THE RELIGIOUS COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2299, 24 March 1898, Page 62

THE RELIGIOUS COLUMN.

Having made arrangements for printing a Spurgeon Sermon fortnightly in this paper for one year, sympathisers can help by prater and voluntary offeiings, which will be received a^d acknowledged by WILLIAM INGS, THE J-ORBURY, DUNEDiM. AN APPEAL TO SINNERS. A Sermon Delivered on Sabbath Evening, September 14, 1556, by the Rev. O. H. Hpurgeon, at Exeter Hall, Strand. " This Man receiveth sinners." — Luke xv, 2. It was a singular group which had gathered round ouv Saviour when these words were uttered ; for we are told by the evangelist, " Then drew near unto Him all the publicans and sinners fos to hear Him." The publicans— the very lowest grade, the public oppressors, scorned and hated by the meanest Jew— these, together with the worst of characters, the scum of the streets, and the very riff-raff of the society of Jerusalem, came round this mighty preacher, Jesus Christ, in order to listen to His words. On the outside of the throng theie stood a few respectable people, who in those days woia called Fbaiisees an%l Scribes — j men who were highly esteemed in the synagogues as mlers and governors and teachers. These looked with scorn upon the Preacher, and watched Him with invidious-eyes to find some fault. If they could find none in Him pereonally'yet they could' easily find it in His congregation ; His department towards them shocked their fal->e notion of! propriety, and wtie'n they observed that He was j affable with the ver,y worst of, charge' er», 'that He" spoke loving words to the most fallen of mankind, they^said of Him what they intended for a disprate, albeit it was- highly to His honour : "TliLs Man receiveth sinneis." I bolieve that our Waviour could not have wished to have had a ssntence uttered concerning Him more evidently true | or more thoroughly consistent with Hia sacre-J commission. It ia tho exact portrait of His character; the hand of a mantel 1 scm^ to hava limned Him to the very life. He U the Man who " receivt-th tinners." Mony a true word has been spoken in jest and many a true word has been J spoken' inlander. Men have said sometimes in jest, "There goes a saint" ; but it has been true They have said, " There goes one of your chosen ones, one of your elect." They meant it asa slander, but; the doctrine they scandalised was to the peison who recaived it a comfort— it wa3 hi» glory and his honour. Now the Scribes and Pharisees wished to slander Christ ; but in si doing they outstripped their intentions, and bestowed upon him a f Hie of renown. "This Man ' receiyeth dinners and eateth with them." j Thi? evening I shall divide my obseivations to you into three parts. First— the doctrine that. Christ leceivoth sinners, which is a doctrine of Holy Writ ; secondly — the encouragement it affords the sinner ; and thirdly, the exhorta+ion j naturally springing . from it, to the sams character. 1 First, then, the doctrine. The doctrine is not that Christ receiveth everybody but that lie " receiveth sinners." By that term we, in common parlance, understand eveaybedy. It is in the present day quite fashionabla for everybody to lie against what he believes, and to say he is a sinner even when he believes himself to be a veiy respectable, well-to-do man ; and does not con- . ceive that he ever did anything very amiss in his > life. It is n sort of orthodox confession for men j to make when they say that they are sinusis ; J though Ihey, might just as well uss one formula a» ] another or repeat worcta in a foreign tongue ; for \ they mean no deep and heartfelt contrition. They i have no true apprehension that, they ars sinners j at all. The c e Scribes and Pharisees did virtually j uf sert thatthey were not sinners ; they marked out ! -the publicans and. the harlots, and tlie#*sorthlesss. j and they said, "These are sinneis ; we are not." " Very well," Ba id Christ, " I endorse the distinction you have made. In your owa opinion you ( are'not sinners. Wei], you shall stand exempt for ' the time from being railed sinners— l endorse your distinction. But I beg to inform you that t came to save those very persons who, in their o»Yn estimation and in yours, are reckoned to dj sinners." II is my belief that the doctrine of the text is this— that Christ receives not the selfrighteous, not the good, not the whole-hearted, not those who dream that they do not need a I Saviour ; but the broken in spirit, the contrite in I heart—those who are leady to confess