At last to cheat the devil!',
Back to Man's religion & God's religion 9
If God is not your master—the devil will be.
If grace does not rule—sin will reign.
If Christ is not your all in all—the world will be.
It is not as though we could roam abroad in total
liberty. We must have a master of one kind, or another.
And which is best?
A bounteous, benevolent Benefactor,
a merciful, loving, and tender Parent,
a kind, forgiving Father and Friend,
a tender-hearted, compassionate Redeemer?
OR
A cruel devil,
a miserable world,
a wicked, vile, abominable heart?
Which is better?
To live under the sweet constraints of the
dying love of a dear Redeemer—under . . .
gospel influences,
gospel principles,
gospel promises, and
gospel encouragements?
OR
To walk in imagined liberty, with sin in our heart,
exercising dominion and mastery there—and binding
us in iron chains to the judgment of the great day?
Even taking the present life—there is more real pleasure,
satisfaction, and solid happiness in half an hour with God,
in sweet union and communion with the Lord of life and
glory, in reading His word with a believing heart, in finding
access to His sacred presence, in knowing something of the
droppings in of His favour and mercy—than in . . .
all the delights of sin,
all the lusts of the flesh,
all the pride of life, and
all the amusements that the world has ever devised
to kill time and cheat self—thinking, by a death-bed
repentance—at last to cheat the devil!