SERMON X. ACTS, xvi, 30. WHAT SHALL I DO TO BE SAVED? + WHEN St. Paul was preaching the gospel at Philippi, he drew upon himself a prosecution from some of the chief men of that city by an act of charity, which happened to interfere with their gains. He was accused therefore to the magistrates on a false pretence, and thrown into prison. At midnight he, and his companion Silas, sang praises to God: and their heavenly strains being heard from a remote corner of a dark prison, (the inner-prison it is called,) attracted, we are told, the attention of the prisoners; on many of whose hardened hearts such rapturous devotion might probably have had some effect. In the midst of this song of praise a violent earthquake shook the prison-whether it was a mere natural event, or it had some connection with the case of the apostles, we are not informed. The locks and bolts, however, of the prison gates flew open; and a free passage was left for escape. The jailer, alarmed, rushed into the prison and supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword, and would have killed himself. But Paul, seeing his frantic action, cried out, Do thyself no harm; we are all here. The jailer, struck with the composure of the apostle, in a moment of such alarm, and with the dignified manner in which he spoke, seems to have felt that instantaneous conviction which hardened sinners sometimes feel. He was stung at once with the recollection of his own guilty life, and conceiving St. Paul to be that preacher of righteousness, which he pretended to be, and which the miracle he had just wrought seemed to prove, fell down before him, crying out, What shall I do to be saved? THIS is a question, my brethren, which concerns us all, as well as the jailer; and is in fact the most serious question that can be asked. A mortal man, who is conscious that he has a soul soul within him, which must go on his death into a place of happiness or misery, cannot avoid, one should think, being very solicitous about the event. It is certainly a point, which deserves our first attention, whether we shall be happy or miserable to all eternity*. It is a question therefore, one should suppose, that would be constantly recurring to our minds; and never forgotten in the midst either of business or pleasure. It is a But in fact we find it far otherwise. question which seldom disturbs any of us; though the best, as well as the worst, have need of its frequent admonition.That the best amongst us, as well as the worst, have frequent occasion to ask ourselves this serious question, What shall we do to be saved? shall be the subject of the following discourse. There is no doctrine, at which well-meaning christians have cavilled more than at the eternity of future punishments. But surely that bold unauthorized manner, in which some of our divines have determined this point, in vindication, as they say, of divine justice, is somewhat presumptuous. They had better, I think, drop their conjectures, which can never be satisfactory, because they are unfounded; and leave this matter in the hands of a just God, who will, no doubt, in his own righteous way, equalize punishment and crime. Though his Judge is the God of mercy, ye mercy, we know, is tempered with justice: how often we have laid ourselves open to justice, none of us can be ignorant. Th we may not have been guilty of any great yet our offences notwithstanding may be num less.How languid are we often in our d tion to God!-how unthankful to him for blessings !-how unmindful of his conti presence; not suffering that great check to its proper influence on our lives!-how ina tive are we to the wonderful mercies of ou demption through Christ!-how cold and productive is our faith!-how little do we God in our afflictions-or depend upon hi our supreme happiness!-how much more luable do we esteem his temporal, than his ritual blessings !-how attached are we to world!-how backward when we read the s tures, in applying their precepts and exam to ourselves!-how apt are we to be led awa |