revival5
LECTURE XVII
FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS
How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth
falsehood? – Job 21:34.
Jobs ‘ three friends insisted that the afflictions which he suffered were sent
as a punishment for his sins, and were evidence conclusive that he was a
hypocrite, and not a good man, as he professed to be. A lengthy argument
ensued, in which Job referred to all past experience, to prove that men are
not dealt with in this way according to their character; that the distinction
is not observed in the allotments of Providence. His friends maintained the
opposite, and intimated that this world is also a place of rewards and
punishments, in which men receive good or evil, according to their deeds.
In this chapter, Job urges, by appealing to common sense and common
observation and experience, that this cannot be true, because it is a matter
of fact that the wicked are often prosperous in this world and throughout
life, and hence he infers that their judgment and punishment must be
reserved for a future state. “The wicked is reserved to the day of
destruction,” and “they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath” (v. 30).
And inasmuch as the friends who came to comfort him, being in the dark
on this fundamental point, had not been able to understand his case, and so
could not afford him any comfort, but rather aggravated his grief, Job
insisted upon it that he would still look to a future state for consolation.
He rebuked them by exclaiming, in the bitterness of his soul:
“How then comfort ye me in vain,
seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?”
My present purpose is to make some remarks upon the various methods
employed in comforting anxious sinners; and I design:
I. To notice briefly the necessity and design of instructing anxious
sinners.
II. To show that anxious sinners are always seeking comfort. Their
supreme object, indeed, is to get comfort in their distress.
III. To notice some of the false comforts often administered.
I. INSTRUCTING ANXIOUS SINNERS.
The very idea of anxiety implies some instruction. A sinner will not be
anxious at all about his future state, unless he has light enough to know
that he is a sinner, and that he is in danger of punishment and needs
forgiveness. But men are to be converted, not by physical force, nor by a
change wrought in their nature or constitution by creative power, but by
the truth, made effectual by the Holy Spirit. Conversion is yielding to the
truth. Therefore, the more the truth can be brought to bear on the mind,
other things being equal, so much the more probable is it that the
individual will be converted. Unless the truth is brought to bear upon him,
it is certain he will not be converted. If it be brought to bear, it is not
absolutely certain that it will be effectual, but the probability is in
proportion to the extent to which the truth is brought to bear.
The great design of dealing with an anxious sinner is to clear up all his
difficulties and darkness, do away with all his errors, sap the foundation of
his self-righteous hopes, and sweep away every vestige of comfort that he
can find in himself. There is often much difficulty in all this, and much
instruction is required. Sinners often cling with a death-grasp to their false
dependencies. The last place to which a sinner ever betakes himself for
relief is to Jesus Christ. Sinners had rather be saved in any other way in
the world. They had rather make any sacrifice, go to any expense, or
endure any suffering, than just throw themselves as guilty and lost rebels
upon Christ alone for salvation. This is the very last way in which they
are ever willing to be saved. It cuts up all their self-righteousness, and
annihilates their pride and self-satisfaction so completely that they are
exceedingly unwilling to adopt it. But it is as true in philosophy as it is in
fact, that this is, after all, the only way in which a sinner could find relief.
If God should attempt to relieve sinners and save them without humbling
their pride and turning them from their sins, He could not do it.
Now, the object of instructing an anxious sinner should be to bring his
mind, by the shortest route, to the practical conclusion that there is, in
fact, no other way in which he can be relieved and saved, but to renounce
himself, and rest in Christ alone. To do this with effect requires great skill.
It requires a thorough knowledge of the human heart, a clear understanding
of the plan of salvation, and a precise and definite idea of the very thing
that a sinner MUST DO in order to be saved. The ability to impart such
instruction effectually is one of the rarest qualifications in the ministry. It
is distressing to see how few ministers and how few professors of religion
there are who have in their own mind so distinct an idea of the thing to be
done, that they can go to an anxious sinner and tell him exactly what he
has to do, and how to do it, and can show him clearly that there is no
possible way for him to be saved, but by doing that very thing which they
tell him, and can make him feel the certainty that he must do it, and that
unless he does that very thing he will be lost.
II. ANXIOUS SINNERS ARE ALWAYS SEEKING COMFORT.
Sinners often imagine they are seeking Jesus Christ, and seeking religion,
but this is a mistake. No person ever sought religion, and yet remained
irreligious. What is religion? It is obeying God. Seeking religion is seeking
to obey God. The soul that hungers and thirsts after righteousness is the
soul of a Christian. To say that a person can seek to obey God, and yet
not obey Him, is absurd; for, if he is seeking religion, he is not an
impenitent sinner. To seek religion implies a willingness to obey God, and
a willingness to obey God is religion. It is a contradiction to say that an
impenitent sinner is seeking religion. It is the same as to say that he seeks
and actually longs to obey God, and God will not let him; or that he longs
to embrace Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ will not let him come. The fact
is, the anxious sinner is seeking a hope, he is seeking pardon, and comfort,
and deliverance from hell. He is anxiously looking for some one to comfort
him and make him feel better, without being obliged to conform to such
humiliating conditions as those of the Gospel. And his anxiety and distress
continue, only because he will not yield to these terms. Unfortunately,
anxious sinners find comforters enough to their liking. Miserable
comforters they are, too, “seeing in their answers there remaineth
falsehood.” No doubt, millions and millions are now in hell, because there
were those around them who gave them false comfort, who had so much
false pity, or were themselves so much in the dark, that they would not let
sinners remain in anxiety till they had submitted their hearts to God, but
administered falsehood.
III. WAYS IN WHICH FALSE COMFORT IS GIVEN.
There is an endless variety of ways in which false comfort is given to
anxious sinners. The more I observe the ways in which even good people
deal with anxious sinners, the more I feel grieved at the endless falsehoods
with which they attempt to comfort their anxious friends, and thus, in
fact, deceive them and beguile them out of their salvation. It often reminds
me of the manner in which people act when any one is ill. Let any one of
you be ill, with almost any disease in the world, and you will find that
every person you meet with has a remedy for that disorder, a certain cure,
a specific, a panacea; and you will find such a world of quackery all around
you that if you do not take care and SHUT IT ALL OUT, you will
certainly lose your life. A man must exercise his own judgment, for he will
find as many remedies as he has friends, and each one is tenacious of his
own medicine, and perhaps will think it hard if it is not taken. And no
doubt this miserable system of quackery kills a great many people.
This is true to no greater extent respecting the diseases of the body than
respecting the diseases of the mind. People have their specifics and their
panaceas, to comfort distressed souls; and whenever they begin to talk
with an anxious sinner, they will bring in their false comforts – so much
that if he does not TAKE CARE, and mind the Word of God, he will
infallibly be deceived to his own destruction. I propose to mention a few
of the falsehoods that are often brought forward in attempting to comfort
anxious sinners. Time would fail me even to name them all.
The direct object of many persons is to comfort sinners; and they are
often so intent upon this that when they see their friends distressed, they
pity them, they feel very compassionate: “Oh, oh, I cannot bear to see
them so distressed, I must comfort them somehow”; and so they try one
way, and another, and all to comfort them! Now, God desires they should
be comforted. He is benevolent, and has kind feelings, and His heart yearns
over them, when He sees them so distressed. But He sees that there is
only one way to give a sinner real comfort. He has more benevolence and
compassion than all men, and wishes to comfort them. But He has fixed
the terms, as unyielding as His Throne, on which He will give a sinner
relief. He will not alter. He knows that nothing else will do the sinner
effectual good, for nothing can make him happy, until he repents of his
sins and forsakes them, and turns to God. And therefore God will not
yield. Our object should be the same as that of God. We should feel
compassion and benevolence just as He does, and be as ready to give
comfort, but we should also be sure that it is of the right kind.
Our prime object should be to induce the sinner to obey God. His comfort
ought to be, both with us and with himself, only a secondary object; and
while we are more anxious to relieve his distress than to have him cease to
abuse and dishonor God, we are not likely, by our instructions, to do him
any real good. This is a fundamental distinction in dealing with anxious
sinners, but it is evidently overlooked by many, who seem to have no
higher motives than sympathy or compassion for the sinner. If in
preaching the Gospel or instructing the anxious, we are not actuated by a
high regard to the honor of God, and rise no higher than to desire to relieve
the distressed; this is going no farther than a constitutional sympathy, or
compassion, would carry us. The overlooking of this principle has often
misled professors of religion, and when they have heard others dealing
faithfully with anxious sinners, they have accused them of cruelty. I have
often had professors bring anxious sinners to me, and beg me to comfort
them; and then, when I have probed the conscience of the sinner to the
quick, they have shuddered, and sometimes taken his part. It is sometimes
impossible to deal effectually with young people who are anxious, in the
presence of their parents, because the parents have so much more
compassion for their children than regard to the honor of God. This is a
position which is all wrong; and with such views and feelings you had
better hold your tongue than say anything to the anxious.
- One of the ways in which people give false comfort to distressed
sinners is by asking them: “What have you done? You are not so bad!”
They see them distressed and cry out: “Why, what have you done?” as if
they had never done anything wicked, and had in reality no occasion to
feel distressed at all. A fashionable lady was spiritually awakened, and she
was going to see a minister, to converse with him, when she was met by a
friend, who turned her back, and drove off her anxiety by the cry: “What
have you done to make you feel so? I am sure you have never committed
any sin that need make you feel so!”
I have often met with cases of this kind. A mother will tell her son, who is
anxious, what an obedient child he has always been, how good and how
kind, and she begs him “not to take on so.” So a husband will tell his wife,
or a wife her husband: “How good you are!” and say: “Why, you are not
so bad. You have been to hear that frightful minister, who frightens
people, and you have got excited. Be comforted, for I am sure you have
not been bad enough to justify such distress.” When the truth is, they have
been a great deal worse than they think they have. No sinner ever has an
idea of his sins greater than they really are. No sinner ever has an adequate
idea of how great a sinner he is. It is not probable that any man could live
under a full sight of his sins. God has, in mercy, spared all His creatures on
earth that worst of sights, a naked human heart. The sinner’s guilt is much
more deep and damning than he thinks, and his danger is much greater than
he thinks it is; and if he should see his sins as they are, probably he would
not live one moment. True, a sinner may have false notions on the subject,
which may create distress, but which have no foundation. He may think he
has committed the unpardonable sin, or that he has grieved away the
Spirit, or sinned away his day of grace. But to tell the most moral and
naturally amiable person in the world that he is good enough, or that he is
not so bad as he thinks he is, is not giving him rational comfort, but is
deceiving him and ruining his soul. Let those who do it, beware.
2. Others tell awakened sinners that “conversion is a progressive work,”
and in this way ease their anxiety. When a man is distressed, because he
sees himself to be such a sinner, and that unless he turns to God he will be
lost, it is a great relief to have some friend hold out the idea that he can get
better by degrees, and that he is now “coming on,” little by little. They tell
him: “You cannot expect to get along all at once; I do not believe in these
sudden conversions, you must wait and let it work; you have begun well,
and, by and by, you will get comfort.” All this is false as the bottomless
pit. The truth is, regeneration, or conversion, is not a progressive work.
What is regeneration? What is it but the beginning of obedience to God?
And is the beginning of a thing progressive? It is the first act of genuine
obedience to God – the first voluntary action of the mind, that is what
God approves, or that can be regarded as obedience to God. That is
conversion. When persons talk about conversion as a progressive work, it
is absurd. They show that they know just as much about regeneration or
conversion as Nicodemus did. They know nothing about it as they ought
to know, and are no more fit to conduct an anxious meeting, or to advise or
instruct anxious sinners, than Nicodemus was.
3. Another way in which anxious sinners are deceived with false comfort is
by being advised to “dismiss the subject for the present.” Men who are
supposed to be wise and good have assumed to be so much wiser than
God, that when God is dealing with a sinner, by His Spirit, and is
endeavoring to bring him to an immediate decision, they think God is
crowding too hard, and that it is necessary for them to interfere. They will
advise the person to take a ride, or to go into company, or engage in
business or do something that will relieve his mind a little, at least for the
present. They might just as well say to God in plain words: “O God,
Thou art too hard, Thou goest too fast, Thou wilt make him crazy, or kill
him; he cannot stand it, poor creature; if he be so pressed he will die.” Just
so they take sides against God, and practically tell the sinner himself:
“God will make you crazy if you do not dismiss the subject, and resist the
Spirit, and drive Him away from your mind.”
Such advice, if it be truly conviction of sin that distresses the sinner, is, in
no case, either safe or lawful. The strivings of the Spirit, to bring the sinner
to Christ, will never hurt him, nor drive him crazy. He may make himself
deranged by resisting; but it is blasphemous to think that the blessed,
wise, and benevolent Spirit of God would ever act with so little care, as to
derange and destroy the soul which He came to sanctify and save. The
proper course to take with a sinner, when the striving of the Spirit throws
him into distress, is, to instruct him, clear up his views, correct his
mistakes, and make the way of salvation so plain, that he may see it right
before him. Not to dismiss the subject, but to fall in with the Spirit, and
thus hush all those dreadful agonies which are produced by resisting the
Holy Ghost. REMEMBER, if an awakened sinner should voluntarily
dismiss the subject once, probably he will never take it up again.
4. Sometimes an awakened sinner is comforted by being told that “religion
does not consist in feeling bad.” I once heard of a Doctor of Divinity giving
an anxious sinner such counsel, when he was actually writhing under the
arrows of the Almighty. Said he: “Religion is cheerful, religion is not
gloomy; do not be distressed, but dismiss your fears; be comforted, you
should not feel so bad,” and such like miserable comforts, when, in fact,
the man had infinite reason to be distressed, for he was resisting the Holy
Ghost, and was in danger of grieving Him away for ever.
It is true, religion does not consist in “feeling bad”; but the sinner has
reason to be distressed, because he has no religion. If he had religion, he
would not feel so. Were he a Christian, he would rejoice. But to tell an
impenitent sinner to be cheerful! Why, you might as well preach this
doctrine in hell, and tell them there: “Cheer up here, cheer up: do not feel
so bad!”
The sinner is on the very verge of hell, he is in rebellion against God, and
his danger is infinitely greater than he imagines. Oh, what a doctrine of
devils it is to tell a rebel against Heaven not to be distressed! What is all
his distress but rebellion itself? He is not comforted, because he refuses to
be comforted. God is ready to comfort him. You need not think to be more
compassionate than God. He will fill the sinner with comfort, in an
instant, on submission. There stands the sinner, struggling against God,
and against the Holy Ghost, and against conscience, until he is distressed
almost to death, but still he will not yield; and now some one comes in,
saying: “Oh, I hate to see you feel so bad, do not be so distressed; cheer
up, cheer up; religion does not consist in being gloomy; be comforted.”
Horrid!
5. Whatever involves the subject of religion in mystery is calculated to give
a sinner false comfort. When a sinner is anxious on the subject of religion,
very likely, if you becloud it in mystery, he will feel relieved. The sinner’s
distress arises from the pressure of present obligation. Enlighten him on
this point, and clear it up, and if he will not yield, it will only increase
his distress. But tell him that regeneration is all a mystery, something he
cannot understand, and, by leaving him all in a fog, you relieve his anxiety.
It is his clear view of the nature and duty of repentance, that produces his
distress. It is the light that brings agony to his mind, while he refuses to
obey. It is that which makes up the pains of hell. And it will almost make
hell in the sinner’s breast here, if only made clear enough. Only cover up
this light, and his anxiety will immediately become far less acute and
thrilling, but if you take up a clear light, and flash it broadly upon his
soul, then, if he will not yield, you kindle up the tortures of hell in
his bosom.
6. Whatever relieves the sinner from a sense of blame is calculated to give
him false comfort. The more a man feels himself to blame, the deeper is his
distress; so, anything that lessens his sense of blame, of course lessens his
distress – but it is a comfort full of death. If anything will help him to
divide the blame, and throw a part of it upon God, it will afford him
comfort, but it is a relief that will destroy his soul.
7. To tell him of his inability is false comfort. Suppose you say to an
anxious sinner: “What can you do? You are a poor feeble creature, you can
do nothing.” You will thereby make him feel a kind of despondency, but it
is not that keen agony of remorse with which God wrings the soul when
He is laboring to bring the sinner to repentance.
If you tell him he is unable to comply with the Gospel, he naturally falls
in with that relief. He says to himself: “Yes, I am unable, I am a poor,
feeble creature, I cannot do this, and certainly God cannot send me to hell
for not doing what I cannot do.” Why, if I believed that a sinner was
unable, I would tell him plainly: “Do not be afraid, you are not to blame
for not complying with the call of the Gospel: for you are unable, and God
will not send you to hell for not doing what you have no strength to do –
‘Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?'” I know it is not common for
those who talk about the sinner being “unable,” to be so consistent, and
carry out their theory. But the sinner infers all this, and so he feels
relieved. It is all false, and all the comfort derived from it is only
treasuring up wrath against the Day of Wrath.
8. Whatever makes the impression on a sinner’s mind that he is to be
passive in religion is calculated to give him false comfort. Give him the idea
that he has nothing to do but to wait God’s time; tell him conversion is the
work of God, and he ought to leave it to Him; and that he must be careful
not to try to take the work out of God’s hand; and he will infer as before,
that he is not to blame, and will feel relieved. If he has only to stand still,
and let God do the work, just as a man holds still to have his arm
amputated, he feels relieved. But such instruction as this, is all wrong. If
the sinner is thus to stand still, and let God do it, he instantly infers that
he is not to blame for not doing it himself; and the inference is not only
natural but legitimate.
It is true that there is a sense in which conversion is the work of God. But
it is false, as it is often represented. It is also true that there is a sense
in which conversion is the sinner’s own act. It is ridiculous, therefore, to
say that a sinner is passive in regeneration, or passive in being converted,
for conversion is his own act. The thing to be done is that which cannot be
done for him. It is something which he must do, or it will never be done.
