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Ad clerum ... Fraternal suggestions; in five lectures
Ad clerum Fraternal suggestions in five lectures Author:John Richardson 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: III. SALVATION. ' That I might by all means save some.' (i Cor. ix. 22.) Thus does the great Apostle Paul interpret the heart, and indicate the scope, of the... more » 'good steward of the manifold grace of God.' And this opens out a deeply interesting subject as to what our main work means. The business of our life is to be ' Salvation'?the very business of our gracious Master Himself, who ' came to seek and to save that which was lost.' The foolish sinner may say there is not much to fear, and the fierce enemy may insist that there is not much to hope ; but we stand out firmly and faithfully in thename of Christ and in the interest of man, and proclaim everywhere and to every man,' He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him.' How best to understand our position, how truly to fulfil our mission, may come out on a prayerful examination of the matter I would submit to your attention under this head, ' Salvation.' One thing must be carefully attended to, that we begin at the beginning. Mischief often commences here. If men are not lost, they will not seek, and we shall not offer salvation. Therefore we need to have clear ideas and strong convictions about sin. Think of it only as an amiable weakness, an educational misfortune, a mental or moral defect, an excusable mistake, and you will have little horror of it, little concern about it. Give it only the character of a crime, breach of human law, injury to self or some other creature, andyou misname it, and misunderstand it altogether. The deflection from right is determined by the upright standard of God's law, not by the varying measurements of man's ideas and will. Into the secrets of the conscience, and amongst the idols of the heart, and up and down through the facts and the records of the life, the light of...« less