that they | have broken God's laws and have merited His diaI pleasure. These and these alone Chiiat came to save ; and I leassert the subject of last Sabbath evening— that Jesus has died for such and for rone other ; th.st He has shed His blood for those who [ are ready to confess their sins and who do seek I mercy through the open veins of His wounded body, but for none other did He designedly offer up Himself upon the cross. Now, let us remark, beloved, that there iaa veiy 'wike distinction on the part of God that He hath been pleased thus to choose and call sinners to repentance and not others. Eor this reason uoni! but these ever do come to Him. There has never been such a miracle as a self-righteous man coming to Christ for mercy ; none but those who want a Saviour ever did come. It stand* to reason that; when men do not consider themselves in need of a Saviour they never will approach His throne ; and surely it is satisfactory enough for all purposes that Christ should say He receiveth sinners, seeing that sinners are the only persons who will ever come to Him for mercy, and therefore it would be useless for Him to say that Ha would receive any but those who mcstasseredly will come. j And mark, again, none but these can come. No man can come to Christ uatil he truly knows himself to be a dinner. The self-righteous man cannot come to Christ ; for what is implied in coming to Christ ? Repentance, trust in His mercy, and the denial of r.U confidence in one's self. Now, a self-righteous man cannot repent and yet be selfrightous". He conceives that he has no sin. Why then should he repent ? Tell him to come to ' Christ with; humble penitence, 'and he exclaims: "Ay ! you insult my dignity. Why should 1 b.x>pioach to God? Wherein have I sinned? My &uee shall not bend to seek for pardon, wherein, I have not offended ; this lip shall not seek forgiveness when I do not believe myself to have transgressed against God ; I shall not ask for mercy." The self-righteou3 man cannot come to God; for his coming to God implies that he ceases to be self-righteous. Nor can a self-righteous man put his trust in Christ. Why should ha? Shall l trust in a Christ whom Ido not require ? If Ibe self-righteous I need no Christ to save me, in my own opinion. How, thec. can I come with such a confession as this, " Nothing in my hands I bring," when I have feot my hands full. How can I say ''Wash me" when I believe myself white? How can I say "Heal me" wheo I think that I never was sick? How can I cry "Give me freedom ; give me liberty" when T believe I nevor was a blave and " never in bondage to any man " ? It is only the man who knows his slavery by reason of the bondage of sin and the man who knows himself to be sick even unto death by reason of the sense of guilt : it is only the man who feete he cannot save himself who can with faith rely upon the Saviour. Nor caD the self-rigbteous man renounce himself and lay hold of Christ ; because in the renunciation of himself he would at once become the very character whom Christ says He will receive. He would then put himself in the place of the sinner when he cast away M 3 own righteousness. Why, sirs, coming to Christ implies the taking off the polluted robe of oui own righteousness and putting on Christ's. How can Ido that if I wittingly wrap my own gaiment about me? And if in order to" come to Christ I must forsake my own refuge and all my own hope, how can I do it if I believe my hope to be good and my refugrto be secure 1 and if I suppose that already I aw clothed sufficiently to enter into the marriage supper of tho Lamb? Nay, beloved, it is the sinner, and Jhe siuuer only, who can come to Christ ; the self-righteous man cannot do it : it is quite out of his way— ho would not do it if he could.. His veiy self-righteousness fetters his foot, so that he cannot come ; palsies his arm, so that he cannot take hold of Christ ; and blinds his eye, so that he cannot see the Saviour. Yet another reason': If these people who are not siunera would come to Christ, Christ would get no glory from them. When theplis'sician openethhis door for those who are sick let me go there full of health; he can win no honour from me because ho caanot exert his skill xyjon me. The benevolent

