A Gospel Address, delivered by Dr. Heyman Wreford, at the Victoria Hall, Exeter.
(Concluded.)
The People Are Afraid!
THE people of the place when they see the man sitting calmly at the feet of Jesus, happy and peaceful, are filled with fear. Of what can they be fearful? Not of the man surely, he is quiet enough. Of what then? I will tell you. They are afraid of the power that had healed him. And so the world cannot understand some of you people here. You used to get drunk, and the world cannot understand the change in you, and you used to blaspheme, and your old companions cannot understand your praising God. You used to scoff at the people of God, and now you delight in their company. There is a great change in you, and the world cannot understand it. Well, I hope you will all go on puzzling the world until you are out of it altogether. It will be a bed day if ever you are friendly with the world that crucified your Lord, or find your pleasure in a scene stained with His precious blood.
The People’s Desire.
The people prefer their swine to Jesus, and so they pray Him to depart from their coasts. He takes them at their word. Friends, is not this solemn? and what a lesson it is for all here this evening! Now what is your thought about Him? Do you love the pleasures of the world better than the Son of God? Do you say this evening, “Depart, Lord Jesus, I do not want Thy salvation?” Now be honest, I bring you face to face with this question. Will you, or will you not accept Jesus as your Saviour? Will you, or will you not believe on Him to the salvation of your soul this night? Answer, and let God hear you. Accept or reject Him now. This is a solemn moment. Heaven is listening to hear whether you will come to Jesus for salvation, or bid Him depart from you. What is that trembling on your lips my friend? Are you asking Christ to save you? Is that a sneer I see passing across your face? Are you spurning God’s eternal love? It must be one or the other. God help you to decide for Christ. Suppose the Lord takes you rejectors at your word tonight? Suppose you never have another opportunity of being saved? Will you brave that, and say, “I will take my chance”?
The Desire of the Demons.
The demons make a request to Jesus. It is this, that they may be allowed to enter the swine. The Lord grants this request. What is the result? When the swine become possessed with these demons, immediately they rush down a steep place into the sea, and they are choked in the sea. What a sight! I see them rushing down, two thousand in number, onward and onward down the steep decline, energized by the demons, closer and closer to destruction, until at last they are all destroyed. And I can see you sinners going down, clown the broad road that leads to destruction. You drunkard yonder, you are reeling down, and there is death in front of you. You man of pleasure, you are gliding down the steep decline, and there are no pleasures in hell. You are all going down, down DOWN. Oh! God what will stop them? A little while, and unless they stop, they will be in the lake of fire. Oh stop! stop! Jesus calls, “Stop!” old man yonder, STOP! young man there! young woman here! STOP! In the Name of God I bid you stop! In the Name of Christ I call you back from ruin. Look to Jesus, He does not want you to perish, and He is the only One Who can snatch you as a brand from the burning. As I see you here, I wonder if you will spend eternity in heaven, or in hell — it must be one or the other. I fancy the devil plays with some of you, like a cat does with a mouse. He lets you go a little way in doing good, you may hear the gospel preached now and then, and turn over a new leaf, and then he gets you back into open sin again. What will become of you? I look to heaven and I say, “Lord Jesus, save these poor sinners here tonight, they are going down, and they are careless and indifferent; save them Lord, and save them now.”
The Desire of Faith.
The man who has been healed by Jesus has a request to make. It is, that he might be with Him. Oh! yes, I can understand that. He wants to be with Jesus; that poor simple heart is vibrating beneath the touch of the Son of God, and the music of his life is the Name of Jesus now. I can see him crouching at the feet of Christ, his whole being absorbed with the rapture of His presence. And when you were first saved did you not feel that you would like to be taken to be with Christ at once? You wanted to see His blessed Face, and hear your Saviour’s Voice. But the Lord has a message for him to take, and work for him to do, and so He cannot accede to his request.
The Coming Home.
Christ sent him away with these words ringing in his ears, “Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee.” I see the man rise to go; he looks once more upon the Face of his Deliverer; falls once more before those blessed Feet, and then he goes tards his home. As he passes on, his footsteps quicken to keep pace with his throbbing heart, he has a wondrous tale to tell, and he is longing to make it known. Men and women know him not as he passes on; this man with the calm and shining face passes as a stranger in the city where he dwells; the completeness of his salvation has entirely annulled the terror of the past; he is a new creature.
