Sermon 207. Sovereign Grace and Man's Responsibility

(No. 207)

Delivered on Sabbath Morning, August 1, 1858, by the

REV. C.H. SPURGEON

at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens

"But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked notafter me. But to Israel he saith, all day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people."-Romans 10:20-21.

DOUBTLESS THESE WORDS primarily refer to the casting away of the Jews, and to the choosing of the Gentiles. The Gentiles werea people who sought not after God, but lived in idolatry; nevertheless, Jehovah was pleased in these latter times to sendthe gospel of his grace to them: while the Jews who had long enjoyed the privileges of the Word of God, on account of theirdisobedience and rebellion were cast away. I believe, however, that while this is the primary object ofthe words of our text, yet, as Calvin says, the truth taught in the text is a type of a universal fact. As God did choosethe people who knew him not, so hath he chosen, in the abundance of his grace, to manifest his salvation to men who are outof the way; while, on the other hand, the men who are lost, after having heard the Word, are lost because of their wilfulsin; for God doth all the day long "stretch forth his hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people."

The system of truth is not one straight line, but two. No man will ever get a right view of the gospel until he knows howto look at the two lines at once. I am taught in one book to believe that what I sow I shall reap: I am taught in anotherplace, that "it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." I see in one place, Godpresiding over all in providence; and yet I see, and I cannot help seeing, that man acts as he pleases, andthat God has left his actions to his own will, in a great measure. Now, if I were to declare that man was so free to act,that there was no presidence of God over his actions, I should be driven very near to Atheism; and if, on the other hand,I declare that God so overrules all things, as that man is not free enough to be responsible, I am driven at once into Antinomianismor fatalism. That God predestines, and that man is responsible, are two things that few can see. They are believed to beinconsistent and contradictory; but they are not. It is just the fault of our weak judgment. Two truths cannot be contradictoryto each other. If, then, I find taught in one place that everything is fore-ordained, that is true; and if I find in another place that man is responsible for all his actions, that is true; and it is my folly that leads me to imagine that two truths can ever contradict each other. These two truths, I do not believe,can ever be welded into one upon anyhuman anvil, but one they shall be in eternity: they are two lines that are so nearly parallel, that the mind that shallpursue them farthest, will never discover that they converge; but they do converge, and they will meet somewhere in eternity,close to the throne of God, whence all truth doth spring.

Now, this morning I am about to consider the two doctrines. In the 20th verse, we have taught us the doctrines of sovereign grace-"But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked notafter me." In the next verse, we have the doctrine of man's guilt in rejecting God. "To Israel he saith, all day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people."

I. First, then, DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY AS EXEMPLIFIED IN SALVATION. If any man be saved, he is saved by Divine grace, and by Divinegrace alone; and the reason of his salvation is not to be found in him, but in God. We are not saved as the result of anythingthat we do or that we will; but we will and do as the result of God's good pleasure, and the work of his grace in our hearts.No sinner can prevent God; that is, he cannot go before him, cannot anticipate him; God isalways first in the matter of salvation. He is before our convictions, before our desires, before our fears, before ourhopes. All that is good or ever will be good in us, is preceded by the grace of God, and is the effect of a Divine cause within.

