146. TWELVE PLAIN RULES FOR THE HELP OF THOSE WHO WISH, BY GOD'S GRACE, TO LIVE A GOOD LIFE. 148. Two-PENCE FOR THE CLOTHING CLUB. 153. DOORS OR NO DOORS, OR THE RE-ARRANGEMENT OF I. THE following may be used by a penitent alone, or by a teacher with a penitent; the portions which may be read by the teacher, are marked by inverted commas, the remainder may be used by the penitent alone, as directed by the teacher, or the teacher may repeat the words first, and the penitent follow repeating afterwards. BE Read slowly. E turned immediately, O thou sinner, to thy Creator and thy Redeemer; be not doubtful in thy mind, nor delay. This moment thou mayest hear. To-morrow it may be too late. Death is close to thee, though thou canst not see him. Behold two ways now lie before thee; lo, Jesus stands by the strait gate: He is ready to open this strait gate to thee, even to thee, O miserable sinner. See, how He beckons to thee, how He looks at thee, how His eye is fixed on thee. Hark how He speaks, Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden.' It is to thee He speaks. He invites thee to enter in. He tells thee it is the way to life; the only way to life. Do not now stop. Do not hesitate. Indeed, indeed, it has been by the unspeakable mercy and goodness of Christ, that you have been taken out of the broad way, down which you were hastening. Consider the end of the way you were then in. You can picture to yourself waking up suddenly in the night at the cry of fire, the screams of terror, the suffocating smoke, the cry for help; you rush to the door, it is barred; and then a voice is heard, a door unseen is opened, there is a hand held out; would you not lay hold of it? would you not fly? But you cannot picture to yourself the sleep of death; the sudden waking up in the everlasting burning of hell, where terror more dreadful than any you can conceive abides for ever and ever without help, without hope. The broad way you were travelling leads straight down into that terrible everlasting burning. Hark! the voice of Jesus is still calling to thee; 'Come unto Me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden.' His hand is stretched out to thee." The penitent will here pause, and trying to place herself in the presence of God, and to feel the Divine Presence, she will say, MY Y God, my God, didst Thou see me in the way to this terrible place? Is it indeed Thy self that hast called me? Is it Thou my Saviour, that now sayest to me, "enter in at the strait gate?" Is it to me, a miserable abandoned sinner, a despised outcast,-the object of the ridicule, and the scorn, and the loathing, even of my companions in sin; is it to me this gracious call is come? Should I indeed have gone down; and ah! should I have reached that dreadful place without help, without hope; if Thou hadst not called me thus ? Hast Thou called me in the very midst of my vileness, to shew me the strait gate, that I may enter in? Can it indeed be? "Yes! it is indeed the call of God you hear, 'Come out from among them; turn ye, turn ye, from the evil of your doings. Why will ye die ?' It is a voice like no other voice that you hear, a voice of awe; as when God walked in the garden in the cool of the day, and called to Adam in his sin, Where art thou?' and Adam could not hide himself though he fled among the dark trees of the forest; yet it is a voice of love you hear, as when Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, 'Woman, why weepest thou?' It is indeed thy God. He has had mercy on sinners as great as thou art. He has mercy still be not afraid, only believe.” : Then let the penitent ponder in her heart and say; I DO indeed hear the voice. I hear it calling to me, but all is dark before. I see with my eyes those around me who have taken me, and lodged me, and fed me, and sheltered me, and are very kind to me, though I deserved it not. They were once unknown to me, but now they seem all kindness to me, and I see all like a home, with its kind faces and kind words; but I cannot see my God. "No, thou canst not indeed see Him as He is, thou canst not hear Him as He really speaks, but thou canst hear Him, as thou hearest no earthly sound, in the depth of thy soul; as if in a dream, in the silence of the night, thou didst hear a voice from another world. It is He indeed more surely than the voice that thou hearest in thine ears, and the face that thou seest, for what are we thy fellow-creatures? we are sinners: but He loves as no one else can love. He says Himself, Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea she may forget, yet will not I forget thee!' It is indeed His voice that now fills the depths of thy soul, and makes thee to pause, |