THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE

Do you remember the message to Amos - "Woe to them that are at ease in Zion?" And that is the case with many of you. When you come to this house, you are in a place where Jesus has called sleepy souls, and where he has been found of very many. O, sleeping souls; it is high time for you to awake. You are living in a dream. Every Christless man will find at last that he has been dreaming. Ah! the time is coming when you shall find that your following after gold is but a golden dream. And is there no pleasure in a dream? Who has not felt that there is pleasure even in dreams. But, ah! you must awake. Like a man condemned to die (and many of you are condemned already), he dreams of home, of his wife and children; of freedom and pleasure; but, ah! he awakes by the toll of the death bell, and he finds that - behold it was but a dream! Now, unconverted men, you are taking a sleep; but, like the man, you will awake from a bright dream to a bitter reality. Dear friends, I often think when I look to your houses as I pass along, and when I look in your faces, that ministers are like watchmen, they see the fire and they give the alarm. Many of you are in danger as one in a burning house. Sometimes you wonder at our anxiety for you. Sometimes you say, "Why are you so harsh?" O, poor soul! it is because the house is on fire. O, then, can we speak to harshly? can we knock too loudly at the door of your conscience?