Now in speaking of God's gracious acts of salvation, this morning, I notice first, that they are entirely unmerited. You will see that the people here mentioned certainly did not merit God's grace. They found him, but they never sought forhim; he was made manifest to them, but they never asked for him. There never was a man saved yet who merited it. Ask all thesaints of God, and they will tell you that their former life was spent in the lusts of the flesh; that inthe days of their ignorance, they revolted against God and turned back from his ways, that when they were invited to cometo him they despised the invitation, and, when warned, cast the warning behind their back. They will tell you that their beingdrawn by God, was not the result of any merit before conversion; for some of them, so far from having any merit, were thevery vilest of the vile: they plunged into the very kennel of sin; they were not ashamed of all the things of which it wouldbea shame for us to speak; they were ringleaders in crime, very princes in the ranks of the enemy; and yet sovereign gracecame to them, and they were brought to know the Lord. They will tell you that it was not the result of anything good in theirdisposition, for although they trust that there is now something excellent implanted in them, yet in the days of their fleshthey could see no one quality which was not perverted to the service of Satan. Ask them whether they think they were chosenofGod because of their courage; they will tell you, no; if they had courage it was defaced, for they were courageous todo evil. Question them whether they were chosen of God because of their talent; they will tell you, no; they had that talent,but they prostituted it to the service of Satan. Question them whether they were chosen because of the openness and generosityof their disposition; they will tell you that that very openness of temper, and that very generosity of disposition, led themtoplunge deeper into the depths of sin, than they otherwise would have done, for they were "hail fellow, well met," withevery evil man, and ready to drink and join every jovial party which should come in their way. There was in them no reasonwhatever why God should have mercy upon them, and the wonder to them is that he did not cut them down in the midst of theirsins, blot out their names from the book of life, and sweep them into the gulf where the fire burneth. that shall devour thewicked.But some have said that God chooses his people because he foresees that after he chooses them, they will do this, that,and the other, which shall be meritorious and excellent. Refer again to the people of God, and they will tell you that sincetheir conversion they have had much to weep over. Although they can rejoice that God has begun the good work in them, theyoften tremble lest it should not be God's work at all. They will tell you that if they are abundant in faith yet there aretimeswhen they are superabundant in unbelief; that if sometimes they are full of works of holiness, yet there are times whenthey weep many tears to think that those very acts of holiness were stained with sin. The Christian will tell you that heweeps over his very tears; he feels that there is filth even in the best of desires; that he has to pray to God to forgivehis prayers, for there is sin in the midst of his supplications, and that he has to sprinkle even his best offerings withthe atoningblood, for he never else can bring an offering without spot or blemish. You shall appeal to the brightest saint, to theman whose presence in the midst of society is like the presence of an angel, and he will tell you that he is still ashamedof himself. "Ah!" he will say, "you may praise me, but I cannot praise myself, you speak well of me, you applaud me, but ifyou knew my heart you would see abundant reason to think of me as a poor sinner saved by grace, who hath nothing whereof toglory,and must bow his head and confess his iniquities in the sight of God." Grace, then is entirely unmerited.

