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SUBJECT: 41 JOH 14:26 The Comforter
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The Comforter
January 21, 1855
by
C. H. SPURGEON
(1834-1892)
"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom
the Father will send in my name, he shall teach
you all things and bring all things to your
remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto
you."- Joh_14:26.
Good old Simeon called Jesus the consolation of Israel;
and so he was. Before his actual appearance, his name
was the day-star; cheering the darkness, and prophetic
of the rising sun. To him they looked with the same
hope which cheers the nightly watcher, when from the
lonely castle-top he sees the fairest of the stars, and
hails her as the usher of the morn. When he was on
earth, he must have been the consolation of all those
who were privileged to be his companions. We can
imagine how readily the disciples would run to Christ
to tell him of their griefs, and how sweetly, with that
matchless intonation of his voice, he would speak to
them, and bid their fears be gone. Like children, they
would consider him as their Father; and to him every
want, every groan, every sorrow, every agony, would at
once be carried; and he, like a wise physician, had a
balm for every wound; he had mingled a cordial for
their every care; and readily did he dispense some
mighty remedy to allay all the fever of their troubles.
Oh! it must have been sweet to have lived with Christ.
Surely, sorrows were then but joys in masks, because
they gave an opportunity to go to Jesus to have them
removed. Oh! would to God, some of us may say, that we
could have lain our weary heads upon the bosom of
Jesus, and that our birth had been in that happy era,
when we might have heard his kind voice, and seen his
kind look, when he said, "Let the weary ones come unto
me."
But now he was about to die. Great prophecies were to
be fulfilled; and great purposes were to be answered;
therefore, Jesus must go. It behoved him to suffer,
that he might be made a propitiation for our sins. It
behoved him to slumber in the dust awhile, that he
might perfume the chamber of the grave to make it-
"No more a charnel house to fence
The relics of lost innocence."
It behoved him to have a resurrection, that we, who
shall one day be the dead in Christ, might rise first,
and in glorious bodies stand upon earth. And if behoved
him that he should ascend up on high, that he might
lead captivity captive; that he might chain the fiends
of hell; that he might lash them to his chariot-wheels,
and drag them up high heaven's hill, to make them feel
a second overthrow from his right arm, when he should
dash them from the pinnacles of heaven down to the
deeper depths beneath. "It is right I should go away
from you," said Jesus, "for if I go not away, the
Comforter will not come." Jesus must go. Weep, ye
disciples; Jesus must be gone. Mourn, ye poor ones, who
are to be left without a Comforter. But hear how kindly
Jesus speaks: "I will not leave you comfortless, I will
pray the Father, and he shall send you another
Comforter, who shall be with you, and shall dwell in
you forever." He would not leave those few poor sheep
alone in the wilderness; he would not desert his
children, and leave them fatherless. Albeit that he had
a mighty mission which did fill his heart and hand;
albeit he had so much to perform, that we might have
thought that even his gigantic intellect would be
overburdened; albeit he had so much to suffer, that we
might suppose his whole soul to be concentrated upon
the thought of the sufferings to be endured. Yet it was
not so; before he left, he gave soothing words of
comfort; like the good Samaritan, he poured in oil and
wine, and we see what he promised: "I will send you
another Comforter-one who shall be just what I have
been, yea, even more; who shall console you in your
sorrows, remove your doubts, comfort you in your
afflictions, and stand as my vicar on earth, to do that
which I would have done had I tarried with you."
Before I discourse of the Holy Ghost as the Comforter,
I must make one or two remarks on the different
translations of the word rendered "Comforter." The
Rhenish translation, which you are aware is adopted by
Roman Catholics, has left the word untranslated, and
gives it "Paraclete." "But the Paraclete, which is the
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he
shall teach you all things." This is the original Greek
word, and it has some other meanings besides
"Comforter." Sometimes it means the monitor or
instructor: "I will send you another monitor, another
teacher." Frequently it means "Advocate;" but the most
common meaning of the word is that which we have here:
"I will send you another Comforter." However, we cannot
pass over those other two interpretations without
saying something upon them.