man may distribute all his wealth to the poor, but let someone go to him with his abundance and he shall win no esteem from him for feeding the hungry or for Clothiug the naked ; since the applicant is neither hungry nor naked. If Jesus Christ proclaims that Ho giyeth His grace unto all who come for it, surely it is sufficient, seeing that none will or can come for it but those whose pressing necessities prompt them. Ay ! sufficient— it is } quite sufficient for His honour. A great sinner bring? great glory to Christ when he ij saved. A man who is no sinner, if he could attain to heaven, would glorify himself, but he would riot glorify Christ. The man who has bo stains may plunge into the fountain but he cannot magnify its cleansing power, for he has no stains to wash away. He that bath no guilt can never magnify the word "forgiveness." It is the sinner then, and the sinner only, who can glorify Christ ; and hence "this Man receiveth sinners," but it is not said that He receiveth any else. "He came not to cill the righteous but sinners to repentance." This is the doctrine of the text. But allow us just to amplify that word : " This Maa ' receiveth ' sinners." _ Now, by that we understand that He receives tinners to all the benefits which He has purchased for them. If theiebe I a fountain B> leceive'-i sicnora to wash them iti i<. I { If then* bo sneiiciue for tb.f soul 110 rec-Ives dr.- ; j nets 1o heal their diseases ; if There bo a house for j the sick, an hospital, a l*ssar house fijr the dying, | He receives such into that retreat of mercy. All that He bath of love, all that He hath .of mercy, all that He hath of atonement, all that He hath of saiMjtificttiou, all thaif'He.hath of righteousness — to all these He receives the .sinner. Yea, more ; ! not content wttli taking him to Hl3 house He re- j j chives him to His heart. He takes' the black and j filthy sinner and liavh:*? washed iiitn — "There," I hs sss-s " thou af-b any beloved ; my 'iesire is to- i wards thee.- And ii consnmirato the whole,' at ; last He receives the saints to heaveo. Saints, I j j said, but I meant tho3e "who were sinners, for none j can be saints ,truly but those who once-were f*in- j I ners and have been washed in the blood of Christ, | and made white through the sacrifice of the j Lamb ! Observe it, then, beloved, ihat in rece'v'njc sin- I I ners v^e mean the whole of palvation : aiid this j word in my 'text " Christ 'receiveth' sinners" I . grarpeth in the whole of the covenant. He ceiveth them to tlie joys of paradise; to the bihsi of the beatified ; tothesougsof the glorified; to an eterni'y of happiness for ever " This Man receiveth sinners"; and I dwell with special emphasis on this pomt — He receives none else.He will have r.one else to ba saved but ihose who know themselves to hn- sinners. Full,-free-salva-iion i=! preached to every sinner in the universe ; j bnt, I have no salvation 1o preach to those who J will not acknowledge themselves to be sinners\ I To them I must preach the law, telling them that their righteousness is but as filthy rags, that their goodness shall pass away as the spider's web and shall be broken in pieces, even as the egg of the ostrich is broken by the foot of the horse. " This I Man receiveth sinners," and receivcth none else. 11. Now, then, the encaurayeraent. If this Mhh receiveth sinners, poor bin sick sinner, what a sweet word this is fo>" thee ! Sure, then, He will noi reject thee Come,' lei; me euccurage thee this night to come to my Jifasier, to receive His great atonement and b a clothed will all Hia righteousness. Mark : those whom I address aie the bo7ii fide, teal, actual sinners; not the complimentaiy sinners ; not those who say they aie • Mtiuors by way of picifyicg. as they suppose, the ' religionist? of the day ; but T speak to those who ! f> el their lo»t, -ruined, hopeloes condition. AH ( thes^ are now frankly and treely in> ited to come i to Jejus Chiist and vo be saved b3'"Him. Come, i i poor sinner, come. \ i Come, s because He has said He will receive you. { j I know your fears ; we all felt them once when we ware coming'ti Chr'st.' I knqw thou sayeetin thy bearl-, "He will reject m^e. If I present my I prayer He will not hear me ; if I cry unto Him 1 ( yet porartveutuvo the heavaus will bo as br.is.s ; I • have been. so great a sinner that He; will nsvev take , me into His houyj to dwell with Him." Poor sinner ! say not so ; He hath published the decree. It is enough between man and man usually if we > count cur fellow creatures honest to obtain a I promise. Sinner !is this not enough between thyself and the Son of God? He has said, " Him th*t | j eometb. I will in no wise ca*t out." Durst thou | , not venture ou 1 hat promise? Wilt thou not go 1i o sea in a ship as staunch as thii ?