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OR,

THE INDIVIDUAL OBLIGATION OF CHRISTIANS

TO SAVE SOULS FROM DEATH.

AN ESSAY,

BY

DAVID EVERARD FORD.

"Jesus saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. And he departed, and began to publish in DECA POLIS, how great things Jesus had done for him; and all men did marvel."-Mark v. 19, 20.

Fourth Thousand.'

LONDON:

SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO.,

STATIONERS'-HALL-COURT.

PREFACE

TO THE FIRST EDITION.

WHATEVER reception may await this book at the hands of the religious public, it is my consolation to know that the views which it advocates have been owned of God to the salvation of many souls.

This is my only apology for a style which may seem in some instances to savour of dogmatism. I have no wish to cast one unkind reflection on brethren who differ from me; to our Master we stand or fall: but I must express myself strongly, for I speak that which I know, and testify that which I have seen.

I have written for Christians. Should my remarks awaken attention, they will fall into the hands of many who have no right to that holy name. A previous question demands their notice, a question to which every other ought to be postponed, and from which I

JP. EXCH. 23 JAN 1903

REW THEOL SEM LIB

would be among the last to divert them for one moment, the question of the Philippian gaoler to Paul and Silas,- "What must I do

to be saved?"

And who are Christians? The disciples of Christ; men who have given their hearts to God, and, on the ground of the great sacrifice for sin, have consecrated their bodies, souls, and spirits to the service and glory of their Creator and Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

To such, the following observations are addressed. Brethren! suffer the word of exhortation. Soon we must give an account of our stewardship, and, in the presence of Him who redeemed us unto God by his blood, narrate the efforts we have made to secure and extend the blessings of that atonement in the world where he laboured, and for which he died. The Lord grant that we may find mercy of the Lord in that day!

Lymington, May 29, 1840.

D. E. F.

PREFACE

TO THE SECOND EDITION.

AMONG the happiest recollections of my life, I shall henceforth regard the authorship of the following Essay. I am free to acknowledge that when I first committed it to the press, it was with fear and trembling. My misgivings arose not from any doubt as to the correctness and scriptural sanction of the views which I attempted to advocate; but from apprehensions as to the unpreparedness of the faithful themselves to admit representations of personal responsibility, so repugnant to the comfortable notions and sacred prejudices of men, whose highest wish is to be at ease in Zion."

I then expected censure, and was prepared to meet it; but now I gratefully record the disappointment of my fears. From all quarters, I have received the most cheering assurances that the blessing of Heaven has already