"I will send you another teacher." Jesus Christ had
been the official teacher of his saints whilst on
earth. They called no man Rabbi except Christ. They sat
at no men's feet to learn their doctrines; but they had
them direct from the lips of him who "spake as never
man spake." "And now," says he, "when I am gone, where
shall you find the great infallible teacher? Shall I
set you up a pope at Rome, to whom you shall go, and
who shall be your infallible oracle? Shall I give you
the councils of the church to be held to decide all
knotty points?" Christ said no such thing. "I am the
infallible paraclete, or teacher, and when I am gone, I
will send you another teacher, and he shall be the
person who is to explain Scripture; he shall be the
authoritative oracle of God, who shall make all dark
things light, who shall unravel mysteries, who shall
untwist all knots of revelation, and shall make you
understand what you could not discover, had it not been
for his influence." And, beloved, no man ever learns
anything aright, unless he is taught of the Spirit. You
may learn election, and you may know it so that you
shall be damned by it, if you are not taught of the
Holy Ghost; for I have known some who have learned
election to their soul's destruction; they have learned
it so that they said they were of the elect, whereas,
they had no marks, no evidences, and no works of the
Holy Ghost in their souls. There is a way of learning
truth in Satan's college, and holding it in
licentiousness; but if so, it shall be to your souls as
poison to your veins and prove your everlasting ruin.
No man can know Jesus Christ unless he is taught of
God. There is no doctrine of the Bible which can be
safely, thoroughly, and truly learned, except by the
agency of the one authoritative teacher. Ah! tell me
not of systems of divinity; tell me not of schemes of
theology; tell me not of infallible commentators, or
most learned and most arrogant doctors; but tell me of
the Great Teacher, who shall instruct us, the sons of
God, and shall make us wise to understand all things.
He is the Teacher; it matters not what this man or that
man says; I rest on no man's boasting authority, nor
will you. Ye are not to be carried away with the
craftiness of men, nor sleight of words; this is the
authoritative oracle-the Holy Ghost resting in the
hearts of his children.
The other translation is advocate. Have you ever
thought how the Holy Ghost can be said to be an
advocate? You know Jesus Christ is called the
wonderful, the counsellor, the mighty God; but how can
the Holy Ghost be said to be an advocate? I suppose it
is thus; he is an advocate on earth to plead against
the enemies of the cross. How was it that Paul could so
ably plead before Felix and Agrippa? How was it that
the Apostles stood unawed before the magistrates, and
confessed their Lord? How has it come to pass, that in
all times God's ministers have been made fearless as
lions, and their brows have been firmer than brass;
their hearts sterner than steel, and their words like
the language of God? Why, it was simply for this
reason; that it was not the man who pleaded, but it was
God the Holy Ghost pleading through him. Have you never
seen an earnest minister, with hands uplifted and eyes
dropping tears, pleading with the sons of men? Have you
never admired that portrait from the hand of old John
Bunyan?-a grave person with eyes lifted up to heaven,
the best of books in his hand, the law of truth written
on his lips, the world behind his back, standing as if
he pleaded with men, and a crown of gold hanging over
his head. Who gave that minister so blessed a manner,
and such goodly matter? Whence came his skill? Did he
acquire it in the college? Did he learn it in the
seminary? Ah, no. He learned it of the God of Jacob; he
learned it of the Holy Ghost; for the Holy Ghost is the
great counsellor who teaches us how to advocate his
cause aright.
