Sermon 518. The Bridgeless Gulf

A SERMON DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, JULY 5, 1863, BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from here to you cannot; neithercan they pass to us, that would come from there."

Luke 16:26.

FOR the last few months I have been led to blow the silver trumpet, sounding forth the love and mercy of our God in Christ.Many times in your hearing I have preached a full Christ for empty sinners, and have set forth the freeness and graciousnessof the Divine proclamation which in the Gospel ismade to the chief of sinners. I have not, concerning that point, shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God. ButI feel that I must now blow a blast upon the rough ram's horn-for sometimes our congregations need to be reminded of the Lawand terrors of God--and ofthe judgment to come.

Our experience is that the preaching of judgment is greatly blessed of God. We have remarked that a very large number of conversionshave occurred under those sermons in which the declaration of God's wrath against all iniquity has been the most plain andsolemn. A thunderstorm clears the air.There are pestilences which would gather beneath the wings of calm which can only be purged away by the lightning flash.When God sends His servant with heavy tidings, His message of alarm cleanses the spiritual atmosphere and kills the sloth,pride, indifference, and lethargy,which otherwise might fall upon the people.

As the sharp needle prepares the way for the thread, so the piercing Law makes a way for the bright silver thread of DivineGrace. The lancet is quite as needful as the healing balm. The Law is our teacher to bring us to Christ-like the old Greekpedagogue who led the boy to school-sothe Law leads us to Christ-who teaches and instructs us and makes us wise unto salvation. Those who preached the Law, aswell as the Gospel, in the Puritan times, were the most fruitful soul winners. We find our blessed Lord and Master, whoseheart was overflowing with compassion,and whose very Nature was love, often dwelling upon the wrath to come.

And indeed, His utterances are more telling and terrible than the most burning threat from the lips of thundering Seers ofold. God grant that this morning the effect which so anxiously desire may follow from that burden of the Lord which now weighsso heavily upon me. May the Master I gather outthis day a seed unto Himself, who shall be saved from the wrath to come, and be to all eternity the reward of the Redeemer'stravail. Lift up your hearts to God, you that know Him and have power with Him, and ask that now the Divine Spirit may workmightily, that hearts may bebroken and sinners led to Jesus. "Beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed."

Human ingenuity has done very much to bridge great gulfs. Scarcely has the world afforded a river so wide that its floodscould not be leaped over. Or a torrent so furious that it could not be made to pass under the yoke. High above the foam ofColumbia's glorious waterfall, man has hung aloft hisslender, but substantial road of iron-and the shriek of the locomotive is heard above the roar of Niagara. This very weekI saw the first chains which span the deep rift through which the Bristol Avon finds its way at Clifton-man has thrown hissuspension bridge acrossthe chasm, and men will soon travel where only that which has wings could a little while ago have found a way.

There is, however, one gulf which no human skill or engineering ever shall be able to bridge. There is one chasm which nowing shall ever be able to cross. It is the gulf which divides the world of joy, in which the righteous triumph, from thatland of sorrow in which the wicked feel the smart ofJehovah's sword. Whatever other arguments there may be why the righteous should have no communion with the wicked in a futurestate, beside all these other things, any one of which is enough and sufficient of itself, there is a great gulf fixed, sothat there can be no passage fromthe one world to the other.

I. In trying solemnly to speak upon this matter, I shall commence with this-THERE IS NO PASSAGE FROM HEAVEN TO HELL. "Theywhich would pass from here to you, cannot." Glorified saints cannot visit the prison of lost sinners. Long enough were therighteous mingled with thewicked-sufficient was the evil time in which the wheat was choked with the tares. Quite long enough was the period in whichthe chaff laid upon the same floor, side by side with the wheat. Patience had its perfect work. They did both grow togetheruntil the time of theharvest. It is not necessary, now that harvest has come, that they should lie together any longer.