9. Telling a sinner to wait God’s time. Some years ago, in Philadelphia, I
met a woman who was anxious about her soul, and had been a long time in
that state. I conversed with her, and endeavored to learn her state. She told
me a good many things, and finally said she knew she ought to be willing
to wait on God as long as He had waited upon her. She said that God had
waited on her a great many years before she would give any attention to
His call, and now she believed it was her duty to wait God’s time to show
mercy to her and convert her soul. And she said this was the instruction
she had received. She must be patient, she thought, and wait God’s time,
and, by and by, He would give her relief. Oh, amazing folly!
Here is the sinner in rebellion. God comes with pardon in one hand and a
sword in the other, and tells the sinner to repent and receive pardon, or
refuse and perish. And now here comes a minister of the Gospel and tells
the sinner to “wait God’s time.” Virtually he says that God is not ready to
have him repent now, and is not ready to pardon him now, and thus, in
fact, throws off the blame of his impenitence upon God. Instead of
pointing out the sinner’s guilt, in not submitting at once to God, he points
out God’s “insincerity” – in making an offer, when, in fact, He was not
ready to grant the blessing!
I have often thought such teachers needed the rebuke of Elijah, when he
met the priests of Baal. “Cry aloud: for he is a God; either he is talking, or
he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must
be awaked” (1 Kings 18:27). The minister who ventures to intimate that
God is not ready, and tells the sinner to wait God’s time, might almost as
well tell him that God is asleep, or gone on a journey, and cannot attend to
him at present. Miserable comforters, indeed! It is little less than
outrageous blasphemy of God. How many have gone to the judgment, red
all over with the blood of souls that they have deceived and destroyed –
by telling them God was not ready to save them, and that they must wait
God’s time. No doubt such a doctrine is exceedingly calculated to afford
present relief to an anxious sinner. It warrants him to say: “God is not
ready, I must wait God’s time, and so I can live in sin a while longer, till
He gets ready to attend to me, and then I will get religion.”
10. It is false comfort to tell an anxious sinner to do anything for relief,
which he can do, and not submit his heart to God. An anxious sinner is
often willing to do anything else, but the very thing which God requires
him to do. He is willing to go to the ends of the earth, or to pay his
money, or to endure suffering, or do anything but make full and
instantaneous submission to God. Now, if you will compromise the
matter with him, and tell him of something else that he may do, and yet
evade that point, he will be very much comforted. He likes that
instruction. He says: “Oh, yes, I will do that; I like that minister, he is not
so severe as others, he seems to understand my particular case, and knows
how to make allowances.”
It often reminds me of the conduct of a patient who is very sick, but has a
great dislike for a certain physician and a particular medicine, but that is
the very physician who alone understands treating his disease, and that the
only remedy for it. Now, the patient is willing to do anything else, and call
in any other physician. He is anxious and in distress, is asking all his
friends if they cannot tell him what he shall do. He will take all the
nostrums and quack medicines in the country – before he will submit to
the only course that can bring him relief. By and by, after he has tried
everything without receiving any benefit, if he survives the experiment he
gives up this unreasonable opposition, calls in the physician, takes the
proper medicine, and is cured. Just so it is with sinners. They will eagerly
do anything, if you will only let them off from this intolerable pressure of
present obligation to submit to God.
I will mention a few of the things the telling of which to sinners distracts
their attention from the point of immediate submission.
(a) Telling a sinner he must use the means – attend meetings and pray.
Tell an anxious sinner this: “You must use the means”; and he is relieved.
“Oh, yes, I will do that, if that be all. I thought that God required me to
repent and submit to Him now. But if ‘using the means’ will answer, I will
do that with all my heart.” He was distressed before, because he was
cornered, and did not know which way to turn. Conscience had beset him,
like a wall of fire, and urged him to repent NOW. But this relieves him at
once; he feels better, and is very thankful that he has found such a good
adviser in his distress! But he may “use the means,” as he says, till the
Day of Judgment, and not be a particle the better for it, but only hasten
his way to death. What is the sinner’s use of means, but rebellion against
God? God uses means – the Church uses means, to convert and save
sinners, to impress them, and bring them to submission. But what has the
sinner to do with such means? It is just telling him: “You need not submit
to God now, but just use the means awhile, and see if you cannot melt
God’s heart down to you, so that He will yield this point of unconditional
submission.” It is a mere cavil to evade the duty of immediate submission
to God. It is true that sinners, actuated by a regard to their own happiness,
often give attention to the subject of religion, attend meetings, and pray,
and read, and many such things. But in all this they have no regard to the
honor of God, nor do they so much as intend to obey Him. Their design is
not obedience, for if it were, they would not be impenitent sinners. They
are not, therefore, using means to be Christians, but to obtain pardon, and
a hope. It is absurd to say that an impenitent sinner is using means to
repent, for this is the same as to say he is willing to repent; or, in other
words, that he does repent, and so is not an impenitent sinner. So, to say
that an unconverted sinner uses means with the design to become a
Christian, is a contradiction; for it is saying that he is willing to be a
Christian, which is the same as to say he is a Christian already.
(b) Telling a sinner to pray for a new heart. I once heard a celebrated
Sunday-school teacher do this. He was almost the father of Sunday
Schools in America. He called a little girl up to him, and began to talk to
her. “My little girl, are you a Christian?” “No, sir.” “Well, you cannot be a
Christian yourself, can you?” “No, sir.” “No, you cannot be a Christian
yourself, you cannot change your heart yourself, but you must pray for a
new heart, that is all you can do; pray to God, God will give you a new
heart.” He was an aged and venerable man, but I almost felt disposed to
rebuke him in the name of the Lord; I could not bear to hear him deceive
that child, telling her, practically, she could not be a Christian. Does God
say: “Pray for a new heart”? Never. He says: “Make you a new heart”
(Ezekiel 18:31). The sinner is not to be told to pray to God to do his duty
for him, but to go and do it himself. I know the Psalmist prayed: “Create
in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). He
had faith, and prayed in faith. But that is a very different thing from
setting an obstinate rebel to pray for a new heart. An anxious sinner will
be delighted with such instruction, saying: “I knew I needed a new heart,
and that I ought to repent, but I thought I must do it myself. I am very
willing to ask God to do it; I hated to do it myself, but have no objection
that God should do it, if He will, and I will pray for it, if that is all that
is required.”
Telling the sinner to persevere. And suppose he does persevere? He is
as certain to be lost as if he had been in hell ever since the foundation of
the world. His anxiety arises only from his resistance; and if he would
submit, it would cease; and will you tell him to persevere in the very thing
that causes his distress? Suppose my child should, in a fit of passion,
throw a book or something on the floor. I tell him: “Take it up,” but
instead of minding what I say, he runs off and plays. “Take it up!” He
sees I am in earnest, and begins to look serious. “Take it up, or I shall get a
rod.” And I put up my arm to get the rod. He stands still. “Take it up, or
you must be whipped.” He comes slowly along to the place, and begins to
weep. “Take it up, my child, or you will certainly be punished.” Now he
is in distress, and sobs and sighs as if his bosom would burst; but he still
remains as stubborn as if he knew I could not punish him. Now I begin to
press him with motives to submit and obey, but there he stands, in agony,
and at length bursts out: “Oh, father, I do feel so bad, I think I am growing
better.” And now, suppose a neighbor to come in and see the child
standing there, in all his agony and stubbornness. The neighbor asks him
what he is standing there for, and what is he doing. “Oh, I am using means
to pick up that book.” If this neighbor should tell the child: “Persevere,
persevere, my boy, you will get it by and by,” what should I do? Why, I
would ask him to leave the house; what does he mean by encouraging my
child in rebellion?
Now, God calls the sinner to repent, He threatens him, He draws the
glittering sword, He persuades him, He uses motives, and the sinner is
distressed to agony, for he sees himself driven to the dreadful alternative
of giving up his sins or going to hell. He ought instantly to lay down his
weapons, and break his heart at once. But he resists, and struggles against
conviction, and that creates his distress. Now, will you tell him to
persevere? Persevere in what? In struggling against God! That is just the
direction the devil would give. All the devil wants is, to see him persevere
just in the way he is going on, and his destruction is sure.
(d) Telling a sinner to press forward. That is, to say to him: “You are in a
good way, only press forward, and you will get to heaven.” This is on the
supposition that his face is toward heaven, when in fact his face is toward
hell, and he is pressing forward, and never more rapidly than now, while
he is resisting the Holy Ghost. Often have I heard this direction given,
when the sinner was in as bad a way as he could be. What you ought to
tell him is: “STOP, sinner, stop, do not take another step that way, it
leads to hell.” God tells him to stop, and because he does not wish to stop,
he is distressed. Now, why should you attempt to comfort him in this
way?
(e) Telling a sinner that he must “try” to repent and give his heart to God.
“Oh, yes,” says the sinner, “I am willing to try, I have often tried to do it,
and I will try again.” Does God tell you to “try” to repent?
All the world would be willing to “try” to repent, in their way. Giving this
direction implies that it is very difficult to repent, and perhaps impossible,
and that the best thing a sinner can do is, to try and see whether he can do
it or not. What is this, but substituting your own commandment in the
place of God’s. God requires nothing short of repentance and a holy heart;
anything short of that is comforting the sinner in vain, “seeing in your
answers there remaineth falsehood.”
(f) Telling him to pray for repentance. “Oh, yes, I will pray for
repentance, if that is all. I was distressed because I thought God required
me to repent; but I can wait.” And so he feels relieved, and is quite
comfortable.
(g) Telling a sinner to pray for conviction, or pray for the Holy Ghost to
show him his sins, or to labor to get more light on the subject of his guilt,
in order to increase his conviction.
All this is just what the sinner wants, because it lets him off from the
pressure of present obligation. He wants just a little more time. Anything
that will defer that present pressure of obligation to repent immediately, is
a relief. What does he want more conviction for? Does God give any such
direction to an impenitent sinner? God takes it for granted that he has
conviction enough already. And so he has. Do you say he cannot realize all
his sins? If he can realize only one of them, let him repent of that one, and
he is a Christian. Suppose he could see them all, what reason is there to
think he would repent of them all, any more than he would repent of that
one that he does see? All this is comforting the sinner by setting him to do
that which he can do, and yet not submit his heart to God.
11. Another way in which false comfort is given to anxious sinners is, to
tell them God is trying their faith by keeping them in the furnace, and they
must wait patiently upon the Lord. Just as if God were in fault, or stood
in the way of a sinner becoming a Christian. Or as if an impenitent sinner
had faith! What an abomination! Suppose somebody should tell my child,
while he was standing by the book as I have described: “Wait patiently,
my boy, your father is trying your faith.” No. The sinner is trying the
patience and forbearance of God. God is not setting Himself to torture a
sinner, and teach him a lesson of patience. But He is waiting upon him,
and laboring to bring him at once into such a state of mind as will render it
consistent to fill his soul with the peace of heaven. And shall the sinner be
encouraged to resist, by the idea that God is bantering? TAKE CARE!
God has said His Spirit shall not always strive.
12. Another false comfort is, saying to the sinner: “Do your duty, and
leave your conversion with God.” I once heard an elder of a Church say to
an anxious sinner: “Do your duty, and leave your conversion to God; He
will do it in His own time and way.” That was just the same as telling him,
that it was not his duty to be converted NOW. He did not say: “Do your
duty, and leave your salvation with God.” That would have been proper
enough, for it would have been simply telling him to submit to God, and
would have included conversion as the first duty of all. But he told him to
leave his conversion to God. And this elder, that gave such advice, was a
man of liberal education too. How absurd! As if the sinner could do his
duty and not be converted! God has required him: “Make you a new
heart” (Ezekiel 18:31); and do you beware how you comfort him with an
answer of falsehood.
13. Sometimes professors of religion will try to comfort a sinner, by telling
him: “Do not be discouraged; I was a long time in this way before I found
comfort.” They will tell him: “I was under conviction so many weeks –
or perhaps so many months, or sometimes years – and have gone through
all this, and know just how you feel; your experience is the same as mine
precisely. After so long a time I found relief; and I doubt not you will find
it by and by. Do not despair, God will comfort you soon.” Tell a sinner to
take courage in his rebellion! Oh, horrible! Such professors ought to be
ashamed. Suppose you were under conviction so many weeks, and
afterwards found relief, it is the very last thing you ought to tell an anxious
sinner.
What is it but encouraging him to hold out, when his business is to
submit? Did you hold out so many weeks while the Spirit was striving
with you? You only deserved so much the more to be lost, for your
obstinacy and stupidity.
Sinner! it is no sign that God will spare you so long, or that His Spirit will
remain with you to be resisted. And remember, if the Spirit is taken away,
you will be sent to hell.
14. Another false comfort is to say: “I have faith to believe you will be
converted.” You have faith to believe? On what does your faith rest? On
the promise of God? On the influences of the Holy Ghost? Then you are
counteracting your own faith. The very design and object of the Spirit of
God is to tear away from the sinner his last vestige of a hope while
remaining in sin; to annihilate every crag and twig he may cling to. And the
object of your instruction should be the same. You should fall in with the
plan of God. It is only in this way that you can ever do any good – by
urging him to submit at once, and leave his soul in the hands of God. But
when one that he thinks is a Christian, tells him: “I have faith to believe
you will be converted,” it upholds him in a false expectation. Instead of
tearing him away from his false hopes, and throwing him upon Christ, you
just turn him aside to depend upon your faith, and to find comfort because
you have faith for him. This is all false comfort, that worketh death.
15. Sometimes professors of religion try to comfort an anxious sinner by
telling him: “I will pray for you.” This is false comfort, for it leads the
sinner to trust in those prayers, instead of trusting in Christ. The sinner
says “He is a good man, and God hears the prayers of good men; no doubt
his prayers will prevail, some time, and I shall be converted: I do not think
I shall be lost.” And his anxiety, his agony, is all gone. A woman said to a
minister: “I have no hope now, but I have faith in your prayers.” Just such
faith is this as the devil wants them to have – faith in prayers instead of
faith in Christ.
16. It is equally false comfort to say: “I rejoice to see you in this way, and
I hope you will be faithful, and hold out.” What is this but rejoicing to see
him in rebellion against God? For that is precisely the ground on which he
stands. He is resisting conviction, and resisting conscience, and resisting
the Holy Ghost, and yet you rejoice to see him in this way, and hope he
will be faithful, and hold out! There is a sense, indeed, in which it may be
said that his situation is more hopeful than when he was in stupidity. For
God has convinced him, and may succeed in turning and subduing him. But
that is not the sense in which the sinner himself will understand it. He will
suppose that you think him in a hopeful way, because he is doing better
than formerly; when, in fact, his guilt and danger are greater than they ever
were before. Instead of rejoicing, you ought to be distressed and in agony,
to see him thus resisting the Holy Ghost, for every moment he does this,
he is in danger of being left of God, and given up to hardness of heart and
to despair.
17. Again, it is said: “You will have your pay for this, by-and-by: God
will reward you.” I once heard a sinner say: “I feel very bad, I have strong
hopes that I shall get my reward.” But that individual afterwards said:
“Nowhere can there be found so black a sinner as I am, and no sin of my
life seems so black as that expression.” He was overwhelmed with
contrition, that he should ever have had such an idea, as to think that God
should reward him for suffering so much distress, when he had brought it
all upon himself, needlessly, by his wicked resistance to the truth. The
truth is, what such “instructors” are seeking is, to comfort the sinner;
being all in the dark themselves on the subject of religion, they, of course,
give him false comfort.
18. Another false comfort is, to tell the sinner he has not repented enough.
The truth is, he has not really repented at all. As soon as the sinner
repents, God always comforts him. This direction implies that his feelings
are right as far as they go. To tell him that he has any repentance, is to tell
him a lie, and cheat him out of his soul.
19. People sometimes comfort a sinner by telling him: “If you are elected,
you will be brought in.” I once heard of a case where a person under great
distress of mind was sent to converse with a neighboring minister. They
talked for a long time. As the person went away, the minister said to him:
“I should like to send a line by you to your father.” His father was a pious
man. The minister wrote the letter, and forgot to seal it. As the sinner was
going home, he saw that the letter was not sealed, and he thought to
himself, that probably the minister had written about him, and his
curiosity at length led him to open and read it. And there he found it
written to this purport: “Dear Sir, – I found your son under conviction,
and in great distress, and it seems not easy to say anything to give him
relief. But, if he is one of the elect, he is sure to be brought in.” He had
wanted to say something to comfort the father; but now, mark: that letter
had well-nigh ruined the son’s soul; for he settled down on the doctrine of
Election, saying: “If I am elected, I shall be brought in;” and his conviction
was gone. Years afterwards he was awakened and converted, but only after
a great struggle, and never until that false impression had been obliterated
from his mind, and he had been made to see that he had nothing at all to do
with the doctrine of Election, but that if he did not repent he would be
lost.
20. It is very common for some people to tell an awakened sinner: “You
are in a very prosperous way. I am glad to see you so, and feel encouraged
about you.” It sometimes seems as if the Church were in league with the
devil to help sinners to resist the Holy Ghost. The thing that the Holy
Ghost wants to make the sinner feel is, that all his ways are wrong, and
that they lead to hell. And everybody is conspiring to make the opposite
impression! The Spirit is trying to discourage him, and they are trying to
encourage him; the Spirit to distress him by showing him that he is all
wrong, and they to comfort him by saying he is doing well. Has it come to
this, that the worst counteraction to the truth and the greatest obstacle to
the Spirit, shall spring from the Church. Sinner, do not believe them! You
are not in a hopeful way. You are not doing well, but ill – as ill as you
can, while resisting the Holy Ghost.
