COME THEN TO JESUS

 

AUGUST 4

COME THEN TO JESUS.
 
"All things are ready:
    come unto the marriage feast!" 
        Matthew 22:4.
 
You have seen that he invites you.
 
Shall he invite in vain?
 
Right earnestly does he call to you . . .
  wondering as you are in sin,
  restless as you are in your soul,
  sinful as has been your life,
  and says, "COME UNTO ME."
 
It is in vain to go elsewhere.
 
He only has the true balm of Gilead,
  which will heal your hurt.
He only has the glorious righteousness necessary
  to justify your soul.
His blood, and his blood alone,
  will cleanse you from all sin.
 
Come to Jesus . . .
  let his breast pillow your aching head,
  let his arm support your sinking spirit,
  let his sweet voice calm your troubled passions,
  and let his love comfort your distressed soul.
 
Come to Jesus . . .
  he waits to receive you,
  he desires to bless you,
  he will rejoice to place you among the lambs of his flock.
 
Come to Jesus; he wishes you to come,
  he continues to send messages to encourage you to come,
  and when he sees you come he will be glad in his heart.
 
Blessed Savior!
  how long he has waited for you,
  how loudly he has called you,
     what patience he has with you!

Come, come to Jesus, that you may . . .
  rest from legal toil,
    drink of the fountain of his love,
      and enjoy true peace with God.
 
You must come or perish.
 
You must accept his invitation now,
 while he calls you to COME, or
  you will be obliged to obey his mandate
     when he bids you DEPART.
O the horrors of that hour!
   O the agony that will flow from that sentence!
 
Reader, shall it be pronounced on thee?
 
Wilt thou provoke him until he pro-nounces it?
 
Wilt thou oblige him to say to thee,
  before an assembled world,
 "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,
    prepared for the devil and his angels!"
 
"Let the wicked forsake his way, and
 the unrighteous man his thoughts: and
  let him return unto the Lord, and
  he will have mercy upon him; and
  to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." 
                                  Isaiah 4:7.

James Smith 1855