One thing at all events is clear, and that is the duty of all workers for Christ to work together and help one another whenever they can. il As iron sharpeneth iron, so doth the countenance of a man his friend." Ministers and missionaries, and district visitors, and Sunday school teachers, should take opportunities for meeting, and taking sweet counsel together. The words of St. Paul contain a truth which is too much forgotten : " Consider one another to provoke unto love and good works ; not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together." (Heb. x. 24, 25.)
Let us observe, in the second place, what solemn words our Lord uses about those who will not receive nor hear His ministers. He says, " it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment than for that city."
This is a truth which we find very frequently laid down in the Gosj)els. It is painful to think how entirely it is overlooked by many. Thousands appear to sup- pose, that so long as they go to church, and do not murder, or steal, or cheat, or openly break any of God's commandments, they are in no great danger. They forget that it needs something more than mere absti- nence from outward irregularities to save a man's soul. They do not see that one of the greatest sins a man can commit in the sight of God, is to hear the Gospel of Christ and not belive it — to be invited to repent and believe, and yet to remain careless and unbelieving. In short to reject the Gospel will sink a man to the lowest place in hell.
Let us never turn away from a passage like this without
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asking ourselves. What are we doing with the Gospel ? We live in a Christian land. We have the Bible in our houses. We hear of the salvation of the Gospel fre- quently every year. But have we received it into our hearts ? Have we really obeyed it in our lives ? Have we, in short, laid hold on the hope set before us, taken up the cross, and followed Christ ? — If not, we are far worse than the heathen, who bow down to stocks and stones. We are far more guilty than the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. They never heard the Gospel, and therefore never rejected it. But as for us, we hear the Gospel, and yet will not believe. May we search our own hearts, and take heed that we do not ruin our own souls !
Let us observe, in the last place, what was the doctrine which our Lord's apostles preached. We read that " they went out and preached that men should repent."
The necessity of repentance may seem at first sight a very simple and elementary truth. And yet volumes might be written to show the fulness of the doctrine, and the suitableness of it to every age and time, and to every rank and class of mankind. It is inseparably connected with right views of God, of human nature, of sin, of Christ, of holiness, and of heaven. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All need to be brought to a sense of their sins — to a sorrow for them — to a wil- lingness to give them up— and to a hunger, and thirst after pardon. All, in a word, need to be born again and to flee to Christ. This is repentance unto life. Nothing less than this is required for the salvation of any man. Nothing less than this ought to be pressed on men, by every one who professes to teach Bible religion. We