 Preface. A Practical Religion. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Practical Religion by J. C. Ryle. Preface. The volume now in the reader's hands is intended to be a companion to two other volumes, which I have already published, entitled Notes Untied and Old Paths. Notes Untied consists of a connected series of papers systematically arranged about the principal points which form the subject of controversy among Churchmen in the present day. All who take interest in such disputed questions as the nature of the Church, the ministry, baptism, regeneration, the Lord's Supper, the real presence, worship, confession, and the Sabbath will find them pretty fully discussed in Notes Untied. Old Paths consists of a similar series of papers about those leading doctrines of the Gospel which are generally considered necessary to salvation. The inspiration of Scripture, sin, justification, forgiveness, repentance, conversion, faith, the work of Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit are the principal subjects handled in Old Paths. The present volume contains a series of papers about practical religion and treats of the daily duties, dangers, experiences, and privileges of all who profess and call themselves true Christians. Read in conjunction with another work I have previously put out called Holiness, I think it will throw some light on what every believer ought to be, to do, and expect. One common feature will be found in all the three volumes. I avow it frankly at the outset, and will not keep it back for a moment. The standpoint I have tried to occupy from first to last is that of an evangelical Churchman. I say this deliberately and emphatically. I am fully aware that evangelical Churchmanship is not popular and acceptable in this day. It is despised by many and has no form or comeliness in their eyes. To avow attachment to evangelical views in some quarters is to provoke a sneer, and to bring on yourself the reproach of being an unlearned and ignorant man. But none of these things move me. I am not ashamed of my opinions. After forty years of Bible reading and praying, meditation, and theological study, I find myself clinging more tightly than ever to evangelical religion. And more than ever satisfied with it. It wears well, it stands the fire. I know no system of religion which is better. In the faith of it I have lived for the third of a century. And in the faith of it I hope to die. The plain truth is I see no other ground to occupy and find no other rest for the soul of my foot. I lay no claim to infallibility and desire to be no man's judge. But the longer I live and read, the more I am convinced and persuaded that evangelical principles are the principles of the Bible, of the articles and prayer book, and of the leading divines of the Reformed Church of England. Holding these views, I cannot write otherwise than I have written. I now send forth this volume with an earnest prayer that God, the Holy Ghost, may bless it and make it useful and helpful to many souls. J.C. Ryle End of preface Chapter 1 of Practical Religion This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Practical Religion by J.C. Ryle Chapter 1 Self-Inquiry Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do. Acts 15.36 The text which heads this page contains a proposal which the apostle Paul made to Barnabas after their first missionary journey. He proposed to revisit the churches they had been the means of founding and to see how they were getting on. Were their members continuing steadfast in the faith? Were they growing in grace? Were they going forward or standing still? Were they prospering or falling away? Let us go again and visit our brethren and see how they do. This was a wise and useful proposal. Let us lay it to heart and apply it to ourselves in the 19th century. Let us search our ways and find out how matters stand between ourselves and God. Let us see how we do. I ask every reader of this volume to begin its perusal by joining me in self-inquiry. If ever self-inquiry about religion was needed, it is needed at the present day. We live in an age of peculiar spiritual privileges. Since the world began there never was such an opportunity for a man's soul to be saved as there is in England at this time. There never were so many signs of religion in the land. So many sermons preached. So many services held in churches and chapels. So many Bibles sold. So many religious books and tracts printed. So many societies for evangelizing mankind supported. So much outward respect paid to Christianity. Things are done everywhere nowadays which a hundred years ago would have been thought impossible. Bishops support the boldest and most aggressive efforts to reach the unconverted. Deans and chapters throw open the knaves of cathedrals for Sunday evening sermons. Clergy of the narrowest, high church school advocates special missions and vie with their evangelical brethren in proclaiming that going to church on Sunday is not enough to take a man to heaven. In short, there is a stirrer about religion nowadays to which there has been nothing like since England was a nation in which the clever skeptics and infidels cannot deny. If Romain and Vinn and Barrage and Rowlands and Grimshaw and Hervey had been told that such things would come to pass about a century after their deaths, they would have been tempted to say with the Samaritan noblemen if the Lord should make windows of heaven might such a thing be. 2 Kings 7 19 But the Lord has opened the windows of heaven. There is more taught nowadays in England of the real gospel and of the way of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ in one week than there was in a year in Romain's time. Surely I have a right to say that we live in an age of spiritual privileges, but are we any better for it? In an age like this it is well to ask how do we do about our souls? We live in an age of peculiar spiritual danger. Never perhaps since the world began was there such an immense amount of mere outward profession of religion as there is in the present day. A painfully large proportion of all the congregations in the land consists of unconverted people who know nothing of heart religion, never come to the Lord's table, and never confess Christ in their daily lives. Myriads of those who are always running after preachers and crowding to hear special sermons are nothing better than empty tubs and tinkling cymbals without a jot of real vital Christianity at home. The parable of the sower is continually receiving most vivid and painful illustrations. The wayside hearers, the stony ground hearers, the thorny ground hearers abound on every side. The life of many religious professors, I fear, in this age is nothing better than a continuous course of spiritual dram-drinking. They are always morbidly craving fresh excitement and they seem to care little what it is if they only get it. All preaching seems to come alike to them and they appear unable to see differences. So long as they hear what is clever, having their ears tickled, and sit in a crowd, worst of all there are hundreds of young, unestablished believers who are so infected with the same love of excitement that they actually think it a duty to be always seeking it. Insensibly almost to themselves they take up a kind of hysterical, sensational, sentimental Christianity until they are never content with the old paths and like the Athenians are always running after something new to see a calm-minded young believer who is not stuck up, self-confident, self-conceited, and more ready to teach than learn, but content with a daily steady effort to grow up in Christ's likeness and to do Christ's work quietly and un- ostentatiously at home is really becoming almost a rarity. Too many young professors, alas, behave like young recruits who have not spent all their bounty money. They show how little deep root they have and how little knowledge of their own hearts by noise, forwardness, readiness to contradict and set down old Christians and overweening trust in their own fancy soundness and wisdom. Well will it be for many young professors of this age if they do not end after being tossed about for a while and carried to and fro by every wind of doctrine by joining some petty, narrow-minded, sensorious sect or embracing some senseless, unreasoning, crotchety heresy. Surely, in times like these there is a great need for self-examination. When we look around us we may well ask, how do we do about our souls? In handling this question I think the shortest plan will be to suggest a list of subjects for self-inquiry and to go through them in order. By so doing I shall hope to meet the case of every one into whose hands this volume may fall. I invite every reader of this paper to join me in calm, searching self-examination for a few short minutes. I desire to speak to myself as well as to you. I approach you not as an enemy, but as a friend. My heart's desire and prayer to God is that you may be saved. Romans 10.1 Bear with me if I say things which at first sight look harsh and severe. Believe me, he is your best friend who tells you the most truth. 