21. Another fatal way in which false comfort is given to sinners, is by
applying to them certain Scripture promises which were designed only for
saints. This is a grand device of the devil. It is much practiced by the
Universalists. But Christians often do it. For example:
(a) “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted” (Matthew
5:4). How often has this passage been applied to anxious sinners, who
were in distress because they would not submit to God. “Blessed are they
that mourn.” That is true, where they mourn with godly sorrow. But what
is this sinner mourning about? He is mourning because God’s law is holy,
and the terms of salvation so fixed that he cannot bring them down to his
mind. Will you tell such a rebel: “Blessed are they that mourn”? You might
just as well apply it to those that are in hell! There is mourning there, too.
The sinner is mourning because there is no other way of salvation, because
God is so holy that He requires him to give up all his sins, and he feels
that the time has come, that he must either give them up, or be lost. Shall
we tell him, he shall be comforted? Shall we tell the devil: “You mourn
now; but the Bible says, you are blessed if you mourn; and you shall be
comforted by and by!”
(b) “Seek, and ye shall find” (Matthew 7:7). This is said to sinners in such
a way as to imply that the anxious sinner is seeking religion. This promise
was made in reference to Christians, who ask in faith, and seek to do the
will of God, and it is not applicable to those who are seeking hope or
comfort; but to holy seeking. To apply it to an impenitent sinner is only
to deceive him, for his seeking is not of this character. To tell him: “You
are seeking, are you? Well, seek, and you shall find,” is to cherish a fatal
delusion. While he remains impenitent, he has not a desire which the devil
might not have, and yet remain a devil still.
If the sinner had a desire to do his duty, if he were seeking to do the will of
God, and give up his sins, he would be a Christian. But to comfort an
impenitent sinner with such a promise – you might just as well comfort
Satan!
“Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we
faint not” (Galatians 6:9). To apply this for a sinner’s comfort, is absurd.
As if he were doing something to please God! He has never done well, and
never has done more ill than now. Suppose my neighbor, who came in
while I was trying to subdue my child, should say to the child, “In due
season you shall reap, if you faint not,” what should I say? “Reap? Yes,
you shall reap; if you do not give up your obstinacy, you shall reap
indeed, for I will apply the rod.” So the struggling sinner shall reap the
damnation of hell, if he does not give up his sins.
22. Some professors of religion, when they attempt to converse with
awakened sinners, are very fond of saying: “I will tell you my experience.”
This is a dangerous snare, and often gives the devil a handle to lead the
sinner to hell, by getting him to copy your experience. If you tell it to the
sinner, and he thinks it is a Christian experience, he will almost infallibly
be trying to imitate it, so that, instead of following the Gospel, or the
leadings of the Spirit in his own soul, he is following your example. This is
absurd as well as dangerous. No two were ever exercised just alike. Men’s
experiences are as much unlike as are their countenances. Such a course is
likely to mislead him. The design is, often, to encourage him at the very
point where he ought not to be encouraged, before he has submitted to
God. And it is calculated to impede the work of God in his soul.
23. How many times will people tell an awakened sinner that God has
begun a good work in him, and will carry it on. I have known parents talk
so with their children, and, as soon as they have seen their children
awakened, give up all anxiety about them, and settle down at ease, thinking
that now God had begun a work in their children He would carry it on. It
would be just as rational for a farmer to say about his grain, as soon as it
comes up out of the ground: “Well, God has begun a good work in my
field, and He will carry it on.” What would be thought of a farmer who
should neglect to put up his fence, because God has begun the work of
giving him a crop of grain? If you tell a sinner so, and he believes you, it
will certainly be his destruction, for it will prevent his doing that which is
absolutely indispensable to his being saved. If, as soon as the sinner is
awakened, he is taught that, God having begun a good work, that only
needs to be carried on, He will surely carry it on, he sees that there is no
further occasion to be anxious, for, in fact, he has nothing more to do. And
so he will be relieved from that intolerable pressure of present obligation
to repent and submit to God. And if he is relieved from his sense of
obligation to do it, he will never do it.
24. Some will tell the sinner: “Well, you have broken off your sins, have
you?” “Oh, yes,” says the sinner; when it is all false; he has never
forsaken his sins for a moment, he has only exchanged one form of sin for
another; only placed himself in a new attitude of resistance. And to tell
him that he has broken them off is to give him false comfort.
25. Sometimes this direction is given for the purpose of relieving the agony
of an anxious sinner: “Do what you can, and God will do the rest”; or:
“Do what you can, and God will help you.” This is the same as telling a
sinner: “You cannot do what God requires you to do, but if you do what
you can, God will help you as to the rest.” Now, sinners often get the idea
that they have done all they can, when, in fact, they have done nothing at
all, except that they have resisted God with all their might. I have often
heard them say: “I have done all I can, and I get no relief, what can I do
more?” Now, you can see how comforting it must be to such a one to have
a professor of religion come in and say: “If you will do what you can, God
will help you.” It relieves all his keen distress at once. He may be uneasy,
and unhappy, but his agony is gone.
26. Again, they say: “You should be thankful for what you have, and hope
for more.” If the sinner is convicted, they tell him he should be thankful
for conviction, and hope for conversion. If he has any feeling, he should be
thankful for what feeling he has, just as if his feeling were religious
feeling,when he has no more religion than Satan. He has reason to be thankful,
indeed: thankful that he is out of hell, and thankful that God is yet waiting
on him. But it is ridiculous to tell him that he should be thankful in regard
to the state of his mind, when he is all the while resisting his Maker with
all his might.
IV. ERRORS MADE IN PRAYING FOR SINNERS.
I will here mention a few errors that are made in praying for sinners, by
which an unhappy impression is made on their minds, in consequence of
which they often obtain false comfort in their distress.
- People sometimes pray for sinners as if they deserved TO BE PITIED
more than BLAMED. They pray for them as “MOURNERS”: “Lord,
help these pensive mourners”! As if they were just mourners, like one that
had lost a friend, or met with some other calamity, which he could not
help, and so were greatly to be pitied, sitting there, sad, pensive, and
sighing. The Bible never talks so. It pities sinners, but it pities them as
mad and guilty rebels, deserving to go to hell; not as poor pensive
mourners, who want to be relieved, but can do nothing but sit and mourn.
2. Praying for them as “poor sinners.” Does the Bible ever use such
language as this? The Bible never speaks of them as “poor sinners,” as if
they deserved to be pitied more than blamed. Christ pities sinners in His
heart. And so does God pity them. He feels in His heart all the gushings of
compassion for them, when He sees them going on, obstinate and willful in
gratifying their own lusts, at the peril of His eternal wrath. But He never
lets an impression escape from Him, as if the sinner were just a “poor
creature” – to be pitied, as if he could not help his position. The idea that
he is poor, rather than wicked; unfortunate, rather than guilty, relieves the
sinner greatly. I have seen the sinner writhe with agony under the truth, in
a meeting, until somebody began to pray for him as a “poor” creature. And
then he would gush out into tears, and weep profusely, and think he was
greatly benefitted by such a prayer, saying: “Oh, what a good prayer that
was!” If you go now and converse with that sinner, you will probably find
that he is still pitying himself as a poor unfortunate creature – perhaps
even weeping over his unhappy condition; but his conviction of sin, his
deep impressions of awful guilt, are all gone.
3. Praying that God would “help the sinner to repent.” “O Lord, enable
this poor sinner to repent now.” This conveys the idea to the sinner’s
mind, that he is now trying with all his might to repent, and that he cannot
do it, and therefore Christians are calling on God to help him, and enable
him to do it. Most professors of religion pray for sinners, not that God
would make them willing to repent, but that He would enable them, or
make them able. No wonder their prayers are not heard. They relieve the
sinner of his sense of responsibility, and that relieves his distress. But it
is an insult to God, as if God had commanded a sinner to do what He could
not do.
4. People sometimes pray: “Lord, these sinners are seeking Thee,
sorrowing.” This language is an allusion to what took place at the time
when Jesus was a little boy, and went into the Temple to talk with the
rabbis and doctors. His parents, you recollect, went a day’s journey
towards home before they missed him; then they turned back, and, after
looking all around, they found the little Jesus standing in the Temple
disputing with the learned men. Then “His mother said unto Him, Son,
why hast Thou thus dealt with us? behold, Thy father and I have sought
Thee sorrowing” (Luke 2:48). And so this prayer represents sinners as
seeking Jesus, but He hides Himself from them, and they look all around,
and hunt, and try to find Him, and wonder where He is, and say: “Lord,
we have sought Jesus these three days sorrowing.” It is a LIE! No sinner
ever sought Jesus with all his heart three days, or three minutes, and could
not find Him. Jesus “stands at the door, and knocks” (Revelation 3:20).
He is right before the sinner, pleading with him, and facing him with all his
false pretenses. Seeking Jesus! The sinner may cry: “Oh, how I am
sorrowing, and seeking Jesus,” but it is no such thing; Jesus is seeking him.
And yet how many oppressed consciences are relieved and comforted by
hearing one of these prayers.
5. “Lord, have mercy on these sinners, who are seeking Thy love to
know.” This is a favorite expression with many; as if sinners were seeking
to know the love of Christ, and could not. No such thing. They are not
seeking the love of Christ, but seeking to get to heaven without Jesus
Christ. As if they were seeking it, and He was so hard-hearted that He
would not let them have it!
6. “Lord, have mercy on these penitent souls”; calling anxious sinners
“penitent souls”! If they are truly penitent, they are Christians. To make
the impression on an unconverted sinner that he is penitent, is to make
him believe a lie. But it is very comforting to the sinner, and he likes to
take it up, and pray it over again: “O Lord, I am a poor penitent soul, I am
very penitent, I am so distressed, Lord, have mercy on a poor penitent.”
Dreadful delusion, to lead an impenitent sinner to pray as a penitent!
7. Sometimes people pray for anxious sinners as “humble souls.” “O Lord,
these sinners have humbled themselves.” But that is not true, they have
not humbled themselves; if they had, the Lord would have raised them up
and comforted them, as He has promised. There is a hymn of this
character that has done much mischief. It begins:
Come, HUMBLE sinner, in whose breast
A thousand thoughts revolve.
This hymn was once given by a minister to an awakened sinner, as one
applicable to his case. He began to read: “Come, humble sinner.” He
stopped: “Humble sinner: that is not applicable to me, I am not a humble
sinner.” Ah, how well was it for him that the Holy Ghost had taught him
better than the hymn! If the hymn had said: “Come, anxious sinner,” or
“guilty sinner,” or “trembling sinner,” it would have been well enough, but
to call him a “humble” sinner would not do. There are vast numbers of
hymns of the same character. It is very common to find sinners quoting
the false sentiments of some hymn, to excuse themselves in rebellion
against God.
A minister told me he heard a prayer, quite lately, in these words: “O
Lord, these sinners have humbled themselves, and come to Thee as well as
they know how; if they knew any better, they would do better; but, O
Lord, as they have come to Thee in the best manner they can, we pray
Thee to accept them and show mercy.” Horrible!
8. Many pray: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”
(Luke 23:34). This is the prayer which Christ made for His murderers;
and, in their case, it was true; they did not know what they were doing, for
they did not believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. But it cannot be
said of sinners under the Gospel that they do not know what they are
doing. They do know what they are doing. They do not see the full extent
of it; but they do know that they are sinning against God, and rejecting
Christ; and the difficulty is that they are unwilling to submit to God. But
such a prayer is calculated to make the sinner feel relieved, and make him
say: “Lord, how canst Thou blame me so? I am a poor ignorant creature, I
do not know how to do what is required of me; if I knew how, I would do
it.”
9. Another expression is: “Lord, direct these sinners, who are inquiring the
way to Zion with their faces thitherward.” But this language is only
applicable to Christians. Sinners have not their faces towards Zion; their
faces are set towards hell! And how can a sinner be said to be “inquiring
the way” to Zion, when he has no disposition to go there? The real
difficulty is that he is unwilling to WALK in the way in which he knows
he ought to go.
10. People pray that sinners “may have more conviction.” Or, they pray
that sinners may “go home solemn and tender, and take the subject into
consideration,” instead of praying that they may repent now. Or, they
pray as if they supposed the sinner to be willing to do what is required.
All such prayers are just such prayers as the devil wants; he wishes to
have such prayers, and I dare say he does not care how many such are
offered.
Sometimes, in an anxious meeting, or when sinners have been called to the
anxious seats, after the minister has made plain the way of salvation, and
taken away all stumbling blocks out of the path, just when the sinners are
ready to YIELD some one will be called on to pray, and instead of praying
that they may repent now, he begins: “O’ Lord, we pray that these
sinners may be solemn, that they may have a deep sense of their
sinfulness, that they may go home impressed with their lost condition,
that they may attempt nothing in their own strength, that they may not
lose their convictions, and that, in Thine own time and way, they may be
brought into the glorious light and liberty of the sons of God.”
Instead of bringing them right up to the point of immediate submission, on
the spot, it gives them time to breathe, it lessens the pressure of
conviction, so that a sinner breathes freely again, and feels relieved, and
sits down at his ease. Thus, when the sinner is brought up, as it were, and
stands at the gate of the Kingdom, such a prayer, instead of pushing him
in, sets him back again: “There, poor thing, sit there till God helps you.”
11. Christians sometimes pray in such a manner as to make the impression
that CHRIST IS THE SINNER’S FRIEND in a different sense from that
in which God the Father is his Friend. They pray to Christ: “O Thou
Friend of sinners,” as if God were full of vengeance, just going to crush the
poor wretch, till Jesus Christ comes in and takes his part, and delivers
him. Now, this is all wrong. The Father and the Son are perfectly agreed,
their feelings are all the same, and both are equally disposed to have
sinners saved. And to make such an impression deceives the sinner, and
leads to wrong feelings towards God. To represent God the Father as
standing over him, with the sword of justice in His hand, eager to strike
the blow, till Christ interposes, is not right. The Father is as much the
sinner’s Friend as the Son. His compassion is equal. But if the sinner get
this unfavorable idea of God the Father, how is he ever to love Him with
all his heart, so as to say: “Abba, Father”?
12. The impression is often made, by the manner of praying, that you do
not expect sinners to repent now, or that you expect God to fulfill what is
their duty, or that you wish to encourage them to trust in your prayers.
And so, sinners are ruined. Never pray so as to make the impression on
sinners, that you secretly hope they are Christians already, or that you
feel strong confidence they will be, by and by, or that you half believe
they are converted now. This is always unhappy. In this way, multitudes
are deceived with false comfort, and prevented, just at the critical point,
from making the final surrender of themselves to God.
REMARKS.
- Many persons who deal in this way with anxious sinners, do so from
false pity. They feel so much sympathy and compassion, that they cannot
bear to tell sinners the truth which is necessary to save them. As well
might a surgeon, when he sees that a man’s arm must be amputated, or
death must result, indulge this feeling of false pity, and just put on a
plaster, and give him an opiate. There is no benevolence in that. True
benevolence would lead the surgeon to be cool and calm, and, with a keen
knife, cut the limb off, and save the life. It is false tenderness to do
anything short of that. I once saw a woman under distress of mind, who
for months had been driven well nigh to despair. Her friends had tried all
the false comforts without effect, and they brought her to see a minister.
She was emaciated, and worn out with agony. The minister set his eye
upon her, and poured in the truth upon her mind, and rebuked her in a
most pointed manner. The woman who was with her interfered: she
thought it cruel, and said: “Oh, do comfort her, she is so distressed, do not
trouble her any more, she cannot bear it.” Whereupon the minister turned,
and rebuked her, and sent her away, and then poured in the truth upon the
anxious sinner like fire, so that in five minutes she was converted, and
went home full of joy. The plain truth swept all her false notions away,
and in a few moments she was joyful in God.
2. The treatment of anxious sinners, which ministers such false comforts
is, in fact, cruelty. It is cruel as the grave, as cruel as hell, for it is
calculated to send the sinner down to the burning abyss. Christians feel
compassion for the anxious, and so they ought. But the last thing they
ought to do is to flinch just at the point where it comes to a crisis. They
should feel compassion, but they should show it just as the surgeon does,
when he deliberately goes to work, in the right and best way, and cuts off
the man’s arm, and thus cures him and saves his life. Just so Christians
should let the sinner see their compassion and tenderness, but they should
take God’s part, fully and decidedly. They should lay open to the sinner
the worst of his case, expose his guilt and danger, and then lead him right
up to the cross, and insist on instant submission. They must have
firmness enough to do this work thoroughly; and, if they see the sinner
distressed and in agony, still they must press him right on, and not give
way in the least till he yields.
To do this often requires nerve. I have often been placed in circumstances
where I have realized this. I have found myself surrounded with anxious
sinners, in such distress as to make every nerve tremble; some overcome
with emotion and lying on the floor; some applying camphor to prevent
their fainting; others shrieking out as if they were just going to hell. Now,
suppose any one should give false comfort in such a case as this? Suppose
he had not nerve enough to bring them right up to the point of instant and
absolute submission? How unfit would such a man be, to be trusted in
such a case!
3. Sometimes sinners become deranged through despair and anguish of
mind. Whenever this is the case, it is almost always because those who
deal with them try to encourage them with false comfort, and thus lead
them to such a conflict with the Holy Ghost. They try to hold them up,
while God is trying to break them down. And, by and by, the sinner’s
mind gets confused with this contrariety of influences, and he either goes
deranged, or is driven to despair.
4. If you are going to deal with sinners, remember that you are soon to
meet them in Judgment, therefore be sure to treat them in such a way that
if they are lost, it will be their own fault. Do not try to comfort them with
false notions now, and have them reproach you with it then. Better to
suppress your false sympathy, and let the naked truth “pierce even to the
dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow”
(Hebrews 4:12), than to soothe them with false comfort, and beguile them
away from God!
