THE BORDER LAND

OCTOBER 9 

THE BORDER LAND

"The time has come for my departure.  2 Timothy 4:6

Aged Christian, thy day is far spent, 

  thy journey is nearly ended.
The greatest part of the wilderness is behind thee.

Thou hast traveled many a weary mile, 

  and hast spent many a sorrowful day.
But thou hast not much farther to go.
 Thou hast not many more days to spend here.
Thou art just on the edge of the wilderness, 

  on the borders of the promised land.
 Soon, very soon, thy Lord will send his messenger, 

  to call thee home.
The year of release is just at hand.
Do not, therefore, give way to fear.
Do not hang down your head like a bulrush, 

  but look up, for thy redemption draweth nigh.
 

Let us talk together a little of 

  the past, the present, and the future; 

  and let us try and comfort one another

   with God's own precious words.
 
We have not much time left, let us not waste it!
We have not far to go, let us not loiter.

We are in the border country, let us expect 

  visits from "THE BETTER LAND." 
We are hastening from danger and a country

   that is doomed; let us not look back!
Every step now brings us sensibly nearer home.
Every hour tells, and the last hour will soon be here.
 
 
Let us attend to the Apostle's admonition,
"This I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away. But I would have you without carefulness.”


Anxiety about temporal things does not befit us now.
The world is to us like an inn, 

  where we lodge tonight, 

     but shall leave it tomorrow!

"The world passes away; but he who does 

  the will of God abides forever." 1 John 2:17.

JAMES SMITH 1869