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 THE 
 
 
 Cnte (jfrfsfcra $d 
 
 tgion ; 
 
 OR, 
 
 
 THE PLAIN AND EASY ROAD TO 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 IN TWO PARTS. 
 
 
 PART FIRST. "BELIEVE." 
 
 
 "And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt 
 be saved, 'and thy house." Acts xvi. 31. 
 
 \ 
 PART SECOND. "RECEIVE.' 
 
 
 "And when he had said this, he breathed on them 
 unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Joh5j xx. 22. 
 
 and salth 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 
 ALBEET COLBY. 
 
 
 1867. / ■ 
 
 
 * 
 
NOTICE 
 
 We have the matter prepared for a book, which 
 we intend to publish some time this year, entitled 
 "History of Christianity and its Enemies," giv- 
 ing the rise and origin of the different forms and 
 creeds of the different churches, and the essentials of 
 Christianity in which all - evangelical Christians are 
 agreed. We shall also prove that the enemies of 
 Christ have been the same in all ages of the world, 
 and that history repeats itself in religion as well as in 
 other matters. Those persons who oppose the Bible 
 and the Christian religion, and who call themselves 
 " modern spiritualists," and claim to have a " new phi- 
 losophy," will be exposed in theory and practice; for 
 we have had an extensive experience with that class 
 of persons, and we can prove their connection with 
 the "father of lies," and that their teachings are as 
 old as the devil, and their practices as ancient as hell. 
 In our dealings with all men, good or bad, we shall 
 endeavor to follow our Lord and Master, trusting in 
 Him, and fearing no evil, praying for our enemies, 
 and for the conversion of all men. When compelled 
 to say unpleasant things, and to tell unwholesome 
 truths, we hope always to remember it was the doc- 
 trine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees that our 
 Lord opposed, and not the individuals. 
 

 (Mj 
 
 w^ 
 
 
 A 
 
 ND Pilate wrote a Title, and put it on 
 the Cross. And the Writing was, — 
 
 JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OFTHE JEWS. 
 
 This Title then read many of the Jews; 
 for the Place where Jesus was crucified was 
 nigh to the City : and it was written in 
 Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. 
 
 JOUN XIX. 19, 20. 
 Hebrew. 
 
 Greek. 
 
 ' Irjaovg 6 NatptQuioq 6 fiaodeiig rav 'Iovdalwv. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Jesus Nazarenus, Rex Jud^eorum. 
 
 And it came to pass, as they were much 
 perplexed thereabout, behold, two Men stood 
 by them in shining garments : 
 
 And as they were afraid, and bowed down 
 their Faces to the Earth, they said unto 
 
 THEM, 
 
 WHY SEEK YE THE LIVING AMONG THE DEAD? 
 HE IS NOT HERE, BUT IS RISEN! 
 
 Luke XXIV. 4, 5, 6. 
 German. 
 23a6 fuc&et ihr ben Sebenbigcn let ben SEobtert ? Gr tft nicht hter, er ift 
 auferftanben. 
 
 French. 
 POURQUOI CHERCHEZ-VOTJS PARMI LES MORTS CELUI QUI EST VIVANT ? 
 
 Il n'est point ici ; MAIS il est RESSUSCITE. 
 Spanish. 
 I Para que andais buscando entre los muertos ai que estA vivo ? 
 
 NO ESTA AQUI, SINO QUE RESUCITO. 
 
THE 
 
 Oj^&m 
 
 Crae Christian $dipn; 
 
 THE PLAIN AND EASY ROAD TO HEAVEN. 
 
 IN TWO PAETS. 
 
 PART FIRST. "BELIEVE." 
 
 " And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt 
 be saved, and thy house." Acts xvi. 31. 
 
 PART SECOND. "RECEIVE. 
 
 "And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith 
 unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." John xs. 22. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 ALBERT COLBY. 
 
 1867. 
 
t#f. 
 
 ^ 
 
 o 
 
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S67. by 
 
 ALBEUT COLBY, 
 Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of 
 
 S T K II E O TYPED AT T H 
 
 ON STEREOTYPE FOl 
 
 No. 4 Spring Lane. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 This little book is written and published for gra- 
 tuitous distribution among my own personal friends 
 and acquaintances, for the following reasons : I was 
 in my thirty-ninth year when I was converted to 
 Jesus. When I started in life, I promised my Cre- 
 ator that one tenth of all my gains should be devoted 
 to charity ; but becoming confirmed in Unitarian and 
 anti-Christian views, I actually took the Lord's tenth 
 and gave it to the devil. I bought the writings of 
 Thomas Paine and Theodore Parker, and gave them 
 away as a deed of charity, actually thinking I did 
 God service. I thought I was a very good man, 
 and that I was keeping God's commandments, and 
 was on the road to heaven ; while I was going down 
 to hell blindfolded, just as fast as the devil's omnibus 
 could carry me. But on the 23d day of April, 1865, 
 the words of Jesus reached me, " Why persecutest 
 thou me?" and I had abundant evidence that the 
 Lord Jesus Christ was my Creator and Saviour. I 
 believed on him for the first time in my life, and he 
 breathed on me, and scales have been dropping from 
 my eyes ever since, and I begin to see men as trees 
 
 (3) 
 
walking. I am on my journey to that celestial city 
 whose maker and builder is God ; and if this selection 
 of Scripture may lead one erring soul home to his 
 Father's house, then I will be doubly happy, for I 
 have had many sweet seasons of prayer and praise 
 while writing the book. I have read the Bible through 
 by course once since commencing it, and Dr. Adam 
 Clarke's Commentaries, Cruden's Concordance, and 
 the Bible have been my constant companions. I 
 have had many seasons of shouting aloud in my 
 closet, Glory to Jesus ! and I have seen light and 
 evidences perhaps improper to mention. I know the 
 Bible is the Word of God, and that all men by 
 nature are great sinners, and none more blindly 
 depraved than I have been ; but I can say with Paul, 
 " I did it ignorantly in unbelief." God's Word tells 
 us, It shall be well with the righteous, but ill with 
 the wicked from beginning to end ; and we can con- 
 firm the Bible by nature and reason if we wish ; but 
 if we turn our backs upon Jesus, the devil stands/ J 
 ready to confirm falses and teach lies, for he is the [ 
 father of lies. 
 
 Don't reason teach us that men become angels of 
 light or darkness just as naturally as worms become 
 butterflies and other winged insects, and eggs be- 
 come birds, both clean and unclean ? Hogs and other 
 filthy animals eat carrion in the ditches, and think 
 sheep and lambs very silly, foolish creatures for 
 eating grass and flowers upon the hills and the moun- 
 tains. So wicked men and devils look upon good 
 men and angels. It is an old proverb that one's 
 
PREFACE. 5 
 
 meat is another's poison. Tobacco is very offensive 
 to the taste of nearly all of those unaccustomed to 
 its use, yet how fond of it are its consumers ! I 
 know persons who are always made very sick by 
 tasting some particular kinds of food ; for instance, 
 to taste of strawberries will make some people vomit ; 
 bees' honey has the same effect upon others ; and 
 few people can be found but what have a dislike 
 for some kinds of food greatly admired by others. 
 So heavenly joys would distress the inhabitants of hell. 
 No person would enjoy a summer ramble or a winter 
 sleigh-ride without proper clothing. Any man would 
 be better off in a badly-ventilated cellar, with a .good 
 fire, than to go shooting, entirely naked, on a cold 
 day, where game was ever so plenty. So the spirits 
 of the damned are better off in hell, no matter if it 
 is too hot, than to go to heaven unclothed with a 
 garment of righteousness. Put on the wedding 
 garment, or you will be speechless when you stand 
 before the Lord Jesus. You will call for the rocks 
 and the mountains to fall on you and hide you 
 from the face of the Lamb. In the world ye shall 
 have tribulation, but in Jesus there is perfect peace. 
 It is estimated that the population of the globe is 
 about one thousand millions, speaking over three 
 thousand different languages, and having over one 
 thousand different forms of religion ; that thirty-five 
 thousand millions of men have died by war, and un- 
 known millions have died by famine and pestilence. 
 What millions of children have died by contagious 
 5, to which children only are subject, and how 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 quick a generation passes away, and how few com- 
 paratively live to be old ! Don't these things teach 
 us that this world is not our home? only a potter's 
 field, where the form is cast and we are moulded for 
 eternity? And how soon we pass on where the filthy 
 shall be filthy still, and the righteous shall be right- 
 eous still ! After the vessels are finished, so they 
 remain ; and we all have our choice to be vessels of 
 honor or vessels of dishonor. God never works 
 without giving the devil a fair chance to play his 
 hand also, that man may have a free choice, and 
 become a free-will angel or devil. As the magicians 
 were .empowered to withstand Moses, so when Chris- 
 tians praise, the devil reigns nowadays ; but if we 
 will resist the devil, he will flee from us. Trust in 
 Jesus, for only in his strength are we safe. 
 
 If any thing has been said in this little book too se- 
 vere of any person, or class of persons, I call God to 
 witness that I have no object in view except to do his 
 will and to follow Jesus ; for I have given all for 
 Christ, and my only object is to meet him in glory. 
 I take the liberty to refer for the close of my preface 
 to Acts iv. K, for. there you will see the only claim 
 of- the poor, blind, weak, unworthy author. 
 