It were inconsistent with the perfect joy and the beatific state of the righteous, with its perfect calm and purity, thatsin should be admitted into their midst, or that they should be permitted to find companionships in the abodes of evil. Itwere not glorious to the Lord Jesus Christ that theyshould cease from beholding His beauties and adoring His Person, in order to succor His enemies, and comfort His desperatefoes. Shall the courtiers of Heaven become traitors to their King, that they may relieve His implacable adversaries? Shallthe princes of the blood imperial,who wear eternal coronets, lay aside their robes of honor to become menial servants to the damned in Hell-who would not,when Christ was preached to them-bow the knee and kiss the Son? This must not, and cannot be. Besides, the decree of God,like a great mountain ofbrass, has forever shut the righteous in with holiness, with happiness, with God. And they cannot, if they would, must not,cross the great gulf which divides them from the world of the wicked.

It follows that the most earnest and diligent preacher must, then, renounce all hope of converting sinners. God has raisedup some Apostolic spirits whose presence in a nation is like the rising of the sun. Darkness flies before them and the lightof salvation streams from them to tens ofthousands. When they lift up their hands to preach, God gives them power to shake the gates of Hell. And when they bendthe knee to pray, they unlock the gates of Heaven. Men like Baxter, with bursting hearts of love, or Joseph Alleine with glowingtongue, or Whitfield with seraph'sfire, or Wesley with cherub's zeal-these are the men who bless their age-and are most truly great.

These men can go to the borders of the earth if they will. Their commission is co-extensive with the human race- "Go you intoall the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the ends of the world." Thesemen are never so happy as when they arepreaching. Woe unto them if they preach not the Gospel, and when they preach it, and God helps them, they are like Elihu,refreshed by the effort! They were born to preach the Gospel, and to win sinners to Christ. They are never content exceptthey are fulfilling their highcommission.

But they must cease from their labors soon, for in Heaven they are not needed-and from Hell they are excluded. O Sinner, evenmy voice, feeble though it is, may win you to Jesus now. But if you die impenitent, it can never woo you again to a Savior.Now is my time to preach to you and setopen Mercy's door before you, but then I can never warn you, nor invite you. Then I can never again depict the agonies ofmy Lord and Master and endeavor to attract you by the story of His love, His dying, bleeding love. No, it will be all overthen. "They rest from their labors.And their works do follow them." They must bring their sheaves with them, for they cannot return into another field to sow-norjourney into other broad acres to reap.

Burning as their hearts will still be with Divine love, they will have to exercise it in another way. Their passionate longingsfor God's Glory will find other channels in which to flow. They will bow their heads and adore Him day and night. But theycan no longer serve Him in Gospel ministry. Theambassador rolls up his commission, for God has run up the black flag of damnation and hangs out no more signals of peace.Poor Sinner, gladly would I win you now, for it is now or never with you and me.

The efforts of the most importunate visitor, the most earnest friend, must cease with death. Some of you have friends whocan get nearer to your hearts than I can. You can afford, sometimes, to forget my poor words and go your way to sin again.But you have a sister, and when she pleads with you,you do feel it. You have one loving friend, and when he speaks to you, you cannot be deaf. Your conscience has often beenimpressed by him and sometimes through him the strivings of the Spirit have been very mighty with your soul. I love, my Brothersand Sisters, to see you earnestfor the souls of others. God may give you some souls whom He will never give to me. And so long as they are saved, thoughI have a holy covetousness and earnestly desire to bring many to Christ, yet I will as unashamedly rejoice in their salvationby your instrumentality as if ithad been accomplished by my own.

Go and labor with all your might. Tell what Christ has done for you. With pleading, loving accents, beseech them to be reconciledto God. But oh, remember, you can only do that in this life, for when the gates are shut, you are shut in for your reward,and all the world is shut out from yourefforts. O my Hearer, do you hear this? Not only will there be no public congregations, no Sabbaths, no houses of prayer,but there shall be no private messengers, no earnest Christians who shall privately seek your soul's good! What do you sayto this? Does not this give an awfulvalue to those tender words of importunate love? Turn at the gentle rebuke, for otherwise you shall be suddenly destroyed,and that without remedy.

Those who are nearest and dearest must be divided from you, if you perish in your sins! A mother can put her arms about herchild's neck and pray for it here. She may affectionately exhort her son to seek peace with God now. She may earnestly andincessantly follow him with her holyentreaties-but she can never come to him from the realms of Glory if once he is lost. "They which would pass from us toyou cannot." Do you hear it, young Man? Those glistening eyes of a mother's love shall never weep again for you. That touchingvoice which sometimes awokethe echoes of your heart shall never plead again. O ungodly Woman, you shall never see your godly child.

