New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1868-03-08

as young Converts VAIL, Due q SOAtSs Va
discourses upon such topics as these !:
the entire sinfulness of the human
heart in the sight of holy God the
strictness and righteous penalty Of his
law; the certainty that it will be in
flicted in the awful and endless punish
ment of all who die impenitent-lead-
ing sinners to despair Of obtaining sal
walton by the merit of their own
works, or by their own strivings, be
they ever so earnest; stripping them
of all their vain excuses, driving them
from all their refugees of lies, and point
ing them to the cross of Christ as their
only refuge. Many of the most sue
cessful preachers in winning souls to
Christ have dwelt much and earnestly
upon these preparatory topics, as |
venture to call them, m the commence.
ment of revivaIs. They are needed ;
they come at the right time this is
the proper place for them in the use
of the means which God has appointed,
and I see not how any minister can
hope for thorough work of the Lord
in the conversion of sinners who does
not show them the desperate wicked
ness Of their hearts, who does not make
the law thunder in their ears, and IN
cover the pit Of destruction before
them. This is what Whitfield did !;
this is what Wesley did, this is what
Edwards did, this is what Bellamy and
the Tennents did; this is what all the
most successful laborers in revi7als
have done since their day and I haz-
ard nothing in saying that the
work has been deep and thor
ough in proportion to the
thoroughness of the preaching in its
earlier stages. Sinners must be shut
up to the faith" by the flaming sword
turning every way, before they will
despair Of help from any but an Al
mighty arm. No man, however critic
al his case may be, will send for a
physician till he believes he is sick,
and then the more critical he regards
his condition, the more ready will he
be to use the remedies which the best
medical skill can prescribe. So with
the sinner he is sick unto death, but
he will never apply to the great ply
sician till he feels that the case is des-
perate. The first thingis to bring him
to feel this, and to cry out for help.
There must be no palliations. His
heart must be probed to the bottom,
and its corruption laid bare, so that he
may loathe himself in his own sight,
and smite upon his breast and cry out
with the publican, "God be mindful
to me sinner In laying so much
stress as I have done upon holding up
the terrors Of the law in the beginning
of a revival, and dwelling mostly for
some time upon the guilt and danger
Of impenitence, / do not mean that the
way Of escape from the wrath to come
should be kept out of sight even then.
The voice Of mercy from Calvary should
be heard in the midst of the loudest
threatenings from Sinai. But Sinai
NUT utter its thunders. The careless
must be alarmed, so as to cry ont for
help, before they will be ready to re-
ceive it. While here and there the
Lord opens the heart of Lydia at
once to receive with joy the good news
of salvation, this has not been the ordi-
nary method. In the language of the
old divines, there must be ''law-work''
to bring sinners to Christ. The expe-
rience Of Paul in this regard has been
the experience of multitudes who have
been converted in revivals; ~ was alive
without the law once, but when the
commandment came, sin revived, and
] died." 1t is Of unspeakable impor-
lance that the means of grace be used
with impenitent sinners, Jerioho's
walls must tumble down on the blow
ing Of the rams horns. Naaman must
wash seven times in Jordan, that he
may be cured of his leprosy. Those
doctrines which the world calls hard
sayings, are the most powerful means
in t iiI5ii Of the blessed Spirit Spirit 70
pull down and destroy Satan's strong
holds in the hearts of sinners. No
preaching and conversation seems so
efectual to drive them from their
hiding places and refugees Of lies, as to
tell them plainly that they are eternally
undone if the mercy Of God is not dis
played in their favor; that they have
not the least claim on Him, and if he
does not have mercy, they are gone
forever; that they may as well despair
Of helping themselves first as last, and
the reason why they do not ind reliel
is merely because they viii not yield
and bow to holy sovereign God.
Mrs. Flora Stuart, colored woman