlasting destruction. “He that Soweth to the Spirit.” In the supreme province of spiritual life, anent the law, it i s held, “but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” The law of sowing and reaping holds so truly that the very issues of . eternal life and death are in it. Neither the law nor lawgiver can be doubted; “Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.” The seed sowing here and now. This life is probationary with a view to the life further on. If there is any truth in the teachings of Jesus, the opportunity to prepare for eternity is in time. The door of preparation is .closed when death pronounces the sentence, “He that is holy, let him be holy still;, and he that 'is filthv let him be filthy still!”

Yes, the sowing is here in thi s life and the harvest is sure; and it will he in abundant measure “some thirty, some sixty and some a hundred fold.” Sin means death and suffering for Eternity, and righteousness means life eternal!

“Choose ye this day whom ye will serve!”