39 Sermon Illustrations on Apostasy Warning

"He that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting" (Galatians 6:8). One need not look far today to see that most of society does not want to be bothered with things that are spiritual; they have no time to look at, or reflect on anything spiritual; rather they seem to be primarily concerned with the economy and the temporal things of this life. So much that we used to hold dear-the historical ideals of conduct that were associated with the Judeo-Christian heritage-seem of little importance. Even our TV screens portray homosexuality and loose morals as simply another lifestyle and nothing to be worried about. Paul refers to this at length in the first chapter of Romans, and we can see that these are the very things that seem to be creeping into the fabric of society all around us. The only thing that has probably stopped God's judgment on the human race thus far is the fact that He still has a remnant; a people that seek to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, and be a light in the midst of increasing darkness. May we ever be on our guard as we journey onward, in order that the truth of the gospel will continue to influence the people around us, and ultimately people around the world.

“He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” Proverbs 29:1

The following incident is vouched for by a Church of England clergyman who knew all the circumstances.

A young woman, who had been brought up in a Christian home and who had often had very serious convictions in regard to the importance of coming to Christ, chose instead to take the way of the world. Much against the wishes of her godly mother, she insisted on keeping company with a wild, hilarious crowd, who lived only for the passing moment and tried to forget the things of eternity. Again and again she was pleaded with to turn to Christ, but she persistently refused to heed the admonitions addressed to her.

Finally, she was taken with a very serious illness. All that medical science could do for her was done in order to bring about her recovery, but it soon became evident that the case was hopeless and death was staring her in the face. Still she was hard and obdurate when urged to turn to God in repentance and take the lost sinner’s place and trust the lost sinner’s Saviour.

One night she awoke suddenly out of a sound sleep, a frightened look in her eyes, and asked excitedly, “Mother, what is Ezekiel 7:8-9?”

Her mother said, “What do you mean, my dear?”

She replied that she had had a most vivid dream. She thought there was a Presence in the room, who very solemnly said to her, “Read Ezekiel 7:8-9.”

Not recalling the verses in question, the mother reached for a Bible. As she opened it, her heart sank as she saw the words, but she read them aloud to the dying girl: “Now I will shortly pour out My fury upon thee, and accomplish Mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations. And Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the Lord that smiteth.”

The poor sufferer, with a look of horror on her face, sank back on the pillow, utterly exhausted, and in a few moments she was in eternity. Once more it had been demonstrated that grace rejected brings judgment at last.

A person who suspected that a minister of his acquaintance was not truly orthodox, went to him and said, "Sir, I am told that you are against the perseverance of the saints."—"Not I, indeed," answered he: "it is the perseverance of sinners that I oppose." The other replied, "But that is not a satisfactory answer. Do you think that a child of God cannot fall very low, and yet be restored?" The minister answered, "I think it will be very dangerous to make the experiment."

As Michael Futcher of Romsey was walking on the Terrace at Windsor, in company with the daughter of a Friend in London, King George and Queen Charlotte drew towards them. Both entering freely into conversation with Michael Futcher, the king inquired whether there were many of his society residing in his neighborhood; saying they were a people he had a great respect for. Addressing the female, he inquired if she was not one of the society. She replied, she professed to be. The king then said, "Is there not here too much gauze?" She acknowledged she had deviated, and was sorry for it. The king replied, "And I am sorry for it too; for, when people once begin to deviate, they do not know where to stop."

There was a time when the astronomer, observing the perturbations in the movements of the planets would have predicted irreparable destruction to the solar system. The calculation of Laplace demonstrated the groundlessness of this fear; showing that these seeming irregularities were subject to fixed laws; that they never exceed a certain limit, mutually correct each other, and cannot possibly become dangerous. This fact of science may be applied to defections from the faith and the harmony of the Christian system.

Moralists have been compared to the carpenters who helped Noah in the building of the ark, yet, after all this, were drowned themselves.

The spectacle of this house, forsaken by man, and falling into ruin, shall now remind me of the wretchedness of that soul, which, persevering in a course of sin and impenitence, God in righteous judgment forsakes. It is the haunt of the foul birds of night and hell, which fly in and out at their pleasure. All about it is crumbling to pieces, and preparing for everlasting destruction. The worst punishment which can be inflicted upon man in this present life is when God withdraws from him the hand of grace, gives him up to a reprobate mind, and permits him to walk according to the inclinations of his wicked heart. In that case, Satan has gained the game, and bridles and saddles the steed to ride it at his pleasure. The man becomes a ball, which the devils toss from hand to hand, and plunge out of one sin into another. His mind is a forge, in which internal spirits manufacture the works and weapons of darkness. Gotthold.

