"Yes, Sir, I did. Was I doing wrong by doing this?"
"You will see presently. In consequence of having left the church, you cannot now attend, with the uniformity of former times, to the same order of duties; and therefore you cannot now indulge the hope that the Almighty will save you. And this depresses your spirits and makes you feel unhappy."
"It does, and very painfully so. I think I have forfeited the blessing, because I am not enduring to the end."
"You say you always thought that Jesus Christ was our Saviour; but do you not perceive, that as long as you indulged the hope of being saved in consequence of your scrupulous and constant attention to your religious duties, you were expecting to be saved without being indebted to him for your salvation? If you had succeeded, you would have got into heaven without his help; how then could he be your Saviour?"
"Then, Sir, was I doing wrong by placing my hope of being saved on my religious life and practice?"
"You were living under the spell of a common, but fatal delusion."
"Indeed, Sir! Such an idea has struck me, more than once, when I have been listening to your discourses; but it has passed from me; I could not entertain it, it is too horrifying."
"If, my dear Madam, to live under the spell of a fatal delusion be horrifying, what must it be to die under one—to pass away from earth, expecting to go to heaven, and when disembodied and alone, to be left to sink into hell!"
"But, Sir, if a person be sincere and constant in his religious duties—if he endure in them to the end of life, do you think the Almighty will suffer him to die under such a delusive expectation as that? The thought of it is truly painful. It makes me shudder."
"Allow me to call your attention to the following passage, which is a quotation from the words of Jesus Christ, the faithful and true Witness—'Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity' (Matt. vii. 21-23)."