No. I. "GOD RATHER THAN MEN." MR. BROWNLOW NORTH'S ADDRESSES AT ST. JAMES'S HALL, LONDON, MAY, 1862. LONDON: MORGAN AND CHASE, 3, AMEN CORNER, PATERNOSTER ROW. PRICE ONE PENNY, 100 e 193 "GOD RATHER THAN MEN." "Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him. When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them."-Acts v. 29-33. DEAR FRIENDS,-I believe the effect of honest, faithful, gospel preaching has been the same in all ages, namely, that it has always disturbed the hearts and consciences of those who heard it; or, as it is termed in my text, has cut them to the heart. This cutting to the heart, however, operates in two different ways. We find it was so in the times of the apostles. In the second chapter of the Acts, on the great day of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, the day of Pentecost, when Peter preached to the people that they had been the betrayers and the murderers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we read that they were pricked in their heart, and cried out, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?". This is one of the effects that follow honest, faithful, gospel preaching. But when Peter and Stephen preached the same gospel to the high priest and council of the Jews—and the congregations to whom they preached were, like those upon the day of Pentecost, pricked in their hearts-instead of crying out, "What shall we do to be saved?" on the occasion mentioned in my text, we find that they took counsel together to slay the preachers; and in the other they gnashed on Stephen with their teeth, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city and stoned him. Let it be understood that I am not now speaking of feeding Christians, I am not now speaking of the pastoral work; that is another work altogether; for when a faithful pastor is feeding his flock there may be no such effects following as I am speaking of; but where a man stands up to preach to the congregation of the dead, where a man is addressing himself pointedly and faithfully to the unconverted amongst his hearers, I believe that one or the other of these effects will follow, that men will be convinced and brought to God by Jesus Christ under his preaching, and they will cry out, "What shall we do to be saved?" or they will go away gnashing on him in their hearts, and saying, "Away with such a fellow from the earth; it is not good that such a man should live;" and I pray God the Holy Ghost that such may be the effect of my preaching upon you. I pray God that there may not be one amongst you who shall be able to go away unmoved from what you hear, unless you are already in Christ Jesus. To such I do not profess to speak. I consider my mission is to awake the dead, to try and make the thoughtless, think. My mission is to try and bring you, as God may enable me, to consider your latter end, and to force you to consider the question, "What will it profit you if you gain the whole world and lose your own soul?" Ah, friends, nothing, nothing. What would the man who died yesterday, and who had listened to the preaching of pardon for his sins and salvation by Jesus Christ, from the time he was a child unto the time when he died, and went out of this world unsaved and unconverted-what would he give now to be back once more where you are, to hear that God has exalted Jesus Christ "to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance unto Israel and forgiveness of sins"? And as it is now being said of some, "He died yesterday," so, dear brother, and so, dear sister, it will some day be said of you. It will be said, "He died yesterday," "She died yesterday." How often have you said it of a relation, of a friend, and of a neighbour: and in a little time your friends, your neighbours, your relations, will be saying it of you. Oh, if they were saying it of you now-if you had died yesterday, I ask you, dear friends, where do you believe you would now be lifting up your eyes? Do you believe it would be in that place where no hope and no mercy can ever enter? or do you believe it would be where they praise God day and night without ceasing, singing, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, for He hath redeemed us and washed us from our sins in his own blood"? I beseech you, ask yourself; no, I do not beseech you to ask yourself,— yourself is not the person to ask; I beseech you ask your Bible; I beseech you for one moment to remember what you know of the teaching of the Bible, of the description that is given in the Bible, of who are saved and who are not saved, and then, comparing yourself with the written Word of God, to answer now the question, "Where should I be, if it were being said of me now, that I died yesterday?" I think the passage I have chosen to speak upon to-day is one of the most striking portions of Scripture. Let us place ourselves for one moment in the situation of the speakers. There they were, these illiterate men, brought before the chief rulers, and princes, and mighty nobles of Judea, brought before men who they knew were thirsting for their lives, and commanded not to speak in the name of Jesus. And what answer did they make? "We ought to obey God rather than men." Oh, what a noble answer. Imagine these men standing there before that Jewish council, knowing that as far as man was concerned, upon their word depended their life or death; that even then it might be given to them to follow that very Jesus they were preaching, in that death through which He had entered into his glory; and yet when commanded no more to speak in His name, boldly to say, "We have God's command to speak in His name, and we ought to obey God rather than men." And then to begin at once to preach, "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree." Oh, was this consulting their own self-interests, or the tastes and prejudices of their influential hearers? No,-it was speaking the truth-the truth about Jesus-the truth about |