LIVING OR DEAD?

Table of Contents

Title Page

LIVING OR DEAD?


A Series of some Truths.

 

 

BY THE

REV. J. C. RYLE, B.A.,

RECTOR OF HELMINGHAM, SUFFOLK.

 

 

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“If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” — 1 COR. 14:8
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NEW YORK:
ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS,
No. 285 BROADWAY.
1851.

 

 

Contents.

1. LIVING OR DEAD.

2. CONSIDER YOUR WAYS.

3. ARE YOU FORGIVEN ?

4. ARE YOU HOLY ?

5. ONLY ONE WAY.

6. CHRIST AND THE TWO THIEVES.

7. FAITH’S CHOICE.

8. REMEMBER LOT.

Chap 1. LIVING OR DEAD.

“you hath he quickened who were dead.” Ephesians ii. 1.

Reader,—-

Look at the words before your eyes, and ponder them well. Search your own heart, and do not lay down this paper without solemn self-inquiry. I meet you this day with one simple question,—Are you among the living, or among the dead?

Listen to me while I try to help you to an answer. Give me your attention, while I unfold this matter, and show you what God has said about it in the Scriptures. If I say hard things, it is not because I do not love you. I write as I do, because I desire your salvation. He is your best friend, who tells you the most truth.

I. First then, let me tell you what we all are by nature,—we are DEAD!

” Dead” is a strong word, but it is not my own coining and invention. I did not choose it. The Holy Ghost told Paul to write it down about the Ephesians,—” You hath he quickened who were dead.” (Eph. ii. 1.) The Lord Jesus Christ made use of it in the parable of the prodigal son,—” This my son was dead, and is alive again.” (Luke xv. 24, 32.) You will read it also in the Epistle to the Corinthians,—” One died for all, then were all dead.” (2 Cor. v. 14.) Shall a mortal man be wise above that which is written ? Must I not take heed to speak that which I find in the Bible, and neither less nor more?

” Dead” is an awful idea, and one that man is most unwilling to receive. He does not like to allow the whole extent of his soul’s disease. He shuts his eyes to the real amount of his danger. Many a one will allow me to say that naturally most people ” are not quite what they ought to be,—they are thoughtless,—they are unsteady,—they are gay,—they are wild,—they are not serious enough.” But dead ? Oh ! no ! I must not mention it. It is going too far to say that. The idea is a stone of stumbling, and a rock of oflence.*

* ” That is the reason -we are no better, because our dis- ease is not perfectly known : that is the reason we are no better, because we know not how bad we are.” — Archbishop Usher’s Sermons, preached at Oxford. 1650.

My dear Reader, what we like in religion is of very little consequence. The only question is—What is written ? What saith the Lord ? God’s thoughts are not man’s thoughts, and God’s words are not man’s words. God says of every living person, who is not a decided Christian,—be he high or low, rich or poor, old or young, — he is dead.

In this, as in everything else, God’s words are right. Nothing could be said more correct, nothing more accurate, nothing more faithful, nothing more true. Stay a little, and let me reason this out with you. Come and see.

What should you have said, if you had seen Joseph weeping over his father Jacob ?—” He fell upon his face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.” (Gen. 1. 1.) But there was no re- ply to his affection. All about that aged countenance was unmoved, silent, and still. Doubt[1]less you would have guessed the reason.—Jacob was dead.

What would you have said, if you had heard the Levite speaking to his wife, when he found her lying before the door in Gibeah ? ” Up,” he said, ” and let us be going. But none answered.” (Judg. xix. 28.) His words were thrown away. There she lay, motionless, stiff, and cold. You know the cause.—She was dead.

What would you have thought, if you had seen the Amalekite stripping Saul of his royal ornaments in Mount Gilboa ? He ” took from him the crown that was upon his head, and the bracelet that was on his arm.” (2 Sam. i. 10.) There was no resistance. Not a muscle moved in that proud face. Not a finger was raised to prevent him. And why ?—Saul was dead.

What should you have thought, if you had met the widow’s son in the gate of Nain, lying on a bier, wrapped about with grave-clothes, followed by his weeping mother, carried slowly towards the tomb ? (Luke vii. 12.) Doubtless So long as he puts the first things last and the last first, buries his talent like an unprofitable servant, and brings the Lord no revenue of honor, so long in Grod’s sight he is dead. He is not filling the place in creation for which he was intended. He is not using his powders and faculties as God meant them to be used. The poet’s words are strictly true,

” He only lives who lives to God,
And all are dead beside.”

This is the true explanation of sin not felt, — and sermons not believed,—and good advice not followed,—and the Gospel not embraced, — and the world not forsaken,—and the cross not taken up,—and self-will not mortified,—and evil habits not laid aside,—and the Bible seldom read—and the knee never bent in prayer. Why is all this on every side ? The answer is simple. Men are dead.

This is the true account of that host of excuses for neglect of religion, which so many make with one consent. Some have no learning, and some have no time. Some are op[1]pressed with business, and some with poverty. Some have difficulties in their own families, and some in their own health. Some have peculiar obstacles in their calling, which others, we are told, cannot understand ; and others have peculiar drawbacks at home, and they wait to have them removed. But God has a shorter word in the Bible, which describes all these people at once. He says, they are dead.

This is the true explanation of many things which wring a faithful minister’s heart. Many around him never attend a place of worship at all. Many attend so irregularly, that it is clear they think it of no importance. Many attend once on a Sunday, who might just as easily attend twice. Many never come to the Lord’s table,—never appear at a week-day means of grace of any kind. And why is all this ? Often, far too often, there can only be one reply about these people. They are dead.

See now, dear Reader, how all professing Christians should examine themselves and try their own state. It is not in church-yards alone where the dead are to be found. There are only too many inside our churches, and close it would have been all clear to you. It would have needed no explanation.—The young man was dead.

Now, I say this is just the condition of every man by nature in the matter of his soul. I say this is just the state of the vast majority of people around us in spiritual things. God calls to them continually,—by mercies, by afflictions, by ministers, by His word ; —but they do not hear His voice. The Lord Jesus Christ mourns over them, pleads with them, sends them gracious invitations, knocks at the door of their hearts ; —but they do not regard it. The crown and glory of their being, that precious jewel, their immortal soul, is being seized, plundered, and taken away ; —and they are utterly unconcerned. The devil is carrying them away, day after day, along the broad road that leads to destruction ; —and they allow him to make them his captives without a struggle. And this is going on everywhere,—all around you,—among all classes,—through the length and breadth of the land. You know it in your own conscience, while you read this paper. You must be aware of it. You cannot deny it. And what then, I ask you, can be said more perfectly true than that which God says, We are all by nature spiritually dead?

Yes ! when a man’s heart is cold and unconcerned about religion,—when his hands are never employed in doing God’s work,—when his feet are not familiar with God’s ways, — when his tongue is seldom or never used in prayer and praise,—when his ears are deaf to the voice of Christ in the Gospel,—when his eyes are blind to the beauty of the kingdom of heaven,—when his mind is full of the world, and has no room for spiritual things,—when these marks are to be found in a man, the word of the Bible is the right word to use about him, and that word is “dead.”

We may not like this perhaps. We may shut our eyes both to facts in the world, and texts in the Word. But God’s truth must be spoken, and to keep it back does positive harm. Truth must be spoken, however condemning it may be. So long as man does not serve God with body, soul, and spirit, he is not really alive. to our pulpits,—too many on the benches, and too many in the pews. The land is like the valley in Ezekiel’s vision, full of bones, and those very dry. There are dead souls in all our parishes, and dead souls in all our streets. There is hardly a family in which all live to God. There is hardly a house in which there is not some one dead. Oh ! search and look at home. Prove your own self.

See too how sad is the condition of all who have gone through no spiritual change, whose hearts are still the same as in the day they were born. There is a mountain of division between them and heaven. They have yet to pass from death to life. Oh ! that they did but see and know their danger ! Alas ! it is one fearful mark of spiritual death, that, like natural death, it is not felt. We lay our beloved ones tenderly and gently in their narrow beds, but they feel nothing of what we do. ” The dead,” says the wise man, ‘’ know not anything.” (Eccl. ix. 5.) And this is just the case with dead souls.

See too what reason ministers have to be anxious about their congregations. We feel that time is short, and life is uncertain. We know that death spiritual is the high-road that leads to death eternal. We fear lest any of those we preach to should die in their sins, unprepared, unrenewed, impenitent, unchanged. Oh ! marvel not if we often speak strongly, and plead with you warmly. We dare not give you flattering titles, amuse you with trifles, say smooth things, and cry peace, peace, when life and death are at stake, and nothing less. The plague is among you. We feel that we stand between the living and the dead. We must and will use great plainness of speech. “If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for the battle?” (1 Cor. xiv. 8.)

1.Let me tell you, in the second place, what every man needs who would he saved,—he must he quickened and made alive.

Life is the mightiest of all possessions. From death to life is the mightiest of all changes. And no change short of this will ever avail to fit man’s soul for heaven.

Yes ! it is not a little mending and alteration, —a little cleansing and purifying,—a little painting and patching,—a little turning over a new leaf, and putting on a new outside, that is wanted. It is the bringing in of something altogether new,—the planting within us a new nature,—a new being,—a new principle,— a new heart,—this alone, and nothing less than this, will ever meet the necessities of man’s soul.*

* ” It is not a little reforming will save the man, no, nor all the morality of the world, nor all the common graces of God’s Spirit, nor the outward change of the life : they will not do, unless we are quickened and have a new life wrought in us.” —Usher’s Sermons.

To hew a block of marble from the quarry, and carve it into a noble statue,—to break up a waste wilderness, and turn it into a garden of flowers,—to melt a lump of iron-stone, and forge it into watch-springs ;—all these are mighty changes. Yet they all come short of the change which every child of Adam requires, for they are merely the same thing in a new form, the same substance in a new shape. But man requires the grafting in of that which he had not before. He needs a change as great as a resurrection from the dead. He must become a new creature. Old things must pass away, and all things must become new. He must be born again, born from above, born of God. The natural birth is not a whit more necessary to the life of the body, than is the spiritual birth to the life of the soul.

I know well this is a hard saying. I know well the children of this world dislike to hear they must be born again. It pricks their consciences. It makes them feel they are further off from heaven than they are willing to allow. It seems like a narrow door which they have not yet stooped to enter, and they would fain make the door wider, or climb in some other way. But I dare not give place by subjection in this matter. I will not foster a delusion, and tell people they only need repent a little, and stir up a gift they have within them, in order to become real Christians. I dare not use any other language than that of the Bible. And I say in the words which are written for our learning, — we all need to be born again, we are all naturally dead, and must be made alive.