But, beside this, the Holy Ghost is the advocate in
men's hearts. Ah! I have known men reject a doctrine
until the Holy Ghost began to illuminate them. We, who
are the advocates of the truth, are often very poor
pleaders; we spoil our cause by the words we use; but
it is a mercy that the brief is in the hand of a
special pleader, who will advocate successfully, and
overcome the sinner's opposition. Did you ever know him
fail once? Brethren, I speak to your souls; has not God
in old times convinced you of sin? Did not the Holy
Ghost come and prove that you were guilty, although no
minister could ever get you out of your self-
righteousness? Did he not advocate Christ's
righteousness? Did he not stand and tell you that your
works were filthy rags? And when you had well-nigh
still refused to listen to his voice, did he not fetch
hell's drum and make it sound about your ears; bidding
you look through the vista of future years, and see the
throne set, and the books open, and the sword
brandished, and hell burning, and fiends howling, and
the damned shrieking forever? And did he not convince
you of the judgment to come? He is a mighty advocate
when he pleads in the soul-of sin, of righteousness,
and of the judgment to come. Blessed advocate! Plead in
my heart; plead with my conscience. When I sin, make
conscience bold to tell me of it; when I err, make
conscience speak at once; and when I turn aside to
crooked ways, then advocate the cause of righteousness,
and bid me sit down in confusion, knowing by guiltiness
in the sight of God.
But there is yet another sense in which the Holy Ghost
advocates, and that is, he advocates our cause with
Jesus Christ, with groanings that cannot be uttered. O
my soul! thou art ready to burst within me. O my heart!
thou art swelled with grief. The hot tide of my emotion
would well-nigh overflood the channels of my veins. I
long to speak, but the very desire chains my tongue. I
wish to pray, but the fervency of my felling curbs my
language. There is a groaning within that cannot be
uttered. Do you know who can utter that groaning? who
can understand it, and who can put it into heavenly
language, and utter it in a celestial tongue, so that
Christ can hear it? O yes; it is God the Holy spirit;
he advocates our cause with Christ, and then Christ
advocates it with his Father. He is the advocate who
maketh intercession for us, with groanings that cannot
be uttered.
Having thus explained the Spirit's office as a teacher
and advocate, we now come to the translation of our
version-the Comforter; and here I shall have three
divisions: first, the comforter; secondly, the comfort;
and thirdly, the comforted.
I. First, then, the COMFORTER. Briefly let me run over
in my mind, and in your minds too, the characteristics
of this glorious Comforter. Let me tell you some of the
attributes of his comfort, so that you may understand
how well adapted he is to your case.
And first, we will remark, that God the Holy Ghost is a
very loving Comforter. I am in distress, and I want
consolation. Some passer-by hears of my sorrow, and he
steps within, sits down, and essays to cheer me; he
speaks soothing words, but he loves me not; he is a
stranger; he knows me not at all; he has only come in
to try his skill. And what is the consequence? His
words run o'er me like oil upon a slab of marble-they
are like the pattering rain upon the rock; they do not
break my grief; it stands unmoved as adamant, because
he has no love for me. But let some one who loves me
dear as his own life, come and plead with me, then
truly his words are music; they taste like honey; he
knows the password of the doors of my heart, and my ear
is attentive to every word; I catch the intonation of
each syllable as it falls, for it is like the harmony
of the harps of heaven. Oh! there is a voice in love,
it speaks a language which is its own; it has an idiom
and a brogue which none can mimic; wisdom cannot
imitate it; oratory cannot attain unto it; it is love
alone which can reach the mourning heart; love is the
only handkerchief which can wipe the mourner's tears
away. And is not the Holy Ghost a loving comforter?
Dost thou know, O saint, how much the Holy Spirit loves
thee? Canst thou measure the love of the Spirit? Dost
thou know how great is the affection of his soul
towards thee? Go measure heaven with thy span; go weigh
the mountains in the scales; go take the ocean's water,
and tell each drop; go count the sand upon the sea's
wide shore; and when thou hast accomplished this, thou
canst tell how much he loveth thee. He has loved thee
long, he has loved thee well, he loved thee ever, and
he still shall love thee; surely he is the person to
comfort thee, because he loves. Admit him, then, to
your heart, O Christian, that he may comfort you in
your distress.
