The "TRAVELLER'S GUIDE" has but one object, - that of presenting to you, some clear illustrations of what God says, He offers to you personally, - that you may have Eternal Life.
The Bible tells us that, "God is Light" and "God is Love," - though He hates sin, He loves you, the Sinner, - and longs that you should not be lost, - but Eternally saved.
God has already done all that is necessary for your salvation, - He so loved you that He gave His only Son to die in your stead - as your Substitute, - and now, immediately you can believe this, - and thank Him for Jesus having taken your place on the Cross, in your stead, - you will possess Eternal Life.
God's book, The Holy Bible, makes this clear, and by reading "The Traveller's Guide - from Death to Life," His Holy Spirit will help you to know Him, as a real saviour. Read on carefully.
OUR ONLY GUIDE IS THE BIBLE
Special Through Carriage - ABERDEEN to LONDON
While standing one day on the platform of the Aberdeen Station, I observed a carriage with a board on it, intimating that it ran all the way from Aberdeen to London. The doors of it were open. A few individuals looked for this particular carriage, and on seeing "London" on it, they threw in their bags, entered, and seated themselves for the journey. Having furnished themselves with tickets, and satisfied themselves that they were in the right carriage, they felt the utmost confidence, nor did I observe any one of them coming out of the carriage, or running about and excitedly asking "Am I right for London?"
Nor did I see any one refusing to enter, because the carriages provided for only a limited number by that train. There might be 80,000 inhabitants in and around Aberdeen; but still there was not one who talked of it as absurd, for practically it was found to be perfectly sufficient. The carriage is for the whole city and neighbourhood, but carries only such of the inhabitants as come and seat themselves in it from day to day.
God has made provision of a similar kind, He has provided a train of grace to carry this lost world's inhabitants to heaven; but only for as many as are willing to avail themselves of the gracious provision.
All who will may come, and, through justification by faith alone, may seat themselves in a carriage marked, "From Guilt to Glory." Whenever you hear the free and general offer of salvation, you need not stand revolving the question in your own mind - "Is it for me?" for just as the railway company carry ALL who comply with their printed regulations, irrespective of moral character, so if you come to the station of grace, at the advertised time, which is "now" (see 2 Cor:2) - you will find the train of salvation ready; and the ONLY regulation to be complied with by you, is that you consent to let the Lord Jesus Christ charge Himself with paying for your seat, - which cannot surely be anything but an easy and desirable arrangement, seeing you have no means of paying for yourself.
1st - 2nd - 3rd Class
A traveller by rail can, according to his means, travel with comfort and speed by purchasing a ticket for special trains, or special classes; and he may often have the choice of routes by which to reach his destination.
But in the great journey of life it is not so; there is no choice of class or route: only ONE WAY, only ONE PRICE! This is made very clear and plain in God's great guide-book for life eternal. Our Lord Jesus Christ says, "I am the door: by Me if any man enter in he shall be saves." It is not one class for the rich and another class for the poor; but Christ says to all, "I am the way." It is not one price for one and another price for another, but all are on an equality. Each sinner is redeemed ONLY with the precious blood of Christ. No silver no gold, NO WORKS, can buy a priceless soul from perdition. Christ, alone, by virtue of His atonement for sin, can say, "I give eternal life"; "he that believeth on Me HATH everlasting life."
As the railway passenger finds the line laid, the stations built, the ticket printed, the train ready for him, and he has only to present the price named for his ticket; so in the journey to heaven, all is done for him even to the price of his ticket, which he has but to ACCEPT as a free gift from God to him, and his Salvation is perfectly secure.
All the Rocks
A Captain was once asked if he knew all the rocks along the coast. "No," said he, "it is not necessary to know all the rocks, only to know the safe channel."
Spurning the Remedy
A man said to me not long ago, "Do you think there is any justice in my being condemned because a man sinned six thousand years ago? I don't believe a word of it." Now let me say, there will be no one lost on account of Adam's sin. But I hear some one say, "That's a plain contradiction. You have said we should be, and now you tell me we shall not be."
