Brownlow North, the grand-nephew of Lord North, George III's Prime Minister, was conducting services in Edinburgh. At the close of a meeting a young man asked if he might speak with him.

"I have heard your sermon, sir," he said, "and I have heard you preach often now, and I neither care for you nor your preaching unless you can tell me... um, why did God permit Sin?"

"Then I'll tell you," the preacher at once replied — "God permitted sin because HE CHOSE TO."

The man was taken aback by the ready retort referring this mysterious subject to God's good pleasure, which permitted sin for reason altogether wise, but not fully revealed to us.

The preacher repeated, "Because He chose to," and as the objector stood speechless, he added: "If you continue to question and cavil at God's dealings, and vainly puffed up by your carnal mind, strive to be wise above what is written... I will tell you something more that God will choose to do. He will some day choose to put you into Hell. It is vain, sir, for a man to strive with his Maker. There were such questioners as you in Paul's time, and what the apostle said to them, I say to you, 'Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?'" "Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why has thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishoner?" [Romans 9:20-21]

"Is there such a text, sir, as that in the Bible?" Yes, read Romans 9:20-21. I recommend you to go home and read that chapter, and after you have read it, and learned from it that God claims for Himself the right to do whatever He pleases, then remember that there is another thing that God has chosen to do —

HE HAS CHOSEN TO SEND JESUS.

Then in a few words Mr. North set before him the way of salvation from sin and wrath prepared by God in sovereign mercy.

The following Friday the young man returned — so transformed that Mr. North scarcely knew him. He told Mr. North that after reading the 9th of Romans, he pled for pardon in the name of Jesus and was enabled to believe he had been heard. "God for Christ's sake CHOSE TO PARDON ME," he said.

Reader, do you question God's ways? Read the 9th of Romans and see that He IS SOVEREIGN. Read also the 10th of Romans and see that "whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

— Written  by  W. C. G.

When the lightning flashes, and when the thunder rolls, do we as it were hear the Almighty speak in the one and see a glimpse of His tremendous glory in the other! If when the clouds pour out water, when the air thunders and the arrows of His lightning are sent abroad, it is natural for the guilty to tremble, for the just to pray, and for all to look up to Him whose voice is thus mighty in operation; where will the ungodly, where will the unbeliever, where will the habitual sinner appear, when the Lord Himself descends from Heaven with a shout, a shout that shall unbar the gates of death, recall the scattered dust of all mankind, and wake that dust to life?

May we ever listen to the Almighty when He speaks in thunder, or looks in lightning, and call to mind that awful period when the final trump shall summon us to the bar! May every such season be improved to this beneficial purpose! And though thunder and other effects are under God, owing to natural causes and may be accounted for on natural principles; yet let us remember that natural causes are caused by the God of nature, and that the effects of His all-active, all-governing providence. And this is the glorious God that maketh the thunder. Such a view of things will render the most obvious events, lessons of the highest instruction, and means of spiritual improvement.

Thus considered, thunder teaches and lightning holds the lamp to knowledge: nature becomes subservient to grace, and the laws of the material system direct to Heaven. And should we not aspire to the friendship of that Being whose voice shakes the earth, and whose eyes are as a flame of fire? Should we not approach His footstool, humbled in the dust of repentance, and trusting in the propitiation of Him who hushed the infinitely more dreadful thunder of divine resentment, and, in His own blood, quenched the lightning of vindictive wrath? Possessed of interest in His availing merit, and conformed, as far as human infirmity will permit, to His blessed example, we need fear nothing. Though the earth was removed, and the hills carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof should rage and swell, and the mountains shake at the tempest of the same; yet safely anchored on the rock of redeeming merit, and lodged in the arms of God's everlasting love, we should be equally free both from danger and from dread.

Let the inferior thunders grate upon the ear; let sublunary lightnings flash terror on the eye, so we are enabled to take shelter beneath the hiding place of a Redeemer's righteousness, and His Spirit, in gentlest accents, whispers comfort to the heart. Happy they who thus dwell beneath the defence of the Most High, who abide under the shadow of the Almighty, and to whom His faithfulness and truth are a shield and buckler!

.

What I must I do to be saved? Saved from what? What is it you wish to be saved from? Hell? That proves nothing. Nobody wants to go there. The issue between God and man is SIN. Do you wish to be saved from it? WHAT IS SIN? Sin is a species of rebellion against God. It is self-pleasing; it is the utter ignoring of God's claims, being completely indifferent whether my conduct pleases or displeases Him.

Before God saves a man, He convicts him of his sinnership. By this I do not mean that he says with everybody else, "Oh yes, we are all sinners, I know that." Rather do I mean that the Holy Spirit makes me feel in my heart that I have been a life-long rebel against God, and that my sins are so many, so great, so black, that I have transgressed beyond the reach of divine mercy.

Have you ever had that experience? Have you seen yourself to be totally unfit for heaven, and for the presence of a Holy God? Do you now perceive that there is no good thing in you, nothing good credited to your account, that all the way through you have loved the things God hates and hated the things God loves?

Has the realization of this broken your heart before God? Has it made you mourn that you so despised His mercies, misused His blessings, broken His sabbaths, neglected His Word, and given Him no real place at all in your thoughts, affections and life? If you have not yet seen and felt this personally, then at present there is no hope for you, for God says, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" [Luke 13:3]. And if you die in your present condition, you will be lost forever.

But if you have been brought to the place where sin is your greatest plague, where offending God is your greatest grief, and where your deepest desire is now to please and honor Him; then there is hope for you. "The Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost" [Luke 19:10]. And He will save you providing you are ready and willing to throw down the weapons of your warfare against Him, bow to His Lordship, and surrender yourself to His control.

His blood can wash the foulest clean. His grace can support and uphold the weakest. His power can deliver the tried and tempted. "Behold now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" [2 Corinthians 6:2]. Yield yourself to Christ's claims. Give Him the throne of your heart. Turn over to Him the regulation of your life. Trust in His atoning death. Love Him will all your soul. Obey Him with all your might and He will conduct you to heaven. "Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved" [Acts 16:31].

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