THE 
 
 TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 PLAIN AND EASY ROAD TO HEAVEN. 
 
 Part L— "BELIEVE. 
 
 " -And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house" 
 
 Acts xvi. 31. 
 
 The prophet Isaiah says, chapter xxxv. 8-10, 
 " And a highway shall be there, and a way, and 
 it shall be called The way of holiness ; the unclean 
 shall not pass over it ; but it shall be for those : the 
 wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. 
 No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall 
 go up thereon ; it shall not be found there ; but the 
 redeemed shall walk there : and the ransomed of 
 the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs 
 and everlasting joy upon their heads : they shall ob- 
 tain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall 
 flee away." And Solomon says, "The fear of God 
 is the beginning of knowledge ; " " Happy is the 
 
8 THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, OR 
 
 man that findeth wisdom ; " " Her ways are ways 
 of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." And 
 we read, in Ezekiel xviii. 31, 32, "Cast away from 
 you all your transgressions, whereby ye have trans- 
 gressed ; and make you a new heart and a new 
 spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? 
 For I have no pleasure in the death of him that 
 dieth, saith the Lord God ; wherefore turn your- 
 selves, and live ye." And our blessed Lord and 
 Savior says, in Matthew xi. 28-30, "Come unto 
 me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I 
 will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and 
 learn of me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart : and 
 ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is 
 easy, and my burden is light." Our Lord also says, 
 in Matthew xix. 29, "And every one that hath for- 
 saken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or 
 mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's 
 sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit 
 everlasting life." And we have the same in Mark ; 
 and we read in Luke xviii. 29, 30, "And he said 
 unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man 
 that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, 
 or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who 
 shall not receive manifold more in this present time, 
 and in the world to come life evei'lasting." ., 
 
 In 1 John v. we read that God's commandments 
 are not grievous, and every converted person will 
 testify that it is easy to become a Christian ; and if 
 it costs anything to be a child of God, it costs in- 
 finitely more not to be one. The farmer will get at 
 
THE PLAIN AND EASY ROAD TO HEAVEN. 9 
 
 least as good crops ; the mechanic will get at least 
 as good wages ; the clerk will find at least as steady 
 employment, and as good a salary ; and the mer- 
 chant will find as many and as reliable customers. 
 But life is short — a dream, a bubble; and eternity 
 never ends ; and this is Avhat should attract our atten- 
 tion. "Kejoice not," says our Savior, in Luke x., 
 to the seventy, " that the spirits are subject unto you, 
 but rather rejoice because your names are written in 
 heaven." 
 
 We find in Hebrews ii. 9, "But we see Jesus, 
 who was made a little lower than the angels, for the 
 suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor ; 
 that he by the grace of God should taste death 
 for every man." And in 2 Peter iii. 9, "The Lord 
 is not slack concerning his promise, as some men 
 count slackness, but is long-suffering to us-ward, not 
 willing that any should perish, but that all should 
 come to repentance." Also in last chapter of Mark, 
 that our Lord, after his resurrection, sent his disciples 
 into all the world to preach the gospel to every 
 creature ; and we read in Scripture that God is no 
 respecter of persons, for "All souls are mine, saith 
 the Lord ; " and the question at once arises, What 
 shall we do to be saved ? All evangelical Christians 
 will unite in saying, "Believe on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ f" for that is what Paul and Silas said to the 
 keeper of the prison, and the whole teaching of the 
 Bible is the same. See Matthew ix. : "Jesus said 
 unto the blind men, Believe ye that I am able to do 
 this ? " and all they had to do was to> believe, and 
 
10 THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, OR 
 
 the Lord touched their eyes, and they were opened. 
 We read jn John iv. that Jesus told the woman of 
 Samaria that he was the Messias ; and he addressed 
 her in a conversational way thus : " Woman, believe 
 me." And what he said to her he says to all : "Be- 
 lieve me." If we ask he will give us the water of 
 life, of which we may drink and never thirst. Turn 
 to John vii. 37-39 and we find, "In the last day, that 
 great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, 
 If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 
 He that belie veth on me, as the Scripture hath said, 
 out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 
 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that 
 believe on him should receive; for the Holy. Ghost 
 was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet 
 glorified.)" And in Mark xvi. 15, 16, "And he 
 said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach 
 the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and 
 is baptized shall be saved ; but he that believeth not 
 shall be damned." Look at 1 John v. 1-3 : "Who- 
 soever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of 
 God : and every one 'that loveth him that begat 
 loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this 
 we know that we love the children of God, when we 
 love God, and keep his commandments. For this is 
 the love of God, that we keep his commandments : 
 and his commandments are not grievous." And this 
 explains what our Lord said to Nicodemus, in John 
 iii. 1-9 : "There was a man of the Pharisees, named 
 Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews ; the same came to 
 Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know 
 
THE iPLAIN AND EASY KOAD TO HEAVEN. 11 
 
 that thou art a teacher come from God : for no man 
 can do these miracles that thou doest, except God 
 be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, 
 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be 
 born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 
 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born 
 when he is old? can he enter the second time into 
 his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, 
 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be 
 born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into 
 the kingdom of God. That which is born of the 
 flesh is flesh ; and that which is born of the Spirit 
 is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must 
 be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, 
 and thou nearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell 
 whence it cometh and whither it goeth : so is every 
 one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered 
 and said unto him, How can these things be ? " 
 
 Language cannot convey a clearer knowledge of 
 the new birth than this. Whenever a person ex- 
 periences a change of heart, it is simply believing on 
 the Lord Jesus Christ ; and whoever believes on 
 him accepts the Bible as the Word of God, and it 
 will read different from anything the natural or un- 
 converted heart can understand or imagine. The 
 Bible will seem plain and all parts will harmonize 
 where once were apparent contradictions. The be- 
 liever understands at once how "the letter killeth, 
 but the spirit giveth life." The believer reads the 
 Bible with pleasure, and delights in everything said 
 of the Savior, and feasts upon every word our 
 
12 THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, OR 
 
 Lord spoke himself. Compared to other parts of 
 Scripture, his words are as diamonds set in gold. 
 When the writer first believed that Jesus Christ is 
 the very God, as he assures us he is, from that mo- 
 ment a hatred and horror of all sin, a love for God and 
 all his creatures, and a distaste for the world and all 
 selfish interests, followed, and the Bible was all new. 
 Before it was read as a duty, but now as a pleasure. 
 The first day was spent in weeping, prayer, reading 
 the Scriptures, and testifying to a dying world the 
 great goodness and love of God, and the joy of being 
 counted a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, and feel- 
 ing his acceptance with him ; and he has never ceased 
 to wonder how he could have read the Bible through 
 and through, by course and otherwise, and still call 
 himself a Unitarian. No wonder Unitarian leaders 
 and preachers deny the plenary inspiration of the 
 Bible, for this and the Deity of Christ must stand or 
 fall together. 
 
 How plainly the Gospel according to St. John 
 commences: "In the beginning was the Word, and 
 the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 
 The same was in the beginning with God. All 
 things were made by him ; and without him was not 
 anything made that was made. In him was life ; and 
 the life was the light of men." And then read verse 
 14: "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt 
 among us." Then turn to chapter xiv. 8-15 : 
 "Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, 
 and it sufliceth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I 
 been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not 
 
THE PLAIN AND EAST EOAD TO HEAVEN. 13 
 
 known me, Philip ? He that hath seen me hath seen 
 the Father ; and how say est thou then, Show us the 
 Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, 
 and the Father in me ? The words that I speak unto 
 you I speak not of myself: but the Father that 
 dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me 
 that I am in .the Father, and the Father in me ; or 
 else believe me for the very works' sake. Verily, 
 verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, 
 the works that I do shall he do also ; and greater 
 works than these shall he do ; because I go unto my 
 Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, 
 that will I do, that the Father may be glorified, in 
 the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I 
 will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments." 
 Our Lord says, in John v. 39, " Search the Scrip- 
 tures ; for in them ye think ye ha,ve eternal life : and 
 they are they which testify of me." O, how true this 
 is ! Only look at Isaiah ix. 6, 7 : "For unto us a child 
 is born, unto us a son is given : and the government 
 shall be upon his shoulder ; and his name shall be 
 called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The 
 everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the in- 
 crease of his government and peace there shall be 
 no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his 
 kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judg- 
 ment, and with justice from henceforth even for- 
 ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform 
 this." There is no power above Jesus, for he is one 
 with the Father ; and all parts of the Word of God 
 point to Jesus and his divinity just as plainly as all 
 
14 THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, OR 
 
 the roads about any great city lead to the city itself. 
 Take any one of these roads, and turn your back 
 upon the city, and the farther you go the more dis- 
 tant the city ; and so is it with Scripture. Ask God 
 in prayer, in honest, fervent, secret prayer, to guide 
 you, and every chapter and verse will lead you to 
 Christ ; but turn your back upon God, and go to 
 work in your own strength, and to your sorrow, but 
 perhaps too late, you will find how true are the apos- 
 tle's words, "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth 
 life." Reader, " believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." 
 Only look at John vi. 47, "Verily, verily, I say 
 unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting 
 life ; " and then at John xi. 2*5, 26, " Jesus said unto 
 her, I am the resurrection and the life : he that be- 
 lieveth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live : 
 and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never 
 die. Believest thou this?" 
 
