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Speaker 1: Saying, what think ye of Christ? Whose son is he?

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Speaker 2: They say? Unto him?

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Speaker 1: The Son of David Matthew twenty two forty two, first

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published by Drummonds Tract Depot, Stirling, Scotland. Christmas is a

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season which almost all Christians observe in one way or another.

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Some keep it as a religious season, some keep it

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as a holiday. But all over the world, wherever there

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are Christians, in one way or another, Christmas is kept.

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Perhaps there is no country in which Christmas is so

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much observed as it is in England. Christmas holidays, Christmas parties,

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Christmas family gatherings, Christmas services and churches, Christmas hymns and carols,

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Christmas holly and misseltoe. Who has not heard of these things?

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They are as familiar to English people as anything in

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our lives. They are among the first things we remember

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when we were children. Our grandfathers and grandmothers were used

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to them long before we were born. They have been

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going on in England for many hundred years. They seem

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likely to go on as long as the world stands.

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But reader, how many of those who keep Christmas ever

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consider why Christmas is kept? How many, in their Christmas

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plans and arrangements. Give a thought to him, without whom

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there would have been no Christmas at all. How Many, ever,

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remember that the Lord Jesus Christ is the cause of Christmas.

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How Many ever, reflect that the first intention of Christmas

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was to remind Christians of Christ's birth and coming into

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the world. Reader, how is it with you? What do

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you think of at Christmas? Bear with me a few

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minutes while I try to press upon you the question

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which heads this tract. I do not want to make

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your Christmas merriment less. I do not wish to spoil

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your Christmas cheer. I only wish to put things in

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their right places. I want Christ himself to be remembered

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at Christs. Give me your attention while I unfold the question.

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What think ye of Christ? One? Let us consider firstly

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why all men ought to think of Christ? Two, let

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us examine secondly the common thoughts of many about Christ.

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Three let us count up lastly the thoughts of true

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Christians about Christ. Reader, I dare say, the demands upon

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your time this Christmas are many, Your holidays are short.

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You have friends to see, you have much to talk about.

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But still, in the midst of all your hurry and excitement.

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Give a little time to your soul. There will be

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a Christmas some year when your place will be empty.

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Before that time comes, suffer me as a friend to

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press home on your conscience the inquiry, what think ye

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of Christ? One? First, then let us consider why all

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men ought to think of Christ? This is a question

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which to be answered at the very outset of this tract.

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I know the minds of some people when they are

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asked about such things as I am handling today. I

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know that many are ready to say, why should we

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think about Christ at all? We want meat and drink,

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and money, and clothes and amusements. We have no time

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to think about these high subjects. We do not understand them.

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Let parsons and old women and Sunday school children mind

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such things if they like. We have no time in

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a world like this to be thinking of Christ. Such

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is the talk of thousands in this country. They never

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go either to church or chapel. They never read their Bibles.

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The world is their god. They think themselves very wise

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and clever. They despise those whom they call religious people.

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But whether they like it or not, they will all

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have to die one day.

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Speaker 2: They have all souls to be lost or saved.

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Speaker 1: In the world to come, they will all have to

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rise again from their graves and to have a reckoning

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with God. And shall their scoffing and contempt stop our

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mouths and make us ashamed? No, indeed, not for a moment.

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Listen to me, and I will tell you why all

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men ought to think of Christ. Because of the office

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Christ fills between God and man. He is the eternal

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son of God through whom alone the Father can be known, approached,

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and served. He is the appointed mediator between God and man,

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through whom alone we can be reconciled with God, pardoned, justified,

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and saved. He is the divine person whom God the

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Father has sealed to be the giver of everything that

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man requires for his soul. To him are committed the

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keys of death and hell. In his favor is life.

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In him alone, there is hope of salvation for mankind.

