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A 
 
 C5 L 
 
 ¥IIY WE PERSUADE MEN: 
 
 J^ S TS R M O N 
 
 PREACHED iiN 
 
 ZION CHURCH, MONTREAL, 
 
 ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 37TH, 187: 
 
 BY 
 
 TTIK liEV CITARLE8 (UTAPMAN, MA. 
 
 PUBLISMKD \\\ «K(^IIKST, 
 
 -•-^ 
 
 MONTREAL:-' WITNRSS PRINTING IIOITSR 
 
The following appeal is published by a few friends of Zion Church, 
 who besought their Pastor to allow them to place it before the public, to 
 which request he gave his consent, hoping that a blessing miijht result 
 to its readers. It will be seen that it is chiefly to one principle in human 
 nature to which appeal is in this form made. Another and diflFerent kind 
 of appeal will be made in due course; but it has appeared to me that 
 there is some danger in these days of overlooking the more grave aspects 
 
 of our relation to a Righteous Ruler. 
 
 c. r. 
 
WHY WE PERSUADE MEN. 
 
 II. Corinthians V., ii v. 
 " Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." 
 
 It is written of those who have r .pentetl of sin iind put their 
 trust in Christ, that there is for them now no condemnation. 
 They are safe. This implies, of course, that those who do not 
 repent and trust in Him, are liable to conilemnation. There are 
 a great number of you who trust in Christ. It was not so with 
 you once. I rejoice with you in the joy and blessedness that are 
 now and forever yours. But there are others of you of whom 
 this is not true. You know well enough that you have not 
 trusted in Christ. I am concerned on your account ; so much so 
 that it is laid on my heart to direct to you all, or nearly all, 
 my words, based on what Paul wrote, in hope that it may lead 
 you to " ponder the path of your feet," so that, on your progress 
 towards eternity, all you" "ways may be established." As sen- 
 sible persons who desire to know Ihe truth, and are not afraid to 
 look at it, I beg of you attend to what I say, and then come to 
 just what conclusion your calm judgment may dictate. 
 
 The Apostle Paul felt sure that it was possible for those who 
 heard the Gospel from his lips to perish, — to go down to perdi- 
 tion, and there experience the most unutterable woes ; and 
 because he felt sure of this, he became very earnest in trying to 
 induce them to do something to ward off' so great a calamity. 
 As ambassador for Christ, he besought them to become reconciled 
 to God. Need I remind you, th.nt it is quite as possible for you 
 — each of you — to perish ? It is. Whatever may be your pre- 
 sent thoughts, your present comforts and prospects of earthly 
 good, it is within the range of possibility that, when you die, you 
 should go to a place where anguish of spirit and of body will be 
 your portion. Probably this statement of what may be chafes 
 your soul, and awakens your incredulity. Nevertheless, how- 
 ever disagreeable the thought and repulsive the anticipation — 
 
like some uupleusant things of this life — it is most solcnuily true. 
 A few years only may be allotted to you on earth to labour, to 
 eat and drink and sleep, to enjoy and struggle, to sin and hide 
 your sin, and then you may experience what is meant by 
 perdition, and utter " destruction from the presence of the Lord.'' 
 
 There dwells in all minds of any degree of culture, an idea of 
 the fitness of things. You perceive how prisons are fit places 
 for thieves and murderers, and quiet, happy homes the suitable 
 abodes of the honest and good. You profess to know what is 
 proper for you in public and social life among your fellow. 
 creatures. Now, whether you can see it or not at present, it 
 may turn out to be the most fit and proper thing at the end of 
 your life that you should experience the " terrors of the Lord" in 
 perdition. I say it may prove to be most fit and proper, con- 
 sidering what your heart is towards God ; so that the awful 
 possibility of your being sent there will not be more awful than 
 appropriate and wise. 
 