Father, is it that daughter you are thinking of who loved and feared God in childhood, and was taken from you? Did she sayto you when she was dying, "Follow me to Heaven, my Father"? You have heard her voice for the last time. That child will neversee her father again unless he turns from hisevil ways. Methinks if she could be in Heaven what she was on earth, she would fling her arms about your neck and seek todraw you to the glorious Throne of the Most High. But oh, it cannot be! A just God condemns the impenitent sinner, and justmen assent to the Divine sentence.

See then, O you ungodly ones that are present today! You often think our company a great nuisance, and perhaps while I ampreaching, my alarming words annoy you. Ah, we shall not annoy you long. Does your mother tease you when she bids you seekthe Lord? She will not tease you long! When I bringhome the judgment to come, is the subject obnoxious to you? I shall not ask your patience long. We shall be separated. Ifyou go your way, and follow after sin and wrath, there will come a dividing time. And O let me say to you-you would give worldsif you had them! You wouldgive them if they were solid diamonds, to hear again the voice which now fatigues you-and to listen once more to those plaintiveinvitations which vex you, and spoil your mirth!

Ah, how would you bless God if He would let you come back again and have once more those Sabbaths which were so dull and dreary,and permit you to go up once more to the House of God which now, perhaps, is like a prison to your vain and frivolous spirits.O Sirs, I say you may well have patiencewith us for a little time, and bear with our importunities, for we shall not plague you much longer. We beseech you to cometo Jesus. We would pluck you by your garments and beseech you to flee from the wrath to come. Forgive us for being thus inearnest, for even if we should failwith you, you will soon escape the importunities of our love. A few short months of mortal life and then you will be faraway from all religious discourses and all spiritual talk of things to come. You will be in your own company, but I warn you-thiswill yield you nocontentment.

Dear Friends, how earnest this ought to make the people of God to work while it is called today. If this is our only timefor doing good, let us do good while we can. I hear people sometimes say, "Mr. So-and-So does too much. He works too hard."Oh, we none of us do half enough! Do not talk aboutworking too hard for Jesus Christ-the thing is impossible. Are souls perishing, and shall I sleep? My idle, lazy Flesh,shall you keep me still while men are dying and Hell is filling? Brothers and Sisters, let us be lukewarm no longer. If Godmakes us lights in the world, letus spend ourselves as a candle does, which consumes itself by shining.

As the poor work girl, who has but one candle, works with desperate pace because that will soon be burned out, so let us beinstant in season and out of season-watching, praying, laboring for the souls of men. We are not earnest enough about immortalsouls. If we had but a view of theshortness of life, the fleeting character of time, and the terrors of eternal wrath. If we could but see lost souls andunderstand their unutterable woe, we should shake ourselves from the dust and go forth to work while it is called today.

II. As we cannot go from Heaven to Hell, so the text assures us, "NEITHER CAN THEY PASS TO US THAT WOULD COME FROM THERE."The lost spirits in Hell are shut in forever. I see the angel standing at that iron door. I hear the awful key as it gratesamong the tremendous wards, and when that gate isclosed, he hurls the key into the abyss of oblivion! The captives are fast imprisoned, bound in fetters which will neverbreak, in chains which never rust. The sinner cannot come to Heaven for a multitude of reasons.

Among the best, these: First, his own character forbids it. As a man lives and dies, so will he be throughout eternity. Thedrunkard here will have all a drunkard's thirst there without the means of gratifying it. The swearer here will become a yetmore ripe and proficient blasphemer. Death doesnot change but fixes character. It petrifies it. "He that is holy let him be holy still. He that is filthy let him be filthystill." The lost man remains a sinner, and a growing sinner, and continues to rebel against God. Would you have such a manin Heaven? Shall the thief prowlthrough the streets of the New Jerusalem? Shall the atmosphere of Paradise be polluted by an oath? Shall the songs of angelsbe disturbed by the ribaldry of licentious conversation?