Again, the grace of God is sovereign. By that word we mean that God has an absolute right to give that grace where he chooses, and to withhold it when he pleases.He is not bound to give it to any man, much less to all men; and if he chooses to give it to one man and not to another, hisanswer is, "Is thine eye evil because mine eye is good? Can I not do as I will with mine own? I will have mercy on whom Iwill have mercy." Now, I want you to notice the sovereigntyof Divine grace as illustrated in the text: "I was found of them that sought me not, I was made manifest to them thatasked not after thee." You would imagine that if God gave his grace to any he would wait until he found them earnestly seekinghim. You would imagine that God in the highest heavens would say, "I have mercies, but I will leave men alone, and when theyfeel their need of these mercies and seek me diligently with their whole heart, day and night, with tears, and vows, andsupplications, then will I bless them, but not before." But, beloved, God saith no such thing. It is true he doth blessthem that cry unto him, but he blesses them before they cry, for their cries are not their own cries, but cries which he hasput into their lips; their desires are not of their own growth, but desires which he has cast like good seed into the soilof their hearts. God saves the men that do not seek him. Oh, wonder of wonders! It is mercy indeed when God saves a seeker;but howmuch greater mercy when he seeks the lost himself! Mark the parable of Jesus Christ concerning the lost sheep; it doesnot run thus: "A certain man had a hundred sheep, and one of them did go astray. And he tarried at home, and lo, the sheepcame back, and he received it joyfully and said to his friends, rejoice, for the sheep that I have lost is come back." No;he went after the sheep: it never would have come after him; it would have wandered farther and farther away. He went after it;over hills of difficulty, down valleys of despondency he pursued its wandering feet, and at last he laid hold of it; hedid not drive it before him, he did not lead it, but he carried it himself all the way, and when he brought it home he didnot say, the sheep is come back," but, "I have found the sheep which was lost." Men do not seek God first; God seeks them first; and if any of you are seeking him to-day it isbecause he has first sought you. If you are desiring him he desired youfirst, and your good desires and earnest seeking will not be the cause of your salvation, but the effects of previousgrace given to you. "Well," says another, "I should have thought that although the Saviour might not require an earnest seekingand sighing and groaning, and a continuous searching, after him, yet certainly he would have desired and demanded that everyman, before he had grace, should ask for it." That, indeed, beloved, seems natural, and God will give grace to them thatask for it; but mark, the text says that he was manifested "to them that asked not for him." That is to say, before weask, God gives us grace. The only reason why any man ever begins to pray is because God has put previous grace in his heartwhich leads him to pray. I remember, when I was converted to God, I was an Arminian thoroughly. I thought I had begun thegood work myself, and I used sometimes to sit down and think, "Well, I sought the Lord four years before I found him," andI think Ibegan to compliment myself upon the fact that I had perseveringly entreated of him in the midst of much discouragement.But one day the thought struck me, "How was it you came to seek God?" and in an instant the answer came from my soul, "Why,because he led me to do it; he must first have shown me my need of him, or else I should never have sought him; he must haveshown me his preciousness, or I never should have thought him worth seeking;" and at once I saw the doctrines of grace asclear aspossible. God must begin. Nature can never rise above itself. You put water into a reservoir, and it will rise as highas that, but no higher if let alone. Now, it is not in human nature to seek the Lord. Human nature is depraved, and therefore,there must be the extraordinary pressure of the Holy Spirit put upon the heart to lead us first to ask for mercy. But mark,we do not know an thing about that, while the Spirit is operating; we find that out afterwards. We ask as much as if we wereasking all of ourselves. Our business is to seek the Lord as if there were no Holy Spirit at all. But although we do notknow it, there must always be a previous motion of the Spirit in our heart, before there will be a motion of our heart towardshim.

"No sinner can be beforehand with thee,

Thy grace is most sovereign, most rich, and most free."

Let me give you an illustration. You see that man on his horse surrounded by a body of troopers. How proud he is, and howhe reins up his horse with conscious dignity. Sir, what have you got there? What are those despatches you treasure up withso much care? "Oh, sir, I have that in my hand that will vex the church of God in Damascus. I have dragged the fellows intothe synagogue, both men and women; I have scourged them, and compelled them to blaspheme; and I have thiscommission from the high priest to drag them to Jerusalem, that I may put them to death." Saul! Saul! have you no lovefor Christ? "Love to him! No. When they stoned Stephen, I took care of the witnesses' clothes, and I rejoiced to do it. Iwish I had had the crucifying of their Master, for I hate them with perfect hatred, and I breathe out threatenings and slaughteragainst them." What do you say of this man? If he be saved, will you not grant that it must be some Divine sovereignty thatconverts him? Look at poor Pilate, how much there was that was hopeful in him. He was willing to save the Master, buthe feared and trembled. If we had had our choice, we should have said, "Lord, save Pilate, he does not want to kill Christ,he labours to let him escape; but slay the bloodthirsty Saul, he is, the very chief of sinners." "No," says God, "I will doas I will with mine own." The heavens open, and the brightness of glory descends-brighter than the noon-day sun. Stunned withthelight he falls to the ground, and a voice is heard addressing him, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard forthee to kick against the pricks." He rises up; God appears to him: "Lo, I have made thee a chosen vessel to bear my name amongthe Gentiles." Is not that sovereignty-sovereign grace, without any previous seeking? God was found of him that sought notfor him; he manifested himself to one that asked him not. Some will say, that was it miracle; but it is one that is repeatedevery day in the week. I knew a man once, who had not been to the house of God for a long time; and one Sunday morning,having been to market to buy a pair of ducks for his Sunday dinner, he happened to see a house of God opened as he was passingby. "Well," he thought, "I will hear what these fellows are up to." He went inside; the hymn that was being sung struck hisattention; he listened to the sermon, forgot his ducks, discovered his own character, went home, and threw himself upon hisknees before God, and after a short time it pleased God to give him joy and peace in believing. That man had nothing inhim to begin with, nothing that could have led you to imagine he ever would be saved, but simply because God would have itso, he struck the effectual blow of grace, and the man was brought to himself. But we are, each of us who are saved, the verypeople who are the best illustrations of the matter. To this day, my wonder is, that ever the Lord should have chosen thee.Icannot make it out; and my only answer to the question is, "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight."

