The following is an excerpt from V. M. Metcalfe’s book Uncle Minor’s Stories. It tells of the time when the author saw a young man discover he was on the wrong train, and what that teaches us about following Christ.
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One who travels much in this age, if he keeps his eyes and ears open, will learn many valuable lessons. The heading of this article suggests a dilemma in which I saw a young man not long ago. At all the large cities and towns in the North they have union depots, from which all passenger trains depart, and one who does not travel much is liable to get mixed. The clatter of wheels, the ringing of bells, blowing of whistles, and especially the din of hotel bummers and the switching of trains—all is in stack confusion that if one does not keep his wits about him he is just as liable to get on the wrong train as the right one.
At Dunkirk, N. Y., I boarded a train for the East. I had not been in my seat long before a good-looking, sensible young man came in and placed his baggage just in front of me, his beaver in the rack, and donned his traveling cap, and was soon in his seat sound asleep. He appeared very drowsy. This may have been caused by excessive work or constant travel, but I suspected from night revelry and dissipation. The conductor passed and repassed him several times without disturbing him. Finally, as we were nearing our first stop, some thirty miles away, the conductor awoke him. “Ticket, sir.” Ticket was produced. “Where are you going, sir?” “Going to Chicago, of course; that is where I bought my ticket for.” “You are right, so far as your ticket is concerned, but you are on the wrong train, sir. This train is going to New York,” said the conductor, pleasantly. “I bought my ticket and got on this train, and was confident I was boarding, the right train.” “Can’t help that; you are wrong, and cannot reach Chicago on this train.” The young man, at last waking up sufficiently, looked up into the face of the conductor, and pleadingly inquired, “What must I do?” “Stop at the first station, and take the first train in the opposite direction to which you are now going. Right about, sir.”
Reflections.—Here is a young man who appears to be intelligent, well educated, honest, and unconscious of his mistake. Yet he was on the wrong train, and could never reach Chicago on that line. I have often heard men say, We are traveling on different roads to mill, but all will get there. All these churches are right, only have different roads, different names. And, in fact, it does not matter about a church at all. Just so a man is honest, and thinks he is right, all is right.
Two young men start out together in life. One is sober, industrious, truthful, is ready for every good word and work, is a praying man, one that fears God and tries to keep his commandments. But the other is wild, wicked, is a defamer of God and man, is profligate, his feet are always in the path that leads to sin, he scoffs at religion, relies on his own reason instead of God’s word. Are they both right? Do you not know that these roads, that are in opposite directions, cannot lead to the same place? The fact that a man is intelligent does not prove he is on the right train. That he is sincere and honest does not help the matter. Nor does it alter his condition if he should be asleep and unconscious of where he is going. “No, sir; show your ticket.”
Every one, sooner or later, will be made sensible of their mistake if they are on the wrong train. Happy are we if we have some friend, like the conductor on this train, to wake us up and show us the right road before it is too late. And happy are we if we have the nerve and will to “right about” when we find we are wrong. Christ says: “Follow me; I am the way.” No matter how intelligent, ignorant, or honest we may be, we have a guide-book which tells us what tram to get on to land us safely in the celestial city. May God help us all to stick to that train, and not jump off at way stations.