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Effectual Calling
A Sermon Delivered on Sabbath Morning, March 30, 1856, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark
"When Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zaccheus, make haste and come down; for to-day I must abide at thy house."Luke 19:5.
Notwithstanding our firm belief that you are in the main
well instructed in the doctrines of the everlasting gospel, we are continually reminded in
our conversation with young converts, how absolutely necessary it is to repeat our former
lessons, and repeatedly assert and prove over and over again those doctrines which lie at
the basis of our holy religion. Our friends, therefore, who have many years ago been
taught the great doctrine of effectual calling, will believe that whilst I preach very
simply this morning, the sermon is intended for those who are young in the fear of the
Lord, that they may better understand this great starting point of God in the heart, the
effectual calling of men by the Holy Spirit. I shall use the case of Zaccheus as a great
illustration of the doctrine of effectual calling. You will remember the story. Zaccheus
had a curiosity to see the wonderful man Jesus Christ, who was turning the world upside
down, and causing an immense excitement in the minds of men. We sometimes find fault with
curiosity, and say it is sinful to come to the house of God from that motive; I am not
quite sure that we should hazard such an assertion. The motive is not sinful, though
certainly it is not virtuous; yet it has often been proved that curiosity is one of the
best allies of grace. Zaccheus, moved by this motive, desired to see Christ; but there
were two obstacles in the way: first, there was such a crowd of people that he could not
get near the Saviour; and again, he was so exceedingly short in stature that there was no
hope of his reaching over people's heads to catch a glimpse of him. What did he do? He did
as the boys were doingfor the boys of old times were no doubt just like the boys of
the present age, and were perched up in the boughs of the tree to look at Jesus as he
passed along. Elderly man though he is, Zaccheus jumps up, and there he sits among the
children. The boys are too much afraid of that stern old publican, whom their fathers
dreaded, to push him down or cause him any inconvenience. See him there. With what anxiety
he is peeping down to see which is Christfor the Saviour had no pompous distinction;
no beadle is walking before him with a silver mace; he did not hold a golden crozier in
his hand: he had no pontifical dress; in fact, he was just dressed like those around him.
He had a coat like that of a common peasant, made of one piece from top to bottom; and
Zaccheus could scarcely distinguish him. However, before he has caught a sight of Christ,
Christ has fixed his eye upon him, and standing under the tree, he looks up, and says,
"Zaccheus, make haste, and come down; for to-day I must abide at thy house."
Down comes Zaccheus; Christ goes to his house; Zaccheus becomes Christ's follower, and
enters into the kingdom of heaven.
1. Now, first, effectual calling is a very gracious truth. You may guess this from
the fact that Zaccheus was a character whom we should suppose the last to be saved. He
belonged to a bad cityJerichoa city which had been cursed, and no one would
suspect that any one would come out of Jericho to be saved. It was near Jericho that the
man fell among thieves; we trust Zaccheus had no hand in it; but there are some who, while
they are publicans, can be thieves also. We might as well expect converts from St.
Giles's, or the lowest parts of London, from the worst and vilest dens of infamy, as from
Jericho in those days. Ah! my brethren, it matters not where you come from; you may come
from one of the dirtiest streets, one of the worst back slums in London but if effectual
grace call you, it is an effectual call, which knoweth no distinction of place. Zaccheus
also was of an exceedingly bad trade, and probably cheated the people in order to enrich
himself. Indeed, when Christ went into his house, there was an universal murmur that he
had gone to be a guest with a man that was a sinner. But, my brethren, grace knows no
distinction; it is no respector of persons, but God calleth whom he wills, and he called
this worst of publicans, in the worst of cities, from the worst of trades. Besides,
Zaccheus was one who was the least likely to be saved because he was rich. It is true,
rich and poor are welcome; no one has the least excuse for despair because of his
condition; yet it is a fact that "not many great men," after the flesh,
"not many mighty," are called, but "God hath chosen the poor of this
worldrich in faith." But grace knows no distinction here. The rich
Zaccheus is called from the tree; down he comes, and he is saved. I have thought it one of
the greatest instances of God's condescension that he can look down on man; but I
will tell you there was a greater condescension than that, when Christ looked up to
see Zaccheus. For God to look down on his creaturesthat is mercy; but for Christ so
to humble himself that he has to look up to one of his own creatures, that becomes mercy
indeed. Ah! many of you have climbed up the tree of your own good works, and perched
yourselves in the branches of your holy actions, and are trusting in the free will of the
poor creature, or resting in some worldly maxim; nevertheless, Christ looks up even to
proud sinners, and calls them down. "Come down," says he, "to-day I must
abide in thy house." Had Zaccheus been a humble-minded man, sitting by the wayside,
or at the feet of Christ, we should then have admired Christ's mercy; but here he is
lifted up, and Christ looks up to him, and bids him come down.