It cannot be! Heaven were no Heaven if the sinner could be permitted to enter it. "Except a man be born again, he cannot seethe kingdom of God," and as there is no hope of the finally lost ever being born again, the kingdom of God they cannot see.Sinner, if you are not fit for Heaven now, haveyou any right to hope you ever will be? If you die without God and without hope, where must your portion be? Without a Godcan you dwell in Heaven-God's own dominions? Without hope, can you enter where hope is consummated in full fruition? Never!The enemies of God shall neverbe permitted to beard Him to His Face and vent their blasphemies in His own palace. They must be driven from His Presenceand driven from that Presence forever.

Moreover, not only does the man's character shut him out, but also the sinner's doom. What was it? "These shall go away intoeverlasting punishment." If it is everlasting, how can they enter Heaven? What does the Savior say, "Where their worm diesnot, and their fire is not quenched." If there isany truth in that metaphor, the lost are lost forever. The worm would die if they entered Heaven, and the fire were quenchedif they obtained celestial seats. How does the Holy Spirit put it? Does He not describe the wrath to come as a bottomlesspit? It were not such if they couldget a handhold and afterwards climb upward to the starry thrones of angels.

Brothers and Sisters, He that dooms men, He that has put it in the strong expression, "He that believes not shall be damned,"will certainly and literally carry out His own words. And if it is so, it shall never be possible for them to break theirprison of fire, and enter the land ofjoy and peace.Moreover, Sinner, you cannot go out of the prison because God's Character and God's Word are against you. Shall God evercease to be just? If He is just, He must never cease from punishing you when you are finally condemned. "Holy, Holy, Holy,Lord God of Sabaoth," is the neverceasing cry of cherubim-and as long as He is, "Holy, Holy, Holy," you can never be acceptable to Him. Shall God ever ceaseto be true?

And remember, as long as He is true to His own threats, He must and will send His arrows through you and make His fierce wrathto consume you. Then there stands His decree, "He that believes not shall be damned." This is the great gulf, that fixed chasmby which the impenitent sinner is fast asfirmest destiny, bound, like Prometheus, to the rock forever, never to be loosed in time or in eternity. It must not-itshall not be-if God is God-if His decree is not a falsehood and a vanity, you must not come out of the place of your torment.

There is more. Remember, Sinner, there never was but one bridge between fallen man and a holy God. That bridge you reject.The Person of the Mediator, His substitution, His righteousness, His painful death-these make the only road from sin to righteousness,from wrath to acceptance. But theseyou reject. If you should ever be lost you will have finally rejected Christ. And inasmuch as you are not, this morning,saved, O my poor fellow Creature, you are now rejecting Christ. You are as good as saying, "Christ died, but not for me. Christshed His blood to save men, but Iwill not be saved in His way. Let Him die. I count His death a trifle, and His blood a vanity. I had sooner perish thanbe saved by

Him."

This is what you in effect are saying. I know the words make you shudder. You would not venture to utter them, but that isyour feeling. You will not have this Man to reign over you. You will not bow the knee, and kiss the Son. You will still bean adversary to God, and sooner be destroyed than besaved through the Atonement of Christ. Well, now, if you reject the only way, what wonder if having rejected that, thereremains no hope? Besides, remember there is no other sacrifice for sin. Scripture expressly tells us that there remains nomore sacrifice for sin. Do you thinkthat Jesus will come a second time to die? Shall those Divine hands be stretched again to the wood?

You reject Him now. If He died again, you would reject Him. Shall the head again be pierced with thorns? Shall the side againbe rent with the spear? Why, Sinner, if you refuse to have Him now, you would refuse Him could He die a sec- ond time. Butthat cannot be. He has offered an Atonement onceand for all, and now He forever sits down at the right hand of the Majesty on High. No second Atonement-no second redemptionshall ever be offered for the sins of men.

Besides, remember, there is no Holy Spirit in the pit. The blessed Spirit is here today, and often has He striven with someof you. Do you remember when you trembled like Felix? Do you not remember the time when, like Agrippa, you were almost persuaded?But still all this was putaway-conscience was hushed. The Spirit of God was quenched. Well, that Spirit can strive with you again, and if He comesforth in His Irresistible strength, if your heart is like a flint, He can break it. And if like iron, He can melt it. Butonce in the pit, and the HolySpirit never comes there. That blessed dove shuns the place of wrath. And over souls given up to destruction, never willHis life-giving wings be known to brood.