Reader, if you had seen Manasseh, king of Judah, at one time filling Jerusalem with idols, and murdering his children in honor of false gods, at another purifying the temple, putting down idolatry, and living a godly life ;—if you had seen Zacchaeus, the publican of Jericho, at one time cheating, plundering, and covetous, at another following Christ, and giving half his goods to the poor ; —if you had seen the servants of Nero’s household, at one time conforming to their master’s profligate ways, at another of one heart and mind with the apostle Paul ; —if you had seen the ancient father, Augustine, at one time living in open neglect of the seventh commandment, at another walking closely with God ; —if you had seen our own Reformer, Latimer, at one time preaching earnestly against the truth as it is in Jesus, at another spending and being spent even to death in its cause ; — if you had seen the New Zealanders, or Tinnevelly Hindoos, at one time blood-thirsty, immoral, and sunk in abominable superstitions, at another holy, pure, and believing Christians ; — if you had seen these wonderful changes, or any of them, I ask you what you would have said ? Would you have been content to call them nothing more than amendments and alterations? Would you have been satisfied with saying that Augustine had reformed his ways, and Latimer turned over a new leaf? Verily^ if you had said no more than this, the very stones would have cried out. I tell you in all these cases there was nothing less than a new birth, a resurrection of human nature, a quickening of the dead. These are the right words to use. All other language is weak, poor, beggarly, unscriptural, and short of the truth.

Now I will not shrink from saying plainly, we all need the same kind of change, if we are to be saved. The difference between us and any of those I have just named, is far less than it appears. Take oft* the outward crust, and you will find the same nature beneath in us and them, an evil nature requiring a complete change. The face of the earth is very different in different climates, but the heart of the earth, I am told, is everywhere the same. Go where you will, from one end to the other, you would always find the granite rock beneath your feet, if you only bored down deep enough. And it is just the same with men’s hearts. Their customs and their colors, their ways and their laws, may all be utterly unlike, but the inner man is always the same ; —their hearts are all alike at the bottom, all stony, all hard, all ungodly, all needing to be thoroughly renewed. The Englishman and the New Zealander, stand on the same level in this matter. Both are naturally dead, and both need to be made alive. Both are children of the same father Adam, who fell by sin, and both need to be born again, and made children of God.

Reader, whatever part of the globe we live in, our eyes need to be opened : naturally we never see our sinfulness, guilt, and danger. Whatever nation we belong to, our understandings need to be enlightened :* naturally we know little or nothing of the plan of salvation; —like the Babel-builders, we think to get to heaven our own way. Whatever church we may belong to, our wills need to be bent in the right direction ;—naturally v/e should never choose the things which are for our peace,—we should never come to Christ. Whatever be our rank in life, our affections need to be turned to things above ; —naturally we only set them on things below, earthly, sensual, short-lived, and vain. Pride must give place to humility, —self-righteousness to self-abasement,—carelessness to seriousness—worldliness to holiness, —unbelief to faith. Satan’s dominion must be put down within us, and the kingdom of God set up. Self must be crucified, and Christ must reign. Till these things come to pass, we are dead as stones. When these things begin to take place, and not till then, we are alive.

* ” Man’s understanding is so darkened that he can see nothing of God in God, nothing of holiness in holiness, nothing of good in good, nothing of evil in evil, nor anything of sin- fulness in sin. Nay, it is so darkened that he fancies himself to see good in evil, and evil in good, happiness in sin, and misery in holiness.” — Bishop Beveridge on the Articles.

Reader, I dare to say this sounds like foolish- ness to some. I tell you that many a living man could stand up this day and testify that it is true. Many a one could tell you that he knows it all by experience, and that he does indeed he] himself a new man. He loves the things that once he hated, and hates the things that once he loved. He has new habits, new companions, new ways, new tastes, new feelings, new opinions, new sorrows, new joys, new anxieties, new pleasures, new hopes, and new fears.* In short, the whole bias and current of his being is changed. Ask his nearest relations and friends, and they would bear witness to it. Whether they liked it or not, they would be obliged to confess he was no longer the same.

* ” How wonderfully doth the new-born soul differ from his former self. He liveth a new life, he walketh in a new way, he steereth his course by a new compass and towards a new coast. His principle is new, his pattern is new, his practices are new, his projects are new, all is new. He ravels out all he had wove before, and employeth himself wholly about another work.” — George Swinnocke. 1660.

Many a one could tell you that once he did not think himself such a very great transgressor. At any rate he fancied he was no worse than others. Now he would say, with the apostle Paul, he feels himself the chief of sinners.*

*” I cannot pray, but I sin : I cannot hear or preach a sermon, but I sin : I cannot give an alms, or receive the sacrament, but I sin : nay, I cannot so much as confess my sins, but my confessions are still aggravations of them. My repentance needs to be repented of, my tears want washing, and the very washing of my tears needs still to be washed over again with the blood of my Redeemer.” — Bishop Beveridge.

” Woe is me, that man should think there is anything in me ! He is my witness, before whom I am as crystal, that the secret house-devils, that bear me too often company, that the corruption which I find within, make me go with low sails.” — Rutherford’s Letters. 1637.

” I am. sick of all I do, and stand astonished that the Redeemer still continues to make use of and bless me. Surely ? am more foolish than any man ; no one receives so much and does so little.”— Whitefield’s Letters.

Once he did not consider he had a bad heart. He might have his faults, and be led away by bad company and temptations, but he had a good heart at the bottom. Now he would tell you he knows no heart so bad as his own. He finds it deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.

Once he did not suppose it was a very hard matter to get to heaven. He thought he had only to repent, and say a few prayers, and do what he could, and Christ would make up what was wanting. Now he believes the way is narrow, and few find it. He is convinced he could never have made his own peace with God. He is persuaded that nothing but the blood of Christ could wash away his sins. His only hope is to be justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Once he could see no beauty and excellence in the Lord Jesus Christ. He could not understand some ministers speaking so much about Him. Now he would tell you he is the pearl above all price, the chiefest among ten thousand, —his Redeemer, his Advocate, his Priest, his King, his Physician, his Shepherd, his all.

Once he thought lightly about sin. He could not see the necessity of being so particular about it. He could not think a man’s words and thoughts and actions were of such importance, and required such watchfulness. Now he would tell you sin is the abominable thing which he hates, the sorrow and burden of his life. He longs to be more holy. He can enter thoroughly into Whitefield’s desire, ” I want to go where I shall neither sin myself, nor see others sin any more.”

Once he found no pleasure in means of grace. The Bible was neglected. His prayers, if he had any, were a mere form. Sermons were a weariness, and often sent him to sleep. Now all is altered. These things are the food, the comfort, the delight of his soul.

Once he disliked earnest-minded Christians. He shunned them as melancholy, low-spirited, weak people. Now they are the excellent of the earth, of whom he cannot see too much. He is never so happy as he is in their company. He feels if all men and women were saints it would be heaven upon earth.

Once he cared only for this world, its pleasures, its business, its occupations, its rewards. Now he looks upon it as an empty, unsatisfying place,—an inn,—a lodging,—a training-school for the life to come. His treasure is in heaven. His home is beyond the grave.

Reader, I ask you once more, what is all this but a new life ? Such a change as I have described is no vision and fancy. It is a real actual thing, which not a few in this world have known or felt. It is not a picture of my own imagining. It is a true thing, which many a one could find at this moment hard by his own doors. But wherever such a change does take place, there you see the thing of which I am now speaking,—you see the man made alive, a new man, a new creature, a soul born again.

I would to God that changes such as these were more common ! I would to God there were not such multitudes, of whom we must say even weeping, they know nothing about the matter at all But common or not, one thing I say plainly, this is the kind of change we all need. I do not hold that all must have exactly the same experience. I allow most fully that the change is different, in degree, extent, and intensity, in different persons. Grace may be weak, and yet true ; —life may be feeble, and yet real. But I do confidently affirm, we must all go through something of this kind, if ever we mean to be saved. Till this sort of change has taken place, there is no life in us at all. We may be living Churchmen, but we are dead Christians.*

* ” If we be still our old selves, no changelings at all, the same men that we came into the world, without defalcation of our corruptions, without addition of grace and sanctification, surely we must seek us another Father, we are not yet the sons of God.” — Bishop Hall. 1652.

” If thou hast anything less than regeneration, believe me, thou canst never see heaven. There is no hope of heaven till then,—till thou art born again.” — Archbishop Usher’s Sermons.

Take it home, every man or woman that reads this paper, take it home to your own conscience, and look at it well. Some time or other, between the cradle and the grave, all who would be saved must be made alive. The words which good old Berridge had graven on his tomb-stone are faithful and true, ” Reader, art thou born again ? Remember ! no salvation without a new birth.”

See now, my dear Reader, what an amazing gulf there is between the Christian in name and form, and the Christian in deed and truth. It is not the difference of one being a little better, and the other a little worse than his neighbor.;—it is the difference between a state of life and a state of death. The meanest blade of grass that grows upon a Highland mountain is a more noble object than the fairest wax-flower that was ever formed ; for it has that which no science of man can impart,—it has life. The most splendid marble statue in Greece or Italy is nothing by the side of the poor sickly child that crawls over the cottage floor; for with all its beauty it is dead. And the weakest member of the family of Christ is far higher and more precious in God’s eyes, than the most gifted man of the world. The one lives unto God, and shall live forever ; —the other, with all his intellect, is still dead in sins.

Oh! you that have passed from death to life, you have reason indeed to be thankful. Remember what you once were by nature, — dead. Think what you are now by grace, — alive. Look at the dry bones thrown up from the graves. Such were ye ; —and who has made you to differ ? Go and fall low before the footstool of your God. Bless Him for His grace, His free distinguishing grace. Say to Him often, ” Who am I, Lord, that thou hast brought me hitherto ? Why me, why hast thou been merciful unto me ?”

III. Let me tell you in the third place, in what way alone this quickening can he brought about,—by what means a dead soul can he made alive.

Surely, if I did not tell you this, it would be cruelty to write what I have written. Surely, it would be leading you into a dreary wilderness, and then leaving you without bread and water;—it would be like marching you down to the Red Sea, and then bidding you walk over ; —it would be commanding you to make brick, like Pharaoh, and yet refusing to provide you with straw ; —it would be like tying your hands and feet, and then desiring you to war a good warfare, and so run as to obtain the prize. I will not do so. I will not leave you, till I have pointed out the wicket-gate towards which you must run. By God’s help, I will set before you the full provision there is made for dead souls. Listen to me a little longer, and I will once more show you what is written in the Scripture of truth.

