He who does not take the step of faith, and so enter upon the road to heaven, will perish. It will be an awful thing to die just outside the gate of life. Almost saved, but altogether lost! A man just outside Noah's ark would be drowned; a manslayer just outside the wall of the city of refuge would be slain; and the man who is within a yard of Christ, and yet has not trusted him, will be lost. Therefore am I in terrible earnest to get my hesitating friends over the threshold. _Come in! Come in!_ is my pressing entreaty. May the Holy Spirit render it effectual with many who shall glance at these pages! May he cause his own almighty voice to be heard creating faith at once! My reader, if God blesses this book to you, do the writer this favour--either lend your own copy to one who is lingering at the gate, or buy another and give it away; for his great desire is that this little volume should be of service to many thousands of souls. To God this book is commended; for without his grace nothing will come of all that is written. [Illustration] PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. The host of American Christians who have had the privilege of listening to the prince of modern preachers of the gospel in his own London Tabernacle, and the countless thousands who have read his printed sermons, have long desired to see and hear him on this side of the ocean. The state of his health, however, which requires frequent respites from his incessant and exhausting labors, precludes the hope of an American tour, with its inevitable demands upon his already overburdened strength. All the more on this account they will welcome a new volume from his pen, designed for the benefit of a class found in every Christian community, the object of the deepest concern to the Church of Christ: a volume written by a master in Israel who has shown such a profound knowledge both of the human heart with all its needs, and of the wisdom and power of God in the gospel, and who has been to so many souls the blessed means of leading them to Christ. This new volume, like the author's many previous books and tracts, his well-organized Colporter Society, etc., testifies to his high appreciation of the power of the press, and to his desire thus to win for Christ myriads of those whom his voice cannot reach. To all who are hovering around the "Wicket Gate," or who even from time to time come within sight of it and wish they were safe within it, this little book is commended, with the hope that even while they are reading they will knock and it shall be opened to them. CONTENTS. PAGE AWAKENING 9 JESUS ONLY 16 FAITH IN THE PERSON OF THE LORD JESUS 24 FAITH VERY SIMPLE 35 FEARING TO BELIEVE 48 DIFFICULTY IN THE WAY OF BELIEVING 57 A HELPFUL SURVEY OF CHRIST'S WORK 65