Will not, then, this suffice to rouse thoughtless and sinful men to a sense of danger? The judgments of the Almighty now upon the land; death approaching many under a fearful form; the presumption and sinfulness of trusting to a late repentance; the danger of the infliction of judicial blindness; the horrors of a guilty death-bed; the torments of the damned, have all been urged as so many calls to repentance, and may God accompany them with his grace, that they may not be urged in vain; but all of these equal not the awfulness and terribleness of an eternity of torment. There is something overpowering in the idea of unmitigated unmitigable woe; it is so terrific, that it astounds, it is so vast, that it overwhelms the mind: for the finite faculties of man cannot grasp eternity: they are lost in the maze of millions of years rolling on in endless succession. But if there be any who have tost, for one night, on a bed of suffering; any who have experienced, for one hour, the racking torture of intolerable pain; let them ask themselves how they would endure, in the immensity of endless time, “the worm which dieth not, and the fire which is not quenched.”
May this awful consideration have its due weight upon every reader; may those who have not yet been “turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God,” obtain grace to seek pardon and peace through the Saviour who brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel; that, through Him they may escape “the fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” [32a]
“Knowing, therefore, the terrors of the Lord, we persuade men,” [32b] says St. Paul: who afterwards adds, “Now, then, we are ambassadors for Christ; as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you, in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled unto God.” [32c] It is thus the Christian minister declares the denunciations of Divine vengeance, and the certainty and eternity of Divine punishments, that he may prepare the way for a joyful acceptance of the offers of Divine mercy. This two-fold duty of the ministerial office, is beautifully described by Cowper:
“There stands the messenger of truth, there stands
The legate of the skies! His theme divine,
His office sacred, his credentials clear.
By him the violated Law speaks out
Its thunders: and by him, in strains as sweet
As angels use, the Gospel whispers peace.” [33a]
The dispensations of the Almighty are at once the inflictions of his displeasure, the warnings of his love, and the invitations of his mercy: to every sinner they address the enquiry, “Despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God?” [33b] May the Almighty give his blessing upon the afflictive visitation He has sent upon this land, that sinners may be roused to a sense of their danger, and brought to embrace thankfully the offers of pardon and salvation, made through Christ Jesus our Lord!
The Holy Scriptures present at once the most earnest calls to repentance and the most gracious offers of forgiveness. “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye, from your evil ways, for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” [34a] “O house of Israel, are not my ways equal, and are not your ways unequal? saith the Lord. Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions, so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed, and make you a new heart, and a new spirit; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? for I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God. Wherefore, turn yourselves, and live ye.” [34b] “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” [34c]
Such are some of the invitations of the Holy Scriptures to turning and calling upon God. Let us, then, suppose the case of one who is alarmed by the Divine threatenings; who, conscious of his guilt, sees as it were the gulf of perdition yawning beneath his feet; but is deterred, by a sense of the heinousness of his sins, from seeking the pardon which he despairs of obtaining. How is he to be addressed? The love and mercy of God, as shewn towards a guilty and perishing world, in the mysterious, but most gracious, plan of redemption, through the Saviour, must be pointed out, and largely dwelt upon. Under the severer dispensation of the Law, amid the awful splendours of its promulgation, the Lord was proclaimed to be “the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.” [35a] Under the Gospel dispensation, it is emphatically said, “God is love:” [35b] that “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” [35c] Let not, therefore, the heinousness of past sins, and the sense of present unworthiness, deter any from coming to the Saviour: for “God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” [35d] And that gracious Saviour has authoritatively declared, what is the sole condition of acceptance, through His infinite merits: “Verily, Verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life:” [35e] and has tenderly invited all to flee unto Him who labour under the yoke of sin, or the burden of sorrow; “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest: take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls: for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” [36a] Before the nativity of our blessed Lord, the command was conveyed by an angel, “Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.” [36b] Agreeably to which, He Himself says, “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” [36c] And St. Paul prefaces his delivery of the great truth he was commissioned to teach, in a manner befitting its importance: “This is a true saying, and worthy of all men to be received, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” [36d] If the Gospel did not contain a free pardon for sin, little would it be in accordance either with its name, good news, or with the proclamation of the heavenly host, which heralded the birth of the Messiah: “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people, for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” [36e] To every penitent the promise is addressed—“Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out.” [36f] The Divine mercy towards repentant sinners knows no restrictions; the cleansing power of the Saviour’s blood, no limitations.
