Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

They

present life bounded their existence. confine their attention to the body, and if they can gratify its appetites, and meet its wants, they do not trouble themselves any further. They are in a fearful state. To heaven they cannot go, without a change of heart; and, therefore to hell they must go, if they live and die in their present state. Oh that every one who is spending his time, like John Jones would seriously consider this! May the Holy Spirit produce conviction of sin, concern for immediate salvation, and lead the reader to Jesus for life and peace.

Roger Thomas, the smith, knows all the news of the village. He talks much. He reads some. He swears often. He loves his pipe and his pot. He goes to church now and then on the Sunday; but if you mark his conduct, listen to his conversation, and notice his spirit, you will be led to conclude that he never asks himself the question, "IS IT POS

66

SIBLE FOR ME TO BE SENT TO HELL ?" No, no, he has too good an opinion of himself to suppose such a thing. He has no idea that God would ever treat him so hardly as that. What, send him to hell? If so, what would become of most of the people in the parish. No, no, God is merciful. He intends to repent by and bye. When he comes on a sick bed, then he will pray, read his bible, and make his peace with God. Thus he flatters his own pride, deceives his soul, and secures his own damnation. And how

many do the same. What multitudes are living pretty much as he lives, and thinking as he thinks, and, if spoken to, would talk as he talks. Intimate to them that they will be lost for ever, and they immddiately ask, "Then who will be saved?" or, "Do you mean to say that nearly the whole world will be damned ?" Ah, friend, we do not mean to sit in judgment on the world, or say how many will be lost,-right glad should we be if none were; but the Lord Jesus has said, Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. But because wide is the gate, and broad is the road, that leadeth to destruction, many there be that go in thereat." If you should be with the many! If you should! May the Lord prevent, and in order to it, may he save you, "with the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost."

66

Reader, do you believe it possible that you MAY GO TO HELL? Has the thought ever struck you? If so, how did it make you feel? Did it awaken fear? Did it produce concern? Did it lead you to examine your own heart? Did it cause you to search your bible to see who would go there? Did it prompt you to flee to Jesus to save you from that dreadful place? Did you feel as if you could not be too sure, and therefore was willing to make assurance doubly sure? It is a solemn fact, that you, whoever you are, may go to

It is certain that

hell if you are heedless. you must go to hell, if you live without faith in Christ, if you die without a change of nature. There is one promise of God's Word which I would recommend you to plead, until you feel in yourself that it is fulfilled, it is this, "I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean; from all your filthi ness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh; and I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." And there is one prayer I would recommend you to use until it is answered: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.' For if that promise is fulfilled in your experience, and if that prayer is answered in your person, and if the question arises in your heart, "Is it possible for me to go to hell?" then you will be able to reply," No, hell is no place for those who are born of God, who have the Spirit of Christ, and who are zealous of good works. Heaven is the place for such, where they will join in the new song, behold the Saviour's face, and be filled with perfect satisfaction and exquisite delight." May I meet every one of my readers in that holy, happy place!

[ocr errors]

YOUR POSITION.

READER, you are standing on the margin of the grave. The seeds of death are sown in your constitution. In a few short days they will spring up, and then, as the ivy sometimes kills the oak, so they will bring you to the tomb. You are never safe. Allow me, therefore, affectionately to ask, Are you prepared to exchange worlds? If death was to come, would it be a friend or a foe-would you hail it or dread it? This depends on the state of the heart. If you are a new creature if you are united to Jesus-if you live in fellowship with God-if you enjoy the witness of the Holy Spirit in your heart-then you will look at dissolution as a covenant blessing, and understand what the apostle meant when he said, "Death is yours.

You stand in full sight of eternity. It is just before you. You may be introduced to it any moment. Many are entering it while I write-while you read these lines. What will eternity be to you? Will it be an unchangeable state of light, life, peace, joy, and unutterable pleasure? or will it be a state of darkness, death, sorrow, agony, and incon

ceivable torment? One of these it must bewhich will it be? If you live in sin, you will die under condemnation; and if you die under condemnation, you must be cast into hell. Let me beseech you, therefore, to examine into your real state in the sight of God. Examine yourself by God's Word. Ask, Do I experimentally know what is meant by "being born again"-by "passing from death unto life"-by "being justified by faith"by "walking with God"-by "praying in the Spirit" and by being "made meet to be a par taker of the saints in light ?" All true believ ers know something of these things; all who go to heaven experience them. If, therefore, you do not know them-if you have not experienced them-you are yet in your sins,' you are "condemned already," and "the wrath of God abideth on you.'

66

[ocr errors]

You stand very near to the great white throne; and you will very soon have to stand exactly before it, and there be judged according to the deeds done in the body. The day is fixed; the Lord has prepared His throne, and Jesus is appointed to fill it, and judge the world in righteousness-that Jesus, whom perhaps you have rejected, whose gospel you have slighted, and whose salvation you have neglected. You must face Him, and account for your conduct. How can you do it? How will you feel when compelled to go and appear before Him? How! I entreat you to flee to the throne of grace now, that

« PredošláPokračovať »