First-here is a SIN-SMITING WORD. On reading the 90th Psalm, he stopped, and said,— "Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance." Hear that! "our secret sins." Some of you bear hell's mark on your forehead. Some of you, like Cain, have the mark of justice on your very brow. Your sins go beforehand with you to judgment. Ah! they are there to-night blabbing out the tale of your sad, sad history. But there are persons here who have "secret sins." Ye have not been found out yet. The night was too dark for human eye to see you; the deed was too secret for mortal to behold; but it is set somewhere. Just as we set a stone in a golden ring, so has God set your "secret sins in the light of his countenance." Your sins are this night before the eyes of the infinite Jehovah. Secondly-here is A CHURCH-AROUSING WORD. His text was Lam. ii. 19. Of the present state of Zion, he said Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, had wept his eyes dry for the slain of the daughter of his people; and when he had done all he could himself to pour out tears for poor Jerusalem, he then begged Jerusalem to weep for herself. Methinks I might become a Jeremy to-night, and weep as he, for surely the church at large is in almost as evila condition. Oh Zion, how hast thou been veiled in a cloud, and hdw is thy honor trodden in the dust! Arise, ye sons of Zion, and weep for your mother, yea weep bitterly, for she hath given herself to other lovers, and forsaken the Lord that bought her. I bear witness this night, in the midst of this solemn assembly, that the church at large is wickedly departing from the living God; she is leaving the truth which was once her glory, and she is mixing herself ameng the nations. Ah! beloved, it were well if Zion now could sometimes weep; it were well if there were more who would lay to heart the wound of the daughter of my people. How hath the city become a harlot! Zion is under a cloud. Her ministers preach not with the energy and fire that anciently dwelt on the lips ef God's servants, neieher is pure and undefiled dcctrine proclaimed in her streets. Where are the evangelists who with earnest hearts traversed the land with the gospel on their lips? Where are her apostolic preachers who everywhere declare the good tidings of salvation? Alas for the idle shepherds! Alas for the slumbering ministers! Weep sore, Oh Zion! weep thee sore, until another reformation comes ta sweep thy floor. Weep thee, Zion: weep until he shall come whose fan is in his hand, who shall thoroughly purge his floor; for the time is coming when judgment must begin at the house of God. Thirdly-here are a few CHEERING WORDS FOR SEEKING SOULS; and knowing how much you like them, I hope you will not leave them out. In the course of his sermon, he said It is not too late to cry to the Lord; for if the sun be set, and the watches of the night have commenced their round, the mercy seat is open. No shop is open so late as the House of Mercy. The devil has two tricks with men. Sometimes he puts their clock a lite backwards, and he says, Stop! there is time enough yet!" ant when that does not answer, he turns the hands on, and he crids out, "too late! too late!" Old man, has the devil said, "It is teoo late?" Convinced sinner, has satan said, "It is too late?" Troubled, distressed one, has the thought risen in thy soul-a bitter and a dark one-"It is too late?" It is not. Within another fifteen minutes, another year shall have come; but if the Spirit of God calls you this year, he will not call you too late in the year. We cannot pray too vehemently, for the text says, ory out in the night." God loves earnest prayers. He loves impetuous prayers-vehement prayers. Let a man preach if he dare coldly and slowly, but never let him pray so. God loveth erying-out prayers. "Arise! When you go to mercy's gate, late me give you a little advice. Do not go and give a gentle tap, like a lady; do not give a single tap, like a beggar; but take the knocker and rap hard till the very door seems to shake. Rap with all your might! and recollect that Godloveth those who knock hard at mercy's gate. 66 Knock, and it shall be opened unto you." I picture that scene at midnight which our Saviour mentioned in the parable, and it will suit the present occasion. A certain man wanted some bread; a friend of his on a journey had came to his house and was very faint, and needed bread to eat. So off he went to his next door neighbour and rapped at his door, but no one came. He stood