LITMIR.BIZ

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has told us so, that that word, however carelessly and thoughtlessly spoken, will one day be brought up against the speaker, and for that and any other "idle words" he may have spoken, he "shall give an account in the day of judgment."

      And the same is true of impure words. They may be said thoughtlessly, but they may yet for all that do as much harm as if you had thought over them before speaking. Suppose you throw a stone into a pond, the stone sinks and you see it no more, and all you can see is a widening circle spreading ever farther and farther until it ripples at your feet upon the shore. And this is true of life. You speak an impure word, or you tell an impure tale to some of your friends, and you go away and forget it. But the word or the story may have been heard by a little child perhaps, and that word or story may be the first step on the road to its ruin. "For every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account in the day of judgment."

      3. And what shall I say of careless words, for they are words so often spoken even by the very best among us? We speak the words, and often we regret them as soon as spoken. But we are too proud to recall them. It may be that a word which we have carelessly spoken may be remembered years after, when we ourselves have passed away. Besides which, careless words, needless words, and impure words pass upwards before God, and He hears them and notes them down against that day when men shall give an account of every idle word.

      "By God's eternal dwelling-place,

      Those words went floating by,

      And still the echo wanders on

      Throughout eternity.

      And whispering yet within thy heart,

      'The still small voice' is heard,

      And thou shall cry, 'O God! forgive

      My needless bitter word!'"

      Yes, reader, God may forgive the words, and will do so, as He has promised; but, as that verse says, "the echo wanders on throughout eternity." And the consequences wander on too. And though God may have forgiven the utterance of the word, yet since it was idly spoken, you will have to "give an account thereof at the day of judgment."

      It has been said, that the words spoken here "wander on" through eternity, and that we shall one day confront again the words which we have spoken in the flesh. How careful then ought we to be of every idle word! How particular that none escape us! For think of the torment it will be to the purified soul to meet in the everlasting city with the echoes--even though they be but the last dying echoes--of the idle words which the lips have spoken on earth.

EXCUSES.

       Table of Contents

      "Make not vain excuses;

      God gives strength to all,

      Sets His guardian angels

      Round us, lest we fall.

      In the hour of trial

      Call upon thy Lord,

      Fight thy battle bravely,

      Think upon His Word,

      'I will never leave thee,

      I am ever near,

      In My strength go forward,

      Cast away all fear.'"

       E.C.O.

      How natural it seems to make excuses. If we are found fault with, we have an excuse ready to our tongue. If we have to confess that we have been in the wrong, we do so with an excuse. Ever since the day when Adam and Eve fled from their Maker's Presence in the Garden of Eden, ever since Adam spoke those first words of excuse, "The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat," ever since then man has made one excuse after another, until excuses come so readily that it is difficult to speak without making one. We are all of us very fond of trying to shift the blame from our own shoulders on to those of others. If a railway accident takes place, it is most difficult to find out who is to blame for it. If an army is cut to pieces in battle, the blame is generally laid upon the dead. But if a praiseworthy action is done, and men talk about it, and it gets reported in the newspapers, there are always plenty of people quite ready to come forward and lay claim to having done the brave deed. And what is true of our earthly life, the life of the body, is true also of the life of the soul. When we fall into sin, when we come on our knees to confess the sin to Almighty God, how very often the confession is spoilt by excuses. Just as Adam laid the blame on Eve, and Eve in her turn blamed the Serpent, so we lay the blame on somebody else, and expect God will accept our excuses.

      Now there are so many excuses that the devil teaches men, that it would be quite impossible for me to deal with nearly all of them; but there are one or two of the commonest, against which I can put you on your guard.

      One of the excuses most frequently made for not coming to Christ is, "I am not good enough." Reader, which of us would be good enough for Christ, if He required us to be perfect? But He wants us to come just as we are, to come with our sins, and lay them upon Him, Who bore them long ago "in His own body on the tree."

      I have read of an artist who wanted to paint a picture of the Prodigal Son. He searched through the mad-houses, and work-houses, and prisons, to find a man wretched enough to represent the Prodigal, but he could not find one. One day he was walking down the street and he met a beggar; he thought the man would do, and he told him he would pay him well, if he would come to his room, and sit for his picture. The day came, and the man appeared at the artist's door, and reminded him of his appointment with him. But the artist looked at him and said, "No, I have never seen you before. I made an appointment with a ragged beggar, not with you." But the man persisted, and named the place where they had first met; so the artist asked him what he had been doing. "Well," answered the beggar, "I thought I would dress myself up a bit before I got painted." "Then," said the artist, "I do not want you; I wanted you as you were, not as you are now." And, reader, Christ wants you as you are, when He first meets you. Without excuses, poor, sinful, and miserable; a broken and a contrite heart He will not despise.

      "I came to Jesus as I was,

      Weary, and worn, and sad;

      I found in Him a resting-place,

      And He has made me glad."

      Another very common excuse is, "There is no hurry." Men, and especially young men, think, "Oh! I've got life before me, why shouldn't I amuse myself a bit now? and then, when I'm old, too old for amusement, I'll give the days of my life to God." I have heard a story, that on one occasion Satan gathered his wicked spirits together, and they took counsel as to how they could best ruin mankind. And some said one thing and some another. One, for instance, stood up and said, "I'll go and tell them that there's no God." But Satan said, "No, that won't do; it's too old a story; it has been tried and failed." And another rose up and said, "I'll go and persuade them that the Bible is not true." And Satan replied again, "No, that won't do either; you might persuade a few, but you would not convince many. But," he added, "I'll tell you what to do, go and tell them that there's no hurry, they'll all believe that." And from that day to this Satan has been telling us that there's no hurry, and we all do believe that. Yes, the very best of us and the very wisest, as well as the worst and most ignorant, still think that there's no hurry. Morning after morning the sun rises, and every evening he sinks beyond the distant hills. Year by year, spring follows winter, and summer follows spring. Every year we gather in a new harvest, and then the winter evenings are with us once more; and because these things come so regularly and so naturally, we are apt to think that there's no hurry.

      Reader, if you are still persuading yourself that there's no hurry for you, make the excuse no longer. Jesus invites you, saying, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." God's ministers invite you, preaching the Gospel of the Blessed God. The open church and the pealing bells invite you, "the gay green earth" and the open sky, the birds and beasts, all these

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