 Glory to God ! I believe this ; and I hope I can 
 say, from the bottom of my heart, with Paul, " O 
 death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy 
 victory ? 
 
 Our Lord also says, in John viii. 51, "Verily, 
 verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he 
 shall never see death." Scripture tells us, "The 
 wages of sin is death ; " also, " The soul that sin- 
 neth, it shall die : " and the poet says, — 
 
 " It is not all of life to live, 
 Nor all of death to die." 
 
 There is a second death ; and Scripture tells us, "The 
 first shall be last, and the last shall be first." Adam 
 
THE PLAIN AND EASY ROAD TO HEAYEN. 15 
 
 and Eve died the second death first. " In the day 
 that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," said the 
 Great Creator. Many dead men may be found in the 
 world breathing, occupying a body, but dead as Adam. 
 I had been dead, many years dead, but by the grace 
 of God I heard the Lord knocking at the door of my 
 heart; I opened the door, I believed, I was raised. 
 Glory to God ! I have had part in the first resurrec- 
 tion, and over such the second death hath no power, 
 providing they endure to the end. (See Revelation 
 xx. 6. ) Paul speaks of two kinds of bodies — terres- 
 trial bodies and celestial bodies, of natural bodies and 
 spiritual bodies ; and our Lord says, in Matthew x. 
 28, "And fear not them which kill the body, but are 
 not able to kill the soul ; but rather fear Him which 
 is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." And 
 then in verse 39, "He that findeth his life shall lose 
 it ; and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find 
 it." Any one can see that two kinds of life and 
 death are spoken of here. 
 
 " God is love," and has done eveiy thing to save 
 man that he can do and leave man an individual ; 
 and if we do not believe, must we not of necessity 
 have our portion appointed with the unbelievers? 
 (See Luke xii. 46.) If we believe, John tells us, 
 we are born of God, and if we are born of God we 
 shall love God, and if we love him we shall keep his 
 commandments ; and his commandments are not 
 grievous. This is all very plain. Jesus says, 
 "Before Abraham was I am." He tells us he 
 has power on earth to forgive sins ; and after his 
 
16 THE TRUE CHRISTIAN* RELIGION, OR 
 
 resurrection, that all power is given him in heaven 
 and in earth (see 18th verse of last chapter of Mat- 
 thew) ; and if we believe this, we are prepared to 
 worship him, to serve him, and to obey him, and to 
 say, with Thomas, " My Lord and my God.'' Ac- 
 cept the fact that Jesus Christ is God. Simply 
 believe, and you are on the heavenly road ; and keep 
 stepping right after Jesus, and don't bother about 
 doctrines, but follow the Lord, and you will surely 
 reach heaven. (See John xxi. 22.) Peter asked 
 the Lord a question which did not concern him, and 
 Jesus answered, "' What is that to thee? follow thou 
 me." 
 
 Look at Genesis ii. 16, 17 : "And the Lord God 
 commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the 
 garden thou mayest freely eat : but of the tree of 
 the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat 
 of it : for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou 
 shalt surely die." It is thought by many eminent 
 Christians that this tree was the doctrine of fore- 
 knowledge and foreordination, or election, and where- 
 ever it is preached a dead church and lukewarm 
 Christians are the result. This doctrine is in the 
 mouth of all wicked persons, and continually repeated 
 by them. It is evidently used by the devil to keep 
 sinners unreconciled to Jesus, and to prevent the 
 natural man from submitting to God. We have no 
 right to question our Creator as we would a school- 
 boy, or a witness in a lawsuit. By so doing we 
 prove ourselves enemies of God, and vainly attempt 
 to put ourselves on an equality with him ; and this 
 
THE PLAIN AND EASY ROAD TO HEAVEN. 17 
 
 explains Genesis iii. 22, "And the Lord God said, 
 Behold, the man is become as one of us." It is 
 enough for us to know there is no power above God. 
 We have in the Bible all we need to know, and if we 
 needed more, God would have given us more Scrip- 
 ture ; but if we follow Jesus, and are born of God, 
 and experience a change of heart, we shall receive 
 evidence upon evidence, till our souls are perfectly- 
 satisfied ; only believe, and all these other things will 
 surely follow. The great hinderance to the conversion 
 of myself was, I thought I could not understand the 
 Trinity. I read in a printed sermon of an eminent 
 Congregational Trinitarian clergyman of Boston, the 
 Rev. Nehemiah Adams, as follows: "The doctrine 
 of the Trinity is, by itself, of no practical value, any 
 more than it is to know whether there be six or seven 
 stars in the Pleiades ; " and he alluded, in the same 
 sermon, to Daniel Webster's reply to a Unitarian : 
 "Neither you nor I understand the arithmetic of 
 heaven." I also read, in a little book called "Light 
 in Darkness," by a clergyman of the same denom- 
 ination, as follows: "The old phrase, 'There are 
 three persons in the Godhead,' stands between many 
 Unitarians and the light." And he goes on to say that 
 manifestations, instead of persons, approaches nearer 
 the true meaning of the word, and %ays Christians of 
 undoubted soundness in the faith — such men as Jacob 
 Abbott — actually use that expression ; and I found, 
 by conversing with Christians of all the evangelical 
 churches, there are many of all the denominations 
 who accept Swedenborg's views of the Trinity : that 
 2 
 
18 THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, OR 
 
 God the Father. is the soul, that God the Son is the 
 body, and that God the Holy Ghost is the spirit or 
 influence of the same One Triune God ; and that, 
 as Scripture says, man is made in God's own image, 
 so it is with man : every man is a trinity of spirit, 
 soul, and body. See 1 Thessalonians v. 23 ; He- 
 brews iv. 12 ; Genesis i. 26, 27 ; 1 John v. 7. 
 More will be said on this subject in the History of 
 Christianity, which I will publish at some future 
 time. But whoever will read the first chapter of 
 John, and what our Lord says to Philip in the four- 
 teenth chapter of John, and read the seventh verse 
 of the fifth chapter of John's first epistle, and then 
 turn back to the sixth and seventh verses of the ninth 
 chapter of Isaiah, will be perfectly satisfied, with 
 Paul, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall 
 bow ; for he has a name above every name. Read- 
 er, do you believe? Then go at once and seek 
 admission into any evangelical church you choose. 
 Confess to the world that you have faith in Jesus ; 
 for he has said, if we deny him before men, he will 
 deny us before angels. Think of the shortness of 
 life, think of the changes of the past year, or the 
 past few years, and you will admit life is compara- 
 tively a moment, a bubble, a tale that is told, and we 
 soon fly away. 
 
 After I experienced the new birth, I waited nearly 
 two years before joining any church ; and when I was 
 asked why I did not unite with some church, I re- 
 plied that I wanted to join all the churches, for I 
 loved all God's children, and wanted simply to be 
 
THE PLAIN AND EASY EOAD TO HEAVEN. 19 
 
 known as a humble follower of Jesus. But I finally 
 united with the Methodist church, and only regret 
 that I neglected that duty so long ; for it is a powerful 
 help to a weak Christian to belong to any church of 
 true Christian worshippers. But before uniting with 
 the church I read the creeds of all Christian churches. 
 I read Swedenborg extensively, and would recom- 
 mend his works on "Heaven and Hell," and "The 
 Apocalypse Revealed," to every follower of Jesus ; 
 and others of his works may be read with profit. 
 But the Bible is the fountain of all revealed knowl- 
 edge, the true Word of God; and the Bible is my 
 creed : yet the Methodist church is my home. Jesus 
 says, in John x. 16, "And other sheep I have, which 
 are not of this fold : them also I must bring, and 
 they shall hear my voice ; and there shall be one 
 fold, and one shepherd." There is but one church 
 in heaven ; but in this world there are many churches, 
 and I thank God that there is a home for all — that 
 there are many folds, and the Good Shepherd has a 
 fold for every sheep. But woe to the sheep that has 
 no fold, as the wolf seizes such ; so the devil will 
 be apt to lay claim to that Christian who joins 
 no church, and does nothing to help support the 
 gospel. 
 
 But remember, Jesus tells us to pray without ceas- 
 ing. Bead some portion of the Bible every day ; 
 but don't offer sacrifice to Paul, for he and Barnabas 
 both forbade that. Paul says, in 1 Corinthians vii. 
 6 , " But I speak this by permission , and not of com- 
 mandment." And in xv. 9, " For I am the least of 
 
20 THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, OR 
 
 the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, 
 because I persecuted the church of God." 
 
 Moses was not permitted to . enter the land of 
 promise, because, David says, in Psalm cvi., "He 
 spake unadvisedly with his lips." Moses took 
 honor to himself and to Aaron. See Numbers xx. 
 9-12 : " And Moses took the rod from before the 
 Lord, as he commanded him. And Moses and 
 Aaron gathered the congregation together before the 
 rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels ; 
 must we fetch you water out of this rock? And 
 Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote 
 the rock twice ; and the water came out abundantly, 
 and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. 
 And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because 
 ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the 
 children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this 
 congregation into the land which I have given them." 
 We read, in Matthew xvi., that wdien Peter spoke 
 from the Lord, Jesus blessed him; but when he 
 spoke from himself, the Lord said, " Get thee behind 
 me, Satan." 
 