1. Let me ask, in the first place, do we ever think about our souls at all? Thousands of English people, I fear, cannot answer that question satisfactorily. They never give the subject of religion any place in their thoughts. From the beginning of the year to the end they are absorbed in the pursuit of business, pleasure, politics, money, or self-indulgence of some kind or another. Death and judgment and eternity and heaven and hell and a world to come are never calmly looked at and considered. They live on as if they were never going to die or rise again or stand at the bar of God or receive an eternal sentence. They do not openly oppose religion, for they have not sufficient reflection about it to do so, but they eat and drink and sleep and get money and spend money as if religion were a mere fiction and not a reality. They are neither Romanist nor Sosinians nor Infidels nor High Church nor Low Church nor Broad Church. They are just nothing at all and do not take the trouble to have opinions. A more senseless and unreasonable way of living cannot be conceived, but they do not pretend to reason about it. They simply never think about God unless frightened for a few minutes by sickness, death in their families, or an accident. Barring such interpretations they appear to ignore religion altogether and hold on their way, cool and undisturbed, as if there were nothing worth thinking of except this world. It is hard to imagine a life more unworthy of an immortal creature than such a life as I have just described, for it reduces a man to the level of a beast, but is literally and truly the life of multitudes in England, and as they pass away their place is taken by multitudes like them. The picture, no doubt, is horrible, distressing and revolting, but unhappily it is only too true. In every large town, in every market, on every stock exchange, in every club, you may see specimens of this class by scores. Men who think of everything under the sun except the one thing needful, the salvation of their souls. Like the Jews of old, they do not consider their ways, they do not consider their latter end, they do not consider that they do evil. Isaiah 1, 3, Haggai 1, 7, Deuteronomy 32, 29, Ecclesiastes 5, 1. Like Gallio they care for none of these things, they are not in their way. Acts 18, 17. If they prosper in the world and get rich and succeed in their line of life, they are praised and admired by their contemporaries. Nothing succeeds in England like success, but for all this they cannot live forever. They will have to die and appear before the bar of God and be judged. And then what will be their end? When a large class of this kind exist in our country, no reader need wonder that I ask whether he belongs to it. If you do, you ought to have a mark set on your door as there used to be a mark on a plague-stricken house two centuries ago, with the words, Lord, have mercy on us written on it. Look at the class I have been describing and then look at your own soul. 2. Let me ask, in the second place, whether we ever do anything about our souls. There are multitudes in England who think occasionally about religion, but unhappily never get beyond thinking. After a stirring sermon, or after a funeral, or under the pressure of illness, or on Sunday evening, or when things are going on badly in their families, or when they meet some bright example of a Christian, or when they fall with some striking religious book or track, they will at the time think a good deal and even talk a little about religion in a vague way, but they stop short, as if thinking and talking were enough to save them. They are always meaning and intending and proposing and resolving and wishing and telling us that they know what is right and hope to be found right at last, but they never attain to any action. There is no actual separation from the service of the world and sin, no real taking up the cross and following Christ, no positive doing in their Christianity. Their life is spent in plain the part of the Son in our Lord's parable, to whom the Father said, Go, work in my vineyard, and he answered, I go, sir, and went not. Matthew 2130 They are like those whom Ezekiel describes, who liked his preaching, but never practiced what he preached. They come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them, and lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument, for they hear thy words, but they do them not. Ezekiel 3331 32 In a day like this, when hearing and thinking without doing is so common, no one can justly wonder that I press upon men the absolute need of self-examination. Once more, then, I ask my readers to consider the question of my text. How do we do about our souls? 3. Let me ask, in the third place, whether we are trying to satisfy our consciences with a mere formal religion, there are myriads in England at this moment who are making shipwreck on this rock. Like the Pharisees of old, they make much ado about the outward part of Christianity, while the inward and spiritual part is totally neglected. They are careful to attend all the services of their place of worship, and regular in using all its forms and ordinances. They are never absent from communion when the Lord's Supper is administered. Sometimes they are most strict in observing Lent, and attach great importance to Saints' Day. They are often keen partisans of their own church or sect or congregation and ready to contend with anyone who does not agree with them. Yet all this time there is no heart in their religion. Anyone who knows them intimately can see with half an eye that their affections are set on things below and not on things above, and that they are trying to make up for the want of inward Christianity by an excessive quantity of outward form, and this former religion does them no real good. They are not satisfied. Beginning at the wrong end by making the outward things first, they know nothing of inward joy and peace, and pass their lives in a constant struggle, secretly conscious that there is something wrong and yet not knowing why. Well, after all, if they do not go on from one stage of formality to another, until in despair they take a fatal plunge and fall into poppery, when professing Christians of this kind are so painfully numerous, no one need wonder if I press upon him the paramount importance of close self-examination. If you love life, do not be content with the husk and shell and scaffolding of religion. Remember our Saviour's words about the Jewish formalist of his day. This people drawth nigh with their mouth and honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship. Matthew 15.9 It needs something more than going diligently to church and receiving the Lord's Supper to take our souls to heaven. Means of grace and forms of religion are useful in their way, and God seldom does anything for his church without them. But let us beware of making shipwreck on the very lighthouse which helps to show the channel into the harbor. Once more I ask, how do we do about our souls? For, let me ask, in the fourth place, whether we have received the forgiveness of our sins, few reasonable Englishmen would think of denying that they are sinners. Many perhaps would say that they are not so bad as many that they have not been so very wicked and so forth, but few, I repeat, would pretend to say that they have always lived like angels and never done or said or thought a wrong thing all their days. In short, all of us must confess that we are more or less sinners and as sinners are guilty before God and as guilty we must be forgiven or lost and condemned forever at the last day. Now, it is the glory of the Christian religion that it provides for us the very forgiveness that we need, full, free, perfect, eternal and complete. It is a leading article in that well-known creed which most Englishmen learn when they are children. They are taught to say, I believe in the forgiveness of sins. This forgiveness of sins has been purchased for us by the eternal Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. He has purchased it for us by coming into the world to be our Saviour and by living, dying and rising again as our substitute in our behalf. He has bought it for us at the price of his own most precious blood by the suffering in our stead on the cross and making satisfaction for our sins. But this forgiveness, great and full and glorious as it is, does not become the property of every man and woman as a matter of course. It is not a privilege which every member of a church possesses, merely because he is a churchman. It is a thing which each individual must receive for himself by his own personal faith. Lay hold on by faith, appropriate by faith, and make his own by faith, or else so far as he is concerned Christ will have died in vain. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideeth on him. John 3.36 No terms can be imagined more simple and more suitable to man. As good old Latimer said in speaking of the matter of justification, it is but believe and have. It is only faith that is required, and faith is nothing more than the humble, heartfelt thrust of the soul which desires to be saved. Jesus is able and willing to save, but man must come to Jesus and believe. All that believe are at once justified and forgiven, but without believing there is no forgiveness at all. Now here is exactly the point, I am afraid, where multitudes of English people fail, and are in imminent danger of being lost forever. They know that there is no forgiveness of sin accepting in Christ Jesus. They can tell you that there is no Saviour for sinners, no Redeemer, no Mediator accepting Him, who was born of the Virgin Mary, and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, dead and buried. But here they stop and go no further. They never come to the point of actually laying hold on Christ by faith, and becoming one with Christ and Christ in them. They can say He is a Saviour, but not my Saviour. A Redeemer, but not my Redeemer. A Priest, but not my Priest. An Advocate, but not my Advocate. And so they live and die unforgiven. No wonder that Martin Luther said many are lost because they cannot use possessive pronouns. When this is the state of many in this day, no one need wonder that I ask men whether they have received the forgiveness of sins. An imminent Christian lady once said, in her old age, the beginning of eternal life in my soul was a conversation I had with an old gentleman who came to visit my father when I was only a little girl. He took me by the hand one day and said, My dear child, my life is nearly over and you will probably live many years after I am gone. But never forget two things. One is that there is such a thing as having our sins forgiven while we live. The other is that there is such a thing as knowing and feeling that we are forgiven. I thank God I have never forgotten His words. How is it with us? Let us not rest till we know and feel as the prayer book says that we are forgiven. Once more, let us ask, in the matter of forgiveness of sins, how do we do? Five, let me ask in the fifth place, whether we know anything by experience of conversion to God. Without conversion there is no salvation. Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Matthew 18 3 John 3 3 Romans 8 9 Corinthians 5 17 We are all by nature so weak, so worldly, so earthly-minded, so inclined to sin, that without a thorough change we cannot serve God in love and could not enjoy Him after death. Just as ducks, as soon as they are hatched, take naturally to water, so do children, as soon as they can do anything, take to selfishness, line, deceit, and none pray or love God unless they are taught. High or low, rich or poor, gentle or simple, we all need a complete change, a change which it is the special office of the Holy Ghost to give us. Call it what ye please, a new birth, a new generation, renewal, new creation, quickening, repentance, the thing must be had if we are to be saved, and if we have the thing it will be seen. Sense of sin and deep hatred to it, faith in Christ and love to Him, delight in holiness and longing after more of it, love to God's people, and distaste for the things these, these are the signs and evidences which always accompany conversion, myriads around us, it may be fear, know nothing about it. They are, in Scripture language, dead and asleep, and blind, and unfit for the kingdom of God. Year after year, perhaps, they go on repeating the words of the Creed, I believe in the Holy Ghost, but they are utterly ignorant of his changing operations on the inward man. Sometimes they flatter themselves they are born again, because they have been baptized, or go to church, and receive the Lord's Supper, while they are totally destitute of the marks of the new birth, as described by St. John in his first epistle, and all this time the words of the Scripture are clear and plain, except ye be converted, ye shall in no case into the kingdom. Matthew 18.3 In times like these no reader ought to wonder that I press the subject of conversion on men's souls. No doubt there are plenty of sham conversions in such a day of religious excitement as this, but bad coin is no proof that there is no good money. Nay, rather it is a sign that there is some money current, which is valuable, and is worth imitation. Hypocrites and sham Christians are indirect evidence that there is such a thing as real grace among men. Let us search our own hearts then, and see how it is with ourselves. Once more let us ask in the matter of conversion, how do we do? 6. Let me ask in the sixth place, whether we know anything of practical Christian holiness. It is as certain as anything in the Bible that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Hebrews 12.14 It is equally certain that it is the invariable fruit of saving faith, the real test of regeneration, the only sound evidence of indwelling grace, the certain consequence of vital union with Christ. Holiness is not absolute perfection and freedom from all faults, nothing of the kind. The wild words of some who talk of enjoying unbroken communion with God for many months are greatly to be deprecated because they raise unscriptural expectations in the minds of young believers, and so do harm. Absolute perfection is for heaven and not for earth, where we have a weak body, a wicked world and a busy devil continually near our souls, nor is real Christian holiness ever attained or maintained without a constant fight and struggle. The great apostle who said, I fight, I labor, I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. 1 Corinthians 9.27 Would have been amazed to hear of sanctification without personal exertion and to be told that believers only need to sit still and everything will be done for them. Yet weak and imperfect as the holiness of the best saints may be, it is a real true thing and has a character about it as unmistakable as light and salt. It is not a thing which begins and ends with noisy profession. It will be seen much more than heard. Genuine scriptural holiness will make a man do his duty at home and by the fireside and adorn his doctrine in the little trials of daily life. It will exhibit itself in passive graces as well as an active. It will make a man humble, kind, gentle, unselfish, good-tempered, considerate for others, loving, meek, and forgiving. It will not constrain him to go out of the world and shut himself up in a cave like a hermit, but it will make him do his duty in that state to which God has called him on Christian principles and after the pattern of Christ. Such holiness, I know well, is not common. It is a style of practical Christianity which is painfully rare in these days. But I can find no other standard of holiness in the Word of God, no other which comes up to the pictures drawn by our Lord and His Apostles. In an age like this no reader can wonder if I press this subject also on men's attention. Once more, let us ask, in the matter of holiness, how is it with our souls? How do we do? 7. Let me ask, in the seventh place, whether we know anything of enjoying the means of grace. When I speak of the means of grace, I have in my mind's eye five principal things. The reading of the Bible, private prayer, public worship, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and the rest of the Lord's day. They are means which God has graciously appointed to convey grace to man's heart by the Holy Ghost, or to keep up the spiritual life after it has begun. As long as the world stands, the state of a man's soul will always depend greatly on the manner and spirit in which he uses means of grace. The manner and spirit I say deliberately and of purpose. Many English people use the means of grace regularly and formally, but know nothing of enjoying them. They attend to them as a matter of duty, but without a jot of feeling, interest, or affection. Yet even common sense might tell us that this formal, mechanical use of holy things is utterly worthless and unprofitable. Our feeling about them is just one of the many tests of the state of our souls. How can that man have thought to love God who reads about him and his Christ as a mere matter of duty, content and satisfied if he has just moved his mark on word over so many chapters? How can that man suppose he is ready to meet Christ, who never takes any trouble to pour out his heart to him in private as a friend, and is satisfied with saying over a string of words every morning and evening scarcely thinking about what he is about? How could that man be happy in heaven forever? Who finds the Sunday a dull, gloomy, tiresome day? Who knows nothing of hearty prayer and praise, and cares nothing whether he hears truth or error from the pulpit, or scarcely listens to the sermon? What can be the spiritual condition of that man whose heart never burns without him when he receives that bread and wine which spiritually reminds us of Christ's death on the cross and the atonement for sin? These inquiries are very serious and important if means of grace had no other use and were not mighty helps toward heaven they would be useful in supplying a test of our real state in the sight of God. Tell me what a man does in the matter of Bible reading and praying in the matter of Sunday, and the Lord's Supper, and I will soon tell you what he is and on which road he is traveling. How is it with ourselves? Once more let us ask in the matter of means of grace how do we do? 8. Let me ask in the 8th place whether we ever try to do any good in the world. Our Lord Jesus Christ was continually going about doing good when he was on the earth. Acts 10.13 The apostles and all the disciples in Bible times were always striving to walk in his steps. A Christian who was content to go to heaven himself and cared not what became of others whether they lived happy and died in peace or not what had been regarded as a kind of monster in primitive times who had not the spirit of Christ why should we suppose for a moment that a lower standard will suffice in the present day? Why should fig trees which bear no fruit be spared in the present day when in our Lord's time they were cut down as cucumbers of the ground? Luke 13.7 These are serious inquiries and demand serious answers. There is a generation of professing Christians nowadays who seem to know nothing of caring for their neighbors and are wholly swallowed up in the concerns of number one that is their own and their families. They eat and drink and sleep and dress and work and get money and spend money year after year and whether others are happy or miserable well or ill converted or unconverted traveling toward heaven or toward hell appear to be questions about which they are supremely indifferent. Can this be right? Can it be reconciled with the religion of him who spoke the parable of the Good Samaritan and bait us to go and do likewise? Luke 10.37 I doubt it altogether. There is much to be done on every side. There is not a place in England where there is not a field for work and an open door for being useful if anyone is willing to enter it. There is not a Christian in England who cannot find some good work to do for others if he has only a heart to do it. The poorest man or woman without a single penny to give can always show his deep sympathy to the sick and sorrowful and by simple good nature and tender helpfulness can lessen the misery and embrace the comfort of somebody in this troubled world. But alas the vast majority of professing Christians whether rich or poor churchmen or dissenters seem possessed with a devil of detestable selfishness and know not the luxury of doing good. They can argue by the hour about baptism and the Lord's Supper and the forms of worship and the state and such like dry bone questions but all this time they seem to care nothing for their neighbors the plain practical point whether they love their neighbor as the Samaritan love the traveler in the parable and can spare any time in trouble to do him good is a point they never touch with one of their fingers. In too many English parishes both in town and country seems almost dead both in church and chapel and wretched party spirit and controversy are the only fruits that Christianity appears to produce. In a day like this no reader should wonder if I press this plain old subject on his conscience. Do we know anything of genuine Samaritan love to others? Do we ever try to do any good to anyone beside our own friends and relatives and our own party or cause? Are we living like disciples of him who always went about doing good and commanded his disciples to take him for their example? John 1315 if not with what face shall we meet him in the judgment day? In this matter also how is it with our souls? Once more I ask 2 9 Let me ask in the 9th place whether we know anything of living the life of habitual communion with Christ. By communion I mean that habit of abiding in Christ which our Lord speaks of in the 15th chapter of St. John's Gospel as essential to the Christian fruitfulness. John 154-8 Let it be distinctly understood that union with Christ is one thing and communion is another. There can be no communion with the Lord Jesus without union first, but unhappily there may be union with the Lord Jesus and afterwards little or no communion at all. The difference between the two things is not the difference between two distinct steps but the difference between the higher and lower ends of an inclined plane. Is the common privilege of all who feel their sins and truly repent and come to Christ by faith and are accepted forgiven and justified in him. Too many believers it may be feared never get beyond this stage partly from ignorance partly from laziness partly from fear of man partly from secret love of the world partly from some God in sin they are content with a little faith and a little hope and a little peace and a little measure of holiness and they live on all their lives in this condition doubting, weak, halting and bearing fruit only 30 fold to the very end of their days. Communion with Christ is the