5. Sinner, if you converse with any Christians, and they tell you to do
anything, first ask: “If I do that, shall I be saved?” You may be anxious,
and not be saved. You may pray, and not be saved. You may read your
Bible, and not be saved. You may use means, in your own way, and not be
saved. Whatever they tell you to do, if you can do it and not be saved, do
not attend to such instructions. They are calculated to give you false
comfort, and divert your attention from the main thing to be done, and
beguile you down to hell. Do not follow any such directions, lest you
should die while doing so, for then there is no retrievement.
Finally; let a Christian never tell a sinner anything, or give him any
direction, that will lead him to stop short of, or that does not include,
submission to God. To let him stop at any point short of this, is infinitely
dangerous. Suppose you are at an anxious meeting, or a prayer meeting,
and you tell a sinner to pray, or to read, or to do anything that comes
short of saving repentance, and he should fall and break his neck that night,
of whom would his blood be required? A youth in New England once met
a minister in the street, and asked him “what he should do to be saved?”
The minister told him to go home, and go into his room, and kneel down
and give his heart to God. “Sir,” said the boy, “I feel so bad, I am afraid I
shall not live to get home.” The minister saw his error, felt the rebuke thus
unconsciously given by a youth, and then told him: “Well, then, give your
heart to God here, and then go home to your room and tell Him of it.”
It is enough to make one’s heart bleed to see so many miserable comforters
for anxious sinners “in whose answers there remaineth falsehood.” What a
vast amount of spiritual quackery there is in the world, and how many
“forgers of lies” there are, “physicians of no value” (Job 13:4) who know
no better than to comfort sinners with false hopes, and delude them with
their “old wives’ fables” (1 Timothy 4:7) and nonsense, or who give way to
false tenderness and sympathy, till they have not firmness enough to see
the sword of the Spirit applied, cutting men to the soul, and laying open
the sinner’s naked heart. Alas, that so many are ever put into the ministry,
who have not skill enough to stand by and see the Spirit of God to do His
work, in breaking up the old foundations, and crushing all the rotten hopes
of a sinner, and breaking him down at the feet of Jesus.
LECTURE XVIII
DIRECTIONS TO SINNERS
What must I do to be saved? – Acts 16:30.
These are the words of the jailer at Philippi – the question which he put
to Paul and Silas, who were then under his care as prisoners. Satan had, in
many ways, opposed these servants of God in their work of preaching the
Gospel, and had been as often defeated and disgraced. But here he devised
a new and peculiar project for frustrating their labors. There was a certain
woman at Philippi, who was possessed with a spirit of divination, or, in
other words, the spirit of the devil, and brought her masters much gain by
her soothsaying. The devil set this woman to follow Paul and Silas about
the streets, and as soon as they had begun to gain the attention of the
people, she would come in and cry: “These men are the servants of the
most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation” (v. 17). That is,
she undertook to second the exhortations of the preachers, and added her
testimony, as if to give additional weight to their instructions.
The effect of it was just what Satan desired. The people all knew that this
was a wicked, base woman; and when they heard her attempting to
recommend this new preaching, they were disgusted, and concluded that it
was all of a piece. The devil knew that it would not do him any good to set
such a person to oppose the preaching of the apostles, or to speak against
it. The time had gone by for that to succeed. And, therefore, he takes the
opposite ground, and by setting her to praise them as the servants of God,
and to bear her polluted testimony in favor of their instructions, he led
people to suppose the apostles were of the same character with her, and
had the same spirit that she had. Paul saw that if things went on so, he
would be totally baffled, and could never succeed in establishing a Church
at Philippi. So he turns round upon her, and commands the foul spirit, in
the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her. “When her masters saw that
the hope of their gains was gone” they raised a great persecution, and
“caught Paul and Silas,” and made a great ado, and brought them before the
magistrates, and raised such a clamor that the magistrates shut up the
messengers of the Gospel in prison, and the jailer “made their feet fast in
the stocks.”
Thus, the enemy thought they had put down the excitement. But “at
midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the
prisoners heard them” (v. 25). This old prison, that had so long echoed to
the voice of blasphemy and oaths, now resounded with the praises of
God; and these walls, that had stood so firm, now trembled under the
power of prayer. The stocks were unloosed, the gates thrown open, and
every one’s bands broken. The jailer was aroused from his sleep, and when
he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword, knowing that if the
prisoners had escaped he must pay for it with his life, and was about to
kill himself. But Paul, who had no notion of escaping clandestinely, cried
out to him instantly: “Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.” And the
jailer “called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down
before his prisoners, Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs,
what must I do to be saved?”
In my last Lecture, I dwelt at some length on the false instructions given to
sinners under conviction, and the false comforts too often administered,
and the erroneous instructions which such persons receive. It is my design
now, to show what are the instructions that should be given to anxious
sinners in order to their speedy and effectual conversion; or, in other
words, to explain to you, what answer should be given to those who make
the inquiry: “What must I do to be saved?” I propose:
I. To show what is not a proper direction to be given to sinners, when
they make the inquiry in the text.
II. To show what is a proper answer to the inquiry.
III. To specify several errors into which anxious sinners are apt to fall.
I. WHAT ARE NOT PROPER DIRECTIONS.
No more important inquiry was ever made than this: “What must I do to
be saved?” Mankind are apt enough to inquire: “What shall I eat, and what
shall I drink?” and the question may be answered in various ways, with
little danger. But when a sinner asks in earnest: “What must I do to be
saved?” it is of infinite importance that he should receive the right answer.
- No direction should be given to a sinner that will leave him still “in the
gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity” (Acts 8:23). No answer is
proper to be given, by complying with which he would not go to heaven,
if he should die the next moment.
2. No direction should be given that does not include a change of heart, or a
right heart, or hearty obedience to Christ. In other words, nothing is
proper which does not imply actually becoming a Christian. Any other
direction that falls short of this, is of no use. It will not bring him any
nearer to the Kingdom, it will do no good, but will lead him to defer the
very thing which he must do in order to be saved. The sinner should be
told plainly, at once, what he must do if he would not be lost; and he
should be told nothing that does not include a right state of heart.
Whatever you may do, sinner, that does not include a right heart, is sin.
Whether you read the Bible or not, you are in sin, so long as you remain in
rebellion. Whether you go to religious services or stay away; whether you
pray or not, it is nothing but rebellion, every moment. It is surprising that
a sinner should suppose himself to be doing service to God when he
prays, and reads his Bible. Should a rebel against the Government read the
statute-book while he continues in rebellion, and has no design to obey;
should he ask for pardon while he holds on to his weapons of resistance
and warfare; would you think him doing his country a service, and lay it
under obligation to show him favor? No; you would say that all his reading
and praying were only an insult to the majesty both of the lawgiver and
the law. So you, sinner, while you remain in impenitence, are insulting
God, and setting him at defiance, whether you read His Word, and pray, or
let it alone. No matter what place or what attitude your body is in, on
your knees or in the house of God; so long as your heart is not right, so
long as you resist the Holy Ghost, and reject Christ, you are a rebel
against your Maker.
II. WHAT IS A PROPER ANSWER.
Generally, you may give the sinner any direction, or tell him to do
anything, that includes a right heart; and if you make him understand, and
he follows the directions, he will be saved. The Spirit of God, in striving
with sinners, suits His strivings to the state of mind in which He finds
them. His great object in striving with them is, to dislodge them from their
hiding-places, and bring them to submit to God at once. These objections,
difficulties, and states of mind, are as various as the circumstances of
mankind – as many as there are individuals. The characters of individuals
afford an endless diversity. What is to be done with each one, and how he
is to be converted, depends on his particular errors. It is necessary to
ascertain his errors; to find out what he understands, and what he needs to
be taught more perfectly; to see what points the Spirit of God is pressing
upon his conscience, and to press the same things, and thus bring him to
Christ.
The most common directions are the following:
- It is generally in point, and a safe and suitable direction, to tell a
sinner to repent. I say, generally. For sometimes the Spirit of God seems not
so much to direct the sinner’s attention to his own sins as to some other
thing. In the days of the apostles, the minds of the people seem to have
been agitated mainly on the question, whether Jesus was the true Messiah.
And so the apostles directed much of their instruction to this point, to
prove that he was the Christ. And whenever anxious sinners asked them
what they must do, they most commonly exhorted them to “believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ.” They bore down on this point, because here was
where the Spirit of God was striving, and this was the subject that
especially agitated the minds of the people, and, consequently, this would
probably be the first thing a person would do on submitting to God. It
was the grand point at issue between God and the Jew and Gentile of
those days, whether Jesus Christ was the Son of God. It was the point in
dispute. To bring the sinner to yield this controverted question was the
way the most effectually to humble him.
At other times, it will be found that the Spirit of God is dealing with
sinners chiefly in reference to their own sins. Sometimes He deals with
them in regard to a particular duty, as prayer – perhaps family prayer.
The sinner will be found to be contesting that point with God, whether it
is right for him to pray, or whether he ought to pray in his family. I have
known striking cases of this kind, where the individual was struggling on
this point, and as soon as he fell on his knees to pray, he yielded his heart,
showing that this was the very point which the Spirit of God was
contesting, and the hinge on which his controversy with God all turned.
That was conversion.
The direction to repent is always proper, but will not always be effectual,
for there may be some other thing that the sinner needs to be told also.
And where it is the pertinent direction, sinners need not only to be told to
repent, but to have it explained to them what repentance is. Since there has
been so much mysticism, and false philosophy, and false theology, thrown
round the subject, it has become necessary to tell sinners not only what
you mean by repentance, but also to tell them what you do not mean.
Words that used to be plain, and easily understood, have now become so
perverted that they need to be explained to sinners, or they will often
convey a wrong impression to their minds. This is the case with the word
“repentance.” Many suppose that remorse, or a sense of guilt, is
repentance. Then, hell is full of repentance, for it is full of remorse,
unutterable and eternal. Others feel regret that they have done such a thing,
and they call that repenting. But they only regret that they have sinned,
because of the consequences, and not because they abhor sin. This is not
repentance. Others suppose that convictions of sin and strong fears of hell
are repentance. Others consider the remonstrances of conscience as
repentance; they say: “I never do anything wrong without repenting and
feeling sorry I did it.” Sinners must be shown that all these things are not
repentance. They are not only consistent with the utmost wickedness, but
the devil might have them all and yet remain a devil. Repentance is a
change of mind, as regards God and towards sin. It is not only a change of
views, but a change of the ultimate preference or choice of the soul. It is a
voluntary change, and by consequence involves a change of feeling and of
action toward God and toward sin. It is what is naturally understood by a
change of mind on any subject of interest and importance. We hear that a
man has changed his mind in politics; everybody understands that he has
undergone a change in his views, his feelings, and his conduct. This is
repentance, on that subject: it is a change of mind, but not toward God.
Evangelical repentance is a change of willing, of feeling, and of life, in
respect to God.
Repentance always implies abhorrence of sin. It of course involves the
love of God and the forsaking of sin. The sinner who truly repents does
not feel as impenitent sinners think they should feel at giving up their sins,
if they should become religious. Impenitent sinners look upon religion in
this way: that if they become pious, they should be obliged to stay away
from balls and parties, and obliged to give up theatres, or gambling, or
other things that they now take delight in. And they see not however they
could enjoy themselves, if they should break off from all those things. But
this is very far from being a correct view of the matter, Religion does not
make them unhappy, by shutting them out from things in which they
delight, because the first step in it, is, to repent, to change their mind in
regard to all these things. They do not seem to realize, that the person who
has repented has no disposition for these things; he has given them up, and
turned his mind away from them. Sinners feel as if they should want to go
to such places, and want to mingle in such scenes, just as much as they do
now, and that it will be such a continual sacrifice as to make them
unhappy. This is a great mistake.
I know there are some professors, who would be very glad to betake
themselves to their former practices, were it not that they feel constrained,
by fear of losing their character, or the like. But, mark me: if they feel so,
it is because they have no religion; they do not hate sin. If they desire
their former ways, they have no religion, they have never repented; for
repentance always consists in a change of views and feelings. If they were
really converted, instead of choosing such things, they would turn away
from them with loathing. Instead of lusting after the flesh-pots of Egypt,
and desiring to go into their former circles, parties, balls, and the like,
they would find their highest pleasure in obeying God.
2. Sinners should be told to believe the Gospel. Here, also, they need to
have it explained to them, and to be told what is not faith, and what is.
Nothing is more common, than for a sinner, when told to believe the
Gospel, to say: “I do believe it.” The fact is, he has been brought up to
admit the fact that the Gospel is true, but he does not believe it: he knows
nothing about the evidence of it, and all his faith is a mere admission
without evidence. He holds it to be true, in a kind of loose, indefinite
sense, so that he is always ready to say: “I do believe the Bible.” It is
strange that they do not see that they are deceived in thinking that they
believe, for they must see that they have never acted upon these truths, as
they do upon those things which they do believe. Yet it is often quite
difficult to convince them that they do not believe.
But the fact is, that the careless sinner does not believe the Gospel at all.
The idea that the careless sinner is an intellectual believer, is absurd. The
devil is an intellectual believer, and that is what makes him tremble. What
makes a sinner anxious is, that he begins to be an intellectual believer, and
that makes him feel. No being in heaven, earth, or hell, can intellectually
believe the truths of the Gospel, and not feel on the subject. The anxious
sinner has faith of the same kind with devils, but he has not so much of it,
and, therefore, he does not feel so much. The man who does not feel or act
at all, on the subject of religion, is an infidel, let his professions be what
they may. He who feels nothing, and does nothing, believes nothing. This
is a philosophical fact.
Faith does not consist in an intellectual conviction that Christ died for you
in particular, or in a belief that you are a Christian, or that you ever shall
be, or that your sins are forgiven. But faith is that trust or confidence in
God, and in Christ, which commits the whole soul to Him in all His
relations to us. It is a voluntary trust in His person, His veracity, His
word. This was the faith of Abraham: he had that confidence in what God
said, which led him to act as accepting its truth. This is the way the
apostle illustrates it in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. “Faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (v. 1). And
he goes on to illustrate it by various examples. “Through faith we
understand that the worlds were framed” (v. 3); that is, we believe this,
and act accordingly.
Take the case of Noah. Noah was warned of God of things not seen as yet,
that is, he was assured that God was going to drown the world, and he
believed it, and acted accordingly; he prepared an ark to save his family,
and by so doing, he condemned the world that would not believe; his
actions gave evidence that he was sincere. Abraham, too, was called of
God to leave his country, with the promise that he should be the gainer by
it; and he obeyed and went out, without knowing whither he went. Read
the whole chapter, and you will find many instances of the same kind. The
whole design of the chapter is to illustrate the nature of faith, and to show
that it invariably results in action. The sinner should have it explained to
him, and be made to see that the faith which the Gospel requires, is just
that confidence in Christ which leads him to act on what He say as being a
certain fact. This is believing in Christ.
3. Another direction, proper to be given to the sinner, is, that he should
give his heart to God. God says: “My son, give Me thine heart” (Proverbs
23:26). But here also there needs to be explanation, to make him
understand what it is. It is amazing that there should be any darkness here.
It is the language of common life, in everybody’s mouth, and everybody
understands just what it means, when we use it in regard to anything else.
But when it comes to religion, they seem to be all in the dark. Ask a
sinner, no matter what may be his age, or education, what it means to give
the heart to God, and, strange as it may appear, he is at a loss for an
answer. Ask a woman, what it is to give her heart to her husband; or a
man, what it is to give his heart to his wife; and they understand it. But
then they are totally blind as to giving their hearts to God. I suppose I
have asked more than a thousand anxious sinners this question. When I
have told them, they must give their hearts to God, they have always said
that they were willing to do it, and sometimes, that they were anxious to
do it, and they have even seemed to be in an agony of desire about it. Then
I have asked them, what they understood to be meant by giving their
hearts to God, since they were so willing to do it. And very seldom have I
received a correct or rational answer from a sinner of any age. I have
sometimes had the strangest answers that could be imagined.
Now, to give your heart to God is the same thing as to give your heart to
anybody else; the same as for a woman to give her heart to her husband.
Ask that woman if she understands this. “Oh, yes, that is plain enough; it
is to place my affections with him, and strive to please him in everything.”
Very well, place your affections on God, and strive to please Him in
everything. But when they come to the subject of religion, people suppose
there is some wonderful mystery about it. Some talk as if they suppose it
means taking out this bundle of muscles, or fleshy organ, in their bosom,
and giving it to God. Sinner, what God asks of you, is, that you should
love Him supremely.
4. “Submit to God,” is also a proper direction to anxious sinners. And oh,
how dark sinners are here, too! Scarcely a sinner can be found who will not
tell you that he is willing to submit to God. But they do not understand.
They need to be told what true submission is. Sometimes they think it
means that they should be willing to be sent to perdition. Sometimes they
place themselves in this attitude, and call it submission; they say that, if
they are elected they will be saved; and if not, they will be lost. This is not
submission. True submission is yielding obedience to God. Suppose a
rebel, in arms against the Government, is called on to submit, what would
he understand by it? Why, that he should yield the point, and lay down
his arms, and obey the laws. That is just what it means for a sinner to
submit to God. He must cease his strife and conflict against his Maker, and
take the attitude of a willing and obedient child, willing to be and do whatever
God requires. “Here am I” (1 Samuel 3:8); “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to
do?” (Acts 9:6.)
