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A PRESENT SAVIOUR; 
 
 OR. 
 
 GREAT TRUTHS FOR EARNEST TIMES. 
 
 BY THE REV. R. S. H0TTON, M. A. 
 
 LIBRARY OF PRINCETON 
 
 SEP 1 5 2003 
 
 THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE 
 AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 
 
 150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK. 
 
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CO^^TENTS, 
 
 INTRODUCTORY— EARNEST TIMES 5 
 
 I.— DANGER - 9 
 
 II.— ASLEEP - -- 13 
 
 III.— A PRISONER OF HOPE 17 
 
 IV.— PEACE, PEACE! 21 
 
 v.— ONE AT THE DOOR 25 
 
 VI.— AWAKENED 29 
 
 VIL— WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED? 33 
 
 VIII.— JESUS - 37 
 
 IX.— THE REFUGE 41 
 
 X. —A PRESENT SALVATION - 45 
 
 XL— COME- -• 49 
 
 XII.— NOW- - 53 
 
 XIIL— BUT— 57 
 
 XIV.— A FULL SURRENDER Gl 
 
 XV.— BORN AGAIN -- 65 
 
4 CONTENTS. 
 
 XVL— A CHRISTIAN- - 69 
 
 XVII.— SECRET THINGS ----- 73 
 
 XVIII.— THE RACE --- 77 
 
 XIX.— REDEEMING THE TIME •• 81 
 
 XX.— AN UNCHANGEABLE SAVIOUR 85 
 
 XXL— THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS ^ 89 
 
 XXIL— THE FINAL DAY 93 
 
A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 EARNEST TIMES. 
 
 These are earnest clays in which we live. 
 There is much life in the church. The Spirit 
 is being poured out, and many are being gath- 
 ered in to Christ. Revivals used to be looked 
 upon as rare things of the past; but now a 
 marvellous work of grace is going on in all 
 parts of the earth, and among races the most 
 distinct. Surely this indicates the dawn of a 
 bright and glorious day. 
 
 It is a time of much prayer. Never Av^ere 
 there so many fervent suppliants at the throne 
 of grace as now. The power of prayer is be- 
 ing recognized. Men are looking on it as a 
 real thing ; they are using it as such, and they 
 
6 A. PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 are drawing clown on the cliurcli showers of 
 blessings. AVhat answers to prayer are being 
 received! Nor is this a matter to be won- 
 dered at. God has been taken at his word ; 
 he has been applied to with faith and earnest- 
 ness, and he has done great things for iis, 
 whereof we are glad. 
 
 Again, it is a time of earnest effort. Much is 
 being done. The grand truth is being widely 
 felt — to every man his work. Young converts 
 have been full of zeal and love. They have 
 set themselves to the duty of doing something 
 for Christ; and how much has been accom- 
 plished by them through tJie length and brcadtli 
 of the land. Many of these may have received 
 but a slender education; they may have had 
 no great powers of speech ; they may have been 
 often spoken against; but they have been ar- 
 dent in their longings to do good to souls ; they 
 have persevered in self-sacrificing labors ; and 
 not a few of them have in their respective 
 spheres seen great results. A noble lesson to 
 all believers. Let every one whose heart has 
 been touched with the love of Christ do what 
 he can: let him endeavor to promote humbly 
 
EARNEST TIMES. T 
 
 and perseveringly the cause of Christ, and he 
 will in no wise lose his reward. Life, says 
 Fuller, is to be measured by action, not by 
 time : a man may die old at thirty, and young 
 at eighty ; the one lives after death, tlie other 
 perished before he died. 
 
 It is a time of great responsibility. What 
 opportunities for doing good are within the 
 reach of every Christian. The fields are white 
 nnto the harvest. How earnest the laborers 
 should be. Never Avas there such a season of 
 working for Christ. All God's faithful people 
 should be up and doing. And what a time for 
 the unconverted. They are in a Christless 
 state ; they hope, however, to be converted 
 Ijefore they die ; but when, if not now ? Many 
 others are being awakened, while they remain 
 asleep. Many others are yielding to the claims 
 of Jesus, while they are resisting the influences 
 of his grace. Many others are being brought 
 to a saving knowledge of the truth, while they 
 are still living on in indifference to the inter- 
 ests of their souls. If they be not moved at 
 such a time as this, the probability is they will 
 never be moved at all. 
 
8 A TKESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 How is it with you? If religion be any 
 thing, it is every thing. If it be important at 
 all, it is all-important. If it demand any con- 
 cern, it demands your supreme concern. Are 
 you judging thus, and acting accordingly? I 
 would have you sit down quietly and consider 
 this matter. Make it the subject of earnest 
 thought, and deal with it as one who knows 
 the vast interests at stake. A Christian trav- 
 eller tells us that he saw the following admo- 
 nition printed on a folio sheet in an inn in 
 Savoy, and it was found, he learned, in every 
 house in the district: "Understand well the 
 force of the words — a God, a moment, an eter- 
 nity: a God who sees you, a moment Avhich 
 flies from you, an eternity which awaits you ; a 
 God whom you serve so ill, a moment of which 
 you so little profit, an eternity which you haz- 
 ard so rashly." 
 
 Grace is flowing like a river ; 
 
 Millions there have been supplied ; 
 Still it flows as fresh as ever 
 
 From the Saviour's wounded side. 
 
DANGER 
 
 I. 
 
 DANGER. 
 
 " It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the liv- 
 ing God." Heb. 10:31. 
 
 If unconverted, you are in a state of fearful 
 peril. It might well make the blood run cold 
 to think of it. You are every moment exposed 
 to eternal death. Have you no saving interest 
 in the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you not born 
 again? Have you undergone no change of 
 heart? Then I must plainly tell you and fairly 
 warn you of your state. You are under sen- 
 tence of condemnation. You are subject to the 
 wrath of God. You are liable to the pains of 
 hell. 
 
 What keeps the sinner out of that world of mis- 
 ery ? Nothing but the mere will of God. He 
 is in the hands of God. At every hour he is 
 dependent for existence on God. Let God 
 speak the word, and he is landed in hell. No 
 one can help him. He is very feebleness. As 
 
10 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. - 
 
 easily as you crnsli a worm, so easily can God 
 crush a sinner. Is be safe a moment, then? 
 There are numberless ways in which he may 
 die. Eternity is very near him. There is but 
 a step between him and death, and there is but 
 a step between him and hell. He may be now 
 in health and strengtii. He may have his plans 
 laid down for the future. He may think that 
 the day of death is still far off. But there are 
 ever flying around him the unseen shafts of 
 death. One of these may suddenly strike him 
 down. And then all is lost. How many are 
 di'iiloring to-day their unutterable folly. They 
 had means of grace. They had the gospel 
 offer. They were told of their danger and of 
 the way of escape. But they are dead and 
 gone to hell. And how so? They rejected 
 Christ. They lived on in worldliness and sin. 
 They died unsaved. No doubt they had seri- 
 ous thoughts at times. They never intended 
 to go to the place of misery. They thought 
 it would be far otlierwise with them. But 
 death came suddenly and unexpectedly,, and 
 they are left to mourn with bitter grief over 
 their hopeless state. Lifers little day is to deter- 
 
DANGER. 11 
 
 mine the character of man^s eternity. And yet 
 the sinner has not yet begun the mighty work 
 given him to do. Is not this a strange thing 
 indeed ? Think of eternal woe. Think of the 
 millions of millions of ages in wdiich the wrath 
 of the Lamb is to be endured. Think of the 
 terrible hopelessness of the damned. All that 
 I can possibly say of it comes infmitely short 
 of the truth. But to all this tlie sinner is ex- 
 posed. He may be near the end of his stay on 
 earth. The sun may have shone on him for the 
 last time. Never may he hear another call of 
 mercy. The arrow may be on the wing that is 
 to cut him down. To-morrow he may be in his 
 coffin. 
 
 How is it with your soul? Do think on it. 
 Are you safe for eternity? Have you heartily 
 embraced the Saviour and turned to God? Is 
 your salvation sure through livi-ng faith in 
 Christ? Have you found peace? How strange- 
 ly solemn are such questions. They concern 
 your well-being for ever and ever. If you have 
 yet no hope in Christ, it becomes you to bestir 
 yourself at once. Soon may the door of mercy 
 be shut. This very night your soul may be 
 
12 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 required of you. Philip Henry said to some 
 of his neighbors, who came to see him on 
 his death-bed, " Oh, make sure work for your 
 souls, by getting an interest in Christ while 
 you are in health. If I had that work to do 
 now, what would become of me ? I bless God 
 I am satisfied. See to it, all of you, that your 
 work be not undone when your time is done, 
 lest you be undone for ever.'' 
 
 Then what my thoughts design to do, 
 My hands with all your might pursue, 
 Since no device nor work is found, 
 Nor faith nor hope beneath the ground. 
 
 There are no acts of pardon passed 
 In the cold grave to which wo haste ; 
 But darkness, death, and long despair 
 Reign in eternal silence there. 
 
ASLEEP. 13 
 
 II. 
 
 ASLEEP. 
 
 "What meanest tlion, sleeper? Arise, call upon thy 
 God." Jonah 1:G. 
 
 The sinner asleep! Nay, is he not wide 
 awake? is lie not active, busy, full of life? So 
 far as tlie world is concerned, this is true. He 
 moves about engrossed with earthly cares. 
 And yet in regard to spiritual and eternal 
 things he is in a dead sleep. 
 
 Sleep is a state of darkness ; and the sinner 
 is in such a state. There are scales on his eyes. 
 Satan hath blinded him. He sees not things 
 in their true light. Sin, how odious it is ! but 
 he does not see its vileness. Holiness, hoAV 
 attractive it is! but he does not see its beauty. 
 The soul, how inexpressibly valuable it is! but 
 he does not see its worth. Christ, how alto- 
 gether lovely he is! but he does not see His 
 preciousness. Salvation, how infinitely impor- 
 tant it is! but he does not see its unutterable 
 
14 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 excellency. The pure and piercing eye of God 
 is ever on him. Above him heaven unveils its 
 glories. Hell yawns at his very feet. Bnt all 
 is darkness to him. 
 
 Sleep is a state of insensihility ; and the sin- 
 ner is in such a state. God speaks to him, 
 calls him, pleads with him. Jesus knocks at 
 his door and seeks admittance. The Holy 
 Ghost draws near and whispers in his ear many 
 a word of warning, invitation, and promise. 
 But no response is given. 
 
 Sleep is a state of dreams ; and the sinner is 
 in such a state. He is taken up with shadows 
 and trifles, and walks in a vain show. He may 
 get a passing glimpse of the grand realities of 
 - life, God, Christ, eternity ; but he soon falls 
 back into dream-land again. Just look at him. 
 He is poor, penniless, sunk in hopeless bank- 
 ruptcy ; but he fancies he is rich and increased 
 in goods, and in need of nothing. He is away 
 from the light and peace and security of home; 
 })ut he fancies he is within reach of all that is 
 required to satisfy his heart. A sentence of 
 condemnation has been passed on him ; but he 
 fancies he has nothing to fear. He is on the 
 
ASLEEP. 15 
 
 very brink of a dark and unprovidcd-for eter- 
 nity; but he fancies that all is ^vel\ with him. 
 
