ONCE more. My aunt had but to run a short distance to become my deliverer; but the Son of God had to die for those who were “without strength” to do anything for themselves. What think you, my young friends, of love like this, and of him in whom it shone so brightly? “As the Lamb of God,” he has been slain for sin his sacrifice has been accepted; and so well pleased is God with the work of his beloved Son, that he is now beseeching you to be reconciled to himself. Are you willing to own your perishing condition, and to receive the Christ of God? No preparation on your part is necessary; nothing is required at your hands. As you are, and where you are, you are welcome to “the unsearchable riches of Christ” —to all that love can give and grace bestow. Remember, you are on the very brink of the lake of fire, and, for aught you can tell, the next moment you may sink into “the blackness of darkness forever.” Faithfully do I warn you of your danger, and affectionately do I invite you to come to him who alone can deliver you from it. The door of mercy is yet open, and Christ is still at the right hand of God, waiting to be gracious. Come, then, before the door is shut, and enter while “there is room.” Oh, do not, I entreat you, “die in your sins,” through refusing to “believe in him whom God hath sent” do not seal your everlasting doom by rejecting, or despising, or neglecting God’s “great salvation” but hasten to Christ’s outstretched arms of love and mercy, for there, and there alone, can you find perfect rest and safety.
I cannot close this paper without saying a few words to those of my readers who, by the Spirit’s teaching, have been convinced of their helpless, perishing state, but yet do not understand the way whereby they may obtain immediate deliverance. From the moment you truly believed God’s testimony about your ruined condition, you have been wretched; perhaps, too, you have made inquiries as to how you could obtain peace, and have received so many different answers, that your perplexities, instead of being lessened, have multiplied. One has advised you “to wait God’s appointed time;” and another has told you “to cry for mercy; and that, sooner or later, you shall have what you desire.” God forbid that I should write a single word that would lead you to think that he who feedeth “the young ravens which cry,” can be indifferent to the cry of a sinner ready to perish. Such a thought would set aside the truth that he who is “Lord over all, is rich unto all that call upon him.” It would also give the lie to the precious facts that, when the self-condemned publican cried, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” and the dying thief, “Lord, remember me,” they were heard and answered. But while the above cases prove that “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,” they do not contradict those texts of Scripture which declare that while we are saved by grace, it is “through faith” that we are filled “with all joy and peace in believing.” It was thus that even bodily blessings were obtained from the Saviour during his sojourn among men. He was ever ready to listen to the cry of the needy, and allowed them to tell him all their wants. But before he healed them, he used to say, “Believe ye that I am able to do this?” and when they replied, “Yea, Lord,” he would add, “According to your faith be it unto you.” Thus while he did not despise their cry, their faith received what he delighted to bestow.
Now as what you require is obtained in the same way, do you not perceive that your spiritual advisers have misdirected you? And should not the fact that you have been crying for mercy, it may be for a length of time, without receiving the salvation of your souls, lead you away from the thoughts and opinions of men, and also cause you to ponder the following question, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?” That you should be unable “to wait” in a state of cold indifference, I can well understand; and that you should “cry for mercy” is no more a wonder to me, than that I cried for help when in danger of being drowned does not surprise you. But what would you have thought if, when my dear aunt had stretched out her hand to save me, instead of taking it at once, I had still continued to cry as before? Would you not have supposed that I was so bewildered and confused that I did not know how foolishly I was acting? Exactly so; and yet this is the very thing you are doing. I will try to make this plain.
God laid your sins upon Jesus, and is now entreating you to accept the boundless provisions of his grace. He desires that your weary souls should find rest in the atonement of his Son; that your guilty consciences should be purged by the precious blood of the Lamb; and that your doubts and fears should cease at once and forever, through faith in his testimony concerning Christ, and what he has already given in him. But instead of gratefully receiving what is put before you, and thankfully accepting what is presented to you, you question and hesitate, as though it was too good to be true, as though you were too vile to be received, and too guilty to be pardoned. And yet you cannot be more anxious to be saved than God is to save you. Then why not hear “the words of eternal life”? why not listen to “the joyful sound”? why not welcome the Saviour who has fully met your need? why not “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,” and set to your “seal that God is true”? The Holy Ghost testifies of him who, “when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high;” and you have but to renounce self in every shape and form, and to gaze by faith on the Friend and Saviour of sinners, and you will
“See your trespasses forgiven,
And your songs of triumph raise.”
“Be not afraid; only believe.” So shall you “have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” and “rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.”
N.