Suppose a company of soldiers had rebelled, and the Government had
raised an army to put them down, and had driven them into a stronghold,
where they were out of provisions, and had no way to escape. Suppose
the rebels to have met, in this extremity, to consider what should be done;
and one rises up, saying: “Well, comrades, I am convinced we are all wrong
from the beginning, and now the reward of our deeds is likely to overtake
us, and we cannot escape; and as for remaining here to die, I am resolved
not to do it; I am going to throw myself on the mercy of the commander in
chief.” That man submits. He ceases from that moment to be a rebel in his
heart, just as soon as he comes to this conclusion. So it is with the sinner
when he yields the point, and consents in his heart to do, and be, whatever
God shall require. The sinner may be in doubt what to do, and may feel
afraid to put himself in God’s hands, thinking that if he does, perhaps God
will send him down to hell, as he deserves. But it is his business to leave
all that question with God, to resist his Maker no longer, to make no
conditions, but to trust wholly to God’s benevolence and wisdom to
appoint his future condition. Until he has done this, he has done nothing
to the purpose.
5. Another proper direction to be given to sinners, is to confess and
forsake their sins. They must confess to God their sins against God, and
confess to men their sins against men; and forsake them all. A man does
not forsake his sins till he has made all the reparation in his power. If he
has stolen money, or defrauded his neighbor out of property, he does not
forsake his sins by merely resolving not to steal any more, not to cheat
again; he must make reparation to the extent of his power. 73 So, if he has
slandered any one, he does not forsake his sin by merely saying he will not
do so again; he must make reparation. So, in like manner, if he has robbed
God, as all sinners have, he must make reparation, as far as he has power.
Suppose a man has made money in rebellion against God, and has withheld
from Him his time, talents, and service, has lived and rioted upon the
bounties of His providence, and refused to lay himself out for the
salvation of the world; he has robbed God. Now, if he should die, feeling
this money to be his own, and should he leave it to his heirs without
consulting the will of God – why, he is just as certain to go to hell as a
highway robber. He has never made any satisfaction to God. With all his
whining and pious talk, he has never confessed HIS SIN to God, nor
forsaken his sin, for he has neither felt nor acknowledged himself to be the
steward of God. If he refuses to hold the property in his possession as the
steward of God; if he accounts it his own, and as such gives it to his
children, he says in effect, to God: “That property is not Thine, it is mine,
and I will give it to my children.” He has continued to persevere in his sin,
for he does not relinquish the ownership of that of which he has robbed
God.
What would a merchant think if his clerk should take all the capital and set
up a store of his own, and die with it in his hands? Will such a man go to
heaven? “No,” you say. God would prove Himself unjust, to let such a
character go unpunished. What, then, shall we say of the man who has
robbed God all his life? God sent him to be His clerk, to manage some of
His affairs, but he has stolen all the money, and says it is his: he keeps it,
and, dying, leaves it to his children, as if it were all his own lawful
property. Has that man forsaken sin? I tell you, No. If he has not
surrendered himself and all he has to God, he has not taken the first step in
the way to heaven.
6. Another proper direction to be given to sinners is: “Choose you this
day whom ye will serve” (Joshua 24:15). Under the Old Testament
dispensation, this, or something equivalent to it, was the most common
direction given. It was not common to call on men to believe in Christ until
the days of John the Baptist. He baptized those who came to him, with
the baptism of repentance, and directed them to believe on Him who
should come after him. Under Joshua, the text was something which the
people all understood more easily than they would a call to believe on the
distant Messiah; it was: “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” On
another occasion, Moses said to them: “I call heaven and earth to record
this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and
cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live”
(Deuteronomy 30:19). The direction was accommodated to the people’s
knowledge. And it is as good now as it was then. Sinners are called upon
to choose – what? Whether they will serve God or the world; whether
they will follow holiness or sin. Let them be made to understand what is
meant by choosing, and what is to be chosen, and then if the thing be done
from the heart, they will be saved.
Any of these directions, if complied with, will constitute true conversion.
The particular exercises may vary in different cases. Sometimes the first
exercise in conversion is submission to God, sometimes repentance,
sometimes faith, sometimes the choice of God and His service; in short,
whatever their thoughts are taken up with at the time. If their thoughts are
directed to Christ at the moment, the first exercise will be faith. If to sin,
the first exercise will be repentance. If to their future course of life, it is
choosing the service of God. If to the Divine government, it is submission.
It is important to find out just where the Holy Spirit is pressing the sinner
at the time, and then take care to push that point. If it is in regard to
Christ, press that; if it is in regard to his future course of life, push him
right up to an immediate choice of obedience to God.
It is a great error to suppose that any one particular exercise is always
foremost in conversion, or that every sinner must have faith first, or
submission first. It is not true, either in philosophy or in fact. There is a
great variety in people’s exercises. Whatever point is taken hold of
between God and the sinner, when the sinner YIELDS that, he is
converted. Whatever the particular exercise may be, if it includes obedience
of heart to God on any point, it is true conversion. When he yields one
point to God’s authority, he is ready to yield all. When he changes his
mind, and obeys in one thing, because it is God’s will, he will obey in
other things, so far as he sees it to be God’s will. Where there is right
choice, then, whenever the mind is directed to any one point of duty, he is
ready to follow. It matters very little which of these directions be given, if
it is only made plain, and if it is to the point, so as to serve as a test of
obedience to God. If it is to the point that the Spirit of God is debating
with the sinner’s mind, so as to fall in with the Spirit’s work, and not to
divert the sinner’s attention from the very point in controversy, let it be
made perfectly clear, and then pressed till the sinner yields, and he will be
saved.
III. ERRORS INTO WHICH ANXIOUS SINNERS ARE APT TO FALL.
- The first error is, in supposing that they must make themselves better,
or prepare themselves, so as in some way to recommend themselves to the
mercy of God. It is marvelous that sinners will not understand that all
they have to do is to accept salvation, all prepared to their hands, from
God. But they all, learned or unlearned, at first betake themselves to a legal
course to get relief. This is one principal reason why they will not become
Christians at once. They imagine that they must be, in some way or other,
prepared to come. They must change their dress, and make themselves
look a little better; they are not willing to come just as they are, in their
rags and poverty. They must have something more on, before they can
approach God. They should be shown, at once, that it is impossible they
should be any better until they do what God requires. Every pulse that
beats, every breath they draw, they are growing worse, because they are
standing out in rebellion against God, so long as they do not do the very
thing which God requires of them as the first thing to be done.
2. Another error is, in supposing that they must suffer a considerable time
under conviction, as a kind of punishment, before they are properly ready
to come to Christ. So they will pray for conviction; and they think that if
they are ground down to the earth with distress, for a sufficient time, then
God will pity them, and be more ready to help them when He sees them
so very miserable! They should be made to understand clearly that they
are thus unhappy and miserable, merely because they refuse to accept the
relief which God offers.
3. Sometimes sinners imagine they must wait for different feelings before
they submit to God. They say: “I do not think I feel right yet, to accept
Christ; I do not think I am prepared to be converted yet.” They ought to
be made to see that what God requires of them is to will right. If they
obey and submit with the will, the feelings will adjust themselves in due
time. It is not a question of feeling, but of willing and acting.
The feelings are involuntary, and have no moral character except what they
derive from the action of the will, with which action they sympathize.
Before the will is right, the feelings will not be, of course. The sinner
should come to Christ by accepting Him at once; and this he must do, not
in obedience to his feelings, but in obedience to his conscience. Obey,
submit, trust. Give up all instantly, and your feelings will come right. Do
not wait for better feelings, but commit your whole being to God at once,
and this will soon result in the feelings for which you are waiting. What
God requires of you is the present act of your mind, in turning from sin to
holiness, and from the service of Satan to the service of the living God.
4. Another error of sinners is to suppose that they must wait till their
hearts are changed. “What?” say they, “am I to believe in Christ before my
heart is changed? Do you mean that I am to repent before my heart is
changed?” Now, the simple answer to all this is that the change of heart is
the very thing in question. God requires sinners to love Him: that is to
change their hearts. God requires the sinner to believe the Gospel. That is
to change his heart. God requires him to repent. That is to change his
heart. God does not tell him to wait till his heart is changed, and then
repent and believe, and love God. The very word itself, repent, signifies a
change of mind or heart. To do either of these things is to change your
heart, and to “make you a new heart” (Ezekiel 18:31), just as God
requires.
5. Sinners often get the idea that they are perfectly willing to do what God
requires. Tell them to do this thing, or that, to repent, or believe, or give
God their hearts, and they say: “Oh, yes, I am perfectly willing to do that;
I wish I could do it, I would give anything if I could do it.” They ought to
understand that being truly willing is doing it, but there is a difference
between willing and desiring. People often desire to be Christians, when
they are wholly unwilling to be so. When we see anything which appears
to be a good, we are so constituted that we desire it. We necessarily desire
it when it is before our minds. We cannot help desiring it in proportion as
its goodness is presented to our minds. But yet we may not be willing to
have it, under all the circumstances. A man may desire on many accounts
to go to Philadelphia, while, for still more weighty reasons, he chooses not
to go there. So the sinner may desire to be a Christian. He may see that if
he were a Christian he would be a deal more happy, and that he should go
to heaven when he dies; but yet he is not willing to be a Christian.
WILLING to obey Christ is to be a Christian. When an individual actually
chooses to obey God, he is a Christian. But all such desires as do not
terminate in actual choice, are nothing.
6. The sinner will sometimes say that he offers to give God his heart, but
he intimates that God is unwilling. But this is absurd. What does God ask?
Why, that you should love Him. Now for you to say that you are willing
to give God your heart, but that God is unwilling, is the same as saying
that you are willing to love God, but God is not willing to be loved by
you, and will not suffer you to love Him. It is important to clear up all
these points in the sinner’s mind, that he may have no dark and
mysterious corner to rest in, where the truth will not reach him.
7. Sinners sometimes get the idea that they repent, when they are only
convicted. Whenever the sinner is found resting in any LIE let the truth
sweep it away, however much it may pain and distress him. If he has any
error of this kind, you must tear it away from him.
8. Sinners are often wholly taken up with looking at themselves, to see if
they cannot find something there, some kind of feeling or other, that will
recommend them to God. Evidently for want of proper instruction, David
Brainerd was a long time taken up with his state of mind, looking for some
feelings that would recommend him to God. Sometimes he imagined that
he had such feelings, and would tell God, in prayer, that now he felt as he
should, in order to receive His mercy; and then he would see that he had
been all wrong. Thus the poor man, for want of correct instruction, was 74
driven almost to despair, and it is easy to see that his Christian exercises
through life were greatly modified, and his comfort and usefulness much
impaired, by the false philosophy he had adopted on this point. 75 You
must turn the sinner away from himself.
REMARKS.
- The labor of ministers is greatly increased, and the difficulties in the
way of salvation are greatly multiplied, by the false instructions that have
been given to sinners. The consequence has been that directions which
used to be plain are now obscure. People have been taught so long that
there is something awfully mysterious and unintelligible about conversion,
that they do not try to understand it.
It was once sufficient, as we learn from the Bible, to tell sinners to repent,
or to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; but now, faith has been talked
about as a principle, instead of an act; and repentance as some thing put
into the mind, instead of an exercise of the mind; and sinners are perplexed.
Ministers are charged with preaching heresy, because they presume to
teach that faith is an exercise, and not a principle; and that sin is an act,
and not a part of the constitution of man. And sinners have become so
sophisticated, that you have to be at great pains in explaining, not only
what you do mean, but what you do not mean, otherwise they will be
almost sure to misunderstand you, and either gain a false relief from their
anxiety, by throwing their duty off upon God, or else run into despair
from the supposed impracticability of doing what is requisite for their
salvation. It is often a matter of the greatest difficulty to lead sinners out
of the theological labyrinths and mazes into which they have been deluded,
and to lead them along the straight and simple way of the Gospel. It seems
as if the greatest ingenuity had been employed to mystify the minds of the
people, and to weave a most subtle web of false philosophy, calculated to
involve a sinner in endless darkness. It is necessary to be as plain as A B
C, and the best educated have to be talked to like children. Tell a sinner to
believe, and he stares, saying: “Why, how you talk! Is not faith a
principle? And how am I to believe till I get this principle?” So, if a
minister tells a sinner, in the very words that the apostle used in the great
revival on the Day of Pentecost: “Repent, every one of you” (Acts 2:38),
he is answered: “Oh, I guess you are an Arminian; I do not want any of
your Arminian teaching; do you not deny the Spirit’s influences?” It is
enough to make humanity weep, to see the fog and darkness that have
been thrown around the plain directions of the Gospel.
2. These false instructions to sinners are infinitely worse than none. The
Lord Jesus Christ found it more difficult to get the people to yield up their
false notions of theology than anything else. This has been the great
difficulty with the Jews to this day, that they have received false notions
in theology, have perverted the truth on certain points, and you cannot
make them understand the plainest points in the Gospel. So it is with
sinners: the most difficult thing to be done is to get them away from these
“refuges of lies,” which they have found in false theology. They are so
fond of holding on to these refuges (because they excuse the sinner, and
condemn God), that it is found to be the most perplexing, and difficult,
and discouraging part of a minister’s labor, to drive them out.
3. No wonder the Gospel has taken so little effect, encumbered as it has
been with these strange dogmas. The truth is, that very little of the Gospel
has come out upon the world, for these hundreds of years, without being
clogged and obscured by false theology. People have been told that they
must repent, and, in the same breath, told that they could not repent, until
the truth itself has been all mixed up with error, so as to produce the same
practical effect with error. The Gospel that was preached has been another
gospel, or no gospel at all.
4. You can understand what is meant by “healing slightly the hurt of the
daughter of God’s people” (Jeremiah 6:14; 8:11), and the danger of doing
it. It is very easy, when sinners are under conviction, to say something
that shall smooth over the case, and relieve their anxiety, so that they will
either get a false hope, or will be converted with their views so obscure,
that they will always be poor, feeble, wavering, doubting, inefficient
Christians.
5. Much depends on the manner in which a person is dealt with, when
under conviction. Much of his future comfort and usefulness depends on
the clearness, strength, and firmness with which the directions of the
Gospel are given, when he is under conviction. If those who deal with him
are afraid to use the probe thoroughly, he will always be a poor, sickly,
doubting Christian. The true mode is to deal thoroughly and plainly with
the sinner, to tear away every excuse he can offer, and to show him plainly
what he is and what he ought to be; then he will bless God to all eternity
that he fell in with those who would be so faithful with his soul. For the
want of this thorough and searching management, many are converted who
seem to be stillborn; and the reason is, they never were faithfully dealt
with. We may charitably hope they are Christians, but still it is uncertain
and doubtful: their conversion seems rather a change of opinion than a
change of heart. But if, when sinners are under conviction, you pour in the
truth, put in the probe, break up the old foundations, sweep away their
“refuges of lies,” and use the Word of God like fire and like a hammer, you
will find that they will come out with clear views, and strong faith, and
firm principles – not doubting, halting, irresolute Christians, but such as
follow the Lord wholly. That is the way to make strong Christians. This
has been eminently the case in many revivals of modern days.
I have heard old Christians say of the converts: “These converts have, at
the very outset, all the clearness of view, and strength of faith, of old
Christians. They seem to understand the doctrines of religion, and to know
what to do, and how to promote revivals, better than one in a hundred of
the old members in the Church.”
I once knew a young man who was converted away from home. The place
where he lived had no minister, and no preaching, and no religion. He went
home three days after he was converted, and immediately set himself to
work to labor for a revival. He set up meetings in his neighborhood, and
prayed and labored, and a revival broke out – of which he had the
principal management throughout a powerful work, in which most of the
principal men of the place were converted. The truth was, he had been so
dealt with that he knew what he was about. He understood the subject and
knew where he stood himself. He was not all the while troubled with
doubts, whether he was himself a Christian. He knew that he was serving
God, and that God was with him, and so he went boldly and resolutely
forward to his object. But if you undertake to make converts, without
clearing up all their errors and tearing away their false hopes, you may
make a host of hypocrites, or of puny, dwarfish Christians, always
doubting and easily turned back from a revival spirit, and worth nothing.
The way is, to bring them right out to the light. When a man is converted
in this way, you can depend on him, and will know where to find him.
6. Protracted seasons of conviction are generally owing to defective
instruction. Wherever clear and faithful instructions are given to sinners,
there you will generally find that convictions are deep and pungent, but
short.
7. Where clear and discriminating instructions are given to convicted
sinners, if they do not soon submit, their convictions will generally leave
them. Convictions in such cases are generally short. Where the truth is
brought to bear upon the sinner’s mind, and he directly resists the very
truth that must convert him, there is nothing more to be done. The Spirit
will soon leave him, for the very weapons He uses are resisted. Where
instructions are not clear, but are mixed up with errors, the Spirit may
strive, even for years, in great mercy, to get sinners through the fog of false
instruction; but not so where their duty is clearly explained to them, and
they are brought right up to the single point of immediate submission, all
their false pretenses being exposed, and the path of duty made perfectly
plain. Then, if they do not submit, the Spirit of God forsakes them, and
their state is well-nigh hopeless.
If there be sinners in this house, and you see your duty clearly, TAKE
CARE how you delay. If you do not submit, you may expect the Spirit of
God will forsake you, and you are LOST.
8. A vast deal of the direction given to anxious sinners amounts to little
less than the popish doctrine of indulgences. The Pope used to sell
indulgences to sin, and this led to the Reformation under Luther.
Sometimes people would purchase an indulgence to sin for a certain time,
or to commit some particular sin, or a number of sins. Now, there is a vast
deal in Protestant Churches which is little less than the same thing. What
does it differ from this, to tell a sinner to wait? It amounts to telling him to
continue in sin for a while longer, while he is waiting for God to convert
him. And what is that but an indulgence to commit sin? Any direction
given to sinners that does not require them immediately to obey God is an
indulgence to sin. It is in effect giving them liberty to continue in sin
against God. Such directions are not only wicked, but ruinous and cruel. If
they do not destroy the soul, as no doubt they often do, they defer, at all
events, the sinner’s enjoyment of God and of Christ, and he stands a great
chance of being lost for ever, while listening to such instructions. Oh, how
dangerous it is to give a sinner reason to think he may wait a moment,
before giving his heart to God!
