going to Clinrcli without going to Christ, and by and bye tliey will find themselves in hell ! We shall all be judged according to our light. We shall have to give account of our use of religious privileges. To hear of the ^' gi-eat salvation/' and yet neglect it, is one of the worst sins man can commit. (John xvi. 9.)
What are we doing ourselves with the Gospel ? This is the question which every one who reads this passage should put to his conscience. Let us assume that we are decent and respectable in our lives, correct and moral in all the relations of life, regular in our formal attendance on the means of grace. It is all well, so far as it goes. But is this all that can be said of us .? Are we really receiving the love of the truth ? Is Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith ?- If not, we are in fearful danger. We are far more guilty than the men of Sodom, who never heard the Gospel at all. We may awake to find, that in spite of our regularity, and morality, and correct- ness, we have lost our souls for aU eternity It will not save us to have lived in the full sunshine of Christian privileges, and to have heard the Gospel faithfully preached every week. There must be experimental acquaintance with Christ. There must be personal re- ception of His truth. There must be vital union with Him. We must become his servants and disciples. Without this, the preaching of the Gospel only adds to our responsibility, increases our guilt, and wiU at length sink us more deeply into hell. These are hard sayings. But the words of Scripture, which we have read,, are plain and unmistakeable. They are all true.
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