But next, he is a faithful Comforter. Love sometimes
proveth unfaithful. "Oh! sharper than a serpent's
tooth" is an unfaithful friend! Oh! far more bitter
than the gall of bitterness, to have a friend turn from
me in my distress! Oh! woe of woes, to have one who
loves me in my prosperity, forsake me in the dark day
of my trouble. Sad indeed; but such is not God's
Spirit. He ever loves, and loves even to the end-a
faithful Comforter. Child of God, you are in trouble. A
little while ago, you found him a sweet and loving
Comforter; you obtained relief from him when others
were but broken cisterns; he sheltered you in his
bosom, and carried you in his arms. Oh, wherefore dost
thou distrust him now? Away with thy fears; for he is a
faithful Comforter. "Ah!, but," thou sayest, "I fear I
shall be sick, and shall be deprived of his
ordinances." Nevertheless he shall visit thee on thy
sick bed, and sit by thy side, to give thee
consolation. "Ah! but I have distresses greater than
you can conceive of; wave upon wave rolleth over me;
deep calleth unto deep, at the noise of the Eternal's
waterspouts." Nevertheless, he will be faithful to his
promise. "Ah! but I have sinned." So thou hast, but sin
cannot sever thee from his love; he loves thee still.
Think not, O poor downcast child of God, because the
scars of thine old sins have marred thy beauty, that he
loves thee less because of that blemish. O no! He loved
thee when he foreknew thy sin; he loved thee with the
knowledge of what the aggregate of thy wickedness would
be; and he does not love thee less now. Come to him in
all boldness of faith; tell him thou hast grieved him,
and he will forget thy wandering, and will receive thee
again; the kisses of his love shall be bestowed upon
thee, and the arms of his grace shall embrace thee. He
is faithful; trust him, he will never deceive you;
trust him, he will never leave you.
Again, he is an unwearied Comforter. I have sometimes
tried to comfort persons, and have been tired. You, now
and then, meet with a case of a nervous person. You
ask, "What is your trouble?" You are told; and you
essay, if possible, to remove it; but while you are
preparing your artillery to battle the trouble, you
find that it has shifted its quarters, and is occupying
quite a different position. You change your argument
and begin again; but lo, it is again gone, and you are
bewildered. You feel like Hurcules, cutting off the
evergrowing heads of the Hydra, and you give up your
task in despair. You meet with persons whom it is
impossible to comfort, reminding one of the man who
locked himself up in fetters, and threw the key away,
so that nobody could unlock him. I have found some in
the fetters of despair. "O, I am the man," say they,
"that has seen affliction; pity me, pity me, O, my
friends;" and the more you try to comfort such people,
the worse they get; and, therefore, out of all heart,
we leave them to wander alone among the tombs of their
former joys. But the Holy Ghost is never out of heart
with those whom he wishes to comfort. He attempts to
comfort us, and we run away from the sweet cordial; he
gives us some sweet draught to cure us, and we will not
drink it; he gives some wondrous potion to charm away
all our troubles, and we put it away from us. Still be
pursues us; and though we say that we will not be
comforted, he says we shall be, and when he has said,
he does it; he is not to be wearied by all our sins,
nor by all our murmurings.
And oh, how wise a Comforter is the Holy Ghost. Job had
comforters, and I think he spoke the truth when he
said, "Miserable comforters are ye all." But I dare say
they esteemed themselves wise; and when the young man
Elihu rose to speak, they thought he had a world of
impudence. Were they not "grave and reverend
seigniors?" Did not they comprehend his grief and
sorrow? If they could not comfort him, who could? But
they did not find out the cause. They thought he was
not really a child of God, that he was self-righteous,
and they gave him the wrong physic. It is a bad case
when the doctor mistakes a disease and gives a wrong
prescription, and so perhaps kills the patient.
