Читать книгу Plain Parochial Sermons, preached in the Parish Church of Bolton-le-Moors онлайн

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Let us pause for a moment, to apply the consideration of this part of the history to ourselves. To all who are wilfully walking in the ways of sin, the good and gracious God is continually addressing His warning and expostulating voice; by His holy word, abounding with the most awakening admonitions and awful examples; by His appointed ministers, superadding their feeble endeavours to inculcate the doctrines and set forth the terrors of that word “by line upon line and precept upon precept;” by various occurrences in life, by reverses and privations and afflictions and sickness and death; by the strivings of the Holy Spirit, and the alarms of conscience; by flashing at intervals, in vivid colours, the conviction of an hereafter upon the mind and heart; and compelling the sinner to see, whether he will heed it or not, the peril and the dreadfulness of his situation. Of all who hear me there cannot be one, but has experienced, more or less, these manifestations of mercy and of terror: Are there not some by whom they have been disregarded? We have all of us been instructed and reminded and admonished, in a great variety of ways; have we “profited withal?” Have we been awakened from the dreams of sensual pleasures, from the stupor and infatuation of sin? Can we now lift up our hearts in sincerity to God, and thank Him that we have been brought, by this or that warning, into nearer and holier communion with Him; to serve Him in righteousness and truth, and to seek, in right earnest, the salvation of our souls? If it be otherwise with us, if we have neglected the seasons of grace, or if we have returned, after a temporary humiliation and conviction to the vanity of our former habits and pursuits, let us, if we believe the word of God, lay seriously to heart the solemn declarations on this head, with which that word abounds—that there is a limit prescribed even for the divine compassion and forbearance; a period marked out, beyond which God will not manifest His favour, “though it be sought with tears;” beyond which, “His spirit will not strive with man;” and whenever that spirit shall be withdrawn, the conscience will become hardened, the understanding benighted, and the sinner “given over to a reprobate mind.” God allows, indeed He has already allowed, to every one of us, abundant space and opportunity for repentance, as He did of old to the ante-diluvian race; and if we, like them, are negligent of His merciful admonitions, we must expect, like them, to go on from one degree of wickedness to another, till the “measure of our iniquity be filled;” till we are hurried into everlasting perdition.