I have now, I think, stated the doctrine pretty plainly. Let me only say a few words about it. Some people are very much afraidof this truth. They say, "It is true, I dare say, but still you ought not to preach it before a mixed assembly; it is verywell for the comfort of God's people, but it is to be very carefully handled, and not to be publicly preached upon." Verywell, sir, I leave you to settle that matter with my Master. He gave me this great book to preach from,and I cannot preach from anything else. If he has put anything in it you think is not fit, go and complain to him, andnot to me. I am simply his servant, and if his errand that I am to tell is objectionable, I cannot help it. If I send my servantto the door with a message, and he delivers it faithfully, he does not deserve to be scolded. Let me have the blame, not the servant. So I say; blame my Master, and not me, for I do but proclaim his message. "No," says one,"it is not tobe preached." But it is to be preached. Every word of God is given by inspiration, and it is profitable for some good end. Does not theBible say so? Let me tell you, the reason why many of our churches are declining is just because this doctrine has not beenpreached. Wherever this doctrine has been upheld. it has always been "Down with Popery." The first reformers held this doctrineand preached it. Well said it Church of England divine to some who railed at him, "Look at your ownLuther. Do you not consider him to be the teacher of the Church of England? What Calvin and the other reformers taughtis to be found in his book upon the freedom of the will." Besides, we can point you to a string of ministers from the beginningeven until now. Talk of apostolic succession! The man who preaches the doctrines of grace has an apostolic succession indeed.Can we not trace our pedigree through a whole line of men like Newton, and Whitfield, and Owen, and Bunyan, straight awayontill we come to Calvin, Luther, and Zwingle; and then we can go back from them to Savonarola, to Jerome of Prague, toHuss, and then back to Augustine, the mighty preacher of Christianity; and from St. Augustine to Paul is but one step. Weneed not be ashamed of our pedigree; although Calvinists are now considered to be heterodox, we are and ever must be orthodox.It is the old doctrine. Go and buy any puritanical book, and see if you can find Arminianism in it. Search all the book stallsover,and see if you can find one large folio book of olden times that anything in it but the doctrine of the free grace ofGod. Let this once be brought to bear upon the minds of men, and away go the doctrines of penance and confession, away goespaying for the pardon of your sin. If grace be free and sovereign in the hand of God, down goes the doctrine of priestcraft,away go buying and selling indulgences and such like things; they are swept to the four winds of heaven, and the efficacyof goodworks is dashed in pieces like Dagon before the ark of the Lord. "Well," says one, "I like the doctrine; still there arevery few that preach it, and those that do are very high." Very likely; but I care little what anybody calls me. It signifiesvery little what men call you. Suppose they call you a "hyper," that does not make you anything wicked, does it? Suppose theycall you an Antinomian, that will not make you one. I must confess, however, that there are some men who preach this doctrinewho are doing ten thousand times more harm than good, because they don't preach the next doctrine I am going to proclaim,which is just as true. They have this to be the sail. but they have not the other to be the ballast. They can preach one sidebut not the other. They can go along with the high doctrine, but they will not preach the whole of the Word. Such men caricaturethe Word of God. And just let me say here, that it is the custom of a certain body of Ultra-Calvinists, to call those ofus who teach that it is the duty of man to repent and believe, "Mongrel Calvinists." If you hear any of them say so, givethem my most respectful compliments, and ask them whether they ever read Calvin's works in their lives. Not that I care whatCalvin said or did not say; but ask them whether they, ever read his works; and if they say "No," as they must say, for thereare forty-eight large voluines, you can tell them, that the man whom they call "a Mongrel Calvinist," though he has not readthem all, has read a very good share of them, and knows their spirit; and he knows that he preaches substantially whatCalvin preached-that every doctrine he preaches may be found in Calvin's Commentaries on some part of Scripture or other.We are TRUE Calvinists, however. Calvin is nobody to us. Jesus Christ and him crucified, and the old fashioned Bible, areour standards. Beloved, let us take God's Word as it stands. If we find high doctrine there, let it be high; if we find lowdoctrine,let it be low; let us set up no other standard than the Bible affords.