One thing is very clear;—we cannot work this mighty change ourselves. It is not in us. We have no strength or power to do it. We may change our sins, but we cannot change our hearts. We may take up a new way, but not a new nature. We may make considerable reforms and alterations. We may lay aside many outward bad habits, and begin many outward duties. But we cannot create a new principle within us. We cannot bring something out of nothing. The Ethiopian cannot change his skin, nor the leopard his spots ; no more can we put life into our own souls.* (Jer. xiii. 23.)

* ” There is not one good duty which the natural man can do. If it should be said to him, Think but one good thought, and for it thou shalt go to heaven, he could not think it. Till God raise him from the sink of sin, as he did Lazarus from the grave, he cannot do anything, that is well-pleasing to God. He may do the works of a moral man, but to do the works of a man quickened and enlightened, it is beyond his power.”—Usher’s Sermons.

” Nature can no more cast out nature, than Satan can cast out Satan.” — Thomas Watson. 1653.

” Nature cannot raise itself to this, any more than a man can give natural being to himself.”—Archbishop Leighton.

Another thing is equally clear, no man can do it for us. Ministers may preach to you, and pray with you,—receive you at the font in baptism, admit you at the Lord’s table, and give you the bread and wine ; —but they cannot bestow spiritual life. They may bring in regularity in the place of disorder, and outward decency in the place of open sin. But they cannot go below the surface. They can- not reach your hearts. Paul may plant and Apollos water, but God alone can give the in- crease. (1 Cor. iii. 6.)

Who then can make a dead soul alive ? No one can do it but God. He only who breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life, can ever make a dead sinner a living Christian. He only who formed the world out of nothing in the day of creation, can make man a new creature. He only who said, ” Let there be light, and there was light,” can cause spiritual light to shine into man’s heart. He only who formed man out of the dust and gave life to his body, can ever give life to his soul. His is the special office to do it by His Spirit, and His also is the power.*

* ” To create or bring something out of nothing, is beyond the power of the strongest creature. It is above the strength of all men and angels to create the least blade of grass ; God challengeth this as His prerogative royal. (Isaiah xl. 26.) Augustine said truly, To convert the little world man, is more than to create the great world.” — George Swinnocke. 1660.

Reader, the glorious Gospel contains provision for your spiritual, as well as your eternal life. The dead must come to Christ, and He will give them life as well as peace. He is able to do everything which sinners need. He cleanses them by His blood,—He makes them alive by His Spirit. The Lord Jesus is a complete Saviour. That mighty living Head has no dead members. His people are not only justified and pardoned, but quickened together with Him, and made partakers of His resurrection. To Him the Spirit joins the sinner, and raises him by that union from death to life. In Him the sinner lives, after he has believed. The spring of all his vitality is the union between Christ and his soul, which the Spirit begins and keeps up. Christ is the appointed fountain of all spiritual life, and the Holy Ghost the appointed agent who conveys that life to our souls.*

* ” Then do we begin to live, when we begin to have union with Christ, the Fountain of Life, by His Spirit communicated to us : from this time we are to reckon our life.” —Flavel.

” Christ is an universal principle of all life.” — Sibbs. 1635.

Come to the Lord Jesus Christ, if you would have life. He will not cast you out. He has gifts, even for the rebellious. The moment the dead man touched the body of Elisha, he revived and stood upon his feet. (2 Kings xiii. 21.) The moment you touch the Lord Jesus with the hand of faith, you are alive unto God, as well as forgiven all trespasses. Come, and your soul shall live.

I never despair of any one becoming a decided Christian, whatever he may have been in days gone by. I know how great the change is from death to life. I know the mountains of division that seem to stand between some of you and heaven. I know the hardness, the prejudices, the desperate sinfulness of the natural heart. But I remember that God the Father made the glorious world out of nothing. I remember the voice of the Lord Jesus could reach Lazarus when four days dead, and recall him even from the grave. I remember the amazing victories the Spirit of God has won in every nation under heaven. I remember all this, and feel that I never need despair. Yes! the very man who now seems most utterly dead in sins, may yet be raised to a new being, and walk before God in newness of life.

Why should it not be so ? The Holy Spirit is a merciful and loving Spirit. He turns away from no man because of his vileness. He passes by no one, because his sins are black and scarlet.

There was nothing in the Corinthians that He should come down and quicken them. Paul reports of them that they were ” fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners.” ” Such,” he says, ” were some of you.” Yet even them the Spirit made alive. ” Ye are washed,” he writes, ” ye are sanctified, ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God,” (1 Cor. vi. 9, 10,11.)

There was nothing in the Colossians, that He should visit their hearts. Paul tells us that ” they walked in fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Yet them also the Spirit quickened. He made them ” put off the old man with his deeds, and put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.” (Coloss. iii. 5-9, 10.)

There was nothing in Mary Magdalene that the Spirit should make her soul alive. Once she had been possessed with seven devils. Time was, if report be true, she had been a woman proverbial for vileness and iniquity. Yet even her the Spirit made a new creature, separated her from her sins, brought her to Christ, made her last at the cross, and first at the tomb.

Never, never will the Spirit turn away from a soul because of its corruption. He never has done so ; —He never will. It is His glory that He has purified the minds of the most impure, and made them temples for His own abode. He may yet take the worst man who reads this paper, and make him a vessel of grace.

Why indeed should it not be so? The Spirit is an Almighty Spirit. He can change the stony heart into a heart of flesh. He can break the strongest bad habits like tow before the fire. He can make the most difficult things seem easy, and the mightiest objections melt away like snow in spring. He can cut the bars of brass, and throw the gates of prejudice wide-open. He can fill up every valley, and make every rough place smooth. He has done it often, and He can do it again.*

* “Such is the power of the Holy Ghost to regenerate men, and as it were to bring them forth anew, so that they shall be nothing like the men they were before.” — Homily for Whitsunday.

The Spirit can take a Jew,—the bitterest enemy of Christianity,—the fiercest persecutor of true believers,—the strongest stickler for Pharisaical notions,—the most prejudiced op[1]poser of Gospel doctrine,—and turn that man into an earnest preacher of the very faith he once destroyed. He has done it already.—He did it with the Apostle Paul.

The Spirit can take a Roman Catholic Monk, brought up in the midst of Romish superstition, —trained from his infancy to believe false doctrine, and obey the Pope,—steeped to the eyes in error,—and make that man the clearest upholder of justification by faith the world ever saw. He has done it already.—He did it with Martin Luther.

The Spirit can take an English tinker, without learning, patronage, or money,—a man at one time notorious for nothing so much as blasphemy and swearing—and make that man write a religious book, which shall stand unrivalled and unequalled in its way by any since the time of the Apostles. He has done so already.—He did it with John Bunyan, the author of ” Pilgrim’s Progress.

The Spirit can take a sailor, drenched in worldliness and sin,—a profligate captain of a slave-ship,—and make that man a most successful minister of the Gospel,—a writer of letters, which are a store-house of experimental religion,—and of hymns which are known and sung wherever English is spoken. He has done it already.—He did it with John Newton.

All this the Spirit has done, and much more, of which I cannot speak particularly. And the arm of the Spirit is not shortened. His power is not decayed. Such as the Lord Jesus Christ is, such also is the Spirit, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. He is still doing wonders, and will do to the very end.

Once more then, I say, I never despair of any man’s soul being made alive. I should if it depended on man himself. Some seem so hardened, I should have no hope. I should if it depended on the work of ministers. Alas ! the very best of us are poor, weak creatures. But I cannot despair, when I remember that God the Spirit is the agent who conveys life to the soul, for I know and am persuaded that with him nothing is impossible.

I should not be sui-prised to hear, even in this life, that the hardest man I ever met, had become softened, and the proudest had taken his place at the feet of Jesus as a weaned child.

I shall not be surprised to meet many on the right hand in the day of judgment, whom I shall leave, when I die, travelling in the broad way. I shall not start, and say, ” What ! you here!” I shall only remind them, “Was not this my word, when I was yet among you, — nothing is impossible with Him that quickeneth the dead.”

Does any one who reads this paper desire to help the Church of Christ ? Then pray for a great outpouring of the Spirit. He alone can give edge to sermons, and point to advice, and power to rebukes, and cast down the high walls of sinful hearts. It is not better preaching and finer writing that is wanted in this day, but more of the presence of the Holy Ghost.

Does any one who reads this paper feel the slightest drawing towards God,—the smallest concern about his immortal soul ? Then flee to that open fountain of living waters, the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall receive the Holy Ghost. (John vii. 39.) Begin at once to pray for the Holy Spirit. Think not you are shut up, and cut oft’ from hope. The Holy Ghost is promised to them that ask Him. His very name is the Spirit of promise and the Spirit of life. Give Him no rest till he comes down and makes you a new heart. Cry mightily unto the Lord,—say unto Him “Bless me, even me also, —quicken me, and make me alive.”

And now let me wind up all I have said, with a few words of special application. I have told you what I believe to be the truth as it is in Jesus. Let me try, by God’s blessing, to bring it home to your heart.

1. First, let me put this question to every soul who reads this paper,—”Are you living, or are you dead ?”

Suffer me, as an ambassador for Christ, to press the inquiry on every conscience. There are only two ways to walk in, the narrow and the broad;—two companies in the day of judgment, those on the right hand and those on the left ; two classes of people in the professing Church of Christ, and to one of them you must belong. Where are you? What are you ? Are you among the living, or among the dead?

I speak to you yourselves who read this paper, and to none else,—not to your neigh[1]bor, but to you,—not to Africans oi New Zealanders, but to you. I do not ask whether you are angels, or whether you have the mind of David or Paul,—but I do ask whether you have a well-founded hope that you are new creatures in Christ Jesus,—I do ask whether you have reason to believe you have put off the old man and put on the new,—whether you are conscious of ever having gone through a real spiritual change of heart,—whether, in one word, you are dead or alive?*

* ” All hangs upon this hinge. If this be not done, ye are undone—undone eternally. All your profession, civility, privileges, gifts, duties, are cyphers, and signify nothing, unless regeneration be the figure put before them.” — Swinnocke, 1660. ” Believe me, whatsoever thou art, thou shalt never be saved for being a lord, or a knight, a gentleman or a ricli man, a learned man or a well-spoken eloquent man ; nor yet for being a Calvinist, or a Lutlieran, an Arminian, an Anabaptist, a Presbyterian, an Independent, or a Protestant, formally and merely as such ;—much less for being a Pa])ist, or of any such grossly deluded sect : but as a regenerate Christian it is that thou must be saved, or thou canst have no hope.” — Richard Baxter. 1659.

