Morning, February 25
Go To Evening Reading
“The wrath to come.”
Matthew 3:7
It is pleasant to pass over a country after a storm has spent itself;
to smell the freshness of the herbs after the rain has passed away,
and to note the drops while they glisten like purest diamonds in the
sunlight. That is the position of a Christian. He is going through
a land where the storm has spent itself upon his Saviour’s head, and if there be a few drops of sorrow falling, they distil
from clouds of mercy, and Jesus cheers him by the assurance that they
are not for his destruction. But how terrible is it to witness the
approach of a tempest: to note the forewarnings of the storm; to mark
the birds of heaven as they droop their wings; to see the cattle as
they lay their heads low in terror; to discern the face of the sky
as it groweth black, and look to the sun which shineth not, and the
heavens which are angry and frowning! How terrible to await the dread
advance of a hurricane—such as occurs, sometimes, in the tropics—to wait in terrible apprehension till the wind shall rush forth in
fury, tearing up trees from their roots, forcing rocks from their
pedestals, and hurling down all the dwelling-places of man! And yet,
sinner, this is your present position. No hot drops have as yet fallen,
but a shower of fire is coming. No terrible winds howl around you,
but God’s tempest is gathering its dread artillery. As yet the water-floods
are dammed up by mercy, but the flood-gates shall soon be opened:
the thunderbolts of God are yet in his storehouse, but lo! the tempest
hastens, and how awful shall that moment be when God, robed in vengeance,
shall march forth in fury! Where, where, where, O sinner, wilt thou
hide thy head, or whither wilt thou flee? O that the hand of mercy
may now lead you to Christ! He is freely set before you in the gospel:
his riven side is the rock of shelter. Thou knowest thy need of him;
believe in him, cast thyself upon him, and then the fury shall be
overpast forever.