Sometimes, when we go and visit people, we mistake
their disease; we want to comfort them on this point,
whereas they do not require any such comfort at all,
and they would be better left alone, than spoiled by
such unwise comforters as we are. But oh, how wise the
Holy Spirit is! He takes the soul, lays it on the
table, and dissects it in a moment; he finds out the
root of the matter, he sees where the complaint is, and
then he applies the knife where something is required
to be taken away, or puts a plaster where the sore is;
and he never mistakes. O how wise is the blessed Holy
Ghost; from ever comforter I turn, and leave them all,
for thou art he who alone givest the wisest
consolation.
Then mark, how safe a Comforter the Holy Ghost is. All
comfort is not safe, mark that. There is a young man
over there very melancholy. You know how he became so.
He stepped into the house of God and heard a powerful
preacher, and the word was blessed, and convinced him
of sin. When he went home, his father and the rest
found there was something different about him, "Oh,"
they said, "John is mad, he is crazy;" and what said
his mother? "Send him into the country for a week; let
him go to the ball or the theatre." John, did you find
any comfort there? "Ah no; they made me worse, for
while I was there I thought hell might open and swallow
me up." Did you find any relief in the gayeties of the
world? "No," say you, "I thought it was idle waste of
time." Alas! this is miserable comfort, but it is the
comfort of the worldling; and, when a Christian gets
into distress, how many will recommend him this remedy
and the other. "Go and hear Mr. So-and-so preach;"
"have a few friends at you house;" "Read such-and-such
a consoling volume;" and very likely it is the most
unsafe advice in the world. The devil will sometimes
come to men's souls as a false comforter; and he will
say to the soul, "What need is there to make all this
ado about repentance? you are no worse than other
people;" and he will try to make the soul believe, that
what is presumption, is the real assurance of the Holy
Ghost; thus he deceives many by false comfort. Ah!
there have been many, like infants, destroyed by
elixirs, given to lull them to sleep; many have been
ruined by the cry of "peace, peace," when there is no
peace; hearing gentle things, when they ought to be
stirred to the quick. Cleopatra's asp was brought in a
basket of flowers; and men's ruin often lurks in fair
and sweet speeches. But the Holy Ghost's comfort is
safe, and you may rest on it. Let him speak the word,
and there is a reality about it; let him give the cup
of consolation, and you may drink it to the bottom; for
in its depths there are no dregs, nothing to intoxicate
or ruin, it is all safe.
Moreover, the Holy Ghost is an active Comforter; he
does not comfort by words, but by deeds. Some comfort
by, "Be ye warmed, and be ye filled, giving nothing."
But the Holy Ghost gives, he intercedes with Jesus; he
gives us promises, he gives us grace, and so he
comforts us. Mark again, he is always a successful
Comforter; he never attempts what he cannot accomplish.
Then, to close up, he is an ever-present Comforter, so
that you never have to send for him. Your God is always
near you; and when you need comfort in your distress,
behold the word is nigh thee; it is in thy mouth, and
in thy heart. He is an ever-present help in time of
trouble. I wish I had time to expand these thoughts,
but I cannot.
II. The second thing is the COMFORT. Now there are some
persons who make a great mistake about the influence of
the Holy Spirit. A foolish man, who had a fancy to
preach in a certain pulpit, though in truth he was
quite incapable of the duty, called upon the minister,
and assured him solemnly, that it had been revealed to
him by the Holy Ghost that he was to preach in his
pulpit. "Very well," said the minister, "I suppose I
must not doubt your assertion, but as it has not been
revealed to me that I am to let you preach, you must go
your way, until it is." I have heard many fanatical
persons say the Holy Spirit revealed this and that to
them. Now, that is very generally revealed nonsense.
