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The “Almost” Christian
A Sermon Preached By John Booth At Providence Chapel, Croydon, On Sunday Evening, November 29th, 1903. "Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian."—Acts 26:28 The charge preferred against Paul was, as we read in Acts 21:28: "This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place (i.e., the Temple): and further brought Greeks also into the Temple, and hath polluted this holy place." So they said he taught against the law, against the Temple, and against the rules of the Temple. It is certain that Paul taught everywhere the received fulfilment of all these things, that Christ was the Substance of them. Paul had been a Pharisee; he had belonged to…
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The Two Deeps
My dear Friend,—I am, more or less, living in the engagement of wading into two great deeps, but cannot fathom either of them, and I often think I am a greater bungling fool in the work than ever; I mean the awful deep of sin and the glorious deep of God's matchless grace. O the horrible springing up and belching forth of sin that my poor soul is obliged to wade in, at times! I once thought that if I should live to be old, I should get rid of some of the branches of the boilings up of sin; but I now live to prove that the decay of nature does not mend the corruption of the heart and that the internal filth of…
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Two Distinct Natures
June 9, 1830 My dear Deborah, I am rejoiced to think that you are so far humbled as to look to Christ alone for the salvation of your soul. You will find if you possess the Spirit of Christ that you will be despised and condemned by all in whose heart Satan reigns. But what does the Scripture say for your consolation? "Rejoice, and leap for joy." "For the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified." You will doubtless try to justify yourself in holding such offensive doctrines, by appealing to the Bible, Litany, and Articles, but you cannot convince the natural man. Do not be anxious to…
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Feeling And Sight
When God, in his rich grace, takes a poor sinner manifestively in hand, the first thing he does is to give life and light; and when this divine life and light are communicated, the dead soul is quickened, and the dark soul is enlightened. We begin to see sin in the light of God's countenance; even our secret sins are laid open to the conscience, and we both feel and see that it is an evil and bitter thing to sin against God. The pure life and light of God, placed in the conscience against our vile deadness and darkness, horrifies the soul; and though we may not be able to account for our feelings and sight, we do find that we have such as…
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Coming To Jesus
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The Pool Of Bethesda
In the December, 1835 “Gospel Standard,” under the head, “The Pool of Bethesda,” is the following: “Through your valuable 'Standard,' an impotent body, who is hungry and thirsty, and whose soul, at times, fainteth within her for a ray of hope in the manifestation of an interest in a precious Redeemer's blood, is desirous of having a few words from 'A Lover of Zion,' on Jn 5:7. Does he, as a valiant soldier of truth, who has experienced the workings of God the Holy Spirit upon his own soul, think it possible for a poor, weak, feeble sinner to come to that pool, - waiting there for the moving of the waters, who is walking in darkness and having no light, and who, feelingly a…