Think not to put me off by saying, ” You were admitted into the church by baptism, — you received grace and the Spirit in that sacrament,—you are alive.” It shall not avail you. Paul himself says of the baptized widow who lives in pleasure, ” She is dead while she liveth.” (1 Tim. v. 6.) The Lord Jesus Christ himself tells the chief officer of the church in Sardis, ‘’ Thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead.” (Rev. iii. 1.) The life you talk of is nothing if it cannot be seen. Show it to me, if I am to believe its existence. Grace is light, and light will always be discerned. Grace is salt, and salt will always be tasted. An in[1]dwelling of the Spirit that does not show itself by outward fruits,—and a grace that men’s eyes cannot discover, are both to be viewed with the utmost suspicion. Believe me, if you have no other proof of spiritual life but your baptism, you are yet a dead soul.

Think not to tell me, ” It is a question that cannot be decided, and you call it presumptuous to give an opinion in such a matter.” This is a vain refuge, and a false humility. Spiritual life is no such dim and doubtful thing as you seem to fancy. There are marks and evidences by which its presence may be discerned by those who know the Bible. ” We know, says John, ” that we have passed from death unto life.” (1 John hi. 14.) The exact time and season of that passage may often, be hidden from a man. The fact and reality of it will seldom be entirely an uncertain thing. It was a true and beautiful saying of a Scotch girl to Whitefield, when asked if her heart was changed, ” Something was changed, she knew ; it might be the world, it might be her own heart ; but there was a great change somewhere, she was quite sure, for everything seemed different to what it once did.” Oh! cease to evade the inquiry. Anoint your eyes with eye-salve that you may see. Are you dead or alive ?

Think not to reply, ” You do not know ; — you allow it is a matter of importance ; —you hope to know some time before you die ; —you mean to give your mind to it when you have a convenient season ; —but at present you do not know.”

You do not know! Yet heaven or hell is wrapped up in this question. An eternity of happiness or misery hinges upon your answer. You do not leave your worldly affairs so un[1]settled. You do not manage your earthly business so loosely. You look far forward. You provide against every possible contingency. You insure life and property. Oh ! why not deal in the same way with your immortal soul ?

You do not know ! Yet all around you is uncertainty. You are a poor frail worm,—your body fearfully and wonderfully made,—your health liable to be put out of order in a thousand ways. The next time the daisies bloom, it may be over your grave. All before you is dark. You know not what a day may bring forth, much less a year. Oh ! why not bring your soul’s business to a point without delay?

Reader, begin the great business of self- examination. Rest not till you know the length and breadth of your own state in God’s sight. Backwardness in this matter is an evil sign. It springs from an uneasy conscience. It shows that man thinks ill of his own case. He feels like a dishonest tradesman, that his accounts will not bear inquiry. He dreads the light.

Reader, make sure work. Take nothing for granted. Do not measure your condition by that of others. Bring everything to the measure of God’s word. A mistake about your soul is a mistake for eternity. ” Surely,” says Leighton, ” they that are not born again, shall one day wish they had never been born.”

Sit down this day and think. Commune with your own heart and be still. Go to your own room and consider. Enter into your own closet, or at any rate contrive to be alone with God. Look the question fairly, fully, honestly in the face. How does it touch you ? Are you among the living, or among the dead ?*

* ” If your state be good, searching into it will give you the comfort of it. If your state be bad, searching into it can- not make it worse ; nay, it is the only way to make it better ; for conversion begins with conviction.” — Bishop Hopkins. 1680.

2. In the second place, let me speak in full affection to those who are dead What shall I say to you ? What can I say ? What words of mine are likely to have any effect on your hearts ?

What shall I say to you ? What can I say ? What words of mine are likely to have any effect on your hearts ?

This I will say, I mourn over your souls. I do most unfeignedly mourn. You may be thoughtless and unconcerned. You may care little for what I am saying. You may scarcely run your eye over this paper, and after reading it, despise it, and return to the world ; but you cannot prevent my feeling for you, however little you may feel for yourselves.

Do I mourn when I see a young man sapping the foundation of his bodily health, by indulging his lusts and passions, sowing bitterness for himself in his old age ? Much more then will I mourn over your souls..

Do I mourn when I see men squandering away their inheritance, and wasting their property on trifles and follies ? Much more then will I mourn over your souls.

Do I mourn when I hear of one drinking slow poisons, because they are pleasant, as the Chinese take opium,—putting the clock of his life on, as if it did not go fast enough,—inch by inch digging his own grave ? Much more then will I mourn over your souls.

I mourn to think of golden opportunities thrown away,—of Christ rejected,—of the blood of atonement trampled under foot,—of the Spirit resisted,—the Bible neglected,—heaven despised, and the world put in the place of God.

I mourn to think of the present happiness you are missing,—the peace and consolation you are thrusting from you,—the misery you are laying up in store for yourselves, and the bitter waking up which is yet to come.

Yes ! I must mourn. I cannot help it. Others may think it enough to mourn over dead bodies. For my part, I think there is far more cause to mourn over dead souls. The children of this world find fault with us for being so grave. Truly, when I look at the world, I marvel we can ever smile at all.

Reader, dear Reader, why will you die ? Are the wages of sin so sweet and good that you cannot give them up ? Is the world so satisfying that you cannot forsake it ? Is the service of Satan so pleasant that you and he are never to be parted ? Is heaven so poor a thing that it is not worth seeking? Is your soul of so little consequence that it is not worth a struggle to have it saved ? Oh ! turn, turn, before it be too late. God is not willing that you should perish. “As I live,” He says, “I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth.” Jesus loves you, and grieves to see your folly. He wept over wicked Jerusalem, saying, ” I would have gathered thee, but thou wouldst not be gathered/’ Surely if lost, your blood will be upon your own head. “Awake, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.”

Believe me, believe me, true repentance is that one step that no man ever repented. Thousands have said at their latter end, ” they have served God too little :” no child of Adam ever said, as he left this world, that he had cared for his soul too much. The way of life is a narrow path, but the footsteps in it are all in one direction,—not one has ever come back and said it was a delusion. The way of the world is a broad way, but millions on millions have forsaken it, and borne their testimony it was a way of sorrow.

Oh ! that this year might be a year of life to your soul ! Oh ! that the Spirit might come down upon your heart, and make you a new man. I ask it of the Lord, as the prophet did of old, ” Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” (Ezek. xxxvii. 9.)

3. Let me, in the third place, speak to those who are living.

Are you indeed alive unto God ? Can you say with truth, I was dead and am alive again, I was blind, but now I see ? Then suffer the word of exhortation, and incline your heart unto wisdom.

Are you alive ? Then see that you prove it by your actions. Be a consistent witness. Let your words, and works, and ways, and tempers all tell the same story. Let not your life be a poor torpid life, like that of a tortoise or sloth ; —let it rather be an energetic stirring life, like that of a deer or bird. Let your grace shine forth from all the windows of your conversation, that those who live near you may see that the Spirit is abiding in your hearts. Let your light not be a dim, flickering, uncertain flame, let it burn steadily like the eternal fire on the altar, and never become low. Let the savor of your religion, like Mary’s precious ointment, fill all the houses where you dwell. Be an Epistle of Christ, so clearly written, penned in such large bold characters, that lie who runs may read it. Let your Christianity be so unmistakable,—your eye so single,-your heart so whole,—your walk so straightforward, that all who see you may have no doubt whose you are, and whom you serve. Oh! dear reader, if we are quickened by the Spirit, no one ought to be able to doubt it. Our conversation should declare plainly that we seek a country. It ought not to be necessary to tell people, as in the case of a badly painted picture, ” This is a Christian.” We ought not to be so sluggish and still, that men shall be obliged to come close and look hard, and say, ” Is he dead or alive?”

Are you alive ? Then see that you prove it by your growth. Let the great change within become every year more evident. Let your light be an increasing light,—not like Joshua’s sun in the valley of Ajalon, standing still,—nor Hezekiah’s sun. going back,—but ever shining more and more to the very end of your days. Let the image of your Lord, wherein you are renewed, grow clearer and sharper every month. Let it not be like the image and super[1]scription on a coin, more indistinct and defaced the longer it is used. Let it rather become more plain, the older it is, and the likeness of your King stand out more fully. I have no confidence in a standing-still religion. I do not think a Christian was meant to be like an animal, to grow to a certain age, and then stop growing. I believe rather he was meant to be like a tree, and to increase more and more in strength and vigor all his days. Remember the words of the Apostle Peter, ” Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity.” (2 Peter i. 5, 6, 7.) This is the way to be a useful Christian. Men will believe you are in earnest when they see constant improvement, and perhaps be drawn to go with you.* This is one way to obtain comfortable assurance. ” So an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly.” (2 Peter i. 11.) Oh! as ever you would be useful and happy in your religion, let your motto be, ” Forward, forward/’ to your very last day.

* “ Men who are prejudiced observe actions a great deal more than words.” — Leighton.

Reader, I speak to myself as well as to you. I say the spiritual life there is in Christians ought to be more evident. Our lamps want trimming,—they ought not to burn so dim. Our separation from the world should be more distinct,—our walk with God more decided. Too many of us are like Lot, lingerers,—or like Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, borderers,—or like the Jews in Ezra’s time, so much mixed up with strangers, that our spiritual pedigree can- not be made out. It ought not so to be. Let us be up and doing. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. If we really have life, let us make it known.

The state of the world demands it. The latter days have fallen upon us. The kingdoms of the earth are shaking, falling, crashing, and crumbling away. (Isaiah xxiv. 1, etc.) The glorious kingdom that will never be removed is drawing nigh. The King himself is close at hand. The children of this world are looking round to see what the saints are doing. God, in His wonderful providences, is calling to us, —” Who is on my side ?” Who ?—Surely we ought to be, like Abraham, very ready with our answer, ” Here am I.”

“Ah!” you may say, “these are ancient things, these are brave words. We know it all. But we are weak, we have no power to think a good thought, we can do nothing, we must sit still.” But hear me a little. What is the cause of your weakness ? Is it not because the fountain of life is little used ? Is it not be- cause you are resting on old experiences, and not daily gathering new manna,—daily drawing new strength from Christ? He has left you the promise of the Comforter. He giveth more grace,—grace upon grace to all who ask it. He came that you might have life, and have it more abundantly. “Open thy mouth wide,” He says this day, ” and I will fill it.” (Psalm Ixxxi. 10.)

Reader, if you want your spiritual life to be more healthy and vigorous, you must just come more boldly to the throne of grace. You must give up this hanging back spirit,—this hesitation about taking the Lord at His own word. Doubtless you are a poor sinner, and nothing at all. The Lord knows it, and has provided a store of strength for you. But you do not draw upon the store He has provided ; you have not, be- cause you ask not. The secret of your weakness is your little faith, and little prayer. The fountain is unsealed, but you only sip a few drops. The bread of life is before you, yet you only eat a few crumbs. The treasury of heaven is open, but you only take a few pence. O man of little faith, wherefore do you doubt ?