Let me see if I can illustrate it. Suppose I am dying of some terrible disease, and I am given up by the physicians, who say I must die. But there comes a man whom I have known for years, and he says, "You are a dying man!" I say to him, "I know it; I don't want any one to tell me that." He says to me, "But there is a remedy." I say, "I don't believe there's any remedy; I have tired all the leading physicians, and they say there is no hope."
"I tell you there is a remedy!" says he; "twenty years ago I was as far gone as yourself, and I was given up by all the physicians to die, but I took that medicine (and he holds it out to me), and it cured me. Listen now - there is the medicine, it shall not cost you a cent; just take it, and you will get well." But I do not take it, though I have every reason to believe the man is speaking the truth. To be sure I shall die, but that is not the reason why I die; it is because I spurn the remedy. And if men die eternally, it will not be God's fault, but because they have despised the remedy. They are not lost because they are sinners, but because they rejected the Saviour.
Webb's Last Breath
The Channel waters flowed broad and deep, uncleft in their entire breadth by any human arm. Fired with ambition to do what none had done before, and conscious of muscular power, the celebrated swimmer Webb Swam those twenty-five miles, and set foot on the coast of France.
Oft in the water, and always unscathed, he seemed to think he bore a charmed life; and looking at the boiling current of Niagara, determined to risk his life for fame - fame that never yet satisfied any yearning, human heart - saying, "It's all luck, and the end, I don't think about that; I'm going to take my chance." For the last time, though he knew it not, he dressed in his familiar swimming garments, and took the fatal leap into the angry, whirling torrent, rising from his dive, as usual, to float and strike out, but the eddying waters had him as a straw in their giant grasp, and hurled him unseen and powerless into the vortex he had so badly braved; lost in sight of thousands standing in safety round him, safe themselves, but with no power to help him.
On the shore of that great river is a rock called "past Redemption Point." A little cape jutting into the water, unnoticed by travellers, but beyond it not human being has ever been known to be saved. On one side is life, hope, and salvation; on the other, death, despair, damnation; and only such a little way apart.
In the overflowing stream of life we are daily drawing nearer the point whence no traveller returns; and you know not how soon you may drift, half dreaming, "past redemption point." That whisper in the heart today of a text learned by a mother's knee; that wonderful preservation in a moment of intense danger; - that day you stood by an open grave and looked into its unfathomed mysteries; - that illness that drew you so near the Kingdom of God, yet not inside - oh! who shall say when the Voice shall plead with you for the last time.
Can you tell which of these circumstances shall be the "Past Redemption Point" of your life?
God says, "My Spirit shall not always strive with men"; - and - "If thou knewest, even though, at least in this thy day, the things that belong to thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes."
My Passport to Glory
When, in the darkness of the midnight train, the conductor's lamp is seen glimmering from carriage to carriage, does he hold it to your face to learn who you are, in order to be satisfied of your right to proceed? No! he lets its light fall on the ticket which you hold out to him, and if that is right, you are right no matter you are - rich or poor, rude or noble. So Christ, and Christ alone, is our passport to glory. Never can we say, Lord, look upon me, for I am holy - never; but look upon Christ, who is my passport. Unworthy? Most assuredly you are. And if you live to be outwardly the veriest saint, you will be unworthy still. God has chosen to save you. It is not a question of what you deserve, but what Christ deserves. It makes all the difference when, instead of putting our own value upon the work of Christ, and accepting it merely as meeting our need, we learn God's estimate of that work.
"Warranted to Remove all Stains"
As I opened my door one morning, I found on the steps a handbill advertising a wondrous preparation for the removal of all stains in cloth - "sure to do it - never known to fail." I read it, and thought of other stains more tough - stains that had struck into the textures of life, and left a sorry mark upon soul and character - guilty stains. Who is without some of these?
Oh, what effort is made to keep them out of sight - cover them up - washing "with nitre!" But the spots stick; they will not out Much management may keep them out of others' sight, so that the garment of life is make to look tolerably respectable; but alas! they glare out, and bring discomfort and terror. One's very effort to conceal them often makes them the more prominent, - directs attention to them. Now what a sale might be made of some mixture that would "take out the stains of sin." What a market it would find. Is there anything that will do it?