 There is none good but one, and that is God ; and 
 to the Triune God be all the glory and honor, forever 
 and ever. See Revelation xv. 3,4; xix. 10 ; and xxii. 
 8-11 : "And I John saw these things, and heard them. 
 And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to wor- 
 ship before the feet of the angel which showed me 
 these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do 
 it not ; for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy 
 brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the 
 
THE PLAIN AND EASY EOAD TO HEAVEN. 21 
 
 sayings of this book : worship God. And he saith 
 unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this 
 book : for the time is at hand. He that is unjust, 
 let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let 
 him be filthy still : and he that is righteous, let him 
 be rignteous still : and he that is holy, let him be 
 holy still." What a rebuke we have here to Roman 
 Catholics, and to modern spiritualists, and to all 
 searchers after strange doctrines, apocrj^phal books, 
 rapping mediums, and devil-worshippers generally ! 
 Don't worship men or angels, saints or devils ; for 
 whoever is willing to accept worship, save God alone, 
 to whom belongs all honor, and glory, and worship, 
 is a thief and a robber, and a devil. Whoever loses 
 his humility cannot be a servant of God ; and who- 
 ever does or says anything good,, or receives anything 
 good from any source, and does not acknowledge 
 God as the author and giver, becomes a satan or a 
 devil. 
 
 Worship God in prayer and praise. Our God 
 is a prayer-hearing and a prayer- answering God. 
 Prayer moves the arm that moves the universe. See 
 James v. 17, 18 : "Elias was a man subject to like 
 passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it 
 might not rain : and it rained not on the earth by 
 the space of three years and six months. And he 
 prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth 
 brought forth her fruit." Jesus tells us how to pray, 
 in Matthew vi. 5-15: "And when thou prayest, 
 thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are : for they love 
 to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners 
 
ZZ THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, OR 
 
 of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily, 
 I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, 
 when thou pray est, enter into thy closet, and when 
 thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is 
 in secret ; and thy Father which seeth in seci'et shall 
 reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain 
 repetitions, as the heathen do ; for they think that 
 they shall be heard for their much speaking. - Be not 
 ye therefore like unto them ; for your Father knoweth 
 what things ye have need of before ye ask him. 
 After this manner therefore pray ye : Our Father 
 which art in heaven., Hallowed be thy name. Thy 
 kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is 
 in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And 
 forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And 
 lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil : 
 For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the 
 glory, forever. Amen. For if ye forgive men their 
 trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive 
 you : but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, 
 neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." 
 And our Lord gives us two forms of prayer in Luke 
 xviii. 10-14 : " Two men went up into the temple to 
 pray ; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 
 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: 
 God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, 
 extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this pub- 
 lican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all 
 that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, 
 would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, 
 but smote upon his breast, saying,. God, be merciful 
 
THE PLAIN AND EASY ROAD TO HEAVEN. 23 
 
 to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to 
 his house justified rather than the other : for every 
 one that exalteth himself shall be abased ; and he 
 that humbleth himself shall be exalted." When 
 praying to God, do not repeat words coined to be 
 heard of men. That is as anti-Christian as praying 
 out of a book ; and Henry Ward Beecher says he 
 would as quick go courting with his father's old love 
 letters, as to pray to the Lord Jesus Christ out of a 
 prayer-book. At the Christian Convention, recently 
 held in Boston, praise meetings were recommended 
 instead of prayer meetings. (See "Zion's Herald" 
 of Jan. 2, 1867.) A few words of honest, zealous 
 praise to God, is better than long, stereotyped pray- 
 ers without spirit ; but a long prayer may also be a 
 spiritual one. Read Solomon's prayer in 2 Chron. 
 vi. : " The king knelt and prayed, and God answered 
 the prayer." See also chapter vii. Let us be hum- 
 ble, and God will take care of us and bless us. 
 
 O, the love of God ! What unspeakable love 
 Jesus bears towards all his followers, and towards 
 even the vilest sinners ! For he loved us before we 
 loved him. See Matthew xii. 49, 50: "And he 
 stretched forth his hand towards his disciples, and 
 said, Behold my mother and my brethen ! For who- 
 soever shall do the will of my Father which is in 
 heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and 
 mother. Yes, glory to Jesus ! Christianity is a 
 leveller; God is no respecter of persons. In Luke 
 i. 46, 47, 52, 53, see the words of the blessed virgin 
 herself among other things : "And Mary said, My soul 
 
24 THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, OR 
 
 doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in 
 God my Savior. He hath put down the mighty from 
 their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath 
 filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he 
 hath sent empty away." If God has work to be 
 done he must of course choose instruments ; but that 
 does not make him a respecter of persons. All true 
 servants of the Lord Jesus Christ have the same in- 
 terest in him, and the same claim upon his promises, 
 as any of the prophets or apostles. None but the 
 Triune God himself is worthy of worship, or divine 
 honor and glory ; and none other can aid us when 
 we stand before Christ's judgment seat. See Jere- 
 miah xv. 1 : " Then said the Lord unto me, Though 
 Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind 
 could not be towards this people : cast them out of 
 my sight, and let them go forth." Also see Exodus 
 xxxii. 32, 33, and Ezekiel xiv. 14: " Though these 
 three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they 
 should deliver but their own souls by their righteous- 
 ness, saith the Lord God." 
 
 Did the Lord not call Peter Satan? and did he 
 not rebuke the seventy for rejoicing because the 
 devils were subject unto them? "Rejoice rather," 
 said our Lord, " that your names are written in 
 heaven." We can afford to love our enemies and 
 suffer persecution for Christ's sake, if we may have 
 eternal bliss in heaven for our reward. The soul 
 that sinneth, it shall die ; but if you love Jesus you 
 shall never see death. 
 
 Praying to God without ceasing that these few 
 
I 
 
 THE PLAIN AND EAST ROAD TO HEAVEN. 25 
 
 passages of Scripture laid before you may assist to 
 lead you to the Lamb of God which taketh away 
 the sins of the world, I will close by saying the 
 second part, which follows, will point out the Chris- 
 tian's duty ; for unless we abide in the ship we can- 
 not be saved ; unless we endure to the end we have 
 no promise of life, but rather the assurance that God 
 will spew us out of his mouth, and that our names 
 
 shall be blotted out of the Lamb's book of life. 
 
 • 
 Trusting you now believe, all you have to do is to 
 
 receive. The feast is ready, and you are invited. 
 Put on the wedding garment, so that you will not be 
 found speechless when you stand before Christ's 
 judgment seat ; and when you see the angel of 
 death approaching, you can say with Paul, 2 Tim- 
 othy iv. 7, 8, "I have fought a good fight, I have 
 finished my course, I have kept the faith : henceforth 
 there is laid up for" me a crown of righteousness, 
 which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me 
 at that day : and not to me only, but unto all them 
 also that love his appearing." 
 
TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 PLAIN AND EASY ROAD TO HEAVEN. 
 
 Part II. — " RECEIVE." 
 
 ^And token he had said this, he breathed on 
 them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy 
 Ghost." — John xx. 22. 
 
 This was after our Lord's crucifixion and resurrec- 
 tion. This is the new birth, spoken of by our Lord 
 to Nicodemus. "This is the first resurrection;" 
 and we read, "Blessed and holy is he that hath 
 part in the first resurrection ; on such the second 
 death hath no power, but they shall be priests of 
 God and of Christ." This is Christ's baptism. This 
 is what John speaks of in Matthew : " I indeed bap- 
 tize you with water unto repentance : but he that 
 cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am 
 not worthy to bear : he shall baptize you with the 
 Holy Ghost and with fire." 
 
 This is what the prophets foretold (see Matthew 
 
 * (213) 
 
THE PLAIN AND EASY EOAD TO HEAVEN. 27 
 
 iii. 3, and Acts ii. 16, 17) ; and whoever experiences 
 this blessed change can see all parts, of Scripture 
 pointing to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, just 
 as plain as all the roads about a large city lead to the 
 city itself. The believer knows there is a reality in 
 religion. He knows Christ's words are true. He 
 knows Christ's promises can never fail. He knows 
 where two or three are met together in the name 
 of Jesus, that he will be amongst them, and he will 
 breathe on them, and they will receive the Holy 
 Ghost. The true Christian knows all this. First, 
 believe, and then, receive, and our joys are immor- 
 tal. We shall never see death; Ave shall live right 
 on through the grave ; for Jesus has promised this. 
 He said to the thief on the cross, " This day shalt thou 
 be with me in Paradise." Glory to Jesus ! Praise 
 the Lord ! Bless his holy name ! Death has no 
 sting, and the grave has no victory, for the Christian. 
 
 " Jesus hath broken the bars of the tomb ; 
 Joyfully, joyfully, will we go home." 
 