 Sleep is a state o^ inactivity ; and the sinner 
 is in such a state. What, is he not full of en- 
 ergy ? See with what earnestness he toils for 
 bread, or power, or money. Who shall say 
 that he does nothing ? But what is he doing 
 for liis soul? Nothing at all. What is he 
 doing for the highest interests of his fellow- 
 men ? They may go down to the pit, so far as 
 he is concerned. What is he doing for God — 
 that God who made him; tliat God in wliom 
 he lives and moves and has his being ; that 
 God who sent his own dear Son to die for sin- 
 ners? He bears no love to him, and performs 
 no service for him. What is he doing to pre- 
 pare for death ? It hardly costs him a thought. 
 What is he doing for eternity ? He is making 
 the most of time, and leaving eternity to take 
 care of itself. 
 
 How is it with you? Are you asleep? If 
 so, awake, I beseecli you. You may suppose 
 that you are safe enough ; you may see no need 
 of being disturbed; you may fancy that there 
 is no reason why you should be afraid: but 
 
16 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 liow trne the remark of President Edwards: 
 " While unconverted, you stand over the mouth 
 of hell by a single plank, and that plank is 
 rotten." And you must awake some day. No 
 one can sleep on for ever. There is to he a 
 universal awakening of the body, and there is 
 to be a universal awakening of the soul. It 
 will be well for you to awake now. If you 
 do not, a terrible awakening will come — an 
 awakening to the awful realities of a lost eter- 
 nity. 
 
 Since on this winged hour 
 
 Eternity is hung, 
 Waken by thine almighty power 
 
 The aged and the young. 
 
A PRISONER OP HOPE. . 17 
 
 III. 
 
 A PRISONER OF HOPE. 
 
 "Turn ye to the strong-hold, ye prisoners of hope." 
 Zecii. 9 : 12. 
 
 The sinner is a prisoner; there are chains 
 that bind him. He is a captive slave. Most 
 pitiable state! But provision has been made 
 for his deliverance. A strong-hold is within 
 his reach. He may turn to it and enjoy the 
 sweets of liberty. 
 
 Man was not a prisoner once. No chains 
 were about him when he walked in a sinless 
 paradise. He had all the bearing and all the 
 feelings of a free man. True, he was the ser- 
 vant of God. But this in no degree interfered 
 with his liberty. Jehovah's service was felt 
 to be perfect freedom. But how different now ! 
 Sin and Satan lord it over him. He may not 
 see and feel his fetters; he may boast of his 
 freedom ; he may scorn the idea of being a 
 prisoner and a slave. It was so with the Jews. 
 They were offended with Christ speaking to 
 
18 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 tlicm about the trutli making them free. They 
 answered, "We are Abraham's seed, and were 
 never in bondage to any man : how sayest 
 tliou, we shall be made free?'' And it is so 
 now. Man in his nnawakened state is not 
 conscious of his tliraldom, and has no desire to 
 be free. This is the most melancholy thing 
 about the sinner. He is bewitched. He is in 
 a condition of terrible insensibility. You sel- 
 dom hear from him a murmur against the 
 tyranny of Satan's rule. 
 
 But the sinner is a prisoner of hope. His 
 condition may be changed; no necessity binds 
 him down to his present state. There are 
 other prisoners in the universe in a far worse 
 condition. For them there is no hope; but 
 they are prisoners of despair. Oh, what a 
 world of misery is hell ! It is the region of 
 outer darkness. But surely this must be the 
 most bitter element in the cup of wrath which 
 its inmates are called to drink, that there is 
 for them no hope. The great gulf cannot be 
 crossed by any angel of mercy ; the bars of the 
 prison-house cannot be withdrawn; no dawn 
 can break on the long and dreary night. You 
 
A PRISONER OF HOPE. 19 
 
 cannot tell me the number of the blades of 
 grass that clothe the mountain-side; you can- 
 not tell me the number of the stars which light 
 up the arch of heaven; you cannot tell me the 
 number of the grains of sand which lie on 
 ocean's shores : but all this you could do far 
 sooner than tell me the number of the ages of 
 a lost eternity. For ever is written in blazing 
 characters on the portals of hell. But it is 
 not so with the sinner now ; lie may be free. 
 
 One has come preaching deliverance to the 
 captive, and the opening of the prison to them 
 that are bound. The Lord Jesus Christ is 
 stronger than the strong man who keeps the 
 sinner in servitude. We have but to turn to 
 him — to look to him — to betake ourselves to 
 him, and we are safe. If the Son make us 
 free, we are free indeed: not that all the 
 sweets of spiritual liberty are enjoyed on 
 earth ; some traces of his former state of bond- 
 age cling to the believer till his dying day; 
 but he anticipates a glorious future, and even 
 now he can sing with holy David, " Our soul is 
 escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowl- 
 er: the snare is broken, and we are escaped." 
 
20 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 How is it with you ? Are you still tied and 
 bound with tlie chains of sin ? Have you not 
 yet turned to the strong-hold? Are you not 
 united by living faith to the Lord Jesus Christ? 
 Is it wise, is it safe to continue a day longer 
 in such a state? This is the time of deliver- 
 ance. To-morrow the possibility of freedom 
 may be beyond your reach. 
 
 He comes the prisoners to release, 
 
 In Satan's bondage held ; 
 The gates of brass before him burst, 
 
 The iron fetters yield. 
 
PEACE, PEACE! 21 
 
 IV. 
 
 PEACE, PEACE! 
 
 " They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my 
 people slightly, saymg, Peace, peace ; when there is no 
 peace." Jer. 6 : 14. 
 
 You may be in a state of carnal security. 
 You may be fancying that all is well; you 
 may be supposing that you have no grounds 
 for fear; you may be indulging tlie idea that 
 your soul is safe, and yet all the while you 
 may be in a state of condemnation. You may 
 be saying, "Peace, peace," when there is no 
 peace. This may be a true description of your 
 state before God. 
 
 Yery many are at peace just because they 
 never seriously think about the salvation of their 
 soul. Foster says, There is nothing which we 
 shall regret so much, when we have left this 
 world, as our want of thought. How true 
 will this be of such as are careless about their 
 spiritual condition. They are engrossed with 
 other matters ; business, pleasures, family cares 
 
22 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 occupy their minds and hearts, and they never 
 bestow a half-hour's earnest thoudit on their 
 
 o 
 
 highest, their eternal interests. How terribly 
 will their peace be broken up ! 
 
 Very many are at peace, because they are rest- 
 i7ig on mistaken notions of the grounds of a sin- 
 ner's acceptance with God. They are ortho- 
 dox in their views, and can talk fluently on the 
 doctrines of the gospel. They bear a charac- 
 ter for respectability and godliness. Their 
 hopes for eternity are built on these things. 
 But how ruinous such a notion. A man may 
 have an orthodox head, and yet have the devil 
 in his heart. A man may have his name in the 
 list of the members of the church, and yet not 
 have his name in the Lamb's book of life. A 
 man may pass through the world and make a 
 fiiir profession, and yet after all be lost. "All 
 that you can tell me," said one on a dying bed, 
 " I have long known well ; but I tell you I have 
 lived without real religion. I was forward in 
 the church, but fixed in the world; and my 
 profession only serves to terrify me." 
 
 True peace is a most blessed thing. It is a 
 peace which comes from God, and which the 
 
PEACE, PEACE! 23 
 
 world cannot give. It is a peace which may 
 be felt. It is a peace which passes all under- 
 standing. And whence does it flow? From 
 a sense of forgiven sin, and acceptance with 
 God through Jesus Christ. Christianity, says 
 Luther, consists in personal pronouns; and 
 never can a human soul have real and abiding 
 peace till it can call Jesus my Lord and my 
 God, and can feel, Jesus died not only for 
 others, but for me. 
 
 Have you this peace? Did you ever hear 
 Jesus say in the depths of your troubled heart, 
 " Your sins are forgiven you ?" Is he your 
 personal Saviour and friend ? Hear and weigh 
 well what godly Rutherford says, "Oh, make 
 your heaven sure, and try how you came by 
 conversion. It is wisdom in you to be plain, 
 honest, sharp with your soul. Remember what 
 peace with God in Christ will be to you when 
 you come to the black and swelling river of 
 death. Let me entreat of you, by your ap- 
 pearance before the dreadful, sin-avenging 
 Judge of the world, to make, your accounts 
 ready: read them ere you come to the water- 
 side. It were not amiss to think. What if it 
 
24 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 come to this — that I have no portion but outer 
 darkness, and be banished from the presence 
 of the Lord, and be given over to the power 
 of the second death? Put yourself by suppo- 
 sition in such a case, and consider what horror 
 will take hold of your poor soul. This is the 
 accepted time; this is the day of salvation. 
 There are many weary heads lying on Christ's 
 bosom, and there is room for yours among the 
 rest." Think Avell on these solemn words; 
 examine anxiously the grounds of your peace. 
 There is but one foundation for the sinner's 
 hope — the Lord Jesus Christ. See that you 
 have a saving interest in him. I know no 
 other resting-place for a guilty soul. On that 
 foundation alone can it have security and peace. 
 
 Convince us of our sin, 
 Then lead to Jesus' blood ; 
 
 And to our wondering view reveal 
 The secret love of God. 
 
ONE AT THE DOOR. 25 
 
 V. 
 
 ONE AT THE DOOR. 
 " Behold, I stand at the door and knock." Rev. 3: 20. 
 
 The soul is represented in Scripture under 
 the figure of a house ; and a noble house it 
 originally was. It was built of polished stones. 
 It was proportioned with exquisite skill. II 
 was a masterpiece of work. And there was 
 one thing which more than any other ennobled 
 it — it was the residence of God. But how dif- 
 ferent the soul in its natural state now. Sin 
 has marred its glory. God has been excluded 
 from it. With a few lingering traces of its 
 primeval grandeur, it is dark and ruinous and 
 foul. But what a strange sight you have here. 
 God has not utterly destroyed the soul. In his 
 infinite condescension and pitifulness he desires 
 to repair its ruins, and to dwell in it again. 
 And lo, in the person of his Son he is repre- 
 sented as standing at the door of it, and seek- 
 ing admission. He knows that it is sadly 
 
2G A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 changed from what it was — that it is full of 
 darkness and discord and enmity; but he 
 would have j^ou turn the rusty lock and open 
 the door, that he may fill all its chambers with 
 light and music and joy. 
 
 The Son of God stands at the sinner's door. 
 Marvellous spectacle! The Lord of glory 
 seeking admission into a human heart ! And 
 yet so it is ; just because you are a sinner he is 
 there. He knows your needs ; and in love past 
 finding out, he comes to befriend and bless you. 
 You are poor, he would enrich you ; you are 
 hungry and thirsty, he would feed you and give 
 you drink; you are covered with rags, he 
 would clothe you with a robe of righteousness ; 
 you are blind, he would give you sight; you 
 are afiiicted with a terrible disease, he would 
 cure you and make you whole. Did ever friend 
 come to your door laden with such blessings as 
 these ? 
 
 The Son of God stands at the sinner's door. 
 He does not wait till you seek him, he comes 
 to you; he draws near to your very heart. 
 Has lie been long standing there? Let con- 
 science answer. Many a year perhaps ; but 
 
ONE AT THE DOOR. 21 
 
 he has not yet gone away. You may have 
 been coldly indifferent to his presence, and 
 may have turned a deaf ear to his gentle voice ; 
 "but he is waiting still. And now his limbs are 
 weary of standing, and his hands are weary of 
 knocking, and his voice is weary of pleading, 
 and soon may he leave the door. 
 
