"And if the Righteous scarcely

be saved, where shall the ungodly

and the sinner appear?"
The argument of Peter in the text is
presented in the strongest fonn oflogic,
from the lesser to the greater
probability. It is put interrogatively,
asa direct appeal to themoral judgment
of the reader-carrying with it a
challenge to resist the conclusion, if it
be possible. This is felt by the writer to
be so irresistible, that the utterance of
it may be safely left with those to
whomtheargumentisaddressed: "For
the timeis come that judgment must begin
at the house of God; and if it first begin at
us, what shall the end beaf them that obey
not the gospel of God? And if the righteous
scarcely be saved, where shall theungodly
and sinner appear?"
It is necessary just here to intimate
a caution in the interpretation of the
text. Evidently it must not be
understood as implying any defect in
the provisions of the gospel, or as
clouding with suspicion the cenainty
of the believer's salvation. The
atonement for sin is perfect; the
Mediatorstanding between us and God
is fully competent to the trust assumed;
the righteousness by which we are
justified, is commensurate with the
law we had broken: cenainly, there is
not!ting wanting in this pan of the
Gospel scheme. So, when this
redemption comes to be applied. The
agent is the Holy Spirit, equal with the
Fatherand the Son in power and glory,
whose work must therefore be perfect.
All the grace needed in our
sanctification is treasured in Christ,
that it may be dispensed-and the
Holy Spirit dwells within us, to make
the immediate application. When too
we come to the final stage of this
salvation, the glory into which the
saint shall be introduced is already
prepared for !tim through our Lord's
ascension into heaven. (John 14:2-4 )
The certainty of this salvation cannot,
therefore, be impugued. It is secured
by the covenant of promise of Him
who "is not a man that he should lie,
neither the son of man that he should
repent: hat He said, and shall He not do
it? Or, hath He spoken, and shall He not
makeitgood?" (Numbers 23:19) This
assurance is made doubly sure, by the
close articulation of the gospel scheme,
in which all its pans are fitted the one
to the otherwith the nicest adjustment,
and the unity pervading the whole
displays the wisdom with w!tich it was
desigued. Whilst the distribution of
8 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon October, 1992
offices amongst the persons of the
Godhead, is seen to be just what is
needful to give efficiency to the plan,
and guarantees the accomplishment
of the end which is proposed.
Whatever men may be intended by the
Apostle whenhespeaks of the righteous
as "scarcely saved," no distrust can be
entenained as to the completeness of
that salvation revealed in "glorious
gospel of the blessed God.
But there is a human side in this
salvation on w!tich man is the actor, as
well as a divine side on which God is
the agent. The Scripture saith, "work
out your own salvation with fear and
trembling; Jar it is God which worketh in
you both to will and to do of His good
pleasure." (Phil. 2:12,13). It is, I
conceive, upon this human side, where
the agency and the experience of the
Christian are brought under review,
we are to find the true interpretation of
the text. Howevercompletethescheme
of divine mercy, and however cerrain
the salvation it provides for the sinner,
every believer finds mat, so far as his
own pan in the work is involved, he is
but "scarcely saved. Let us look into
this a little.
I. We are made to see that there
are real obstacles to be overcome, in
any plan of salvation which God
may devise. It is not proper to speak
of degrees of power in omnipotence,
and therefore all things may be
regarded as alike easy to God. But
there is a marked difference in the
Scriptural account of God's works,
when viewed as exhibitions of physical
or of moral power. We are presented
with the difficulties of the latter, that a
deeper impression may be made of the
power which subdues them. Thus the
work of creation, which lies so far
beyond the compass of reason that it
can be accepted only through faith,
(Heb. 11 :3) is yet presentedin5ctipture
as requiring only a word. In each of
the days, me creative act is described
thus, "and God said," -10r He spake,
and it was done-He commanded, and it
stood fast. n (Psalm 33:9) But in
redemption there was counsel; as
though wisdom must be brought in to
consider and to surmount embarrass-
ments. It was a scheme gradually
unfolded through a period of four
thousand years, before its completion
in the sufferings and death of Christ
upon the cross. Nay, a language must
be constructed in the types and symbols
of a figurate economy, through which
the methods of saving grace might be
revealed to the world. How wonderful
the contrast! And God means the
Christian to understand the obstacles,
over which the great salvation is
brought to his door in the sweet offers
ofthe gospel.
