antediluvians, he would have been swept away, as they were. It was not his righteousness, it was not his faith nor his works that saved him; it was the ark. And my friends, we have not like Noah to be 120 years making an ark for our safety. God has provided an ark for us and the question is: Are you inside or outside this ark! If you are inside you are safe; if you are outside you are not safe. If you are outside you are exposed to the wrath of God continually, and you cannot tell the day nor the hour nor the minute when you may be swept into eternity. When I was in Manchester in one of the inquiry meetings I went up to the gallery to speak to some people there. While we were standing in a little group, a man came up and stood near us. He was a respectable looking man, and I thought by his general appearance he was sceptical. I didn't think he had come up as an inquirer, but as I stood I noticed tears trickling down his face, and I went to him and asked him if he wanted to seek Christ, and he answered "Yes." I went on talking to him but he could not see what I meant. I thought I would use an illustration, and after I had put it to him I asked him if he saw it. He said "No." I gave him another illustration, and asked him, "Do you see it now?" But he again replied "No." I used two or three more illustrations, but he could not see them. He told me, "Mr. Moody, the fact is I do not feel the evidence of God." "But," I said, "I tell you you are not to be saved by your feelings, and I gave him this illustration; "What was it that saved Noah ? Was it his ark, or was it his feelings, or his life, or his prayers ?" "I see it now; it's all right," and he went away. This was Thursday night, and he had to leave on a night train. On the Sunday afternoon, while preaching in the Free Trade Hall, a man came and tapped me on the shoulder, and asked me if I knew him. I said “No,” and he said, "Do you remember when you spoke to me on Thursday and used the illustration of Noah's ark to save me ?" "Yes," I answered. "Well, I got in then, and have been there ever since. The ark keeps me. Thank God for that illustration of the ark." May God help you to see this illustration to-night, and may you not be trying to save yourselves by your feelings, your tears, or by your wounds. God has provided an ark, and every man who is in it is saved, and every one who is out of it is lost. Let us take another Bible illustration. Look at those two angels coming down to Sodom. They knew that God was going to destroy it utterly, and they led Lot out. What was it that saved his life? Was it his feelings, his tears? It was by obeying the call: "Escape for your life." And now God says, escape for your life-escape to Mount Calvary. Don't delay, because He is going to destroy this world as He did Sodom. While Lot was in Sodom he was liable to the wrath of God, but the moment he got outside of Sodom he was safe. As long as a man remains out of Christ he is liable to the wrath of God and the fire of heaven. Look again, look at those Children of Israel when they were commanded to put the blood on the door-posts and they would be saved from the hand of death. What was it that saved them? Was it the blood or was it their feelings? The moment the blood was there they were saved, and if a man is behind the blood he is as safe as if he was walking the crystal pavement of heaven. When the blood was there the angel of death passed over. One moment the blood was off the posts and the next moment it was on. It was instantaneous salvation. You know Joshua received a command from God that he should erect six cities, three on each side of the Jordan, which were to be the cities of refuge. There were to be great turnpikes and highways to these cities which were to be kept in proper repair, and the gates of the cities were to be kept open day and night, and signposts were to be placed along the road to provide for the man's guidance to these cities of refuge. The moment a man got inside one of those cities he was safe. His safety was instantaneous-the moment he stepped over the boundary line. Just look at two men out in the woods chopping wood. As one of the men brings his axe down on the tree it splits and flies from his hand and kills his companion. He knows what the consequences will be when the killing is discovered. He knows that it will be sure death the moment the news reaches the nearest relative of the deceased. The man who will not avenge the death of a relative is not considered a true man. If a relative would not avenge the death of a kinsman it was considered very dishonorable among the Israelites. The man knows that there is a city of refuge ten miles away, and if he can but reach it he is safe. Thank God, our city of refuge is not ten miles away. That man just leaps upon the highway. He does not take time to argue or think; he just leaps upon the highway and makes for the city of refuge. The news soon spreads that a man has been killed, and the murderer is making for the city of refuge. Whenever the brother learns that his kinsman has been killed, he starts after that poor fugitive. On they go-the avenger and the fugitive-flying to his haven of hope. It is a life and death struggle. Look at him! See him, as he leaps ditches and speeds along the road. Some people see him flying past. "Make haste," they cry, "because the avenger is upon you. Fly for your life." Ah, sinner, you do not know how far the avenger is behind you. To-night he may be upon you. do not know the day, the hour, when he will overtake us. We The avenger he knows now is after him. On he goes, bounding over every obstacle, his speed at its utmost, and his face resolutely set toward the gate wherein his safety lies. He is terribly in earnest. See him leap over the highway; see his bruises, and on he goes panting and nearly exhausted. He sees the gates of the city. The officers see him from the walls, and they shout, "Hasten on, for the avenger is drawing near! he is behind thee." One moment he is outside the walls -the next moment he is inside. He is a saved man. One moment out, the next moment in. What are these illustration in the Bible for unless to show us how we are to be saved. Don't you see from this that conversion is instantaneOne minute you may be outside, and the next minute you ous. are inside. I will give you another illustration, which I think you will be able to get hold of. You will remember when we had slavery we used to have men come up from Kentucky, Tennessee, and other slave States in order