 The Son of God knocks. Listen! his hand 
 is on the door. He would awaken you and 
 make you open to him. By his holy woj^d he 
 knocks. It gives you many a warning, and 
 presents you witli many a promise. By the dis- 
 'pensations of his providence he knocks. Are 
 your worldly plans succeeding, and is your 
 home full of gladness ? Daily mercies have a 
 voice ; they bid you open the door. Are you 
 Ij'ing on a bed of sickness? Have you met 
 with some severe loss? Has the grave just 
 closed over some dear object of your love ? 
 Trials have a voice. They bid you open the 
 door. By his Spirit he knocks. He is doing 
 so with peculiar urgency at the present day ; 
 and not in vain. The door of many a soul is 
 opening, and Jesus is entering in. 
 
 Are you still treating Jesus with cold neg- 
 
28 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 lect? Is your door still shut against him? 
 Does he still stand without? Oh what ingrati- 
 tude and folly and guilt! His gentle form was 
 bruised for you ; his hands and his feet were 
 nailed for you to a cruel cross ; his voice cried 
 for you, " My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even 
 unto death." To keep the door shut against 
 him, is not this ingratitude ? He would give 
 you all you need. He would free you from 
 evil in every form. He would make you fully 
 and for ever happy. To keep the door shut 
 against him, is not this consummate folly? 
 You are bound to love and honor and serve 
 him. To keep the door shut against him, is 
 not this damning guilt ? 
 
 Sovereign of souls, the Prince of peace, 
 Oh may thy gentle reign increase ; 
 Throw wide the door, each willing mind, 
 And be his empire all mankind. 
 
AWAKENED. 29 
 
 YI. 
 
 AWAKENED. 
 
 " Now when they heard this, they were pricked in 
 their heart." Acts 2 : 37. 
 
 Have you been awakened ? Have your eyes 
 been opened to your true state as a sinner 
 before God? Do you see and feel your guilt 
 and folly and danger ? It is well. You may 
 be troubled. Fear and trembling may fill your 
 heart. It may be a time of deep and sore dis- 
 tress ; but surely this is better than to live on 
 asleep : better to awake on earth than to awake 
 in hell. 
 
 I do not wonder at your distress. What have 
 you been doing ? You have been living in the 
 world without God — that God in whom you 
 live and move and have your being. You 
 have been neglecting a loving Saviour, who 
 shed for you his precious blood. You have 
 been resisting the strivings of the Holy Ghost. 
 You have been spending your time wholly 
 
30 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 taken up with the world that now is, and giv- 
 ing little or no heed to the vast interests of the 
 world to come. You have been forgetting the 
 grand end of 3^our existence upon earth. Do 
 you now see your unspeakable folly ? If so, I 
 am not astonished at your being sad in heart. 
 Not to have loved God ; not to have received 
 the Saviour ; not to have welcomed the Spirit's 
 influences ; not to have prized salvation ; not to 
 have attended to your precious soul : - how 
 great such guilt ! 
 
 But it is not enough to he awakened. Many in 
 your state never obtain salvation. Tears and 
 sorrow cannot take to heaven. I have known 
 not a few once in great distress about their 
 sins who have fallen back into a state of utter 
 indifference. They were pricked in heart; 
 they were deeply moved; you saw in their 
 countenance the signs of great inward trouble ; 
 it seemed as if the new birth had taken place 
 in them. We hoped that they were truly con- 
 verted and brought to Christ: but the world 
 got hold of them again; and now they are as 
 unconcerned about eternal things as ever. You 
 think it can never be so with you. Your feel- 
 
AWAKENED. 31 
 
 ings are warm ; and you fancy tliat for you to 
 fall back into a state of indifference is utterly 
 impossible. Well, then cherish your convic- 
 tions: seek to have an abiding sense of your 
 sinfulness ; get still blacker views of your un- 
 belief, ingratitude, and selfishness. Beware 
 lest a thoughtless world should persuade you 
 that all this uneasiness is uncalled for ; but let 
 it be your most earnest desire to have a deep 
 sense of your low and lost condition before 
 God. 
 
 And remember that if you lose your present 
 convictions, and be finally lost, it will be far 
 worse for you than it would otherwise have 
 been. To think in eternity on days of awak- 
 ening, on times of sorrow for sin, on occasions 
 when you gave yourself to prayer and serious 
 thought, and to think that you afterwards 
 allowed yourself to fall back into a state of 
 indifference and worldliness, will not this 
 immensely aggravate the bitterness of your 
 future doom ? Listen to the solemn words of 
 McCheyne: "Be not content with half work. 
 Never rest without converting grace. Make a 
 full surrender of your soul to God. Halt not 
 
32 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 between two opinions. Decide to be altogether 
 Christ's. If you come just up to the gate of 
 heaven, and see the streets of shining gold and 
 the happy faces of the glorious ones who walk 
 there; if you hear their songs, loud as the 
 voice of many waters, sweet as the harpers 
 harping on their harps ; and yet, if the gate be 
 shut against you, and Christ say, 'I know you 
 not,' what words can tell the agony with which 
 you will go away to lie down in sorrow — to lie 
 down in hell? If there be one wailing cry 
 from that sad abode more dismal than another, 
 it will be the bitter wailing of the almost 
 Christian." 
 
 Is there a thing beneath the sun, 
 
 That strives with thee my heart to share ? 
 
 Ah, tear it hence, and reign alone, 
 The Lord of every motion there. 
 
 Then shall my heart from earth be free, 
 
 When it hath found repose in thee. 
 
WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED? 33 
 
 VIL ' 
 
 WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED? 
 
 " He came trembling, and fell down before Paul and 
 Silas, and said, Sirs, what mnst I do to be saved?" 
 Acts 16:29, 30. 
 
 What a solemn question ! It is the cry of 
 an awakened sinner. And how momentous his 
 inquiry. He has got a view of his guilt and 
 his danger. He knows that before him is a 
 dark eternity, and beneath him an angry hell, 
 and he looks around for deliverance from his 
 perilous position. Whence is relief to come ? 
 
 Some in the dark regions of heathendom are 
 offering costly sacrifices. They are heaping on 
 a rude pile bleeding victims. They are sub- 
 jecting themselves to painful acts of self-denial, 
 and giving of the fruit of their body for the 
 sin of their soul. They are trusting to these 
 modes of propitiating the anger of an offended 
 God. Yain notion. The favor of the Al- 
 mighty is not to be secured thus. Others, again, 
 
34 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 are making a fair profession. They are regu- 
 lar in their attendance on ordinances. They 
 are professing members of the Christian church. 
 They are respectable religionists. Because of 
 this they expect to be saved. Yain notion. Not 
 thus can they inherit the kingdom of heaven. 
 Others are depending on the unblemished moral 
 character they bear. They are good citizens. 
 They are kind and generous friends. They 
 are well-disposed neighbors. All this will go 
 so far, they think, and Christ's merits will make 
 up the difference. Vain notion. By no such 
 piece of patchwork as this is man to be saved. 
 A woman called one day on Dr. Chalmers 
 in great distress of mind. " Oh, doctor," said 
 she, "what must I do to get peace?" '' Do?'^ 
 replied he; "nothing." "Nothing?" replied the 
 disappointed inquirer; "nothing? Is that all 
 the comfort you have for me ?" " Yes, that is 
 all ; you have nothing to do, but you have 
 something to take. It 's all done. Christ has 
 done it. He has bought a pardon and peace 
 for you, and you have got to take it." "I see 
 it, I see it," replied the woman joyfully, and 
 left in peace. 
 
WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED? 35 
 
 Do you see it? There is no mystery about 
 it. It is a simple, though great and wondrous 
 redemptive scheme. Jesus the eternal Son of 
 God became your surety. He made a mighty 
 stoop ; he left heaven ; he clothed himself in 
 robes of clay, and came to earth ; he stood in 
 your room and stead ; he obeyed the whole law 
 for you; he suffered for you an ignominious 
 death, and bore the penalty your sins deserv- 
 ed ; he wrought out for you a perfect righteous- 
 ness. And now from his throne in glory he 
 says to you, " Believe on me as your Saviour ; 
 look upon God as your reconciled Father 
 through me ; ask of him to accept of you be- 
 cause of my obedience and death : thus seek to 
 be one with me ; regard me as your salvation; 
 cast yourself for eternity on me: do this, and 
 live for ever." 
 
 Look away from yourself in the great mat- 
 ter of acceptance with God. You have noth- 
 ing to do but to trust. Faith in Jesus Christ 
 to save is the way to heaven. A certain anx- 
 ious inquirer could not get peace. Her con- 
 victions of sin were deep and clear. She as- 
 sented to all the doctrines of grace. She 
 
36 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 sought earnestly to attain salvation. But she 
 could get no comfort for a time. At length 
 she came to a friend, and told him she had 
 made a new discovery. On being asked what 
 it was she had found out, she replied that the 
 way of salvation all seemed to her now per- 
 fectly plain ; that the darkness was gone, and 
 that she saw now what she never saw before. 
 On the question being put to her what she saw 
 now, she said, " Do n't you think the reason 
 why we do not get out of darkness sooner, is 
 that we don't believe? As you were read- 
 ing a hymn last night, I saw the whole way of 
 salvation perfectly plain, and wondered that I 
 had never seen it before. I saw that I had 
 nothing whatever to do but to trust in Christ. 
 The verses which brought me to peace were 
 these : 
 
 My soul obeys the almighty call, 
 
 And runs to this rehef ; 
 I would believe thy promise, Lord, . 
 
 Oh help mine unbelief. 
 
 A guilty, weak, and helpless worm, 
 
 On thy kind arms I fall ; 
 Be thou my strength and righteousness, 
 
 My Jesus and my all. 
 
JESUS. 3t 
 
 yiii. 
 
 JESUS. 
 
 "Thou shalt call liis name Jesus; for he shall save his 
 people from then- sins." Matt. 1:21. 
 
 What a precious name is the name of Jesus. 
 How sweet and soothing and joyous. To how 
 many weary hearts it affords refreshment and 
 rest. It means Saviour, and Jesus saves his 
 people from their sins. They are guilty ; but 
 he saves them from guilt. They are unholy ; 
 but he saves them from the power of indwell- 
 ing iniquity. They are by nature liable to the 
 punishment of eternal death ; but he saves them 
 from all the woful consequences of the fall. 
 
 Jesus can save you from the guilt of sin. 
 That guilt exposes you to the wrath and curse 
 of God. It renders you liable to helL Be- 
 cause of it you are in danger of all the miser- 
 ies of everlasting death. Whither can you flee 
 for security? 
 
 There is but one shelter for the soul — Jesus 
 
38 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 Christ. Repair to liim ; put your trust in him ; 
 secure by faith a saving interest in him. In 
 that case all is well; the stains of guilt are 
 washed away in his atoning blood; you are 
 accepted of God; he regards you with com- 
 placency ; you are his for ever. " You have 
 read/' says Chalmers, " of certain venomous 
 animals which expire the moment they have 
 deposited their sting and its mortal poison in 
 the body of their victim ; and thus there en- 
 sues a double death, the death of the sufferer 
 and the death also of the assailant. And cer- 
 tain it is that on the cross of our Saviour there 
 was just such a catastrophe. There did Christ' 
 pour out his soul under the weight and agony 
 of the exactions that were laid on him by the 
 law ; but there also did the law expend all its 
 power as a judge and an avenger over those 
 who believe in the Saviour." 
 