If so, then you cannot be born again and cannot enter Heaven. You cannot be sanctified. And unsanctified spirits cannot havea portion in the skies. So then it is clear enough you cannot possibly pass from Hell to Heaven. Ah, this will be a judgmentupon you, a solemn judgment upon you for manythings. You do not like the House of God. You shall be shut out of it. You do not love Sunday. You are shut out from theeternal Sunday. The voice of sacred song had no charm in it for you. You shall not join it. The face of God you never loved.You shall never see it. The name ofJesus Christ was never melodious in your ears. You shall never hear it.

Jesus Christ was preached to you, but you rejected him-His blood you trod beneath your feet. The way to Heaven was freelyset open before you, but you would not come to Him that you might have life. There is a road from earth to Heaven-Sinner,though you have gone into the depths ofsin, if you have been the most infamous and most outrageous of offenders, there is still a road for you to Heaven. The harlot,the thief, the profane, the drunkard may yet find mercy through the Divine Grace of Jesus, but-

"There are no acts of pardon passed In that cold grave to which we haste. Only darkness, death and long despair Reign in eternalsilence there."

God bless the solemn remarks we make and He shall have the glory.

III. But now, once again to change the subject for a few minutes, I have to notice in the third place, that while no personscan pass that bridgeless chasm, so NO THINGS CAN. Nothing can come from Hell to Heaven. Rejoice, you saints in light, triumphin your God for this-no temptation ofSatan can ever vex you when once you are landed on the golden strand. You are beyond bowshot of the archenemy. He may howland bite his iron bands, but his howling cannot terrify and his biting cannot disturb.

No longer shall you be vexed with the filthy conversation of the ungodly. Lot shall never hear another foul word. You shallnot have to say, "Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar."-

"No light discourse shall reach your heart, Nor trifles vex your ear."

You shall be shut out from everything that belongs to Hell. And remember, you shall be in Heaven. You will be so secure, thatthe wrath of God which makes Hell, shall never light on you. Your Savior carried it for you. Not a drop of it shall fall uponyou. No present pains shall be in Heaven, theyare for the lost. No pains of body, no distractions of mind. You shall have no sin-sin cannot pass from them to you. Youshall be perfect-like your Lord, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing-

"Your inward foes shall all be slain, Nor Satan vex your peace again." You shall have no fears for the future. You shall know that your bliss is eternal. Thisshall always be the honey of your honeycomb-that it lasts forever. Millions of years you shall gaze into the face of yourBeloved, throughout endless ages you shall bask in the sunlight of His smile. This is joy, I say, to the Christian! If he will but think it over it will reconcile him to the hardest strokes of temporarytribulation, and make him rejoice in the hardest toil of this mortal struggle. Courage, Brothers and Sisters, it is but aday or two of wrestling and then the immortal crown-an hour or two of fighting and then the everlasting rest! Me-thinks Isee today the angels leaning from the battlements of the celestial palace, and as they mark you, like armed men cutting yourway to the gates thereof, they cry to you-- "Come in, come in, Eternal glory you shall win."

Will you sheathe your swords? Will you stop the conflict? No! Press on and let your true Jerusalem blades cut through souland spirit, and divide joint and marrow till you reach the summit and the eternal Glory shall be yours!

IV. Again, we change the strain for a fourth point and this a terrible one. As nothing can come from Hell to Heaven, so nothingheavenly can ever come to Hell. There are rivers of life at God's right hand-those streams can never leap in blessed waterfallsto the lost. No, Lazarus is notpermitted to dip the tip of his finger in water to administer the cooling drop to the fire-tormented tongue. Not a dropof heavenly water can ever cross that chasm.

See then, Sinner, Heaven is rest, perfect rest-but there is no rest in Hell. It is labor in the fire, and no ease, no peace,no sleep, no calm, no quiet-everlasting storm-eternal hurricane-unceasing tempest in the worst disease. There are some respites-spasmsofagony-but then no pauses of repose. There is no pause in Hell's torments. The dreadful music of the eternal lamentationhas not so much as a single stop in it. It is on, on, on, with crash of battle, and dust, and blood, and fire, and vapor ofsmoke.