 It is hard for you, perhaps, to think how such an eternal 
 catastrophe can come to pass. Probably it is very diflicult ; yet 
 events do come to pass which once we could scarcely have 
 imagined. Those who were ruined by the first earthquake 
 would have once said that such a destruction was contrary to 
 their experience and beyond conception. Few would have sun- 
 posed, when looking on a gentle, playful, loving child that he 
 would become that coarse, savage, detestable creature doomed to 
 the gallows for his crimes. Thus, in the course of things, there 
 are at work reasons and causes for the most unimaginable 
 disasters. And whether or not you can exactly see how you 
 shall become changed from an active — perchance, cheerful — 
 inhal:)itant of our beautiful world to being an inhabitant of outer 
 darkness — the abode of all horrors — I say again, it is very possible 
 that you may learn the awful reality by personal experience. 
 And to assist you to come to the same conclusion, I will state a 
 few plain trutlis. 
 
 1st. Soma terrible tilings arc said of God In the Bible. 
 
 The knowledge which God has of us is something appalling. 
 " AH thin;jjs are naked and open t ) the eyes of Him with whom 
 
we have to do." He " understandeth our thoughts afar off." 
 " The darkness and the light are both alike to Him." '' There 
 is not a word on my tongue, but lo ! O Lord, thoij kwowest it 
 altogether." Therefore, v/e may be sure God is as well 
 acquainted with all in our life as we are ourselves, and, indeed, 
 much better ; for He never forgets. The holiness of God is lo 
 us fearful. " He is of purer eyes th in to behold iniquity ;" and, 
 therefore, when He sees it in us, there is danger of our being 
 consumed. Seraphim and Cherubim continually cry, " Holy, 
 Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty." He proclaimed Him- 
 self, " I the Lord thy God am a jealous Go*d, visiting the iniquity 
 of the fathers upon the children." " A God of truth, and with- 
 out iniquity, just and right is He." "Justice and judgment are 
 the habitat-on of His throne." The Power of God is overwhelm- 
 ing. He iS the " Lord God Almighty." He " spread forth the 
 heavens as a curtain." " The inhabitants of the earth are as 
 grasshoppers before Him." " The Lord spake— the earth 
 trembled." " He fainteth not, neither is weary." " None can 
 stay His hand, or say unto Him, ' What doest Thou.?' " and, con- 
 sequently, it is said of Him, " Our God is a consuming fire.'' 
 " A fire goeth before Him and burneth up His enemies round 
 about." " God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth ; the Lord 
 revengeth and is furious; the Lord v/ill take vengeance on His 
 adversaries, and He reserveth wrath for His enemies." "Who 
 can stand before His indignation .? and who can abide the fierce- 
 ness of His anger.?" " His fury is poured out like fire, and the 
 rocks are thrown down by Him." " He shall come in flaming 
 fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey 
 not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." Is it not true, then, 
 that some terrible things are said of God in the Bible ? 
 
 2nd. There are signs of His terrors in the ordinary 
 world. 
 
 The lightnings that scorch and kill are His ministers. 
 Sweeping storms, lashing oceans to fury, and wasting the works 
 of man, have their origin in God. Earthquakes, devouring body 
 and soul, are God's agents. For what men call "Nature'? 
 laws" are really God's ordinances. They have no existence 
 
 \ 
 
6 
 
 apart from His creative will. Death — coming to young or old — 
 comes by special Divine appointment. " It is appointed unto all 
 men once to die." God formed those general laws which, being 
 disregarded in human society, have worked such terrible woes ; 
 and He also ordained those laws of your body and mind, the vio- 
 lation of which sometimes produces such intolerable anguish. In 
 all these ways we see what, a vast reserve force of destruction 
 there must be in the Divine Nature. He who has designedly 
 framed the mechanism of law and force — in body and mind — in 
 such a way that collision with them entails so great and varied 
 calamities, what can He not do to indicate His displeasure 
 against sin, and make men feel how "evil and bitter a thing it is 
 to sin against God ?" Sometimes men regard, and very justly, 
 the blessings of daily life as the small outcome of a goodness vast 
 as infinity. And, in like manner, you may regard the terrible 
 powers of destruction which are at work in the storm, in earth- 
 quake, in subterranean fires, in the pains of disease, in the con- 
 vulsions of death, and the torment of conscience, as only the mere 
 motion of a Divine Hand — the indicators of a power before which 
 all defiant creatures must crouch, and finally the heavens " pass 
 away." Certainly God is not a weak, effeminate, soft Being who 
 cannot lay waste and annihilate. There are signs around us 
 that He can and will carry out His purposes, iu spite of all 
 human ingenuity and power. 
 