9. So far as I have had opportunity to observe, those persons with whom
conversion was most sudden have commonly turned out to be the best
Christians. I know the reverse of this has often been held and maintained.
But I am satisfied there is no reason for it, although multitudes, even now,
regard it as a suspicious circumstance, if a man has been converted very
suddenly. But the Bible gives no warrant for this supposition. There is not
a case of protracted conviction recorded in the whole Bible. All the
conversions recorded there are sudden conversions. And I am persuaded
there never would be such multitudes of tedious convictions which often
end in nothing, after all, if it were not for those theological perversions
which have filled the world with Cannot-ism. In Bible days, sinners were
told to repent, and they did it then. Cannot-ism had not been broached in
that day. It is this speculation about the inability of sinners to obey God,
that lays the foundation for all the protracted anguish and distress, and
perhaps ruin, into which so many are led. Where a sinner is brought to see
what he has to do, and he takes his stand at once, AND DOES IT, you
generally find that such a person proves a decided character. You will not
find him one of those that you always have to warp up to duty, like a
ship, against wind and tide. Look at those professors who always have to
be dragged forward in duty, and you will generally find that they had not
clear and consistent directions when they were converted. Most likely,
too, they will be very much “afraid of these sudden conversions.”
Afraid of sudden conversions! Some of the best Christians of my
acquaintance were convicted and converted in the space of a few minutes.
In one-quarter of the time that I have been speaking, many of them were
awakened, and came right out on the Lord’s side, and have been shining
lights in the Church ever since, and have generally manifested the same
decision of character in religion that they did when they first came out and
took a stand on His side.
LECTURE XIX
INSTRUCTIONS TO CONVERTS
Feed My lambs. – John 2:15.
Those who read their Bibles will recollect the connection in which these
words occur, and by whom they were spoken. They were addressed by
the Lord Jesus Christ to Peter, after he had denied his Lord, and had
subsequently professed repentance. Our Lord asked him this question, to
remind him, in an affecting manner, at once of his sin and of the love of
Christ: “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these?” –
strongly implying a doubt whether he did love Him. Peter answers: “Yea,
Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee.” Then Christ said unto Him: “Feed
My lambs”; and repeated the question, as if He would read his inmost
soul: “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me?” Peter was still firm, and
promptly answered again: “Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee.”
Jesus still asked him the question again, the third time, emphatically. He
seemed to urge the point, as if He would search his inmost thoughts, to see
whether Peter would ever deny Him again. Peter was touched; he was
“grieved,” it is said; he did not fly into a passion, nor did he boast, as
formerly: “Though I should die with Thee, yet will I not deny Thee”
(Matthew 26:35); but he was grieved; he was subdued; he spoke tenderly;
he appealed to the Savior Himself, as if he would implore Him not to
doubt his sincerity any longer: “Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou
knowest that I love Thee.” Christ then gave him his final charge: “Feed
My sheep” (v. 17).
By the terms “sheep” and “lambs” the Savior undoubtedly designated
Christians, members of His Church; the lambs probably represent young
converts, those that have but little experience and but little knowledge of
religion, and therefore need to have special attention and pains taken with
them, to guard them from harm, and to train them for future usefulness.
And when our Savior told Peter to feed His sheep, He doubtless referred
to the important part which Peter was to perform in watching over the
newly-formed Churches in different parts of the world, and in training the
young converts, and leading them along to usefulness and happiness.
My last Lecture was on the subject of giving right instruction to anxious
sinners; this naturally brings me to consider the manner in which young
converts should be treated, and the instructions that should be given to
them.
In speaking on this subject it is my design to state:
I. Several things that ought to be considered, in regard to the hopes of
young converts.
II. Several things respecting their making a profession of religion, and
joining the Church.
III. The importance of having correct instruction given to young converts.
IV. What should not be taught to young converts.
V. What particular things are specially necessary to be taught to young
converts.
VI. How young converts should be treated by Church members.
I. THE HOPES OF YOUNG CONVERTS.
- Nothing should be said to create a hope. That is to say, nothing should
ordinarily be intimated to persons under conviction calculated to make
them think they have experienced religion, till they find it out themselves.
I do not like this term, “experienced religion,” and I use it only because it
is a phrase in common use. It is an absurdity in itself What is religion?
Obedience to God. Suppose you should hear a good citizen say he had
experienced obedience to the Government of the country! You see that it
is nonsense. Or suppose a child should talk about experiencing obedience
to his father. If he knew what he was saying, he would say he had obeyed
his father; just as the apostle Paul says to the Roman believers: “Ye have
obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you”
(Romans. 6:17).
What I mean to say is that ordinarily it is best to let their hope or belief
that they are converted spring up spontaneously in their own minds.
Sometimes it will happen that persons may be really converted, but,
owing to some notions which they have been taught about religion, they
do not realize it. Their views of what religion is, and its effect upon the
mind, are so entirely wide of the truth that they do not think they have it.
I will give you an illustration on this point.
Some years since, I labored in a place where a revival was in progress, and
there was in the place a young lady from Boston. She had been brought up
a Unitarian. She was a person of considerable education, and was
intelligent on many subjects; but on the subject of religion she was very
ignorant. At length she was convicted of sin. She became awfully
convinced of her horrible enmity against God. She had been so educated as
to have a sense of propriety; but her enmity against God became so great,
and broke out so frightfully, that it was horrible to hear her talk. She used
to come to the anxious meetings, where we conversed with each person
separately; and her feelings of opposition to God were such that she used
to create disturbance. By the time I came within two or three seats of her,
where she could hear what I said in a low voice to the others, she would
begin to make remarks in reply, so that they could be heard. And she
would say the most bitter things against God, against His providence, and
His method of dealing with mankind, as if God were an infinite tyrant. I
would try to hush her, and make her keep still, because she distracted the
attention of others. Sometimes she would stop and command her temper
for a time, and sometimes she would rise and go out. I have seldom seen a
case where the enmity of the heart rose so high against God. One night, at
the anxious meeting, after she had been very restless, as I went towards
her, she began as usual to reply, but I hushed her, and told her I could not
converse with her there. I invited her to see me the next morning, when I
told her I would talk with her. She promised to come; but, said she: “God
is unjust – He is infinitely unjust. Is He not almighty? Why, then, has He
never shown me my enmity before? Why has He let me run on so long?
Why does He let my friends at Boston remain in this ignorance? They are
the enemies of God as much as I am, and they are going to hell. Why does
He not show them the truth in regard to their condition?” And in this
temper she left the room.
The next morning she came to see me, as she had promised. I saw, as soon
as she came in, that her countenance was changed, but I said nothing about
it. “Oh,” said she, “I have changed my mind, as to what I said last night
about God; I do not think He has done me any wrong, and I think I shall
‘get religion’ some time, for now I love to think about God. I have been all
wrong; the reason why I had never known my enmity before was that I
would not. I used to read the Bible, but I always passed over the passages
that would make me feel as if I were a lost sinner; and those passages that
spoke of Jesus Christ as God I passed over without consideration; but
now I see that it was my fault, not God’s fault, that I did not know any
more about myself; I have changed my mind now.” She had no idea that
this was religion, but she was encouraged now to expect religion at some
future time, because she loved God so much. I said nothing to make her
imagine that I thought her a Christian, but left her to find it out. And, for a
time, her mind was so entirely occupied with thinking about God that she
never seemed to ask whether she “had religion” or not.
It is a great evil, ordinarily, to encourage persons to hope they are
Christians. Very likely you may judge prematurely. Or if not, it is better,
in any case, that they should find it out for themselves – that is,
supposing they do not see it at once.
2. When persons express a hope, and yet express doubts, too, it is
generally because the work is not thorough. If they are converted, they
need breaking up. They are still lingering around the world, or they have
not broken off effectually from their sins, and they need to be pushed
back, rather than urged forward. If you see reason to doubt, or if you find
that they have doubts, most probably there is some good reason to doubt.
Sometimes persons express a hope in Christ, and afterwards remember
some sin that needs to be confessed to men; or some case where they have
slandered, or defrauded, where it is necessary to make satisfaction, and
where either their character, or their purse, is so deeply implicated that
they hesitate, and refuse to perform their duty. This grieves the Spirit,
brings darkness over their minds, and justly leads them to doubt whether
they are truly converted. If a soul is truly converted, it will generally be
found that, where there are doubts, there is on some point a neglect of
duty. They should be searched as with a lighted candle, and brought up to
the performance of duty, and not suffered to hope until they do it.
Ordinarily, it is proper just there to throw in some plain and searching
truth, that will go through them, something that will wither their false
hopes. Do it while the Spirit of God is dealing with them, and do it in a
right way, and there is no danger of its doing harm.
To illustrate this: I knew a person who was a member of the Church, but
an abominable hypocrite – proved to be so by her conduct, and
afterwards fully confessed to be so. In a revival of religion she was
awakened and deeply convicted, and after a while she got a hope. She went
to a minister to talk with him about her hope, and he poured the truth into
her mind in such a manner as to annihilate all her hopes. She then remained
under conviction many days, and at last she broke out in hope again. The
minister knew her temperament, and knew what she needed, and he tore
away her hope again. Then she broke down. So deeply did the Spirit of
God PROBE her heart that, for a time, it took away all her bodily
strength. Then she came out subdued. Before, she had been one of the
proudest of rebels against God’s government, but now she became
humbled, and was one of the most modest, tender, and lovely of
Christians. No doubt that was just the way to deal with her. It was just
the treatment that her case required.
It is often useful to deal with individuals in this way. Some persons are
naturally unamiable in their temper, and unlovely in their deportment. And
it is particularly important that such persons should be dealt with most
thoroughly whenever they first begin to express hope in Christ. Unless the
work with them is, in the first place, uncommonly deep and thorough,
they will be vastly less useful, and interesting, and happy, than they
would have been had the probe been thoroughly and skillfully applied to
their hearts. If they are encouraged at first, without being thoroughly dealt
with; if they are left to go on as though all were well; if they are not
sufficiently probed and broken down, these unlovely traits of character
will remain unsubdued, and will be always breaking out, to the great injury
both of their personal peace and their general influence and usefulness as
Christians.
It is important to take advantage of such characters while they are just in
these peculiar circumstances, so that they can be molded into proper form.
Do not spare, though it should be a child, or a brother, or a husband, or a
wife. Let it be a thorough work. If they express a hope, and you find they
bear the image of Christ, they are Christians. But if it should appear
doubtful – if they do not appear to be fully changed, just tear away their
hope, by searching them with discriminating truth, and leave the Spirit to
do the work more deeply. If still the image is not perfect, do it again –
break them down into a childlike spirit, and then let them hope. They will
then be clear and thorough Christians. By such a mode of treatment I have
often known people of the crookedest and most hateful natural character
so transformed, in the course of a few days, that they appeared like
different beings. You would think the work of a whole life of Christian
cultivation had been done at once. Doubtless this was the intent of our
Savior’s dealing with Peter. He had been converted, but became puffed up
with spiritual pride and self confidence, and then he fell. After that, Christ
broke him down again by three times searching him with the inquiry:
“Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me?” After which he seems to have
been a stable and devoted saint the rest of his days.
3. There is no need of young converts having or expressing doubts as to
their conversion. There is no more need of a person doubting whether he is
now in favor of God’s government than there is for a man to doubt
whether he is in favor of our Government or another. It is, in fact, on the
face of it, absurd for a person to talk of doubting on such a point, if he is
intelligent and understands what he is talking about. It has long been
supposed to be a virtue, and a mark of humility, for a person to doubt
whether he is a Christian, but this notion that there is virtue in doubting is
a device of the devil. “I say, neighbor, are you in favor of our Government,
or do you prefer that of Russia?” “Why, I have some hopes that I love our
own Government, but I have many doubts.” Wonderful! “Woman, do you
love your children?” “Why, sir, I sometimes have a trembling hope that I
love them, but you know the best have doubts.” “Wife, do you love your
husband?” “I do not know – I sometimes think I do, but you know the
heart is deceitful, and we ought to be careful and not be too confident.”
Who would have such a wife? “Man, do you love your wife, do you love
your family?” “Ah, you know we are poor creatures, we do not know our
own hearts. I think I do love them, but perhaps I am deceived.”
Ridiculous!
Ordinarily, the very idea of a person expressing doubts renders his piety
truly doubtful. A real Christian has no need to doubt; and when one is full
of doubts, ordinarily you ought to doubt for him and help him doubt.
Affection to God is as much a matter of consciousness as any other
affection. A woman knows she loves her child. How? By consciousness.
She is conscious of the exercise of this affection. And she sees it carried
into action every day. In the same way a Christian may know that he
loves God; by his consciousness of this affection, and by seeing that it
influences his daily conduct.
In the case of young converts, truly such, these doubts generally arise
from their having been wrongly dealt with, and not sufficiently taught, or
not thoroughly humbled. In any case they should never be left in such a
state, but should be brought to such a thorough change that they will
doubt no longer.
It is inconsistent with usefulness for a Christian to be always entertaining
doubts; it not only makes him gloomy, but it makes his religion a
stumbling block to sinners. What do sinners think of such a religion? They
say: “These converts are afraid to think they have got anything real; they
are always doubting whether it is a reality, and they ought to know
whether there is anything in it or not. If it is anything, these people seem
to have it, but I am inclined to think it rather doubtful. At any rate, I will
let it pass for the present; I do not believe God will condemn me for not
attending to that which appears so uncertain.” No, a settled hope in Christ
is indispensable to usefulness; and therefore you should deal so with
young converts, as to lead them to a consistent, well-grounded, stable
hope. Ordinarily, this may be done, if pursued wisely, at the proper time,
and that is at the commencement of their religious life. They should not be
left till it is done.
I know there are exceptions; there are cases where the best instructions
will be ineffectual; but these depend on the state of the health, and the
condition of the nervous system. Sometimes you find a person incapable
of reasoning on a certain topic, and so his errors will not yield to
instruction. But most commonly they mistake the state of their own
hearts, because they judge under the influence of a physical disease.
Sometimes persons under a nervous depression will go almost into
despair. Persons who are acquainted with physiology would easily explain
the matter. The only way to deal with such cases is first to recruit their
health, and get their nervous system into a proper tone, and thus remove
the physical cause of their gloom and depression; then they will be able to
receive and apply your instructions. But if you cannot remove their gloom
and doubts and fears in this way, you can at least avoid doing the positive
harm that is wrought by giving wrong instructions.
I have known even experienced Christians to have fastened upon them the
error of thinking it was necessary, or was virtuous, or a mark of humility,
to be always in doubt; and Satan would take advantage of it, and of the
state of their health, and drive them almost to despair. You ought to guard
against this, by avoiding the error when teaching young converts. Teach
them that instead of there being any virtue in doubting, it is a sin to have
any reason to doubt, and a sin if they doubt without any reason, and a sin
to be gloomy and to disgust sinners with their despondency. And if you
teach them thoroughly what religion is, and make them SEE CLEARLY
what God wishes to have them do, and lead them to do it promptly and
decidedly, ordinarily they will not be harassed with doubts and fears, but
will be clear, openhearted, cheerful, and growing Christians – an honor to
the religion they profess, and a blessing to the Church and the world.
II. MAKING A PROFESSION OF RELIGION.
I proceed to mention some things worthy of consideration in regard to
young converts making a profession of religion, or joining the Church.
- Young converts should, ordinarily, offer themselves for admission to
some Church of Christ immediately. By “immediately,” I mean that they
should do it the first opportunity they have. They should not wait. If
they set out in religion by waiting, most likely they will always be
waiting, and never do anything to much purpose. If they are taught to wait
under conviction, before they give themselves to Christ; or if they are
taught to wait after conversion, before, by joining the Church, they give
themselves publicly to God, they will probably go halting and stumbling
through life. The first thing they should be taught, always is: NEVER
WAIT, WHERE GOD HAS POINTED OUT YOUR DUTY. We profess
to have given up the waiting system; let us carry it through and be
consistent.
2. While I say it is the duty of young converts to offer themselves to the
Church immediately, I do not say that, in all cases, they should be received
immediately. The Church has an undoubted right to assume the
responsibility of receiving them immediately or not. If the Church is not
satisfied in the case, it has the power to bid candidates wait till inquiries
can be made as to their character and their sincerity. This is more
necessary in large cities than it is in the country, because so many
applications are received from persons who are entire strangers. But if the
Church thinks it necessary to postpone an applicant, the responsibility is
not his. He has not postponed obedience to the dying command of Christ,
and so he has not grieved the Spirit, and so he may not be essentially
injured if he is faithful in other respects. Whereas, if he had neglected the
duty voluntarily, he would soon have got into the dark, and would very
likely have backslidden.
If there is no particular reason for delay, ordinarily the Church ought to
receive them when they apply. If they are sufficiently instructed on the
subject of religion to know what they are doing, and if their general
character is such that they can be trusted as to their sincerity and honesty
in making a profession, I see no reason why they should be delayed. But if
there are sufficient reasons, in the view of the Church, for making them
wait a reasonable time, let the Church so decide, on its responsibility to
Jesus Christ. It should be remembered, however, what is the responsibility
which the Church thereby assumes, and that if those are kept out of the
Church who ought to be in it, the Holy Spirit is grieved.
It is impossible to lay down particular rules on this subject, applicable to
all cases. There is so great a variety of reasons which may warrant keeping
persons back, that no general rules can reach them all. Our practice, in this
Church, is to propound persons for a month after they make application,
before they are received into full communion. The reason of this is, that
the Session may have opportunity to inquire respecting individuals who
offer themselves, as so many of them are strangers. But in the country,
where there are regular congregations, and all the people have been
instructed from their youth in the doctrines of religion, and where
everybody is perfectly known, the case is different, and ordinarily I see no
reason why persons of good character should not be admitted
immediately. If a person has not been a drunkard, or otherwise of bad
character, let him be admitted at once, as soon as he can give a rational and
satisfactory account of the hope that is in him.