Heaven, too, is a place of joy. There, happy fingers sweep celestial chords. There, joyous spirits sing Hosannas day withoutnight. But there is no joy in Hell. For music there is the groan. For joy there is the pang. For sweet fellowship there isthe binding up in bundles. For everything that isblissful there is everything that is dolorous. No, I could not exaggerate, that were impossible. I cannot come up to thedoleful facts. Therefore I leave them. Nothing of the joy of Heaven can ever come to Hell. Heaven is the place of sweet communionwith God-

"There they behold His face, And never, never sin. There from the rivers of His Grace, Drink endless pleasures in."

There is no communion with God in Hell. There are prayers, but they are unheard. There are tears, but they are unaccepted.There are cries for pity, but they are all an abomination unto the Lord. God wills not the death of any. He had rather thathe should turn unto Him and live, but if that DivineGrace is refused-

"The Lord, in vengeance dressed, Shall lift His hand and swear, You that despised My promised rest Shall have no portion there."

Tell me what Heaven is, if you will, and I must say of any description that you give of its joys, that there is none of themin Tophet, for Heaven's blessings cannot cross from the celestial regions to the infernal prison. No, it is sorrow withoutrelief, misery without hope-and here is thepang of it-it is death without end. There is only one thing that I know of in which Heaven is like Hell-it is eternal. "Thewrath to come, the wrath to come, the wrath to come," forever and forever spending itself and yet never being spent.

And now, would to God, I could speak with you as my heart desires. For this is my only opportunity, since, as I have alreadysaid, I can do this no more if I am saved and if you are lost. Spare me, then, two or three minutes while I close this poordiscourse of mine by trying to reason with thoseof you who are unconverted. I have had little to say to God's people this morning. I may comfort them in the evening, butthis morning I have to deal with you who fear not God. Many of you now present are unconverted. I will never flatter you bypreaching to you as though you wereall Christians.

The Lord my God knows there is many a heart here that never was broken. There is many a spirit here that never trembled beforethe majesty of infinite justice, and never kissed the outstretched scepter of a crucified Redeemer. You know this, some ofyou. You know you are in the gall of bitterness,and in the bonds of iniquity. I do not mean you, alone, who live in open sin. But I mean you who are amiable, excellent,admirable in your carriage and deportment-but yet the love of God is not in you. There is no fault to be found with your outwardcharacter, perhaps, but youhave not been born again. You have never passed from death unto life.

And remember, Sirs, there is the same Hell for the most excellent as for the most abominable, unless you fly to Christ-"Forother foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." And if you believe not in Him, you shall die inyour sins, "for there is none other name underHeaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Come, then, let me plead with you, and I will ask you a question-do youbelieve all this? Do you believe that there is a

Hell? Do you believe that there is a Heaven to be lost? If you profess that you do not so believe, I have done with you. Godbring you to a better mind.

But what did you come here for? Why do you profess to be a Christian if you reject the Christian's inspired Book? Become aninfidel and be honest. For my part, modern infidelity never gives me any alarm. I had as soon see you outwardly infidels,as to hear you pretend to be Christians and yetdisbelieve what this Book teaches. I like honesty, and it seems to me that when a man honestly says, "I shall not make aprofession of believing what I do not believe," that there is at least one virtue in him. And we may hope that others mayfind soil to grow in.

But you that profess to be religious and attend your Church or your Chapel, and yet do not believe the Revelation of God,what can I say to you, but that your damnation will be most just. I think I hear many of you say, "Believe it, Sir, oh, wenever doubted it! We learned it in our earliestchildhood, we have heard it always, and we never ventured to doubt." Ah, well then, I ask you-are you in your sober sensesto believe that there is a Hell and not seek to escape from it? Do you believe there is a wrath to come, and that it may fallupon you in the next minute,for you may be dead, and never leave this House of Prayer-and yet do you sit easy in your pews? Or, are you mad? Has sinso besotted you with its foul intoxication, that you cannot think? For if you can think, and there is an angry God who willpunish with the awful force ofHis Omnipotence, how is it that you can be at ease in Zion?