— He hath said j it\ It has Leon oftMi and again i3ie. only comfort i ot the B'dnta ; on iliislh'y havelived, on thisth y | i havrt died : He hath said it. What! dost thou j ! think Chrift will lie unto thee ? Would he tell { j thee He will receive thee and yat Lot do so? j I Would he say, " Myfatling? are killed, come ye to ] | the supper," and yet shut the door in your face? No, if He has said he will cast out none that come j to Him rest assured He can no 1 ;— He will not- cast 1 -you out. Come, then, try His love outbid ground : ; j that He has saiii it. , » j ' Come, and fear not, because' remember if thou feplest thyself to be a sinner that feeling is God's | gift, and therefore thou mayest veiy safely come to One who has already done 80 much to draw j thee. A stranser calls at my house, he asks for ] i alms, and he tells me at firot very plainly that he j 1 never saw me before, that he has no claim upon • my generosity, bwt he throws himself entirely • upon any benevolent feeling ihaf I may chs,nce to i have in my breast. But if J had done anything I for him before he might say, supposing I were I a rich man, " Sir, you hava done so much for me | I think you will not give me up at last ; I believe j you will not let me starve after so much love." i Poor {-inner ! if thou feelest thy need of a Saviour, Christ made thee feel it ; if tbou hast a wish to i come after Christ, Christ gavn thee that wish ; if j thou hasfc any desire after God, God gave thee j that desire ; if thou eai.sfcsigh after Christ, Christ ! made thee iigh ; if thou canst weep after Christ, Christ made tbee weep. Ay, if thou canst only wish for Him with the strong wish of one that fears he never can find yet hopes he may— if thou ' canst but hope for Him He has given thee that t hope.- And, oh! wilt not thou come to him? i Thou hast some of the King's bounties about thee i now ; come arid plead what He hath done. There ! is no suit that ran ever fail with God 'when ye ! rl°ad thif. Tell him His past mercies urga youto j t'y Hm in the future. Down ou your knees, sin- ; ncr, d.uvn on your knees ; tell Him this, " Lord, j T thank thee that I know myself to be a sinner ; I Thou ha«t taught me that ; I bless Thee that Ido ! not wran up my sin— that I know it, that I feel it, ' that it is ever before me. Lord, wouldst thou make me see my sin and not let me see my Saviour ? What ! wilt Thou open the wound and put in the lancet and yet not heal me ? What,Lord! hast thou said, 'I kill?' And hast Thou not said in the same breath, ' I make alive.' Hast Thou killed me, and wilt Thou not make me alive ? " Plead that, poor sinner, and thou wilt find it true that " this Man receiveth sinners." Woes not this suffice thee ? Then here is another I reason. lam sure " this Man receiveth sinners," because he has received niany, many before you. See, -there is Mercy's door ; mark how many have been to it ; you can almost hear the knocks upon the door now, like echoes of the past. You may : remember bow many way-wova travellers have called there for rest, how many famished souls have applied there for bread. Go, kneck at 1 Mercy's door, and ask the porter this question, 1 " Was there ever one applied to the door that was refused ?" ' I can assure you of the answer : " No, not one." i "No sinner was ever empty sent back | Who came seeking mercy for Jesus's sake." j And shalt thou be the first? Does thou think : God wilt forfeit His good name by turning thee away ? Mercy's gate has been open night and day ever since man sinned ; dost thou think it will be , i shut in thy face for the first time? Nay, man, go 1 and try it, and if thou findest it is, come back and say, "Thou hast not read the Bible as ".thou oughtest to have done"; or else say .thou hast t found one promiss there which has not been fulfilled, for He said, " Him that cometh I will in no wise cast out." I do not believe there ever was in this world one who was suffered by God to say that he nought m»jrcy of Him sincerely and did not find ! it. Nay, more, I believe that such a being never ihull exist, but whosoever cometh unto Christ shall most "assuredly find mercy. What greater encouragement do you want ? Do you want a sa'Vation for those that will not come to be saved ? Do you 1 " want blood sprinkled on those that will not come to Christ 1 You must want it, then ; I will not preach it to you. I find it not in God's Word, and therefore I dare not. And now, sinner. I have yet another plea to urge with thee why . Thou shouldst believe that Christ will receive all sinners who come to Him.