Descending from this broad survey,
you may choose to enterinto the details
of this amazing scheme. I warn you,
that difficulties will thicken upon every
step of the investigation until, it may
be, you will pause in alarm. When
justice, truth and holiness have united
in the decree, "the soul that sinneth, it
shall die,"-how shall mercy and love
protest against it, without a schism in
the attributes of God which it would
be blasphemy to suggest? Do you fall
back upon the idea of
SUBSTITUTION? Then explain the
embarrassment of expiating the sins of
the guilty by the sufferings of an
innocent party. Would it not be
tyranny in the lawgiver to lay this
dreadful service upon any who should
be unwilling to assume it? And could
any creature lawfully propose it of his
own accord? Perhaps, if the law-giver
could himself achieve the task-if he
who has the deepest interest in
preserving the integrity of his own
administration could endure the
penalty-in that case, the repugnance
to justice would be lost in the saClifice
which lays the suffering exactly upon
him. But do you not see that you have
risen now above the human plane to
the divine? You havefound the Son of
God, so far one with the Father as to be
identified with the Lawgiver; and yet
so far distinct from the Father, that He
may freely offer to take the sinner's
place.
But then how shall "the Wordbemade
flesh?"(john l:14) ForuntiltheDivine
is also human, the substitute is not yet
found. Need I tell you, that you have
just struck upon the deep mystery of
the Incarnation? PaSSing this by,
however, do you clearly see how this
substitute shall really feel the shame of
the sins He has assumed? Thesuffering
you may conceive as coming upon
Him from without; but the shame is
within. Here is the dilemma; how can
He, who was "holy, harmless,
undefiled," encounter this strange
emotion of shame? And yet without it
how can He be said to put His soul in
our soul's stead, as a true substitute
must?
Without pressing further these
difficulties, which lie in the SCripture
facts of incarnation, substitution, and
vicarious atonement. turn your
thoughts a moment to the office which
the Holy Spirit discharges in our
salvation. Evidently, His agency must
be omnipotent; for it is His function to
give life-to make the sinner a new
creature in Christ Jesu5-to raise him
from his death in sin, that he may
"walk in newness of life. " (Romans 6:4-
6) Yet in all this work of Almighty
power, He must not disturb the
autonomyofman'snature. The sinner
must be plucked from the jaws ofhell,
and a complete change be wrought in
his whole character; whilst not a pin of
the delicate machinery shall be jarred
from its place, in the spontaneity and
responsibility of the acts which he
shall put forth underthe impulse ofall
this grace.
I sweep over these points rapidly,
having no purpose beyond that of
passing them in review. They are but
illustrations of what must be
surmountedinanyplanofmercywhich
may be revealed to us; and it is in the
solution of these and kindred
difficulties, that the gospel of Christ
becomes "the power of God to salvation
to every one that believeth." They are so
brought home to us, in our Christian
experience, that we cannot suppress
the feeling of being "scarcely saved.
Indeed theysometimesso frown upon
us with their rugged grandeur, that we
smile at the flippancy of the assaults
which infidelity has ever made upon
them. Dr. Payson used to say that he
could write from his own experience
against Christianity, ifhe chose to do
it, with a power that would put to
shame all that infidels had ever
dreamed. And it is true. The man,
who has drawn into his own experience
what Divine grace has achieved in
order to secure his salvation, could
furnish the skeptic with difficulties
that would blanch his check with
terror. Yetthey have all been conquered
in the gospel of the grace of God, as the
believer with a blessed experience fully
knows. It is his prerogative therefore
to say to the sinner who rejects this
gospel, these difficulties remain with
their eternal pressure against you. By
this gospel the Chlistian is only saved;
"what then shall the end be of them that do
110t obey it?" The oppressive silence
which follows this interrogatory, is the
most solemn condemnation that can
be pronounced.
