Sermons Preached in Cheltenham College Chapel

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: III. ON THE CHARACTER OF BALAAM. Let me die the death of therighteous, and let my last end be like his/? Num. xxm. 10. There is a natural desire in the minds of all men to end their days well. However they may have wandered away from God during their lives, they cherish a hope that at the last all may be...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: III. ON THE CHARACTER OF BALAAM. Let me die the death of therighteous, and let my last end be like his/? Num. xxm. 10. There is a natural desire in the minds of all men to end their days well. However they may have wandered away from God during their lives, they cherish a hope that at the last all may be well: that they may return, and confess their sins, and receive pardon and forgiveness through the mercy of God and the atoning merits of their Saviour. Nor is this hope always in vain. There are instances of late conversions?of sinners repenting of their sins, and after enduring much agony of mind arriving at a more hopeful state?a state far removed, it is true, from that settled conviction which is sometimes, though not always, the lot of those who have led a life of consistent piety, but still equally far removed from despair on the one hand, or callous indifference on the other. Let us bless God for these instances of His mercy, which show that while there is life there is hope, that the exercise of His free grace is not bounded or limited by considerations of human probability, but that the way of repentance is always open to the sinner, who confesses his sins to Almighty God with true contrition and purpose of amendment, and who clings to the cross of Christ as his only means of salvation, by which his sins can be done away with, and the wrath of the Almighty appeased. But it is an undoubted fact that many delude themselves with false hopes of dying the death of the righteous, who have given no consideration to the duty of living the life of the righteous. Of these, Balaam, a portion of whose history was read to you in this morning's lesson, is a type and example. He stands out from all the characters of the Old Testament as a pattern of inconsistency, as on...