Let me ask you another question-if these things are so, have you used your senses in giving a preference to the pleasuresof this life beyond the joys of Heaven-in following the pleasures of today, when you know they will be followed with the miseriesof eternity? Do not be mistaken, Ido not mean to say that a Christian is without pleasures-we have the highest and purest pleasure that mortal or immortalcan know. We have not the pleasures of sin, but we have higher, more delightful and deeper pleasures. But this is what I mean-willyou spendyourselves in sinful pleasure? Will you occupy your time with lust, or drunkenness, or with the frivolities of fashionablelife, and do you think that these are worth the expense that they will cause?

"Oh," said one to me, who holds a high position in society, as I talked with him a long time after having preached earnestlythe Gospel-he took me by the button and he said, "it does seem to me to be an awful thing, that I, knowing as I do what willbe my lot if I live and die as I am, shouldstill act as I do. When you are with me," he said, "and I listen to a solemn address, I think there shall come a changeover me. I will serve God. But, O Sir, you do not know the temptations of my life! You do not know how it is when I get intothe midst of pomp and vanities andperhaps mingle with men who ridicule all thoughts of religion, it all goes-and I am such a fool that I sell my soul-sellmy soul for it."

Oh, there are such fools here today-who sell their souls for a little sin-one or two whirls in the world's mad dance and thenthe devil is your partner and your mirth is over. I ask you to use your reason and judge whether it is worth your while togain the whole world and lose your ownsoul?

I shall put it to you in another way. How is it that you do not lay hold of Christ, since this is the only time when thereis a probability that Christ can be laid hold of? I will tell you why it is. You do not love Christ. You love sin. Or elseyou are too proud to come to Christ. You thinkyourselves good enough, and you think that Christ is not for such as you are, but only for great sinners and the lowestof the low. O Sirs, is your pride such a fine thing that you will be damned in order to maintain its dignity? Throw your pridedown, come as a sinner must come,and lay hold of Jesus Christ. Or if it is your sin which hinders, may God the Holy Spirit help you to pluck out the righteye, and cast off a right arm sooner than having two eyes and two arms to be cast into Hell fire.

"But," says one, "how may I lay hold on Christ?" May the blessed Spirit enable you to do it. Here it is-trust Jesus Christ,and you shall be saved. Conscious that you deserve His wrath, trembling because of His terrible Law, look to Jesus. Therehangs a bleeding Savior. Methinks these eyescan see Him bleeding there. God eternal, He by whom the Heaven of heavens were Made, and the earth and the fullness thereof,takes upon Himself the form of Man and hangs upon the tree of the curse-

"See from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down! Did ever such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown?"

There is life in a look at that Crucified One, there is life at this moment for you! Will you glance at Him with a tearfuleye?

"Jesus slaughtered, martyred, murdered for my sake, I do believe in You. Here at Your feet I throw myself, all guilty, polluted,foul. Let Your blood drop on me. Turn Your eyes upon me. Say to me, 'I have loved you with an everlasting love, thereforewith the bands of My kindness have I drawn you.'Come and welcome, Sinner-come."

I have but preached the Law to you out of love. God knows how these hard things, as I speak them, make my heart bleed blood.O that you would believe in Jesus! He is freely preached to you-accept Him. May the Spirit of God lead you now to accept Him.These are no hard terms, no sternconditions of a bloodthirsty tyrant. He does but say, "Bow the knee and kiss the Son. Come and welcome, Sinner-come."

Young Man, will you be saved or not? You, Sinner yonder, with your gray head, approaching the approach of death, will youbelieve in Christ or not? It may be this is your last time-you shall never hear the Gospel faithfully and affectionately pressedhome upon you again. Will you have Jesusto be yours? Spirit of God, lead that heart to say, "Yes, Lord, I will." And as the acceptance is heard on earth, may itbe registered in Heaven-and may salvation come to that man's heart this day!

The Lord bless you all, every one of you. And when He gathers His people together, may I and you, every one of us, by HisGrace, be found at His right hand, to see His smiling face. Amen.