The Holy Ghost does not reveal anything fresh now. He
brings old things to our remembrance. "He shall teach
you all things, and bring all things to your
remembrance, whatsoever I have told you." The canon of
revelation is closed, there is no more to be added; God
does not give a fresh revelation, but he rivets the old
one. When it has been forgotten, and laid in the dusty
chamber of our memory, he fetches it out and cleans the
picture, but does not paint a new one. There are no new
doctrines, but the old ones are often revived. It is
not, I say, by any new revelation that the Spirit
comforts. He does so by telling us old things over
again; he brings a fresh lamp to manifest the treasures
hidden in Scripture; he unlocks the strong chests in
which the truth has long lain, and he points to secret
chamber filled with untold riches; but he coins no
more, for enough is done. Believer! there is enough in
the Bible for thee to live upon forever. If thou
shouldst outnumber the years of Methuselah, there would
be no need for a fresh revelation; if thou shouldst
live till Christ should come upon the earth, there
would be no need for the addition of a single word; if
thou shouldst go down as deep as Jonah, or even descend
as David said he did into the belly of hell, still
there would be enough in the Bible to comfort thee
without a supplementary sentence. But Christ says, "He
shall take of mine, and show it unto you." Now, let me
just tell you briefly what it is the Holy Ghost tells
us.
Ah! does he not whisper to the heart, "Saint, be of
good cheer; there is one who died for thee; look to
Calvary, behold his wounds, see the torrent gushing
from his side-there is thy purchaser, and thou art
secure. He loves thee with an everlasting love, and
this chastisement is meant for thy good; each stroke is
working thy healing; by the blueness of the wound thy
soul is made better." "Whom he loveth he chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." Doubt not
his grace, because of thy tribulation; but believe that
he loveth thee as much in seasons of trouble, as in
times of happiness. And then, moreover, he says, "What
is all thy suffering compared with that of thy Lord's?
or what, when weighed in the scales of Jesus' agonies,
is all thy distress? And especially at times does the
Holy Ghost take back the veil of heaven, and lets the
soul behold the glory of the upperworld! Then it is
that the saint can say, "O thou art a Comforter to me!"
"Let cares like a wild deluge come,
And storms of sorrow fall;
May I but safely reach my home,
My God, my heaven, my all."
Some of you could follow, were I to tell of
manifestations of heaven. You, too, have left sun,
moon, and stars at your feet, while, in you flight,
outstripping the tardy lightning, you have seemed to
enter the gates of pearl, and tread the golden streets,
borne aloft on wings of the Spirit. But here we must
not trust ourselves; lest, lost in reverie, we forget
our theme.
III. And now, thirdly, who are the comforted persons? I
like, you know, at the end of my sermon to cry out,
"Divide! divide!" There are two parties here-some who
are comforted, and others who are the comfortless
ones-some who have received the consolations of the
Holy Ghost, and some who have not. Now let us try and
sift you, and see which is the chaff and which is the
wheat; and may God grant that some of the chaff may,
this night, be transformed into his wheat!
You may say, "How am I to know whether I am a recipient
of the comfort of the Holy Ghost?" You may know it by
one rule. If you have received one blessing from God,
you will receive all other blessings too. Let me
explain myself. If I could come here as an auctioneer,
and sell the gospel off in lots, I should dispose of it
all. If I could say, here is justification through the
blood of Christ-free; giving away, gratis; many a one
would say, "I will have justification; give it to me; I
wish to be justified; I wish to be pardoned." Suppose I
took sanctification, the giving up of all sin, a
thorough change of heart, leaving off drunkenness and
swearing; many would say, "I don't want that; I should
like to go to heaven, but I do not want that holiness;
I should like to be saved at last, but I should like to
have my drink still; I should like to enter glory, but
then I must have an oath or two on the road." Nay, but,
sinner, if thou hast one blessing, thou shalt have all.
