There is a preacher of the old school and he speaks as boldly as ever. He is not popular, though the world is his parish, and he travels over every part of the globe and speaks in every language under the sun. He visits the poor, calls upon the rich, and preaches to people of every religion and many of no religion, but the subject of his sermon is always the same.

He is an eloquent preacher—often stirs feelings which no other preacher could reach, and brings tears into eyes that seldom weep. He addresses himself to the conscience and the heart. None are able to refute his arguments; nor is there any heart that has remained wholly unmoved by the force of his weighty appeals. Most people hate him, for many cringe in his presence, but in one way or another he makes everybody hear him.

He is neither refined nor polite. Indeed, he often interrupts the public arrangements and breaks rudely in upon the private enjoyments of life. He frequents the shop, the office and the factory. He appears in the midst of legislators, and intrudes upon fashionable and religious gatherings at most inopportune times. His name is Death.

You cannot take up a newspaper without finding that he has a corner in it. Every tombstone serves him for a pulpit. You often see his congregations passing to and from the graveyard. The sudden departure of that neighbor, the solemn parting with that dear parent, the loss of that valued friend, the awful gap that was left in your heart when that fondly loved wife, that precious child, was taken, have all been loud and solemn appeals from this old preacher. One day he may take you for his text and in your bereaved family circle, by your graveside, be preaching to others.

You may get rid of the Bible, preachers of the gospel, and reject the Saviour. You may even destroy this little paper, but what will you do with death when he comes calling at your door? Let your heart thank God this moment that you are still in the land of the living—that you have not, before now, died in your sins! Now is the time to seek the Lord. Today is the day of salvation (Isaiah 55:6; 2 Corinthians 6:2).

—Whither Bound?