 Jesus saves from the dominion of sin. Per- 
 fection is not to be reached on earth. In the 
 ripest saint there are manifold frailties. The 
 spirit lusteth against the flesh, and the flesh 
 against the spirit. The atmosphere of earth 
 is tainted, and all who breathe it are impure. 
 
JESUS. 39 
 
 But truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 the power of sin will be broken within you. 
 You will be no longer a slave, but free. 
 Through the grace imparted to you, you will 
 be enabled to struggle successfully with temp- 
 tation, and to run the race set before you. 
 Not that you will ever be what you will long 
 to be while you remain in this world ; but you 
 will be in a measure holy now, and there will 
 await you in a great and glorious eternity com- 
 plete and stainless purity. "The gospel,'' says 
 one, " runs in two golden streams — pardon of 
 sin and purity of walking.'^ They run undi- 
 videdly all along in one channel, yet without 
 confusion oue with the other, as it is reported 
 of some great rivers that run together between 
 the same banks, and yet retain distinct colors. 
 These streams that make glad the city of God 
 never part one from another ; if they be divid- 
 ed, they cease to be. 
 
 Jesus saves from all the dread consequences of 
 sin. 
 
 What a dark and terrible future is before 
 the sinner! You cannot conceive its misery. 
 To be a castaway from God and happiness and 
 
40 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 heaven, and to be banished to the regions of a 
 hopeless hell, such is the doom hanging over 
 the sinner. But Christ is the deliverer from 
 the wrath to come. Give yourself up heartily 
 to him, and you will have no cause to dread 
 the realities of the unseen world ; you will be 
 enabled to contemplate eternity without one 
 shrinking fear ; you will walk the dark valley 
 with the peace-giving persuasion that all will 
 be well with you. 
 
 What think you of Jesus? He is your sal- 
 vation ; make him your desire ; count him the 
 chief among ten thousand; yield yourself un- 
 reservedly to him, and then you will know in 
 your own happy experience the power and 
 blessedness of his name. 
 
 How sweet the name of Jesus sounds 
 
 In a believer's ear ! 
 It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, 
 
 And drives away his fear. 
 
 It makes the wounded spirit whole, 
 And calms the troubled breast: 
 
 'T is manna to the hungry soul, 
 And to the weary rest. 
 
THE REFUCxE. 41 
 
 IX. 
 
 THE REFUGE. 
 
 " That by two immutable things, in which it was im- 
 possible for God to lie, we might have a strong conso- 
 lation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the 
 hope set before us." Heb. 6:18. 
 
 You may remember something about the old 
 cities of refuge. Three of them were on the 
 east, and three of them were on the west of the 
 Jordan. A manslayer might flee into one of 
 them, and when he entered the gate he was 
 safe. If on examination it was found that he 
 was the accidental cause of death, he remained 
 secure from harm till the death of the high- 
 priest. He was then permitted to return to 
 his home. You have here a figure of the spir- 
 itual protection provided in the gospel for all 
 who flee for refuge to the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 The cities of refuge were of Divine appoint- 
 ment. Moses and Aaron in establishing them 
 were merely carrying out the command of God. 
 Thus spake the Lord : so run the terms of their 
 
42 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 appointment. And so with the gospel refuge. 
 Whence flows the security of those who seek 
 shelter in it? It has been devised by the wis- 
 dom, and reared by the power of God. "God 
 so loved the world, that he gave his only be- 
 gotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him 
 should not perish, but have everlasting life." 
 
 Again, the cities of refuge were 'provisions 
 against imminent peril. A man was in danger 
 of his life. Death was at his heels. He might 
 at any moment be slain. But once within the 
 sacred precincts of the city, security enclosed 
 him in her arms. And so with the gospel ref- 
 uge. The sinner is in danger. He is pursued, 
 as truly as the man-slayer was. Vengeance 
 presses on his heels. The arm of divine justice, 
 is stretched out to lay him low. If the glitter- 
 ing sword fall, how unutterably fearful his des- 
 tiny. God, thou only knowest what is in- 
 volved in the loss of an undying soul. But let 
 him flee to the refuge, and he is quite secure. 
 Justice, Satan, a violated law, cannot touch 
 him. To all his adversaries he may boldly 
 say, " Who shall lay any thing to the charge of 
 God's elect?" 
 
THE REFUGE. 43 
 
 The cities of refuge were lar^^e enough for all. 
 We do not know the exact size of them. They 
 would not need to be of any great extent. But 
 they had never to be closed against any one 
 for want of room. And so with the gospel 
 refuge. How many have found shelter there! 
 An exceeding great multitude which no man 
 can number, are already secure. But yet there 
 is room. 
 
 The cities of refuge were the only place where 
 the man-slayer could be safe. If found any- 
 where else by the blood-avenger, he was in 
 danger of his life. In the appointed place of 
 shelter alone, was he secure. And so in regard 
 to the gospel refuge. I have seen men trying 
 other refuges. But these are all refuges of 
 lies. In Christ alone can the soul be secure. 
 Away from him there is danger on every side. 
 You cannot move a step without peril to your 
 soul. 
 
 The cities of refuge were only available to 
 those who by immediate personal effort reached 
 them. No time was to be lost. The man- 
 slayer was to hasten off at once. An hour's 
 delay might prove his death. Exertion had to 
 
44 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 be made. Every nerve had to be strained. 
 The whole energies had to be put forth. Nor 
 could this effort be made by proxy. The man- 
 slayer himself had to hurry away to the ap- 
 pointed place of security. It would not do to 
 devolve the duty on another. And so with 
 the gospel refuge. How many are dreaming 
 that in regard to this no earnest effort is re- 
 quired. Grand and perilous mistake! It has 
 ruined souls without number. To be saved, a 
 man must put forth all his energies. 
 
 Are you in the refuge? If not, how danger- 
 ous your state while you remain as you are. 
 Delay no longer. Away at once, or you may 
 be lost. " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, 
 do it with thy might." 
 
 Laden with guilt and full of fears, 
 
 1 fly to thee, my Lord ; 
 And not a gHmpse of hope appears, 
 
 But in thy written word. 
 
A PRESENT SALVATION. 45 
 
 X. 
 
 A PRESENT SALVATION. 
 
 "Oil taste and see that the Lord is goo^: blessed is the 
 man that trusteth in him." Psa. 34:8. 
 
 Salvation is a present blessing. It is not 
 something to be possessed only in the future, 
 but it is to be enjoyed in a measure now. 
 Spiritual and eternal life commences on this 
 side of the grave, and not on the other ; and 
 you may be a partaker on earth of its blessed- 
 ness. 
 
 The great reward, it is true, is to be had in 
 eternity. How glorious that will be! Who 
 can tell the fund of blessings included in the 
 word salvation? There is deliverance from 
 guilt — the redeemed shall bask in the sunshine 
 of Jehovah's smile. There is freedom from 
 ignorance — the redeemed shall know even as 
 they are known. There is complete emancipa- 
 tion from the bondage of sin — the redeemed 
 shall be holy as God is holy. There is exemp- 
 
46 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 tion from the ills of this mortal life — the re- 
 deemed shall know no fatigue, or care, or sor- 
 row. There is security from the fear of death — 
 the redeemed shall live for evermore. Most 
 blessed consummation! The faintest glimpse 
 of it may well add energy to the Christian's 
 faith, and brightness to the Christian's hope. 
 
 But while all this is true, salvation is to be 
 had in a measure now. A sense of pardon, 
 peace, holiness, joy in the Holy Ghost, com- 
 munion with God — what blessings greater and 
 more delightful than these? They require in- 
 deed to be tasted, in order to be understood. 
 The worldling cannot appreciate them ; but let 
 the believer say for what he would give them 
 up. He is forgiven, justified, saved. Oh the 
 ■unutterable blessedness of such a state! A 
 pious minister in Scotland, being asked by a 
 friend during his last illness whether he thought 
 himself dying, answered, "Really, friend, I 
 care not whether I am or not; if I die I shall 
 be with God, and if I live God will be with 
 me." 
 
 Now this present salvation is withm your 
 reach. Why should you not have it now? You 
 
A PRESENT SALVATION. 47 
 
 may stretch forth your hand and make it yours. 
 Some think it presumptuous to expect this; 
 they suppose they must pray much and do much 
 before they enter on the divine life ; a long 
 and painful process of self-crucifixion, they fan- 
 cy, must be passed through ere forgiveness can 
 be theirs. But it is not so: you have but to 
 look to the cross and rest with lively faith on 
 Him who died on it, and acceptance with God 
 is secured. Not that it is easy to do this. 
 Pride stands iu the way; self-righteousness 
 stands in the way ; a natural alienation of 
 heart from God stands in the way. But if, 
 with the help of divine grace, you repent of 
 sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you 
 are saved this very day. It is true that this 
 is but to enter on the divine life. Many a day 
 of battling with temptation and sin Avill lie 
 before you, if you be spared, in this world. 
 But still, once united by true and living faith 
 to Christ, you will never be cast off. You 
 will be enabled by help from above to hold on 
 your way, and in maintaining the Christian 
 life you will enjoy the blessedness of a present 
 forgiveness, and you will be kept unto the sal- 
 
48 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 yation, the full salvation to be revealed at the 
 last time. Pardon cannot be revoked. Once 
 justified, you are justified for ever. No power 
 can pluck the forgiven sinner out of the Sav- 
 iour's hands. 
 
 Is present salvation yours? This I knovr, 
 if you are without Christ you have to blame 
 yourself. God is willing to give you now an 
 interest in the Redeemer's work. Jesus is 
 offering you now pardon, peace, eternal life. 
 The Holy Spirit, with his still small voice, is 
 calling you now to accept the Saviour's invita- 
 tion, and yield to the Saviour's claims. 
 
 Oh may my heart, by grace renewed, 
 
 Be my Redeemer's throne ; 
 And be my stubborn will subdued, 
 
 His government to own. 
 
COME. 49 
 
 XI. 
 
 COME, 
 
 "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." 
 John 6:37. 
 
 You are invited to go to Christ. How are 
 3' ou to go ? Not literally ; that cannot be. 
 Jesus has gone away ; he is on the central 
 throne of the universe. The affairs of all 
 worlds are under his governance. And yet 
 you may go to him — go to him as really as if 
 you could touch his person and live in his visi- 
 ble presence. 
 
 He is your great High-priest: as such he 
 once offered himself up for sins. He stood as 
 your surety in the most momentous of all posi- 
 tions. He suffered, the just for the unjust. He 
 bore your griefs, and carried your sorrows. 
 The Lord laid on him your iniquities. If you 
 go to him, receive him^ as your Saviour, and 
 put your trust in him, he will in no wise cast 
 you out. 
 
 He is infinitely able to save. Man is powcr- 
 
 I'res. Sav. .± 
 
60 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 less to save ; angels arc powerless to save ; but 
 nothing is impossible to Him. You may be 
 deeply sunk in sin, but he can raise you up 
 from the horrible pit and the miry clay. You 
 may be stained with sins of crimson dye, but 
 he can purge you and make you whiter than 
 the snow. A multitude which no man can 
 number have already been washed in his pre- 
 cious blood, but the cleansing virtue of that 
 blood is as great now as ever. 
 