God will never divide the gospel. He will not give
justification to that man, and sanctification to
another-pardon to one, and holiness to another. No, it
all goes together. Whom he call, them he justifies;
whom he justifies, them he sanctifies; and whom he
sanctifies, them he also glorifies. Oh; if I could lay
down nothing but the comforts of the gospel, ye would
fly to them as flies do to honey. When ye come to be
ill, ye send for the clergyman. Ah! you all want your
minister then to come and give you consoling words.
But, if he be an honest man, he will not give some of
you a particle of consolation. He will not commence
pouring oil, when the knife would be better. I want to
make a man feel his sins before I dare tell him
anything about Christ. I want to probe into his soul
and make him feel that he is lost before I tell him
anything about the purchased blessing. It is the ruin
of many to tell them, "Now just believe on Christ, and
that is all you have to do." If, instead of dying, they
get better, they rise up white-washed hypocrites-that
is all. I have heard of a city missionary who kept a
record of two thousand persons who were supposed to be
on their death-bed, but recovered, and whom he should
have put down as converted persons had they died; and
how many do you think lived a Christian life afterwards
out of the two thousand? Not two. Positively he could
only find one who was found to live afterwards in the
fear of God. Is it not horrible that when men and women
come to die, they should cry, "Comfort, comfort?" and
that hence their friends conclude that they are
children of God, while, after all, they have no right
to consolation, but are intruders upon the enclosed
grounds of the blessed God. O God, may these people
ever be kept from having comfort when they have no
right to it! Have you the other blessings? Have you had
the conviction of sin? Have you ever felt your guilt
before God? Have your souls been humbled at Jesus'
feet? And have you been made to look to Calvary alone
for your refuge? If not, you have no right to
consolation. Do not take an atom of it. The Spirit is a
convincer before he is a Comforter; and you must have
the other operations of the Holy Spirit, before you can
derive anything from this.
And now I have done. You have heard what this babbler
hath said once more. What has it been? Something about
the Comforter. But let me ask you, before you go, what
do you know about the Comforter? Each one of you,
before descending the steps of this chapel, let this
solemn question thrill through your souls-What do you
know of the Comforter? O! poor souls, if ye know not
the Comforter, I will tell you what you shall know-You
shall know the Judge! If ye know not the Comforter on
earth, ye shall know the Condemner in the next world,
who shall cry, "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire in hell." Well might Whitefield call out, "O
earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord!" If ye
were to live here forever, ye might slight the gospel;
if ye had a lease of your lives, ye might despise the
Comforter. But, sirs, ye must die. Since last we met
together, probably some have gone to their long last
home; and ere we meet again in this sanctuary, some
here will be amongst the glorified above, or amongst
the damned below. Which will it be? Let you soul
answer. If to-night you fell down dead in your pews, or
where you are standing in the gallery, where would you
be? in heaven or in hell? Ah! deceive not yourselves;
let conscience have its perfect work; and if in the
sight of God, you are obliged to say, "I tremble and
fear lest my portion should be with unbelievers,"
listen one moment, and then I have done with thee. "He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he
that believeth not shall be damned." Weary sinner,
hellish sinner, thou who art the devil's castaway,
reprobate, profligate, harlot, robber, thief,
adulterer, fornicator, drunkard, swearer, Sabbath-
breaker-list! I speak to thee as well as to the rest. I
exempt no man. God hath said there is no exemption
here. "Whosoever believeth on the name of Jesus Christ
shall be saved." Sin is no barrier; thy guilt is no
obstacle. Whosoever-though he were as black as Satan,
though he were filthy as a fiend-whosoever this night
believes, shall have every sin forgiven, shall have
every crime effaced; shall have ever iniquity blotted
out; shall be saved in the Lord Jesus Christ, and shall
stand in heaven safe and secure. That is the glorious
gospel. God apply it to your hearts, and give you faith
in Jesus!
"We have listened to the preacher-
Truth by him has now been shown;
But we want a GREATER TEACHER,
From the everlasting throne;
APPLICATION
Is the work of God alone."
Provided by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
internet: hyperlink
Box 318
Columbus, NJ 08022