As the carcass of a dead man that weareth a living man's garment is not a living man, though he look never so like him; even so the Church of Rome now is, of a spouse of Christ, become an harlot. Cacadray.

Rest thee well assured, O scorer! that thy laughs cannot alter truth, thy jests cannot avert thine inevitable doom. Though in thy hardihood thou shouldst make a league with death, and sign a covenant with hell, yet swift justice shall overtake thee, and strong vengeance strike thee low. In vain dost thou jerr and mock, for eternal verities are mightier than thy sophistries; nor can thy smart sayings alter the divine truth of a single word of this volume of Revelation. Oh! why dost thou quarrel with thy best friend, and ill treat thy only refuge? There yet remains hope, even for the scorner, — hope in a Saviour's veins, hope in the Father's mercy, hope in the Holy Spirit's omnipotent agency. Spurgeon.

"I well remember," says an eminent minister in North Wales, "that when the Spirit of God first convinced me of my sin, guilt, and danger, and of the many difficulties and enemies I must encounter, if ever I intended setting out for heaven, I was often to the last degree frightened; the prospect of those many strong temptations and vain allurements to which my youthful years would una-

# 27. APP

A young lady residing in Waterbury, Ct., made an engagement to attend a ball in a neighboring town. Before the time arrived, a series of religious meetings were held in W., and not a few among the young people were led to reflection, and became hopefully converted. Miss A. was at that time residing in the minister's family, and was very deeply impressed with the necessity of becoming a Christian. Her distress by day and night was so great she could scarcely eat or sleep. She was faithfully conversed and prayed with; but while others found peace in believing, her distress continued. Her friends, who were aware of her engagement, pressed her at once with the question, whether she was willing to give up the ball for the sake of an interest in Christ. For a while she wavered; she wished very much to be saved, and was ready to surrender every thing else; but she thought so much of the ball, and was so anxious to secure the regards of the young man who had invited her, she desired exceedingly to go this once. Here was a controversy with God; a severe struggle between motives of interest and convictions of duty. At length she fully decided to go to the ball. Her serious impressions were speedily dissipated; all anxiety about her soul subsided, and, so far as known, never revived again. That was doubtless the turning point in her history; and that decision sealed her ruin. It is worthy of remark that the conduct of the young man towards her on their way to the ball, led her to a painful discovery of his corrupt character, destroyed her happiness at the ball, and broke up their correspondence forever. She sold her soul for an apple of Sodom: it tempted her eyes,

"But turned to ashes on the lips."

Numbers of the Greenlanders, who had for a time adhered to the Moravian Missionaries, and promised well, drew back, and walked no more with them; while the greater part of those who were wavering, seduced by the concourse of their heathen countrymen, again joined the multitude. One being asked why he could not stay, answered, "I have bought a great deal of powder and shot, which I must first spend in the south, in shooting reindeer;" another, "I must first have my fill of bears' flesh;" and a third, "I must have a good boat, and then I will believe."

"I have always believed," said a despairing sinner, just on the brink of eternity, "that there was a horrible thought in dating the possible departure of the Spirit of God from the soul. We shudder at the idea of desertion, without reflecting on its particulars. But it is tolerable while wrapt in the mystery of ignorance—ignorance of its manner, its cause, and its time. And yet, at this very hour, I can look back to the turning point of my hopes. I can remember my struggles under conviction. I can recall the weariness of effort, the distaste, the compunctions which preceded the first bold act of worldliness; and which, in their departure, declared the issue decisive. In all the confusion of my thoughts, there is an unchanging spot in the survey of the past. There it remains and no hand can blot it out. No, you are not to imagine my judgment impaired in such a review. I can deliberately retrace the seasons departed. My return to the world was not designated by an act which the common rules of morality would impeach. But it was by one, which, it is plain, put an end to the struggle. And I could not renew the conflict when I would willingly have done so. Conviction did not leave me. But it sat on my spirits like a lifeless weight, that instead of giving them activity, crushed them down. My judgment is as much convinced as ever. But it avails me nothing. The brightness of a holy law, and that of the world which I am approaching, only render my condition more awful, as the midnight lightning does that of the wrecked mariner, by showing him the impossibility of escape. I can see, I can comprehend, but I can lay hold of nothing, I can compel no play of that interest which the near approach of the Holy Spirit once created in my bosom." We will drop the curtain here, for in less than an hour, the sufferer knew more of eternity than you or I.

An affecting account is found among the oral traditions of Lucerne, one of the Catholic cantons of Switzerland. In the days of Luther and Calvin almost half the cantons turned Protestant. The magistrates of Lucerne were about deciding in favor of the Reformers, when a cunning and plausible priest, under the guise of a Protestant exile from one of the German states, obtained an interview with the principal magistrates friendly to the new religion; and under the pretence of defending Protestantism, so caricatured it in its most vulnerable points, as to prejudice the magistrates against it, and secure their adhesion to the Pope with the banishment of all the Protestant preachers from its territory. Lucerne, with its 150,000 inhabitants, has continued Roman Catholic for the last three centuries, while many of the neighboring states are wholly Protestant, and enjoy vastly superior privileges, both civil and religious.

