Morning  “Art thou become like unto us?”  Isaiah 14:10

 What must be the apostate professor’s doom when his naked soul appears before

God? How will he bear that voice, “Depart, ye cursed; thou hast rejected me, and

I reject thee; thou hast played the harlot, and departed from me: I also have

banished thee forever from my presence, and will not have mercy upon thee.” What

will be this wretch’s shame at the last great day when, before assembled

multitudes, the apostate shall be unmasked? See the profane, and sinners who

never professed religion, lifting themselves up from their beds of fire to point

at him. “There he is,” says one, “will he preach the gospel in hell?” “There he

is,” says another, “he rebuked me for cursing, and was a hypocrite

 himself!” “Aha!” says another, “here comes a psalm-singing Methodist–one who

was always at his meeting; he is the man who boasted of his being sure of

everlasting life; and here he is!” No greater eagerness will ever be seen among

Satanic tormentors, than in that day when devils drag the hypocrite’s soul down

to perdition. Bunyan pictures this with massive but awful grandeur of poetry

when he speaks of the back-way to hell. Seven devils bound the wretch with nine

cords, and dragged him from the road to heaven, in which he had professed to

walk, and thrust him through the back-door into hell. Mind that back-way to

hell, professors! “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith.” Look

 well to your state; see whether you be in Christ or not. It is the easiest

thing in the world to give a lenient verdict when oneself is to be tried; but O,

be just and true here. Be just to all, but be rigorous to yourself. Remember if

it be not a rock on which you build, when the house shall fall, great will be

the fall of it. O may the Lord give you sincerity, constancy, and firmness; and

in no day, however evil, may you be led to turn aside.

 

Evening   “Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”   2 Peter 1:4

 Vanish forever all thought of indulging the flesh if you would live in the power

of your risen Lord. It were ill that a man who is alive in Christ should dwell

in the corruption of sin. “Why seek ye the living among the dead?” said the

angel to Magdalene. Should the living dwell in the sepulchre? Should divine life

be immured in the charnel house of fleshly lust? How can we partake of the cup

of the Lord and yet drink the cup of Belial? Surely, believer, from open lusts

and sins you are delivered: have you also escaped from the more secret and

delusive lime-twigs of the Satanic fowler? Have you come forth from the lust of

pride? Have you escaped from slothfulness? Have you clean escaped

 from carnal security? Are you seeking day by day to live above worldliness, the

pride of life, and the ensnaring vice of avarice? Remember, it is for this that

you have been enriched with the treasures of God. If you be indeed the chosen of

God, and beloved by him, do not suffer all the lavish treasure of grace to be

wasted upon you. Follow after holiness; it is the Christian’s crown and glory.

An unholy church! it is useless to the world, and of no esteem among men. It is

an abomination, hell’s laughter, heaven’s abhorrence. The worst evils which have

ever come upon the world have been brought upon her by an unholy church. O

Christian, the vows of God are upon you. You are God’s priest:

 act as such. You are God’s king: reign over your lusts. You are God’s chosen:

do not associate with Belial. Heaven is your portion: live like a heavenly

spirit, so shall you prove that you have true faith in Jesus, for there cannot

be faith in the heart unless there be holiness in the life.

  “Lord, I desire to live as one

 Who bears a blood-bought name,

 As one who fears but grieving thee,

 And knows no other shame.”