It is this : that He calls all such. Now, if Christ calls us and bids us come we may be sure He will ' not turn us away when we do come. Once on a time a blind man sat by the wayside begging. He heard— for he could not see— hs heard the trampling of the many feet that were passitig by him. He asked what all this meant : they said that • Jesus of Nazareth passed by. Loudly did he cry, I " Jesus, thou Sju of I'-avid, have mercy on me 1" The ear of mercy was apparently deaf, and the Saviour walked on and heeded not the prayer. The poor man sat still then, but cried aloud, though he did not move. Yet when the Saviour eaid, " Come hither " — ah ! then he did not delay an instant. They said, "Arise, He calleth thee !" And, pushing them all aside, he made his way through the crowd and offered the prayer, " Lord, let me receive my sight." Well, then, thou who feelest thyself to be lost and ruined, arise and speak; He cilleth for thee. Convinced sinner, Christ say-3 "Coae!" and that thou mayest be sure He says it let us quote that Scripture again, " I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." Thou art called, man ; then come. If her Majesty were riding by thou mightest scarcely presume to speak to her ; but if thy name i were calle 1, and by her own lips. would3t thou not j go to her carriage, and whatshe had to say to thee ! wouldso not thou listen to? Now, the King of I heaven s-ays "Come!" Yes, the same j lips that will one .day say " Come, ye blessed " say this night, " Come, ye poor distressed sinners, come to Me, and I will save you." There !is not a di^tressed'soul itfthis hall, if his distress be the work of God's Holy Spirit, that shall not -find salvation in the .wounds of Christ. Believe then, sinner, :bslieve' in Jesus, that he is able ta < save even thee-urito'the very uttermost. I , ; ,Aad now-just one pDint mose to comniec4.-thi3 j encouragement to you. Indeed, poor souls, "P i know wu>'n ye are under a'soßs'e of sin' it is very' i bard to b a lieve. '-We sometimes say, U; Only bei lieve" ; but believing is just the hardest thing" ia ' the world when sin lies heavy on.your shoulders. We say, " Sinner, only trust in Christ." Ah, ya I d 9 not know what a great " only " that is. It is » i work so great that no man cm do it unaided by I God ; for fait-h is the gift of God, and he'give3 it ' only to His children. Bnt if anything can call . faith into exercise it is thia last thing I shall mention. Sinner, remember that Christ is willing to receive theo, for He came all the way from heaven to seek thee and find thee out m thy ■wanderings and to save thee and rescue thee from thy miseries ; He hath given proof of His hearty interest in thy welfare, in that He hath shed His I very heart's blood to redeem-thy soul frotn.death [ a^d hell. If 'he bad wanted the companionship i of saints He might have stopped ia heaven, for there were ruany there, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob were with Him there in glory, but He wanted sinners. He had a thirst after perishing tinners. He wanted to make them trophies of His Grace. He wanted black souls to wash them white. He wanted dead souls to make them alive. His bauevo'ence wanted object 3on which to exert itself ; and therefoie "Down from the shining teats above With joyful haste Hp fled, Entered tb.3 grave in mortal flesh i\ud d'\elt among the dead." Ob, sinner, look there and see tbat cross ! Mork, yonder Man upon it ! " See from His head, His hands, His, feet, • Sorrow and love flaw mingled dowii ! Did e'er such lova'and sorrow meet. Or thorns compose so rich a crown ?" Dost thou Botp that eye ? Cxristthou see lan»ui<i pity for thy soul floating in it ? Dost thou mark i that side? It ii opened that thou mayest .hide thy | sins therein. - See those drop 3of crimson -blood ; ' I every drop is trickling down for thee. Hearest thou that de,th -shriek, "Eloi, Bloi, lama i sabachthani?" That shriek ia all its deep-toned ! solemnity is for thee. Yes, for thee, if thou art a r«it?fceiN; if thou dost this night say unto Gad, ■ *'LorJ, I know I have offended Thee ; h'ave'mercy upon me for Jrsns's palw." If now, taught by the Spirit, thon' art led to 'abhol' thyself in dust aad ashe..