תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

and ever?" Do, Picture yourself when you are cast

O think, when you come into the place of torment, what will you say then as you lie in the mighty heat? You will cry, "Oh, God, was I foolish enough for a little merriment, or a little worldly gain, or a little praise of wicked men, to be lost for ever? Was I fool enough to bring myself here for ever I beseech you, stop and think of it. in it, and what you will think of it there. Before the " one woe comes upon thee stop, so that the "two woes" may never be thine, if peradventure thou mayest be saved from the wrath to come. Could I speak with more tender, thrilling persuasiveness I would. But the text itself rings with shriller notes than any words of comment I can utter; "One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter." Will not an angel's voice persuade you to seek the Lord with all your hearts? What arguments, then, shall I use? The argument of love! Sinner, my heart yearns over thee. What would I give to see you saved? I have sometimes felt as if I could be cut in pieces, if you might be saved by my martyrdom. Oh, souls, you little know how the godly pray over you! There are some of us who cannot sleep by night for thinking of you. We should be praying for mercy for ourselves, but our voice is checked, and we begin to pray for you; and shall our voice be heard in vain? Think again, I beseech you, of One who feels for you more than we do, Jesus, he who wept over Jerusalem. When he beheld the city, wherefore did he weep? Because he knew that they would not be saved. Thank God there are not many in this assembly who are not converted, if you are what you profess to be; and yet there are some, I

think. I hear him lift up his sweet voice and say, "Why will ye die, oh, house of Israel?" Sinner, will you reject your mercies? Will you shut the gates of mercy on yourselves, and unbolt the bars of despair that you may enter into the dungeon of woe, and be fastened there for ever? I think I hear him take that

solemn oath again, "As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner, but rather that he turn unto me." Then I see him stretch out his arms, and I hear him cry, with the tears running down his blessed cheeks, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." "Whosoever cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." And as yoù turn away and reject him, I see him coming to you, and crying, "Sinner, come !" and even to-night, though he is not visible to your mortal eyes, you may hear him crying, come—

"From the Mount of Calvary,

Where the Saviour deigned to die,
What melodious sounds I hear,
Bursting on my ravished ear!
Love's redeeming work is done,

Come and welcome, sinner, come."

If that argument of love does not move you, what response will you give to the argument of fear?

"If your ears refuse

The language of his grace,

Your hearts grow hard, like stubborn Jews,
That unbelieving race,

The Lord in vengeance dress'd,

Will lift his hand and swear,

Ye that despise my promised rest

Shall have no portion there."

Reject Christ, and your damnation is doubly sure; refuse the gospel, and destruction is your certain and most righteous doom.

"How they deserve the deepest hell

That slight the joys above!

What chains of vengeance must they feel

Who slight the bands of love.!

Oh, if you reject Christ when he comes to you in love, then you will find that he knows how to smite as well as to woo. His love is great, but spurn him and his jealousy is as cruel as the grave. Should you set your love on the prince of this world, and reject the Prince of Life, he will say: They despised me when I courted them with my kindness; now shall they taste the resentment of incensed love, and feel the pangs of outraged mercy. Oh, what a dreadful thing is the wrath of the Lamb! My hearer, if thou hast one desire towards Christ, do not be cast down; Christ never was behind-hand with thee. Thou art saved if thou art willing to be saved. Do not think hard thoughts of my loving Master; believe that he is able to save thee; believe more than that, believe that he has saved thee. Cast thyself at the foot of the cross; have done with questionings and complainings. Though thou dost feel so vile and wicked, come as a humble suppliant to him who is alone able to save. Smite on thy breast and pray, "God be merciful to me a sinner." May many, very many of you seek the Lord with broken hearts, and so shall you find him and be found of him, for none shall ever seek him in vain.

The Sinner's Only Alternative.

"Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die."-2 Kings vii. 4.

UTSIDE of the gates of Samaria you might have seen sundry temporary sheds or huts, hastily built, but suffered to endure till they were thoroughly decayed, in the last extremity of filth, and never visited by any except by those unhappy persons who were doomed to reside in them. In one of these huts are four miserable beings, gaunt, and lean, and thin, with that sharpness of eye and visage which is ever the effect of protracted hunger. These are lepers, loathsome by disease, and emaciated by privation. They cannot sleep, though it is past the dead of night. The sentinel on the walls has just proclaimed midnight. Wakened from their little slumber, they find it impossible to return to it again, for the pangs of hunger prevent. They hold as it were a miniature council of war, and the wiser among them propounds, with the unanimous assent of the rest, an alternative. "Why stay we here to die? If we go into the city, even should we be suffered to remain, yet famine has arisen

to so great a pitch that we must perish there; while if we sit here it is quite certain that we shall pine away; let us fall unto the camp of the Syrians." There is a little hope to cheer them or a fell despair to drive them as they resolve to sally forth from their wretched quarters. The Syrians, may be they thought, are dainty men of war, and they will push us away with their sword-points, and soon end our miseries. Perhaps, in their estimate, death by sword was preferable to death by famine. At any rate, in any case, say they, we can but die. Let us take the desperate alternative. Let us select that which, though it require the greatest boldness, has yet some lingering chance of success. They all listen; they assent; they arise. They perceive a streak of dawn upon the sky; they find their way to the Syrian camp; the men have fled they enter a tent and feast; having satisfied themselves they grow dainty and they select the most luscious viands from the tables; nay, they have now time. for thinking of enriching themselves, and they take, first, this golden and then that silver ornament, and they hide these away. But the thought strikes them, "Here we have bread and corn in abundance. This is a season of common distress. What though the people of Samaria forgot us, and thrust us out of the city, it were an unworthy requital even for the lepers to forget their fellow-men. Let us go back and tell of our discovery, that the poor besieged city may be relieved." They do so. Good tidings give great joy to those who tell as well as those who hear. The famished crowds pour out of Samaria, and, according to the word of the

« הקודםהמשך »