A Gospel Address, delivered by Heyman Wreford, at the Victoria Hall, Exeter. England.
FRIENDS! tonight the shadow of eternity seems to be pressing very closely around us; and I feel solemnized as I think of you all in connection with it. Will death, or the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, part you and me forever? Or, shall we live together in the eternal state? As I think upon these things, and upon you, the cross of Christ rises before my mind. I see the patient face of the Son of God looking down from it, and I hear His voice saying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Sinner! you need to be forgiven, for you have neglected salvation. A man who neglects to provide lot his body is sent to the workhouse; a man who neglects to provide for his family is sent to prison; and a man who neglects to provide for his soul is sent to hell. You who have neglected Christ and His love deserve to go to hell; you know you do. But I look to the cross, and I hear a voice that pleads for you, “Father, forgive these neglecters, they know not what they do.” Many of you have heard before now of that farmer who had to cross a stream to get to his house from his lands. The bridge spanning this stream was old and much worn. He was repeatedly spoken to about the unsafe condition of the bridge, and his answer always was, “I’ll see about it next week.” He went on neglecting to get the bridge repaired, and one very stormy night he was returning home, when, just as he was walking across the bridge, a terrific gust of wind came, and it fell beneath the fury of the tempest, and he was precipitated into the swollen stream and drowned. He died because he neglected to repair the bridge. Beware, lest you die a neglecter of Christ’s salvation. “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?”
There are some here who have rejected Christ. Like those of old, who said, “We will not have this Man to reign over us. Away with Him, away with Him, not this Man, but Barabbas;” so you have said “I will not have Christ and His salvation. I will have the world and its enjoyments. Why should I mope, and religious? I will have my fling, for this world was made for me to enjoy itself in. None of your long-faced religion for me.” You thus reject Christ. Hark! I hear the voice say of you as it did of the rejecters in days gone by, “Father, forgive these rejecters, they know not what they do. Forgive that man yonder who has rejected My offer of mercy; forgive that woman who has refused My love; forgive them, Father.” I heard of a man who cried out to a preacher one day, and said, “Well, what is the word of the Lord today?” The preacher fixed his eye upon him and answered, “O earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord.” Shortly afterward this scoffing rejecter was dying. He cried, “I am dying, get me a Bible, run for Mr.―; I am dying.” He died before the preacher could come to him. Oh, reject Christ no longer, but receive Him tonight.
There were persecutors in those days. There was a man who took the long sharp thorns that grew around Jerusalem, and twisted them into the shape of a crown with the points turned inwards, and then pressed them down upon the brow of Christ. He saw the blood start from the Saviour’s temples, and trickle down His patient cheeks; but there was none to pity, and none to comfort. And others came with hammer and with nails, and they nailed His hands and feet to the cross. And what did Jesus do? Did He call for vengeance on His murderers? Did He call a thunderbolt from heaven to crush them? Listen! “Father, forgive them, they know not What they do.” Forgive them! Can it be? Have we heard aright? Dost Thou pray for their forgiveness, O crucified Redeemer! Yes. “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”
The cross fades. Yes, it is gone; but I hear Christ praying still, and He says, “Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory.” And, again, I hear Christ saying, “Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in Me; in My Father’s house are many mansions... I go to prepare a place for you.” The place prepared is a glorious city; and I want to speak to you about it this evening. I want heaven to be so real and vivid to you tonight that its reality shall lay hold of every one of you. May it be with us as it was with that man who began to meditate on heaven when on a journey, and his meditations became so entrancing, as he thought of the glories of heaven, and how he was identified with it all, that he went on heedless of what was passing around him. At night he could scarcely sleep for joy. He continued with the joy shining in his heart until he passed away. Oh, may heaven be real to all of us. A gentleman one day saw a boy stretching his hands upwards; and he noticed he held a line between his fingers. He said, “What are you doing, my boy, why do you hold your hands up?” “I am flying my kite, sir,” the boy replied. The gentleman said, “I can see no kite, my boy, nor can you.” “No, sir, I cannot see it, but I know it is there, because it pulls.” May the line of faith so link us to heaven that we may feel it pull. We cannot see heaven yet; but the Christian can feel it pull. He feels it pull when he reads the promises of Christ, and when he ponders over the glory of His abode, and when he thinks of Christ Himself. Oh, may we all feel heaven by the power of faith drawing us up. May we all set our affections on things above, and hold things here with so loose a grasp that we may be ready to leave them at any moment.