Though the author of the "Age of Reason" deplored before his death that he had published it, and advised others not to read it, and though its sophistry has been often refuted, that book still exists and perpetuates its author's unholy influence. A noted infidel in New York, once asserted to the editor, that he knew of many who had been made "freethinkers" by reading it. And every year, no doubt, the number it ruins is legion. It has been translated into some of the languages of India; and the Missionaries to those pagan nations find the "Age of Reason" one of the most formidable obstacles to the conversion of the more intelligent classes. Thus, though Paine has been dead for years, his book goes through edition after edition, passes from: language to language, misleading men's minds, and corrupting their hearts.

Rev. Mr. Dwight of Constantinople says, "The subject of purgatory was introduced in a company of eight or ten Armenians, by one of their number who had frequent intercourse with papists. He remarked he had one difficulty in regard to it which none of them could solve. "According to the papal notions," said he, "all who die in the church have certain venial sins upon them, for which they must suffer in purgatory, according to the number and nature of those sins; some for a year, some for a hundred years, and some for ten thousand, &c. And this shall be the case up to the very time when the judgment day shall come. At that day what will be done with those who have not served out their time in purgatory? For example, what will be done with those who died the week or day previous to the judgment? Some of them may require the action of the purgatorial fires for a week, and some for a year, and some for a hundred years, and some for a thousand, or ten thousand, before they can atone for their sins and be sufficiently purified for heaven. Let the believers in purgatory decide what is to be done with these cases at the judgment, when all that are in their graves shall rise, and the righteous are to be forever separated from the wicked; the latter to go away into everlasting punishment, and the former into life eternal."

# 308. Relics.

"Many have puzzled themselves," says Mr. Newton, "about the origin of evil; I observe there is evil, and that there is a way to escape it, and with this I begin and end."

# 406. Sin Against the Holy Ghost.

a) THE INFIDEL'S CONFESSION.—Mr. F—, the subject of the following narrative, was a respectable inhabitant of one of the northern towns of Pennsylvania. About seven years previous to his death, Mr. W—, a missionary, visited the town where Mr. F—resided. Under his faithful labors, a revival of religion commenced, in which numbers were hopefully born into the kingdom of the Reedemer. The attention of Mr. F— was also arrested. He was led to see his sinfulness and danger, and to inquire, "what he must do to be saved." His convictions of sin were pungent for some time, but, after a few months, his seriousness began to abate. Levity and profaneness succeeded, and, like the unclean spirit who walked through dry places, seeking rest and finding none, Mr. F— returned to a state of stupidity seven times more dreadful than before. He soon adopted the sentiment of Universalism, and thence, as a natural course, he descended to infidelity; and, at length, boldly denied the inspiration of the Scriptures, and became an avowed Deist. In this situation, he was often asked by those acquainted with his previous seriousness, what he thought of his former convictions. He uniformly imputed them to enthusiasm or the work of the devil. The consequence was, as might have been expected, he became more and more confirmed in his infidel principles, until about four or five months previous to his death. It was at this time that the writer first became acquainted with him, and it was from his own lips, and from his neighbors, that the above account of his life was received. On reading to him the first nine verses of the sixth chapter of the Hebrews, and the last four verses of the second chapter of the Second Epistle of Peter, he was again awakened. The above words were like "a sharp two-edged sword." His infidel principles appeared in a surprising manner to leave him, and to be succeeded by a dreadful sense of the threatenings of the Divine law. The view which he had of his sinfulness was great, and such an awful feeling of danger pervaded his mind, that he trembled with fear. Great pains were taken to instruct him into the way of salvation by Jesus Christ, and prayer was literally made incessantly for him. But all availed nothing, his distress increased every day. After a few weeks he appeared to be verging fast to a state of complete despair. This appeared to be accelerated by a fixed opinion that he had committed the unpardonable sin. For some time he refused to tell the sin which he considered unpardonable. After much importunity, however, he said it consisted in imputing to the devil his previous religious impressions. He was informed that it might have proceeded from an error in judgment, and not from deliberate malice of heart. He decided that this could not be the case, for when he said that his former convictions were enthusiasm and from the devil, he knew they were produced by the Holy Spirit; that the above declaration proceeded directly from enmity, and had sealed his perdition. His distress and horror of mind increased, until they arose to the most alarming degree. At times he appeared to be in as much mental agony as he could possibly endure and live. He often declared he felt the very pains of hell in his bosom, and that if his soul and body were then in everlasting burnings, he could not suffer more. All means used to relieve him appeared only to increase the misery and aggravate the horror of his mind. Often with a countenance distorted with all the features of despair, he would entreat those present never to quench the Spirit, never to deny the work of the Holy Ghost, or embrace the sentiments of infidelity, especially never to impute revivals and awakenings to the devil. His sufferings soon impaired his health; he lost his appetite for food, and sleep entirely forsook his eyes. A fearful earnest of future misery took deeper and stronger hold on his mind, till at length reason reeled from her throne, and he died by his own hand. We suppose this to be a plain instance of the sin against the Holy Ghost.