That is evidently the way the apostles did. There is not the least evidence
in the New Testament that they ever put off a person who wanted to be
baptized and to join the Church. I know this does not satisfy some
people, because they think the case is different. But I do not see it so.
They say the apostles were inspired. That is true; but it does not follow
that they were so inspired to read the characters of men, as to be
prevented from making mistakes in this matter. On the other hand, we
know they were not inspired in this way, for we know they did make
mistakes, just as ministers may do now; and, therefore, it is not true that
their being inspired men alters the case on this point. Simon Magus was
supposed to be a Christian, and was baptized and admitted into
communion, remaining in good standing until he undertook to purchase the
Holy Ghost with money.
The apostles used to admit converts from heathenism immediately, and
without delay. If they could receive persons who, perhaps, never heard
more than one Gospel sermon, and who never had a Bible, nor ever
attended a Sabbath School or Bible Class in their lives, surely it is not
necessary to create an outcry and alarm, if a Church should think proper
to receive persons of good character, who have had the Bible all their lives,
and have been trained in the Sabbath School, and have sat under the
preaching of the Gospel, and who, therefore, may be supposed to
understand what they are about, and not to profess what they do not feel.
I know it may be said that persons who make a profession of religion now,
are not obliged to make such sacrifices for their religion as the early
believers were, and, consequently, people may be more ready to play the
hypocrite. And, to some extent, that is true. But then, on the other hand, it
should be remembered that, with the instructions which they have on the
subject of religion, they are not so easily led to deceive themselves, as
those who were converted without the precious advantages of a religious
education. They may be strongly tempted to deceive others, but I insist
that, with the instructions which they have received, the converts of these
great revivals are not half so liable to deceive themselves, and take up with
a false hope, as were those in the days of the apostles. And on this ground
I believe that those Churches that are faithful in dealing with young
converts, and that exhibit habitually the power of religion, are not likely to
receive so many unconverted persons as the apostles did.
It is important that the Churches should act wisely on this point. Great
evil has been done by this practice of keeping persons out of the Church a
long time in order to see if they were Christians. This is almost as absurd
as it would be to throw a young child out into the street, to see whether it
will live; to say: “If it lives, and promises to be a healthy child, we will
take care of it,” when that is the very time it wants nursing and taking care
of, the moment when the scale is turning whether it shall live or die. Is that
the way to deal with young converts? Should the Church throw her
new-born children out to the winds, and say: “If they live there, let them
be taken care of; but if they die there, then they ought to die”? I have not a
doubt that thousands of converts, in consequence of this treatment, have
gone through life without joining any Church, but have lingered along, full
of doubts and fears, and darkness, and in this way have spent their days,
and gone to the grave without the comforts and usefulness which they
might have enjoyed, simply because the Church, in her folly, has suffered
them to wait outside the pale, to see whether they would grow and thrive,
without those ordinances which Jesus Christ established particularly for
their benefit.
Jesus Christ says to His Church: “Here, take these lambs, and feed them,
and shelter them, and watch over them, and protect them”: and what does
the Church do? Why, turn them out alone upon the cold mountains, among
the wild beasts, to starve or perish, to see whether they are alive or not!
The whole system is as unphilosophical as it is unscriptural. Did Jesus
Christ tell His Churches to do so? Did the God of Abraham teach any
such doctrine as this, in regard to the children of Abraham? Never. He
never taught us to treat young converts in such a barbarous manner. The
very way to lead them into doubts and darkness, is to keep them away
from the Church, from its fellowship, and its ordinances.
I have understood there is a Church which has passed a resolution that no
young converts shall be admitted till they have “had a hope” for at least
six months. Where did they get any such rule? Not from the Bible, nor
from the example of the early Churches.
3. In examining young converts for admission their consciences should not
be ensnared by examining them too extensively or minutely on doctrinal
points. From the manner in which examinations are conducted in some
Churches, it would seem as if they expected that young converts would be
all at once acquainted with the whole system of divinity, and able to
answer every puzzling question in theology. The effect of it is that young
converts are perplexed and confused, and give their assent to things they
do not understand, and thus their conscience is ensnared, and consequently
weakened. Why, one great design of receiving young converts into the
Church is to teach them doctrines; but if they are to be kept out of the
Church until they understand the whole system of doctrines, this end is
defeated. Will you keep them out till one main design of receiving them is
accomplished by other means? It is absurd. There are certain cardinal
doctrines of Christianity, which are embraced in the experience of every
true convert; and these young converts will testify to them, on
examination, if questioned in such a way as to draw out knowledge, and
not in such a way as to puzzle and confound. The questions should be
such as are calculated to draw out from them what they have learned by
experience, and not what they may have got in theory before or since their
conversion. The object is, not to find out how much they know, or how
good scholars they are in divinity, as you would examine a school; it is to
find out whether they have a change of heart, to learn whether they have
experienced the great truths of religion by their power in their own
souls. 76 You see therefore how absurd, and injurious too, it must be, to
examine, as is sometimes done, like a lawyer at the bar cross-examining a
suspicious witness. It should rather be like a faithful physician anxious to
find out his patient’s true condition, and therefore leading him, by
inquiries and hints, to disclose the real symptoms of the case.
You will always find, if you put your questions rightly, that real converts
will see clearly those great fundamental points – the Divine authority of
the Scriptures, the necessity of the influences of the Holy Spirit, the Deity
of Christ, the doctrines of total depravity and regeneration, the necessity
of the atonement, justification by faith, and the justice of the eternal
punishment of the wicked. By a proper course of inquiries you will find
all these points come out, if you put your questions in such a way that
they are understood.
A Church Session in this city has, as we are informed, passed a vote, that
no person shall join that Church till he will give his assent to the whole
Presbyterian Confession of Faith, and adopt it as his “rule of faith and
practice and Christian obedience.” That is, they must read the book
through, which is about three times as large as this hymn-book which I
hold, and must understand it, and agree to it all, before they can be
admitted to the Church, before they can make a profession of religion, or
obey the command of Christ. By what authority does a Church say that
no one shall join their communion till he understands all the points and
technicalities of this long Confession of Faith? Is that their charity, to
cram this whole Confession of Faith down the throat of a young convert,
before they let him so much as come to the Communion? He says: “I love
the Lord Jesus Christ, and wish to obey His command.” “Very well, but
do you understand and adopt the Confession of Faith?” He says: “I do not
know, for I never read that, but I have read the Bible, and I love that, and
wish to follow the directions in it, and to come to the table of the Lord.”
“Do you love the Confession of Faith? If not, you SHALL NOT COME,”
is the reply of this charitable Session; “you shall not sit down at the
Lord’s table till you have adopted all this Confession of Faith.” Did Jesus
Christ ever authorize a Church Session to say this – to tell that child of
God, who stands there with tears, and asks permission to obey his Lord,
and who understands the grounds of his faith, and can give a satisfactory
reason of his hope – to tell him he cannot join the Church till he
understands the Confession of Faith? Shut the door against young
converts till they swallow the Confession of Faith! Will such a Church
prosper? Never!
No Church on earth has a right to impose its extended Confession of Faith
on a young convert who admits the fundamentals of religion. They may let
the young convert know their own faith on ever so many points, and they
may examine him, if they think it necessary, as to his belief; but suppose
he has doubts on some points not essential to Christian experience, – the
doctrine of Infant Baptism, or of Election, or the Perseverance of the
Saints; and suppose he honestly and frankly tells you he has not made up
his mind concerning these points? Has any minister or Church a right to
say, he shall not come to the Lord’s table till he has finished all his
researches into these subjects, that he shall not obey Christ till he has fully
made up his mind on such points, on which Christians, and devoted ones
too, differ among themselves? I would sooner cut off my right hand than
debar a convert under such circumstances. I would teach a young convert
as well as I could in the time before he made his application, and I would
examine him candidly as to his views, and after he was in the Church I
would endeavor to make him grow in knowledge as he grows in grace. And
by just as much confidence as I have that my own doctrines are the
doctrines of God, I should expect to make him adopt them, if I could have
a fair hearing before his mind. But I never would bid one whom I
charitably believed to be a child of God, to stay away from his Father’s
table, because he did not see all I see, or believe all I believe, through the
whole system of divinity. The thing is utterly irrational, ridiculous, and
wicked.
4. Sometimes persons who are known to entertain a hope dare not make a
profession of religion for fear they should be deceived. I would always
deal decidedly with such cases. A hope that will not warrant a profession
of religion is manifestly worse than no hope, and the sooner it is torn
away the better. Shall a man hope he loves God, and yet not obey Jesus
Christ? Preposterous! Such a hope had better be given up at once.
5. Sometimes persons professing to be converts will make an excuse for
not joining the Church, that they can enjoy religion just as well without it.
This is always suspicious. I should look out for such characters. It is
almost certain they have no religion. Ordinarily, if a person does not desire
to be associated with the people of God, he is rotten at the foundation. It
is because he wants to keep out of the responsibilities of a public
profession. He has a feeling within him that he had rather be free, so that
he can, by and by, go back to the world again, if he likes, without the
reproach of instability or hypocrisy. Enjoy religion just as well without
obeying Jesus Christ! It is false on the face of it. He overlooks the fact
that religion consists in obeying Jesus Christ.
III. THE IMPORTANCE OF GIVING RIGHT INSTRUCTION.
Ordinarily, the Christian character of converts throughout life is molded
and fashioned according to the manner in which they are dealt with when
first converted. There are many who have been poorly taught at first, but
have been afterwards re-converted, and if they are then properly dealt
with, they may be made something of. But the proper time to do this is
when they are first brought in, when their minds are soft and tender, and
easily yield to the truth. Then they may be led with a hair, if they think it
is the truth of God. And whatever notions in religion they then get, they
are apt to cleave to forever afterwards. It is almost impossible to get a man
away from the notions he acquires when he is a young convert. You may
reason him down, but he cleaves to them. How often is it the case where
persons have been taught certain things when first converted, that if they
afterwards get a new minister who teaches somewhat differently, they will
rise up against him as if he were going to subvert the faith, carry away the
Church into error, and throw everything into confusion. Thus you see that
young converts are thrown into the hands of the Church, and it devolves
upon the Church to mold them, and form them into Christians of the right
stamp. To a large extent, their future comfort and usefulness depend on
the manner in which they are instructed at the outset. The future character
of the Church, the progress of revivals, the coming of the millennium,
depend on right instruction being imparted, and a right direction of thought
and life given, to those who are young converts.
IV. THINGS WHICH SHOULD NOT BE TAUGHT.
- “You will not always feel as you do now.” When the young convert is
rejoicing in his Savior, and calculating to live for the glory of God and the
good of mankind, how often is he met with this reply: “You will not
always feel so.” Thus, his mind is prepared to expect that he shall
backslide, and not to be much surprised when he does. This is just the
way the devil wants young converts dealt with, to have old Christians tell
them: “Your feelings will not last, but, by and by, you will be as cold as
we are.” It has made my heart bleed to see it. When the young convert has
been pouring out his warm heart to some old professor, and expecting the
warm burstings of a kindred spirit responding to his own, what does he
meet with? This cold answer, coming like a northern blast over his soul:
“You will not always feel so.” SHAME! Just preparing the young convert
to expect that he shall backslide as a matter of course; so that when he
begins to decline, as under the very influences of this instruction it is most
likely he will, it produces no surprise or alarm in his mind, but he looks at
it just as a thing of course, doing as everybody else does.
I have heard it preached as well as expressed in prayer, that seasons of
backsliding are “necessary to test the Church.” They say: “When it rains,
you can find water anywhere: it is only in seasons of drought that you can
tell where the deep springs are.” Wonderful logic! And so you would teach
that Christians must get cold and stupid, and backslide from God – and
for what reason? Why, forsooth, to show that they are not hypocrites.
Amazing! You would prove that they are hypocrites in order to show that
they are not.
Such doctrine as this is the very last that should be taught to young
converts. They should be told that they have only begun the Christian life,
and that their religion is to consist in going on in it. They should be taught
to go forward all the time, and “grow in grace” continually. Do not teach
them to taper off their religion – to let it grow smaller and smaller till it
comes to a point. God says: “The path of the just is as the shining light,
that shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (Proverbs 4:18). 77 Now,
whose path is that which grows dimmer and dimmer into the perfect
night? They should be brought to such a state of mind that the first
indications of decay in spirituality or zeal will alarm them and spur them
up to duty. There is no need that young converts should backslide as they
do. Paul did not backslide. And I do not doubt that this very doctrine:
“You will not always feel so,” is one of the grand devices of Satan to bring
about the result which it predicts.
2. “Learn to walk by faith and not by sight.” This is sometimes said to
young converts in reference to their continuing to exhibit the power of
religion, and is a manifest perversion of Scripture. If they begin to lose
their faith and zeal, and get into darkness, some old professor will tell
them: “Ah, you cannot expect to have the Savior always with you, you
have been walking by sight; you must learn to walk by faith and not by
sight.” That is, you must learn to get as cold as death, and then hang on to
the doctrine of the Saints’ Perseverance, as your only ground of hope that
you shall be saved. And that is walking by faith! Cease to persevere, and
then hold on to the doctrine of Perseverance! “One of guilt’s blunders, and
the loudest laugh of hell.” Living in the enjoyment of God’s favor and the
comforts of the Holy Ghost is what they call “walking by sight”! Do you
suppose young converts see the Savior at the time they believe on Him?
When they are so full of the enjoyments of heaven, do you suppose they
see heaven, and so walk by sight? It is absurd on the face of it. It is not
faith, it is presumption, that makes the backslider hold on to the doctrine
of Perseverance, as if that would save him, without any sensible exercises
of godliness in his soul. Those who attempt to walk by faith in this way
had better take care, or they will walk into hell with their “faith.” Faith
indeed! “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20). Can dead faith make
the soul live?
3. “Wait till you see whether you can hold out.” When a young convert
feels zealous and warm-hearted, and wants to lay himself out for God,
some prudent old professor will caution him not to go too fast. “You had
better not be too forward in religion, till you see whether you can hold out;
for if you take this high ground and then fall, you will disgrace religion.”
That is, in plain English: “Do not do anything that constitutes religion, till
you see whether you have religion.” Religion consists in obeying God.
Now, these wise teachers tell a young convert: “Do not obey God till you
see” – what? – till you see whether you have obeyed Him – or, till you
see whether you have obtained that substance, that mysterious thing
which they imagine is created and put into man, like a lump of new flesh,
and called “religion.” This waiting system is all wrong. There is no
Scripture warrant for telling a person to wait, when the command of God
is upon him, and the path of duty is before him. Let him go ahead.
Young converts should be fully taught that this is the only consistent way
to find out whether they have any religion, to find that they are heartily
engaged in doing the will of God. To tell the convert to wait, therefore,
before he does these things, till he first gets his evidence, is reversing the
matter, and is absurd.
4. “Wait till you get strength, before you take up the cross.” This is
applied to various religious duties. Sometimes it is applied to prayer: just
as if prayer were a cross. I have known young converts advised not to
attempt to pray in their families, or “not to attempt quite yet” to pray in
meetings and social circles. “Wait till you get strength.” Just as if they
could get strength without exercise. Strength comes by exercise. You
cannot get strength by lying still. Let a child lie in a cradle continually, and
he would never have any strength; he might grow in size, but he never
could be anything more than a great baby. This is a law of nature. There is
no substitute for exercise in producing strength. It is so in the body; and it
is just so with the mind. It is so with the affections; so with the judgment;
so with conscience. All the powers of the soul are strengthened by
exercise. I need not now enter into the philosophy of this. Everybody
knows it is so. If the mind is not exercised, the brain will not grow, and the
man will become an idiot. If the affections are not exercised, he will
become a stoic. To talk to a convert about neglecting Christian action till
he gets strength, is absurd. If he wants to gain strength, let him go to work.
5. Young converts should not be made sectarian in their feelings. They
should not be taught to dwell upon sectarian distinctions, or to be sticklish
about sectarian points. They ought to examine these points, according to
their importance, at a proper time, and in a proper way, and make up their
minds for themselves. But they should not be taught to dwell upon them,
or to make much of them at the outset of their religious life. Otherwise
there is great danger that their whole religion will run into sectarianism. I
have seen most sad and melancholy exhibitions of the effects of this upon
young converts. And whenever I see professed converts taking a strong
hold of sectarian peculiarities, no matter of what denomination of
Christians,
I always feel in doubt about them. When I hear them asking: “Do you
believe in the doctrine of Election?” or: “Do you believe in sprinkling?” or:
“Do you believe in immersing?” I feel sad. I never knew such converts to
be worth much. Their sectarian zeal soon sours their feelings, eats out all
the heart of their religion, and molds their whole character into sinful,
sectarian bigotry. They generally become mighty zealous for the traditions
of the elders, and very little concerned for the salvation of souls.
V. THINGS WHICH IT IS IMPORTANT SHOULD BE TAUGHT.
- One of the first things young converts should be taught is to distinguish
between emotion and principle in religion. I want you to get hold of the
words, and have them fixed in your mind; to have you distinguish between
emotion and principle.
By emotion, I mean that state of mind of which we are conscious, and
which we call feeling – an involuntary state of mind, that arises, of
course, when we are in certain circumstances or under certain influences.
There may be high-wrought feelings, or they may subside into tranquillity,
or disappear entirely. But these emotions should be carefully distinguished
from religious principle. By principle, I do not mean any substance or root
or seed or sprout implanted in the soul. But I mean the voluntary decision
of the mind, the firm determination to fulfill duty and to obey the will of
God, by which a Christian should always be governed.