Awake to know your privileges ; —awake, and sleep no longer. Tell me not of spiritual hunger, and thirst, and poverty, so long as the throne of grace is before you. Say rather, that you are proud, and will not come to it as a poor sinner. Say rather, you are slothful, and will not take pains to get more.

Cast aside the grave-clothes of pride, that still hang around you. Throw off that Egyptian garment of indolence, which ought not to have been brought through the Red Sea. Away with that unbelief, which ties and paralyzes your tongue. You are not straitened in God, but in yourself. Come boldly to the throne of grace, where the Father is ever waiting to give, and Jesus ever stands by Him to intercede. Come boldly, for you may, all sinful as you are, if you come in the name of the Great High Priest. Come boldly, and ask largely, and you shall have abundant answers,—mercy like a river, and grace and strength like a mighty stream. Come boldly, and you shall have supplies exceeding all you can ask or think. Hitherto you have asked nothing. Ask and receive that your joy may be full.

Reader, I commend you to God, and to the Lord Jesus Christ. While you live, may you live unto the Lord. When you die, may you die the death of the righteous. And when the Lord Jesus comes, may you be found ready, and ” not be ashamed before Him at His coming.”

Chap 2. CONSIDER YOUR WAYS.

” GOD IS MY RECORD HOW GREATLY I LONG AFTER YOU ALL.” Philip. i. 8.

Beloved Friends,—

I wish to write a few words to you about your souls. I want those souls to be saved. And I invite you all to take the advice I give you to-day, and that is, to ” consider your ways.”

I write to you, because the time is short. The day of grace is slipping away,—the day of judgment is drawing near,—the thread of life is winding up,—a few more short years, and every soul of us will have gone to his own place, —we shall each of us be in heaven or hell !

I cannot reach your hearts, I know well. It is not me,—it needs the finger of God. But I can set before you my earnest wishes  for every class among you, and I will do it, the Lord being my helper. Bear with me if I say things that sound sharp and hard. Set it down to my anxiety for your salvation ; —I mean it all for your good. I write none other things but what I have gathered from the Bible, and as such I commend them to your consciences. Consider what I say, and the Lord give you understanding in all things.

I. First of all let me say, there are very many among you whom I long to see awakened.

 You are those who have the name of Christians, but not the character which should go with the name. God is not King of your hearts. You mind earthly things. I want you to ” con[1]sider your ways.”

I grant you may be quick and clever about the affairs of this life : you are, many of you, good men of business, good at your daily work good masters, good servants, good neighbors, good subjects: all this I fully allow. But it is the eternal part of you that I speak of; it is your never-dying soul. And about that, if a man may judge by the little you do for it, you are careless, thoughtless, reckless, and unconcerned.

I do not say that God and salvation are subjects that never come across your minds ; —but this I say, they have not the uppermost place there. Neither do I say that you are all alike in your lives ; —some of you doubtless go farther in sin than others ; —but this I say, you have all turned every one to his own way, and that way is not God’s. Brethren, when I look at the Bible I can come to only one conclusion about you,—you are asleep about your souls.

You do not see the sinfulness of sin, and your own lost condition by nature. You appear to make light of breaking God’s commandments, and to care little whether you live according to his law or not. Yet God says that sin is the transgression of the law,—that His commandment is exceeding broad,—that every imagination of your natural heart is evil,—that sin is the thing He cannot bear. He hates it,—that the wages of sin is death, and the soul that sinneth shall die. Surely you are asleep!

You do not see your need of a Saviour. You appear to think that it is an easy matter to get to heaven, and that God will of course be merciful to you at last some way or other, though you do not exactly know how. Yet God says that He is just and holy, and never changes,—that Christ is the only way, and none can come unto the Father but by Him, — that without His blood there can be no forgive- ness of sin,—that a man .without Christ is a man without hope,—that those who would be saved must believe on Jesus, and come to Him, —and that he who believeth not shall be damned. Surely you are asleep !

You do not see the necessity of holiness. You appear to think it quite enough to go on as others do, and live like your neighbors. And as for praying and Bible-reading, making con[1]science of words and actions, studying truthfulness and gentleness, humility and charity, and keeping separate from the world, they are things you do not seem to value at all. Yet God says, that without holiness no man shall see the Lord,—that there shall enter into heaven nothing that defileth, —that His people must be a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Surely you are asleep !

And, worst of all, you do not appear to feel your danger. You walk on with your eyes shut, and seem not to know that the end of your path is hell. Some dreamers fancy they are rich when they are poor, or full when they are hungry, or well when they are sick, and awake to find it all a mistake. And this is the way that many of you dream about your souls ; you flatter yourselves you will have peace, and there will be no peace ; you fancy that you are all right, and in truth you will find that you are all wrong. Surely you are asleep !

Dear Brethren, what can I say to arouse you ? Your souls are in awful peril : without a mighty change they will be lost. When shall that change once be?

You are dying, and not ready to depart ; — you are going to be judged, and not prepared to meet God ; —your sins are not forgiven, your persons are not justified, your hearts are not renewed. Heaven itself would be no happiness to you if you got there, for the Lord of heaven is not your friend. What pleases Him does not please you. What He dislikes gives you no pain. His word is not your counsellor. His day is not your delight. His law is not your guide. You care little for hearing of Him. You know nothing of speaking with Him. To be forever in His company would be a thing you could not endure ; and the society of saints and angels would be a weariness, and not a joy. At the rate you live at, the Bible might never have been written, and Christ might never have died, the Apostles were foolish, the New Testament Christians madmen, and the salvation of the Gospel a needless thing. Oh ! awake, and sleep no more !

Think not to say. You cannot believe your case is so bad, or the danger so great, or God so particular. I answer, The devil has been putting this lying delusion into people’s hearts for nearly six thousand years. It has been his grand snare ever since the day he said to Eve, ” Ye shall not surely die.” Do not be so weak as to be taken in by it. God never failed yet to punish sin, and He never will. He never failed to make his word good, and you will find this to your cost one day, except you re- pent.

And think not to sav, You are a member of Christ’s Church, and therefore feel no doubt you are as good a Christian as others. I answer, This will only make your case worse, if you have nothing else to plead. You may be written down and registered among God’s people ; you may be reckoned in the number of the saints ; you may sit for years under the sound of the Gospel ; you may use holy forms, and even come to the Lord’s table at regular seasons ; —and still, with all this, unless sin be hateful, and Christ precious, and your heart a temple of the Holy Ghost, you will prove in the end no better than a lost soul. A holy calling will never save an unholy man.

And think not to say. You have been baptized, and so feel confident you are born of God, and have His grace within you. I answer, You have none of the marks which St. John has told me in his first Epistle, distinguish such a person. I do not see you confessing that Jesus is the Christ, —overcoming the world, —not committing sin, — loving your brother,—doing righteousness—keeping your[1]self from the wicked one. How then can I believe that you are born of God ? If God were your Father you would love Christ : if you were God’s son you would be led by His Spirit. I want stronger evidences. Show me some repentance and faith ; show me a life hid with Christ in God ; show me a spiritual and sanctified conversation : — these are the fruits I want to see, if I am to believe you have the root of the matter in you, and are a living branch of the true vine. But without these your baptism will only add to your condemnation.

Beloved Brethren, I speak strongly, because 1 feel deeply. Time is too short, life is too uncertain, to allow of standing on ceremony. At the risk of offending, I use great plainness of speech. I cannot bear the thought of hearing any of you condemned in the great day of assize; —of seeing any of your faces in the crowd on God’s left hand, among those who are helpless, hopeless, and beyond the reach of mercy. I cannot bear such thoughts, —they grieve me to the heart. Before the day of grace is past, and the day of vengeance begins, I call upon you to open your eyes and repent. Oh ! consider your ways and be wise. Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die?

This day, as the ambassador of Christ, I pray you to be reconciled to God. The Lord Jesus who came into the world to save sinners, Jesus, the appointed Mediator between God and man,—Jesus, who loved us, and gave Himself for us,—Jesus sends you all a message of peace ; He says, ” Come unto me.”

“Come” is a precious word indeed, and ought to draw you. You have sinned against heaven,—heaven has not sinned against you ; yet, see how the first step towards peace is on heaven’s side,—it is the Lord’s message, ” Come unto me.”

” Come” is a word of merciful invitation. Does it not seem to say, ” Sinner, I am waiting for you, I am not willing; that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth. I would have all men saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. Judgment is my strange work,—I delight in mercy. I offer the water of life to every one who will take it. I stand at the door of your heart and knock. For long time I have spread out my hands to you. I wait to be gracious. There is yet room in my Father’s house. My long-suffering waits for more of the children of men to come to the mercy-seat before the last trumpet is blown,—for more wanderers to return before the door is closed forever. Oh ! sinner, come to me.”

” Come” is a word of promise and encouragement. Does it not seem to say, ” Sinner, I have gifts ready for you ; I have something of everlasting importance to bestow upon your soul ; I have received gifts for men, even for the rebellious ; I have a free pardon for the most ungodly ; a full fountain for the most unclean ; a white garment for the most defiled; a new heart for the most hardened ; healing for the broken-hearted ; rest for the heavy-laden ; joy for those that mourn. Oh ! sinner, it is not for nothing that I invite you! All things are ready,—come, come unto me.”

Beloved Brethren, hear the voice of the Son of Grod. See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. Come away from sin, which can never give you real pleasure, and will be bitter at the last. Come out from a world, which will never satisfy you. Come unto Christ. Come with all your sins, however many and however great,—however far you may have gone from God, and however provoking your conduct may have been. Come as you are,—unfit, unmeet, unprepared as you may think yourself,—you will gain no fitness by delay. Come at once, come to the Lord Jesus Christ.

How indeed shall you escape, if you neglect so great salvation? Where will you appear if you make light of the blood of Christ, and do despite to the Spirit of grace ? It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, but never so fearful as when men fall from under the Gospel. The saddest road to hell is that which runs under the pulpit, past the Bible, and through the midst of warnings and invitations. Oh ! beware, lest like Israel at Kadesh, you mourn over your mistake when it is too late ; or like Judas Iscariot, find out your sin when there is no space for repentance.

Arise, beloved Brethren, and call upon the Lord. Be not like Esau: sell not eternal blessings for the things of to-day. Surely the time past may suffice you to have been careless and prayerless. Godless and Christless, worldly and earthly-minded: surely the time to come may be given to your soul.

Pray, I beseech you, that you may be enabled to put off the old ways and the old habits, and that you may become new men. I yield to none in wishes for your happiness, and my best wish is that you may be made new creatures in Christ Jesus. This is a better thing than riches, or health, or honor, or learning. A man may get to heaven with out these, but he cannot get there without conversion. Verily if you die without having been born again, you had far better never have been born at all.