Some time in the month of November, 1828, Capt. O. T., of N., when lying on his death-bed and a few hours before the close of his life, in the full possession of his reason, became alarmed, and sent for the Rev. Mr. W., of U. On his arrival, Capt. T. stretched out his hand, and thus addressed him: "I am a dying man; I shall soon be in eternity. My views and feelings are essentially altered. For several years past, I have followed Wood and Ballou, Universalist preachers, and believed as they did. But I find it now all a delusion. Such sentiments will do to lull the conscience to sleep while living, but will not stand the test in a dying hour. Tell my old acquaintance and friends not to trust in such refuges of lies, but to repent and be converted."

This is but one instance of a thousand, which might be adduced, of the dying confessions of Universalists, relative to the fallacy and wretchedness of their scheme.

Query. Did you ever know a person on a death-bed become a Universalist, who had previously lived in the belief of orthodox sentiments?

Rev. Mr. S., once pastor of the Baptist church in H., Mass., gives the following account of an interview which he had with a Universalist on his death-bed, in 1837. During Mr. L.'s illness Mr. S. had called on the family once before; but when the nurse informed her charge that Mr. S. would like to converse with him, the sick man sent back word: "Tell him when I want to see him I will send for him."

The next and last time Mr. S. called, which was two weeks afterwards, he came at the especial request of Mr. L., who said he could not die until he saw him.

As Mr. S. came to his bed-side, the sick man opened his dying eyes and said with much anxiety to his nurse, "Do you think that man will pray for me?" The preacher approached, and as he took hold of Mr. L.'s hand, the latter turned up his eyes and exclaimed, "It is too late!" In detailing his history, he stated that his mind was susceptible, and his conscience tender; but being led into the snares of Universalism, his feelings of guilt and his tenderness of conscience left him, till he had scarcely any more religious sensibility than a brute. Mr. S. directed him to Christ as an all sufficient Savior. "Ah!" said he, as at first, "it is too late." He knelt by his bed-side, and tried to pray for him. Soon after prayer Mr. S. felt called upon to return. As he took the sick man's cold and motionless hand in his, to bid him adieu, he said, in a loud, full voice, "Do pray for me when you get home. But I don't expect God will hear; it is too late; the die is cast; my damnation is sealed."

He died a few hours after, in awful and utter despair.

DR. JEWETT'S TESTIMONY.—Dr. Thomas Jewett, of Rindge, N. H., who was for some time an avowed infidel, was hopefully converted in 1833, and received on the last Sabbath in August, of the same year, into the church. At his request, a communication from his pen and read it as I never read it before A flood of light poured in upon me; my mind was open to conviction; I found no difficulty in discovering the truth, because I earnestly sought, and from that day abandoned the destructive sentiments of Universalism.

# ARIANISM.

was read on that day from the pulpit. From this we quote the following significant passage.

"Led astray first by the plausible but fallacious arguments of Elkanah Winchester, I adopted his sentiments fully; and from his doctrine of temporary future punishment the transition to Universalism, or the disbelief of any future punishment, was very natural and easy. This latter scheme, so perfectly agreeable to the doer of evil, I readily adopted, and warmly advocated for several years.

"At thirty years of age I tried to become an Atheist, but though I never was left to deny or disbelieve the existence of God, yet I adopted the system of Deism; utterly rejecting the Bible, as the work of man and an imposition upon the world. My course of conduct in relation to evangelical ministers and Christians was such as might be expected from one who cherished such sentiments. I have it in painful remembrance that I opposed them, and made them and the cause the subject of ridicule and contempt.

"But the names of Infidel and Universalist, I was aware, were not popular. For a few years past I have assumed the name of Unitarian, for two reasons; one was, that it exposed me to less odium; the other, I found that I could be reckoned in that class without any material change in my religious opinions. And here I honestly and soberly declare that these several names were assumed at different times as a mere disguise, as convenience or interest might require. And I now regard these several schemes as essentially the same. I have been intimate with men in all ranks of society belonging to these religious persuasions, and I have found none of them, so far as I could discover, receiving the Bible as decisive authority in religious faith. This, I need not say, is denying its inspiration."