2. Next it was a personal call. There were boys in the tree as well as Zaccheus but
there was no mistake about the person who was called. It was, "Zaccheus, make
haste and come down." There are other calls mentioned in Scripture. It is said,
especially, "Many are called, but few are chosen." Now that is not the effectual
call which is intended by the apostle, when he said, "Whom he called, them he also
justified." That is a general call which many men, yea, all men reject, unless there
come after it the personal, particular call, which makes us Christians. You will bear me
witness that it was a personal call that brought you to the Saviour. It was some sermon
which led you to feel that you were, no doubt, the person intended. The text,
perhaps, was "Thou, God, seest me;" and the minister laid particular stress on
the word "me," so that you thought God's eye was fixed upon you; and ere
the sermon was concluded, you thought you saw God open the books to condemn you,
and your heart whispered, "Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see
him? saith the Lord." You might have been perched in the window, or stood packed in
the aisle; but you had a solemn conviction that the sermon was preached to you, and
not to other people. God does not call his people in shoals, but in units. "Jesus
saith unto her, Mary; and she turned and said unto him, Rabboni, which is to say,
Master." Jesus seeth Peter and John fishing by the lake, and he saith unto them,
"Follow me." He seeth Matthew sitting at the table at the receipt of custom, and
he saith unto him, "Arise, and follow me," and Matthew did so. When the Holy
Ghost comes home to a man, God's arrow goes into his heart: it does not graze his helmet,
or make some little mark upon his armour, but it penetrates between the joints of the
harness, entering the marrow of the soul. Have you felt, dear friends, that personal call?
Do you remember when a voice said, "Arise, he calleth thee." Can you look back
to some time when you said, "My Lord, my God?" when you knew the
Spirit was striving with you, and you said, Lord, I come to thee, for I know
that thou callest me." I might call the whole of you throughout eternity, but
if God call one, there will be more effect through his personal call of one than my
general call of multitudes.
3. Thirdly, it is a hastening call. "Zaccheus, make haste." The
sinner, when he is called by the ordinary ministry, replies, "To-morrow." He
hears a telling sermon, and he said, "I will turn to God by-and-bye." The tears
roll down his cheek, but they are wiped away. Some goodness appears, but like the cloud of
the morning it is dissipated by the sun of temptation. He says, "I solemnly vow from
this time to be a reformed man. After I have once more indulged in my darling sin, I will
renounce my lusts, and decide for God." Ah! that is only a minister's call, and is
good for nothing. Hell, they say, is paved with good intentions. These good intentions are
begotten by general calls. The road to perdition is laid all over with branches of trees
whereon men are sitting, for they often pull down branches from the trees but they do not
come down themselves. The straw laid down before a sick man's door causes the wheels to
roll more noiselessly. So there be some who strew their path with promises of repentance,
and so go more easily and noiselessly down to perdition. But God's call is not a call for
to-morrow. "To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts: as in
the provocation, when your fathers tempted me." God's grace always comes with
despatch; and if thou art drawn by God, thou wilt run after God, and not be talking about
delays. To-morrowit is not written in the almanack of time. To-morrowit is in
Satan's calendar, and nowhere else. To-morrowit is a rock whitened by the bones of
mariners who have been wrecked upon it; it is the wrecker's light gleaming on the shore,
luring poor ships to destruction. To-morrowit is the idiot's cup which he fableth to
lie at the foot of the rainbow, but which none hath ever found. To-morrowit is the
floating island of Loch Lomond, which none hath ever seen. To-morrowit is a dream.