 And he is infinitely kind. You may be a sin- 
 ner of the greatest enormity; you may have 
 had godly parents; your teachers may have 
 been earnestly religious ; you may have waited 
 on a faithful and impressive ministry ; but you 
 may have drowned convictions in worldliness 
 and sin. You may have spent many a long 
 year in infidelity and vice ; you may now stand 
 on the shore of a dark eternity, worn out with 
 sin; but you need not despair. The mercy of 
 the Lord reacheth unto the clouds. Christ is 
 still willing to receive you. Beyond all know- 
 ledge is his love. It is an ocean which no line 
 can fathom and no shore can bound. Sinners 
 as great as you he has saved, and his mercy 
 
COME. 51 
 
 endureth for ever. Tell me not that your in- 
 iquities are too black to be forgiven. The 
 blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. 
 
 An excellent and pious man, vrhen on his 
 death-bed, was for some time under considera- 
 ble darkness respecting his spiritual state, and 
 said to a friend, " For all that I have preached 
 or written, there is but one scripture I can 
 remember or dare grip to ; tell me if I dare lay 
 the weight of my salvation upon it: 'Him that 
 cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.' '' The 
 friend replied, " You may depend upon it, 
 though you had a thousand salvations at haz- 
 ard." It was a most true and wise reply. A 
 man may make a promise, and may change his 
 mind and be unwilling to perform it. Not so 
 Christ. He is the same yesterday, to-day, and 
 for ever. A man may make a promise, and be 
 afterwards placed in circumstances in which 
 he is unable to fulfil it. Not so Christ. All 
 power in heaven and in earth is his. A man 
 may make a promise, and may be indiffer- 
 ent whether it be realized or not. Not so 
 Christ. He longs with unchanging love for 
 your eternal weal. You may then depend on 
 
52 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 his word, though you liad a thousand salvations 
 at hazard. 
 
 Do not distrust the Saviour's promise. Take 
 him at his word. You may reiy on him with 
 assured confidence. " This man receiveth sin- 
 ners." You may be deeply unworthy; you 
 may have wandered from him ever so far ; you 
 may have brought discredit by many a year of 
 worldliness and sin on the name of Christian ; 
 but Jesus is waiting to be gracious. He in- 
 vites, encourages, beseeches you to come to 
 him ; and you may be sure that if you do so 
 he will prove true to his promise, and never 
 cast you out. 
 
 Just as I am, thou wilt receive ; 
 Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve : 
 Because thy promise I believe, 
 Lamb of God, I come ! 
 
NOW. 63 
 
 XII. 
 
 NOW. 
 
 "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the 
 day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6:2. 
 
 Make sure of a saving interest in Christ 
 now. Why delay? Procrastination is dan- 
 gerous. In a matter which concerns you so 
 much, it is unutterable folly to put oJBf. Surely 
 it is the part of a wise man to have the grand 
 concerns of his eternity settled at once. 
 
 Delay has a hardening tendency. Compara- 
 tively few are converted when old. The truth 
 does not easily penetrate the thick coating of 
 worldliness wherewith the souls of such are 
 encrusted. It is when the heart is soft and 
 tender that impressions are generally made on 
 it. We must not limit the grace of God ; but 
 every one knows that that grace commonly 
 acts upon the young and unhardened mind. 
 
 Through delay God may withdraw his Spirit. 
 That Spirit may have been long striving with 
 
54 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 ycu. For years you may have felt its draw- 
 ings. It may have been moving and urging 
 you to turn unto the Lord. You may some- 
 times have been convinced of the vast impor- 
 tance of the soul and eternity ; you may have 
 resolved and reresolved to give yourself up to 
 a life of decided godliness ; you may have gone 
 on your knees and vowed to be the Lord's. 
 All this has been through the workings of the 
 Spirit within you. But you have resisted the 
 Spirit. Instead of cherishing his influences, 
 jou have done your best to quench them: and 
 you are still unsaved. What if God should 
 say, "He is joined to idols; let him alone!" 
 How disastrous would be the issue in such a 
 case! The soul would be left in a state of 
 hopeless impenitence and unbelief. 
 
 By delay you are losing the purest happiness. 
 Perhaps you count decided religion a gloomy 
 thing. You fancy that it is associated with 
 all that is severe and repulsive; you suppose 
 that it calls for the giving up of every thing 
 that conduces to happiness ; but tliis is a great 
 mistake. Never will you know what true 
 peace is till you cordially embrace the Saviour. 
 
NOW. 65 
 
 You feel a want, a deep, constant want, in 
 your present condition ; and what can fill that 
 void but Jesus Christ ? Ask those who have 
 heartily given themselves to Christ, what they 
 think of his service. With one voice will they 
 reply, that they deem such service perfect free- 
 dom. Matthew Henry, a little before his death, 
 said to a friend, " You have been used to take 
 notice of the sayings of dying men; this is 
 mine: that a life spent in the service of God 
 and communion with him, is the most comfort- 
 able and happy life that any one can live in 
 this world." 
 
 By delay you are wissing the most favorable 
 opportunities of being saved. In times of awa- 
 kening, what loud calls are given to turn to 
 the Lord. Solemn warnings and precious in- 
 vitations without number are then addressed 
 to you. Others around are being converted. 
 There is a great concern about religion among 
 all classes of society. Never was there so much, 
 anxiety about the soul and eternity. Are you 
 unmoved and unstirred by this? If so, then 
 the probability is, you will never be moved 
 and stirred at all. It looks as if you were 
 
50 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 given over to judicial blindness of mind and 
 hardness of heart. 
 
 Death may at any moment cut you down, 
 and the delay will prove your ruin. Can you 
 count on an hour more being given you ? To- 
 morrow you may be in eternity, where no mes- 
 sage of mercy is ever heard. Some, says one, 
 never begin to pray till God lias ceased to 
 hear. Are you keeping away from Christ? 
 Are you still unpardoned? Are you not yet 
 prepared to meet your God ? Along the street 
 By-and-by, one gets to the house of Never. It 
 has been so with multitudes. How terrible 
 the thought. It may be so with you. 
 
 Hasten, sinner, to be wise, 
 
 Stay not for the morrow's sim; 
 
 Wisdom warns you from the skies, 
 All the paths of death to shun. 
 
 Hasten mercy to implore ; 
 
 Stay not for to-morrow's sun ; 
 Lest thy season should be o'er 
 
 Ere to-morrow is begun. 
 
BUT— 5t 
 
 XIII. 
 
 BUT — 
 *' Lord, I will follow tliee ; but—' ' Luke 9 : 61. 
 
 Do you see the importance of deciding for 
 Christ? Are you convinced tliat you ought 
 to give yourself up to his service? Is the 
 feeling strong within you that you should en- 
 ter on an earnestly religious life ? What then 
 hinders you? Surely it must be something 
 very serious. Christ demands an entire self- 
 surrender; any thing else he will not accept. 
 But you are hesitating ; and why ? 
 
 It may be from the engrossment and pressure 
 of icorldly cares. Your mind and heart are 
 full ; you are busy with earthly pursuits ; you 
 live in a scene of bustle and hurry ; every hour 
 has its work; you fancy no time can be spared 
 for Christ: but how vain a notion. Earnest 
 religion does not require you to neglect your 
 business — to be uninterested in worldly pur- 
 suits — to lead a dull hermit's life. On the 
 
58 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 contrary, it calls you to enter heartily into all 
 the ordinary duties of life. But while in the 
 world, the Christian is not to be of the world. 
 And to think of a man allowing himself to be 
 taken up with the interests of time to the neg- 
 lect of the grand concerns of eternity ! What 
 shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world 
 and lose his own soul ? 
 
 It may be you shrink from the self-denial of 
 the Christian life. No doubt the gate is wide 
 enough to admit any sinner, but it is too nar- 
 row for the admission of any sin. If you would 
 be decided, you must at once abandon every 
 known evil way, and you must seek to have 
 your whole life conformed to the will of God. 
 But should you shrink from such a life as this ? 
 No doubt it is hard to maintain it ; it is trying 
 often to flesh and blood ; it needs a daily spirit 
 of self-crucifixion. But the Redeemer's grace 
 is within the believer's reach. With daily sup- 
 plies of it, Christ's yoke is easy and his burden 
 light. And how deep and pure the inward 
 satisfaction a true Christian life brings along 
 with it! It has joys of which the worldling 
 knows nothing. Godliness is great gain even 
 
BUT— 59 
 
 now. "Are yon happy?" was the question 
 put one day to a beggar-boy ; to which he re- 
 plied at once, "I have God for my Father; I 
 have Christ for my Kedeeuier ; I have heaven 
 for my inheritance. I am happy." 
 
 It may be you fear C/nHst will not accept you. 
 You have sinned grievously ; you have broken 
 many a vow and left unfulfilled many a resolu- 
 tion; you are verily guilty before God. But 
 Christ came not to call the righteous, but sin- 
 ners to repentance. " There are two things," 
 said John Newton, "I try never to forget: 
 first, that I am a great sinner; secondly, that 
 Jesus is a great Saviour." 
 
 It may be you suppose you could never lead 
 an earliest religious life. You are very weak; 
 you are so ready to give way to temptation ; 
 you fall day by day into acts of sin. But has 
 not God promised to give us help in our every 
 time of need, if we humbly, earnestly, and per- 
 severiugly seek it ? " He giveth power to the 
 faint, and to them that have no might he in- 
 creaseth strength." 
 
 It may be you do not dec'ide from sheer pro- 
 crastination. Oh this delay, how many souls it 
 
60 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 has ruined! They liave thought; they have 
 intended; they have determined; but they 
 have put off. Death has come at an unexioect- 
 ed hour, and they are lost. 
 
 Let there be no hut. Let there be a prompt 
 and immediate decision. Let this be the time 
 of your entering into a covenant with God — a 
 covenant that shall never be forgotten. Your 
 present convictions are of the weightiest mo- 
 ment. They may pass away, and leave you as 
 unconcerned about salvation as ever you were 
 before. Should it be so, and should you never 
 be awakened again, how fearful to think in 
 eternity on the time when you were almost con- 
 verted and saved. 
 
 Great God, on what a slender thread 
 
 Hang everlasting things ! 
 Th' eternal state of all the dead 
 
 Upon life's feeble strings. 
 
A FULL SURRENDER. 61 
 
 XIV. 
 
 A FULL SURRENDER. 
 
 ''My son, give me thy heart." Prov. 23:26. 
 
 Make a full surrender ; keep back nothing ; 
 give yourself up wholly to the Lord. He will 
 not be satisfied with any thing short of your 
 entire being. All that you are and all that 
 you have are his ; and if you do as he requires, 
 you will devote yourself heartily to him. 
 
 A full surrender is the only safe course. 
 There can be no security without it. An un- 
 willingness to abandon all for Christ, betrays 
 a lingering love of self and the world. With 
 half-hearted ness God cannot be pleased. Sa- 
 tan would persuade you that it is enough. He 
 has not been able to prevent your being anx- 
 ious. In spite of all his endeavors to keep 
 you asleep, you have waked to a sense of your 
 guilt and danger; you have become alive to 
 tlie vast importance of the soul and eternity. 
 But he would urge you to a partial sacrifice. 
 He would persuade you that you may enjoy 
 
62 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 the world as you did before, and be religious 
 too. He would convince you that there is no 
 necessity of taking any decided step, and be- 
 ing different from what you were. But all 
 this is hollow sophistry. Be on your guard 
 against his devices ; heed not his suggestions. 
 See how God would have you act. Halting 
 between two opinions is emphatically con- 
 demned. Against those who are neither cold 
 nor hot a terrible judgment is threatened. 
 And Jesus Christ says, "He that is not with 
 me is against me; and he that gathereth not 
 with me scattereth abroad." 
 