II. The second thing I have to say is this, —there are many among you whom I long to see decided followers of Christ.

You are those who are wavering and halting between two opinions. You seem not to have made up your minds. You appear to stand in doubt which is the true way of serving God, and which the false. One day a man might think you loved Christ, — another he might suppose you did not care for Him at all. You are like the twilight,—I cannot call you darkness,—and yet you are not light in the Lord. There is so much right about you, that I cannot speak to you among the openly un-godly ; and yet there is so much wrong about you, that without a change you will never be saved. I want you also to ” consider your ways.”

Wavering Brethren, of all classes in the Church, you are the most difficult to address : and no state is so dangerous as yours.

You see something of the evil of sin, and its awful consequences, but not all. You have thoughts about judgment and hell, and you would like to avoid them;—but you never really try.

You see something of the blessedness of heaven, but not all. Its peace, and rest, and joy, and happiness, are things that come across your mind ; —but you never really seek to obtain them.

There have been times when you have appeared convinced ; there seemed to be much melting and softening going on in your heart. You have been at Sinai, and been alarmed. You have been at Bochim, and wept. You have been at Calvary, and had pricking of conscience. And yet those times have passed away, and your old things still remain.

You have often looked like men going on pilgrimage : —you seemed ready to come out from the world ; —and then you have suddenly stopped, and gone no further.

You have done many things that are good, —but unhappily, like Herod, you leave many undone. You give up many habits that are bad, and yet you keep sufficient to make it plain you have no true grace in your hearts.

Oh ! wavering Brethren, what can be done for your soul ?—I am distressed for you.

Many of you are so like true Christians, that the difference can hardly be seen. You are no opposers of true religion. You have no objection to the preaching of the Gospel, and often take pains to hear it. You can enjoy the company of believers, and appear to take pleasure in their conversation and experience. You can even talk of the things of God as if you valued them. All this you can do.

And yet there is nothing real about your religion,—no real witnessing against sin,—no real separation from the world,—no peculiarity,— no warfare. You can wear Christ’s uniform in the time of peace, but, like the tribe of Reuben, you are wanting in the day of battle. Times of trouble prove that you were never really on the Rock. Times of sickness and danger bring out the rottenness of your foundations. Times of temptation and persecution discover the emptiness of your professions. There is no dependence to be placed upon you.—Christians in the company of Christians, you are worldly in the company of the worldly. One week I shall find you reading spiritual books, as if you were all for eternity,—another I shall hear of your mixing in some earthly folly, as if you only thought of time. And so you go on, beating about in sight land, but never seeming to make up your mind to come into harbor; showing plainly that you have an idea of the way of life, but not decided enough to act upon your knowledge.

O ! wavering Brethren, what can be done for you ? I tell you solemnly, I tremble for your souls. In your present course you will never taste peace,—you will go on without comfort, and go off without hope.

Truly you are a wonder in creation. You stand alone. The devil wonders at you, how you can see so much of the way to heaven, and not walk in it. The angels wonder at you, how you can know so much of the Gospel, and yet stand still. Ministers wonder at you, how you can march up to the borders of the promised land, and yet not strive to enter in. Believers wonder at you, how you can taste so much of the good word of God, and yet not determine to eat and live forever. Take heed, lest at last you prove a wonder to yourselves.

Wavering Brethren, let me ask you a simple question. How long do you mean to continue as you are ? When do you intend to cease from being almost Christians, and become decided ? When do you mean to leave Agrippa, and join Paul ? You know in your heart and conscience you are not yet saved,—you have no oil in your lamps,—you have not the marks of Christ’s people,—you are not true saints. You dare not deny what I say.

When then do you propose to alter ? What is the thing that you are waiting for? Oh! turn not away from my question : sit down and answer it if you can.

Are you waiting till you are sick and un- well? Surely you will not tell me that is a convenient season. When your body is racked with pain,—when your mind is distracted with all kinds of anxious thoughts,—when calm re- flection is almost impossible,—is this a time for beginning the mighty work of acquaintance with God ? Do not talk so.

Are you waiting till you are old? Surely you have not considered what you say. You will serve Christ when your members are worn out and decayed, and your hands unfit to work. You wall go to Him when your mind is weak, and your memory failing. You will give up the world when you cannot keep it. You will set your affections on things above, when you find nothing to set them on in things below. Is this your plan ? Beware, lest you insult God.

Are you waiting till you have leisure ? And when do you expect to have more time than you have now ? Every year you live seems shorter than the last : you find more to think of, or to do, and less power and opportunity to do it. And, after all, you know not whether you may live to see another year. Boast not yourself of to-morrow,—now is the time.

Are you waiting till your heart is perfectly Jit and ready ? That will never be. It will always be corrupt and sinful,—a bubbling fountain, full of evil. You will never make it like a pure white sheet of paper, that you can take to Jesus and say, ” Here I am, Lord, ready to have thy law written on my heart.” Delay not. Better begin as you are.

Are you waiting till the devil will let you come to Christ without trouble ? That will never be. Satan never gives up a single soul, without a struggle. If you would be saved you must fight for it. Stand not another day. Arise and go forward at once.

Are you waiting till there is no cross to he home ? That will never be. So long as sin is our enemy, and our own bodies weak and clogged by it, so long we must endure hard[1]ness, if we would be good soldiers of Jesus Christ. Go in the strength of the Lord God, and you shall overcome. If there is no cross there will be no crown.

Are you waiting till all around you become decided ? That will never be. Heaven only is the place where all are saints. Earth is the place where sin reigns, and God’s people are a little flock. You must be content to journey alone, and swim against the stream. “ Narrow is the way that leadeth unto lite, and few there be that find it.” Tarry not for friends and neighbors,—see that you are among the few.

Are you waiting till the gate is wide ? That will never be. It will not alter,—it is not elastic,—it will not stretch. It is wide enough for the chief of sinners, if he comes in a humble and self-abased spirit. But if there is anything you are resolved not to give up, you will never, with all your struggling, get in. Lay aside every weight,—enter before the door is shut for- ever.

And are you waiting because some few Christians are inconsistent, and some pro[1]fessors fall away ? Their folly is no excuse for you. Their sin will not justify your delay. Hear the word of the Lord Jesus, ” What is that to thee, follow thou me.”

Oh ! wavering Brethren, are not your excuses broken reeds—webs that will not cover you—wood, hay, and stubble, that will not abide the fire ? Are not your reasonings and defences unprofitable and vain ? Be honest, —  confess the truth.

Turn not away from good advice. I fear lest the time should come when you will seek to enter in, and not be able. This day I charge you, throw away indecision,—wait no longer, become decided for Christ.

No man is wise till he is decided. What can be more foolish, than to live on in uncertainty ? What can be more childish, than to appear not to know what is truth ?—to have two ways set before us, and not to be able to decide which is right ? Christ is on one side, and the world on the other,—the Bible is on the right hand, and man’s opinion on the left : is it not a wonderful and horrible thing that you can think on these things, and yet for a moment doubt? Whether you believe the Gospel true or false, your present position is manifestly wrong. If it be true, you do not go far enough,—if it be false, you go too far. Oh ! be decided,—consider your ways and be wise.

No man is safe till he is decided. All are in peril of ruin who are not real followers of Christ,—who are not converted and made children of God.

Wavering Brethren, you fancy there is a middle path between conversion and unconversion. You are mistaken. There seems to be, the devil tells you there is, but in reality there is no such thing. There are but two kingdoms,—Christ’s kingdom, and Satan’s ; there is no neutral ground between : —two parties, believers and unbelievers ; there is no third. Consider to which you belong.

Some people, 1 know, will say you are in a hopeful state. I dare not say so, while you stand still. It would be flattery, and not charity. I tell you rather, your state is dangerous in the extreme. You have enough religion to satisfy you in a way,—you are not as other men, careless, profligate, and the like,—but still you have not enough religion to do you good. You have not the Spirit of Christ, and are none of His.

It is small comfort to my mind to hear that you are not far from the kingdom of God, if you stop there. It wants another step to make you safe, and without that, all the rest is useless. I doubt not many were close to the door of the ark, when the flood came, but all alike were drowned who were not inside. Many, I dare say, came up to the gates of the cities of refuge, but none escaped the destroyer except those who really entered in. Be decided. This is the only way to be safe.

And no man is quite happy in his religion till he is decided. There is little peace so long as you are halting and irresolute. You please no one altogether. Jesus has no consolations for you : He will have all your heart or none. The world is not satisfied with you : they cannot understand your behavior. True Christians dare not comfort you : they can only look on you with suspicion and mistrust. You are like the Samaritans of old, who served the Lord and their own idols at the same time ; they formed a middle class between the Jews and Gentiles, and yet were friends with neither ; —they were too much Gentiles for the Jews, and too much Jews for the Gentiles. This is just your case. You are trying that which cannot be done ; you are trying to serve two masters, and no wonder you are ill at ease.

Wavering Brethren, for your own peace sake, I invite you to choose the better part. Gird up the loins of your mind. Quit you like men. Be strong. God’s conduct in punishing sin has ever been decided. Satan’s conduct in tempting sinners has ever been decided. Why then are you not decided too ?

Cry mightily unto the Lord, that you may be enabled to leave behind your wavering ways. Resolve that, by His grace, you will be true soldiers, real servants, men of God indeed ; —that you will never rest until you know in whom you believe. Cease to halt between two opinions. Let your eyes look right on. Cast loose your hold on the world. Lay hold on Christ, and commit yourselves to Him. No man ever came back from the narrow way, and reported that he was sorry for his choice. Thousands have lingered away life, as you are doing now, and have found too late, that the fruit of indecision is eternal sorrow.

III. The last thing I have to say is this, there are some true Christians among you whom I long to see more holy and more bright.

You are those who have found out your own sinfulness and lost estate, and really believe on Jesus for the saving of your souls. The eyes of your understanding have been opened by the Spirit,—He has led you to Christ, and you are new men. You have peace with God. Sin is no longer pleasant to you,—the world has no longer the first place in your heart,—all things are become new. You have ceased from trusting in your own works. You are willing to stand before the bar of God, and rest your soul on the finished work of Him who died for the ungodly. This is all your confidence, that you have washed your robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. I thank God heartily for what He hath wrought in your souls, but I ask you also to consider your ways.

Believing Brethren, I write to you about your sanctification. There are those who think you are a class in our congregations that re- quire little writing to : you are within the pale of salvation—you may be almost let alone. I cannot see it. I believe you need your minister’s care and exhortation as much as any, if not more. I believe that on your growth in grace and holiness, not merely your own comfort, but the salvation of many souls, under God, depends. I believe that the converted members of a church should be preached to, spoken to, warned, counselled, far more than they are. You need many words of direction. You are still in the wilderness. You have not crossed Jordan. You are not yet at home.

