Page 4 Advertisements Column 1

Ashburton Guardian, Volume III, Issue 502, 26 November 1881, Page 4

[advertisement. ] “ This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to saver sinners. ”.. ■ "X7TES; it is a simple fact, that Christ I Jesus came to this world to save sinners.! ij Ashburton is a part of this world—a very, important part too, some.of its inhabitants think, and they are quite right about it, too, for the Scripture bears them out, though not for the same reasons, I fear. Ashburton* has hundreds of people in it’, each one of them has a aoal which, according to the Word of -God, is worth more thah the world.; Each of these in-habitants-is a sinner also. I ask you leader, ,if this is not so. Christ only came to save sucA'” Since the time the above statement was first made, millions have ti&en advantage.pf it. This is nota mythical affair, ppd' to P r ° ve it,..thousands of these people" suffered death rather tlpm give up their hope. So Christ came not only fo saye, but He Tias done it, and is doing it how, and will.do it in the future. The full Atonement has been made, and has been bringing 'forth eternal fruit ever since. ' Whoever believes that Christ, the son of God, died to save sinners, is saved. If yoq, reader,, .simply belieye. in your heart that Christ has put away all your sins by his voluntary Atonement, you are already justified in God's eyes, and as Clod has, all power forever, both Of death and life, . you, Have . nothing to fear, but everything to rejoice over and praise God for. As. a fellow creature, already.justified by grace, I entreat you to do this, for your everlasting soul’s sake, while yon,A*! o !. Pure of life. , Just reflect on the. serious and peculiar position.you are in, i f, Suppose a man came up, and, suddenly, throwing you down, robbed, you and cleared. You, howevpr, being quicker and stronger, ran after hup, anff at length collared him. Suppose now that you, having him in your power, said —“ Look here, I willnot thrash you, nor summons you, if you will beg my pardon sincerely, abstain from all this sert of thing in futurer, and, become a friend, of mine, then. I shall bo'glad to become a f riend to you, and as you are evidently in need you can come homo with’ me now and get a feed and some decent clothes. ” What would you think, after offering this to him, if he treated you' with cool indifference, and, althoueh.hOrh was, ip 7<> u ? P°wer, yet stall tried tp insult you further. I guess . you -.would. let the law take its course, oy your fists, theirs. Well, -you stand now before God in a worse position toan this, and while God is prepared to do a great deal more for you than you had offered to do for that man. God has already paid the cost all your past sins have, rendered it necessary to pay, to meet Divine justice; and you are insulting God by rejecting his free pardon. Fancy, God is waiting and anxious to save you, and you are refusing to be saved! The Ofiypded One willing to forgive the offence, but the offending one unwilling to be forgiven. God is hot only willing to forgiv«C4fle is willing to give ua at the same' time eternal happiness. You are therefore ,a double gainer by this simple eiercising of faith towards Christ. No two persons gain; saltation exactly alike; some have great struggles to gojhrough first, others believe more easily, taking God atHis Word as soofa as they grasp the simplicity of it; but in all cases it simply means one’s self into God’s hands, yielding to Him, and trusting in Him for everything. Some Christians speak as if salvation could be pul too plainly, and seem afraid that people might give an intellectunl assent, and so: be deceived. But the fact is, whether a man has difficulty or ease in exercising .faith,.if he.,exercises,.it at all, it tbi,the Holy Spirits’enabling' ’ him to do it; it is the work of God in hia heart. The ..natural man is always bdievmg ®»tah, or having “ faith ” in the “Evil Spirit ? ” and it is just as easy and simple- I 'to believe* in God, if once this deadly form of faith is destroyed. Man cannot destroy it, but he can at anytime ask God to, Who will always do it. Salvation cannot he put too plainly and simply. The world generally has given the intellectual assent, as most peopl.e say that Christ died for the world ; that is the intellectual assent and the general one, but the individual assent is the heart's faith, the faith that sates. Perhaps yog; reader, have often wondered what “faijtn,, r «»% M Oll ohrißt reAli y ' means more nor less than this, that yon are saved if you believe