 3rd. It is said that God did do terrible things in ancient 
 times. 
 
 We have an authentic record of certain terrors of the Lord 
 experienced by creatures of ancient date. " The angels that 
 kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation. He hath 
 reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment 
 of the great day." Young and old, homes rich and homes poor, 
 fathers mothers, children — by thousands, and perhaps millions 
 — were in one day deliberately, though sorrowfully, swept by God 
 from life to death — from time to eternity — through the instru- 
 mentality of a deluge brought on for the express purpose. The 
 inhabitants of two prosperous cities — Sodom and Gomorrah — 
 were subsequently — without an exception — burnt up by fire and 
 
 [ 
 
i 
 
 brimstone sent from the Lord. Into every home of native 
 Egyptians, in the course of one night, God sent the angel of 
 death, and there smote all the first-born ; and not long after that 
 deed of desolation, He so arranged things as to cause the King 
 of Egypt, and thousands of his soldiers, to meet with their des- 
 truction amidst the billow^s of the Red Sea. It wn& God who 
 gave that terrible commission to the Israelites with regard to the 
 abominable idolaters of Canaan, because they sacrificed their 
 own children and otherwise defiled the land : — " Thou shalt 
 smite them and utterly destroy them ; thou shalt make no cove- 
 nant with them, nor show mercy unto them." — Dukt. vii., 3. 
 The rebellious adherents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram found 
 to their grief that the earth was waiting the nod of Jehovah to 
 devour them alive. Each one of 185,000 of Senacherib's army 
 possessed a life as precious as any of ours, and was the centre of 
 affection and interest to parents and kindred far away ; and yet, 
 in one night, the heavy hand of God was upon them, and they 
 became all dead men. As a matter of history, then, we know 
 that God did do terrible things in ancient times, because of the 
 sins of men. 
 
 4th. i/ z's further said that God has prepared a fearful 
 state for some of His creatures. 
 
 It may be well for us to see what the Scriptures tell us upon 
 this subject. There is a " place prepared for the devil and his 
 angels," — that is, his agents, whether those agents be demons or 
 human beings. It is said, sometimes, to be a place of " outer 
 darkness" — an abode of gloom, of sorrow, outside the circle of 
 creation cheered by the light of God's smile. It is called a place 
 where " their worm dieth not, and their fire is not quenched." 
 In one chapter it is called a " lake of fire burning with brim- 
 stone." In another it is represented under the figure of a 
 " bottomless pit," from whence there is no escape. It is also, to 
 be made to " drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is 
 poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation, and 
 to be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the 
 holy angels and in the presence of the Lord. And the smoke of 
 .their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever ; and they have no 
 
8 
 
 rest day nor night." And in the parable of the rich man and 
 Lazarus, we read : "And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in 
 torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom ; 
 and he cried and said, ' Father Abraham have mercy on me, and 
 send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his linger in water and 
 cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame." 
 
 Now, what we have to observe is, that these things— what- 
 ever they may mean — have a place in the universe of God, and 
 are carefully arranged for and ordained by God ; for nothing of 
 this sort can have place without God assigning it. The calmness 
 and skill with which God has prepared for your food, your 
 clothing and your comfort here below, are not greater than the 
 equity and wisdom, attended with grief, with which He has pre- 
 pared the bottomless pit and the fire that is never to be quenched. 
 If there is foresight and power displayed in making heaven 
 blessed for the saints, there is corresponding foresight and power 
 in fitting things so that all whose proper place is perdition, shall 
 find it to be just what its name implies— utter ruin. God owns 
 hell as well as heaven. The one is His prison, the other His 
 paradise. He has carefully made it what it is. And judging 
 from the strong and intensely-expressive words of Scripture, we 
 may conclude that the place which God has prepared for impeni- 
 tent men is more awful and fuU of anj^uish than the human mind 
 can bear to think. 
 
 5th. It is also said that the day -will come -when God will 
 actually send many hearers of the Gospel to this place He 
 has already prepared. 
 
