J.C. Ryle: Arise, and Come! Before the Fountain is Closed!

"But do you feel anything at this very moment?  Is your conscience awake and working?  Are you sensible of spiritual thirst, and longing for relief?  Then hear the invitation which I bring you in my Master's name this day: 'If any man,' no matter who he may be, 'if any man,' high or low, rich or poor, learned or unlearned, 'if any man thirst, let him come to Christ and drink.'  Hear and accept that invitation without delay.  Wait for nothing.  Wait for nobody.  Who can tell that you may not wait for 'a convenient season' until it be too late?   The hand of a living Redeemer is now held out from heaven; but it may be withdrawn.  The fountain is open now; but it may soon be closed forever.  'If any man thirst, let him come and drink' without delay.  Though you have been a great sinner, and have resisted warnings, counsel and sermons, yet come.  Though you have sinned against light and knowledge, against a father's advice and a mother's tears, though you have lied for years without a Sabbath and without prayer, yet come.  Say not that you know not how to come, that you do not understand what it is to believe, that you must wait for more light.  Will a tired man say that he is too tired to lie down, or a drowning man, that he knows not how to lay hold on the hand stretched out to help him, or the shipwrecked sailor, with a lifeboat alongside the stranded hulk, that he knows not how to jump in?  Oh, cast away these vain excuses!  Arise, and come!  The door is not shut.  The fountain is not yet closed.  The Lord Jesus invites you.  It is enough that you feel thirsting, and desire to be saved.  Come: come to Christ without delay.  Who ever came to the fountain for sin and found it dry?  Who ever went unsatisfied away?"  (J.C. Ryle, Holiness)