To-morrowit is a delusion. To-morrow, ay, to-morrow you may lift up your eyes in
hell, being in torments. Yonder clock saith "to-day;" everything crieth
"to-day;" and the Holy Ghost is in union with these things, and saith,
"To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." Sinners, are you
inclined now to seek the Saviour? are you breathing a prayer now? are you saying,
"Now or never! I must be saved now?" If you are, then I hope it is an effectual
call, for Christ, when he giveth an effectual call, says, "Zaccheus, make
haste."
4. Next, it is a humbling call. "Zaccheus, make haste and come down."
Many a time hath a minister called men to repentance with a call which has made them
proud, exalted them in their own esteem, and led them to say, "I can turn to God when
I like; I can do so without the influence of the Holy Ghost." They have been called
to go up and not to come down. God always humbles a sinner. Can I not
remember when Gold told me to come down? One of the first steps I had to take was to go
right down from my good works; and oh! what a fall was that! I have pulled you down from
your good works, and now I will pull you down from your self-sufficiency." Well, I
had another fall, and I felt sure I had gained the bottom, but Christ said "Come
down!" and he made me come down till I fell on some point at which I felt I was yet
salvable. "Down, sir! come down, yet." And down I came until I had to let go
every bough of the tree of my hopes in despair: and then I said, "I can do nothing; I
am ruined." The waters were wrapped round my head, and I was shut out from the light
of day, and thought myself a stranger from the commonwealth of Israel. "Come down
lower yet, sir! thou hast too much pride to be saved. Then I was brought down to see my
corruption, my wickedness, my filthiness. "Come down," says God, when he means
to save. Now, proud sinners, it is of no use for you to be proud, to stick yourselves up
in the trees; Christ will have you down. Oh, thou that dwellest with the eagle on the
craggy rock, thou shalt come down from thy elevation; thou shalt fall by grace, or thou
shalt fall with a vengeance one day. He "hath cast down the mighty from their seat,
and hath exalted the humble and meek."
5. Next, it is an affectionate call. "To-day I must abide in thy house."
You can easily conceive how the faces of the multitude change! They thought Christ to be
the holiest and best of men, and were ready to make him a king. But he says, "To-day
I must abide in thy house." There was one poor Jew who had been inside Zaccheus's
house; he had "been on the carpet," as they say in country villages when they
are taken before the justice, and he recollected what sort of house it was; he remembered
how he was taken in there, and his conceptions of it were something like what a fly would
have of a spider's den after he had once escaped. There was another who had been
distrained of nearly all his property; and the idea he had of walking in there was like
walking into the den of lions. "What!" said they, "Is this holy man going
into such a den as that, where we poor wretches have been robbed and ill-treated. It was
bad enough for Christ to speak to him up in the tree, but the idea of going into his
house!" They all murmured at his going to be "a guest with a man who was a
sinner." Well, I know what some of his disciples thought: they thought it very
imprudent; it might injure his character, and he might offend the people. They thought he
might have gone to see this man night, like Nicodemus, and give him an audience when
nobody saw him; but publicly to acknowledge such a man was the most imprudent act he could
commit. But why did Christ do as he did? Because he would give Zaccheus an affectionate
call. "I will not come and stand at thy threshold, or look in at thy window, but I
will come into thine housethe same house where the cries of widows have come into
thine ears, and thou hast disregarded them; I will come into thy parlour, where the
weeping of the orphan have never moved thy compassion; I will come there, where thou, like
a ravenous lion hast devoured thy prey; I will come there, where thou hast blackened thine
house, and made it infamous; I will come into the place where cries have risen to high
heaven, wrung from the lips of those whom thou hast oppressed; I will come into thy house
and give thee a blessing." Oh! what affection there was in that! Poor sinner, my
Master is a very affectionate Master. He will come into your house. What kind of a house
have you got? A house that you have made miserable with your drunkennessa house that
you have defiled with your impuritya house you have defiled with your cursing and
swearinga house where you are carrying on an ill-trade that you would be glad to get
rid of. Christ say, "I will come into thine house." And I know some houses now
that once were dens of sin, where Christ comes every morning; the husband and wife who
once could quarrel and fight, bend their knees together in prayer. Some of my hearers can
scarce come for an hour to their meals but they must have a word of prayer and reading of
the Scriptures. Christ comes to them. Where the walls were plastered up with the
lascivious song and idle picture, there is a Christian almanack in one place, there is a
Bible on the chest of drawers; and though it is only one room they live in, if an angel
should come in, and God should say, "What hast thou seen in that house?" he
would say, "I have seen good furniture, for there is a Bible there; here and there a
religious book; the filthy pictures are pulled down and burned; there are no cards in the
man's cupboard now; Christ has come into his house." Oh! what a blessing that we have
our household God as well as the Romans! Our God is a household God. He comes to live with
his people; he loves the tents of Jacob. Now, poor ragmuffin sinner, thou who livest in
the filthiest den in London, if such an one be here, Jesus saith to thee, "Zaccheus,
make haste and come down; for to-day I must abide in thy house."