 We know for a certainty that many of the people who once 
 lived in Capernaum will find their portion in the "lake that 
 burneth," for Christ said : " And thou Capernaum, which art 
 exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell ; for if the 
 mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in 
 Sodom, it would have remained unto this day. But I say unto 
 you, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the 
 day of judgment than for thee." And, also, we know that many 
 others who listened to our Saviour's words will experience the 
 like doom. " And I say unto you that many shall come from the 
 
9 
 
 East and the West, and shaU sit down with Abraham and Isaac 
 and Jacob in tlie Kinj^dom of Heaven, bnt the chiUlren of 
 the Kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness ; there 
 shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'' We are also told 
 of some who will find their cverlastmg home there that lived 
 and died expecting something very ditlerent. " Many will 
 say unto me in that day Lord, Lord, have we not prophe- 
 sied in thy name, and in tliy name cast out devils, and in thy 
 name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess 
 unto them : I never knew ycu ; depart from mc, ye that work 
 iniquitv." In the description given in the Matthew xxv., of the 
 last judgment, the King is represented as saying to those on his 
 left hand : " Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting lire, 
 prepared for the devil and his :ingels"— " These shall go away 
 into everlasting punishment." 
 
 Nov/, the sum of the observations so far made by me is thrs : — 
 We see clearly— as clearly as anything can be seen from the 
 works and Word of God— that there is in God something by 
 which it is proper to speak of Ilim as a " consuming fire ;' 
 that there is in Him. — beyond v/hat He does in nature and 
 has done among men of ancient days — a reserve force of destruc- 
 tion vast as infinity ; that He has deliberately, though sorrow- 
 fully, prepared a place where the full force of His wrath may be 
 experienced by men and devils ; that the day will come when 
 many who once listened to the good tidings of salvation by 
 Christ will in that very place experience the pressure of His 
 heavy hand. I am not aware of anything being more certain 
 than these things. They are not the result of speculation ; they 
 do not depend upon elaborate reasonings • they arc plain, obvi- 
 ous truths. And in the light of them I think I can say again 
 v/hat I said at the beginning :— It is possible that you may per- 
 ish — may go down to a terril»le perdition. It matters not whe- 
 ther you call it a place or a state. There is the prospect clearly 
 before you. There is in God the reserve force to lay hold of 
 you when the hour comes. There is the day fast approaching 
 when God must decide whether or not He shall consign you to 
 " everlasting destruction " from His presence. These words we 
 are now dealing with are not playthings ; they are not hollow 
 
10 
 
 sounds. They are signs of solemn realities, which you may to 
 your cost experience. 
 
 I speak to you who hear of Christ and shun Ilim. It is 
 certainly a very grave and momentous circumstance that you may 
 at last find yourselves in eternal woe. I don't know of anything 
 to compare for seriousness, with this your critical position. It is . 
 of small use for you to wince under the Word of God, and then 
 try and cheer up and cast otf all these truths from your mind. 
 That won't alter the facts of the case. It may be disagreeable to 
 think of finding yourself at last where the " worm dieth not and 
 the fire is not quenched ;" but ther- is more than the disagreeable 
 feeling, and 2V may come to pass. The men who live on a vol- 
 cano may find it an unpleasant thing to think of being swallowed 
 up some day ; but their trying to forget the subject will not in- 
 duce the earthquake to keep away. 
 
 Even the most insensible must see that there is something 
 alarming in those passages of Scripture I have quoted. You 
 perhaps don't like them. You wish they were not in the Bible. 
 You think them dreadfully severe and sweeping. As for that, I 
 cannot help it. I have simply re ' vted what is written. If you have 
 any charge to prefer, prefer it before God. Accuse Him of 
 being too terrible. Fight with the Eternal. There are the 
 statement's, and you have to deal with them, and to consider that 
 they apply to you as mu^-h as they apply to any one else. I 
 don't know whether you expect me to explain them away and 
 soften them down so that you may be more easy in your minds. If 
 so you are to be disappointed ; for God's Word on this subject is too 
 plain to be pared away, and no one has a commission to lessen the 
 terrors of the Lord. The language may be sometimes figurative, 
 but the reality— the spiritual reality— must correspond in intensity 
 with the corporeal representation, or it would be nonsense. Even 
 should you in your painful ingenuity eliminate much of what 
 is supposed to be taught, there will in any case be a 
 residuum quite serious enough to make your conscience un- 
 easv. If you want to know why God has caused such fear, 
 ful things to be written, the answer is, because the reality is 
 coming on apace, and He would have you know it and take 
 heed in due time. It is as though God would make you feel 
 
