WH

III.

HILE imprisoned in the Tower, William Penn wrote a work entitled "NO CROSS, NO CROWN," from which we take some passages illustrative of its character.

READER-The great business of man's life is to answer the end for which he lives, that is, to glorify God and save his own soul. As one knowing the terrors of the Lord, I persuade thee to be serious, diligent, and fervent about thy own salvation. As one knowing the comfort, peace, joy, and pleasure of the ways of righteousness I exhort and invite thee to embrace the reproofs and convictions of Christ's light and spirit in thine own conscience, and bear the judgment of thy sin. The fire burns but the stubble; the wind blows only the chaff. Yield thy body, soul, and spirit to Him who maketh all things new-new heavens and new earth, new love, new joy, new peace, new works, a new life and conversation.

Christ's cross is Christ's way to Christ's crown. This is the subject of the following discourse, first written during my confinement in the Tower of London in the year 1668, now reprinted with great enlargement of matter and testimonies, that thou mayest be won to Christ, or if won already, brought nearer to Him. It is a path which God in his everlasting kindness guided my feet into, in the flower of my youth, when about two and twenty years

of age. He took me by the hand and led me out of the pleasures, vanities, and hopes of the world. I have tasted of Christ's judgments, and of his mercies, and of the world's frowns and reproaches. I rejoice in my experience, and dedicate it to thy service in Christ.

THOUGH THE knowledge and obedience of the doctrine of the cross of Christ be of infinite moment to the souls of men, being the only door to true Christianity and the path which the ancients ever trod to blessedness, yet it is little understood, much neglected, and bitterly contradicted, by the vanity, superstition, and intemperance of professed Christians.

The unmortified Christian and the heathen are of the same religion, and the deity they truly worship is the god of this world. What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear? And how shall we pass away our time? Which way may we gather wealth, increase our power, enlarge our territories, and dignify and perpetuate our names and families in the earth? It is a mournful reflection, but a truth which will not be denied, that these worldly lusts fill up a great part of the study, care, and conversation of Christendom.

The false notion that they may be children of God while in a state of disobedience to his holy commandments, and disciples of Jesus though they revolt from his cross, and members of his true church, which is without spot or wrinkle, notwithstanding their lives are full of spots and wrinkles, is of all other deceptions upon themselves the most pernicious to their eternal condition. For they are at peace in sin and under a security in their transgression.

Their vain hope silences their convictions, and overlays all tender motions to repentance; so that their mistake about their duty to God is as mischievous as their rebellion against Him. Thus they walk on precipices and flatter themselves, till the grave swallows them up and the judg ment of the great God breaks the lethargy.

O Christendom! my soul most fervently prays that after all thy lofty professions of Christ and his meek and holy religion, thy unsuitable and unchristlike life may not cast thee at that great assize of the world and lose thee this great salvation at last. Can Christ be thy Lord and thou not obey Him? He is none of thy Saviour whilst thou rejectest his grace in thy heart, by which He would save thee. Has He saved thee from thy sinful lusts, thy worldly affections, and vain conversations? If not, then He is none of thy Saviour. For though He be offered a

Saviour for all, yet He is actually a Saviour to those only who are saved by Him; and none are saved by Him who live in those evils by which they are lost from God, and which He came to save them from.

It is from sin that Christ is come to save man, and from death and wrath as the wages of it. So far as people obtain victory over those evil dispositions and fleshly lusts to which they have been addicted, so far they are truly saved, and are witnesses of the redemption that comes by Jesus Christ. His name shows his work: "And thou shalt call his name Jesus, for He shall save his people from their sins." "Behold," said John of Christ, "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world!”

BECAUSE THERE is mercy with the God of compassion, that He may be feared, He has sent forth his Son, a pro

pitiation, and given Him a Saviour to take away the sins. of the whole world, that those who believe and follow Him may feel the righteousness of God in the remission of their sins, and the blotting out of their transgressions forever. Behold the remedy! an infallible cure, one of God's appointing.

But thou wilt say, what is Christ, where is He to be found, and how received, and applied, in order to this mighty cure? First, He is the great spiritual Light of the world, who enlightens every one that comes into the world; by which He manifests to them their deeds of darkness and wickedness, and reproves them for committing them. Secondly, He is not far away from thee. Christ himself says, "Behold I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me." What door can this be, but that of the heart of man? Like the inn of old thou hast been full of other guests; there has been no room for thy Saviour in thy soul. Wherefore salvation is not yet come into thy house, though it is come to thy door, and thou hast often been proffered it, and hast professed it long.

Wherefore, O Christendom! believe, receive, and apply to Him rightly; this is of absolute necessity, that thy soul may live forever with Him. He told the Jews, "If you believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins; and whither I go, ye cannot come." So I say to thee, unless thou believest that He who stands at the door of thy heart and knocks, and sets thy sins in order before thee, and calls thee to repentance, be the Saviour of the world, thou wilt die in thy sins, and where He is gone,

thou wilt never come. For if thou believest not in Him, it is impossible that He should do thee good, or effect thy salvation. Christ works not against faith, but by it.

It is the nature of true faith to beget an holy fear of offending God, a deep reverence for his precepts, and a most tender regard to the inward testimony of his Spirit, as that by which his children, in all ages, have been safely led to glory. Those who receive Him thus, receive power to become the sons of God; that is, an inward force and ability to do whatever He requires. Strength to mortify their lusts, control their affections, resist evil motions, deny themselves, and overcome the world in its most enticing appearances. This is the life of the blessed cross of Christ, which is the subject of the following discourse, and what thou, O man, must take up, if thou intendest to be the disciple of Jesus. Nor canst thou be said to receive Christ, or believe in Him, whilst thou rejectest his cross. For as receiving Christ is the means appointed of God to salvation, so bearing the daily cross after Him is the only true testimony of receiving Him; and, therefore, it is enjoined by Him as the great token of discipleship, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." This, Christendom, is what thou hast so much wanted, and the want of it has proved the cause of thy miserable declension from pure Christianity.

The work of apostleship, we are told by a prime laborer in it, was to turn people from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. For this blessed work of reformation, Christ endued his apostles with his spirit and power, that so men might no longer sleep in a security of