Yes, a fountain, and "sinners plunged beneath that flowed, lose all their guilty stains." Near?
Yes, close at hand; always accessible. Costly? "Without money and without price." None so poor but may wash and be clean. - Where is it? What is it? "The blood of Jesus Christ, that cleanseth from all sin." Soul-stained, sin-defiled, will you try it? (read what God says in Rev 1:5 of "Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.")
Are you waiting?
A young man was once awakened to cry, "What must I do to be saved?" He went to a friend who was a professing Christian, and unburdening his mind, eagerly and earnestly besought him to tell how salvation was to be obtained. His adviser declared that if he patiently waited, in "god's own time" he would get what he was in quest of. "But how long am I to wait? he asked.
"I cannot answer that question," was the reply.
Months and months passed on. He "waited," and "waited" "God's time." His agony of soul increased and grew more intense. At last he resolved to call on another friend, and seek his advice. This person told him that instead of "waiting," he ought to pray earnestly to God for pardon, and he would obtain it.
"How long am I to pray?" asked the anxious inquirer.
"You must just continue praying, and in due time you will receive it," was the reply.
He prayed earnestly, and besought God to give him salvation. For years he continued "striving" and "agonizing in prayer" to God, entreating Him to be reconciled, and imploring Him to "have mercy" on his soul.
At the end of three years he began to think that his friends had both given him wrong advice, and resolved to seek the counsel of another earnest Christian, and see how he had received the forgiveness of his sins. Having told what his other friends had said, and how he had been "waiting and praying," this friend pointed him to God's simple plan of salvation. He showed that all the time God had been waiting, and had been beseeching him to be reconciled, that Jesus had already taken his place, died in his stead, satisfied the law and paid his debt. The mistake discovered, he immediately "took God at His Word." God says: "Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
Can be done while you read this
There must be a decision arrived at before you can become a Christian, and that can be done while you read this. You have got a question to decide for yourself, which no one can decide for you. "Are you safe for eternity?" I may wish very much to go to Liverpool to-night to see friends who sail to-morrow : but no amount of wishing can take me to Liverpool. I must go to the station, buy a ticket, and get into the train if I am to reach that city and see my friends. And so it is with you about your soul. Tithing will not save you; you must believe in Christ - yes, as your Saviour, and decide for Him. The responsibility rests with yourself.
When Abraham's servant went to retch a bride for his master's son from the far country, and they wished to detain him for a time, even after he had found her, he said, "Hinder me not." But they thought it was too bad to send away Rebekah, never more, perhaps, to see her father and mother, and to go away with a stranger across the desert; and so they called the damsel and put on her the responsibility, "Wilt thou go with this man?" "And she said, I will go." Prompt decision.
Reader, "Wilt thou go with this man?" Will you yield to the pleadings of the Holy Ghost and decide for Christ? Why not? You have got to do it if you would be saved.
Be like Ruth, who said, "Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God" (Ruth 1:16-17)
Decide now, while you read this:
I take Thee, Lord Jesus, to be my Saviour. - Thou didst take my place at Calvary, didst die in my stead as my Substitute; and now, realizing that I have been bought with such a price, I want to live for Thee.
The Settled Account
"Is that account settled?" "Yes, sir, it is; here is the receipt for it." "Then put it away on the file; it is done with." So it was filed and put away.
As a man does with his earthly accounts, so God does with His heavenly accounts. We, His creatures, owed Him a large debt; Jesus Christ, the sinner's Substitute, paid the debt for us; it therefore has become a settled account; the receipt in full is before God in the person of His Son. Can any receipt for our debt, any discharge, be more full, and complete, than these words:
"He, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, took it out of the way, nailing it to His Cross." (Col 2:14)
If a man makes application for an account that has been previously paid, he is only satisfied upon our producing the receipt. Now, if you won't believe that your debt has been paid, and won't produce the receipt - the law holds you as a debtor to pay the whole. You will be pressed to pay that great debt that you owe. Jesus Christ has provided for it; but if you won't believe it and so produce the receipt, think of the awful consequence.
