Meditation VI

Before we proceed any father, permit me to ask you, my Christian friends, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, what progress are you making in the divine life? Are you bringing forth the fruits of righteousness, and proving to the world by your own conduct that there is a reality in religion, and a beauty in the fear of the Lord? Are you letting your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven? Christ has said that he is more willing to give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him, than earthly parents are to bestow good gifts upon their children; and that if two or three shall ask anything in his name, believing that he is able to perform, it shall be done for them of their Father which is in heaven; and certainly the fervent, effectual prayer of the righteous availeth much. O, then, shall precious and immortal souls perish through our neglect? Shall they stumble into hell over us, and rise up in judgment and condemn us? Is it not to be feared that many who profess the name of Jesus at the present day are much like the whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful without, but inwardly are full of all manner of uncleanliness? Do not many love the praise of man more than the praise of God? Have we not all been unprofitable servants? And is it not to be feared that at the great and terrible day of the Lord he will arise and shut the door? and many will stand without and begin to knock and say, Lord. Lord, open unto us; but he will say, I know not from whence ye are: depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. And soon the summons will go forth against you, my unconverted friends; cut them down, for why cumber they the ground? Christ has been seeking fruit of you these many years, and lo, he hath found none. O, how can you go on, year after year, and month after month, sinning against a holy and a righteous God, who is constantly showering down the choicest of his blessings upon you? O, how can you see your friends dropping into the eternal world, and yet feel no concern for your never-dying souls? Will not the terrors of death alarm you, nor the horrors of hell affright you, nor the calls and invitations of mercy persuade you? Come now, saith the Lord, and let us reason together; though your own sins have been as scarlet, they shall be made as wool; and though they have been red like crimson, they shall become whiter than snow. O, my friends, believe me or not, I have felt at times to exclaim with Moses: O, Lord God, this people have sinned a great sin; but now if thou wilt forgive them, blot me, I pray thee, from thy book. And the Lord said: Him that sinneth against me, him will I blot from my book.