 A full surrender is the only happy course. 
 Would you have solid peace? Would you know 
 what true spiritual joy is? Would you possess 
 assurance of the divine favor and a good firm 
 hope of eternal life ? There must be decision. 
 An attempted neutrality is a foe to all happi- 
 ness. Never can you enjoy religion without an 
 entire and thorough giving up of yourself to 
 God. In an undecided life there is much to 
 dim the spiritual vision, and to disturb the 
 spiritual peace. A single evil desire indulged 
 is sufficient to rob you of happiness. 
 
A FULL SUERENDER. 63 
 
 A full surrender is the only course conducive 
 to holiness. Do you long to walk with God ? 
 Do you long to grow in grace ? Do you long 
 to be such as you 6ught to be? Then give 
 yourself up wholly to Christ. Open your whole 
 heart to the influx of heaven's aifections. Seek 
 to live wholly under the presiding authority of 
 heaven's principles. Let it be your honest en- 
 deavor to breathe wholly the spirit of heaven's 
 Lord. Then you cannot fail to advance ; you 
 will go from strength to strength; you will 
 appear at length before God in Zion. 
 
 A full surrender is needed to commend the 
 religion of Christ to the wo^id. Alas, for the 
 numbers of professing disciples who are nei- 
 ther one thing nor another. They are cautious, 
 selfish, worldly. They don't commit them- 
 selves. They hope they do no harm, but they 
 certainly do no good. They are afraid to con- 
 fess Christ, and they are afraid to deny him. 
 They are idle, useless, undecided. How is the 
 world to be impressed by such men as these ? 
 They put forth no effort for the good of their 
 fellow-men. But make a full surrender to 
 Christ, and yours will be no such life. You 
 
64 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 will be one with him ; you will walk with him ; 
 you will gather with him. Something within 
 you will prompt and stir to holy toils for Christ, 
 and men will see in you th*e beauty of holiness. 
 As living epistles of Christ you will be seen 
 and read of all men. 
 
 Do you hesitate to make a full surrender? 
 Think well indeed on what you are about to 
 do. Count the cost. Consider the nature and 
 character and conditions of the service of 
 Christ. Do this, and then deliberately and 
 solemnly decide. Let this be your resolve on 
 your knees at the throne of grace: 
 
 I take God as my Father ; 
 
 I take Christ as my only Saviour ; 
 
 I take the Holy Ghost as my Sanctifier and 
 Guide. 
 
 All my being I give up to the Three-One 
 God. 
 
 Just as I am — thy love unknown 
 
 Has broken every barrier down ; 
 
 Now to be thine, yea, thine alone, 
 
 Lamb of God, I come. 
 
BORN AGAIN. 65 
 
 XV. 
 
 BORN AGAIN. 
 
 *' Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I 
 say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot 
 see the kingdom of God." John 3 : 3. 
 
 Are you born again ? My question is a most 
 solemn one. Think earnestly on it; it con- 
 cerns your eternal interests. He that is born 
 once only, as has been said, dies twice ; but he 
 tliat is born twice, dies only once, for over him 
 the second death hath no power. 
 
 In those who are born again there takes 
 place a great, inward, divinely wrought change. 
 It is a g7'eat change. The new-born soul passes 
 from death to life. It has views, feelings, de- 
 sires, hopes, fears, joys, sorrows, which it had 
 not before ; its whole nature is renewed. Again, 
 it is an inward change. The heart loves what 
 it did not love before, hates what it did not 
 hate before, desires what it did not desire be- 
 fore. Once more, it is a divinely wrought 
 
66 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 change. No liuman power can work it ; ser- 
 mons cannot work it ; Bible reading and pray- 
 ers cannot work it; sacraments cannot work 
 it. You may try hard to work it in yourself 
 or in others; but the Spirit of the living God, 
 he and he alone can produce this saving 
 change. 
 
 A man must he horn again, or he lost. The 
 statement is no rash one; I can make it good. 
 The authority of Scripture is my warrant for 
 it. You believe that Jesus is the Son of God ; 
 you believe that he cannot lie ; you believe that 
 heaven and earth may pass away, but that his 
 word will never pass away. Well, what saith 
 he ? " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except 
 a man be born again, he cannot see the king- 
 dom of God." Be sure, then, that the gate of 
 heaven will be for ever barred against the un- 
 regenerate. 
 
 Certain marks distinguish those who are horn 
 again. They hate sin; they feel it to be a bur- 
 den ; they long to be wholly free from it. They 
 hahitually seek after holiness; they desire to be 
 clothed with it; they will never be satisfied 
 without it. They are spiritually minded. The 
 
BORN AGAIN. 67 
 
 ordinary cares and business of life necessarily 
 occupy much of their attention, but their treas- 
 ure is in heaven and their heart is also there. 
 They seek to act up to their profession. The du- 
 ties of the sphere in which Providence has 
 placed them they endeavor faithfully to per- 
 form. They desire to be diligent in business, 
 fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. They are 
 making progress in the divine life. This prog- 
 ress may not always be clear and steady, but 
 it is true and real. Such are a few of the 
 marks which distinguish those who are born 
 again. They do not appear with equal clear- 
 ness in all the children of God. But if a 
 man cannot discover any signs of them in his 
 heart and life, he has good grounds for fearing 
 that the great change has not yet taken place 
 in him. 
 
 How is it with your soul ? Many are dream- 
 ing that if they be guilty of no gross and open 
 sins ; if they be respectable members of soci- 
 ety ; if they make a fair profession, all is sure 
 to be well with them in the future. But this is 
 a grand delusion; for the Book, in the plainest 
 terms, declares that a man must be born again. 
 
68 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 or be lost. Are you born again ? If so, there 
 is but a breath between you and heaven ; if not 
 so, there is but a breath between you and hell. 
 And let no one say. We must wait God's time. 
 God's time is now. Apply at once for his re- 
 generating grace, and it will not be refused. 
 
 The words which an old minister had graven 
 on his tombstone are faithful and true : " Re- 
 member, no salvation without a new birth. 
 Surely they that are not born again shall one 
 day wish they had never been born at all." 
 
 Let songs of praises fill the sky: 
 
 Christ, our ascended Lord, 
 Sends down his Spirit from on high, 
 
 Accordina: to his word. 
 
A CHRISTIAN. 69 
 
 XVI. 
 
 A CHRISTIAN. 
 
 " That worthy name by the which ye are called." 
 James 2:7. 
 
 If you are born again, and have made a full 
 surrender of yourself to Jesus, you are a Chris- 
 tian. Holy and honorable name. No title is 
 more to be prized. Men covet earthly distinc- 
 tions. What labors and sacrifices they under- 
 go to secure them I But here is a name nobler 
 far. Who are entitled to bear it ? 
 
 A Christian is one who believes in the Bimnity 
 of Christ. Jesus was indeed a man. He had 
 a nature like ours. He was often hungry and 
 thirsty and weary. He was born ; he suffered ; 
 he died. But though finite, he was also infi- 
 nite; though very man, he was also very God. 
 Divine names are given him ; divine attributes 
 are ascribed to him; divine works were per- 
 formed by him ; divine worship is paid to him ; 
 divine honors clothe him. He was Emmanuel, 
 God with us. 
 
to A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 A Christian is one who rests on the atonement 
 of Christ for acceptance witli God. Some look 
 upon Christ as a teacher ; and no doubt he was 
 a teacher — the greatest teacher the world ever 
 saw. Others look upon Christ as a martyr; 
 and no doubt he was a martyr, for he sealed 
 his testimony with his blood. Others look 
 upon Christ as an example; and no doubt he 
 was a pattern — the great model man. But 
 above all this, Christ was a great atoning sac- 
 rifice. You know from experience the blessed- 
 ness of this truth ; for if a real Christian, you 
 are prepared to make it as your confession : 
 
 I the chief of smners am, 
 But Jesus died for me. 
 
 A Christian is one who loves Christ and longs to 
 he like him. There are some who need only to 
 be known to be loved. How preeminently is 
 this the case with Jesus Christ. To them who 
 believe in him he is precious ; and loving his 
 Lord, the Christian longs to resemble him. 
 What was his character when he was upon 
 earth? He was pure, spotless, perfect; and 
 what believer does not desire to be so too ? 
 A Christian confesses Christ. Many act as 
 
A CHRISTIAN. Tl 
 
 if they were ashamed of him ; they shrink from 
 showing themselves his decided followers; 
 they cannot bear the idea of being different 
 from others ; they would rather endure any 
 thing than be counted singular, or be called 
 hypocrites by an unthinking world ; they have 
 not the courage to stand up for Christ. By 
 many an act of inconsistency and lukewarm- 
 ness they bring discredit on the name they 
 bear. Let it not be so with you. Beware of 
 allowing any one for a moment to imagine that 
 you are ashamed of Christ : 
 
 Ashamed of Jesus, that dear Friend 
 On whom my hopes of heaven depend ! 
 No ; when I blush be this my shame, 
 That I no more revere his name. 
 
 A Christian waits and longs for Chrisfs unveiled 
 presence in glory. This earth is the worldling's 
 all. His heart is set on its business and pleas- 
 ures and friendships. Give him these, and he 
 asks nothing more. But how different with a 
 living Christian! He regards this world as 
 but a lodging-house — a tent that is to be taken 
 down. Beyond the stars is his spirit's true 
 home ; and he never expects to be fully happy 
 
12 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 till he gets there. And what, to him, is the 
 grand anticipated charm of heaven ? the un- 
 veiled presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Walk worthy of your high calling. Live 
 near to Christ. Let it be your most earnest 
 desire to get closer and closer to him ; to enter 
 more and more into his heart; and to be filled 
 more and more with his spirit. Be ever long- 
 ing after higher attainments in holiness. Seek 
 to have your path like the shining light, that 
 shineth more and more unto the perfect day. 
 
 Let Christ, to whom we now belong, 
 His sovereign right assert ; 
 
 To him we owe the grateful song, 
 To him the loving heart. 
 
 He jnstly claims ns for his own, 
 Who bought ns with a pi'ice ; 
 
 The Christian lives to Christ alone, 
 To Christ alone he dies. 
 
SECRET THINGS. 13 
 
 XVII. 
 
 SECRET THINGS. 
 
 " The secret things belong unto the Lord our God ; 
 but those things which are revealed belong unto us and 
 to our children for ever, that we may do all the words 
 of this laAV." Deut. 29 : 29. 
 
 You are surrounded with mysteries in the 
 world. You meet with them above you, around 
 you, within you. In every blade of grass, in 
 every insect that flutters in the sunbeam, in every 
 beating heart, there is much you cannot under- 
 stand. Knowledge has indeed made mighty 
 progress ; and yet there are multitudes of se- 
 cret things on all sides of us which nature has 
 not whispered in the ear of her most ardent 
 votaries. And so in providence there are 
 many mysteries. We cannot see at present 
 the whys and wherefores of God's dealings 
 with men. Clouds and darkness are round 
 about him. In the Bible too there are myste- 
 ries which the mind of man cannot grasp. Be 
 
'74 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 not disquieted and perplexed with these; a 
 day of revelation will come. 
 