 Dear reader, you believe in the promises of Jesus ; 
 you believe all he said is true ; you believe religion 
 pays in this world and in the world to come. It is 
 good to live by and good to die by, and it secures us 
 an entrance into heaven. You are born again ; you 
 believe the Bible ; our Lord tells us, if we follow 
 him we shall have a hundred fold reward in this 
 present life, and in the world to come life everlasting. 
 You believe the Lord's yoke is easy and his burden 
 is light. You believe heaven is a place of rest, 
 prepared for the people of God, and that it is a 
 
28 THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, OR 
 
 delightful place, a place of great happiness ; for that 
 is all true Bible doctrine. Paul says, in 1 Corin- 
 thians, ii. 9, "But as it is written, Eye hath not 
 seen, nor ear heai'd, neither have entered into the 
 heart of man, the things which God hath prepared 
 for them that love him." Here he refers to and 
 indorses the words of God by the prophet Isaiah, 
 lxiv. 4 : " For since the beginning of the world men 
 have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath 
 the eye seen, O God, besides thee, what he hath 
 prepared for him that waiteth for him." 
 
 You love to read the Bible, of course, and read 
 some part of the Word of God daily, and you pray 
 daily in your closet that God will help you to under- 
 stand his word. Pray without ceasing. As God is 
 our Creator, and we his creatures, of course we be- 
 long to him, and ought to obey him as a duty; for 
 of right his own creatures belong to him, — it would 
 be too weak a comparison to say he has the same 
 right to us that we have to any property of our own 
 earning, — and of course you are willing to obey 
 God ; you are willing to keep his commandments. 
 Jesus says, "If ye love me, keep my command- 
 ments." Well, what are his commandments ? Why, 
 in one sense, all the Bible ; for Jesus is the Author 
 and Finisher of the whole world ; without him was 
 not anything made that was made. He is the Word 
 that was with God and was God, and the Word be- 
 came flesh and dwelt among us. But the essence of 
 the whole will of God, the sum and substance of all 
 God's commandments, were written by the finger of 
 
THE PLAIN AND EAST EOAD TO HEAVEN. 29 
 
 Jehovah God, himself, upon two tables of stone, and 
 given us by the hand of Moses ; and we have them 
 all in Exodus xx. , as follows : — 
 
 " 1. And God spake all these words, saying : — 
 
 "2. I am the Lord thy God, which have brought 
 thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of 
 bondage. 
 
 "3. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 
 
 " 4. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven 
 image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven 
 above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in 
 the water under the earth : 
 
 "5. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor 
 serve them : for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, 
 visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children 
 unto the third and fourth generation of them that 
 hate me ; 
 
 " 6. And showing mercy unto thousands of them 
 that love me and keep my commandments. 
 
 " 7. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord 
 thy God in vain ; for the Lord will not hold him 
 guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 
 
 " 8. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 
 
 " 9. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work ; 
 
 " 10. But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord 
 thy God : in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor 
 thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy 
 maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is 
 within thy gates : 
 
 "11. For in six days the Lord made heaven and 
 earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested 
 
30 THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, OR 
 
 the seventh day : wherefore the Lord blessed the sab- 
 bath day, and hallowed it. 
 
 "12. Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy 
 days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy 
 God giveth thee. 
 
 "13. Thou shalt not kill. 
 
 " 14. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 
 
 "15. Thou shalt not steal. 
 
 "16. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy 
 neighbor. 
 
 "17. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, 
 thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man- 
 servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his 
 ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's." 
 
 These ten commandments are what is referred to 
 by our Savior so often. In the language of heaven 
 ten means the whole. There are but ten characters 
 in figures, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and ; all other 
 figures and numbers are made up from these ten 
 characters. The commandments are here copied and 
 versed exactly as in the Bible, but not numbered ; and 
 all Christians, even Roman Catholics, agree that here 
 are the whole ten commandments. These cannot 
 be mistaken for the law of Moses, given for the 
 hardness of the hearts of the Hebrews, for these 
 were written by God's own finger, on two tables of 
 stone ; and these two tables, if followed, believing 
 in Jesus, will surely lead us to heaven. On the first 
 table we have our whole duty to God, and on the 
 second table our whole duty to our fellow-man ; and 
 when our blessed Lord was in the flesh, and dwelling 
 
THE PLAIN AND EASY EOAD TO HEAVEN. 31 
 
 on this earth, he was asked which was the greatest 
 of the commandments ; and he did what none but 
 God could have done — he gave the essence of the 
 whole ten in two. Here are his words, Matthew 
 xxii. 37-40 : "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love 
 the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all 
 thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and 
 great commandment. And the second is like unto 
 it : Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On 
 these two commandments hang all the law and the 
 prophets." 
 
 Here we have the whele duty of man. Here are 
 both tables of stone — the first, love to God ; the 
 second, love to man. The words of Jesus are al- 
 ways new ; and he says of the essence of the whole 
 second table, in John xiii. 34-38, "A new com- 
 mandment I give unto you, That ye love one an- 
 other ; as I have loved you, that ye also love one 
 another. By this shall all men know that ye are my 
 disciples, if ye have love one to another. Simon 
 Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? 
 Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not 
 follow me now ; but thou shalt follow me afterwards. 
 Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee 
 now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus 
 answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my 
 sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock 
 shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice." 
 Poor, weak Peter ! Poor, weak mortal ! No won- 
 der David said to the Lord, "What is man, that 
 thou art mindful of him ? " and Paul refers to David's 
 
32 THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, OR 
 
 words, indorsing them of course. Our Lord said, 
 "There is none good but one, that is God;" and 
 without God's help, without a living, active faith in 
 Jesus, and a humble reliance upon our blessed Lord, 
 and a perfect dependence upon him, we are dead. 
 We cannot keep his commandments in our own 
 strength ; but if we go to Jesus, he says, whoever 
 cometh unto him, he will in no wise cast out. Jesus 
 says, " Seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall 
 be opened unto you." We all have the same blessed 
 privilege which John enjoyed, to lean on Jesus's 
 breast ; and that is a foundation to lean upon that 
 death and hell can never remove. While we lean on 
 Jesus, we are safe ; but do not lean on yourself, like 
 Peter. Do not lean on any man, or saint, or angel, 
 but God alone ; for he is the only foundation. Jesus 
 is the vine, and we are the branches ; and we have 
 no life of ourselves, but it all comes from the vine; 
 and if we abide not in him, we are dead. If we 
 remain not servants of Jesus, and if we give not to 
 him all the glory, we are dead. For our good, 
 Jesus warns us, in Luke xvii. 10, "So likewise ye, 
 when ye shall have done all those things which are 
 commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants : 
 we have done that which was our duty to do." 
 
 We must believe in Jesus, remain subject to Jesus, 
 and keep his commandments, or we are none of his. 
 In that great day when the division is made, we shall 
 receive the sentence, " Depart from me, ye workers 
 of iniquity." We shall go to the left, and not to 
 the right ; we shall go with the goats, and not with 
 
THE PLAIN AND EASY ROAD TO HEAVEN. 33 
 
 the sheep ; we shall be counted tares, and not 
 wheat — unless we believe on him, remain sub- 
 ject to him, and keep his commandments ; and 
 his commandments are not grievous. See John 
 xv. 10-14 : " If ye keep my commandments, ye 
 shall abide in my love ; even as I have kept my 
 Father's commandments, and abide in his love. 
 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy 
 might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. 
 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, 
 as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than 
 this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 
 Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command 
 you." And then look at John xiv. 1-7 : "Let not 
 your heart be troubled : ye believe in God, believe 
 also in me. In my Father's house are many man- 
 sions : if it were not so, I would have told you. I 
 go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and 
 prepare a place for you, I will come again, and re- 
 ceive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye 
 may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the 
 way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we 
 know not whither thou goest ; and how can we know 
 the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the 
 truth, and the life : no man cometh unto the Father, 
 but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have 
 known my Father also : and from henceforth ye know 
 him, and have seen him." Whoever sees Jesus sees 
 the Father; for Isaiah calls Jesus "the Wonderful," 
 "the Counsellor," "the Mighty God," "the Everlast- 
 ing Father," " the Prince of Peace," hundreds of years 
 3 
 
34 THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, OR 
 
 before he took upon himself a human form to conquer 
 death and hell, and save man ; and then in the same 
 chapter follows Philip's desire to see the Father ; and 
 Jesus says, "Have I been so long time with you, 
 and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that 
 hath seen me hath seen the Father," &c. But I 
 have not space to repeat all the Bible. Read for 
 yourself, and God will lead you, if you ask him 
 alone in your closet, in spirit and in truth. But 
 God is not mocked. Be honest with God, and 
 heaven will be your home. Fellow-Christian, in 
 the name of God, let us examine our conduct each 
 day by the ten commands, or ten words, or two ta- 
 bles, or the Decalogue'; for if we do not keep those ten 
 commands, hell is our portion. Jehovah God wrote 
 them with his own finger, and over the pearly gates 
 of heaven are written the ten commandments ; and no 
 one who breaks those commandments can ever enter 
 without repentance and forgiveness ; and all scholars 
 tell us that the word repent means change, and if we 
 ever break any one of these commandments, we must 
 change and cease to break them ; and Jesus Christ 
 has power on earth to forgive sins, and will forgive us 
 if we repent, and, believing on him, ask forgiveness. 
 Let us grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the 
 truth, and Jesus will breathe on us, and we shall be 
 baptized continually with his spirit ; and we shall so 
 grow into the love of God that it will be impossible 
 for us to break any one of his commandments. To 
 obey God must at first be done as a duty, and we 
 must begin with the fear of God ; for the wise man 
 
 
THE PLAIN AND EASY ROAD TO HEAVEN. 35 
 
 says, " Tlie fear of the Lord is the beginning of 
 knowledge ; but as we walk on towards the city 
 of our God, duty soon becomes pleasure, and fear 
 becomes love. The cross is only to start with ; but 
 it soon becomes a crown. John tells us, perfect love 
 casteth out fear ; and if we follow Jesus we shall 
 soon realize the truth of his promise that we shall 
 receive one hundred-fold reward in this life, and in 
 the world to come life everlasting. But remember 
 Lot's wife ! remember how many times the Scriptures 
 speak of blotting names out of the book of life ! 
 and they could not be blotted out if they were never 
 in there. Read Ezekiel xviii. and xxxiii., and re- 
 member that unless you endure to the end, you had 
 better never have started ! Do not turn back like a 
 dog to his vomit again, or like swine to their wallow- 
 ing in the mire. 
 