 \ 
 
11 
 
 \ 
 
 that even you may miserably perish, so that you may in the end 
 not perish. Certainly those to whom Christ will say " Depart 
 yc cursed into everlasting fire" will perish; and from the 
 description of their conduct on earth as nominal proff^ssors, it 
 would appear that they were not worse in outward conduct than 
 many who now attend our churches. 
 
 It is quite true that " God is Love ;" that He is " slow'to anger; 
 not willing that any should perish." Yes, you cannot find 
 words to tell how kind He is ; and it is because this is so true that 
 your perishing will be such a dreadful thing. The chief agony 
 of perdition lies in being sent there by a God of Love, after hav- 
 ing known of mercy through Christ Jesus ; and the possibility of 
 your perishing rests not on God's pleasure, not on His aversion 
 to you, not on lack of power to forgive you, but on your slight- 
 ing the love of your Father — your wickedly taking advantage 
 of His kindness and tenderness to shun His presence, and to try 
 and dispense with His fellowship. 
 
 If one could see all that lies in your hearts, doubtless, in 
 many instances we should find the chief comfort and support of 
 your life while living wickedly to be this — that in your case, by 
 some favorable chance these dreadful things won't come upon 
 you. Now, I pray you, don't deceive yourselves. There is as 
 much chance for you, as long as you live in sin, to go to perdition 
 as any one. " God is not mocked ; whatsoever a man soweth 
 that shall he also reap." There can be no delusion played off 
 before the all-searching Eye of God. While you are talking 
 and excusing yourself, the sentence may go forth and lay you 
 low in an hour you think not. 
 
 I would, then, have you believe in the liability of your soul 
 to destruction. Hold it as an indubitable truth that there is a 
 chance — yea a serious possibility — of your going down to woe. 
 Never forget that it is not you who are banished from Heaven of 
 yourselves, but you zvit/i the sins you love and cherish. God 
 cannot and will not have your sins in Heaven. Aversion to 
 God, wilful shunning of Christ, delight in secret practices which 
 God detests, these are the things which must go to their proper 
 place ; and if they are found in your soul when it leaves this 
 world, your soul must go ivith them to a place and society where 
 
12 
 
 such things are natural. There is no arbitrariness, no wrong in 
 this. It cannot be otherwise. It is of no use for you to be near 
 to Christ in the next life, if you arc out of all sympathy with 
 Him. The bliss of Heavenly life would be a greater bore and 
 torment to you than any prayer and worship on earth can pos- 
 sibly be. There is Christ close by you now, willing and able to 
 cleanse all your sins. There is the All-Kind Father waiting to 
 embrace you, and the Spirit prompts your conscience aright. 
 But if you Tjuill live in sin the chance of your perishing becomes 
 a certainty. It is of no use to quiver and quail, and vainly 
 hope. There is only one way by which you can rise above the 
 danger ; it is by submitting to the authority of God — by heartily 
 abandoning your neglectful, ungodly ways, and casting out your 
 unholy desires, and entrusting your soul to the care, the teacli- 
 ing, the elevating influence and the sin-cleansing power of Jesus 
 Christ. He is the refuge set before you in the Gospel. " There 
 is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." If you 
 want some other Saviour, you must want and perish. If you 
 refine away the truth of Christ to gratify your sinful tastes, you 
 must refine away and perish. The terrors of the Lord are real, 
 and are coming — coming fast. We know it because of Christ's 
 words. We speak of these things with fear and pain. We remind 
 you again and again of your peril, and once more would persuade 
 you to seek safety, purity, Heaven, Eternal Life — all that is dear 
 to body and soul for tliis world and the world to come — in per- 
 sonal, living, loving union with Him who came to ycek and to 
 save the lost. " Now, then, we arc ambassadors for God — as 
 though God did beseech you by us ; we pray you, in Christ's 
 stead, be ye reconciled to God."