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Without him, no child of Adam can be saved. Quote

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other foundation can no man lay than that is laid,

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which is Jesus Christ. He that hath the Son hath life,

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And he that hath not the Son of God hath

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not life. End. First Corinthians three eleven first John five twelve,

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and ought not man to think of Christ. Shall God

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the Father honor him, and shall not man. I tell

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every reader of this tract that there is no person,

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living or dead, of such immense importance to all men

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as Christ. There is no person that men ought to

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think about so much as Christ. All men ought to

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think of Christ because of what Christ has done for

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all men. He thought upon man when man was lost,

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bankrupt and helpless by the fall and undertook to come

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into the world to save sinners. In the fullness of time.

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He was born of the virgin Mary and lived for

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man thirty three years in this evil world. At the

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end of that time, he suffered for sin on the

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cross as man substitute. He bore man's sins in his

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own body and shed his own life blood to pay

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man's debt to God. He was made a curse for

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man that man might be blessed. He died for man

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that man might live. He was counted a sinner for

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man that man might be counted righteous. And ought not

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man to think of Christ. I tell every reader of

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this tract that if Christ had not died for us,

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we might all of us for anything we know be

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lying at this moment in hell, all men ought to

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think of Christ because of what Christ will yet do

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to all men. He shall come again one day to

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this earth with power and glory, and raise the dead

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from their graves. All shall come forth at his bidding.

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Those who would not move when they heard the church

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going bell shall obey the voice of the archangel.

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Speaker 2: And the trump of God.

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Speaker 1: He shall set up his judgment seat and summon all

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mankind to stand before it to him. Every knee shall bow,

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and every tongue shall confess that he is Lord. Not

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one shall be able to escape that solemn assize, not

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one but shall receive it the mouth of Christ, an

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eternal sentence. Every one shall receive, according to what He

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has done in the body, whether it be good or bad.

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And ought not men to think of Christ. I tell

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every reader of this tract that whatever he may choose

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to think now, a day is soon coming when his

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eternal condition will hinge entirely on his relations to Christ.

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Speaker 2: But why should I say more on this subject?

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Speaker 1: The time would fail me if I were to set

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down all the reasons why all men ought to think

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of Christ. Christ is the grand subject of the Bible.

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The scriptures testify of him. Christ is the great object

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to whom all the churches in Christendom profess to give honor.

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Even the worst and most corrupt branches of it will

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tell you that they are built on. Christ is the

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end and substance of all sacraments and ordinances. Christ is

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the grand subject which every faithful minister exalts in the pulpit.

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Christ is the object that every true pastor sets before

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dying people on their death beds. Christ is the great

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source of light and peace and hope. There is not

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a spark of spiritual comfort that has ever illumined a

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sinner's heart that has not come from Christ. Surely it

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never can be a small matter whether we have any

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thoughts about Christ. Reader, I leave this part of my

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subject here. There are many things which swallow up men's

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thoughts while they live, which they will think little of

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when they are dying. Hundreds are wholly absorbed in political

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schemes and seem to care for nothing but the advancement

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of their own party. Myriads are buried in business and

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money matters, and seem to neglect everything else but this world.

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Thousands are always wrangling about the forms and ceremonies of religion,

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and are ready to cry down everybody who does not

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use their shibaleths and worship in their way. But an

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hour is fast coming when only one subject will be minded,

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and that subject will be Christ. We shall all find,

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and many, perhaps too late, that it mattered little what

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we thought about other things, so long as we did

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not think about Christ. Reader, I tell you this Christmas,

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that all men ought to think about Christ. There is

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no one in whom all the world has such a

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deep interest. There is no one to whom all the

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world owes so much. High and low, rich and poor,

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old and young, gentle and simple, all ought to think

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about Christ. Two, let us examine secondly the common thoughts

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of many about Christ. To set down the whole list

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of thoughts about Christ would indeed be thankless labor. It

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must content us to range them under a few general heads.

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This will save us both time and trouble. There were

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many strange thoughts about Christ when he was on earth.

