Nearly ninety years ago in the Assembly of the Church of Scotland Dr. Chalmers had been nobly standing for the truth.
An opponent endeavoured to score against him by quoting from one of his old pamphlets sentiments the reverse of those he was now advocating. He endeavoured to fasten the charge of inconsistency upon Dr. Chalmers.
That great divine, mathematician and philosopher, replied in language that did him credit as an honest man and a Christian, and which strengthened immensely the arguments he was putting forward.
He replied:
“I penned what was most outrageously wrong. Strangely blinded that I was! What, sir, is the object of mathematical science? Magnitude and proportions of magnitude. But then, sir, I had forgotten two magnitudes—I thought not of the littleness of time—I recklessly thought not of the greatness of eternity.”
It is the disregard of these “two magnitudes” that is responsible for the unconverted condition of untold thousands. Time is everything to them, Eternity—treated as if it did not exist.
But even Christian men and women, who have grasped the import of these “two magnitudes” sufficiently to realise their need of a Saviour are not fully governed in their present lives by their “magnitude” and “proportions of magnitude.”
To put it plainly, we live far too much for time and earth, and far too little for heaven and eternity.
Robert Annan of Dundee was drowned in attempting to rescue some one who had fallen into the water. The last thing he had done on leaving home that morning was to chalk the word—ETERNITY on his door-step. In memory of his earnest Christian life and heroic death the authorities had that word carved upon that step. Would that eternity were carved in deeper letters on our hearts!
An exhibitor at an Educational Exhibition was showing a very interesting globe, carrying with it an apparatus for explaining the phenomena of night and day, eclipses, etc., when he said to his listeners with a laugh, “The great difficulty is to imagine that you are an angel.” He meant to express the need of his hearers detaching themselves in thought from their actual physical position, and transporting themselves outside the earth in order to take up the position of onlookers.
Let the Christian reader seek grace to take such an outlook. Let him imagine himself in eternity. We are obliged by the very poverty of our ideas and language to express ourselves in figures of time, where no figures of time have the least value or meaning. Imagine that age upon age, countless for multitude, have rolled by, absolutely failing to reduce the eternity still future by a single stroke of time. You recall this earth floating in space. When living on it you spoke of buildings “hoary with antiquity.” You stood beside the tomb of some ancient king, and marvelled. You shook hands with some octogenarian and paid homage to his age, experience, and memory of long-past events.
Now all is changed. How small the earth! Floating in the company of millions of monster suns, how insignificant she appears! How you marvel that you paid so much attention, and spent so much time over trifles of time and earth, and forgot that as a Christian you belonged to heaven and eternity! And you echo Dr. Chalmers’ words with a deeper meaning, “strangely blinded that I was.”
Many years ago, as we speak, I caught sight of a crowd of people one Lord’s day evening. A young man was preaching. His earnest face is impressed on my memory—his joyous voice I cannot forget, as the words rang out, “You ask me for my permanent address. It is the Father’s house in heaven.” He had the right detachment of thought, the right prospective.
For time is so brief that it is worse than valueless if it is used only for time, and with no motive higher than the height of the crown of your own head. But just because it is so brief, it becomes valuable in inverse proportion to its brevity, if used for God and for eternity. I think the adjective applied to it by a Christian friend is quite correct. He speaks of it as “tremendously small.”
Christian friend, have you awakened up to the reality of these things? Oh! be in earnest. Be a man or woman of purpose, of one desire, one pursuit, one object. You will never regret it. True we have to spend a great deal of time over earthly things, and rightly so.
Business, the care of the family, etc. etc., take up much time, thought and strength. But if necessary things are done for God’s glory, the time spent is well spent. And if we do the necessary things of this life in this spirit we shall certainly use our free time, plan the spending of our income, in a way that will show we know something of “the two magnitudes.”
If we did, how luxury and ease and self would be set aside, and we should live indeed for Christ and eternity. His interests instead of being patronized would be the paramount care of our hearts.
Let us turn our backs upon worldly ambitions and gains, and let us live for eternity. We are told to “think imperially” nowadays. Let us think universally and in relation to God, Christ and eternity. Then when we pass from this fitful life, instead of wood, hay and stubble to be reduced to black ashes, there will be the indestructible gold, silver, precious stones. Our lives will make their mark on eternity, a deep, indelible mark, for God’s glory.
Christian, rise up to your opportunities, and say with one of old, who grasped the import of “two magnitudes”.
“To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1.21).
“This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14).