II. The righteous are scarcely
saved, in view of the struggle with
which each passed into the Kingdom
of God. What a long period of apathy
and indifference, duting which God
was pleading for admission into the
heart that was barred against His
approach! What resistance of motives
drawn from three worlds, the
attractions of heaven, the tortures of
hell, and the emptiness of earth-
against which three-fold battery the
human spirit has the power to hold
out in obstinate siege! Over what a
October, 1992 t- THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon t 9
dreary waste memory travels, when it
brings up the years ofitnpenitence and
unbelief, during which we listened to
the denunciations of wrath and to the
pleadings of love, alike unmoved by
the pains of the one and by the pathos
of the other! Then followed conviction
for sin, and the sense of guilt. Can we
not recall the unutterable
wretchedness, when we were first
overwhelmed by the shame and
disgrace of all this? And wasitrelieved
when we awoke to an equal sense of
our helplessness, and gloom settled
fora time into the blackness of despair?
Is it difficult to reproduce the agony of
those fruitless attempts to escape the
bondage of sin and the curse of the law
under which we groaned? What self-
inflicted tortures goading the
conscience to remorse, in the vain
hope that remorse might transfoun
into a peace-giving repentance! What
a strain upon the whole nature, in
those spasms of effort to lay hold upon
the cross with the faith which would
make the Saviour oursl Truly then the
kingdom of heaven brol,e in upon us,
as one expresses it, with a mighty
movement and impulse," and it was
with a species of violence that we took
it by force. (Matt. 11:12) Can the
Christian recall these pangs of the
second birth, when he passed from
spiritual death to spiritual life, without
feeling that he was scarcely saved?"
And he will read, in that experience,
the certain doom of those who have
never felt the anguish of this middle
passage from sin to holiness.
ill. The righteous are scarcely
saved, In the severiry oj theconjlict
with indwelling sin, with the world
and with Satan. It would cover the
whole personal history of the Christian,
to develop the three points here
specified. Nothing can be attempted
beyond the merest suggestion. As to
the first of the three, the new life is
infused by the Holy Spirit, and then is
left to its own law of growth: or to vary
the form of expression, the principle
of holiness is implanted, which by the
law of expansion pervades the whole
nature and takes possession of every
faculty. Throughout life, until death
brings a blessed release, the antagonism
exists between what the Apostle calls
"the flesh" and "the spirit": jor the flesh
lusted against the spirit, and the spirit
against the flesh: and these are contrary
the one to the other, so that ye cannot do
the things thatyewould."(Gal. v: 17). To
the end of his career on earth, the
believer is ' putting off, concerning the
Jonnerconversation, the old man which is
corrupt according to the deceitful lusts
and is putting on the new man, which
after God; Is created in righteousness and
tnie holiness. "(Eph. 4: 22,24). The
Christian does not live, who cannot
enter into the sad complaint of Paul: "I
see another law in my members warring
against the law oj my mind, and bringing
me into captivity to the law oj sin which is
in my members. Oh wretched man that I
am! who shall ddiverme Jrom the body oj
this death?" (Romans 7:14-25.)
The conflict with the world is severe
in two particulars. There is , for
example, it obtrusiveness (intrusion).
We are so much under the dontinion
of sense, always unfavorable to the
acting of faith. Through the five senses,
this world of matter is ever rushing in
upon the world of spirit. In vain do we
seek to shut down the gates and bar
outtheinvader. Withprofanerudeness
it tramples upon our seasons of holy
meditationandsecretcommunion with
God-thrusting its trifles upon our
notice, and with boisterous
. positiveness asserting that to be real
which we have sO often found to be
empty as the shadow. In addition to
which there is the numbing influence
of the world, so unfriendly to piety in
all its maxims, opinions, habits and
laws. Here we are-in the world, with
no power to separate ourselves from
i t ~ w i t . all the energies tasked in
resisting the snares by which we may,
10 'I' mE COUNSEL of Chalcedon 'I' October, 1992
at any moment, be entrapped.
And what shall I say of the Devil?
Most certainly not that which the
shallow skepticism of the day openly
procIaims---that he is a myth, a dark
superstition, a fantastiC specter
conjured up by fear in ah uncritical
age, the traditional legend of a gloomy
and ascetic past. It was the lot of Him
whom we call our Master and Lord, to
enter into conflict with this most
personal of all foes: and there can be
no testimony more unimpeachable
than of the witness who declines, out
of the bosom of the dismal strife, that
Satan is "the prince of the power oj the
alr, the spirit that now worketh in the
children oj disobedience. "CEph. 2:2;]ohn
12:31). With fearfulsigniticance he is
even styled "God oj this world," having
power to "blind the minds oj them that
believe not. " (2 Cor. 4: 4). The reality
of jurisdiction which this feU usurper .
has acquired over the forces of nature,
is more than shadowed to us in the
temptation of our Redeemer himself;
when he "took Him into an exceeding
high mountain and showed Him all the
kingdoms oj the world and the glory oj
them; and saUl unto Him, all these things
willI give thee, if thou wilt fall down and
worship me. " (Matt. 4:8,9). 1 have no
speculations to offer as to the mode in
which this vision was accomplished.