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There are many strange and wrong thoughts about Christ now

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when he is in heaven. The thoughts of some people

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about Christ are simply blasphemous. They are not ashamed to

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deny his divinity. They refuse to believe the miracles recorded

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of him. They pretend to find fault with not a

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few of his sayings and doings. They even question the

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perfect honesty and sincerity of some things that he did.

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They tell us that he ought to be ranked with

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great reformers and philosophers like Socrates, Seneca, and Confucius, but

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no higher. Thoughts like these are purely ridiculous and absurd.

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They utterly fail to explain the enormous influence which Christ

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and Christianity have had for eighteen hundred years in this world.

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There is not the slightest comparison to be made between

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Christ and any other teacher of mankind lived. The difference

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between him and others is a gulf that cannot be spanned,

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and a height that cannot be measured. It is the

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difference between gold and clay, between the sun and a candle.

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Nothing can account for Christ and Christianity but the old

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belief that Christ is very God. Reader, are the thoughts

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I have just described your own?

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Speaker 2: If they are take care.

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Speaker 1: The thoughts of some people about Christ are vague, dim misty,

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and indistinct that there was such a person. They do

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not for a moment deny that he was the founder

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of Christianity and the object of Christian worship. They are

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quite aware that they hear of him every time they

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go to public worship, and ought to have some opinion

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or belief about him, they will fully admit, but they

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could not tell you what it is they believe. They

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could not accurately describe and define it. They have not

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thoroughly considered the subject. They have not made up their minds.

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Thoughts such as these are foolish, silly, and unreasonable. To

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be a dying sinner with an immortal soul, and to

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go on living without making up one's mind about the

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only person who can save us, the person who will

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at last judge us. Is the conduct of a lunatic

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or an idiot, and not of a rational man. Reader,

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are the thoughts I have just described your own?

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Speaker 2: If they are take care.

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Speaker 1: The thoughts of some men about Christ are mean and low.

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They have no doubt a distinct opinion about his position

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in their system of Christianity. They consider that if they

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do their best and live moral lives, and go to

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church pretty regularly and use the ordinances of religion, Christ

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will deal mercifully with them. At last and make up

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any deficiencies. Thoughts such as these utterly fail to explain

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why Christ died on the cross. They take the crown

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off Christ's head and degrade him into a kind of

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make weight to man's soul. They overthrow the whole system

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of the Gospel and pull up all its leading doctrines

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by the roots. They exalt man to an absurdly high position,

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as if he could pay some part of the price

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of his soul. They rob man of all the comfort

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of the Gospel, as if he must needs do something

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and perform some work to justify his own soul. They

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make Christ a sort of judge, far more than a savior,

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and place the Cross and the Atonement in a degraded

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and inferior position. Reader, are the thoughts I have just

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described your own?

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Speaker 2: If they are take care.

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Speaker 1: The thoughts of some men about Christ are dishonoring and libelous.

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They seem to think that we need a mediator between

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ourselves and our Savior. They appear to suppose that Christ

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is so high and awful and exalted a person that

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poor sinful man may not approach him, that we must

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employ an episcopacy ordained minister as a kind of go

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between to stand between us and.

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Speaker 2: Jesus and manage for our souls.

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Speaker 1: They send us to saints, or angels or the Virgin Mary,

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as if they were more kind and accessible than Christ.

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Thoughts such as these are a practical denial of Christ's

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priestly office. They overthrow the whole doctrine of his peculiar

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business as man's intercessor. They hide and bury out of

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sight his especial love to sinners and his boundless willingness

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to receive them. Instead of a gracious savior, they make

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him out in austere and hard king, Reader, are the

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thoughts I have just described your own? If they are

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take care. The thoughts of some men about Christ are

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wicked and unholy. They seem to think that they may

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live as they please because Christ died for sinners. They

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will indulge every kind of wickedness and yet flatter themselves

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that they are not blameworthy for it, because Christ is

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a merciful savior. They will talk complacently of God's election

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and the necessity of grace, and the impossibility of being

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justified by works, and the fullness of Christ, and then

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make these glorious doctrines, an excuse for lying, cheating, drunkenness, fornication,

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and every kind of immorality. Thoughts such as these are

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as blasphemous and profane, as downright infidelity. They actually make

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Christ the patron of sin. Reader, are these thoughts I

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have described your own? If they are take care? Reader.

