Twentysix village sermons Author:Edward Berens 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: SERMON III. ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE PENITENT. John vi. 37. " Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." We are repeatedly assured by the Holy Scr... more »iptures, that our merciful Creator does not desire the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his sin and be saved. As an evidence of this, we may observe, that there is hardly any kind or description of argument, scarcely any form or manner of address, which is not made use of in the Book of God, in order to induce us to leave our sins, and from the heart, to obey the precepts, and to embrace the doctrines of our Holy Religion. For this purpose, they sometimes endeavourto awaken our fears, sometimes to enliven and animate our hopes. Sometimes they set before us most alarming descriptions of the indignation of God against sinners, and the dreadful effects of his vengeance in the world to come ; and sometimes they present to our contemplation the glories and happiness of heaven,—those glories and that happiness which await all the true servants of God, who are faithful unto death.—Sometimes they seek to save us from the treacherous security of a worldly and sensual life, by representations of its folly, its baseness, and its danger ; and sometimes attempt to draw us to God by the most gracious and encouraging invitations. Of this last description is that passage of the Gospel of St. John which I have selected for iny text. In discoursing on this passage it will be my wish, First, to explain to you what is meant by coming unto Christ; and, Secondly, the nature of the promise made to those who do thus come unto Him, that He will by no means cast them out. The Jews, to whom these words were in the first instance addressed, were able to comply with them literally. They were able, during our Lord's mi...« less