to escape from slavery. I hope if there are any Southern people here they will not think in this allusion I am trying to wound their feelings. We all remember when these colored men came here how they used to be afraid lest some one should come and take them back. Why, I remember in the store we had a poor fugitive, and he used to be quaking all the time. Sometimes a customer would come in, and he would be uneasy all the time. He was afraid it was some one to take him back to slavery. But somebody tells him if he was in Canada he would be perfectly safe, and he says: "If I could only get into Canada; if I could only get under the Union Jack I would be free." There are no slaves under the Union Jack he has been told-that is the flag of freedom, the moment he gets under it he is a free man. So he starts. We'll say there are no railways, and the poor fellow has got ten miles ahead when his master comes up, and he hears that his slave has fled for Canada and sets of in pursuit. Some one tells the poor fugitive that his master is after him. What does the poor fugitive do? What does he do? He redoubles his exertions and presses on, on, on, on. He is a slave born, and he knows a slave belongs to his master. Faster he goes. He knows his master is after him and he will be taken if he comes up with him before he reaches the lines. He says, "If I can only hold out and get under the English flag, the English Government will protect me. The whole English army will come to protect me If need be." On he presses. He is now nearing the boundary line. One minute he is a slave and in an instant he is a free My friends, don't mistake. These men can be saved tonight if they cross the line. Your old master, Satan, may be man. pressing down upon you, but there is a land of liberty up there, and the banner of heaven is the flag of love, and under that flag you are protected from all danger, and if an enemy comes near you God says: "If you touch him you touch the apple of my eye." And He will hold you in His right hand and keep you for the day of redemption. Will you go out of this hall to-night and doubt sudden conversion? Will you say a man cannot be saved all at once? Look what He said to Moses. He told him to put a brazen serpent on a pole, and whenever a man looked at that serpent he would live. If some of the preachers we have now in Chicago had lived then they would have said a man may look 6,000 years at that and he wouldn't be saved. A man would die while they were discussing it. A few days ago I heard of a minister who said, I was preaching a most pernicious doctrine when I preached sudden conversion. But point out to me one single conversion in this blessed Bible that was not a sudden conversion. Why, every conversion recorded in the Bible was instantaneous, and if preachers tell men conversion is a life work they are keeping men out of the kingdom of God. We can have instant conversion. "Now is the day of salvation." I tell you, sinners, escape for your lives, fly to the haven of safety-look, look, look, at the crucified one and you will be saved to-night. Look and live. You will become a child of God for time and eternity. The blessing will come upon you-whenever we look we can be saved. Just go back to that camp of Israel. Everyone who looked at that brazen serpent was well. The remedy was instantaneous. When I was in England they were at me all the time about this sudden conversion. They said it was a life work from the cradle down to the grave. I did all I could to show them it. One day I was walking down the streets of York, when I saw a soldier coming down. You can tell a soldier in England in an instant by his coat. I stepped up to him and said: "My friend, I am a stranger in this country, and you will pardon me if I ask you a question. How long did it take you to become a soldier ?" Well, he laughed in my face. I suppose he thought I was very green, to ask him such a question. But he told me that he made up his mind to enlist in Queen Victoria's army, and he went to a recruiting sergeant, and he put an English shilling into the palm of his hand, and from that moment he was a soldier. When he had taken that shilling, from that moment he becomes one of the Queen's army, and if he goes back he becomes a deserter, and if caught is put into prison. He first made up his mind to enlist, and that is the way to become a Christian. Make up your mind. The next thing he did was to take the shilling, and from that moment he became a soldier. When we make up our mind to be a Christian the next thing we have to do is to accept His terms-take salvation as a gift. You wonder how a man can become a Christian as that man became a soldier. He was a citizen one moment; the next moment he was a soldier. He was no longer his own master when he had accepted that shilling. He belonged to the English army. So the moment you enlist in Christ's army you belong to Him. If you want to become a Christian take Christ's shilling as a gift. The minute you take that gift, that minute you are a child of God. See what He says: "To as many as receive Him gave He power to become the sons and daughters of men. When you accept Him He becomes your way, your truth, your light, your all in all. You can have His gift if you will receive Him to-night. While I was in New York an Irishman stood up in a young converts' meeting and told how he had been saved. He said in his broken Irish brogue that I used an illustration and that that illustration saved him. And I declare that is the only man I ever knew who was converted without being spoken to. He said I used an illustration of a wrecked vessel, and said that all would perish unless some assistance came. Presently a lifeboat came alongside and the captain shouted, "Leap into the life-boat-leap for your lives, or you will perish,' and when I came to the point I said, "Leap into the life-boat; Christ is your life-boat," and he just leaped into the life-boat of salvation and was saved. If a man goes out of the Tabernacle to-night without salvation it won't be my fault; it will be your own. It will not be because the ark is not open, but because you will not accept the invitation to enter; it will not be because the blessing is not there, but because you will not take it, for it's there. May God open your eyes to accept Him before you leave this building-to accept salvation as a gift. Let us unite in prayer. "And yet there is room."-Luke xiv. 22. THOUGHTLESS sinner, come to-day; Now a living fountain see, At the cross there's room. |