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What a contrast!
(J. C. Philpot, "The
Heavenly Sheepfold" 1854)
"Those who endure to the end will be saved." Mark 13:13
Saved!
Saved from what?
Saved from hell!
Saved from an eternity of endless misery and horror!
Saved from the worm which never dies!
Saved from the fire which is never quenched!
Saved from the sulphurous flames!
Saved from the companionship of devils and damned spirits!
Saved saved from ever-rolling ages of ceaseless misery and horror!
Have you not thought sometimes about eternity?
What must an eternity of misery must be—when
you can scarcely bear the pain of toothache half an
hour! O! to be in torment forever! How it racks the
soul to think of it! What tongue, then, can express
the mercy and blessedness of being saved . . .
from hell,
from the billows of the sulphurous lake,
from infinite despair!
When a soul strikes upon the 'rock of perdition',
it is at once swallowed up in a dreadful eternity!
Not only are believers saved from all this infinite
and unending misery—but they are saved into
unspeakable happiness and glory! They are . . .
saved into heaven,
saved into eternal communion with the infinite God,
saved into the eternal enjoyment of His blessed presence,
saved into the perfect enjoyment of that perfect and
everlasting love in those regions of endless bliss where
tears are wiped from off all faces!
What a contrast!
Heaven — hell!
Eternal misery — eternal bliss!
Ages of boundless joy — ages of infinite despair!
But salvation includes not only what we may call
future salvation—but present salvation. Thus,
there is a being saved in the present . . .
from the guilt, filth, love, power, and practice of sin,
from the curse and bondage of the Law,
from the spirit and love of the world,
from inward condemnation,
from the entanglements of Satan,
from worldly anxieties and cares,
from following after idols,
from carelessness,
from coldness,
from carnality,
from every evil way,
from every delusive path.
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