6. Again, it was not only an affectionate call, but it was an abiding call.
"To-day I must abide at thy house." A common call is like this:
"To-day I shall walk in at thy house at one door, and out at the other." The
common call which is given by the gospel to all men is a call which operates upon them for
a time, and then it is all over; but the saving call is an abiding call. When Christ
speaks, he does not say, "Make haste, Zaccheus, and come down, for I am just coming
to look in;" but "I must abide in thy house; I am coming to sit down to
eat and drink with thee; I am coming to have a meal with thee; to-day I must abide in thy
house." "Ah!" says one, "you cannot tell how many times I have been
impressed, sir, I have often had a series of solemn convictions, and I thought I really
was saved, but it all died away; like a dream, when one awaketh, all hath vanished that he
dreamed, so was it with me." Ah! but poor soul, do not despair. Dost thou feel the
strivings of Almighty grace within thine heart bidding thee repent to-day? If thou dost,
it will be an abiding call. If it is Jesus at work in thy soul, he will come and tarry in
thine heart, and consecrate thee for his own for ever. He says, "I will come and
dwell with thee, and that for ever. I will come and say,
Here I will make my settled rest,
No more will go and come;
No more a stranger or a guest,
But master of this home."
"Oh!" say you, "that is what
I want; I wan an abiding call, something that will last; I do not want a religion
that will wash out, but a fast-colour religion." Well, that is the kind of call
Christ gives. His ministers cannot give it; but when Christ speaks, he speaks with power,
and says, "Zaccheus, make haste, and come down; for to-day I must abide at thy
house."
7. There is one thing, however, I cannot forget, and that is that it was a necessary
call. Just read it over again. "Zaccheus, make haste, and come down; for to-day I must
abide at thy house." It was not a thing that he might do, or might not do; but it was
a necessary call. The salvation of a sinner is as much a matter of necessity with God as
the fulfilment of his covenant that the rain shall no more drown the world. The salvation
of every blood-bought child of God is a necessary thing for three reasons; it is necessary
because it is God's purpose; it is necessary because it is Christ's purchase; it is
necessary because it is God's promise. It is necessary that the child of God should be
saved. Some divines think it is very wrong to lay a stress on the word "must,"
especially in that passage where it is said "he must needs go through Samaria."
"Why," they say, "he must needs go through Samaria, because there was no
other way he could go, and therefore he was forced to go that way." Yes, gentlemen,
we reply, no doubt; but then there might have been another way. Providence made it so that
he must needs go through Samaria, and that Samaria should like in the route he had chosen.
So that we have you any way. "He must needs go through Samaria." Providence
directed man to build Samaria directly in the road, and grace constrained the Saviour to
move in that direction. It was not "Come down, Zaccheus, because I may abide
at thy house," but "I must." The Saviour felt a strong necessity.
Just as much a necessity as there is that man should die, as stern a necessity as there is
that the sun should give us light by day and the moon by night, just so much a necessity
is there that every blood-bought child of God shall be saved. "To-day I must abide at
thy house." And oh! when the Lord comes to this, that he must and he will, what a
thing it is with the poor sinner then! At other times we ask, "Shall I let him in at
all? there is a stranger at the door; he is knocking now; he has knocked before; shall I
let him in?" But this time it is, "I must abide at thy house." There
was no knocking at the door, but smash went the door into atoms! and in he walked: "I
must, I shall, I will; I care not for your protesting your vileness, your unbelief; I
must, I will; I must abide in thy house." "Ah!" says one, "I do not
believe God would ever make me to believe as you believe, or become a Christian at
all." Ah! but if he shall but say, "To-day I must abide at thy house,"
there will be no resistance in you. There are some of you who would scorn the very idea of
being a canting methodist; "What, sir! do you suppose I would ever turn one of your
religious people?" No, my friend, I don't suppose it; I know it for a
certainty. If God says "I must," there is no standing against it. Let him say
"must," and it must be.
