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One of the most fatal delusions that
ever imperiled the immortal soul!
(From Winslow's, "The Voice of the Charmer")
Many professes to believe the gospel, but
in their practice make it a lie; thus fostering
one of the most fatal delusions that ever
imperiled the immortal soul!
Do you live as if you believed the gospel to be true?
What moral influence does your professed belief exert over you?
What shape and coloring does it impart
to your habits of reflection and of feeling?
You affirm that you believe in the gospel; but
upon what part of your conduct is the influence
of that belief felt and seen?
You declare that you have faith; but where are its fruits?
Alas! the moonbeams do not fall more coldly
and powerlessly upon the sterile earth, than
does the light which your 'intellectual faith'
sheds upon your whole path to eternity.
You live as if there were....
no God;
no Savior;
no heaven;
no hell;
no death;
no judgment; and
no eternity.
Immersed in business, or intent upon wealth,
panting for fame, or eager in chase of pleasure,
the dread future, whose bleak, rock bound coast
you are each moment nearing, is all, all forgotten!
What a mere fragment of your being is your
present earthly life! Compared with the eternal
future, it is as the particle of sand which the
wind lifts and wafts from the shore, or like a
drop of the spray which it scatters from the
ocean's wave. And yet see how you live!
The devils believe, and tremble at what they
believe. You believe, and yet tremble not!
O what a lie does your whole life give to your faith!
The decided irreligion, worldliness, and thoughtlessness,
which make up its history, prove your faith in the gospel
to be a most woeful deception! It may be a sound faith,
as far as reason and understanding go; but a 'mere assent'
of the truth of the gospel is not saving faith!
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