Address —
1. Those who have neglected this salvation — [I wish it to be particularly remembered, that whilst I address you, I do not lay to your charge any sin except that which is expressly specified in my text. I will grant, that, as far as any flagrant act of sin, you have been as innocent as you yourselves can affirm. But have you therefore com- mitted no damning sin ? Ask yourselves whether you have
1 Heb. X. 28, 29.
not neglected the Gospel salvation. Ask whether, if any man had thought as little of his earthly business as you have thought of that, and had entered into his temporal concerns with as little ardour as you have into the concerns of your soul, he could reasonably have hoped for success? Yea, tell me, whether you yourselves would not have been ready to ascribe his failure to his neglect of business ? You would not consider an occasional thought about his concerns sufficient, whilst yet he paid no just attention to them : and so, if you now and then, in a formal way, perform what you call your religious duties, whilst the concerns of eternity do not really occupy your souls, you must not imagine that you ai-e free from the charge which my text imputes to you. Consider, I pray you, what salvation is ; and how greatly you need it ; and how it is to be sought ; and what an entire devotion of soul is required in order to a due performance of that duty. Tell me, Have you, with deep contrition of heart, mourned and lamented your sins? Have you cried to the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy, as if you felt really your perishing condi- tion ? Have you utterly renounced all hope in yourselves, and cast yourselves altogether upon him as your only hope ? And is this still, at this very time, the daily habit of your mind ? Nothing less than this is what the Gospel requires of you ; nor without this can you ever enjoy the salvation which it has provided for you. I pray you, consider this well : and pro- vide, if you can, an answer to the appeal, the awful appeal, which God himself here makes to you • — ]
2. Those who are really seeking after salvation —
[If you are seeking salvation altogether in and through Christ, then will I alter the words of my text, and ask. How shall you not escape, if you are seeking this great salvation ? Be assured of this ; the salvation is great enough to answer all your wants, and to satisfy all your desires. There is in Christ an inexhaustible fulness of all that you stand in need of; and out of that fulness you shall receive to the utmost extent of your necessities. If a doubt or fear arise in your minds, know that none ever perished looking unto Jesus. " To those who are in him, there never was, nor ever shall be, any condemnation™." Every promise in the Bible secures to you the possession of that salvation. Are you blind, and guilty, and polluted, and enslaved? Behold, wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and complete redemption, are are made over to you in Christ Jesus, and shall be imparted in the measure that your necessities require. Enjoy then your liberty ; and let the salvation thus accorded to you fill
'" Rom. viii. 1.
2274. I Christ's superiority to angels. 161
you with unutterable joy. I grant, your enemies are mighty, and your corruptions great, and your temptations manitbkl: but still I boldly adopt the appeal in my text, and ask. How shall you not escape, if you seek this salvation? Look at others, and see how they have escaped. See in those who cru- cified the Lord of glory, how speedy and effectual was the change wrought on them. See what has been already done for that multitude whom no man can number, and who are already enjoying that salvation around the throne of God. Soon shall ye be of that happy number. Only let the Gospel salvation be sought by you as the one thing needful, and you shall never feel the want of it in time or eternity. Give your- selves thoroughly to the attainment of it ; and " your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord."]