The writer was spending a
short holiday near the Needles,
This gentleman made a
special journey to Freshwater to collect some specimens of a species, which is
said to be found in no other part of the
Shortly after sunset he
proceeded along the top of the cliff, armed with a pot of syrup and a brush,
and whenever he came to a thistle, he just daubed it slightly with the syrup
and passed on.
About
What a solemn picture, I
thought, of how Satan dupes his victims!
He, too, stalks through the land with his pot of syrup, daubing the
pleasures of sin with a delusive sweetness, and soon after, his victims,
intoxicated with the poisoned draught, and hardened by the deceitfulness of
sin, lose all consciousness of their terrible danger.
You, my unsaved reader, are
like the nocturnal moth; you love darkness rather than light, and hate to be
exposed to the searching rays that emanate from God’s holy word, because it
tells you that your deeds are evil.
The evening of life comes
on; the darkness thickens round the soul.
Sin, the sweet morsel upon which you have fed so long, is dragging you
down into a lost eternity. At length a
light shines upon you, poor deluded worldling.
It is but the lantern of the grim collector-DEATH-who steps from thistle
to thistle, fit emblems of the curse, and lays his cruel hand upon his
victims. The light that dazzles and
affrights them is not from Christ in glory, for upon Him their back is turned;
it is but the reflection of the lurid flames of hell, the conscience awakened
all too late, the danger perceived when escape is forever impossible!
Oh, my friend, do turn away
from the pleasures of sin, which satisfy but for a moment and then leave an
aching void behind, and fix your gaze upon the blessed Son of God who can meet
your every need.
You want to taste of life!
He bids you came to Him, and
life eternal will be your portion.
You must have pleasure, you
say?
At His right hand there are
pleasures for evermore.
Does your poor heart crave
rest?
Listen, then, to His tender
words: “Come unto Me, and I will give you rest”
But mark Before peace of
conscience and rest of heart can be yours, it is necessary that you should have
pardon for your many sins, and this, too, is only to be obtained at the feet of
the One who shed His precious blood on Calvary’s cross in order that a full and
free forgiveness might be proclaimed to you.
“Be it known unto you… that
through this
Instead of the poisoned sweets of Satan’s pleasures, may you taste the unending joys of the Father’s house!