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The New York pulpit in the revival of 1858
The New York pulpit in the revival of 1858 Author:James Waddel Alexander Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: IV. WHY WILL YE DIE? BY B. C. CUTLER, D.D., Rector of St. Ann's Church, Brooklyn. Why will ye die?—Ezkkiel xviii. 31. The divine speaker cannot be sup... more »posed here to inquire of men, why they will sink into the slumber of the grave; for it is appointed unto men thus to die. The body must return, to the earth as it was, and the spirit must return to God who gave it. The death here spoken of is eternal death; called elsewhere the second death. It is the judgment of God upon sin. " The soul that sinneth it shall die." It shall be condemned and driven from the presence of God, and be sent into punishment under his everlasting curse. The very words in which the sentence will be passed by the Judge, have already been transmitted to us. "Then shall he say also to them on his left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Now I would have you remark, at the outset, that this death or punishment was not originally prepared for men; for you or for me; it was prepared for the devil and his angels. This leads to some highly important reflections. God would not say to the devil and his angels, " Why will ye die ?" For they cannot now escape that which eternal justice has decreed for them.But God can with reason inquire of men, of you, my unconverted hearers, " Why will ye die ?" Why enter an abode of darkness, and weeping, and gnashing of teeth, where the worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched; a place not prepared for you; where, of right, you should not be; where the decent transgressor will be horribly shocked by the exhibition of brutal, satanic, and demoniacal blasphemy, hatred, rebellion, and fixed and eternal despair ? God may well stop you, as you are rushing madly along the broad road to ruin, and inquire "Why w...« less