THE new preacher was standing in the vestry. In a few minutes he would have to make his first appearance before the congregation.
The large building was filling up, and the senior deacon, who was talking with the preacher in the vestry, was nervously anxious that a good impression should be made upon the audience.
“I hope you will make no reference in your sermon to worldly professors of religion," he observed; "there will be a considerable number present, and it would be undesirable to cause offense.”
“I will remember what you say," replied the minister.
“And pray don't say anything about the liquor trade, for we have two or three wealthy brewers, who are liberal supporters of the cause.”
“I understand; but do you desire that my sermons should be mere essays, and that neither sin nor sinners should be rebuked?”
“Oh! well, of course it wouldn't do to make your sermons insipid and pointless. It is necessary to hit out at something.”
“Well, whom would you recommend me to go for today?”
The deacon crept to the door of the vestry, and opening it a few inches scanned the faces of the assembling congregation. Returning to the preacher, he said:
“I think you might safely go for the Jews! It is not likely that any will be present!”
- - -
Do you, or do you not, kind reader, agree with the advice tendered by this worldly-wise deacon?
You reply, perhaps, that in your opinion it savors of cowardice to attack people who are not present, and that it can do no possible good.
The writer of these lines shares your opinion. This paper, therefore, addresses itself, not to the kind of people who are not likely to read it, but to the class of persons into whose hands most of the copies issued will probably find their way.
I am not going to declaim against the drunkard, nor argue with the skeptic. I certainly do not intend to "go for the Jews," as the deacon advised the preacher to do.
Do not take it amiss, then, if I address a few urgent, kindly meant words to you. You are probably a respectable, well brought-up person. You do not profess to be particularly religious, though you do not belong to the increasing number of the openly irreligious.
You consider yourself no worse than the average of your fellow-men, and probably you are right.
Leaving aside these various incidental matters, however, let me speak to you as a sinner, for this, I am sure, you know yourself to be. I do not think you will object to this.
Daniel Webster, the famous American lawyer, during a summer holiday in a district far away from the capital, and its scenes of busy life, went each Sunday morning and evening to a little country church. His niece asked him why he went there, when he paid little attention to far abler sermons in Washington.
“In Washington," he replied, "they preach to Daniel Webster, the statesman. But this man has been talking to Daniel Webster the sinner, and telling him of JESUS.”
Will you let me do the same for you? Will you, for a few minutes, regard your own name, and every descriptive term but one, as an alias, and let me speak with you as a sinner?
I should like to tell you of what can meet the crying need of every sinner; of something that can bring peace to his conscience and lasting joy to his heart. It is all summed up in the one word that meant so much to Daniel Webster: JESUS.
The great God has thought of you with thoughts of deepest, truest compassion. Yet your sins made it impossible for Him to bless you and take you into His favor. They raised a most serious question. For God is holy, and hates sin.
But He has found a way to extend His mercy to sinners without in the least degree compromising His holiness. He gave Jesus, His own Son, to stand in the sinner's place, and bear the consequences of his sins. This is what the Lord Jesus has done. This is the work that He accomplished when He hung as our Surety upon the cross. He atoned for our sins by His sufferings and death. The condemnation due to us fell upon Him, and now God freely pardons and saves the sinner whose trust is in the Savior. What rest to the sin-burdened conscience the knowledge of this brings!
- - -
But there is something more. A sinner has a heart, as well as a conscience. You have probably found, by bitter experience, that the things of the world cannot really satisfy the cravings of the heart. But the Lord Jesus can! Alive from the dead, He is in heaven to-day. And He knows how to draw near to those whom He has cleansed from their guilt, and fill their hearts with His radiance.
The Christian can sing:
“O Christ, in Thee my soul hath found,
And found in Thee alone,
The peace, the joy I sought so long,
The bliss till now unknown.
Now none but Christ can satisfy,
None other name for me,
There's love, wand life, and lasting joy,
Lord Jesus, found in Thee.
Here lies the secret of true happiness. Have I said enough to make you desire to prove the truth of it for yourself
H. P. B.