I see him near his home, his glad eyes shining with a tender light; his lips moving with the tidings that he bears. Has he a wife? we cannot tell, but if so, what a radiant joy for her, when he reveals himself to her as her husband. Has he children? we do not know; but if so, with what glad delight would they climb on his knees, and gaze, and gaze upon his happy face. He has friends we know, and as they gather round him he tells them the story of his cure. It must have been as some hideous nightmare to him, those terrible days and nights amid the mountains and the tombs; he relates the story of those awful days when he was the plaything of the devil, and the sport of demons. And he tells of the coming of Jesus to the place where he was; and of the mighty, yet gentle Voice that drove the demons out; with kindling eye, suffused with tears, he speaks of the divine rest that flooded his being, when the demons left him; how it was like the rest of Paradise when he sat at the Feet of Jesus; and it was heaven to gaze upon that blessed Face. He tells, and tells again, about his Saviour. I can hear him describe, in broken words, how tenderly the light of compassion shone out from the eyes of Christ, and what rapturous music was that loving Voice to him. He never wearies of his wondrous theme, he will tell the story to all who will listen; the great things the Lord hath done, and the compassion of Christ to him.
And what will you do this evening? Will you go home and tell your friends what great things the Lord hath done for you? Will you set the bells of rapture ringing in your home tonight with the story of the love of God in Christ to you? it will be blessed music if you do. Receive the blessing now, and tell it all over the city tomorrow. Let all men know that you have come to Christ, and have been saved by Him; tell of the power that delivered you from Satan, and gave you rest of soul. Tell of the peace that fills your heart, “the peace of God that passeth all understanding”; tell of the joy of sins forgiven; and tell with untiring tongue of the One Who has done it all — the Christ of God. And now just a word or two in closing on―
The Coming Home of the Sinner.
Come, one and all of you to Christ tonight. Come with your weary heart, and He will give you rest; come with your troubled, burdened, conscience, and He will give you peace. There is no rest to be found on earth; friends fail us, the world cannot satisfy; the flowers of pleasure, plucked by the eager hand fade almost at the touch; the harp of life has broken strings upon it. Then come to Jesus, and come now. You want a home; you do not want to be an outcast for all eternity. You must come home as a sinner to the Saviour; as a needy one to the One Who can help you; as a bankrupt sinner to a rich and giving Christ; as having nothing to One Who possesses all; as guilty and undone, to One Who pardons and forgives. You must come with eyes of faith to see the living Saviour at God’s right Hand; with ears of faith to hear His welcome to you; with a heart of faith to believe unto righteousness, and with lips of faith to confess His blessed Name. Now will you come in this way? You are weak, He wants you to lean on His strength; you can do nothing. He wants you to trust His finished work; will you do this?
I read today of one who refused to come home. She was dying of consumption, but she did not believe she was near eternity; she was expecting to get better, and would not give up hopes of life. When pressed to come home as a sinner to Christ, she said, “I must think about it.”
A Christian determined to tell her she had only a few days to live. He came, and found her reading a novel; the Bible had been thrown aside, and although she was gasping for breath as she lay dying, she was seeking to drown the voice of conscience in this way. The Christian said, “Can you read a novel at such a time as this?” She answered, angrily, “I can’t always be reading my Bible.” “Oh! do You know that you are on the very point of death? Has no one told you that the doctor has pronounced your case utterly hopeless? You will be before God in a few hours.” A deairing look carne into her eyes, as she heard the Christian speak. “Can it be true,” she cried, as she cast the novel aside. “Yes, it is true,” was the answer, “and I am come with a message of grace for the last time; do believe in Jesus.” He went on pleading, “Will you accept Christ now?” Her answer was given, “Not tonight.” The Christian took up the Bible and placed it near her, saying, “May God have mercy on your soul.” He rose to go: when he reached the door, he looked back for a moment, and he saw her hand upon the novel; her choice was made. In a day or two she was gone; she died with bitter curses against God and herself; with cries for mercy choked with imprecations. “Lost,” she exclaimed, “Too late, I have thrown it away.”
There was no coming home for her. But you will come, will you not? You will decide for. Christ this evening. We are now before God; heaven is bending over you; God’s people are around you; Christ is calling — now is the accepted time. Beware of the closed door! Beware of the lake of fire! Beware of the endless torment of the lost!
May God the Father be known to you as your Father now! May Christ the Son be acknowledged by you as your Saviour! May the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, shed abroad the love of God in your hearts tonight. —Amen.