beneath the window and called out his friend's name. His friend answered from the top of the house, where he had been lying asleep—“ My wife and children are with me in bed, and I cannot rise and give thee." But the man did not care about that. His poor friend wanted bread; so he called aloud-" It is bread I want, and bread I must have!" I fancy I see the man lying and sleeping there. He says, "I sha'nt get up. It is very cold to-night. How can you expect me to rise and go down-stairs to get bread for you? I won't! I can't! I shan't!" So he wraps himself up very comfortably again and lays down to sleep once more. What does the man down below do? Oh! I hear him still: "Awake! Sir! I must have it! I will have it! My friend is starving!" "Go home! you fellow! Don't disturb me this time of night!" "I must have bread! Why don't you come down, and let me have it?" says the other; but the friend, vexed and angry, lies down again on his bed. Still at the door comes a heavier and a heavier rap, and the man still shouts," Bread, sir! bread! you will not sleep all night till you come down and give it me!" And verily I say unto you, though he will not rise and give it him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as much as he needeth. "Arise! ery out in the night!" and God will hear you, if you cry out with all your souls, and pour out your hearts before him. REST FOR THE WEARY. WHEN the world my heart is rending, ELDAD. VOL. VI. APRIL, 1856. No. 61 གང་བ་ཚོའི་་བས་བཟ་དཞེས་ད3་མ་ཞེས་དང་བབྱ་ཐུན་ཚིག་་འིན་ཟཔ་བྱས་བརྒྱ་ཀྲོབས་ན་རྒྱ་ཁྲོས་ཞན་་ ALEXANDER KILHAM; C. H SPURGEON, AND THE CHARGE ON THE BEHALF OF CHILDREN, DELIVERED TO SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS. BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON. To the Editor of Cheering Words. EAR SIR,-It may be, you have never heard-or |heard but little-of a man, who once made an immense stir among a Christian community, by the name of ALEXANDER KILHAM. The historian says-"He was a preacher of good standing-he was no half-andhalf reformer-he was an honest, ardent and indomiable man." Methodism, Sir, like most other "isms," which have been introduced by men, has had its glaring errors, and unhappy mistakes. The founder set up, what has been termed close corporation;" and William Cooke, a learned and deepthinking minister, once said, “If I must honestly cleave to the Bible, and be true to my own nature, and faithful to my own species, I must UTTERLY REPUDIATE THE DESPOTIC ELEMENT OF WESLEYANISM." a Alexander Kilham, Sir, in his day, contended mightily against this "despotic element." What was the consequence? He was tried, censured, and expelled. I must not occupy Price One-Halfpenny; or 10 copies for 4d. your little pages; but of his life, and of his death, let me say a word. While he lived, nearly all the great men of that body opposed him-suspected him-condemned him-cast him out. He was literally a martyr to the cause of freedom, which so near his heart did lay. You may form some idea of the persecution this man did endure, if you read the following paragraph: "It was but the other day, that Mr. E- at a public meeting in Newcastle, bore the following testimony to the worth of Mr. Kil. ham:-'I have a confession to make. I make it candidly, honestly, and fearlessly, that I have, in common with many other ministers and people, been brought up in error with regard to Alexander Kilham. In my ignorance, I thought him a mischievous man. I say now, that I was mistaken. Mr. Kilham was the first Reformer. He was sixty years before his times. He had the clearest and most comprehensive views of the great question affecting the interests and liberties of the church. In justice to my present convictions, and in justice to Mr. Kilham and his admirers and followers, I make this confession." Mr. Editor-I am not at all times without my fears respecting some men who now stand in the ministry; but most heartily do I pray that the high approbation of heaven may so rest upon our laborious young friend at New Park Street, as to constrain some to see and acknowledge that their fears of him have been unfounded and false. The ground Mr. Spurgeon has taken-the influence he exercises-the work he is doing is not a vapour to be laughed at. Holy men of God are listening, watching, waiting, enquiring, and trembling. In chapels, in vestries, in school-rooms, in committees, in the streets, in omnibusses, in all places-I speak that I know--the question is urged again and again-“What do you think of him?" |