Why are Men put into Jail?
Not because of a life of wickedness, but for some one wrong act or deed. They broke the law once, and perhaps only for a few minutes; but for that they have to suffer for months or years afterwards. No one considers it a violation of justice so to punish.
Men are punished by God, not because they have led a wicked life, but for one sin - UNBELIEF - in Christ. "He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not, is condemned already."
God does not say, he that liveth a good life here shall have eternal life hereafter; but He plainly shows that a person's safety or ruin turns on the acceptance or rejection of Christ Jesus, the sacrifice and atonement that He has made.
It necessarily follows, however, that he who accepts Christ has to obey Christ. Faith in Christ is proved by works for Christ. Where there is a live root we expect fruit. He who says "I believe," and yet lives in sin, is "a liar, and the truth is not in him."
"Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" (Romans 6:16)
How Captain John Couts was Saved
He was a wild, swearing tyrant of a sea captain, but on one voyage he was taken ill and lay on his back in mid-ocean, death staring him in the face. He winced in the presence of death, and fear of "the beyond" took fast hold upon him. At last the sent for the first officer and said, "Williams, get on your knees and pray a bit for a fellow; I'm awful bad, expect I'll go this time." - "I'm not a praying man, captain; can't pray." - "Well, bring your Bible and read me a bit - for my rope's about run out." - "I've no Bible, captain." "Well then, send the second officer here, perhaps he can pray a bit." - The second officer then stood by his bunk. - "say, Thomas, I'm afraid I'm bound for eternity this trip; get down and pray if you can." - "I'd do it , captain, if I could," said the second officer, - "but since I was a lad I've never prayed." - "Have you a Bible, then?" - said the captain. - "No sir." - "Then tell the third officer I want to see him," - said the captain. - The third officer was like his superiors, neither could pray, of had a Bible.
Alas, for the dying captain! They searched the ship for a man that prayed, or had a Bible. At last one of the men came and said he had seen a book like the Bible in the hands of the cook's boy, - Willie Platt.- "Just see if he has one," - said the captain. - "Sonny, have you got a Bible?" - "Yes, " said the boy, "but I only read it in my own time." - "Oh, that's all right boy. Fetch it and sit down here and find out something that will help me. I'm going to dies. Find something about God having mercy on sinners." - Poor boy! he didn't know where to read; but remembered his mother had oft made him read the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. - Willie turned to that chapter and read. When he got to the 5th verse - "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes are we healed" - the captain who had been listening for his life, and realizing that he was certainly having his last chance , said, - "Stop, boy, now that sounds like it; read it again." - Once more Willie read those words, "He was wounded for our transgressions, was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes are we healed." - "Aye, boy, that's good, - that's it." - Willie then got braver, and said, - "Captain, when I was reading that verse at home, mother made me put my name in it, may I put it in now just where mother told me?" - "Certainly, sonny, go on, put your name in just where she told you." - Reverently the boy read, - "He was wounded for Willie Platt's transgressions, He was bruised for Willie Platt's iniquities: the chastisement of Willie Platt's peace was upon Him; and with His stripes Willie Platt is healed." - By then, as Willie finished, the captain was half over his bedside, and eagerly said, - "Boy, read again and put your captain's name in, - John Couts, John Couts." - Then the boy read - " He was wounded for John Couts' transgressions, He was bruised for John Couts' iniquities: the chastisement of John Couts' peace was upon Him; and with His stripes John Couts is healed." - When he had finished the captain said, "That'll do, boy, - go on deck" - Then he lay back - having heard those glorious words - ringing in his ears - he over and over repeated them, putting his own name in, - and as he did so, - the joys of heaven filled the heart of a new-born soul. Another poor sinner for whom Christ died had now believed Him and received Him (John 1:12). - Yes, it says, "as many as received Him, TO THEM gave He the power to become the sons of God." A few days after the soul of the captain passed away, - the body, was rolled in canvas, and over the ship's side disappeared into the ocean, there to remain till Jesus comes, and the sea gives up its dead (See John V28,29). But before his spirit took its flight John Couts had witnessed to every man aboard his ship, - that, Jesus was wounded for HIS transgressions, - was bruised for HIS iniquities, and by His stripes, he, John Couts, was healed.