 Jesus says, in Matthew xi. 21, 22, "Woe unto 
 thee, Chorazin ! woe unto thee, Bethsaida ! for if the 
 mighty works which were done in you, had been done 
 in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long- 
 ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It 
 shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day 
 of judgment than for you." O ye thieves, liars, 
 adulterers, and profane swearers, who profess to be 
 Christians, and seek admission into churches without 
 repentance ! O ye hypocrites ! your places in hell will 
 be far down below the heathen, — - there are degrees in 
 hell as well as in heaven, — and Jesus says truly that 
 the harlots shall enter heaven sooner than you. If 
 God had a spare seat in heaven, and must of neces- 
 
36 THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, OR 
 
 sity go to hell for an occupant, he would take a harlot 
 or a heathen quicker than a hypocrite. Whited sep- 
 ulchres ! blind guides ! hypocrites ! how can you 
 escape the damnation of hell? Don't the Bible say, 
 without holiness no man shall see the Lord ? Luke- 
 warm Christians, read the following message of Jesus, 
 from Revelation iii. 12-16: "Him that overcometh 
 will I make a pillar in the tenjple of my God, and 
 he shall go no more out : and I will write upon him 
 the name of my God, and the name of the city of my 
 God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down 
 out of heaven from my God : and I will write upon 
 him my new name. He that hath an ear, let him 
 hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. And 
 unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write : 
 These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true 
 witness, the beginning of the creation of God : I 
 know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot : 
 I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou 
 art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew 
 thee out of my mouth." 
 
 Wake up, ye lukewarm Christian, and blow the 
 trumpet as God commands in Ezekiel xxxiii. Don't 
 be afraid to cry aloud and s*hout in .meeting, " Glory 
 to God ! Amen ! " Don't be ashamed of Jesus. 
 Put on the wedding garment, or you will be speech- 
 less in the day of judgment. Look at Revelation 
 vii. 9-12 : " After this I beheld, and, lo, a great 
 multitude, which no man could number, of all na- 
 tions, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood 
 before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with 
 
THE PLAIN AND EASY ROAD TO HEAVEN. 37 
 
 white robes, and palms in their hands ; and cried 
 with a loud voice, saying, _ Salvation, to our God 
 which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. 
 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and 
 about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before 
 the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, say- 
 ing, Amen : Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and 
 thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be 
 unto our God forever and ever. Amen." 
 
 Remember you read in Job xxxviii. , that when the 
 world was made all the sons of God shouted for joy. 
 When Christ made his triumphant entry into Jerusa- 
 lem they praised God with a loud voice. See Luke 
 xix. 37—40: "And when he was come nigh, even 
 now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole 
 multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise 
 God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that 
 they had seen ; saying, Blessed be the King that Com- 
 eth in the name of the Lord : peace in heaven, and 
 glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees 
 from among the multitude said unto him, Master, 
 rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said 
 unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their 
 peace, the stones would immediately cry out." 
 
 Did not shouting bring down the walls of Jericho ? 
 I tell you, when Christians shout, hell trembles. 
 Good old-fashioned Methodist shouting does our 
 souls good, and helps to lead us away from tempta- 
 tion, and out of evil ; but we must remember to 
 keep God's commandments, for only thus can we 
 praise him in spirit and in truth. Let us not neg- 
 
88 THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, OR 
 
 lect the spirit while we attend to the letter. Jesus 
 says, " These ought ye to have done, and not to leave 
 the others undone." 
 
 See the words of Jesus as recorded in Matthew vii. 
 21—28 : " Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, 
 Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but 
 he that doeth ' the will of my Father which is in 
 heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, 
 Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in 
 thy name have cast out devils ? and in thy name done 
 many wonderful works? And then will I profess 
 unto them, I never knew you : depart from me, ye 
 that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth 
 these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken 
 him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a 
 rock : and the rain descended, and the floods came, 
 and the winds blew, and beat upon that house ; and 
 it fell not : for it was founded upon a rock. And 
 every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and 
 doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, 
 which built his house upon the sand : and the ram 
 descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, 
 and beat upon that house ; and it fell : and great was 
 the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus had 
 ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his 
 doctrine." 
 
 Jesus is the Rock of Ages on which we all must 
 build, for there is no other name under heaven where- 
 by men can be saved. In him dAvelleth all the fulness 
 of the Godhead bodily. He is the beginning and 
 the end, the first and the last. Jesus says, Before 
 
THE PLAIN AND EASY EOAD TO HEAVEN. 39 
 
 Abraham was, I am. Don't we read in John i. that 
 the Word which was made flesh, and dwelt among 
 us, created all things, and without him was not any- 
 thing made that was made ? 
 
 Jesus led Israel out of bondage. See what he 
 said to Moses : " And God said unto Moses, I AM 
 THAT I AM : and he said, Thus shalt thou say 
 unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto 
 you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus 
 shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord 
 God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God 
 of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto 
 you : this is my name forever, and this is my memo- 
 rial unto all generations. And God spake unto 
 Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord : and I 
 appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, 
 by the name of God Almighty ; but by my name 
 JEHOVAH was I not known to them." 
 
 In Isaiah ix. 6 we read the different names of our 
 Lord : the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Mighty 
 God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. 
 And all these names and titles, and everything that 
 is good, everything that ever was good, and every- 
 thing that ever will be good, is all concentrated into 
 one word — JESUS. Bless his holy name! He 
 has all power in heaven and in earth ; and don't it 
 pay to obey his commandments, and to follow him, 
 and to try to be like him, and to worship him, and 
 to say with Thomas, "My Lord and my God"? 
 
 John says, in his first epistle, ii. 3-6, "And hereby 
 we do know that we know him, if we keep his com- 
 
40 THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, OR 
 
 mandments. He that saith, I know him, and keep- 
 eth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is 
 not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him 
 verily is the love of God perfected : hereby know we 
 that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him 
 ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." 
 
 It is evident no man in his own strength can keep 
 the ten commandments, or the decalogue. We must 
 believe in Jesus, and be baptized of the Holy Ghost. 
 Jesus must breathe on us, and open our spiritual 
 understanding for us before we can see the beauty, 
 the spirit, and the life of the ten commandments ; 
 but if we will ask him, he will surely do these things 
 for us. But no Unitarian can receive the baptism 
 of Jesus. I vainly attempted to seek the new birth 
 eighteen years ago. I was a Unitarian. But God 
 had prospered me beyond my expectations in material 
 things, and I, a poor vile worm of the dust, thought 
 I could pay him by accepting eternal salvation. So 
 I went to Congregational meetings, and to Methodist 
 meetings, and arose for prayers, and told them I 
 Wanted to be a Christian ; but I still clung to the 
 Unitarian delusion that Jesus Christ was not equal 
 with God, and that the Bible was not a book of ple- 
 nary inspiration. I suffered terribly. God in Heaven 
 only knows my agony. I was convicted of sin, but 
 could not see my total depravity. I had miraculous 
 warnings ; the stones almost cried out to me to follow 
 the Lord Jesus. I went about mourning, but I re- 
 ceived no evidence. For months I desired death ; and 
 I even attempted to take my own life ; but God spared 
 