 It was to he expected that there would be hid- 
 den things in the Bible. It is the book of God. 
 And who is he ? A Being altogether different 
 from us — infinite, unsearchable, eternal. Was it 
 not to be looked for, then, that in a communica- 
 tion from him there would be some things dark 
 and hard to be understood ? A child is not able 
 to comprehend all that is said to it by its par- 
 ent ; surely then it is not strange that we in our 
 present condition — the very infancy of our 
 being — should not be able fully to comprehend 
 the revelation of the Infinite. Accordingly 
 there are domains of truth which are accessible 
 only to God. We are permitted to enter the 
 antechamber ; but we are not allowed to pene- 
 trate the recesses of the sanctury. Till we 
 pass within the veil, and have our powers of 
 vision strengthened, we must be content to 
 wait. 
 
 The mysteries of revelation are useful. They 
 teach us a lesson of faith. The child takes 
 much in trust from his father; and so God 
 would have us repose thorough confidence in 
 
SECRET THINGS. *75 
 
 him, and believe what we cannot now under- 
 stand or explain. They teach us also a lesson 
 of patience. All will be cleared up at length. 
 Light will be shed on the dark things of God. 
 In eternity more may be learned in an hour 
 than can be learned in a whole lifetime now. 
 We should quietly wait till then. They teach 
 us, moreover, a lesson of hope. A bright and 
 blessed day is coming. Soon will the morning 
 break and the shadows flee away, and then 
 what discoveries will be made ! Let the heart 
 be stirred by the prospect. We shall know 
 even as we are known. 
 
 While there are mysteries in the Bible, all 
 that is necessary for us to know has been plainly 
 revealed. It tells us plainly of the evil of sin. 
 It tells us plainly of a divinely appointed and 
 divinely accomplished Saviour. It tells us 
 plainly of the necessity of repentance, faith, 
 and holiness. It tells us plainly of the vast 
 importance of giving immediate heed to the 
 things which belong to our peace. It tells us 
 plainly of an everlasting heaven and an ever- 
 lasting hell, and how we may secure the one 
 and escape the other. 
 
16 A PEESENT SAVIOUE. 
 
 These and such like truths are clearly re- 
 vealed. There is no mystery about them. They 
 are written as with a sunbeam on the page of 
 Scripture ; and it is the dictate of true wisdom 
 not to suffer what we know to be disturbed by 
 what we know not. 
 
 Attend to the things which belong to you. 
 Act from day to day simple faith in Christ. 
 Set yourself earnestly to the performance of 
 all plainly commanded duty. Be not harassed 
 by the dark truths of revelation, but seek to 
 conquer all known truth. Remember that you 
 are but in the first stage of your existence, and 
 look forward hopefully to a time when, endow- 
 ed with loftier powers than those you now pos- 
 sess, you will be privileged to make discoveries 
 which it has not entered into the heart of man 
 to conceive. 
 
 Such are the hopes that cheer the saint ; 
 
 These hopes their God hath given. 
 His Spirit is the earnest now, 
 
 And seals their souls for heaven. 
 
THE RACE. It 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 THE RACE. 
 "So run, that ye may obtain." 1 Cor. 9:24. 
 
 You have a race to rim. You have to put 
 forth all your energies. Only thus can you 
 reach the goal, and win the immortal prize. 
 Think not that when once converted you may 
 be at your ease. You only begin the Chris- 
 tian race at the cross; and it is not done till 
 you reach your dying day. 
 
 Consider the points of resemblance between 
 your life mid a race. In a race a certain course 
 is marked out. Over it the competitors have 
 to run. On no account must they deviate from 
 it. And so in the Christian life. There is a 
 course marked out for you. It is the narrow 
 way of holiness. Again, in the race there is 
 required laborious exertion. It is no easy matter 
 to reach the goal before all others. In order 
 to this every nerve has to be strained. And 
 so in the Christian life. You must bear in 
 
78 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 mind that of yourself you can do nothing ; that 
 it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that 
 runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. And 
 yet you must act with all the ardor of such as 
 believe that success depends on their own exer- 
 tions. In the race a prize is held out to the suc- 
 cessful competitor. It may be of no great value 
 in itself, but it is looked upon as a sign of dis- 
 tinction, and is coveted by many. Willing- 
 ly do they put themselves to toil and trou- 
 ble to secure it, and great is their delight if 
 they succeed. And so in the Christian life. 
 A prize is held out to the successful candidate — 
 a crown of glory that fadeth not awa}^ Here 
 is a reward worth the struggling for. No time 
 can impair its value ; but on the contrary, it 
 shall grow in ever-brightening splendor from 
 age to age. 
 
 And how are you to run this race ? They who 
 run a race make themselves as light as possible. 
 They put off whatever might encumber them, 
 and they train themselves anxiously before- 
 hand for the contest ; and so should it be in 
 the Christian race. You should lay aside 
 every weight, and the sin that doth most easily 
 
THE RACE. T9 
 
 beset you ; and you should count no sacrifice 
 too dear so that you may win heaven. Again, 
 they who run a race are required to exercise 
 jmtience. It may be necessary to submit to self- 
 denying discipline, and on the day of trial they 
 must steadily and perseveringly hold on till 
 the goal is reached. And so in the Christian 
 race. If you would gain the promised prize 
 you must be patient. You must not faint or 
 be discouraged by the obstacles which you 
 meet with in your progress ; but in the face of 
 every difficulty you rnust press onwards to the 
 goal. And once more, they who run a race 
 are often stimulated to increased and strenuous 
 effort by the presence of others who have former- 
 ly won the prize. And you are to look to 
 Jesus. You are to look to him as your great 
 Example, who has run the race before you ; and 
 you are to look to him as your almighty Friend, 
 who is ever able and ready to help you, so that 
 you may run and not be weary. 
 
 And why should you thus run the Christian 
 race ? God calls on you to do it; and he that 
 knows his Lord's will, and does not do it, shall 
 be beaten with many stripes. Moreover the 
 
80 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 prize is certain if you lieartily engage in this 
 race. In respect to the pursuit of earthly 
 good, you may reckon on meeting with sore 
 disappointments; but the immortal crown is 
 sure to every truly earnest runner. Besides, 
 the prize, as I would remind you again, is of 
 priceless value. It is no corruptible and unsub- 
 stantial thing. Human tongue cannot express 
 its worth. It is salvation ; it is eternal life ; 
 it is an enduring inheritance ; it is an exceed- 
 ing, even an eternal weight of glory; it is 
 heaven. 
 
 So run that you may obtain. Press on tow- 
 ards the mark for the prize of your high calling. 
 Be not discouraged because of the way. Ani- 
 mated by the thought of the many who have 
 arrived at the goal, go on with growing ardor, 
 and you will at length be partaker of their 
 surpassing glory and their satisfying joy. 
 
 Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve, 
 
 And press with vigor on ; 
 A heavenly race demands thy zeal, 
 
 And an immortal crown. 
 
REDEEMING THE TIME. 81 
 
 XIX. 
 
 REDEEMING THE TIME. 
 
 " Redeeming the time, because tlie days are evil." 
 Epiies. 5:16. 
 
 Time is the most precious of all your posses- 
 sions. With it nothing which you have may 
 be compared in value. It stands prominently 
 out as of unspeakable importance. And how 
 is it so precious ? The use you make of it is 
 to determine the character of your eternity. 
 And yet how much is it misspent by the great 
 bulk of men ! No note is taken of it as it hur- 
 ries along. Its vast importance is forgotten. 
 Days and months of it are allowed to pass un- 
 lieeded. It is short, very short; but to many 
 it appears long and tedious. It hangs heavily 
 on their hands ; they know not how to use it : 
 ingenuity is exercised in finding out ways and 
 means to kill it. Very different was the esti- 
 mate formed of time by Paul. He saw it in its 
 proper light ; and viewing it as the spring-time 
 of eternity, he often reminds his converts of its 
 
82 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 transitoriness, and calls on them to use all dili- 
 gence and earnestness in redeeming it — hus- 
 banding it, improving it, employing it in such 
 a manner as to attain in it the purposes for 
 which it has been given. 
 
 Remember that time is a great reality. We 
 are apt to regard it as something unsubstantial 
 and shadowy. It seems to possess no true ex- 
 istence. In what light do we commonly view 
 it but as thin air, or rather as empty space? 
 But seek to have a clear, distinct, abiding sense 
 of its reality. And in order to this, cultivate 
 the habit of thinking from day to day what you 
 can do in the way of improving it. 
 
 Remember that time is inseparably connected 
 with eternity. Do not forget this most solemn 
 relation. Each little portion of your present 
 existence has to do with the interminable future 
 that awaits you. It is so indeed. There will 
 be nothing in eternity to you but what springs 
 out of time. Is there good in the world 
 unseen ? Are there joys of which the mind 
 while here has no conception? Are there 
 sentient and spiritual delights suited to a fully 
 regenerated body and to a fully regenerated 
 
REDEEMING THE TIME. 83 
 
 soul ? All this will be realized in consequence 
 of the right use of time. Is there evil in the 
 world unseen? Are there miseries there un- 
 speakably woful ? Is there a worm that dieth 
 not, and a fire that shall never be quenched? 
 All this will be realized in consequence of the 
 abuse of time. " Be not deceived ; God is not 
 mocked : for whatsoever a man soweth, that 
 shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his 
 flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption ; but he 
 that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit 
 reap life everlasting.'^ 
 
 Remember too that time is shorty uncertain, 
 and irrevocable. It is short. How small and 
 short-lived the objects to which it is likened in 
 holy writ ! It is spoken of as a span, as a va- 
 por, as a cloud, as a step, as the fading flower. 
 It is uncertain. The present is yours, but in 
 the future you have no ascertained property. 
 You know not what a day will bring forth ; 
 there may be but a step between you and death. 
 This very night your soul may be required of 
 you. Work heartily for God and the soul and 
 eternity now ; to-morrow you may have no 
 opportunity to do so. Once more, time is ir- 
 
84 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 revocable. The clock is wound up once for all ; 
 yet a little while and its last hour will strike 
 for you. Many things when lost may be recov- 
 ered, but not so with time. Over the past you 
 have no control. It is departed. No power 
 can bring it back. 
 
 Redeem the time. Lost years, a coming judg- 
 ment-seat, the glory of God, call you with loud 
 voice to do so. If your soul be at peace through 
 faith in Jesus Christ, and if the Holy Ghost 
 have begun a good work in you, work out your 
 salvation with fear and trembling, and live 
 heartily for God. The night is far spent, and 
 the day is at hand; soon will the clouds part 
 their awful folds. The realities of eternity 
 will ere long break upon your view, and then 
 all opportunities of working for God in a sin- 
 ful world will be for ever gone. 
 
 Dear Lord, and shall we ever live 
 
 At this poor dying rate — 
 Our love so faint, so cold to thee, 
 
 And thine to us so great ! 
 
 Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove, 
 With all thy quickening powers ; 
 
 Come, shed abroad a Saviour's love, 
 And that shall kindle ours. 
 
AN UNCHANGEABLE SAVIOUR. 85 
 
 XX. 
 
 AN UNCHANGEABLE SAVIOUR. 
 
 " Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and 
 forever." Heb. 13:8. 
 