Think, reader, "God commendeth His love towards YOU, - that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Can you not also THANK HIM" - for thus suffering as your Substitute Saviour, on that Wooden Cross at Calvary. (?) Try.
"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Think! - If God's wrath has fallen upon your Substitute, can it ever again fall upon you? Friend, "stand where the fire has been."
Reform, Not Life
Mere reformation differs as much from regeneration, as whitewashing an old rotten house differs from taking it down and building a new one in its place.
I Don't Hope at All
One day, at the seaside, as I walked with a respectable and religious farmer, we met a fisherman, to who I spoke, asking if his sins were forgiven.
"No, they're not," was the straightforward reply. "Oh, but I hope we're all forgiven," said the farmer.
"But I don't hope at all," I continued. "I'm sure about mine. Though, like you, only a poor unworthy sinner, I trust to Jesus, as having paid my debt when He died on the cross. He says, 'He that believeth hath everlasting life,' and I just take Him at His word. Now let me make this plain. If a gentleman were to by a boat, and give it to our friend here, and he accepted it, and took possession of it, he would not say that he hoped to have a new boat, but that he was sure he had one. Now I hope to enjoy heaven, because I am not there yet; but I do not hope to be forgiven, when God tells me plainly that He has blotted out my sins."
["I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, they transgressions, and, as a cloud, they sins: return unto Me for I have redeemed thee" - Isa. 44:22]
"No God"
But there is a God, as we who know Him can testify, as (prejudice aside) the Bible has convinced the most skeptical of us. The Bible is, without doubt, God's message to this world. It tells how God, looking down upon mankind in their paths of sin, YEARNED to save them from its consequences; yet, having an eye too pure to behold iniquity, and men being utterly unable to atone for the least of their sins, they had to be purged by the blood of a substitute. lacking a substitute, all must die for their own sins.
One, only One, was found able to sustain God's judgment, and thus by your substitute, and that One was God's own wellbeloved Son. Christ, the Prince of glory. He came down to this earth; became "a man of sorrows, despised and rejected of men." Though He came to bless, He met with hatred, was spat upon and crucified for thee and for me, and on that cross, He cried, "It is finished." - What was finished? The work which saves my soul, and your soul, when we believe in Him. - Is it sufficient? Yes. It has satisfied God, who now can be "just, and the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus."
"Fire if You Dare!"
We do not remember a more striking illustration of the sheltering value of the Saviour's blood than the following incident, which occurred some few years ago: -
In one of the Spanish-speaking towns in South America, a British subject was arrested for joining in some local riot. He was condemned to be shot, and brought out before a file of soldiers for that purpose. Without avail the British and American consuls protested against the act. Suddenly, just as the officer was about to give the word FIRE! the British consul rushed to the side of the condemned man, wrapped him in the British ""Union Jack," and cried, "Fire if you dare!" The American consul also wrapped around him the "Stars and Stripes," and stood on the other side. The result was that the arms were grounded, and man delivered over to the British for protection.
The sinner who believes in Jesus is saved by being covered with the robe of Christ's righteousness; for there is "no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." He is redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, and protected as one of God's children.
Wages verses Gift
No child of Adam has a right to anything from God save hell for his wages. A sinner can only have eternal life as a "free gift" from God. Alas thousands refuse it, too proud to be saved on God's terms, which are "FREE, UNMERITED FAVOUR."
Only Two Classes
There were two classes in the day of Noah's flood, those who were inside the ark, and those who were outside;- two in the parable of the gospel-net, the good fish and the bad;- two in the parable of the ten virgins, the wise and the foolish;- two in the account of the judgment-day, the sheep and the goats;- two sides of the throne, the right hand and the left;- two, only two abodes, when the last sentence is passed,
- only heaven and hell.