The Tupelo journal., 1904-01-22

carried to the ends OF the earth before
Jesus will come again. Gods call to
look and be saved is to the ends
of the earth. But how long will It
take for the Gospel to spread to every
cor:er Of the earth and reach every ma
ton and people it Is impossible to say.
That 1t might be in the present gen.
GRAFTON, as Mr.. Mott has so clearly and
ably shown in his remarkable little
book. THE Evangelization of the
World in the Present Generation"
must be conceded. That Christians
fought TO work with that end in view,
and pray and expect that such would
be the glorious realization, must be
their only attitude towards this great
question. 1t is the only reasonable po-
sition for them to occupy. How dare
we shorten the arm of God, or lightly
consider the great commission which
rests upon every child of God to ego
into all the world and preach the Cos
pei to every creature" And If every
one who is a protesting Christian was
doing his whole duty, it is not un-
reasonable to believe that the Gospel
would reach every person in the world
within the present generation. But we
are not faithful, we are disobedient to
the high calling and Indifferent to the
%perishing souls all about us and in the
dark and unknown places OF the world.
And II neglect and Indifference de-
lays the time of the coming of Christ.
1t is still the day of grace. Gods mercy
is extended towards sinful man. He is
still calling: Look unto Me and be
We saved, all the ends of the earth"
M HILE there Is a single soul in the
w world that has not heard the mes
sage and has not finally rejected the
mercy of God, the light of the day Of
grace will continue to shine. This is the
terminative factor in the matter. Jesus
Christ will be lifted up before the world
as the Cruciied One. as the One who can
cleanse from all sin, as the only Saviour,
just as long as there is a dying soul to
lift the eye of faith and ooh and be
saved. How long did Moses continue to
keep aloft the brazen serpent? Surely
1t was as long as there was a single suf-
fering, dying Israclite to be saved and
the God Who longs to have all men saved
and come to a knowledge of the truth
will not terminate the day of grace while
there. is a single precious soul to receive
the blood of Jesus Christ. But the time
will come some day when the people of
the world will all either have accepted
or rejected the Christ, and when that
time comes the day of grace will termin-
ate. But there is a sense in which it
may be said that individually the day
OF grace terminates when the soul ~rejects
finally the appeal of God and His Spirit
leaves the soul to It's. own devices. God
has declared that His Spirit shall
not always strive with man." and
the Spirit does cease striving with the
soul OF man after it has rejected a last
appeal Of God to look and live. Just
when that time may be only the person
concerned may be able to tell. Two cases
in point illustrate my thought.
THE other day l listened to the testi-
L mony OF a young man with whom
the Spirit of God hadlong %striven. Time
and time again he had stified the voice
OF the Spirit and rejected the just claims
OF God upon him. On the night of his
conversion, God came to him, and, as
distinctly as though the person sitting
at his side had spoken, he heard God
say to him: 1T is now or never" He
was overwhelmingly impressed with the
thought that the eternal welfare of his
soul depended upon the decision which
he must make that night. He won the
victory over his rebellious soul, and
looked to God for salvation. The other
case was that of an old man who years
before had come face to face with the
crisis Of his relations to God. Gods
Spirit had striven with him again and
again. At last what he was deeply
conscious was the final appeal Of God
came to his soul. He refused to yield.
The Spirit left him. The day of grace
was past. The years came and went.
His hair whitened and his step grew
feebler, but no desire for God ever
moved his soul again. He came into
meeting once towards the close of his
AhS LhAAiSSCA WV Vdo plCSCntd al
that meeting and who afterwards told
me the awful story labored long and
earnestly with him. He was unmoved
by every appeal, he was Indifferent to
the welfare of his soul. He was as I'M
responsive and dead as the stones which
formed the building in which he stood.
He told the story of the crisis in his
life, of Gods last appeal to him, Of his
blatant and blasphemous rejection of His
claims, and how in all the years which
had followed he had been as utterly void
of any religious sense or emotion as a
piece of pulseless clay. He said he had
tried to, and had felt at times that he
would like to, come to God and be
saved, but he could not, and he had no
deep concern over his lost condition.
And as he ended his story. which had
moved deeply with its awfulness those
who had listened, he passed out into
the night and the blackness Of his souls
despair, which could never know re-
lief. The day of grace had passed. He
was waiting for the judgment. And how
is it with you, dear friend out of Christ?
Are you returning a deaf ear to the call
of God to look and be saved?" Re-
member, He Who pleads with you now
to come to Him and be saved, solemnly
warns your soul that the day of grace
will soon end, and that stubborn heart
of yourS he forced to how before Him