The wonder is equally great, and
eqoally attests the stretch of Satanic
power, whether we suppose an actual
spectacular display before the eye of
the body-or a mental conception
wrought through the imagination
alone . . The point to be noticed is that,
in either case, it was a work
accomplished by the Devil: and it gives
the clue to much that is experienced
by the Christian who, through
temptation, enters into the sorrow of
his Lord. Who can describe the limit
of power granted him to inflame the
passiOns of men, to stimulate lust and
desire, to till the intagination with
pictures of sin, to enter into men's
dreams and to pass the most weird
apparitions before the eye closed in
sleep? Nay, when the arts of solicitation
have all been exhausted, what resources
of malice are displayed in harassing
those whom he cannot destroy! What
horrible suggestions, full of filth or full
of blasphemy, are suddenly thrown
into the mind-which recoils from it
with a degree of horror showing them
to be arrows from the bow of an enemy
withoutl But say-if a Christian can
come out of a life-long conflict with
this triple conspiracy of the world, the
flesh, and the devil, without the
conviction riveted upon
him of being "scarcely
saved?"
IV. That he is
scarcely saved, isproved
by the severe discipline
to which he is subject
during life. Trials,
doubtless, are allotted to
all: forthe double reason ....
that by the interlacing of .
human relations the
piousandthewickedare
bound up together-
and because this Divine
providence operates
chiefly through natural
and established laws,
under which all men live alike. But
there is this fundamental difference
between the sorrows of the righteous
and ofthe wicked: that the fonner are
embraced within the covenant which
God has made with His people, and
fall therefore under the ministration of
love. I scarcely know what should
excite a deeper gratitude, than the
tenderness and unction with which
this distinction is pressed upon us in
the Word of God. If you tum to the
Old Testament, there is the testimony
of the Eighty-ninth Psalm: "if his
children forsake my law, and walk not in
my judgments; if they break my statutes,
and keep not my comntandments; Olen
will I visit their transgreSSion with the
rod, and tl1eir iniquity with stripes: hearts, without putting us to the
nevertl1eless my loving-kindness will I not torture. What those suffer whom God
utterly take from him, nor suffer my undertakes to purify, must remain a
faithfulness to fail-my covenant will I secret betwixt Him who inflicts and
not break, nor alter the thing that is gone them who endure. "The heart knoweth
out of my lips." (vv. 30-34). Uyou tum its own bitterness;" and can we come
to the New Testament, there is the ever forth from the pressure of grief and
classical passage in Hebrews: 'jorwhom pain, without knowing that we are
the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and "scarcely saved?" The teaching power
scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. there is in sorrow-<Jh what depths of
if ye endure chastening, God dealeth with ignorance it does uncover! What sins
you as with sons;forwhat son is he wl10m of omission, what sad deficiencies of
the father chasteneth not? But if ye be character,-which we would never
without chastisement whereof all are have suspected, unless the probe had
partakers, then are ye bastards, and not been driven deep by the faithful hand
oflove! But he who thus
comes out of "the furnace
heated seven times hot,"
must know that he has
been "saved as by fire."
