But I
say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of
judgment than for you.' 'Thou that hast knowledge,' says a powerful old
preacher, 'canst not sin so cheap as another that is ignorant. Places of
much knowledge'--he was preaching in the university pulpit of Oxford--'and
plentiful in the means of grace are dear places for a man to sin in. To
be drunken or unclean after a powerful sermon, and after the Holy Ghost
has enlightened thee, is more than to have so sinned twenty times before.
Thou mightest have sinned ten times more and been damned less. For does
not Jesus Christ the Judge say to thee, This is thy condemnation, that so
much light has come to thee?' And, taking the then way of execution as a
sufficiently awful illustration, the old Oxford Puritan goes on to say
that to sin against light is the highest step of the ladder before
turning off. And, again, that if there are worms in hell that die not,
it is surely gospel light that breeds them.
EXPERIENCE
'My heart had great experience.'--The Preacher.
'I will give them pastors after Mine own heart.
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