“What a dreadful evil is sin! It has introduced disorder into our world, and destruction upon God, and the most awful ruin upon man. God is dishonoured in his character and government, and man is ruined both in body and soul. It distresses the soul with the keenest anguish, and disgraces the body to the last degree. It exposes, that, to endless torment; this, to everlasting infamy: the one to worms and rottenness, and both to fire and brimstone. How miserable, then, is man! Miserable indeed, miserable beyond conception, if left in the hands of his enemies. Sin and the law, death and the grave, united their various powers to make us completely wretched: and wretched w must have been, had not grace provided, and the gospel revealed, relief. Yes, my fellow-sinners, if sovereign mercy had not interposed on our behalf, despair had been rational, and damnation certain. But, blessed be God, grace, divine grace has appeared: it shines in the gospel and reigns through Jesus Christ. It has made provision for the guilty and destitute; for all, whoever they be, that are willing to owe their salvation to its power and agency. The admirable and animating words, which are now under consideration, inform us; that there is a deliverance, to be expected by the miserable sinner; to be enjoyed, by the real saint; a glorious deliverance, from sin and the law, from death and the grave. Victory over these enemies; deliverance from these evils, a delightful truth, transporting thought!”
Abraham Booth (1734-1806)
(“Christian Triumph,” in Michael A. G. Haykin, ed., The Works of Abraham Booth [Springfield, MO: Particular Baptist Press, 2006], I:217)
Working out Salvation with Fear and Trembling 