Fire! Fire!

“Whe?i afire is kmdlcd in a city we do not say coldly ‘Yonder is a great fire, I pray God it do no harm.’ In iiines of public defection we are not to read tame lectures of conte7nplative divinity, or fight with ghosts and antiquated errors, but to oppose with all earnestness the growing evils of the world, whatever it may cost usP If men valued truth as they do their goods and their houses they would not regard error with such cool contentment. The cant of the present day cries, “Charity, Charity.” As if it were not the truest charity to grow indignant with that which ruins souls. It is not uncharitable to warn men against poisonous adulterations of their food, or invasions of their rights; and surely it cannot be more uncharitable to put them upon their guard against that which will poison or rob their souls. Lukewarmness of love to truth is the real evil to be deprecated in these times. We have new doctrines among us, full of practical mischief, and against these there is need to raise an earnest outcry lest they gain so great a head that both church and state should be set on fire.

Lord, arouse thy watchmen, and bid them arouse all thy saints, for the times are full of danger.