-, because thou hast siiined, verily, beforeJSod—l tell thee in His sight, as His servant — I thou shalt be saved ; for Jesus would not die for thee and yet let thee perish; < j 111. Now, the last point is an exhortation. If it be true that Christ came only to save sinners, my beloved htaiei 1 ?, labour, strive, agonise to eefc a sense in your souls of jour own sinner* hip. One of the most distressing things in the world ?s to j feel.ycuiself a signer ; but thafi is no reason why j T should not exhort you to seek it.'fot while clis- • trcssing, it is only the distra's of the bitter medicine which will effectually work the cure. Do not seek to get high ideas of yourself. Seek to get a low.opinion of yourself; do not, try to deck youiself with, ornaments ; let it not be your eadsavour to array yourself in gold and silver ; do not seek to be made good in yourself, but seek to j strip yoiuself, seek to humble yourself. Do not soar high, but sink -low; do not go up, but go down. A»k God 1 to let thee see that thou arb nothing at all. Ask Him to bring thee to this, that thou mayest have nothing to say but " I the chief of sinners am "r;" r ; and if God bear your prayer very likely Satin will tell you that you cannot be saved because you are a sinner. Bub, s.s Martin Luther said: "Once, when I was racked with pain and sin, Satan said, ' Luther,' thou canst not be saved, for Ihou art a sinner.' ' Nay.' " said Martin Luther, "' I will cut ■ thine head eff with thine own sword. Thou j sayest.l am a tinner ; I thank thee for it. Thou j art; a lioly Satan [he says it in mockery, no j doubt] when thou sayest I am a sinner. Well, j then, Satan, Christ died for sinners; 1 therefore [He died for me. Ah,'" said he, " 'if thou canst but ' prove that to me, Satan, I will thank thee for it ; ! and so far from groaning, I will begin to sing, for ! all we want is to know and feel that we are I sinners.' " Let us feel thai, let us know that, and we may receive this as an undoubted fact of revelation ': that we have a right to come unto Christ, and to believe en Him and -to receive. Him as all ! our salvation and' all our desire. No .doubt Conscienca will come and stop you : but do not try to stou the mouth of Conscience, /but tell Conscience sou are much obliged to him for. all that he ssys ; I " Oh, you have been a desperate iellow ; 'you sinned when you were young ; you hava sinned, even until now. How many sermons have been wasted on you I How many Sabbaths you have broken ! How many warnings you have despised ! Oh, you are a desperate sinner ! " . Tell j Conscience that you thank him, for the more you ; can prove yourself to be_ a sinner — not by out1 ward acts, but in your inmost heart— the more | you know yourself to be really guilty, the more reason have you to come to Christ and gay, " Lord, I believe Thou hast died for the guilty ; I believe Thou intendest to save the worthless. I cast my. self on Thee ; Lord, saye me ! " That does not suit some of you, does it ? It is not the kind of doctrine that flatters man much. No ;ye would like to be gcod people, and help Christ a little ; ye 4ike that theory which some ministers are always proclaiming : " God has done a great deal for you ; you do the rest, and then you will be saved." "That is a very popular kind of doctrine — • you do oti]3 part and God will do the other part ; but that is not God's' truth ; it is only a delirious dream. God says : " I will do the whole ; come and prostrate thyself at My feet. Give up thy doings ; let Me undertake for thee ; afterwards I will make thee live to My glory. Only in order that thou mayest be- holy I de3iie thee to confess that thoii art unholy ; in order that thou mayest . be aanctified thou must confess that Ihou art as yet unsanctified." Oh, do that my hearers. Pall down before the Lord ; cast yous selves dovm Do not stand up with pride, but fall down before God in humility ; tell Him you are undone without His sovereign grace ; tell Him you have nothing;, you are nothing, you never will be anything more than nothing, but that you know Christ'does not : want anything of you, for He will take you just as you are. Do not seek to come to Christ with anything besides your sin ; do not seek to come to Christ with your prayers, for a recommendation ; do not come to Him even with professions of your faith ;— come to Him with your sin ■ He will give you faith. If you stop aAvay from Christ and think that you will have faith apart from Him, you have made an error. It is Christ that saves us; we must come to Christ for all we want: " Th A°i l ? li ° 91 vist ' ftrt all x w^t I All in all in Thee I find. .Kaise the fallen, cheer the faint, Heal the sick, and lead the blind." Jesus will do so, and more also ; but you-mustcoma as Wind., you must come as sick, you 'must coma

a* lost, or cl.c you cannot and must not come at all. Come, then, to Jesus, I beseech you, whatever mny up to this time have kept you away. Your doubts -would keep you away, but say, "Stand Lack, Unbelief ; Christ says He died for sinners, and I know I am a sinner." " My faith will on that promise live, Will on that promise die." And there is one thing I want to say before I have done. Do not stop away from Christ, when you know yourself to be a sinner, because you think you do not understand every point of theology. Very often I get young converts with me, and they say, " I do not understand this or that doctiine " Well, I am very glad, so far as I am able, to explain it to them. But sometimes I get not young converts, but young convicts— those who are under conviction of sin— and when