II. Now then for the second point. "There now," says my ultra friend, "he is going to contradict himself." No, my friend,I am not, I am only going to contradict you. The second point is MAN'S RESPONSIBILITY. "But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedientand gainsaying people." Now, these people whom God had cast away had been wooed, had been sought, had been entreated to besaved; but they would not, and inasmuch as theywere not saved, it was the effect of their disobedience and their gainsaying. That lies clearly enough in the text. WhenGod sent the prophets to Israel, and stretched forth his hands, what was it for? What did he wish, thein to come to him for?Why, to be saved. "No," says one, "it was for temporal mercies." Not so, my friend; the verse before is concerning spiritualmercies, and so is this one, for they refer to the same thing. Now, was God sincere in his offer? God forgive the man thatdaresto say he was not. God is undoubtedly sincere in every act he did. He sent his prophets, he entreated the people of Israelto lay hold on spiritual things, but they would not, and though he stretched out his hands all the day long, yet they were"a disobedient and gainsaying people," and would not have his love; and on their head rests their blood.

Now let me notice the wooing of God and of what sort it is. First, it was the most affectionate wooing in the world. Lost sinners who sit under the sound of the gospel are not lost for the want of the most affectionateinvitation. God says he stretched out his hands. You know what that means. You have seen the child who is disobedient andwill not come to his father. The father puts out his hands, and says, "Come, my child, come; I am ready to forgive you." Thetearis in his eye, and his bowels move with compassion, and he says, "Come, come." God says this is what he did-"he stretched out his hands." That is what he has done to some of you. You that are not saved to-day are without excuse, forGod stretched out his hands to you, and he said, "Come, come." Long have you sat beneath the sound of the ministry, and ithas been a faithful one, I trust, and a weeping one. Your minister has not forgotten to pray for your souls in secret or toweep over you when no eye saw him, and he has endeavoured to persuade you as an ambassador from God. God is my witness,I have sometimes stood in this pulpit, and I could not have pleaded harder for my own life than I have pleaded with you. InChrist's name, I have cried, "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." I have weptover you as the Saviour did, and used his words on his behalf, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thychildrentogether as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not." And you know that your conscience has oftenbeen touched; you have often been moved; you could not resist it. God was so kind to you; he invited you so affectionatelyby the Word; he dealt so gently with you by his providence; his hands were stretched out, and you could hear his voice speakingin your ears, "Come unto me, come: come now, let us reason together; though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as wool;though they be red like crimson they shall be whiter than snow." You have heard him cry, "Ho every one that thirsteth,come ye to the waters." You have heard him say with all the affection of a father's heart, "Let the wicked forsake his way,and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him turn unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and unto our God, forhe will abundantly pardon." Oh! God does plead with men that they would be saved, and this day he says to every one of you,"Repent, and be converted for the remission of your sins. Turn ye unto me. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; consider yourways." And with love divine he woos you as a father woos his child, putting out his hands and crying, "Come unto me, comeunto me." "No," says one strong-doctrine man, "God never invites all men to himself; he invites none but certain characters."Stop, sir, that is all you know about it. Did you ever read that parable where it is said, My oxen and my fatlings are killed,andall things are ready; come unto the marriage." And they that were bidden would not come. And did you never read that they all began to make excuse, and that they were punished because they did not accept the invitations.Now, if the invitation is not to be made to anybody, but to the man who will accept it, how can that parable be true? Thefact is, the oxen and fatlings are killed; the wedding feast is ready, and the trumpet sounds, "Ho every one that thirsteth,come and eat, come anddrink." Here are the provisions spread, here is an all-sufficiency; the invitation is free; it is a great invitation."Whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely." And that invitation is couched in tender words, "Come to me, my child,come to me." "All day long I have stretched forth my hands."