privilege of those who are continually striving to grow in grace and knowledge and conformity to the mind of Christ in all things who do not look to the things behind and count not themselves to have attained but press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Philippians 3.14 Union is the bud but communion is the flower union is the babe but communion is the strongman he that has union with Christ does well but he that enjoys communion with him does far better both have one life one hope one heavenly seed in their hearts one Lord one Savior one Holy Spirit one eternal home but union is not so good as communion the grand secret of communion with Christ continually living the life of faith in him and drawing out of him every hour the supply that every hour requires to me said St. Paul to live as Christ I live yet not I but Christ liveeth in me Galatians 2.20 Philippians 1.21 Communion like this is the secret of the abiding joy and peace in believing which imminent saints like Bradford and Rutherford notoriously possessed none were ever more humble or more deeply convinced of their own infirmities and corruption they would have told you that the 7th chapter of Romans precisely described their own experience they would have endorsed every word of the confession put into the mouths of true believers in our prayer book communion service they would have said continually the remembrance of our sins is grievous unto us the burden of them is intolerable but they were ever looking unto Jesus and in him they were ever able to rejoice communion like this is the secret of the splendid victories which such men as these won over sin the world and the fear of sin they did not sit still idly saying I leave it all to Christ to do it for me but strong in the Lord they use the divine nature he had implanted in them boldly and confidently and were more than conquerors through him that loved them Romans 8.37 like Saint Paul they would have said I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me Philippians 4.13 ignorance of this life of communion is one among many reasons why so many in this age are hankering after the confessional and strange views of the real presence in the Lord supper such errors often spring from imperfect knowledge of Christ and obscure views of life of faith in a risen living and interceding saviour is communion with Christ like this a common thing alas it is very rare indeed the greater part of believers seem content with the barest elementary knowledge of justification by faith and a half a dozen other doctrines and go doubting, limping halting, groaning along the way to heaven experience little either of the sense of victory or joy the churches of these later days are full of weak, powerless and uninfluential believers saved at last but so as by fire but never shaking the world and knowing nothing of an abundant entrance 1 Corinthians 3.15 2 Peter 1.11 despondency and feeble mind and much afraid in pilgrims progress reached the celestial city as really and truly as valiant for the truth and great heart but they certainly did not reach it with the same comfort and did not do a tenth part of the same good in the world I fear there are many like them in these days when things are so in the churches no reader can wonder how it is with our souls once more I ask in the matter of communion with Christ how do we do 10 let me ask in the tenth and last place whether we know anything of being ready for Christ's second coming that he will come again the second time is as certain as anything in the Bible the world has not yet seen the last of him surely as he went up visibly and in the body on the Mount of Olives before the eyes of his disciples so surely will he come again in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory Acts 1.11 he will come to raise the dead to change the living to reward his saints to punish the wicked to renew the earth and take the curse away to purify the world even as he purified the temple and to set up a kingdom where sin shall have no place and holiness shall be the universal rule the creeds which we repeat and profess to believe continually declare that Christ is coming again the ancient Christians made it a part of their religion to look for his return backward they looked to the cross and the atonement for sin and rejoiced in Christ crucified upward they looked to Christ at the right hand of God and rejoiced in Christ interceding forward they looked to the promised return of their master and rejoiced in the thought that they would see him again and we ought to do the same what have we really got from Christ and what do we know of him and what do we think of him are we living as if we long to see him again and love his appearing readiness for that appearing is nothing more than being a real consistent Christian it requires no man to cease from his daily business the farmer need not give up his farm nor the shopkeeper his counter nor the doctor his patients nor the carpenter his hammer and nails nor the bricklayer his mortar and trowel nor the blacksmith his smithy each and all cannot do better than be found doing his duty but doing it as a Christian and with the heart packed up and ready to be gone in the face of truth like this no reader can feel surprised if I ask how is it with our souls in the matter of Christ's second coming the world is growing old and running to seed the vast majority of Christians seem like the men in the time of Noah and Lot who were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage planting and building up to the very day when flood and fire came those words of our master are very solemn and heart searching remember Lot's wife take heed lest at any time your heart be overcharged with the cares of this life and that day come upon you unawares 17 32 21 34 once more I ask in the matter of readiness for Christ's second coming how do we do I end my inquiries here I might easily add to them but I trust I have said enough at the beginning of this volume to stir up self-inquiry and self-examination in many minds God is my witness that I have said nothing that I do not feel of paramount importance to my own soul I only want to do good to others let me now conclude all with a few words of practical application is any reader of this paper asleep and utterly thoughtless about religion oh awake and sleep no more look at the church yards and cemeteries one by one the people around you are dropping into them and you must lie there one day look forward to a world to come and lay your hand on your heart and say if you dare that you are fit to die and meet God ah you are like one sleeping in a boat drifting down the stream toward the falls of Niagara what meanest thou oh sleeper arise and call upon thy God thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give the light Jonah 1 6 Ephesians 5 14 B is any reader of this paper feeling self-condemned and afraid that there is no hope for his soul cast aside your fears and accept the offer of our Lord Jesus Christ to sinners hear him saying come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Matthew 11 28 if any man thirst let him come unto me and drink John 7 37 him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out John 6 37 do not that these words are for you as well as for anyone else bring all your sins and unbelief and sense of guilt and unfitness and doubtness and infirmities bring all to Christ this man receiveth sinners and he will receive you Luke 15 2 still halting between two options and waiting for a convenient season arise he calleth thee come to Christ this very day Mark 10 49 C is any reader of this paper a professing believer in Christ but a believer without much joy and peace and comfort take advice this day search your own heart and see whether the fault be not entirely your own very likely you are sitting at ease content with a little faith and a little repentance a little grace and a little sanctification and unconsciously shrinking back from extremes you will never be a very happy Christian at this rate if you live to the age of Methuselah change your plan of life and would see good days without delay come out boldly and act decidedly be thorough very thorough in your Christianity and set your face fully toward the sun lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset you strive to get nearer to Christ to abide in him and to sit at his feet like Mary and drink full drots out of the fountain of life these things says St. John we write unto you that your joy may be full 1 John 1 4 if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another 1 John 1 7 D is any reader of this paper a believer oppressed with doubts and fears on account of his feebleness infirmity and sense of sin remember the text that says of Jesus a bruised reed will he not break and smoking flax shall he not quench Matthew 12 20 take comfort in the thought that this text is for you what though your faith be feeble it is better than no faith at all the least grain of life is better than death perhaps you are expecting too much in this world earth is not heaven you are yet in the body expect little from self but much from Christ look more to Jesus and less to self finally is any reader of this paper sometimes downcast by the trials he meets within the way to heaven bodily trials family trials trials of circumstances trials from neighbors and trials from the world look up to a sympathizing savior at God's right hand and pour out your heart before him he can be touched with the feeling of your infirmities for he suffered himself being tempted are you alone so was he are you misrepresented and culminated so was he are you forsaken by friends so was he are you persecuted so was he are you wearied in body and grieved in spirit so was he he can feel for you and he can help as well as feel then learn to draw nearer to Christ the time is short yet a little time and all will be over we shall soon be with the Lord there is an end and thine expectation shall not be cut off Proverbs 23 18 ye have need of patience that after ye have done the will of God ye might receive the promise for yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Hebrews 10 36 37 End of Chapter 1 Chapter 2 of Practical Religion by J. C. Rye this LibriVox recording is in the public domain Self Exertion Strive to enter in at the straight gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able Luke 13 24 there was once a man who asked our Lord Jesus Christ a very deep question he said to him Lord are there few saved who this man was we do not know what his motive was for asking this question we are not told perhaps he wished to gratify an idle curiosity perhaps he wanted an excuse for not seeking salvation himself the