But it is not merely an intellectual work that has to be considered, for, after all, what are all intellectual acquirements if we be not in Christ? Nay! we may extend the question further and inquire, what would all our labour in such a case avail us before God? And if we be not forgiven in Christ Jesus how shall any one of us stand in his presence? Can intellect justify? Can talent justify? Can self-improvement justify? Nay, more, can philanthropic effort justify? Can benevolence justify? Can religious activity justify? Can energetic labour for God justify? Beautiful, indeed, are all such things when springing forth as the rich fruits of heavenly grace in the soul of the justified believer; but nothing better than filthy rags if employed as a covering for the dark moral guilt in the soul of the sinner. No, brethren! If the inquiry is made, how must the soul be saved? How can the sin be blotted out? How can the sinner stand justified in the Lord’s presence? there is but one answer, and that is, it must be in Christ. No intellect and no activity will ever lift us above the old promise, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” All our hope is in the substitution of the sinless Saviour for the sin-stricken sinner, in the transfer of guilt from the guilty criminal to the guiltless substitute; and if a man be a stranger to Christ, though he have all the philanthropy of a Howard, or all the intellect of a Newton, he will be found condemned before God for the inherent corruption of his heart and character. Well, therefore, does the Apostle urge us to “Work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in us to will and to do of his good pleasure;” and most earnestly will every wise man pay good heed to the inquiry, Am I in Christ Jesus? Am I born again of the Spirit? Is my name written in the Lamb’s book of life? Am I now pardoned through His blood? Am I justified through His righteousness? And am I prepared to meet Him in His kingdom?
Now this hope was the turning point in the character of our departed friend. After she had been informed that her end was close at hand, her faithful attendants began to read to her some of the promises of the Gospel, in the hope of assisting her faith through her last struggle. But she preferred silence, and replied, “I have them.” Who can wish more for his dying hour than to be able to say, “I have them”? For the words imply not merely that she had them in her memory, but that she had them to reveal Christ to her soul, and so to bear her up through her last struggle. Happy that soul who is so possessed of the promises that he has Christ as his glorious hope in his dying hour!
And now, dear brethren, to conclude. I am speaking to some of you at the very outset of your career. Your sun is only now rising in the fulness of its morning beauty. You have, possibly, the greater part of life before you, some forty, fifty, sixty years to be spent either for the world or for God. Oh! dear brethren, let the whole of that vigour be consecrated to Him. Leave it not to old age, then to hand over the refuse of your powers. But now, in your youth and in your vigour, remember the call of Him that has redeemed you by His blood, and let the prime of your life be a freewill offering to your Lord. Or possibly I am speaking to some old men who have but a little time left; honoured fathers in the family of God; men whose sun is sinking brightly, but still rapidly, in the west. And what shall we say to such? Oh! dear brethren, we would speak with the utmost respect and reverence, but, bear with us while we remind you that it is but a little time that remains; but a very few more winters and then the sense of loneliness will pass away in the society of heaven, and the pang of the wounded heart will be for ever healed by the leaves of the tree that we know are for the healing of the nations. Hold on your way, then, for that little time with a good courage. Let a bright hope sustain the failing eye, and the Lord’s right hand give vigour to the faltering step. The rest is at hand; the privilege of labour is nearly over; let no time, then, be lost in the service of our God, but, if the power be less, let the zeal be greater than ever in the holy efforts to be faithful servants to your Lord.
But why do we speak of different ages as if they secure to us different periods of labour, for who can say how short his time is? There may be many here who may never hear another sermon, as I myself may never preach one. You may single out the powerful young man with his broad chest, and open forehead, and powerful arm, who may think himself safe for many years to come, but who can say that ere a week closes, there shall not be another funeral procession, and that young man, notwithstanding all his strength, be borne by his sorrowing friends to an unlooked-for grave? You may note some middle-aged man in the full vigour of midday life, who now thinks only how he may maintain his wife and family; but let him remember that ere another Sabbath dawns, that wife may be a widow and those children fatherless. Oh, dear brethren, remember, I beseech you, how short your time may be, and take heed that when the day closes, you may be found in Christ! The door is open to you now. The invitation is open to you now. The promises of the Spirit are presented to you now. All the rich gifts of the kingdom are offered now without money and without price. Nay, more than that, you are now invited, urged, entreated to accept them. But the night may come and the door be shut to-morrow. Hearken, then, I beseech you, ye that are still unconverted sinners, ye that are still without Christ. Hearken, ye that are still strangers to peace, and may God grant you such a sure salvation in Him that you may be able to say, whenever the day closes, “To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain!”
Macintosh, Printer, Great New-street, London.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR,
The Scriptural Principles of our Protestant Church. Price 3s. Hatchard.
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