8th OF 9 REASONS WHY MEN DO NOT SHARE THE GOSPEL
Seeing it is a duty that the King
has laid upon every man according to his ability to exhort and reprove in the
Great Commission work (Matt. 28:19-20), and with all possible diligence to labor
after the salvation of all about him, judge then whether this work be reasonably
performed. Where shall we find the man almost among us, that sets himself to it
with all his might, and that has set his heart upon the souls of his fellow man,
that they may be saved? Let us here, therefore, question what may be the causes
of the gross neglect of this duty, that the hindrances being
discovered may more easily be overcome.
With many, also, pride is a great
impediment. If it were to speak to a great man, they would do it, so it would
not displease him. But to go among the poor multitude, and to take pains with a
company of ignorant beggars, or mean persons, and to sit with them in a smoky,
nasty house, and there to instruct them and exhort them from day to day,
where is the person almost that will do it? Many will greatly rejoice if they have
been instruments of converting a gentleman, (and they have good cause,) but for
the common multitude, they look not after them: as if God were a respecter of
the persons of the rich, or the souls of all were not alike to him. Alas! These
men little consider how long Christ did stoop to us! When the God of glory
comes down in flesh, to worms, and goes preaching up and down among them from
city to city! Not the silliest woman that he thought too low to confer with.
Few rich, and noble, and wise, are called. It is the poor that receive the glad
tidings of the gospel, John 4, and 1 Cor. 1:26.
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