Holy Ghost has kept back all this from us the name and motive of the inquirer are both hidden but one thing is very clear the vast importance of the saying of our Lord to which the question gave rise Jesus sees the opportunity to direct the minds of all around him to their own plain duty he knew the train of thought which the man's inquiry had set moving in their hearts he saw what was going on within them Strive he cries to enter in at the straight gate whether there be few saved or many your course is clear strive to enter in now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation a day shall come when many will seek to enter in and shall not be able strive to enter in now I desire to call the serious attention of all who read this paper to the solemn lessons which this saying of the Lord Jesus is meant to teach it is one which deserves special remembrance in the present day it teaches unmistakably that mighty truth our own personal responsibility for the salvation of our souls it shows the immense danger of putting off the great business of religion as so many unhappily do on both these points the witness of our Lord Jesus Christ in the text is clear he who is the eternal God and who spoke the words of perfect wisdom says to the sons of men strive to enter in at the straight gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able one here is a description of the way of salvation Jesus calls it the straight gate here is a plain command Jesus says strive to enter here is an awful prophecy Jesus says many will seek to enter in and shall not be able may the holy ghost apply the subject to the hearts of all into whose hands this paper may fall may all who read it know the way of salvation experimentally obey the command of the Lord practically and be found safe in the great day of his second coming one here is a description of the way of salvation Jesus calls it the straight gate there is a gate which leads to pardon peace with God and heaven whosoever goes in by that gate shall be saved never surely was a gate more needed sin a vast mountain between man and God how shall a man climb over it sin is a high wall between man and God how shall man get through it sin is a deep gulf between man and God how shall man cross over it God is in heaven holy, pure, spiritual undefiled light without any darkness at all a being who cannot bear which is evil or look upon iniquity man is a fallen worm crawling on earth for a few years sinful, corrupt, airing defective a being whose imagination is only evil and whose heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked how shall man and God be brought together how shall man ever draw near fear and shame blessed be God there is a way there is a road, there is a path there is a door it is the gate spoken of in the words of Christ the straight gate this gate was made for sinners by the Lord Jesus Christ from all eternity he covenanted and engaged that he would make it in the fullness of time he came into the world and made it by his own atoning death on the cross by that death he made satisfaction for man's sin paid man's debt to God and bore man's punishment he built a great gate at the cost of his own body and blood he reared a ladder on earth whose top reached to heaven he made a door by which the chief of sinners may enter into the holy presence of God and not be afraid he opened a road by which the vilest of men believing in him may draw near to God and have peace he cries to us I am the door by me if any man enter in he shall be saved John 10 9 I am the way no man cometh under the father but by me John 14 6 by him says Paul we have boldness and access with confidence Ephesians 3 12 thus was the gate of salvation formed this gate is called the straight gate and it is not called so without cause it is always straight narrow and difficult to pass through to some persons long as the world stands it is narrow to all who love sin and are determined not to part with it it is narrow to all who set their affection on this world and seek first its pleasures and rewards it is narrow to all who dislike trouble and are unwilling to take pains and make sacrifices for their souls it is narrow to all who like and want to keep in with the crowd it is narrow to all who are self righteous and think they are good people and deserve to be saved to all such the great gate which Christ made is narrow and straight in vain they seek to pass through the gate will not admit them God is not unwilling to receive them they are not too many to be forgiven but they are not willing to be saved in God's way thousands for the last 18 centuries have tried to make the gate wider thousands have worked and toiled to get to heaven on lower terms but the gate never alters it is not elastic it will not stretch to accommodate one man more than another it is still the straight gate the great as this gate is it is the only one by which men can get to heaven there is no side door there is no by path there is no gap or low place in the wall all that are ever saved will be saved only by Christ and only by simple faith in him not one will be saved by repentance today's sorrow does not wipe off yesterday's score not one will be saved by his own works the best works that any man can do are little better than splendid sins not one will be saved by his formal regularity in the use of the outward means of grace when we have done all we are poor unprofitable servants oh no it is mere waste of time to seek any other road to eternal life men may look right and left and weary themselves with their own devices but they will never find another door proud men dislike the gate if they will prolificate men may scoff at it and make a jest of those who use it lazy men may complain that the way is hard but men will discover no other salvation than that of faith in the blood and righteousness of a crucified redeemer there stands between us and heaven one great gate it may be straight but it is the only one we must either enter heaven by the straight gate or not at all straight as this gate is it is a gate ever ready to open no centers of any kind are forbidden to draw near so ever will may enter in and be saved there is but one condition of admission that condition is that you really feel your sins and desire to be saved by Christ in his own way aren't thou really sensible of thy guilt and vileness hast thou a truly broken and contrite heart behold the gate of salvation and come in he that made it him that cometh unto me I will in no eyes cast out John 637 the question to be considered is not whether you are a great sinner or a little sinner whether you are elect or not whether you are converted or not the question is simply this do you feel your sins do you feel laboring and heavy laden are you willing to put your soul into Christ's hands then if that be the case the gate will open to you at once come in this very day wherefore standest thou without Genesis 2431 straight as this gate is it is one through which thousands have gone in and been saved no sinner was ever turned back and told he was too bad to be admitted if he came really sick of his sins thousands of all sorts have been received, cleansed, washed pardoned, clothed and made errors of eternal life some of them seem very unlikely to be admitted you and I might have thought they were too bad to be saved but he that built the gate did not refuse them as soon as they knocked he gave orders that they should be let in Manasseh, king of Judah went up to this gate none could have been worse than he he had despised his good father Hezekiah's example and advice he had bowed down to idols he had filled Jerusalem with bloodshed and cruelty he had slain his own children but as soon as his eyes were open to his sins he fled to the gate for pardon the gate flew wide open and he was saved Saul the Pharisee went up to this gate he had been a great offender he had been a blasphemer of Christ and a persecutor of Christ's people he had labored hard to stop the progress of the gospel but as soon as his heart was touched and he found out his own guilt and fled to the gate for pardon at once the gate flew wide open and he was saved the Jews who crucified our Lord went up to this gate they had been grievous sinners indeed they had refused and rejected their own Messiah they had delivered him to Pilate and entreated that he might be slain they had desired Barabbas to be let go and the Son of God to be crucified but in the day when they were pricked to the heart by Peter's preaching they fled to the gate for pardon and at once the gate flew open and they were saved the jailer at Philippi went up to this gate he had been a cruel hard godless man he had done all in his power to ill treat Paul and his companion he had thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks but when his conscience was aroused by the earthquake and his mind enlightened by Paul's teaching he fled to the gate for pardon and at once the gate flew open and he was saved but why need I stop short in Bible examples why should I not say that multitudes have gone to the straight gate since the days of the apostles and have entered in by it and been saved thousands of all ranks classes and ages learned and unlearned rich and poor old and young have tried the gate and found it ready to open have gone through it and found peace to their souls yes, thousands of persons yet living have made proof of the gate and found it the way to real happiness noblemen and commoners merchants and bankers soldiers and sailors farmers and tradesmen laborers and workmen are still upon earth who have found the straight gate to be a way of pleasantness a path of peace they have not brought up an evil report of the country inside they have found Christ's yoke to be easy and is burdened to be light their only regret has been that so few enter in and that they themselves did not enter in before this is the gate which I want everyone to enter into whose hand this paper may fall I want you not merely to go to church or chapel but to go with heart and soul to the gate of life I want you not merely to believe there is such a gate and to think it a good thing but to enter by faith and be saved think what a privilege it is to have a gate at all the angels who kept not their first estate fell never to rise again the door of escape opened the heathen never heard of any way to eternal life what would not many a black man and many a red man give if he only heard one plain sermon about Christ the Jews in Old Testament times only saw the gate dimly and far away the way into the holiest was not made manifest while the first tabernacle was standing Hebrews 9.8 you have the gate set plainly before you you have Christ and full salvation offered