I HAVE heard of a butcher who had great trouble to get his sheep into the slaughter-house, on account of the passage leading to it being very narrow, until he succeeded in so training a black sheep to go through the passage, that, whenever he wished to slaughter a flock, he brought out the black sheep, which they all unsuspectingly followed through the narrow passage; thus they were beguiled and killed, without any difficulty, while the black sheep was spared to repeat his enticing ways to the destruction of vast numbers of others.
And, I ask, do we not see something very similar to this practiced all around us in reference to the souls of men? Can anyone fail to see, that much of the religious excitement of the day consist in following the precepts and opinions of men? Is it not one of the cunningly devised stratagems of the great enemy of souls, to draw men to perdition through the instrumentality of false guides? People say, “Is he not a good man, educated, talented, eloquent, charitable,” and the like? Thus they go onward, little thinking that, step by step, they are being led by a wolf in sheep’s clothing in the way to enter darkness, where there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.
Oh, my reader! if ever there was a day when the true servants of Christ were called on to cry aloud, “Beware of men!” it is now. Why? Because it is most manifest that the devil, who can transform himself into an angel of light, has His trained emissaries, whose business it is to lead those around them, (unwittingly perhaps,) by a false religion, downwards to eternal destruction.
Dear reader, Beware of men! God himself has marked out the only way of salvation. Christ crucified and risen is the only Saviour. The written word of God, the only standard of truth. The Holy Spirit, the only “Spirit of truth.” The blood of Christ, the only sin-cleansing remedy. Nothing can be plainer. God’s word is certain and decisive. He speaks of two, classes of persons—the saved, and the lost—believers and them that believe not. Oh! beware of men! “You must be born again.” The Holy Spirit alone can make the Saviour precious to you. Turn ye, why will ye die? Hear, and you shall live. Acquaint now thyself with God, in Christ, and be at peace. Death and judgment are close at hand. Escape for thy life.
Take God at His word. Receive Christ. Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned. Oh! listen to the sweet words of Jesus, the Saviour of sinners: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.”
“Thine, alas! a lost condition,
Works cannot work thee remission,
Nor thy goodness do thee good;
Death’s within thee, all about thee,
But the remedy’s without thee,
See it in thy Saviour’s blood.”
Dear reader. Once more I say, Beware of men! for Satan’s great object is to “blind the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them;” and, perhaps, this is never done so effectually as by a false shepherd. Consider this, I beseech you. Are you sure that you have no companion, or esteemed acquaintance, or so-called religious friend, by whom you are being led? Think of what I have told you about the black sheep. A true man of God does not wish you to follow him further than he follows Christ, nor to submit to him in anything not plainly in accordance with the New Testament Scriptures. He speaks to you of a full, free, present, and everlasting salvation in Christ alone—that His blood is the only ground of forgiveness of sins—that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth—that all flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of, grass ... .but the word of the Lord endureth forever.
Again. Beware of men! for what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? May you at once turn to God with confession of your sins! Believe now on His crucified Son, and you have everlasting life.
“The moment a sinner believes,
And trusts in his crucified Lord,
His pardon at once he receives,
Salvation is full, through His blood.”