If there be any self-convicted and self-condemned sinner, still hesitating to throw himself upon the mercy of God in Christ, let him hear the Psalmist, who has represented under the most striking and affecting images, the love of God towards man: “The Lord is full of compassion and mercy; long-suffering and of great goodness. He will not always be chiding, neither keepeth He his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our wickednesses. For look how high the heaven is in comparison of the earth, so great is His mercy also toward them that fear Him. Look how wide also the east is from the west, so far hath He set our sins from Him. Yea, like as a father pitieth his own children, even so is the Lord merciful unto them who fear Him. For He knoweth whereof we are made, He remembereth that we are but dust.” [37a] Let him hear St. John, who has stated the full extent of Christ’s atoning and mediatorial power: “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” [37b] Let him hear St. Paul, who has supplied a sure ground of unfailing trust in God: “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” [37c] Should any one still hesitate to come unto Christ as their Saviour, let him hear His merciful expostulation, “Ye will not come to me that ye might have life.” [38a] Let him listen to His gracious enquiry, “Wilt thou be made whole?” And if he still cannot persuade himself, that there is mercy in store for such a sinner as himself, let him at last draw comfort from the assurance, that “the Son of Man is come to save that which is lost,” [38b] and seeks after perishing sinners, as the faithful shepherd after the sheep which have wandered from the fold. Nor is this all: not only does our gracious Lord seek after guilty and lost sinners, but “likewise there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” [38c] What a proof have we here of the value of the soul in the sight of God! His incarnate Son dying to redeem it from eternal misery; when restored to His Father’s right hand, watching over it with constant care; and seeking, with tender gentleness, to bring back the wanderers from the fold of grace: and when the slave of sin breaks his fetters, and through grace given unto him, falls repentant and humbled at the foot of the cross, then joy is felt in the court of heaven, and the seraphic choir give praise, and honour, and glory, to “Him who sitteth on the throne, and the Lamb;” [38d] because a poor sinner has been turned, by the marvellous grace of the Gospel, “from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God; that he may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Christ Jesus.” [39a]
The gracious and unmerited invitations of Divine mercy are addressed to all sinners by “God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” [39b] Let not therefore any one say, my sins are too great to be forgiven; this is to limit the atoning efficacy of Christ’s blood, which is illimitable: let not any one say, I am not yet fit to come unto Christ; this is to mistake the nature of the Gospel, which is designed to remedy man’s natural unfitness: but let all betake themselves to Christ for pardon of past sins, through His blood; and for strength against future temptations, through His grace. Nor let it be thought that these observations apply only to gross sinners. One description of man’s natural condition, and only one, applies to the whole human race;—“All have sinned and come short of the glory of God:” and one means of restoration to the lost favour of God, and only one, is offered to the whole human race;—the “being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ: whom God has set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” [40a] Those who refuse to come unto Christ as sinners, stand self-excluded from all benefit of His atonement. To such the Saviour addresses the words,—“Because thou sayest I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve that thou mayest see.” [40b] Man’s natural weakness and sinfulness is the fundamental truth on which the Christian plan of redemption is built; for if he had possessed inherent power to overcome his natural depravity, and keep the commandments of God, the sacrifice of Christ would not have been necessary for the atonement of his sins, and for his escape from eternal condemnation. Did we not know that pride, based upon a poor and defective system of morality, generally shows the most decided hostility to the humbling doctrines of the Gospel, it would hardly be believed that any would refuse to come to Christ as sinners. How much at variance are such self-righteous feelings with the spirit of the confession of our Church, in which, under the appropriate and affecting figure of sheep wandered from the fold, we are accustomed to entreat the pity, protection, and guidance, of the great “Shepherd of our souls.” There are two considerations, however, which may, with the Divine blessing, if duly weighed, bring such persons to the foot of the cross with deep self-abasement and acknowledgment of sin: one is, that in the Gospel the motive determines the value of an action; and the Christian’s motive is, to do all to the glory of God: the other is, that man is accountable, not only for his actions, but for his omissions; not only for every idle word, but for every sinful wish; nay, more, for every impure thought indulged and cherished. Let those who think their failings few and venial, their merits great, and deserving of reward, apply to their lives these two great tests of Christian holiness—praying, at the same time, to “the Father of lights,” for grace and knowledge: and if they be not brought to admit, that “in many things we offend all;” [41] if it be not the language of their hearts, “We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed, by thought, word, and deed, against thy Divine Majesty, provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us;”—they are ignorant of the spirit of the Gospel, and far from the kingdom of God. For, like the Jews of old, “they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge: for they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” [42a] “That no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption; that, according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” [42b]
To true believers, “Christ is all in all:” [42c] on His atonement they rest for pardon before God; on His grace they rely for strength; and to His merits they trust for salvation. Their truly Christian hope is built upon a lively faith; they believe “that man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the spirit, and therefore in every person born into this world, it deserveth God’s wrath and damnation.” [42d] That “the condition of man, after the fall of Adam, is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith and calling upon God; wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us when we have that good will.” [43a] “That we are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by faith, and not for our own works and deservings: wherefore that we are justified by faith only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort.” [43b] And “albeit that good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow after justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God’s judgments; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively faith; insomuch that by them a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree discerned by the fruit.” [43c]