to you without money and without price you never need be at a loss which way to turn oh consider what a mercy this is beware that you do not despise the gate and perish in unbelief better a thousand times not to know of the gate than to know of it and yet tarry outside how indeed will you escape if you neglect so great salvation think what a thankful man you ought to be if you have really gone in at the straight gate to be pardoned forgiven justified soul to be ready for sickness death judgment and eternity to be ever provided for souls surely this is a matter for daily praise true Christians ought to be more full of thanksgiving than they are I fear that few sufficiently remember what they were by nature and what debtors they are to grace a heathen remarked that singing hymns of praise was one special mark of the early Christians well would it be for Christians if they knew more of this frame of mind it is no mark of a healthy state of soul when there is much complaining and little praise it is an amazing mercy that there is any gate of salvation at all but it is still greater mercy when we are taught to enter by it and be saved too in the second place here is a plane command Jesus says to us strive to enter in at the straight gate there is often much to be learned in a single word of scripture the words of our Lord Jesus in particular are always full of matter for thought here's a word which is a striking example of what I mean let us see what the great teacher would have us gather out of the word strive strive teaches that a man must use his means diligently if he would have his soul saved there are means which God has appointed to help man in his endeavors to approach him there are ways in which a man must walk if he desires to be found of Christ public worship reading the bible hearing the gospel preached these are the kind of things to which I refer they lie to God doubtless no one can change his own heart or wipe away one of his sins or make himself in the least agree acceptable to God but I do say that if man could do nothing but sit still Christ would never have said strive strive teaches that man is a free agent and will be dealt with by God as a responsible being I call that miserable religion which teaches people to be content with saying we can do nothing of ourselves and makes them continue in sin it is as bad as teaching people that it is not their fault if they are not converted and that God only is to blame if they are not saved I find no such theology in the New Testament I hear Jesus say to sinners come repent believe labor ask seek knock I see plainly that our salvation from first to last is entirely of God but I see with no less plainness that our ruin if lost is holy and entirely of ourselves I maintain that sinners are always addressed as accountable and responsible and I want no better proof of this than is contained in the word strive strive teaches that a man must expect many adversaries in a hard battle if he would have his soul saved and this as a matter of experience is strictly true there are no gains without pains in spiritual things any more than in temporal that roaring lion the devil never let a soul escape from him without a struggle the heart which is naturally sensual and earthly will never be turned to spiritual things without a daily fight the world with all its opposition and temptations will never be overcome without a conflict but why should all this surprise us what great and good thing was ever done without trouble without plowing and sowing riches are not obtained without care and attention success in life is not one without hardships and toil and heaven above all is not to be reached without the cross and the battle the violent take the kingdom by force Matthew 1112 a man must strive teaches that it is worthwhile for a man to seek salvation that may well be said if there be anything that deserves a struggle in this world it is the prosperity of the soul the objects for which the great majority of men strive are comparatively poor and trifling things riches and greatness and rank and learning are a corruptible crown the incorruptible things are all within the straight gate the peace of God which passeth all understanding the bright hope of good things to come the sense of the spirit dwelling in us the consciousness that we are pardoned safe ready insured provided for in time and eternity whatever may happen these are true gold and durable riches well may the Lord Jesus call on us to strive strive teaches that laziness in religion is a great sin it is not merely a misfortune as some fancy a thing for which people are to be pitied in a matter for regret it is something far more than this it is a breach of a plain commandment what shall be said of the man who transgresses God's law and does something which God says thou shalt not do there can be but one answer he is a sinner sin is the transgression of the law 1st John 3 4 and what shall be said of the man who neglects his soul and makes no effort to enter the straight gate there can be only one reply he is emitting a positive duty Christ says to him strive and behold he sits still strive teaches that all outside the straight gate are in great danger they are in danger of being lost forever there is but a step between them and death if death finds them in their present condition they will perish without hope the Lord Jesus saw that clearly he knew the uncertainty of life and the shortness of time he would feign have sinners make haste and delay not lest they put off soul business too late he speaks as one who saw the devil drawing near to them daily and the days of their life gradually ebbing away he would have them take heed they be not too late therefore he cries strive strive raises solemn thoughts in my mind it is brim full of condemnation for thousands of baptized persons it condemns the ways and practices of multitudes who profess and call themselves Christians many there are who neither swear nor murder nor commit adultery nor steal nor lie but one thing unhappily said of them they cannot be said to strive to be saved the spirit of slumber possesses their hearts in everything that concerns religion about things of the world they are active enough they rise early and late take rest they labor they toil they are busy they are careful what shall I say of those who are irregular about public worship on Sundays there are thousands all over Great Britain who answer this description sometimes if they feel disposed they go to some church or chapel and attend a religious service at other times they stay home and read the paper or idle about or look over their accounts excuse me is this striving I speak to men of common sense let them judge what I say what shall I say of those who come regularly to a place of worship become entirely as a matter of form there are many in every parish of Great Britain in this condition their fathers taught them to come their custom has always been to come it would not be respectable to stay away but they care nothing for the worship of God when they do come whether they hear law or gospel, truth or error it is all the same to them they remember nothing afterwards they put off their form of religion with their Sunday clothes and return to the world is this striving I speak to men of common sense let them judge what I say what shall I say of those who sell them or read the Bible there are thousands of persons I fear who answer this description they know the book by name they know it is commonly regarded as the only book which teaches us how to live and how to die but they can never find time for reading it newspapers, reviews novels, romances they can read but not the Bible and is this striving to enter in men of common sense let them judge what I say what shall I say to those who never pray there are multitudes I firmly believe in this condition without God they rise in the morning and without God they lie down at night they ask nothing they confess nothing they return thanks for nothing they seek nothing they are all dying creatures and yet they are not even on speaking terms with their maker and their judge is this striving I speak to men of common sense let them judge what I say it is a solemn thing to be a minister of the gospel it is a painful thing to look on and notice the ways of mankind and spiritual matters we hold in our hands that great statute book of God which declares that without repentance and conversion and faith in Christ and holiness no man living can be saved in discharge of our office we urge on men to repent believe and be saved but alas how frequently we have to lament that our labor seems all in vain men attend our churches and listen and approve but do not strive to be saved we show the sinfulness of sin we unfold the loveliness of Christ we expose the vanity of the world we set forth the happiness of Christ's service we offer the living water to the wearied and heavy laden sons of toil but alas how often we seem to speak to the winds our words are patiently heard on Sundays we are refuted but we see plainly in the week that men are not striving to be saved there comes the devil on Monday morning and offers his countless snares there comes the world and holds out its seeming prizes our hearers follow them greedily they work hard for this world's goods they toil at Satan's bidding but for the one thing they needful they will not strive at all I am not writing from hearsay I speak what I have seen I write down their result of 37 years experience in the ministry I have learned lessons about human nature during that period which I never knew before I have seen how true are our Lord's words about the narrow way I have discovered how few there are that strive to be saved painlessness about temporal matters is common enough striving to be rich and prosperous in this world is not rare at all pains about money and business and politics pains about trade and science and fine arts and amusements pains about rent and wages and labor and land pains about such matters I see in abundance both in town and country I see few who take pains about their souls I see few anywhere who strive to enter in at the straight gate I am not surprised at all this I read in the Bible that it is only what I am to expect the parable of the great supper is an exact picture of things that I have seen with my own eyes ever since I became a minister Luke 14 I find as my Lord and Saviour tells me that men make excuse one has his piece of land to see another has his oxen to prove a third has his family hindrances but all this does not prevent my feeling deeply grieved for the souls of men I grieve to think that they should have eternal life so close to them and yet be lost because they will not