PLAIN SENTENCES TO: PERISHING SINNERS - Burns, William Chalmers

PLAIN SENTENCES TO: PERISHING SINNERS, IN NEWCASTLE AND GATES HEAD – ALSO, A LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF ELIMINATOR.  1841

MY DEAR FELLOW SINNERS,

Perhaps you have heard of the wonderful things which the Great God has been doing for us in Scotland. The servants of Satan have reviled God’s blessed work; and I wish to tell you something of the truth about it. You know that many people come from the church the same as they went to it: The Word does not touch their consciences, and they remain under the power of sin and Satan – of death and Hell! This used to be very much the way among us until lately; but the God of Love has visited us, and poured out his life-giving Spirit upon the dead souls of men. In some places, you might see the solemn sight of hundreds weeping for their sins, and seeking to give up their hearts to Jesus. And, Ah! what a sweet change has taken place on many! The high looks of the proud have been brought down; dead formalists have become living Christians; worshipers of Mammon have been changed into lovers of God; the blasphemous tongues of the profane have been made to sing God’s praise; drunkards have cast from them the cup of devils, and have taken the cup of salvation; unclean persons, who used to be the slaves of lust, the drudges of the Devil, the very dregs of humankind, are now sitting at the feet of Jesus; and some, who were ringleaders in every form of sin, are
now bold, and open, and unflinching in the service of Christ, even as they once were shameless, brazen- faced, and steel-hearted in the service of the wicked one. Many, who formerly were dead in sin, are now living in the grace of Jesus, in the love of God, in the communion of the Spirit, and in the hope of Heaven!

Dear fellow sinners, do you not think that you need such a change as this? and do you not think that Newcastle and Gateshead stand in need of such a glorious work of God among their perishing thousands? I am sure you must see, that, if the Bible be true, the multitude here are on the highway to Hell. Many are fighting for wealth as if they had an eternal lease of life. Many are as proud as if they were not heirs of wrath. Multitudes flock to Satan’s encampment on the race-course, and are there murdered for eternity. Multitudes press into the theatres, where devils cry louder than men, “Again! Again!” Multitudes crowd into the tippling-houses, which are the Devil’s shambles, the open mouths of Hell! Young men and young
women, think of it! Tippling-house-keepers, think of it, and give back your license; or, if you are still resolved to retail for the Devil, O! write, for the sake of miserable souls, above your doors, “A short road to the pit.
Look at your evening streets! How many sally forth to glut their eyes with sin! how many stagger along to the pit! how many wait, and walk about, to see if the Devil will buy their souls for a lewd companion! Ah!
Satan is quick to strike so good a bargain. He buys souls cheap in the Newcastle market; and never more than on the Sabbath, when multitudes flee out of the town by land and water, as if the plague were in it, and
travel with tenfold railway speed to Hell. Alas! sinners seem now to ride post to perdition, as if they were afraid of being too late to get in. It seems as if there would be a stir in Hell to find room for the shoals that
are rushing down to it! Shut up your Railways on Jehovah’s day, ye to whom it belongs, else you must be shut up in that place out of which there is neither weekday nor Sunday travelling. Ye that have shares in
such iniquity, ye hold them at a heavy drawback, — a share in the curse of the Almighty God! God will ease him of his adversaries: He will avenge him on his enemies!

Sinners, is this state of things to continue? — It cannot continue. Mercy or judgment must end it. The town is ripe for Christ’s atoning blood, or for God’s devouring wrath. Sinners must repent and be saved, or
go on and be damned. There is no middle ground to stand upon. The blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Ghost are the only refuge. To these let us turn while God waiteth and puttee a drag upon the wheels
of vengeance. And, O! let us beware of delusive remedies. Tee-total ism, for instance, will not do. It is good, indeed, as far as it goes; but it cannot change man’s nature – it cannot save man’s soul. (From the experience
of 2 Vi years, since I became a preacher, I would recommend the principle of total abstinence from intoxicating liquors. But let us keep things in their own places.) Science and knowledge will not do. The march of France to the heights of science, was a march to the brow of that precipice over which the nation was dashed to pieces! Is there any other remedy? — “Yes,” cries some shameless slave of sin: “Socialism is the remedy.” Socialism! O! do not make us brutes by system. “Papery,” cries another, “is the only remedy.” Ah! beware. “Papery has a door to Heaven; but it is a painted door, put up by the Devil, to screen the mouth of Hell! Nor is Pusey ism, if you know it better. It is “the great whore of Babylon” again, but with an English surplice and an Oxford mask, to hide her haggard visage and bloody skirts.

There is one remedy, and there is one only, — the blood of God’s only begotten Son, and the almighty power of the Holy Ghost. The blood of Emmanuel can cleanse a world from its iniquity; it can wash this
Sodom – like town, and make the blackest sinner in it whiter than the snow. The Spirit of the Lord is not straitened. A nation shall yet be horn again by his power in one day. He can awaken the conscience of a city,
and cause it to cry out as one man, “Woe is me! I am undone!” “Lord, save me, I perish!” Such things England, and Ireland, and Scotland have already seen; and perhaps the time may come when God shall pour
his Spirit upon us so abundantly, that the Devil shall be driven from his throne in the land, and millions shall rejoice in God’s salvation.

Fellow sinners, it is time to seek the Lord! Who shall say it is not? O! blinded sinner, can you stand the piercing flames of wrath? — can you find the fire of Hell a downy bed! Can you meet Jehovah, when the
great day of his wrath is come? Awake from your sleep – it is a sleep on the edge of a precipice! Turn to God now. Come out of the Satan-bound multitude – case yourself at the feet of Jesus – receive the Holy
Ghost. God is now waiting to be gracious; but, if you refuse his love, you must endure his wrath; if you reject Jesus as a Savior, you must meet him as a Judge; if you will not submit to him, and follow him to Heaven,
you must submit to him at last, and be driven from his blessed presence into the company of devils and the damned! O! dear sinner, will God’s love not move you? will the wounds and blood of God’s own Son not
break your heart? Yield, O! yield to god, and be saved! Come, Holy Ghost, descend in love upon this sinner’s soul, cast out Satan, and bring him to the feet of Jesus.” Amen.If the Lord will, I shall preach for a little season among you, and in the open air when circumstances favour, that sinners may be compelled to come into God’s kingdom. You may easily hear of these meetings; but, that you may not be at a loss, I may mention, that we intend to meet on Monday and Wednesday
evenings, at seven o’clock, in the High Bridge Presbyterian Church. Unfortunately, the entrance to that Church is bad, as you have to pass hard by a tippling-house. But this may remind you, that if you wish to go to Heaven, you must force a passage through crowds of sinners and legions of devils. Will you come then, and hear about Jesus? It is time to seek the Lord. Hell is surely full enough without us! I have spoken plainly, as I would not be charged with the blood of souls; and, praying for your salvation,I am, dear Fellow Sinners,

Your sincere Friend in the Lord Jesus,

Wm. C. BURNS Newcastle, August 20 Th , 1841.