THE PLAIN AND EASY ROAD TO HEAVEN. 41 
 
 me, even as he spared Jonah. I was redeemed like 
 a brand plucked from the burning, or a piece of an 
 ear from a lion's mouth. Why did I suffer all this? 
 I can see now. I did not take the first step towards 
 regeneration. I did not believe on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. That Unitarian demon still held me in its 
 hellish grasp. I still thought Jesus was only a good 
 man ; I did not believe he was God ; and I groped 
 in worse than Egyptian darkness. I turned my back 
 upon the Light of the world. I sought to enter in 
 at some other door ; and I did not see myself a thief 
 and a robber, in common with other Unitarians : and 
 while in this condition I met Laroy Sunderland, an 
 apostate Methodist minister, and he told me a change 
 of heart was a humbug, and that there was no reality 
 in experimental religion ; then I met J. S. Loveland, 
 another apostate Methodist minister, who confirmed 
 what Sunderland had told me. And the Unitarian 
 demon took with him seven other spirits more wicked 
 than himself, and I became not only a disbeliever in * / 
 the Lord and the Bible, but a " modern spiritualist :" 
 and I accepted the "all right" doctrine. I became 
 a fatalist, and my favorite authors were Thomas 
 Paine and Theodore Parker — those twin T. P.'s of 
 the devil. But Voltaire was my man of sound doc- 
 trine ; for I believed whoever accepted Theodore 
 Parker, and his elder brother Thomas Paine, would 
 accept their superior, Voltaire. I considered Parker 
 only a stepping-stone to fatality and the " all right " 
 doctrine, so I attended his church, bought all his 
 books, and thought him a prophet ; and a prophet he 
 
 r 
 
42 THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, OR 
 
 was, but a prophet of lies, a blasphemer, and a false 
 prophet, who, like Judas, has gone to his own place. 
 Jesus says, in John iii. 12, "If I have told you 
 earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye be- 
 lieve if I tell you of heavenly things?" Let us 
 examine Theodore Parker as a prophet. In his dis- 
 course, which he claimed was occasioned by the death 
 of Daniel Webster, delivered October 31, 1852, how 
 the foolish ass kicked the dead lion ! On page 223, 
 in his "Additional Speeches," he says, after quoting 
 Webster, "Do you think he believed that? Daniel 
 Webster knew better." ' And on page 228, Parker 
 says, " There was not any danger of a storm ; not a 
 single capful of bad weather between Cape Sable and 
 the Lake of the Woods." Daniel Webster had said 
 a civil war was brewing, and that the Union was in 
 danger ; but Theodore Parker insulted the dead states- 
 man by accusing him of bidding for the presidency, 
 and telling what he knew to be false. A few short 
 years have proved Webster the true prophet, and 
 Parker the prophet of lies. In Weiss' Life of The- 
 odore Parker, page 77, vol. i., a letter is printed 
 styling T. Parker a little more refined than T. Paine, 
 but advocating the same doctrine. . Page 287 says 
 he was very fond of bears, and calls his wife "the 
 great orisdnal bear." Now Emanuel Swedenbors; 
 tells us, in No. 573 of the "Apocalypse Revealed," 
 that bear, in the Bible, has reference to those who 
 read the Word of God and do not understand it — 
 that it is a correspondence of fallacies. On page 
 250 of vol. ii., samples of prayers at Park Street 
 
THE PLAIN AND EASY ROAD TO HEAVEN. 43 
 
 Church are given, where Christians prayed for the 
 death of Parker. Well, the prayers were answered, 
 and where is T. Parker now? The modern spiritu- 
 alists say he spends much of his time in the company 
 of T. Paine, and other kindred anti-Christ spirits, at 
 the " Banner of Light Office ; " and if there is any 
 truth in the so-called " new philosophy " this may be 
 true, for the "Banner of Light" abounds in "Parker 
 philosophy." I have heard Theodore Parker say, in 
 Music Hall, that he could not help fearing the devil, 
 though he knew there was, no such a being. And 
 since my conversion I often shudder at the blasphe- 
 mies I have heard that man utter against our Lord 
 and Savior Jesus Christ ; and it is just so with the 
 "Banner of Light." I have before me a copy of 
 that paper, dated November 4, 1865, in which the 
 spirits purport to say Jesus Christ and the devil are one 
 and the same individual. The spirit answer reads, 
 " We believe the two are one ; " and after stating that 
 the devil spoke through Jesus, they say, "We affirm 
 again, we have seen both." — "We know something 
 of this devil, something of this Christ." This is the 
 spirit of Parkerism distilled, and given for truth by 
 the spirits of the damned through the "Banner of 
 Light." See 1 John iv. 1-3 : "Beloved, believe not 
 every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of 
 God : because many false prophets are gone out into 
 the world. Hereby know ye the spirit of God : 
 Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come 
 in the flesh is of God ; and every spirit that confess- 
 eth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not 
 
44 THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, OR 
 
 of God." W. M'Donald's Spiritualism, published 
 by the Methodist Society, contains many good warn- 
 ings, but the Bible contains the best warnings of all. 
 See 1 Timothy iv. 1 : " Now the Spirit speaketh ex- 
 pressly, that in the latter times some shall depart 
 from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and 
 doctrines of devils." And whoever disputes the 
 Deity of Jesus, or the plenary inspiration of the 
 Bible, is an agent of hell, whether he be called T. 
 Parker, an angel from heaven, or the devil himself. 
 See Galatians i. 8 : " But though we, or an angel 
 from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than 
 that which we have preached unto you, let him be 
 accursed." The words of Acts xiii. 8-10 apply 
 equally to Unitarian mortals and Unitarian spirits 
 and their mediums, the sorcerers of the present day : 
 " But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by inter- 
 pretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the 
 deputy from the faith. Then Saul (who also is called 
 Paul) , filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on 
 him, and said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, 
 thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteous- 
 ness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways 
 of the Lord ? " These passages of Scripture at the 
 close of brother M'Donald's book are perfectly appli- 
 cable : " Let not thine heart incline to their ways ; 
 go not astray in their paths. Their house is the way 
 to hell, going down to the chambers of death. The 
 dead are there, and their guests are in the depths of 
 hell." These doctrines kept me in the valley of the 
 shadow of death for sixteen years, but while hunger- 
 
THE PLAIN AND EASY ROAD TO HEAVEN. 45 
 
 ing and thirsting after righteousness, on Sunday 
 morning, April 23, 1865, about sunrise, I was 
 standing alone on Boston Common, and the Lord 
 Jesus Christ breathed on me ; and I have never since 
 doubted the Deity of my Redeemer. If a whirlwind 
 had taken me a mile into the air and landed me back 
 safely on the same spot, it would have been no better 
 evidence to me. I know I am born of God, and 
 have been growing in grace from that moment. I 
 hated my sins from that moment, and my conversion 
 consisted in believing in the Deity of Christ and the 
 surety of all his promises ; and since then I have 
 loved what I before hated, and I have hated what I 
 before loved ; for I had rolled sin like a sweet morsel 
 under my tongue ; I had loved myself and the world 
 supremely, but now I love God supremely, and my 
 neighbor as myself. Perhaps there are no two eon- 
 versions exactly alike. Doubtless many persons, 
 who are not as selfish and wicked as I was, may be 
 converted without knowing the exact time of the new 
 birth, — they may have first the blade, then the ear, 
 and then the full ripe corn, — but desperate diseases 
 require desperate remedies, and where sin abounds 
 there grace much more abounds. Old, hardened 
 sinners, such as I was, must have sudden changes. 
 We who have passed from death unto life must love 
 the brethren, and love our enemies, and love and pity 
 the Lord's enemies, for he said, on the cross, "Father, 
 forgive them, for they know not what they do ; " but 
 it is wrong to discuss the nature of the Trinity with 
 Unitarians ; it is casting pearls before swine, and 
 
46 THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, OR 
 
 Scripture forbids that ; and Paul says, in Titus iii. 10, 
 " A man that is an heretic, after the first and second 
 admonitions, reject." Daniel Webster's reply is the 
 best that can be made (see page 17), but I have 
 heard scoffers confused by saying, "Any Christian 
 man who supports aged parents is a dutiful son, 
 and if he has a wife he is an affectionate husband, 
 and if he has a family of children he is a kind father ; 
 but still he is only one man." There is a trinity that 
 any person can understand, — son, husband, and 
 father, all in one ! Glory to Jesus ! Whoever be- 
 lieves in his Deity, and in the plenary inspiration of 
 the Bible, and keeps the commandments, is sure of 
 heaven. Any true Christian would- rather be an 
 instrument in the hands of God for converting one 
 sinner than to own the whole world, for his trust is 
 in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he rejoices that his 
 name is written in heaven ; but it is vain to trust in 
 Jesus without believing in him. If he was not God, 
 he was not good. If he was not Deity, he was the 
 direct opposite to everything good. Jesus says this 
 himself in Matthew xix. 16-22 : "And, behold, one 
 came and said unto him, Good Master, what good 
 thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And 
 he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there 
 is none good but one, that is God : but if thou wilt 
 enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith 
 unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no 
 murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt 
 not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honor 
 thy father and thy mother : and, Thou shalt love thy 
 
THE PLAIN AND EAST EOAD TO HEAVEN. 47 
 
 neighbor as thyself. The young man saith unto him, 
 All these things have I kept from my youth up : 
 what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt 
 be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to 
 the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven : 
 and come and follow me. But when the young man 
 heard that saying, he went away sorrowful : for he 
 had great possessions." 
 