strive to enter in and be saved I know not in what state of soul many readers of this paper may be but I warn you to take heed that you do not perish forever for want of striving do not suppose that it needs some great scarlet sin to bring you to the pit of destruction you have only to sit still and do nothing and you will find yourself there at last yes Saint does not ask you to walk the streets of Cain and Pharaoh and Ahab and Belshazzar and Judas Iscariot there is another road to hell quite as sure the road of spiritual indolence spiritual laziness and spiritual sloth Satan has no objection to your being a respectable member of the Christian church he will let you pay your ties and rates and purents he will allow you to sit extrably in church every Sunday you live he knows full well that so long as you do not strive you must come at last to the worm that never dies and the fire that is not quenched take heed that you do not come to this end I repeat it you have only to do nothing and you will be lost if you have been taught to strive for your soul's prosperity I entreat you never to suppose you can go too far never give way to the idea that you are taking too much trouble about your spiritual condition and that there is no need for so much carefullness settle it rather in your mind that in all labour there is profit and that no labour is so profitable as that bestowed on the soul it is a maxim among good farmers that the more they do for the land the more the land does for them I am sure it should be a maxim among Christians that the more they do for their religion the more their religion will do for them watch against the slightest inclination to be careless about any means of grace beware of shortening your prayers your bible reading your private communion with God take heed that you do not give away to a thoughtless lazy manner of using the public services of God's house fight against any rising disposition to be sleepy critical and fault finding while you listen to the preaching of the gospel whatever you do for God do it with all of your heart and mind and strength in other things be moderate and dread running into extremes in soul matters fear moderation just as you would fear the plague care not what men think of you let it be enough for you that your master says strive three the last thing I wish to consider in this chapter is the awful prophecy which the Lord Jesus delivers he says many will seek to enter in not be able when shall this be at what period shall the gate of salvation be shut forever when shall striving to enter be of no use these are serious questions the gate is now ready to open to the chief of sinners but a day comes when it shall open no more the time foretold by our lord is the time of his own second coming to judge the world the longsuffering of God will at last have an end the throne of grace will at length be taken down and the throne of judgment shall be set up in its place the fountain of living waters shall at length be closed the straight gate shall at last be barred and bolted the day of grace will be passed and over the day of reckoning with a sin laden world shall at length be taken down again and then shall be brought to pass the solemn prophecy of the Lord Jesus many will seek to enter in and shall not be able all prophecies of scripture that have been fulfilled hitherto have been fulfilled to the very letter they have seemed too many unlikely improbable and possible up to the very time of their accomplishment word of them has ever failed the promises of good things have come to pass in spite of difficulties that seemed insupperable Sarah had a son when she was past bearing the children of Israel were brought out of Egypt and planted in the promise land the Jews were redeemed from the captivity of Babylon after seventy years and enabled once more to build the temple the Lord Jesus was born of a pure virgin lived ministered was betrayed and cut off precisely as scripture foretold the word of God was pledged in all these cases that it should be and so it was the predictions of judgments on cities and nations have come to pass though at the time they were first spoken they seemed incredible Egypt is the racist of kingdoms Edom is a wilderness Tyre is a rock for dry nets Nineveh that exceeding great city is laid waste and become a desolation Babylon is a dry land in a wilderness her broad walls are utterly broken down the Jews are scattered over the whole earth as a separate people in all these cases the word of God foretold that it should be so it was the prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ which I press on your attention this day shall be fulfilled in like manner not one word of it shall fail when the time of its accomplishment is due many will seek to enter in and shall not be able there is a time coming when seeking God shall be useless oh that men would remember that too many seem to fancy that the hour will never arrive when they shall seek and not find but they are sadly mistaken they will discover their mistake one day to their own confusion except they repent when Christ comes many shall seek to enter in and not be able there is a time coming when many shall be shut out from heaven forever it shall not be the lot of a few but of a great multitude it shall not happen to one or two in this parish and one or two in that it shall be the miserable end of a vast crowd many will seek to enter in and shall not be able knowledge shall come to many too late they shall see at last the value of an immortal soul and the happiness of having it saved they shall understand at last their own sinfulness and God's holiness and the glorious fitness of the gospel of Christ they shall comprehend at last why ministers seemed so anxious and preached so long and entreated them so earnestly to be converted but at last they shall know all this too late repentance will come to many too late they shall discover their own exceeding wickedness and be thoroughly ashamed of their past folly they shall be full of bitter regret and unveiling lamentations of keen convictions and of piercing sorrows they shall weep and wail and mourn when they reflect on their sins the remembrance of their lives will be grievous to them the burden of their guilt will seem intolerable but alas like Judas Iscariot they will repent too late faith shall come to many too late they will no longer be able to deny that there is a god and a devil a heaven and a hell deism and skepticism and infidelity shall be laid aside forever scoffing and jesting and free-thinking shall cease they will see with their own eyes and feel in their own bodies the things of which ministers spoke were not cunningly devised fables but great truths they will find out to their cost that evangelical religion was not can't extravagance and enthusiasm they will discover that it was the one thing needful and that for want of it they are lost forever like the devil they will at length believe and tremble but too late a desire of salvation shall come too many too late they shall long after pardon and peace and the favor of god when they can no more be had they shall long after pardon and peace and the favor of god when they can no more be had they will wish they might have one more sunday over again have one more offer of forgiveness have one more call to prayer but it will matter nothing what they think or feel or desire then the day of grace will be over the gate of salvation will be bolted and barred it will be too late I often think what a change there will be one day in the price and estimation at which things are valued I look round this world in which my lot is cast I mark the current price of everything this world contains I look forward to the coming of christ and the great day of god I think of the new order of things which that day will bring in I read the words of the lord jesus when he describes the master of the house rising up and shutting the door and as I read I say to myself there will be a great change soon what are the dear things now gold silver precious stones banknotes mines ships lands houses horses carriages furniture meat drink clothes and the like these are the things that are thought valuable these are the things that command a ready market these are the things which you can never get below a certain price he that has much of these things has counted a wealthy man such is the world and what are the cheap things now the knowledge of god the free salvation of the gospel the favor of christ the grace of the holy spirit the privilege of being god's son the title to eternal life the right to the tree of life the reversion of a mansion in heaven the promises of an incorruptible inheritance the offer of a crown of glory that fate is not away these are the things that no man hardly cares for they are offered to the sons of men without money and without price they may be had for nothing freely and gratuitously whosoever will may take his portion but alas there is no demand for these things they go a begging they are scarcely looked at they are offered in vain such is the world but a day is coming upon us all when the value of everything shall be altered a day is coming when banknotes shall be as useless as rags and gold shall be as worthless as the dust of the earth a day is coming when thousands shall care nothing for the things for which they once lived and shall desire nothing so much as the things which they once despised the halls and palaces will be forgotten in the desire of a house not made with hands the favor of the rich and great will be no more remembered in the longing for the favor of the king of kings the silks and satins and velvets and laces will be lost in sight of the anxious want of the robe of Christ's righteousness all shall be altered all shall be changed in the great day of the Lord's return many will seek to enter in and shall not be able it was a weighty saying of some wise man that hell is truth known too late I fear that thousands of professing Christians in this day will find this out by experience they will discover the value of their souls when it is too late to obtain mercy and see the beauty of the gospel when they can derive no benefit from it oh man would be wise betimes I often think there are few passages of scripture more awful than that in the first chapter of Proverbs because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have said at not all my counsel and with none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind when distress and anguish cometh upon you then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me for that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord they would none of my counsel they despised all my reproof therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices Proverbs 1 24-31 some reader of this paper may be one of those who neither like the faith nor practice which the gospel of Christ requires you think us extreme when we beseech you to repent and be converted you think we ask too much when we urge you to come out from the world and take up the cross and follow Christ but take notice that you will one day be right sooner or later in this world or the next you will acknowledge that you were wrong yes it is a melancholy consideration for the faithful minister of the gospel that all who hear him will one day allow that his counsel was good mocked despised scorn neglected as his testimony may be on earth a day is coming which shall prove effectually that truth was on his side the rich man who hears us and yet makes a god of this world the tradesman who hears us and yet makes his ledger his bible the farmer who hears us and yet remains cold as the clay on his land the laborer who hears us and feels no more for his soul than a stone all all will at length acknowledge before the world that they were wrong all will at length desire earnestly that very mercy which we now set before them in vain they will seek to enter in and shall not be able some reader of this paper may be one of those who love the lord Jesus Christ in sincerity such and one may well take comfort when he looks forward you often suffer persecution now for your religion's sake you have to bear hard words and unkind insinuations your motives are often misrepresented and your conduct slandered the reproach of the cross has not ceased but you may well take courage when you look forward and think of the lord second coming that day shall make amends for all you will see those who now laugh at you because you read the bible and pray and love Christ in a very different state of mind they will come to you as the foolish virgins came to the wise saying give us of your oil because our lamps are gone out Matthew 25 8 you will see those who now hate you and call you fools because like Caleb and Joshua you bring up a good report of Christ's service altered, changed and no longer like the same men they will say oh that we had taken part with you you have been the truly wise and we the foolish then fear not the reproach of men confess Christ boldly before the world show your colors and be not ashamed of your master time is short eternity hastens on the cross is only for a little season the crown is forever make sure work about that crown leave nothing uncertain many will seek to enter in and shall not be able and now let me offer to everyone who reads this paper a few parting words in order to apply the whole subject to his soul you have heard the words of the Lord Jesus unfolded and expounded you have seen the picture of the way of salvation it is a straight gate you have heard the command of the king strive to enter in you have been told of his solemn warning many shall seek to enter bear with me a little longer while I try to impress the whole matter on your conscience I have yet something to say on God's behalf for one thing I will ask you a plain question have you entered in at the straight gate or not old or young rich or poor church man or dissenter I repeat my question have you entered in at the straight gate I ask not whether you have heard of it and believe there is a gate I ask not whether you have looked at it and admired it and hoped one day to go in I ask whether you have gone up to it knocked at it been admitted and are now inside if you are not inside what good have you got from your religion you are not pardoned and forgiven you are not reconciled to God you are not born again sanctified and meet for heaven if you die as you are the devil will have you forever and your soul will be eternally miserable oh think think what a state this is to live in think, think above all things what a state this is to die in your life is but a vapor a few more years at most and you are gone your place in the world will soon be filled up your house will be occupied by another the sun will go on shining the grass and daisies will soon grow thick over your grave your body will be food for worms and your soul will be lost to all eternity and all this time there stands open before you a gate of salvation God invites you Jesus Christ offers you save you all things are ready for your deliverance one thing only is wanting and that is that you should be willing to be saved oh think of these things and be wise for another thing I will give plain advice to all who are not yet inside the straight gate that advice is simply this to enter in without a day's delay tell me of any one who ever reached heaven accepting through the straight gate I know of none from able the first who died down to the end of the list of the bible names I see none saved by any way but that of faith in christ tell me if you can of anyone who ever entered in at the straight gate without striving I know of none accepting those who died in infancy he that would win heaven must be content to fight for it tell me if you can of anyone who ever strove earnestly to enter and fail to succeed I know of none I believe that however weak and ignorant men may be they never seek life heartily and conscientiously at the right door and are left without an answer of peace tell me of anyone who ever entered in at the straight gate and was afterwards sorry I know of none I believe the footsteps on the threshold of that gate are all one way all have founded a good thing to serve christ and have never regretted taking up his cross if these things are so see christ without delay and enter in at the gate of life while you can make a beginning this very day go to that merciful and mighty saviour in prayer and pour out your heart before him confess to him your guilt and wickedness and sin unbosom yourself freely to him keep nothing back tell him that you cast yourself and all your souls affairs holy on his hands and ask him to save you according to his promise and put his holy spirit within you there is everything to encourage you to do this thousands as bad as you have applied to christ in this way and not one of them has been sent away and refused they have found a peace of conscience they never knew before and have gone on their way rejoicing they have found strength for all the trials of life and none of them have been allowed to perish in the wilderness why should not you also see Christ there is everything to encourage you to do what I tell you at once I know no reason why your repentance and conversion should not be as immediate as that of others before you the Samaritan woman came to the well an ignorant sinner and returned to her home a new creature the Philippian jailer turned from the darkness to light and became a professed disciple of Christ in a single day and why should not others do the same why should not you give up your sins and lay hold on Christ this very day I know that the advice I have given you is good the grand question is will you take it the last thing I have to say shall be a request to all who have really entered in at the straight gate that request is that you will tell others of the blessings which you have found I want all converted people to be missionaries I do not want them all to go out to foreign lands and preach to the even but I do want all to be of a missionary spirit and to strive to do good at home I want them to testify to all around them that the straight gate is the way to happiness and to persuade them to enter in by it when Andrew was converted he found his brother Peter and he said to him we have found the Messiah which is being interpreted the Christ and he brought him to Jesus John 1.41.42 when Philip was converted he found Nathaniel and said to him we have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did right Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph and Nathaniel said unto him Jesus of Nazareth Philip said unto him come and see John 1.45.46 when the Samaritan woman was converted she left her water pot and went into the city and said to the men come see a man which told me all things that ever I did is not this the Christ John 4.28.29 when he was converted straight way he preached Christ in the synagogues that he is the son of God Acts 9.20 I long to see this kind of spirit among Christians in the present day I long to see more zeal to commend the straight gate to all who are yet outside and more desire to persuade them to enter in and be saved happy indeed is that church whose members not only desire but desire also to take others with them the great gate of salvation is yet ready to open but the hour draws near when it will be closed forever let us work while it is called today for the night cometh when no man can work John 9.4 let us tell our relatives and friends that we have proved the way of life and found it pleasant that we have tasted the bread and found it good I have heard it calculated that if every believer in the world were to bring one soul to Christ each year the whole human race would be converted in less than 20 years I make no comment on such a calculation whether such a thing might be or not one thing is sure that thing is that many more souls might probably be converted to God if Christians were more zealous to do good this at least we remember that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance 2nd Peter 3.9 he that endeavors to show his neighbor the straight gate is doing a work which God approves he is doing a work which angels regard with interest and with which the building of a pyramid will not compare in importance what sayeth the scripture he which converted the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins James 5.20 let us all awaken to a deeper sense of our responsibility in this matter let us look round the circle of those among whom we live and consider their state before God are there not many of them yet outside the gate are they forgiven, unsanctified and unfit to die let us watch for opportunities of speaking to them let us tell them of the straight gate and entreat them to strive to enter in who can tell what a word spoken in due season may do who can tell what it may do when spoken in faith and prayer it may be the turning point in some man's history it may be the beginning of thought of life oh for more love and boldness among believers think what a blessing to be allowed to speak one converting word I know not what the feelings of my readers may be on the subject my heart's desire and prayer is that you may daily remember Christ's solemn words many will seek to enter in and shall not be able keep these words in mind and then be careless about the souls of others if you can End of Chapter 2