I am i trying to bring them to this, that if they are but j sinneis they'may believe in Christ, they begin with tbi3 knotty point and that knotty point, and they seem 'to imagine thai; they cannot be saved until they are thorough theologians. Now, if you expect to understand all theology before you put your faith in Christ, 1 can only tell you 3'ou never will ; for live as long as ever you may, there will be some depths 3 - ou cannot exp!oie. There are certain unquestionable facts which you must hold ; but there will always be some difficulties through which you will not be able to see. The most favoured sainfron earth does not understand everything ; but you want to understand all things before you come to Christ. One man asks me how sin came into the world, and lie will not come unto Christ till he knows that. Why, lie will bo lost beyond hope of recovery if ha wait* - till he knows it, for nobody will ever know it. I have no reason to believe that it is eveu revealed to those who are in heaven. Another wants to tnow how it is that men are bidden to come— and yet we are taught in Scripture that no man ""can corns — and he must have that cleared up; just as the poor man who had a witheied arm, when Christ said, "Stretchout thine arm," had replied, " Lord, L have got a difficulty in my mind ; I want to know how you can tell me to stretch out my atm when it ia withered?" Suppose when Christ had said to Lazarus, "Come forth," Lazarus could have said, " I have a difficulty in my mind ; haw can a dead man come forth " ? Why know this, vain man !— when Christ says " Stretch out thine arm," He gives you po\\er to stretch out jour arm with the cominaiK), and the difficulty is solved in practice, though I believe it never will be solved in theory. ] f men want to have theology mapped out to them as they would have a mio of England, if they want to have every little village, and every hedgerow in the gospel kingdom mapped out to them, they wilL not find it anywhere but in the Bible ; and they will find it so mapped out there that the years of a would not suffice to find out every little thing in ib. We must come to Christ and learn ; not learn and then come to Clir'.st. "Ah ! but," saitb another, "that i<i not th« I ground of my misgivings ; I donotparplex rays -'if , much about theological points-. I have got a j worse anxiety than that : I feel I 'am too bad to "be saved." Well, I believe you are wrong, theu j That is all I can say in. reply to you, for I will believe Christ bef o\ c I will bflieve you. You sny you ara too bad to be saved. Christ eayp, " Him that comsth I will in no wise cast out." Now, ■which shall be right? Christ saveth He will receive the very wor=t ; you cay He will not. What-then ? "Let God be true and eveiy man a ' liar." But there is one matter of counsel I wish : you would accept. I desire of God that Ho may '■ bring you to coma and try the Lord Jesus Christ, j and see whether H« will turn you away. What > concern ia it to me that I am so often reproached | for making mv appeals to the_ worst of sinners 1 > It is said that I direct my ministry to drunkaids, i harlots, 'blasphemers, and sinners of the grosser i sort. And what-if the finger of scorn be pointed ! at me or if I shall be accounted a=i a foul befoi c | the public ; do you think I shall be deteired by , their irony ? Do you think I shall stand aba -he.i • at their uugenerOus ridicule ? Oh, no ; like David, when he danced befo.e the ark of the L-oid, and Michal, Saul's daugh'er, jeeml at him . and taunted him aa a shameless fellow, I thall only reply : "If thi"! be vile, I putpose to be more vile yet." While I see the fcot-< racks of my Master before me, and while I ste still mo.c His gracious sanction following my labours ; whils I behold His name magnified, His glwy increased, and perishing souls s-i'ved (as, thanks be to Go-.?. we have witness everyday); while this jrospjS warrants me, while the Spirit of God moves me, and while signs following do multiply the seals o; my commission — who am I that I should stay myself for man or resist the Holy Ghost for any flesh that breatheth? Oh, then, ye chief of sinners, ye vilest of the vile, je who are the &cum of the city, the lefuse of the earth, the dregs of creaiion, whom no man seeketh after ; ye whose characters are de->iroyed, and whose inmost souls j are polluted, so blacis; that no fuller on earth Can , whiten you, to debased that ye have sunk beyond [ the hope of any moralist to reclaim you ! — come ! ye, come ye to Christ. Come ye at His own mvi- \ tation. Come, and you i-hall be surely leceived ■ with a hearty welcome. My Master said tint He ! received sinners. His enenres said it of Him, j "This man receiveth tinners." In deed and in j truth "we know of a surety that H<j does receive ! sinners, the enemies themselves being witnesses. ] Come now and y:e!d the fullest credit to His i word. His