I see Paul beseeching the Thessalonians that as they have received of Him, how they ought to walk and please God, so they would abound more and more. I see him warning them not to sleep, as others do, but to watch and be sober. I see Peter telling believers to give diligence to make their calling and election sure ; to go on adding one grace to another ; to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ. I wish to follow in their steps. I would remind you ” that this is the will of God, even your sanctification,” and I ask you to make it plain it is your will too. You were not chosen out of the world to go to sleep, but that you might be holy. You were not called of God that you might walk worthy of your calling. Recollect those solemn words, “He that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” (2 Peter i. 9.)

Why do I say these things ? Is it because I think you do not know them ? No : but I want to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. Is it because I wish to discourage the poor in spirit, and make the heart of the righteous sad ? No indeed : I would not willingly do this. Is it because I think true Christians can ever fall away ? God forbid you should suppose I mean such a thing.

But I say what I say because I am jealous for my Lord’s honor. I wish the elect of God to be indeed a holy nation, and the sons of adoption to live as becomes the children of a King. I want those who are light in the Lord to walk as children of light, shining more and more every day.

And I say it for the good of the world. You are almost the only book that worldly people read. Surely your lives should be epistles of Christ, so plain that he who runs may read them. The world cares little for doctrine, — the world knows nothing of experience,—but the world can understand a close walk with God.

And not least I say it because of the times you live in. I write it down deliberately, I believe there never were so many lukewarm saints as there are now;—there never was a time in which a low and carnal standard of Christian behavior so much prevailed ; —there never were so many babes in grace in the family of God,—so many who seem to sit still, and live on old experience,—so many who appear to have need of nothing, and to be neither hungering nor thirsting after righteousness, as at the present time. I write this with all sorrow. It may be too painful to please some. But I ask you, as in God’s sight, is it not true ?

There is a generation of Christians in this age who grieve me to the heart. They make my blood run cold. I cannot understand them. For anything that man’s eye can see, they make no progress. They never seem to get on. Years roll on, and they are just the same,—the same besetting sins, the same infirmities of disposition, the same weakness in trial, the same chilliness of heart, the same apathy, the same faint resemblance to Christ,—but no new knowledge, no increased interest in the kingdom, no freshness, no new strength, no new fruits, as if they grew. Are they not forgetting that growth is the proof of life,—that even the yew-tree grows, and the snail and the sloth move ? Are they not forgetting how awfully far a man may go, and yet not be a true Christian ? He may be like a waxwork figure, the very image of a believer, and yet not have within him the breath of God : —he may have a name to live, and be dead after all.

Believing Brethren, these are the reasons why I write so strongly. I want your Christianity to be unmistakable. I want you all to grow really, and to do more than others. Let us all henceforth remember Sardis and Laodicea,—let us resolve to be more holy and more bright. Let us bury our idols. Let us put away all strange gods. Let us cast out the old leaven. Let us lay aside every weight and besetting sin. Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and perfect holiness in the fear of God. Let us renew our covenant with our beloved Lord. Let us aim at the highest and best things. Let us resolve by God’s blessing to be more holy, and then I know and am persuaded we shall be more useful and more happy.

I name some things for prayerful consideration.

1. Let us then, for one thing, begin with a humble confession of past unprofitableness and shortcomings.

Let us acknowledge with shame and contrition that we have not hitherto lived up to our light. We ought to have been the salt of the earth ; —but there has been little savor of Christ about us. We ought to have been the light of the world ; —but we have most of us been little glimmering sparks that could scarcely be seen. We ought to have been a peculiar people ;— but the difference between us and the world has been faint and small. We ought to have been, like Levites, in Israel, a distinct people, among professing Christians : —but we have too often behaved as if we belonged to some other tribe. We ought to have looked on this world as an inn, and we have settled down in it as if it were our home : —it ought to have been counted our school of training for eternity, and we have been at ease in it as if it were our continuing city, or trifled away time in it, as if we were meant to play and not to learn. We ought to have been careful for nothing, and we have been careful and troubled about many things,—we have allowed the affairs of this life to eat out the heart of our spirituality, and have been cumbered with much serving.

How rarely we have heard the Gospel like men in earnest,—and read the Bible as if we were feeding on it,—and prayed as if we wanted an answer ! How poor and feeble has been our witness against sin ! How seldom have we looked like men about our Father’s business ! How little have we known about singleness of eye, and wholeness of heart, and walking in the Spirit! How weak has been our faith, how feeble our hope, how cold our charity ! How few of us have lived as if we believed all that is written in the Word, and moved through life like pilgrims travelling to a better land !

Oh! Brethren believers, have we not good reason to be ashamed when we think on these things ? Very grievous are they, and we ought to feel it. Let us begin with self-abasement, —let us cry ” God be merciful to us sinners, — take away our iniquity, for we have done very foolishly.”

2. In the next place, let us all seek to ‘’abide in Christ ” more thoroughly than we ham hitherto.

Christ is the true spring of life in every believer’s soul, the head on which every member depends, the corner-stone of all real sanctification. Whenever I see a child of God becoming less holy than he was, I know the secret of it, —he is clinging less firmly to Christ than he did. Our root must be right, if our fruit is to abound.

Brethren, let us strive after close union and communion with Christ. Let us go to Him oftener, speak with Him more frequently, trust Him more wholly, look to Him more constantly, lean upon Him more entirely. This is the way to go through the wilderness without fainting, and to run the race set before us with patience. Let us live the life of faith in the Son of God. He is the vine and we are the branches : —let all our strength be drawn from Him : separate from him we can do nothing. He is the Sun of righteousness ; —let us seek our comfort in Him, and not in our own frames and feelings. He is the bread of life ; —let us feed on Him day by day, as Israel on the manna, and not on our own experiences. Let Christ become more and more all things to us : His blood our peace,—His intercession our comfort,—His word our warrant,—His grace our strength,—His sympathy our support,—His speedy coming our hope. Let others spend their time on new books if they will, let us rather study to learn Christ.

We know a little of Christ as our Saviour, but Oh ! how small a portion have we seen of the fulness that is in Him ! Like the Indians, when America was first discovered, we are not aware of the amazing value of the gold and treasure in our hands. Believe me, if we did but realize the blessedness of free and full forgiveness in Him, we should be men of a different stamp. The man who feels the blood of atonement sprinkled on his conscience,—the man who enjoys assurance that he is washed, and justified, and accepted in the Beloved, this is the man who will be holy indeed, this is the man who will bear much fruit. He will labor cheerfully,—he will suffer patiently,—he will witness confidently,—he will press on unflinchingly,—he will love warmly. Redemption is ever fresh upon his mind, and his thought is, ” What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits?”

Brethren, let us cleave to Christ more closely. Let us draw nearer to the cross. Let us sit at the feet of Jesus. Let us drink into the spirit of the apostle when he said, ‘’ To me to live is Christ.” Let us do this, and we shall grow.

3. And let us beware of excuses.

Reasons will never be wanting in our minds why we cannot be bright and eminent Christians just now. It is very possible to admire a high standard of spirituality in others, while we are content with very low practice ourselves. We persuade ourselves there is something peculiar in our particular case, which makes it almost impossible to shine. But let all excuses be received, like Babylonian ambassadors, with great suspicion. They are generally the devil’s coinage. Let us settle it firmly in our hearts, that there are few of us indeed who cannot glorify God just where we are without any change. All our excuses are as dust in the balance when placed against that promise, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” Let us not deceive ourselves. By the grace of God we may be bright saints even now.

Let us not say, ” We have bad health.” Remember the apostle Paul : —he had a thorn in the flesh,—some never-ceasing ailment, probably,—and yet it seemed a spur rather than a hindrance to his soul.

Let us not say, ” We have many trials^ Remember Job:—wave upon wave came rolling over him, and yet his faith did not give way ; and the record of his patience is on high.

Let us not say, ” We have families and children to make us anxious and keep us hack.” Remember David : —none was ever so tried at home as he was, yet he was a man after God’s own heart.

Let us not say, ” We have press of distracting business to attend on.” Remember Daniel: —he had far more affairs on his hands probably than any of us, yet he found time to pray three times a day, and was a proverb for godliness.

Let us not say, “I stand alone, the times are evil, and none around me serve God.” Remember Noah : —the whole world was against him, yet he did not give way. By faith he held fast.

Let us not say, “We live in families where God is not thought of.” Remember Obadiah in Ahab’s house, and Nero’s servants at Rome. What are our difficulties compared with theirs ?

Let us not say, ” We are poor and unlearned.” Remember Peter and John. They were as poor and unlearned as any of us, yet they were pillars of the early Church, they were of the number of those who turned the world upside down.

No! believing Brethren, such excuses for not being more holy will never do while grace may be had. Let us say rather, ” We are slothful and take no trouble, — we are unbelieving and make no bold attempt,—we are worldly and our eyes are too dim to see the beauty of holiness,—we are proud and we cannot humble ourselves to take pains.” Let us say this, and we shall more likely speak the truth. There are always ways in which we may glorify God: there are passive graces as well as active. But the way of the slothful is always a hedge of thorns. The wall of Jerusalem was soon built when the Jews had ” a mind to work.” We complain of the devil, but there is no devil after all like our own hearts. We have not grace because we do not ask it. The fault is all our own.

4. Let us he on our guard against false doctrine.

Unsound faith will never be the mother of really sound practice, and in these latter days departures from the faith abound. See then that your loins be girt about with truth, and be very jealous of receiving anything which cannot be proved by the Bible. Think not for a moment that false doctrine will meet you face to face, saying ” I am false doctrine, and I want to come into your heart.” Satan does not go to work in that way. He dresses up false doctrine like Jezebel,—he paints her face and tires her head, and tries to make her like truth. Think not that those who preach error will never preach anything that is true. Error would do little harm if that was the case. No! error will come before you mingled with much that is sound and scriptural. The sermon will be all right excepting a few sentences. The book will be all good excepting a few pages. And this is the chief danger of religious error in these times,—it is like the subtle poisons of days gone by,—it works so deceitfully that it throws men off their guard. Brethren, take care. Remember that even Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

Keep clear of any system of religion which confounds the world and true believers, and makes no broad distinction between those who are true children of God in a congregation, and those who are not. Be not carried away by an appearance of great self-denial and humility. It is far easier to fast and wear sackcloth, and be of a sad countenance, than to receive thoroughly the doctrine of justification by faith without the deeds of the law.

Call no man father upon earth. Build not your faith on any minister or set of ministers. Let no man become your Pope. Make no Christian living your standard of what is right in faith or practice, however high his name, his rank, or his learning. Let your creed be the Bible, and nothing but the Bible ; and your example Christ, and nothing short of Him.