And note again, this invitation was very frequent. The words, "all the day long," may be translated "daily"-"Daily have I stretched forth my hands." Sinner, God has not calledyou once to come, and then let you alone, but every day has he been at you; every day has conscience spoken to you; everyday has providence warned you, and every Sabbath has the Word of God wooed you. Oh! how much some of you will have to accountfor at God's great bar! I cannot now readyour characters, but I know there are some of you who will have a terrible account at last. All the day long has God beenwooing you. From the first dawn of your life, he wooed you through your mother, and she used to put your little hands together,and teach you to say,

"Gentle Jesus meek and mild,

Look upon a little child,

Pity my simplicity;

Suffer me to come to thee."

And in your boyhood God was still stretching out his hands after you. How your Sunday-school teacher endeavoured to bringyou to the Saviour! How often your youthful heart was affected; but you put all that away, and you are still untouched byit. How often did your mother speak to you, and your father warn you; and you have forgotten the prayer in that bed-room whenyou were sick, when your mother kissed your burning forehead, knelt down and prayed to God to spare yourlife, and then added that prayer, "Lord, save my boy's soul!" And you recollect the Bible she gave you, when you firstwent out apprentice, and the prayer she wrote on that yellow front leaf. When she gave it, you did not perhaps know, but youmay now; how earnestly she longed after you, that you might be formed anew in Christ Jesus; how she followed you with her prayers,and how she entreated with her God for you. And you have not yet surely forgotten how many Sabbaths you have spent,and how many times you have been warned. Why you have had waggon-loads of sermons wasted on you. A hundred and four sermonsyou have heard every year, and some of you more, and yet you are still just what you were.

But sinners, sermon hearing is an awful thing unless it is blessed to our souls. If God has kept on stretching out his handsevery day and all the day, it will be a hard thing for you when you shall be justly condemned not only for your breaches ofthe law, but for your wilful rejection of the gospel. It is probable that God will keep on stretching out his hands to youuntil your hairs grow grey, still continually inviting you: and perhaps when you are nearing death hewill still say, "Come unto me, come unto me." But if you still persist in hardening your heart, if still you reject Christ,I beseech you let nothing make you imagine that you shall go unpunished. Oh! I do tremble sometimes when I think of that classof ministers who tell sinners that they are not guilty if they do not seek the Saviour. How they shall be found innocent atGod's great day I do not know. It seems to be a fearful thing that they should be lulling poor souls into sleep by tellingthem it is not their duty to seek Christ and repent, but that they may do as they like about that, and that when theyperish they will be none the more guilty for having heard the Word. My Master did not say that. Remember how he said, "Andthou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been donein thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerablefor theland of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee." Jesus did not talk thus when he spoke to Chorazin and Bethsaida;for he said, "Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had beendone in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerablefor Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you." It was not the way Paul preached. He did not tell sinners that therewas no guilt in despising the cross. Hear the apostle's words once more: "For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast,and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward, how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him." Sinner, at the greatday of God thou must give an account for every warning thou hast ever had, for every time thou hast read thyBible, ay, and for every time thou hast neglected to read it; for every Sunday when the house of God was open and thoudidst neglect to avail thyself of the opportunity of hearing the Word, and for every time thou didst hear it and didst notimprove it. Ye who are careless hearers, are tying faggots for your own burning for ever. Ye that hear and straightway forget,or hear with levity, are digging for yourselves a pit into which ye must be cast. Remember, no one will be responsible foryourdamnation but yourself, at the last great day. God will not be responsible for it. "As I live saith the Lord"-and thatis a great oath-"I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth. but had rather that he should turn unto me and live."God has done much for you. He sent you his Gospel. You are not born in a heathen land; he has given you the Book of Books;he has given you an enlightened conscience; and if you perish under the sound of the ministry, you perish more fearfully andterribly, than if you had perished anywhere else.