V. The Christian is
scarcely saved, in view
oj the divorce between
his person and his works
at the judgment There
is an important sense in
which they do go up with
him to the bar for ilial;
'jar God shall bring every
work into Judgment, with
every secret thing, whether
It be good, or whether it be
evil. "(Eccl.12:14). These
sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers are the evidences, by which character
of our flesh, which corrected us, and we will be established. They must
gave them reverence: shall we not much therefore be passed under review, in
rather be in subjection to the Fatller of the day when human destinies are
spirits, and live? Fortheyverilyforafew declared. In .the case of believers,
days chastenedus after their own pleasure; these works have no significance except
but He for our profit, that we might be as proofs of a gracious state and of a
partakers of His holiness. Now no living union with Jesus Christ: "then
chastening for the present seemeth to be s1tall the king say unto them 011 His right
joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, hand, come, ye blessed of my Father,
afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit inherit the kingdom prepared for you
of righteousness unto them which are fromtheJoundat!onoftheworld;forlwas
exercised thereby. " (Heb .. 12:6-11). But an hungered, and ye gave me meat-I
discipline cannot accom plish its was t11irsty, and ye gave me drink-I was
purpose, without being severe. It can a stranger, and ye took me in-naked,
neither vindicate the divine holiness and ye clothed me-I was sick, and ye
in the dispensation of mercy, nor can visited me-I was in prison, and ye came
itcorrectthewaywardnessofoursinful unto me." (Matt. 25: 34-36).
October, 1992 + TIlE COUNSEL of Cha1cedon + 11
There is, too, a blessed sense in
which these works, follow the believer
into heaven, there to receive a gradous
reward. Our Lord intimates as much
in the parable of the talents, when to
him who had used well his trust it was
said: "Well done, thou good and faithful
servant; thou has been over a few things,
I will make thee ruler over many things-
enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. (Matt
25:21,23). And the voice, whichjohn
heard from heaven, sweeps away the
last vestige of doubt: "Write, blessed
are the dead which die in the Lord, from
henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they
may rest from their labors;
and their works do follow
them." (Rev. 14: 13)
But whilst these
Christian works are
recognized as evidences of
our state before God, and as
proofs of personal zeal in
the Divine service, they are
entirely disallowed as
forming any part of the
ground of our acceptance in
the day of judgment. "For
other foundation can no man
lay than that is laid, which is
Jesus Christ. Now if any man
build upon this foundation gold, silver,
precious stones, wood, hay stubble; every
man's work shall be made manifest-for
the day shall declare it, because it shall be
revealed by fire, and the fire shall try
tveryman'sworkofwhatsortitis. Ifany
man's work abide which he hath built
thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If
any man's work shall be burned, he shall
suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved,
yet so as by fire. (I Cor. 3: 11-15).
How prophetic of this separation of
the believer from the imperfect works
he has wrought, is that solemn
disclaimer of them which he himself is
constrained to make in the hour of
death! At no moment does the
redemption of our Lord jesus Christ
seem so precious, as when the curtain
is lifted which hides the realities of the
eternal world. The language of every
departing saint is, "not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but
according to His mercy He saved us, by
the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Ghost-which he shed upon
us abundantly, through Jesus Otrist our
Saviour." (Titus 3: 5,6). What can this
repudiation of his own righteousness,
prophetic of a more public divorce at
the judgment, import-except that
salvation is purely of grace? In no
uncertain tone is the testimony
delivered that, so far as his personal
agency is involved, every Christian is
compelled to feel that he is "scarcely
saved."
In the application of this fact,
according to the Apostle's argument, it
will be best to be pointed and brief. "If
the righteous scarcely be saved, where
shall the ungodly and the sinner oppear?"
Before this solemn question is
answered,let the advantages possessed
by 'the righteous be carefully
considered.
l.They are scarcely saved, not-
withstanding their union with Christ
from whom life is constantly derived.
The preceding exposition was intended
to free the gospel from the suspidon of
incompleteness. But 1 am anxious that
you shall appredate its sufficiency in
all its partS. What a splendid gain it is
12 'I' TIlE COUNSEL of Chalcedon t October, 1992
to the believer "to be found in Otrist, not
having his own righteousness which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith
of Christ, the righteousness which is of
Godbyfai.th?" (Phil. 3:9.) What vantage
ground can be higher, than to be
"complete in Him who is the head of all
prinCipality and power"-in whom
"dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead
bodily?" (Co\. 2: 9,10). Who can be
safe, if he be not-unto whom jesus
Christ has been "made of God wisdom,
and righteousness, andsanctificatfon, and
. redemption?" (I Cor. 1 :30). Yet in the
face of all this, the Christian confesses
with Peterthatheis "scarcely
saved." What possible hope
can then be cherished by
those who are "without
Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and
strangers from the covenants
of promised, having no hope,
andwidwutGodin rheworld?"
(Eph. 2: 12). ' Is not the
argument well put by the
Apostle, and can its force be
evaded?