Take heed, lest your minds be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Be careful what books you read on religious subjects : many books of this day are leavened with doctrines which spoil the Gospel. Examine yourselves often whether you are standing in the old paths. Our lost estate by nature,—our recovery through our Saviour’s kindness and love,—our need of regeneration and renewal, —our justification through grace;—these are the grand doctrines, as Paul told Titus; and these are the points on which we must be sound, if we would maintain good works.

5. Let us resolve to make conscience of little things in our daily religion.

Let us not neglect little duties,—let us not allow ourselves in little faults. Whatever we may like to think, nothing is really of small importance that affects the soul. All diseases are small at the beginning. Many a death-bed begins with ” a little cold.” Nothing that can grow is large all at once,—the greatest sin must have a beginning. Nothing that is great comes to perfection in a day,—characters and habits are all the result of little actions. Little strokes made that ark which saved Noah. Little pins held firm that tabernacle which was the glory of Israel. We too are travelling through a wilderness,—let us be like the family of Merari, and be careful not to leave the pins behind. (Numbers iv. 32.)

Believers, do not forget how full the Epistles are of instruction about the particulars of Christian life. The apostles seem to take no- thing for granted. They do not think it sufficient to say, ” be holy,”—they take care to specify and name the things in which holiness is shown. See how they dwell on the duties of husbands and wives, masters and servants, parents and children, rulers and subjects, old people and young. See how they single out and urge upon us industry in business, kindness in temper, forgiveness in disposition, honesty, truthfulness, temperance, meekness, gentleness, humility, charity, patience, courtesy. See how they exhort us to honor all men, to govern our tongues, to season our speech with grace, to abstain from foolish talking and jesting, not to please ourselves only, to redeem the time, to be content with such things as we have, and whether we eat or drink to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Brethren, some people think that to dwell on such things is bondage ; but I believe it good to remind you of them,—I am sure it is safe. If the Spirit of God thought it wise to dwell so much on them in the word, I cannot doubt it must be wise for us to attend to them in our walk. It is much more easy to profess holiness in a general way, than to carry it out in particulars ; and I fear that many talk familiarly of santification in the lump, who know but little of it in the piece.

I firmly believe that looseness about these little things in our daily behavior, is a special means of grieving the Spirit of God, and of bringing upon us in consequence barrenness and leanness of soul.

6. Let us be more active in endeavors to do good to the world.

Surely we may all do far more for unconverted souls than we have ever done yet. Many of us, alas ! take things so quietly, that a man might suppose every one about us was converted, and the kingdom of Christ fully set up. I pray you let us lay aside these lazy habits.

Are all our friends and relations in Christ ? Are all our neighbors and acquaintances inside the ark ? Have all within our reach received the truth in the love of it ? Have we asked them all to come in ? Have we told them all the way of salvation, and our own experience that the way is good ? Have we done all that we can? Have we tried every means? Is there no one left to whom we can show Christian kindness, and offer the Gospel ? Can we lift up our hands to God, as one by one, souls around us are taken away, and say, ” Our eyes, O Lord, have not seen this blood, and its loss cannot in any wise be laid at our door !” Surely, my Brethren, grace ought to be as active a principle in trying to spread godliness, as sin is in trying to spread evil. Surely if we had a tenth part of the zeal which Satan shows to enlarge his kingdom, we should be far more full of care for other men’s souls. Where is our mercy and compassion, if we can see dis- ease of soul about us, and not desire to make it less?

Let us awake to a right understanding of our responsibility in this matter. We complain of the world being full of wickedness. It is so. But do we each do our own part in trying to make it better ? Do we act upon the old saying, ” The city is soon clean when every man sweeps before his own door?” Let us try more to do good to all. Let us reckon it a painful thing to go to heaven alone,—let us endeavor, as far as we can, to take companions with us. Let us no longer be silent witnesses and muffled bells. Let us warn, and beseech, and invite, and rebuke, and advise, and testify of Christ, on the right hand and on the left, ac- cording as we have opportunity,—saying to men, ” Come with us, and we will do you good, —the light is sweet, come and walk in the light of the Lord.” Let us not suppose no good is done in this way^ because our eyes do not see it: we must walk by faith, and not by sight. Let us not be weary in well-doing, because we appear to labor in vain ; we may rest assured we are in the hands of a good Master,—in due time we shall reap if we faint not.

Activity in doing good is one receipt for being cheerful Christians : it is like exercise to the body,—it keeps the soul in health.

It is one great proof of love toward the Lord Jesus, and a proof that can only be given while we are alive. Now is the time for doing good to others, and not hereafter. In heaven there will be no missionary societies, no Bible societies, no visiting societies, no careless to warn, no ignorant to instruct, no sick to minister to, no mourners to comfort, no fainting saints to cheer. In heaven there will be love, joy, peace, thankfulness ; but in heaven there will be no place for faith, zeal, courage, labor patience,—their occupation will be over:—if ever we mean to show these graces it must be now. Oh ! let us make haste, for the time is short. Let us be like Christian, in Pilgrim’s Progress,—^when his burden fell off at the sepulchre, his first act was to try to awaken sleeping souls.

7. Lastly, let us take more pains to edify other believers.

It is wonderful and sad to see how Scripture speaks on this matter, and then to observe the conduct of many of Christ’s people.

Paul tells the Corinthians, that the members of Christ ” should have the same care one for another.” He says to the Thessalonians, ” Edify one another, even as also ye do.” He says to the Hebrews, ” Exhort one another daily, lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin,” and again, “Consider one another to provoke unto love and good works ; —exhorting one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching.”

Brethren, I fear we fall very short of the New Testament Christians in this respect. We are sadly apt to lose sight of this edifying one another, when we are in the company of believing friends. Prayer, and the Word, and godly conversation, are not put in the foremost place, and so we separate, nothing better, but rather worse. Far too often there is so much coldness, and restraint, and reserve, and backwardness, that a man might fancy we were ashamed of Christ, and that we thought it proper to hold our tongues, and not make mention of the name of the Lord.

These things ought not so to be. We profess that we are all fighting the same fight, — contending with the same enemies,—plagued with the same evil hearts,—trusting in the same Lord, led by the same Spirit,—eating the same bread,—journeying towards the same home. Then why should we not show it? Why should we not be always ready to commune with each other ? Why should we not try to help each other forward,—to profit by each other’s experience,—to bear each other’s burdens,—to strengthen each other’s hands,—to quicken each other’s hearts,—to speak with each other, like Moses and Jethro, of the things pertaining to our King. There is a fault among us here, and one that ought to be amended.

Let us bring out the Bible more when we get together. We none of us know it all yet ; our brother may have found some pearl in it which has escaped our eyes, and we perhaps may show him something in return. It is the common map by which we all journey ; let us not behave as if we had each a private map to be studied in a corner, and kept to ourselves. Oh ! that the Word were like a burning fire shut up in our bones, so that we could not forbear speaking of it !

Let us speak oftener about the eternal home towards which we travel. Children, before their holidays, love to talk of home,—their hearts are full, they cannot help it,—why should not we ? Surely it ill becomes the citizens of heaven to say nothing of heaven to those with whom they expect to dwell forever.

Let us aim at closer communion with all true believers. This will go far to procure Christ’s presence with us on our journey. The two disciples who went to Emmaus were talking of holy things when they were joined by the Lord. Let us speak often one to another, and the Lord will hearken and remember it. This too will mightily promote the growth and comfort of our souls. The fire within us needs constant stirring, as well as feeding, to keep it bright. Many can testify that they find communion a special means of grace. As iron sharpeneth iron, so doth the countenance of a man his friend ; —and the weakest too may sharpen the strongest, even as the whetstone does the scythe. He that tries to promote holiness in others shall reap a blessed reward in his own soul,—he waters others, and he shall be watered himself.

Brethren believers, I have thought it good to name these things in writing to you about sanctification. I desire to do it in all humility. I need reminding of them as much as any. Let us all resolve to set them before us, and I am sure we shall not repent it.

And now, beloved Brethren, I have done ; I have told you one and all the longings and de sires of my heart. Conversion for the unconverted, decision for the wavering, growth in grace for the believer,—this seals up the sum of my wishes for you.

I can wish you nothing better, for this is the way to true happiness. I will wish you nothing less, for without these things I am sure there is no peace. Consider well what I have said.

Death may be busy among us very soon, — let us all be found in Christ and prepared. Sa[1]tan will be busy among us no doubt,—let us all watch and pray. Let us beware of a spirit of slumber and formality, and especially in private reading and praying. Let our path to the fountain be worn with daily journeys, let our key to the treasury of grace be bright with constant use. Let us pray more, and let us pray more earnestly. Let those who never prayed begin to pray. Let those who have prayed pray better.

Pray for yourselves,—that you may know the Lord Jesus, and cleave to Him,—that you may be kept from falling,—that you may serve your generation,—that you may be sober in prosperity, patient in trial, and humble at all times.

Pray for the congregation to which you belong,—that the word of the Lord may have free course in it, and be glorified, that the household of faith may become stronger and stronger, and the household of unbelief weaker and weaker.

Pray for your country,—that her ministers may preach the Gospel, and be sound in the faith,—that her rulers may value the Bible, and govern according to it,—and that so her candlestick may not be taken away.

And pray not least for your minister, that he may be strong to work, and willing to labor for your good,—that all his sicknesses may be sanctified, and all his health given to the Lord, —that he may be ever taught of the Spirit, and thus be able to teach others,—that he may be kept faithful unto death, and so be ready to de[1]part when he is called.

Let us all pray, one for the other,—I for you, and you for me,—and we shall be blessed in our deed.

Chap 3. ARE YOU FORGIVEN ?

I have spoken of the crisis that comes in the life of the man who sees that his Christian experience is low and carnal, and who desires to enter into the full life of God. Some Christians do not

Chap 4. ARE YOU HOLY ?

|Be filled with the Spirit.| — Ephesians, 5:18.

I may have some air, a little air, in my lungs, but not enough to keep up a healthy, vigorous life. But everyone seeks to have his

Chap 5. ONLY ONE WAY.

|But straightway Jesus spake unto them saying, Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid.| — Matt.14:27.

All we have had about the work of the blessed Spirit is dependent upon what we think of Jesus, for it is from Christ

Chap 6. CHRIST AND THE TWO THIEVES.

Some time ago I read this expression in an old author: — |The first duty of a clergyman is humbly to ask of God that all that he wants done in his hearers should first be truly and fully done in himself.| These words have stuck to me ever since. What a

Chap 7. FAITH’S CHOICE.

|But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee.|

 

Chap 8. REMEMBER LOT.

|But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee.|

 

Chap

|But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee.|

 

Chap

|But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee.|

 

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