2. a Common Salvation

What is meant by a common salvation? Is it poor, or meager? No, it is free to all who are born into this world. The Holy Ghost is proclaiming it on every hand. To use an illustration, suppose a land where rain is much wanted, the ground is parched and dry, vegetation is dying, a hot sun is blazing week after week; at last a cloud appears, the wind rises, it looks as if rain were coining, people hope and pray that it may come. The cloud bursts and the rain comes down in torrents, soaking the dry earth, and giving new life to all. Who gets it; the prince alone? No; the peasant equally. The man of five hundred acres? No; the one with only five also; all get it; it is a common blessing for everybody. You might see the child come running out with its patty-pan to catch some that it may drink, and you see the mother comes too. You see all are suffering, and it is a common rain, it is a common salvation. Jude says, “I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation." There is salvation for all who will have it; it is a common salvation. I know you do not believe it, but it is true. You may have led a careless life, but you are brought face to face with eternal realities, face to face with Christ, and salvation is brought to you now. "Oh," but you say, "I have been an awful sinner." Yes, I know, but it is a common salvation, and it has saved a Mary Magdalene, and the thief on the cross; it has saved Saul the chief of sinners, and I suppose saved Manasseh, who made Jerusalem to run with blood; it has saved countless sinners in ages past, and I can say it has saved me. So the question is, Who will not be saved? Who will neglect it?
Let me implore you, dear reader, to receive salvation now; do not neglect it. Do not be like some shipwrecked men. Their ship was dashed on our coast; they were seen by those on shore, but no life-boat could be put to sea; so the rocket apparatus was got out, the gun was trained and fired, and the rocket carried a line through the air and over the bulwarks of the ship, which would have saved every soul on board,—all they needed to do was to secure the line, and by it draw a larger rope on board. As those on shore watched and saw the line landed safely on board, hearty cheers went up, Hurray! they will be saved. But what did they see? A knife! Then the line was cut. Oh fools oh fools! said they on shore. What do they do now? Again the gun is fired; again the rocket carries the line to the ship—the rocket of salvation; surely they will learn the lesson this time. But no. Again they take a knife and cut the line. They were foreigners, and (just as you think God is against you) they thought the men on shore were enemies and wanted to murder them. Their unbelief and folly they paid dearly for. Soon their ship broke up, all were drowned, and their corpses drifted ashore, witnessing to their madness in refusing salvation when they might have been saved. You do not believe, and they did not, and you are like them. Take care lest the end be similar!