2. The righteous are
scarcely saved, notwith-
standing the indwelling of
the Holy Ghost to sanctify and glorify.
The Christian has, in this presence of
the Comforter, a double assurance of
his salvation. He is given as the seal
and pledge of this: "in whom, says the
Apostle, "after that ye believed, ye were
sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
which is the earnest of our inheritance,
until the redemption of the purchased
possession, unto the praise of His glory.
(Eph. 1:13.) And we can see that
nature of the guarantee in the fact that
the Holy Spirit is the quickener, the
fountain of spiritual life to those in
whom he abides. Yet with this perfect
assurance of salvation, in the actual
presence and official working of the
agent by whom salvation is applied, it
is still most solemnly true that "the
righteous are scarcely saved." What
must the end be of those who not only
"have done despite unto the SpiJit of
grace: but who (so far as they can
testify from any expeJience of His
power,) "have not so much as heard
whetherbe any Holy Spirit?" (Acts 19:2)
If they are "scarcely saved" in whom
there isa well-spJing oflife, how utterly
dead must they remain upon whom
the Holy Spirit hath never breathed?
3. The righteous are scarcely saved,
notwithstanding the entire change
wrought in their character and desires,
at their conversion. God knows, my
brethren, that we are conscious of
gJievous imperfection in ourselves.
The harsh world can bring no
accusation against us, save that of
conscience. But with all this, we are
constrained to proclaim the
stupendous change which Divine grace
has wrought within us. "One thing we
know-whereas we were once blind, now
we see."Oohn 9:25) A new nature has
been implanted, with its own instincts,
appetites, aspirations and desires; and
the tendency of these is to holiness,
detaching from sin and leading us to
God. If then with this magnificent
advantage we are but "scarcely saved,"
what is their hope who are still under
the power of evil and in whom the
yoke of spiritual bondage has never
been broken?
4. The righteous are scarcely saved,
notwithstanding the support drawn
from the and grace of God.
These recur to the saint in every season
of darkness and trial, affording the
nourishment by which his spiritual
strength is renewed. It is one of the
offices of the Comforterto "bring them
to our remembrance: and through
these channels to pour upon the soul
the rich grace of God by which we are
saved. but if with this aid we are only
saved at the last, how melancholy the
forebodings of those who cannot point
to a single line in the word of God that
does not warn them against the day of
final ruin?
Let the unconverted themselves
answer the question of the text: if with
all these splendid opportunities "the
righteous are scarcely saved, where shall
the ungodly and the sinner appear?" Alas!
there is no answer, but in a most
oppressive silence. In that deepening
silence, let the sinner indulge two
reflections. When he shall stand before
the bar of judgment, his probation will
be ended: he has reached his destiny,
and that destiny he has deliberately
chosen. Upon what principle can be
expect the Almighty to reverse this
deCision, to contravene his choice, and
to force upon him that which he has
persistently rejected? The grace by
which we are redeemed is as sovereign
in its application, as in its oJigin: but it
saves no being against his will. On the
contrary, it is written, "the people shall
be willlngin the day oj thy power," (Psalm
110:3). If thy Judge shall render his
decision upon this just and necessary
principle, the destiny which the sinner
has chosen will be the destiny he will
experience. He has chosen death, and
death must be his portion.
Besides thiS, the sinner has
completed his education; and it is and
education which unfits him for heaven.
If placed amongst the glorified by
arbitrary authOlity, he could not share
their joys. He has not been rendered
"meet for the saint's inheritance in
light." What, 0 sinner, if you yourself
should earnestly pray to be banished
from the glory of that presence, whose
dazzling splendor would prove a more
terrible torture than the darkness of
despair! What picture can be drawn of
the sinner's doom more dreadful, than
that hell with its horrors should be
coveted as an asylum from the
intolerable anguish of being in the
light of God's presence and holiness
forever? I have not the hean to say
anything afterthis. Oh, that you could
be persuaded to faith and repentance,
whilst change is pOSsible! At least, let
the difficulty with which salvation is
accomplished by us, be a sufficient
plea for your immediate entrance upon
the work. May God, in His mercy, set
home the truth of the text upon every
conscience herel May the echo of its
unanswered question linger upon the
ear, until the answer shall come back
from the sinner kneeling at the Saviors
crossin
October, 1992 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon 13