This doctrine is as much God's Word as the other. You ask me to reconcile the two. I answer, they do not want any reconcilement;I never tried to reconcile them to myself, because I could never see a discrepancy. If you begin to put fifty or sixty quibblesto me, I cannot give any answer. Both are true; no two truths can be inconsistent with each other; and what you have to dois to believe them both. With the first one, the saint has most to do. Let him praise the freeand sovereign grace of God, and bless his name. With the second, the sinner has the most to do. O sinner, humble thyselfunder the mighty hand of God, when thou thinkest of how often he hath shown his love to thee, by bidding thee come to himself,and yet how often thou hast spurned his Word and refused his mercy, and turned a deaf ear to every invitation, and hast gonethy way to rebel against a God of love, and violate the commands of him that loved thee.

And now, how shall I conclude? My first exhortation shall be to Christian people. My dear friends, I beseech you do not inany way give yourselves lip to any system of faith apart from the Word of God. The Bible, and the Bible alone, is the religionof Protestants; I am the successor of the great and venerated Dr. Gill, whose theology is almost universally received amongthe stronger Calvinistic churches; but although I venerate his memory, and believe his teachings, yethe is not my Rabbi. What you find in God's Word is for you to believe and to receive. Never be frightened at a doctrine;and above all, never be frightened at a name. Some one said to me the other day, that he thought the truth lay somewhere betweenthe two extremes. He meant right, but I think he was wrong, I do not think the truth lies between the two extremes, but inthem both. I believe the higher a man goes the better, when he is preaching the matter of salvation. The reason why a manissaved is grace, grace, grace; and you may go as high as you like there. But when you come to the question as to why menare damned, then the Arminian is far more right than the Antinomian. I care not for any denomination or party, I am as highas Huntingdon upon the matter of salvation, but question me about damnation, and you will get a very different answer. By the grace of God I ask no man's applause, Ipreach the Bible as I find it. Where we get wrong is where the Calvinist begins tomeddle with the question of damnation, and interferes with the justice of God; or when the Arminian denies the doctrineof grace.

My second exhortation is,-Sinners, I beseech every one of you who are unconverted and ungodly, this morning to put away everyform and fashion of excuse that the devil would have you make concerning your being unconverted. Remember, that all the teachingin the world can never excuse you for being enemies to God by wicked works. When we beseech you to be reconciled to him, itis because we know you will never be in your proper place until you are reconciled. God has madeyou; can it be right that you should disobey him? God feeds you every day: can it be right that you should still livein disobedience to him? Remember, when the heavens shall be on a blaze, when Christ shall come to judge the earth in righteousnessand his people with equity, there will not be one excuse that you can make which will be valid at the last great day. If youshould attempt to say, "Lord, I have never heard the word;" his answer would be, "Thou didst hear it; thou heardest itplainly." "But Lord, I had an evil will." "Out of thine own mouth will I condemn thee; thou hadst that evil will, andI condemn thee for it. This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light,because their deeds are evil." "But Lord," some will say, "I was not predestinated." "What hadst thou to do with that? Thoudidst; do according to thine own will when thou didst rebel. Thou wouldest not come unto me, and now I destroy thee for ever.Thouhast broken my law-on thine own head be the guilt." If a sinner could say at the great day, "Lord, I could not be savedanyhow his torment in hell would be mitigated by that thought: but this shall be the very edge of the sword, and the veryburning of the fire"-Ye knew your duty and ye did it not: ye trampled on everything that was holy; ye neglected the Saviour,and how shall ye escape if ye neglect so great salvation?"

Now, with regard to myself; you may some of you go away and say, that I was Antinomian in the first part of the sermon andArminian at the end. I care not. I beg of you to search the Bible for yourselves. To the law and to the testimony; if I speaknot according to this Word, it is because there is no light in me. I am willing to come to that test. Have nothing to do withme where I have nothing to do with Christ. Where I separate from the truth, cast my words away. But ifwhat I say be God's teaching, I charge you, by him that sent me, give these things your thoughts, and turn unto the Lordwith all your hearts.