 Here you see how deceitful the human heart is, 
 and desperately wicked. That young man broke the 
 first of the ten commandments. He had another 
 god besides his Creator. He had an idol. He loved 
 his possessions better than he loved God. Here you 
 see Jesus referred to the second table first, that is to 
 say, to our duty to our brother man ; and the young 
 man thought he kept all the commandments ; but 
 when our Lord referred to the first table, or our duty 
 to God, the young man went away sorrowful. The 
 fact is, he broke all the commandments in spirit, and 
 none but a truly converted follower of Jesus can keep 
 any command of God as it should be kept, in spirit 
 and in truth. Remember how great a Savior we 
 have ! by whom the worlds were made ; and his 
 promises can never fail. Remember the Scriptures 
 tell us that faith without works is dead, and that devils 
 believe and tremble. Jesus came not to destroy the 
 law or the prophets. He came to offer salvation to 
 every creature. God is love, saith Scripture. 
 Jesus wept, saith Scripture. He wept over Jerusa- 
 lem, at his triumphant entry. We read, " And when 
 he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over 
 
48 THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, OR 
 
 it." O, the blessed Jesus is grieved at our sins ! 
 He died to save us. Reader, do you love Jesus? 
 Then fear to grieve him. If you loved a child, or a 
 parent, or a companion, you would not wish to grieve 
 them. Keep the commandments. Examine your 
 conduct each day by the decalogue. It is comfort- 
 ing to breathe a secret prayer daily somewhat like 
 the following : — 
 
 O, our blessed Creator and Savior ! Help us to 
 keep thy commandments, and to have no other gods 
 but thee, and to have no regard for idols. Help us 
 to use no profane or idle words. Help us to keep 
 thy Sabbaths as shall be pleasing in thy sight. Help 
 us to respect our parents and superiors, and the aged 
 and wise, while we live. Help us to never murder. 
 Help us to never commit adultery. Help us to never 
 steal. Help us to never lie or deceive. Help us to 
 never covet the property of others. Help us to love 
 thee with our whole heart, mind, and soul, and our 
 neighbors as ourselves. And thine shall be the praise 
 forever and ever. Amen. 
 
 Be pure, be holy. Read Revelation xxii. 14, 15 : 
 " Blessed are they that do his commandments, that 
 they may have right to the tree of life, and may 
 enter in through the gates into the city. For with- 
 out are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and 
 murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and 
 maketh a lie." Remember James says, "And if 
 the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the 
 ungodly and the sinner appear ? " 
 
 The Bible nowhere promises a reward for keeping 
 
THE PLAIN AND EASY ROAD TO HEAVEN. 49 
 
 the commandments. But, " In keeping them there 
 is great reward." (Psalms xix.ll.) "Behold, the 
 kingdom of God is within you." (Luke xvii. 21.) 
 Jesus says, "Every plant which my heavenly Father 
 hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them 
 alone," &c. (Matthew xv. 13, 14.) " Fret not thy- 
 self because of evil-doers." (Psalms xxxvii. 1.) 
 " Vengeance is mine ; I will repay, saith the 
 Lord." (Romans xii. 20.) "Overcome evil with 
 good." (xii. 21.) 
 
 True Christians will never punish wicked persons 
 unless they can feel God requires it. We must love 
 our enemies, and if we feel it a duty to punish them, 
 do it in the fear of God, for their own good. We 
 must do by wicked men just as we would be done by 
 if we ourselves were as wicked, and remember God 
 loved us before we loved him. If a person steals our 
 goods, we must correct him m such a way, if possible, 
 as will reform him ; but we must do it for God's sake, 
 and our neighbor's sake, and not for our own private 
 revenge. But, says the sinner, "God is love." 
 (1 John iv. 8, 16.) Yes, we reply. Again, says 
 the sinner, " The Lord doth not afflict willingly, nor 
 grieve the children of men." (Lamentations iii. 33.) 
 "The Lord is not willing that any should perish, but 
 that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter iii. 9.) 
 Jesus Christ is the sinner's friend, — "the same yes- 
 terday, and to-day, and forever." (Hebrews xiii. 8.) 
 And, continues the sinner, he is unchangeable, for 
 James tells us (i. 17), with him is "no variable- 
 4 
 
50 THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, OR 
 
 ness or shadow of turning ; " consequently, after 
 death, he will make us all happy. 
 
 O, poor deluded sinner ! Life is the time, to serve 
 the Lord, for over the gates of heaven are written 
 the ten commandments, and he that is filthy let him 
 be filthy still ; and you will call for the rocks and 
 mountains to fall upon you and hide you from the 
 presence of the Lamb of God, who was slain for 
 the sins of the world. You will be unable to stand 
 God's presence, and the light of his lovely counte- 
 nance will be to you worse than the light of the 
 sun of the natural world to the owls and bats, which 
 Jove darkness rather than light. Then you will 
 thank God you have a hell to flee to, for you will 
 not be clothed with a garment of righteousness. 
 Jesus has prepared one for you, but you refused to 
 put it on, and you will be speechless. God will 
 make you in hell as comfortable as he can, consis- 
 tent with the safety and comfort of his other chil- 
 dren ; but a division must be made, and you must 
 be counted tares, and not wheat. You must go to 
 the left with the goats, and not with the sheep. You 
 must spend eternity with the condemned. You have 
 had your choice, and have chosen for your father the 
 devil, for his works you have done all your life — 
 and your works must follow you ; that is, in accord- 
 ance with God's laws, which never change. " For 
 the Son of man shall come in the glory of his 
 Father, with his angels ; and then he shall reward 
 every man according to his works." (Matthew xvi. 
 27.) " And shall come forth; they that have done 
 
 
1 
 
 THE PLAIN AND EASY ROAD TO HEAVEN. 51 
 
 good, unto the resurrection of life ; and they that 
 have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." 
 (John v. 29.) "For we must all appear before the 
 judgment-seat of Christ ; that every one may receive 
 the things done in his body, according to that he hath 
 done, whether it be good or bad." (2 Corinthians v. 
 10.) " And the dead were judged out of those things 
 which were written in the books according to their 
 works." (Revelation xx. 12.) Numerous other sim- 
 ilar passages we omit for want of space. 
 
 Read the first chapter of Isaiah and the seventh 
 chapter of Jeremiah, and see that professions will 
 not save us unless we bring forth fruits meet for re- 
 pentance. God justifies not the hearer, but the doer, 
 of the law. (Romans ii. 13.) To obey is better than 
 sacrifice. (Samuel xv. 22.) We all have a duty to 
 perform ; we must obey God's commandments. Sins 
 of omission may send us to hell as well as sins of 
 commission. See Matthew xxv. : When Jesus shall 
 separate the nations like sheep and goats, the goats 
 go to the left, not for doing wrong, but for neglect- 
 ing to do right. I once heard an eminent Methodist 
 preacher say in a sermon, "Jesus is our Savior. He 
 saves us from our sins, and if we do not forsake 
 them, and hate them, and commit them no more, we 
 are not truly converted, for if' we do not leave our 
 sins we are not saved from them." 
 
 I will close with Ecclesiastes xii. 12-14: "And 
 further, by these, my son, be admonished : of mak- 
 ing many books there is no end ; and much study is 
 a weariness of the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion 
 
52 THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I 
 
 of the whole matter : Fear God, and keep his com- 
 mandments : for this is the whole duty of man. For 
 God shall bring every work into judgment, with 
 every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it 
 be evil." 
 
 Dear reader, may we meet in heaven. And to the 
 Triune God be all the praise, and honor, and glory, 
 forever and ever. Amen. 
 
 
 '. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 Having prepared this little book as a religious 
 duty, after giving away the number dictated by my 
 conscience, perhaps its mission will have been accom- 
 plished; but, as I have spent my business life in pub- 
 lishing and selling books, and feeling a love for the 
 business, I have compiled a work of over four hundred 
 pages, including this book, the title of which may be 
 found on last page of this cover, and I propose to 
 sell the work by agents, at $1.75 per copy. It will 
 not be sold in bookstores, and agents may select such 
 districts as they desire, and no other parties can buy 
 the book in such districts except at the retail price. 
 Anj- one wishing a copy of the work, may send the 
 price by mail or express, and agents wishing terms 
 will please inform me by letter. Persons who believe 
 in experimental religion, and belong to some evangeli- 
 cal church, are desired for agents, and such will have 
 the preference in giving choice of districts. 
 
 Address 
 
 ALBERT COLBY, Book Publisher 
 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 
LIFE 
 CHRIST AND HIS APOSTLES. 
 
 I'KOM THE WBIHSGS 1' 
 
 DK. ADAM CLARKE, 
 KEY. RUFUS W. CLARK, 
 
 AND OTHER EMINENT DIVINES, AND FROM THE BIBLE. 
 
 " Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and sliall bring forth a son, and 
 they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God 
 with, us." Matthew i. 23. Isaiah vii. 14. 
 
 "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the govern- 
 ment shall be upon his shoulder : and his name shall be called Wonderful, 
 Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of 
 Peace." Isaiah ix. 6. (740 years B:C.) 
 
 " For in him dwellcth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." 
 
 COLOSSIANS ii. 0- 
 
 INCLUDING WRITERS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, 
 
 RELIGIOUS CREED AND HISTORY OF THE JEWS, 
 
 AX1> 
 
 THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION: 
 
 OK, 
 
 THE PLAIN" AND EASY EOAD TO HEAVEN". 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 COMPILED AND PUBLISHED BY ALBERT COLBY. 
 
 18 67. 
 
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