 All tilings seem to be subject to change. 
 Above us the stars have shone for ages ; but 
 they shall fall as a fig-tree casteth her untimely 
 figs. Around us the hills have stood for cen- 
 turies ; but the mountains shall depart, and the 
 hills be removed. Beneath us lies the firm and 
 solid earth ; but in the fulness of time it shall 
 be burned up. In respect to man, one genera- 
 tion passeth away and another generation com- 
 eth. The little history of every one is an ever- 
 varying, ever-shifting scene ; but how delight- 
 ful the thought that there is One at least with 
 whom it is not thus. Here is a refuge for the 
 soul amid the transitory objects of time and 
 sense. The changes in heaven, on earth, in 
 man, produce no change in Christ ; for he is 
 the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. 
 
 Jesus is unchangeable in his being. When on 
 
86 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 earth, he was very man. He had all the sin- 
 less infirmities of our nature ; he was bone of 
 our bone and flesh of our flesh: but he was 
 also very God; and in his Godhead he must 
 be unchangeable. Were he to change, it would 
 be for the better or for the worse. But he 
 cannot change for the better, for this would 
 imply previous imperfection ; nor can he change 
 for the worse, for then would he cease to be 
 the all-perfect One. As God then he must be 
 ever the same — the same in his being and glory 
 and blessedness, possessed of every possible 
 perfection in the highest possible degree. 
 
 Christ is unchangeable in his attributes. How 
 great his poiver on earth! See him amid the 
 wrecks of humanity: the blind received their 
 sight, the lame walked, the lepers were cleans- 
 ed. See him in the domains of death: the 
 corpse started to life at his word. See him 
 amid the fury of the tempest : he rebuked the 
 wind, and there was a great calm. And he is 
 still the same: he can cure all our spiritual 
 ills ; he can quicken such as are dead in tres- 
 passes and sins; he can bid all our fears and 
 troubles cease. How great his wisdom on 
 
AN UNCHANGEABLE SAVIOUR. 8t 
 
 earth — a wisdom which he exercised so gra- 
 ciously on behalf of his disciples. And he is 
 still the same: with implicit confidence may 
 his people trust in him as an unerring guide. 
 How great his love ! Ever did he pardon the 
 penitent, strengthen the feeble, comfort the 
 bowed-down. And he is still the same: no 
 change has come over his kind, tender, loving 
 heart ; never will he send the humble and 
 weary empty away. 
 
 Christ is unchangeable in his doctrines. The 
 ideas, feelings, purposes of men often vary; 
 but an infinite Being knows no mutability. 
 New thoughts cannot start up in the mind of 
 God. Now what are the grand leading doc- 
 trines of the gospel of Christ? We must re- 
 pent of sin ; we must rest on Jesus by a true 
 and living faith ; we must be renewed by the 
 Spirit of God. It must be thus with us if we 
 would be saved. There can be no doubt what- 
 ever that this is most plainly announced. Any 
 other way of getting to heaven is obviously 
 out of the question. There are myriads now 
 in glory. Ten thousand times ten thousand, 
 and thousands of thousands have reached the 
 
88 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 paradise of God. They form an exceeding 
 great multitude, which no man can number. 
 By no other way can we join that glorious 
 company than through repentance, faith, re- 
 newal. 
 
 Think of it, Christ is unchangeable in his 
 being. How delightful the thought I If rest- 
 ing on him, you are on solid ground. Feeble 
 and mortal though you be, you are a partaker 
 of Christ's own stability. Your feet are on a 
 rock, and you cannot be moved. Christ is un- 
 changeable in his attributes. Fear not. Trust 
 in him. Cast the whole burden of your being 
 upon him. He is able and willing to help you 
 in your every time of need, if you depend on 
 him. Christ is unchangeable in his doctrines. 
 Have you truly repented of sin? Have you 
 been led to the cross and given up yourself to 
 Jesus ? Have you been born again through the 
 Holy Ghost? Most solemn questions! Bless- 
 ed are all they who can answer them aright. 
 
 And Oh, when I have safely passed 
 Through every conflict but the last, 
 Still, Lord, unchanging, watch beside 
 My bed of death — for thou hast died. 
 
THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS. 89 
 
 XXI. 
 
 THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS. 
 
 " Who hath, despised the day of small things !" 
 ;Zech. 4:10. 
 
 Have you been brought out of darkness? 
 Does the true light now shine in and around 
 you? Are you a child of the day? But is 
 your faith feeble? Is your love cold? Is 
 your zeal fitful and languid? Be not cast 
 down ; take heart. Do not despise the day of 
 small things. 
 
 It is well to long for progress in spiritual at. 
 tainment. A great work of holiness has to be 
 wrought in you ; and now is the time to have 
 it done. What is the future that awaits you ? 
 You are to mingle with those whose robes are 
 white. You are to sit with angels. You are 
 to stand in the presence of God and the Lamb. 
 Do you feel unprepared for such a state ? Aim 
 at progress ; long and pray for progress ; be 
 not content without progress. Seek to have 
 
90 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 your path like the shining light, that shineth 
 more and more unto the perfect day. 
 
 But be not discouraged. Has the word of life 
 been received into a true and honest heart? 
 It will work, and work, and work. Nor will 
 it cease its effectual working till the whole man 
 is brought into obedience to it. But this is 
 not to be the result of a day or month or year. 
 A lifetime is needed for the attainment of holi- 
 ness in any very high degree. Hear what the 
 great Augustine says : " Is love made perfect 
 the moment it is born ? So far from this, it is 
 born in order to be brought to perfection. 
 When it has been born it is nourished ; when 
 it has been nourished it is strengthened ; when 
 it has been strengthened it is made perfect; 
 when it has arrived at perfection it says, I de- 
 sire to depart and to be with Christ." It is 
 well to mourn over the dimness of your views 
 and the faintness of your love, and the worldli- 
 ness of your thoughts; but the Lord Jesus is 
 very pitiful. He knows your frame, and re- 
 members that you are dust; and he will not 
 break the bruised reed, nor quench the smok- 
 ing flax. Think not that if you be truly his, 
 
THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS. 91 
 
 he will cast you off. Though he had found you 
 as black as hell, he will present you at length 
 before God without spot, or wrinkle, or any 
 such thing. 
 
 To stimulate you, I would bid you look to 
 those who have gone before you. "I often con- 
 template," says Foster, " and with the due 
 amazement, Moses, Elijah, Paul, and John, with 
 the rest who have formed the first and noblest 
 rank of mankind. I have wondered whether 
 there is in the nature of things an impossibility 
 of ever approaching them ; but I have conclud- 
 ed with warmth that all things should be at- 
 tempted, should be suffered, should be sacrificed 
 in the divine emulation of emulating them." 
 And if they were great on earth, how glorious 
 are they now ! They have been delivered from 
 the bondage of corruption. They have tri- 
 umphed over all the ills incident to humanity. 
 They have reached a state of absolute security, 
 happiness, perfection. But you may attain a 
 position as glorious as theirs. By the same 
 grand process of faith and inward renewal you 
 may be perfect as they are perfect. 
 
 It is the day of small things, but rejoice in 
 
92 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 the assurance that a day of great things is com- 
 ing. There is first the blade, then the ear, then 
 the full corn in the ear. There are first the 
 totterings of infancy, then the steady walk of 
 manhood. There is first the dawn, then the 
 twilight, then the perfect day. 
 
 Oh long expected day, begin ; 
 Dawn on these realms of woe and sin: 
 Fain would I leave this weary road, 
 And sleep in death to rest with God. 
 
THE FINAL DAY. 93 
 
 XXII. 
 
 THE FINAL DAY. 
 
 " For we must all appear before the judgment-seat 
 of Christ." 2 Cor. 5:10. 
 
 A DAY of judgment is coming. It may still 
 be far distant, or it may be nearer at hand ; but 
 arrive it certainly shall. There is to be a 
 winding up of the affairs of earth. The cur- 
 tain is to fall on the things of time, and there 
 shall be unfolded to mortal eye the visions of 
 eternity. 
 
 How will that day begin ? The loud peal of 
 the Archangers trump will announce its arrival. 
 Previous to this no strange phenomena may 
 have served to indicate its near approach ; but 
 how solemn the scenes which shall then be wit- 
 nessed ! The sun shall grow dim in heaven ; 
 the stars shall pale their feeble light ; the ele- 
 ments shall melt with fervent heat ; the founda- 
 tions of the earth shall tremble: nature shall 
 heave her final groan. The living, what of 
 them? We are told they shall suddenly be 
 
94 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 changed. The dead, what of them? They 
 who sleep shall suddenly awake. All who 
 tread, or who have ever trod the earth shall 
 hurry, moved by some resistless impulse, to the 
 great white throne of the descending Judge. 
 " Every eye shall see him." " Before him shall 
 be gathered all nations." " I saw the dead, 
 small and great, stand before God." 
 
 How is that day to be spent ? 
 
 It is to be the great reckoning-time. We 
 are to give in our account. Each one for him- 
 self is to answer for his life on earth, and is to 
 receive the things done in his body, according 
 to that he hath done, whether it be good or 
 bad. How are the myriads who have peopled 
 the world to be tried ? How are the thoughts 
 and words and actions of men to be unveiled 
 and judged? I do not know all this. It is 
 wrapped in mystery. I am unable to under- 
 stand or explain it; but I know that God is 
 infinite in all his attributes, and that what is 
 impossible with man is possible with him. It 
 will be a solemn judgment. There will be 
 every thing to render it an imposing scene. 
 God, angels, Satan no doubt, all present ; the 
 
THE FINAL DAY. 95 
 
 vast congregation at the bar ; the irrevocable 
 sentence passed upon myriads of myriads of 
 immortal beings. What can be more solemn 
 than all this ? It will be a searching judgment. 
 The eye of Omniscience will pierce through 
 every spirit. It will read with unerring glance 
 the character engraven on all hearts. There 
 is nothing hidden which shall not then be 
 brought to light. And it will be an individual 
 judgment. Many may be the assembled thou- 
 sands ; but there will be no possibility of los- 
 ing ourselves in the multitude around us. We 
 must every one of us give in our account unto 
 God. 
 
 How will the day close ? 
 
 Its end will be far from being the same to 
 all who are judged. To some it will end in 
 unutterable sorrow ; while to others it will end 
 in unutterable joy. The wicked " shall go away 
 into everlasting punishment, but the righteous 
 into life eternal." About that doleful region 
 which is to be the future abode of the former 
 we know but little. It is a place of ceaseless 
 torment — a region of hopeless misery — a land 
 of everlasting exile from the presence and favor 
 
96 A PRESENT SAVIOUR. 
 
 of God — an eternity of woe. Dreadful doom ! 
 And yet sucli is the portion of the lost. How 
 different the lot of the saved ! Salvation is 
 theirs. And what a fund of blessings is in- 
 cluded in that word! There is deliverance 
 from ignorance, guilt, sin, sorrow, death ; and 
 there is the possession of every good which can 
 gratify the human heart. 
 
 Be not forgetful of your great destiny. Make 
 ready for the day of the Lord. Whatever else 
 you neglect, neglect not this. Look upon it as 
 the great business of life to glorify God, and to 
 prepare for the solemn future which lies before 
 you. Live so that when you receive the sum- 
 mons of death you may cheerfully obey it, and 
 haste with willing step to Him in whose pres- 
 ence is fulness of joy, and at whose right hand 
 there are pleasures for evermore. 
 
 Impartial retribution then 
 
 Our different Hves await ; 
 Our present actions, good or had, 
 
 Shall fix our future state. 
 
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