invitation, His promise. Do you object i that it was only during a few days' grace in the time of His sojourn on earth that He lecsived sinners. No, not so ; it is confirmed by all subsequent experience. The apostles of Jesus echoeO. it after He had ascended into heaven, in. terms as unqualified as Ho himself expressed it when on earth. Will ye not believe this—" This is a faithful paying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Chrisfr Jesus came into the woild to save Bin new, of whom I am chief"? Ye despisers, go away, and laugh at this ; go away and scorn the preached gos-pel if you will, but one day we shall meet each- other- face to fare before our Maker, and it maypeihaj.s go hard then with all those who have despised- Chiist- and laughed at His gracious words. Is -there an infidel here who says lie will he well enough off if he shall die the death of annihilation and shall not live in a futuie ■world ? Well, my friend, suppose all men die like dogs, I shall-be as well off a3 you are, and I think a little better off even as to happiness and peace in this world. But if (and mark yiu Ido not put it so because I doubt it)— if it be true that thexe is a world to come, I would not like to standan your place in the next world. Be it so that there "is a judgment seat ; let there be it hell (I put it I hypothetically, not because I have a doubt about j it," but because you tell m» you doubt ii-, though Ido not believe you really do)— if there be such a place, what will ye do then ? Why, even novy ye shake if a leaf falis in the night ; ye are terrified if the cholera is in the street ; ye are alarmed if ye aie a little sick, and ye rush to the physician, j and anyone can impose upon you with-his physic, because you areafiaidof death. What will you ! do in the swelling- of Jordan, when death gets hold on you ? If- a little pain aff rights you now, what will you do when your body shall shake and your knees shall knock together before your Maker? What wilt thou do, my hearer, when His burning eyes shall eat into thy very soul ? i What wilt thou do when, amid ten thousand thunders. He shall say, " Depart, depart " ? I cannot tell thee what thou wilt do ; but I will tell thee one thing that thou durst not do— that is, thou duret not say that I have not as simply as ever I could tried to preach the gospel to the veiy chief ol sinners. Hear it again: "He that believeth 011 the Lord Jesus Chii&t shall be saved." To believe is to trust in Christ ; to drop into those blessed arms that can catch the heaviest laden sinner that ever breathed ; to fall flat on the promise ; to ltt Him do all for you, until He has quickened you and enabled you to work out what He has before worked in you— "your own salva- ] tion " — and even thid must be " with fear and I trembling." God Almighty grant that soma poor btjul may be blessed to-nighl ! You that aro on shore, I do not expect to do you any good. If I have a rocket to sand abroad into the sea, it is only the stranded vessel, the shipwrecked mariner that will rejoice at the rope. You that think yourselves safe, I have no necessity to preach to you ; you are all so perilously good in your own sighi;, it is no use trying to make you better ; you are all sc awfully righteous, you can go on your way well enough without warning from me. You must excuse me, therefore, if I have nothii g to say to you except this: "Woe unto you Scribe 3 and Pharisees, hypocrites ! " And allow me to turn ttjscU to uiiofcliei' cla&s of people— the vilest of the.

vile. I should not care if I gained the cognomen of the preacher to the basest and the vilest ; i .should not blush to be reviled like Rowland Hill as the iireacher to tha lowest orders, for they want the gospel as much as any creatures under heaven ; and if nobody will preach it to them, God helping me, I will endeavour to preach it to them in words that they can understand. And if genteel people do not like preachiog in that style they have the option of leaving it. If they want to hear men preach in intellectual strains, above the capacity of common sinners, let them go and hear them ; I must content myself with following my Lord, who "made Himself of no leputation," to go after out-of-the-way sinners in an out-of-the-way fashion. I would sooner do violence to pulpit decorum and break through pulpin deceucy than not break through hard hearts, i count that sort of preaching to be the risht sort that does reach the heart somehow or other, and 1 am not particular how I do it. I confess if I could not preach in one way I would in another ; if nobody would come to hear me in a bl-»ck coat, they should be attracted by my wearing a red one. Somehow or other I would make them hear the pospel if I could, and I would labour so to preach that tho meanest understanding should be able to get hold of this one fact: "This man ivcaiveth sinners." God bless you all, for Christ's sake 1