| Not charity, but cruelty!
(Thomas Watson, "A Plea for Alms" 1658)
"He who turns a sinner from the error of his way, will
save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins."
James 5:20
Charity to the souls of others, is the highest kind
of charity. The soul is the most precious thing. It is
a rich diamond, set in a ring of clay.
This is charity to souls—when we see others in the
bondage of sin—and we labor by counsel, admonition
or reproof to pull them out of their dreadful estate, as
the angels did to Lot in Sodom. "Hurry! Get out of here
right now, or you will be caught in the destruction of
the city! When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his
hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and
rushed them to safety outside the city!" Genesis 19.
God made a law (Exodus 23:5) "If you see the donkey
of someone who hates you fallen down under its load,
do not leave it there; be sure you help him with it."
On these words Chrysostom said, "We will help a beast
which is fallen under its load—and shall we not extend
relief to those who are fallen under a worse load of sin!"
To let others go on in sin securely—is not charity, but
cruelty!
If a man's house were on fire, and another should see
it and not tell him of it for fear of waking him—would
not this be cruelty! And when we see the souls of others
sleeping the sleep of death, and the fire of God's wrath
ready to burn about their ears—and we are silent—is not
this to be accessory to their death!
If men wish to go to hell—and we do not attempt to
stop them—is this love to their souls?
"He who turns a sinner from the error of his way, will
save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins."
James 5:20
__________________
Chris
Member at Grace Community Baptist Church, Mandeville, LA
Beware of a religion without holdfasts. But if I get a grip upon a doctrine they call me a bigot. Let them do so. Bigotry is a hateful thing, and yet that which is now abused as bigotry is a great virtue, and greatly needed in these frivolous times. I have been inclined lately to start a new denomination, and call it "the Church of the Bigoted." Spurgeon
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