I will just tell you an anecdote proving this. "A father was about sending his son to
college; but as he knew the influence to which he would be exposed, he was not without a
deep and anxious solicitude for the spiritual and eternal welfare of his favourite child.
Fearing lest the principles of Christian faith, which he had endeavoured to instil into
his mind, would be rudely assailed, but trusting in the efficacy of that word which is
quick and powerful, he purchased, unknown to his son, an elegant copy of the Bible, and
deposited it at the bottom of his trunk. The young man entered upon his college career.
The restraints of a pious education were son broken off, and he proceeded from speculation
to doubts, and from doubts to a denial of the reality of religion. After having become, in
his own estimation, wiser than his father, he discovered one day, while rummaging his
trunk, with great surprise and indignation, the sacred deposit. He took it out, and while
deliberating on the manner in which he should treat it, he determined that he would use it
as waste paper, on which to wipe his razor while shaving. Accordingly, every time he went
to shave, he tore a leaf or two of the holy book, and thus used it til nearly half the
volume was destroyed. But while he was committing this outrage upon the sacred book, a
text now and then met his eye, and was carried like a barbed arrow to his heart. At
length, he heard a sermon, which discovered to him his own character, and his exposure to
the wrath of God, and riveted upon his mind the impression which he has received from the
last torn leaf of the blessed, yet insulted volume. Had worlds been at his disposal, he
would freely have given them all, could they have availed, in enabling him to undo what he
had done. At length he found forgiveness at the foot of the cross. The torn leaves of that
sacred volume brought healing to his soul; for they led him to repose on the mercy of God,
which is sufficient for the chief of sinners." I tell you there is not a reprobate
walking the streets and defiling the air with his blasphemies, there is not a creature
abandoned so as to be well-nigh as bad as Satan himself, if he is a child of life, who is
not within the reach of mercy. And if God says, "To-day I must abide in thy
house," he then assuredly will. Do you feel, my dear hearer, just now, something in
your mind which seems to say you have held out against the gospel a long while, but to-day
you can hold out no longer? Do you feel that a strong hand has god hold of you, and do you
hear a voice saying, "Sinner, I must abide in thy house; you have often scorned me,
you have often laughed at me, you have often spit in the face of mercy, often blasphemed
me, but sinner, I must abide in thy house; you banged the door yesterday in the
missionary's face, you burned the tract, you laughed at the minister, you have cursed
God's house, you have violated the Sabbath; but, sinner, I must abide in thy house, and I
will!" "What, Lord!" you say, "abide in my house! why it is covered
all over with iniquity. Abide in my house! why there is not a chair or a table but would
cry out against me. Abide in my house! why the joists and beams and flooring would all
rise up and tell thee that I am not worthy to kiss the hem of thy garment. What, Lord!
abide in my house!" "Yes," says he, "I must; there is a strong
necessity; my powerful love constrains me, and whether thou wilt let me or no, I am
determined to make thee willing, and thou shalt let me in." Does not this surprise
you, that Christ not only asks you to come to him, but invites himself to your table, and
what is more, when you would put him away, kindly says, "I must, I will come
in." Only think of Christ going after a sinner, crying after a sinner, beginning a
sinner to let him save him; and that is just what Jesus does to his chosen ones. The
sinner runs away from him, but free-grace pursues him, and says, "Sinner, come to
Christ;" and if our hearts be shut up, Christ puts his hand in at the door, and if we
do not rise, but repulse him coldly, he says, "I must, I will come in;" he weeps
over us till his tears win us; he cries after us till his cries prevail; and at last in
his own well determined hour he enters into our heart, and there he dwells. "I must
abide in thy house," said Jesus.