Let me read the verse of my text to you again, “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
“The Holy City.”...It is a holy city. I wish you to notice this evening the contrast between earthly cities and the heavenly city. Behold that wondrous city, coming down from God out of heaven. How it shines in glory! The glory of God about it. Take a walk in any earthly city, and what will you see? Whether it is in London, with its millions of people; or in Exeter with its fifty thousand people, there is sin. Sin in every street, and in every house; sin in the life of every man, woman, and child that walks in the streets and dwells in the houses. There is the terrible shadow of doom, too, resting upon every city and unsaved citizen on this earth. It is an awful thing, sinner, that you should be going about every day with that fearful shadow hanging over you. You sleep every night under the shadow of death, and if you were to die in your sleep, you would awake in torment. “He that believeth not is condemned already.” Now let us stroll down the street of a city. Yonder is a public-house; as we stand here and watch we, shall see what sort of people frequent it. There goes a mechanic, who was once a very respectable man, and a good workman, but now look at him! Here comes a tradesman of the city; he looks around for one moment to see if he is noticed, and then slinks in. This is a professional man, and he, too, is going in Look at that woman! her children are at home wanting bread; with pale sad faces they will look at her in mute appeal when she gets, home; but instead of bread, they will get blows. There they go; and work, business, profession, and home, are sacrificed satisfy a diseased appetite. Hark! what is that we hear? It is the voice of a blasphemer, who is cursing God and man. These women passing by, with lascivious eyes are selling soul and body to the devil. We pass on. That building yonder is a theater, whither hundreds and thousands go to learn more of sin than their own evil hearts can teach them. This man coming towards us is an atheist. He will tell you there is neither God nor devil, neither heaven nor hell. That old man is a miser. He worships gold; he would sell all earthly love for money, and his dearest earthly ties for the glittering curse. We have seen and heard enough to know that the whole earth is defiled by sin. Yes, there is sin in the palaces and in the mansions of earth’s great ones; and sin in the houses of the, lowly; sin everywhere; and on account of sin, a curse rests on the world. “Sin came into the world and death by sin.” Where are Sodom and Gomorrah? The waters of the Dead Sea stagnate now, where once those proud cities stood. They defied God and they lifted their polluted brows to heaven. God has swept them away because of their iniquity. Where are the cities of the old world? Gone. The waters of the deluge swept them away. They were unholy. The cry of their iniquity rose to heaven and brought God’s judgment down. Where is Babylon? Where is Nineveh? Gone, forever gone. And Exeter will be destroyed one day. Every house and street will be swept away. The Cathedral, the Guildhall, and all the other buildings are condemned; for sin has defiled our city. Yes, this is a scene of sin and death. Our feet stand amid the ruins; but we look up, and lo! with eyes of faith we see “the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” And it is spoken of as: —
“Having the Glory of God.”
This is one of the characteristics of this city. It is crowned with a diadem of glory. Upon its fair brow that crown of beauty shines. What glory has God ever had from earthly-cities? None. Darkness shrouds this guilty world. There is blood upon its walls and gates, the blood of saints, and prophets, and martyrs. Yes, there is a mare awful stain upon it, a stain that will never be removed while this world lasts, the stain of the blood of Christ that cries for vengeance from the ground, the blood shed on Calvary. And there is a shadow that falls right across the universe; a dark, dark shadow. It is the shadow of the cross. It falls on all the pride of man; on all his ambition; on all his fame; on all his riches; on all his stately homes. There is no glory resting here. Last Sunday evening, when the tempest cloud hung over us, making the atmosphere so oppressive, I felt the weight of it resting upon my very soul. You all felt it. And I thought, when the storm broke over the city, what will it be when the storm of judgment breaks upon the world! When the thunders crash over the defenseless head of the sinner without Christ! When the lightnings play around him, and make him tremble before God! You could go to your homes for shelter from the storm last Sunday; but where will you flee from the wrath of an angry God if you die unsaved? If you want to escape from the coming storm, and get away from the darkness that spreads over the world, to the place where the glory of God rests, you must get out of this world. You must stand on resurrection ground. There, on the divine side of the cross, the glory of God rests. It shines on those who are risen with Christ. “It is the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
(To be continued.)