so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life?' Is there no danger of perishing? Why did Christ come then?
Why did He say the things He did? Why did He speak of the condemnation
of the wicked and unbelieving if that were not a part of the Gospel?
The Gospel is glad tidings; but what makes it glad tidings? The danger
we are in. What is salvation? It is the opposite of being lost. We
cannot have one without the other. So I am preaching the Gospel here
to-day when I say, 'We must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ.' There will be no fear to us then if we believe in Him, if we
have lived His life here, if the things done in the body are good. And
more than that: as long as this earth life continues, God's mercy is
with us every moment.

"It is possible some soul is here who for years has lived selfishly
within his own little round of pleasure. He looks back on a life of
uselessness, of neglect of all that Christ did for him. He this day
hears the voice of God. He listens; he repents; he cries out, smiting
on his breast, 'God be merciful to me a sinner!' What then will God
do? Will He reject him because he is old in sin? because he has wasted
beautiful years? When he appears before the judgment seat will Christ
say, 'You repented too late on earth! You cannot be saved now'? No!
even if after a hundred years of shame and sin a soul with its outgoing
breath, in genuine repentance and faith in the Son of God, cries out
for mercy, that cry will be answered and he will be saved. What less
of glory and power such a soul may experience in the realms of glory,
we may not be able to tell. But he himself will be saved.

"Is not God merciful, then? Let no man depart from this house of God
fearful or despairing. The earthly life is full from beginning to end
with the love of an Almighty Father. Shall men complain because they
cannot have all of this life and all of the other too in which to
repent and be forgiven? 'Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the
day of salvation.' 'To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your
hearts.'

"Men of Barton, you have heard the word of God proclaimed from this
desk to-day. Young men, will you wait until you are old in sin and
shame before you will repent and be saved? How do you know you will
live to be old men? And what a life to live, even if you were sure of
a h