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Two general remarks apply to all these thoughts about Christ

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of which I have just been speaking. They all show

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a deplorable ignorance of scripture. I defy anyone to read

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the Bible honestly and find any warrant for them in

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that blessed book. Men cannot know their Bibles when they

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hold such opinions. They all help to prove the corruption

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and darkness of human nature. Man is ready to believe

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anything about Christ except the simple truth. He loves to

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set up an idol of his own and bow down

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to it, rather than accept the savior whom God puts

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before him. I leave this part of my subject here.

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It is a sorrowful and painful one, but not without

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its use. It is necessary to study morbid anatomy if

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we would understand health. The ground must be cleared of

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rubbish before we build.

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Speaker 2: Three.

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Speaker 1: Let us now count up lastly, the thoughts of true

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Christians about Christ. The thoughts I am going to describe,

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are not the thoughts of many. I admit this most fully.

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It would be vain to deny it. The number of

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right thinkers about Christ in every age has been small.

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The true Christians among professing Christians have always been few.

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If it were not so, the Bible would have told

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an untruth. Straight is the gate, says the Lord Jesus.

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And narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and

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few there be that find it. Why does the gate?

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And broad is the way that leadeth to destruction? And

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many there be which go in thereat many walk, says Paul,

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of whom I tell you even weeping, that they are

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enemies of the Cross of Christ, whose end is destruction.

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Matthew seven thirteen and fourteen, Philippians three, eighteen and nineteen.

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True Christians have high thoughts of Christ. They see in

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him a wondrous person far above all other beings in

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his nature, a person who is at one and the

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same time perfect God, mighty to save, and perfect man

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able to feel. They see in him an all powerful

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redeemer who has paid their countless debts to God and

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delivered their souls from guilt and hell. They see in

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him and almighty friend who left heaven for them, lived

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for them, died for them, rose again for them, that

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He might save them forevermore. They see in him an

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almighty physician who washed away their sins in his own blood,

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put his own spirit in their hearts, delivered them from

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the power of sin, and gave them power to become

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God's children. Happy are they who have such thoughts?

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Speaker 2: Reader?

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Speaker 1: Have you true Christians have trustful thoughts of Christ? They

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daily lean the weight of their souls upon Him by

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faith for pardon in peace. They daily commit the care

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of their souls to Him, as a man commits a

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treasure to a safe keeper. They daily cling to Him

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by faith, as a child in a crowd clings to

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its mother's hand. They looked to Him daily for mercy, grace, comfort, help,

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and strength, as Israel looked to the pillar of cloud

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and fire in the wilderness for guidance. Christ is the

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rock under their feet and the staff in their hands,

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their ark and their city of refuge, their son and

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their shield, their bread and their medicine, their health and

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their light, their fountain and their shelter, their portion and

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their home, their door and their ladder, their root and

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their head, their advocate and their physician, their captain and

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their elder brother, their life, their hope, and their awe.

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Happy are they who have such thoughts?

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Speaker 2: Reader?

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Speaker 1: Have you.

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Speaker 2: True?

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Speaker 1: Christians have experimental thoughts of Christ? The things that they

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think of Him. They do not merely think with their heads.

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They have not learned them from schools or picked them

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up from others. They think them because they have found

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them true by their own heart's experience. They have proved them,

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and tasted them, and tried them. They think out for

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themselves what they have felt. There is all the difference

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in the world between knowing that a man is a

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doctor or a lawyer while we never have occasion to

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employ him, and knowing him as our own because we

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have gone to him for medicine or law. Just in

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the same way, there is a wide difference between head

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knowledge and experimental thoughts of Christ. Happy are they who

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have such thoughts?

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Speaker 2: Reader?

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Speaker 1: Have you? True? Christians have loving and reverent thoughts of Christ.

