Difference between revisions of "The CONCLUSION"
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Latest revision as of 23:49, 4 March 2020
The CONCLUSION.
And now, beloved hearers—what is the outcome of all that I have said, and you have heard, upon this subject? Have I gained any of your love to Christ? Or are you still in love with the world—and the pleasures, and profits, and honors thereof? Are you in love with sin and self more than with Christ—after all the arguments and pleadings of grace and mercy for your hearts? Did you love sin —and will you love it still? Did you love the world —and will you do so still? Did you not love Christ—and do you not yet, and will you not?
Is this the answer I must return to him who sent me? "Lord, I cannot gain their love unto your Son. Gladly I would—but I cannot. I have begged them in your name—but they will not come. I have studied for this purpose, and prayed and preached for this purpose—but I have studied in vain, and my labor with so many is lost labor. I have delivered my message—but they will not hearken. I have entreated for their love for your Son—but many will not consent."
Why, sirs, did I find you full of love to self, and sin, and world—and after all, must I leave you so? I found you void of the love of Christ—and must I leave you so? Why then did I preach—and why did you hear? Did you come day after day resolved, say what I could—that you would do what you desired? Shall that blessed Jesus, who has been set forth before you—be still despised, and set down as worthless by you? Did I find the Anathema upon you—and must I leave it upon you, until Maranatha? What if God should say, "He who, after all these entreaties, calls, invitations, to love Christ, yet still loves the world —let him love the world! He who loves sin —let him love his sin! He who loves his pleasures —let him love what he will, since he will not be persuaded to love whom he should?"
Oh, dreadful curse! Oh, heavy wrath! Oh, sad presage of the curse which shall fall upon such souls when Christ shall come, and after that lie and abide upon them forever!
Speak therefore in your heart, sinner, and return your answer, for it may be that this may be to you the last time of asking: Will you give Christ your love—or will you not? Will you give him your sincere love—and not your pretended love? Will you consent and promise, before you stir out of this place—to love Christ more than all, beyond all, and above all? Or will you deny him such love, and keep it for, and place it still upon, your old beloved sinful objects?
What! Must I, to my sorrow and your woe—end as I began? I had hoped I might have bid you to rejoice in your new love, and matchless match, in your consenting to love and accept of this blessed Jesus for your Lord and husband! But if you will not, I must say what I would rather not say. Lord, I am reluctant to say it—but it is what you say, and I cannot alter it. Yet, if I must say it—let it be with a pained and a sorrowful heart; and as my mouth shall drop the word—let my eye drop so many tears, while at your command I must pronounce, "If any man do not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha!"
But must this be the sentence I must leave upon you all who, at the beginning of this text, had no love to Jesus Christ? What! Is there not one among you all, one who can say, "Before I loved my pleasures—but now I love Christ! I loved my sin—but now I love my Lord and Savior! My love is turned into another channel! I have found another object for my love! I would not for a thousand worlds have died before I had sincere love to Christ!"
Not only one, but many of you can say so—or else you have basely dissembled both with God and this congregation. Many of you who did not love the Lord Jesus Christ—now do. Or you have been wretched hypocrites, while you have been hearers of these sermons. For what did you mean by all those letters that you sent in, day after day, ten or twenty in a day, acknowledging your former sin, until now—in loving other things and not Christ? Why did you say that you never were convinced of the necessity of loving Christ before? I beseech you, why have so many of you, and so often, with such earnest requests, even for Jesus' sake, and as we had any love for your soul—desire me and the congregation to beg with importunity, that God would give you such a heart now, that you might love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, above all, with a superlative love, with a supreme love, with all your heart, and with all your soul—that you might not be Anathema when Maranatha? That you might not be accursed when the Lord shall come.
Were not these your own words? Did not the congregation hear them read? When I reviewed your letters at home, did not I find these words, and such like, whereby you expressed the former condition, and the present desires, of your souls? Tell me then: Were you in good earnest, or did you jest with God and men, in desiring prayers that you might so love the Lord Jesus? If so, repent of your hypocrisy—lament your double-dealings—bitterly bewail such cursed dissemblings.
If you were in earnest, and your hearts as well as your hands guided your pens in writing such desires—and you have indeed changed your love; or rather, God has turned your love from sin unto his Son, from the world unto himself—then I shall have cause to bless God that I preached, and you heard, what was spoken of this subject! Then are you my joy, and crown, and rejoicing—both now and at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And to you who have this love wrought in your hearts so lately, and to all the rest who had love to him before—I wish all the blessings that are contained in that prayer of the apostle, with which he concludes his epistle, and I this subject, "Grace be with all those who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity. Amen." Ephesians 6.24.
The Blessing to the Lovers of Christ
What more can I say? What more do you expect? The blessing? What! All of you? What! Whether you love Christ, or not? Alas! If God curses you—then how can I bless you? I have, day after day, set life and death, a blessing and a curse, before you. It must be with you according to your own choice. If you will be blessed indeed—you must love Christ. If you will not love Christ, the curse, and not a blessing, waits for you, though you here wait for the blessing.
If you would not go without the pronouncing of the blessing, from hence to your homes—then love Christ! O love Christ! O at last be persuaded to love Christ, that you may not go from Christ's judgment—to the flames of Hell (without his blessing) forever.
I am done for this time and text, when I have said the words of my text, "If any man does not love the Lord Jesus Christ—let him he Anathema Maranatha!" And let all the people who dare, (lest they should wish a curse upon themselves,) say — Amen .
And for you who has set your hearts on Christ above all, I beg from the Father of mercies, that grace may "be with all those who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity! Let all the people say— Amen .