8. And now, lastly, this call was an effectual one, for we see the fruits it
brought forth. Open was Zaccheus's door; spread was his table; generous was his heart;
washed were his hands; unburdened was his conscience; joyful was his soul. "Here,
Lord," says he, "the half of my goods I give to the poor; I dare say I have
robbed them of half my propertyand now I restore it." "And if I have taken
anything from any one by false accusation, I will restore it to him
fourfold."away goes another portion of his property. Ah! Zaccheus, you will go
to be to-night a great deal poorer than when you got up this morningbut infinitely
richer, toopoor, very poor, in this world's goods, compared with what thou wert when
thou first didst climb that sycamore tree; but richer-infinitely richerin heavenly
treasure. Sinner, we shall know whether God calls you by this: if he calls, it will be an
effectual callnot a call which you hear and then forget but one which produces good
works. If God hath called thee this morning, down will go that drunken cup, up will go thy
prayers; if God hath called thee this morning, there will not be one shutter up
to-day in your shop, but all, and you will have a notice stuck up, "This house
is closed on the Sabbath day, and will not again on that day, be opened." To-morrow,
there will be such-and-such worldly amusement, but if God hath called you, you will not
go. And if you have robbed anybody (and who knows but I may have a thief here?) If God
call you, there will be a restoration of what you have stolen? you will give up all that
you have, so that you will follow God with all your heart. We do not believe a man to be
converted unless he doth renounce the error of his ways; unless, practically, he is
brought to know that Christ himself is master of his conscience, and his law is his
delight. "Zaccheus, make haste and come down, I must abide at thy house." And he
made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. "And Zaccheus stood, and said
unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken
anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto
him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.
For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."
Now, one or two lessons. A lesson to the proud. Come down, proud hearts, come down!
Mercy runneth in valleys, but it goeth not to the mountain top. Come down, come down,
lofty spirit! The lofty city, he layeth it low even to the ground, and then he buildeth it
up. Again, a lesson to thee, poor despairing soul: I am glad to see thee in God's
house this morning; it is a good sign. I care not what you came for. You heard there was a
strange kind of man that preached here, perhaps. Never mind about that. You are all quite
as strange as he is. It is necessary that there should be strange men to gather in other
strange men. Now, I have a mass of people here; and if I might use a figure, I should
compare you to a great heap of ashes, mingled with which are a few steel filings. Now, my
sermon if it be attended with divine grace, will be a sort of magnet: it will not attract
any of the ashesthey will keep just where they arebut it will draw out the
steel filings. I have got a Zaccheus there; there is a Mary up there, a John down there, a
Sarah, or a William, or a Thomas, thereGod's chosen onesthey are steel filings
in the congregation of ashes, and my gospel, the gospel of the blessed God, like a great
magnet, draws them out of the heap. There they come, there they come. Why? because there
was a magnetic power between the gospel and their hearts. AH! poor sinner, come to Jesus,
believe his love, trust his mercy. If thou hast a desire to come, if thou art forcing thy
way through the ashes to get to Christ, then it is because Christ is calling thee. Oh! all
of you who know yourselves to be sinnersevery man, woman, and child of youyea,
ye little children (for God has given me some of you to be my wages), do you feel
yourselves sinners? then believe on Jesus and be saved. You have come here from curiosity,
many of you. Oh! that you might be met with and saved. I am distressed for you lest you
should sink into hell-fire. Oh! listen to Christ while he speaks to you. Christ says,
"Come down," this morning. Go home and humble yourselves in the sight of
God: go and confess your iniquities that you have sinned against him; go home and tell him
that you are a wretch, undone without his sovereign grace; and then look to him, for rest
assured he has first looked to you. You say, "Sir, oh! I am willing enough to be
saved, but I am afraid he is not willing." Stay! stay! no more of that! Do you know
that is part blasphemynot quite. If you were not ignorant, I would tell you that it
was part blasphemy. You cannot look to Christ before he has looked to you. If you are
willing to be saved, he gave you that will. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and be
baptized, and thou shalt be saved. I trust the Holy Spirit is calling you. Young man up
there, young man in the window, make haste! come down! Old man, sitting in these pews,
come down. Merchant in yonder aisle, make haste. Matron and youth, not knowing Christ, oh,
may he look at you. Old grandmother, hear the gracious call; and thou, young lad, Christ
may be looking at theeI trust he isand saying to thee, "Make haste, and
come down, for to-day I must abide at thy house."
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