YOU have never, perhaps, been much accustomed to an address from those you consider your superiors. I am entered, my friend, into a world where outward circumstances are not the standard of estimation, but inward dispositions, the state of the mind and heart. I see the infinite value of immortal souls: a value not in the least degree diminished or increased by the frame they inhabit. Every soul, whether that of a rich or a poor man, a learned or ignorant man, is of tenfold more value than all the riches you have ever seen in traversing the globe, and all the worlds that roll in the firmament; and your soul—that is, the principle within you which thinks, and reflects, and influences you—is to live for ever. You will never, for
*This letter is taken from a little book entitled “Letters from Eternity” reprinted in 1858 by Mr. Taylor, Edinburgh, who did so much good service to true religion in reprinting excellent booklets and tracts. The young naval officer in question was killed at the naval attack on Algiers.
one single moment, be out of being, and you must be eternally happy or miserable. You will have to give an account of yourself at the bar of God, as well as others. God is looking down from these high heavens on you; He watches you as constantly, and knows you as thoroughly, as He does the rest of His creatures. You have not believed this, and it has led you into awful mistakes. You have thought, that whatever the Almighty may require of some, He is too great and exalted to notice you. No: He has not overlooked you, nor forgotten a single action of your life, a single word from your lips, or a single feeling in your heart; and, oh, poor sinner, what a list of oaths, what a record of base and malicious passions, what a catalogue of crimes do these produce! And it is to be reviewed before an assembled world. It will not matter then whether you were elevated, or died in obscurity. Recollect how kind and merciful God has been to you; how often He has preserved you from sudden death; how near you have sometimes been to an eternal world; and had you been summoned away to the bar of God, oh, how awfully unprepared! Day after day you have continued careless, unconcerned, and altogether negligent of the welfare of your soul.
“You have thought that religion is very gloomy, and not fit for men of spirit; and then you have been afraid of the ridicule of your companions. But mark now those who are pious, and see if they do not appear happy, calm, and cheerful, free from alarm in danger; and remember how triumphantly some of them have died. Compare yourself with them; how miserable and dissatisfied you often feel; how you fly again to sin and folly to chase away reflection; and think, for a moment, whether you can be called a happy man. Why regard the opinion of your fellow-creatures, when opposed to the will of Him who is your Maker, and is to be your Judge? When He calls you to judgment, can you think you will be excused because they ridiculed? Will their neglect of duty take away your sins?
Consider, how great and innumerable are the blessings connected with real religion! How it fills the soul with satisfaction and joy to feel that sin is pardoned, and all is safe for eternity! How it cheers life, to believe that my Maker is my friend, and that He will never leave, never forsake me; that He has promised to bless me, and at last, receive me to Himself! How it takes away the fear of death, to know that the Divine Presence will be with me in the last hour, and will render me inconceivably happy for ever and ever!
“Now you inquire, how can you partake of these blessings? ‘Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.’ He descended from heaven, and took upon Him the nature of man; He suffered and died for the sake of man; He ascended again to heaven, and intercedes for His people; and the Scriptures declare, ‘He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life’; and Christ has said, ‘Him that cometh to Me, I will in nowise cast out.’ Come then to Jesus, as a guilty and condemned sinner: trust in His merits alone; pray for an interest in His love, and for grace to enable you to rely upon Him, to look to Him as the only ground of your hope for pardon and acceptance. And be assured, if you come thus, He will not reject you. Make His love your plea, and it shall prevail. Then that love shall be the foundation of your hopes, the source of your blessings in time, and the object of your admiration, and the theme of your song, through the ages of eternity.”