What more natural? It is true, it might have been somewhere else, but it will burn as though it were made for the fire. Mark you, it is unquenchable! Who can extinguish that which God lights? You hear men say, “God is too good to burn men in hell.” That is not the way to put it. The fire will go out when there is no fuel.
Men who sin, burn themselves.
That drunkard, for instance. They say of him, “He has a spark in his inside.” What the poor wretch suffers when he cannot get strong drink! How he begs and prays for a penny to get a gill of beer. Now don’t blame God for that! It is his own doing. Suppose now, God lets that man have
his own way, and die a drunkard, and he wakes up in hell with that thirst, and no drink, not a drop, and never will be! And is the drunkard the worst of men? Is he worse than the man who grows rich on the other man’s poverty? I would as soon have the drunkard’s hell, as the eternity of those who took his money, and sold him that which is burning away his life and chances of salvation. Do you see that wicked seducer, and those who dishonour their parents; and those who keep back that which they have in plenty, when they might feed the hungry and clothe the naked? “These shall go away into everlasting punishment.” Now what are you going to do? It is not the axe which is touching you now. It is the hand of Jesus, the hand which has been scorched with the fire of God’s anger to save us. Christ suffered (the just for the unjust) to bring us to God. Do not tire Him out, for if he calls for the axe, there is no hope. Justice may call, and when the woodman answers and takes up his axe, prayer may cause the axe to fall from his hand; but when Mercy says, “Cut it down,” all the men in the world may cry, but nothing can save him from the fire.
None can stand before the wrath of the lamb?
WHEN FILIAL LOVE PICKS
UP THE OAR,
THE ALL-WISE FATHER PUTS
HIS HAND ON THE HELM!
XXXII. JESUS AT THE WELL.
A WORD TO PREACHERS.
Jesus Christ travelled three years in a very poor circuit. There were no stewards to provide for His wants, and at times, we are told, He had not where to lay His head. But all the three years He was a perfect example to us, whether we are Locals or Itinerants, and, perhaps, never more than when talking to the woman at the well of Samaria. From His conduct there we may learn—
I.—Never be daunted by a small congregation.
It is very nice to have a crowd, but then that is not the lot of us all, and we must not keep our best sermons for large audiences. It may be that the few are able to appreciate our best efforts. Jesus Christ said some of His best things to individuals. John iii. 16 was not said to a crowd, but to one. Indeed, if we were to take out of the gospels what Jesus said to small audiences, we should rob them of their choicest portions. So, if, when we get to the chapel we find that there are more pews than people, let us preach to those who are there. Why grumble at the few who have come, perhaps a long way? Let us feed these with the choicest of the wheat. It may be an historic time for anything you know. There may be someone there whom your sermon may lead to Jesus, and who himself may become a preacher.