Wake up call!

It seems that I'm on some biographical hobbyhorse, but that's okay. Here are a few lines I found on my newest hero, Robert Murray M'Cheyne as penned by Iain Murray:

"M'Cheyne was often in later years to declare in his preaching - "O Christless man, you have pleasure, but it is only for a season. Laugh on if you will - your candle will soon be out. Your games, your dance, your social parties, will soon be over. There are no games in hell."

"It was M'Cheyne's custom never to accept mere professions of faith as signs of conversion. "It is holy-making Gospel," he declared. "Without holy fruit all evidences are vain. Dear friends, you have awakenings, enlightenings, experiences, a full heart in prayer, and many due signs ; but if you want holiness, you will never see the Lord. A real desire after complete holiness is the truest mark of being born again. Jesus is a holy Saviour. He first covers the soul with His white raiment, then makes the soul glorious within - restores the lost image of God, and fills the soul with pure, heavenly holiness. Unregenerate men among you cannot bear this."

"The constant aim of M'Cheyne's preaching to the awakened and converted was to bring them to see the vastness, completeness and freeness of the salvation brought by Christ. "Remember Jesus for us is all our righteousness before a holy God, and Jesus in us is all our strength in an ungodly world … He justifies sinners who have no righteousness, sanctifies souls that have no holiness. Let Jesus bear your whole weight. Remember, He loves to be the only support of your soul. There is nothing that you can possibly need but you will find it in Him." The most prominent cause of the absence of such ministries as M'Cheyne's to-day lies in the absence of his doctrine, for it is only the truth of God which the Spirit will honour and bless."

"Oh may we preach with such passion and urgency as M'Cheyne did!