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They love to do the things that please Him. They like,

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in their poor weak way, to show their affection to

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Him by keeping his words. They love everything belonging to him,

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his day, his house, his ordinances, his people, his book.

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They never find his yoke heavy, or his burden painful

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to bear, or his commandments grieve us. Love lightens all.

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They know something of the mind of mister Standfast in

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Pilgrim's progress, when he said, as he stood in the river,

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I have loved to hear my Lord spoken of. And

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whenever I have seen the print of his shoe in

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the earth, then I have coveted to set my foot

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over it. Happy are they who have such thoughts? Reader,

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have you true?

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Speaker 2: Christians?

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Speaker 1: Have hopeful thoughts of Christ. They expect to receive far

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more from Him one day than they have ever received.

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Speaker 2: Yet.

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Speaker 1: They hope that they shall be kept to the end

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and never perish.

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Speaker 2: But this is not all.

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Speaker 1: They look forward to Christ's second coming and expect that

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then they shall see far more than they have seen,

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and enjoy far more than they have yet enjoyed. They

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have an earnest of an inheritance now in the spirit

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dwelling in their heart, but they hope for a far

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fuller possession when this world has passed away. They have

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hopeful thoughts of Christ's second advent of their own resurrection

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from the grave, of their reunion with all the saints

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who have gone before them, of eternal blessedness in Christ

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Rist's kingdom. Happy are they who have such thoughts? They

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sweeten life and lift men over many cares. Reader, have

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you such thoughts?

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Speaker 2: Reader?

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Speaker 1: Thoughts such as these are the property of all true Christians.

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Some of them know more of them, and some of

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them know less, But they all know something about them.

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They do not always feel them equally at all time.

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They do not always find such thoughts equally fresh.

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Speaker 2: And green in their minds.

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Speaker 1: They have their winter as well as their summer, and

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their low tide as well as their high water. But

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all true Christians are more or less acquainted with these

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thoughts in this matter. Churchmen and dissenters, rich and poor,

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are all agreed if they are true Christians. In other

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things they may be unable to agree and see alike,

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but they all agree in their thoughts about Christ. One

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word they can all say, which is the same in

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every tongue. That word is Hallelujah, praise to the Lord Christ.

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One answer they can all make, which in every tongue

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is equally the same. That word is amen, So be it.

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And now, reader, I shall wind up my Christmas tract

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by simply bringing before your conscience the question which forms

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its title. I ask you this day, what think ye

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of Christ? What others think about him is not the

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question now. Their mistakes are no excuse for you. Their

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correct views will not save your soul. The point you

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have before you is simply this, what do you think yourself?

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Speaker 2: Reader?

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Speaker 1: This Christmas may possibly be your last? Who can tell you,

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but you may never live to see another December come round?

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Who can tell? But your place may be empty when

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the family party next Christmas is gathered together. Do not

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I entreat you put off my question or turn away

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from it. It can do you no harm to look

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at it and consider it.

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Speaker 2: What do you think of Christ? Again?

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Speaker 1: I beseech you this day to have right thoughts of Christ,

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if you never had them before. Let the time past

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suffice you to have lived without real and heartfelt religion.

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Let this present Christmas be a starting point in your

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soul's history. Awake to see the value of your soul

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and the immense importance of being saved. Break off sharp

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from sin in the world, Get down your Bible and

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begin to read it, Call upon the Lord Jesus Christ

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in prayer and beseech him to save your soul. Rest

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not rest not till you have trustful, loving, experimental, hopeful

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thoughts of Christ. Reader, mark my words, If you will

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only take the advice I have now given you, you

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will never repent it. Your life in future will be happier,

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your heart will be lighter, Your Christmas gathering will be

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more truly joyful. Nothing makes Christmas meetings so happy as

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to feel that we are all traveling on towards an

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eternal gathering in heaven. Reader, I say, for the last time,

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if you would have a happy Christmas, have right thoughts

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about Christ.