A Book of Gems, or, Choice selections from the writings of Benjamin FranklinFranklin, Benjamin
Religion
A Book of Gems, or, Choice selections from the writings of Benjamin Franklin
Franklin, Benjamin
Churches of Christ
It is also of the highest importance that we employ gospel means for
the awakening sinners and arousing them from their slumbers. Some
preachers have contracted the habit of making an immense variety of
appeals to affecting occurrences—describing sympathetic scenes, simply
for the purpose of producing feeling in the audience. Great injury may
be done in this way, by arousing human sympathy, moving the soul and
causing men to act, who do not love the Lord and have not had the first
serious thought of consecrating their lives to his holy service. We say
not this, because we fear too much excitement, too much feeling, or too
much interest, but because the excitement is not of the right kind. The
work is of no value unless it be the Lord’s work.—It is not his work
unless done by his acknowledged and approved instrumentalities. The
gospel is his power for salvation. The excitement produced in a
community by preaching Christ—the work produced in the heart by
preaching the gospel, is the Lord’s work. It is a divine cause,
producing a divine effect. But if the cause be merely human, the effect
can be no more than human.
We want the protracted meeting then, to deliver an unbroken series of
gospel discourses to the people—that we may be enabled to call off
their attention from the ordinary cares of life, and more especially
from their sins, and place our glorious Lord and Redeemer before their
minds—induce them to consider him, in all his gracious condescension,
his life filled up with acts of kindness, goodness and humanity, his
prayers, agonies and tears, his wonderful death, his descent to the
grave, his victorious conquest over death and his triumphant and
glorious ascension into heaven and coronation, as the King of kings and
Lord of lords—that he is now exalted to the heavens—to the throne of
the universe, to grant repentance and remission of sins, and that there
is no other name given under heaven, nor among men whereby ye can be
saved.
When a full exhibition of Christ—of the gospel, is made to men, in a
series of discourses, and their hearts are moved, their souls filled
with love and gratitude to him whom they discover to be their only
Benefactor, their Lord, their Savior and only Redeemer, then we meet
them with his own infallible directions, as they fell from his own lips
and the lips of his holy apostles, and we never find it fail to give
peace to the soul, and if carried out to give the utmost assurance in
after life and death of acceptance with God and an eternal reward. Go
on, then, brethren, with the protracted meetings, and preach the word
of the everlasting God to sinners as long as a man can be found who
will bear it, and then be careful to take care of the young converts
and keep them in the work of the Lord.
SCENE IN A HOTEL.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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