QUICK must be the hand if an impression is to be made upon the wax. Once let the wax cool and you will press the seal in vain. Cold and hard it will be in a few moments, therefore let the work be quickly done. When men’s hearts are melted under the preaching of the Word, or by sickness, or the loss of friends, believers should be very eager to stamp the truth upon the prepared mind. Such opportunities are to be seized with holy eagerness. Reader, do you know of such? If you be a lover of the Lord Jesus hasten with the seal before the wax is cold. Perhaps, dear reader, you are yourself unsaved; then look at the woodcut, and remember that such is your life. It is like the flame upon the stick of wax, and your soul is like the wax which drops upon the envelope, capable of receiving an impression while you are alive, but soon hardened and made unalterable by the cold breath of death. If the stamp of eternal life is to be set upon your soul it must be now, for when once this life is over change is impossible.
TODAY—THERE IS HOPE
The divine hand can even now set the seal of sacred love upon your heart; but your breath is in your nostrils, and to-morrow may find you where the stamp of grace can never be impressed.
TOMORROW—YOU MAY BE IN HELL
No acts of pardon are ever passed on the other side of the grave, but pardons are plentiful on earth. Jesus suffered for the sins of all who trust him; so suffered that they can never be condemned, since Jesus was punished in their stead. He that believeth on Jesus hath set to his seal that God is true, and he shall receive God’s seal, setting him apart as a choice and chosen spirit. Oh that the seal would fall upon you now, and impress the image of Jesus upon your heart forever!
Spurgeon, C. H. (1866). The Sword and Trowel: 1866, 204. (Public Domain)
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