Meteors Not Stars

^’■Meteors a7’e soon spent and fall from heavcji like lightning, stars keep their course and station P When a meteor darts across the sky children say that a star has fallen, but it is not so. Look through the telescope, and you will find Jupiter, and Saturn, and Venus, each one in its place, shining as usual; yea, even the tiniest satellite is in its predestined sphere, fulfilling its times and seasons. So, too, we hear men say that a Christian has fallen from grace, a saint has become an apostate. This also is an error. The saints are in their places still, for it is written, “the righteous shall hold on his way”: those who have fallen were meteors, not stars; professors, but not genuine possessors of the heavenly light. The seven stars are in a hand out of which nothing falls: “all the saints are in thy hand.” Jesus says, “he that believeth in me hath everlasting life,” and therefore we are sure that they will not die.

O my blessed Saviour, give me no temporary salvation! Make me a star whose brightness shall never be quenched. To be enlightened for a time will not serve my turn; grant me light which Satan cannot extinguish. Let me be “saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation.”