When a man is fully determined to obey God, because it is RIGHT that he
should obey God, I call that principle. Whether he feels any lively
religious emotion at the time or not, he will do his duty cheerfully, readily,
and heartily, whatever may be the state of his feelings. This is acting upon
principle, and not from emotion. Many young converts hold mistaken
views upon this subject, and depend almost entirely on the state of their
feelings to go forward in duty. Some will not lead a prayer meeting, unless
they feel as if they could make an eloquent prayer. Multitudes are
influenced almost entirely by their emotions, and they give way to this, as
if they thought themselves under no obligation to duty, unless urged on by
some strong emotion. They will be very zealous in religion when they feel
like it, when their emotions are warm and lively, but they will not act out
religion consistently, and carry it into all the concerns of life. They are
religious only as they are impelled by a gush of feeling. But this is not true
religion.
Young converts should be carefully taught that when duty is before them
they are to do it. However dull their feelings may be, if duty calls, DO IT.
Do not wait for feeling, but DO IT. Most likely the very emotions for
which you would wait will be called into exercise when you begin to do
your duty. If the duty be prayer, for instance, and you have not the
feelings you would wish, do not wait for emotions before you pray, but
pray, and “open thy mouth wide” (Psalm 81:10); and in doing it, you are
most likely to have the emotions for which you were inclined to wait, and
which constitute the conscious happiness of religion.
2. Young converts should be taught that they have renounced the
ownership of all their possessions, and of themselves, and that if they
have not done this they are not Christians. They should not be left to
think that anything is their own; their time, property, influence, faculties,
body or soul. “Ye are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19); they belong to
God; and when they submitted to God they made a free surrender of all to
Him, to be ruled and disposed of at His pleasure. They have no right to
spend one hour as if their time were their own; no right to go anywhere, or
do anything, for themselves, but should hold all at the disposal of God,
and employ all for the glory of God. If they do not, they ought not to call
themselves Christians, for the very idea of being a Christian is to renounce
self and become entirely consecrated to God. A man has no more right to
withhold anything from God than he has to rob or steal. It is robbery in
the highest sense of the term. It is an infinitely higher crime than it would
be for a clerk in a store to go and take the money of his employer, and
spend it on his own lusts and pleasures. I mean, that for a man to withhold
from God is a higher crime against HIM than a man can commit against his
fellow-man, inasmuch as God is the Owner of all things in an infinitely
higher sense than man can be the owner of anything. If God calls on them
to employ anything they have, their money, or their time, or to give their
children, or to dedicate themselves in advancing His Kingdom, and they
refuse, because they want to use them in their own way, or prefer to do
something else, it is vastly more blamable than for a clerk or an agent to go
and embezzle the money that is entrusted him by his employer.
God is, in an infinitely higher sense, the Owner of all, than any employer
can be said to be the owner of what he has. And the Church of Christ
never will take high ground, never will be disentangled from the world,
never will be able to go forward without these continual declensions and
backslidings, until Christians, and the Churches generally, take the ground,
and hold to it, that it is just as much a matter of discipline for a Church
member practically to deny his stewardship as to deny the Deity of
Christ; and that covetousness, fairly proved, shall just as soon exclude a
man from the Communion as adultery.
The Church is mighty orthodox in notions, but very heretical in practice;
but the time must come when the Church will be just as vigilant in
guarding orthodoxy in practice as orthodoxy in doctrine, and just as
prompt to turn out heretics in practice, as heretics that corrupt the
doctrines of the Gospel. In fact, it is vastly more important. The only
design of doctrine is to produce practice, and it does not seem to be
understood by the Church that true faith “works by love and purifies the
heart,” that heresy in practice is proof conclusive of heresy in sentiment.
The Church is very sticklish for correct doctrine, but very careless about
correct living. This is preposterous. Has it come to this, that the Church of
Jesus Christ is to be satisfied with correct notions on some abstract
points, and never reduce her orthodoxy to practice? Let it be so no longer.
It is high time these matters were set right. And the only way to set them
right is to begin with those who are just entering upon religion. Young
converts must be told that they are just as worthy of condemnation (and
that the Church can hold no fellowship with them), if they show a
covetous spirit, and turn a deaf ear when the whole world is calling for
help, as if they were living in adultery, or in the daily worship of idols.
3. Teach them how to cultivate a tender conscience. I am often amazed to
find how little conscience there is even among those whom we hope are
Christians. And here we see the reason of it. Their consciences were never
cultivated. They never were taught how to cultivate a tender conscience.
They have not even a natural conscience. They have dealt so rudely with
their conscience, and resisted it so often, that it has got blunted, and does
not act. The usefulness of a Christian greatly depends on his knowing how
to cultivate his conscience. Young converts should be taught to keep their
conscience just as tender as the apple of the eye. They should watch their
conduct and their motives, and let their motives be so pure and their
conduct so disinterested as not to offend, or injure, or stifle conscience.
They should maintain such a habit of listening to conscience, that it will
always be ready to give forth a stern verdict on all occasions.
It is astonishing to see how much the conscience may be cultivated by a
proper course. If rightly attended to, it may be made so pure, and so
powerful, that it will always respond exactly to the Word of God. Present
any duty to such a Christian, or any self-denial, or suffering, and only
show him the Word of God, and he will do it without a word of objection.
In a few months, if properly taught, young converts may have a
conscience so delicately poised that the weight of a feather will turn them.
Only bring a “Thus saith the Lord,” and they will be always ready to do
that, be it what it may.
4. Young converts should be taught to pray without ceasing. That is, they
should always keep a watch over their minds, and be all the time in a
prayerful spirit. They should be taught to pray always, whatever may
take place. For the want of right instruction on this point many young
converts suffer loss and get far away from God. For instance, sometimes it
happens that a young convert will fall into some sin, and then he feels as if
he could not pray, and instead of overcoming this he feels so distressed
that he waits for the keen edge of his distress to pass away. Instead of
going right to Jesus Christ in the midst of his agony, and confessing his sin
out of the fullness of his heart, and getting a renewed pardon, and peace
restored, he waits till all the keenness of his feelings has subsided; and then
his repentance, if he does repent, is cold and half-hearted. Let me tell you,
beloved, never to do this; but when your conscience presses you, go then
to Christ, confess your sin fully, and pour out your heart to God.
Sometimes people will neglect to pray because they are in the dark, and
feel no desire to pray. But that is the very time when they need prayer.
That is the very reason why they ought to pray. You should go right to
God and confess your coldness and darkness of mind. Tell Him just how
you feel. Tell Him: “O Lord, I have no desire to pray, but I know I ought
to pray.” And immediately the Spirit may come and lead your heart out in
prayer, and all the dark clouds will pass away.
5. Young converts should be faithfully warned against adopting a false
standard in religion. They should not be left to fall in behind old
professors, or keep such before their minds as a standard of holy living.
They should always look at Christ as their model. Not aim at being as
good Christians as the old Church members, and not think they are doing
pretty well because they are as much awake as the old members of the
Church; but they should aim at being holy. The Church has been greatly
injured for the want of attention to this matter. Young converts have come
forward, and their hearts were warm, and their zeal ardent enough to aim at
a high standard, but they were not directed properly, and so they soon
settled down into the notion that what was good enough for others was
good enough for them, and therefore they ceased to aim higher than those
who were before them. And in this way the Church, instead of rising, with
every revival, higher and higher in holiness, is kept nearly stationary.
6. Young converts should be taught to do all their duty. They should never
make a compromise with duty, nor think of saying: “I will do this as an
offset for neglecting that.” They should never rest satisfied till they have
done their duties of every kind, in relation to their families, the Church,
Sabbath Schools, the impenitent around them, the disposal of their
property, and the conversion of the world. Let them do their duty, as they
feel it when their hearts are warm; and never attempt to pick and choose
among the commandments of God.
7. They should be made to feel that they have no separate interest. It is
time Christians were made actually to feel that they have no interest
whatever, separate from the interests of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom.
They should understand that they are incorporated into the family of
Jesus Christ, as members in full, so that their whole interest is identified
with His. They are embarked with Him, they have gone on board, and
taken their all; and henceforth they have nothing to do, nor anything to
say, except as it is connected with this interest, and bearing on the cause
and Kingdom of Christ.
8. They should be taught to maintain singleness of motive. Young converts
should not begin to have a double mind on any subject, nor let selfish
motives mingle with good motives in anything they do. But this can never
be so long as Christians are allowed to hold a separate interest of their
own, distinct from the interest of Jesus Christ. If they feel that they have
a separate interest, it is impossible to keep them from regarding it, and
having an eye to it as well as to Christ’s interest, in many things that they
do. It is only by becoming entirely consecrated to God, and giving up all to
His service, that they can ever keep their eye single and their motives
pure.
9. They should set out with a determination to aim at being useful in the
highest degree possible. They should not rest satisfied merely with being
useful, or remaining in a situation where they can do some good. But if
they see an opportunity where they can do more good, they must embrace
it, whatever may be the sacrifice to themselves. No matter what it may
cost them; no matter what danger or what suffering may be involved; no
matter what change in their outward circumstances, or habits, or
employments, it may lead to; if they are satisfied that they will on the
whole do more good, they should not even hesitate. How else can they be
like God? How can they think to bear the image of Jesus Christ, if they are
not prepared to do all the good that is in their power? When a man is
converted he comes into a new world, and should consider himself as a
new man. If he finds he can do most good by remaining in his old
employment, let it be so; but if he can do more good in some other way, he
is bound to change. It is for the want of attention to this subject, at the
outset, that Christians have got such low ideas on the subject of duty; and
that is the reason why there are so many useless members in our
Churches.
10. They must be taught, not to aim at comfort but usefulness, in religion.
There are a great many spiritual epicures in the Churches, who are all the
while seeking to be happy in religion, white they are taking very little
pains to be useful. They had much rather spend their time in singing joyful
hymns, and pouring out their happy feelings in a gushing tide of exultation
and triumph, than in an agonizing prayer for sinners, or in going about
pulling dying men out of the fire. They seem to feel as if they were born to
enjoy themselves. But I do not think such Christians show such fruits as
to make their example one to be imitated. Such was not the temper of the
apostles; they travailed for souls; they labored in weariness and
painfulness, and were “in deaths oft,” to save sinners (2 Corinthians
11:23). Ordinarily, Christians are not qualified to drink deep at the
fountain of joy. In ordinary cases, a deep agony of prayer for souls is
more profitable than high flights of joy. Let young converts be taught
plainly not to calculate upon a life of joy and triumph. They may be called
to go through fiery trials; Satan may sift them like wheat. But they must
go forward, not calculating so much to be happy as to be useful; not
talking about comfort but duty; not desiring flights of joy and triumph, but
hungering and thirsting after righteousness; not studying how to create
new flights of rapture, but how to know the will of God and do it. They
will be happy enough in heaven. There they may sing the song of Moses
and the Lamb. And they will in fact enjoy a more solid and rational
happiness here, by thinking nothing about it, but patiently devoting
themselves to do the will of God.
11. They should be taught to have moral courage, and not to be afraid of
going forward in duty. The Bible insists fully on Christian boldness and
courage in action, as a duty. I do not mean that they should indulge in
bravado, like Peter, telling what they will do, and boasting of their courage.
The boaster is generally a coward at heart. But I mean moral courage – a
humble and fixed decision of purpose, that will go forward in any duty,
unangered and unawed, with the meekness and firmness of the Son of God.
12. They should be so instructed as to be sound in the faith. That is, they
should be early made, as far as possible, complete and correct in regard to
their doctrinal belief. As soon as may be, without turning their minds off
from their practical duties in promoting the glory of God and the salvation
of men, they should be taught fully and plainly all the leading doctrines of
the Bible. Doctrinal knowledge is indispensable to growth in grace.
Knowledge is the food of the mind. “That the soul be without knowledge,”
says the wise man, “it is not good” (Proverbs 19:2). The mind cannot
grow without knowledge any more than the body without food. And
therefore it is important that young converts should be thoroughly
indoctrinated, and made to understand the Bible. By “indoctrinating,” I do
not mean teaching them the catechism, but teaching them to draw
knowledge from the fountain-head. Create in their minds such an appetite for
knowledge that they will eat the Bible up – will devour it – will love it, and
love it all. “All Scripture… is profitable,… that the man of God may be
perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16, 17).
13. Great pains should be taken to guard young converts against
censoriousness. Young converts, when they first come out on the Lord’s
side, and are all warm and zealous, sometimes find old professors so cold
and dead, that they are strongly tempted to be censorious. This should be
corrected immediately, otherwise the habit will poison their minds and
destroy their religion.
14. They must learn to say “NO.” This is a very difficult lesson to many.
See that young woman. Formerly she loved the gay circle, and took delight
in its pleasures; she joined the Church, and then found herself aloof from
all her old associates. They do not ask her now to their balls and parties,
because they know she will not join them; and perhaps they keep entirely
away for a time, for fear she should converse with them about their souls.
But, by and by, they grow a little bold, and some of them venture to ask
her just to take a ride with a few friends. She does not like to say “No.”
They are her old friends, only a few of them are going, and surely a ride is
so innocent a recreation that she may accept the invitation. But, now she
has begun to comply, the ice is broken, and they have her again as one of
them. It goes on, and she begins to attend their social visits – “only a few
friends, you know,” – till, by and by, the carpet is taken up for a dance;
and the next thing, perhaps, she has gone for a sleigh ride on Saturday
night, coming home after midnight, and then sleeping all the forenoon on
the Sabbath to make up for it – perhaps Communion Sabbath, too. All
for the want of learning to say “No.”
See that young man. For a time he was always in his place in the Sabbath
School and in the prayer meeting. But, by and by, his old friends begin to
treat him with attention again, and they draw him along, step by step.
He reasons that if he refuses to go with them in things that are innocent, he
will lose his influence with them. And so he goes on, till prayer meeting,
Bible class, and even private Bible reading and prayer are neglected. Ah,
young man, stop there! If you do not wish to expose the cause of Christ
to scorn and contempt, learn to resist the beginnings of temptation.
15. They should be taught, what is, and what is not, Christian experience.
It is necessary, both for their comfort and their usefulness, that they
should understand this, so that they need not run themselves into needless
distress for the want of that which is by no means essential to Christian
experience, nor flatter themselves that they have more religion than they
really exercise.
16. Teach them not to count anything a sacrifice which they do for God.
Some persons are always telling about the sacrifices they make in religion.
I have no confidence in such piety. Why keep telling about their sacrifices,
as if everything they do for God is a sacrifice? If they loved God they
would not talk so. If they considered their own interests and the interest
of Christ identical, they would not talk of making sacrifices for Christ: it
would be like talking of making sacrifices for themselves.
17. It is of great importance that young converts should be taught to be
strictly honest. I mean more by this than perhaps you would think. It is a
great thing to be strictly honest. It is being very different from the world at
large, and different even from the great body of professors of religion. The
holiest man I ever knew, and one who had been many years a Christian
and a minister, once made the remark to me: “Brother, it is a great thing to
be strictly honest and straight in everything, so that God’s pure eye can
see that the mind is perfectly upright.”
It is of great importance that young converts should understand what it is
to be strictly honest in everything, so that they can maintain “a conscience
void of offense toward God, and toward men” (Acts 24:16). Alas, alas,
how little conscience there is! How little of that real honesty, that pure,
simple uprightness, which ought to mark the life of a child of God. 78 How
little do many regard even an express promise. I heard the other day that
of a number of individuals who subscribed to the Anti-Slavery Society,
not half will pay their subscriptions. The plea is, that they signed when
they were under excitement, and do not choose to pay. Just as if their
being excited released them from the obligation to keep their promise.
Why, it is just as dishonest as it would be to refuse payment of a note of
hand. They promised, signed their names, and now will not pay? And
they call that honesty!
I have heard that a number of men signed for hundreds of dollars for the
Oneida Institute, promising to pay the money when called on; and when
they were called on, they refused to pay the money. And the reason is
that all in the Institute have turned Abolitionists! Very well. Suppose they
have. Does that alter your promise? Did you sign on the condition that if
abolitionism were introduced you should be clear? If you did, then you are
clear. But if you gave your promise without any condition, it is just as
dishonest to refuse as if you had given a note of hand. And yet some of
you might be almost angry if anybody were to charge you with refusing to
pay money that you had promised.
Look at this seriously. Who does God say will go to heaven? Read the
fifteenth psalm, and see. “He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth
not.” What do you think of that? If a man has promised anything, except it
be to commit sin, let him keep his promise, if he means to be honest and to
go to heaven. But these people will make promises, and because they
cannot be prosecuted, will break them as if they were nothing. They
would not let a cheque of theirs be returned from the bank. Why? Because
they would lose credit, and would be sued. But the Oneida Institute, and
the Anti-Slavery Society, and other societies, will not sue for the money,
and therefore these people take offense at something, and refuse to pay. Is
this honest? Will such honesty as this get them admitted to heaven? What?
Break your promises, and go up and carry a lie in your hand before God?
If you refuse or neglect to fulfill your promises, and go up and carry a lie
in your hand before God? If you refuse or neglect to fulfill your promise
you are a liar; and if you persist in this, you shall have your part in the
lake that burns with fire and brimstone. I would not for ten thousand
worlds die with money in my hands that I had unrighteously withheld
from any object to which I had promised it. Such money will “eat as doth
a canker” (2 Timothy 2:17).
If you are not able to pay the money, that is a good excuse. But then, say
so. But if you refuse to pay what you have promised, because you have
altered your mind, rely upon it, you are guilty. You cannot pray till you
pay that money. Will you pray: “O Lord, I promised to give that money,
but I altered my mind, and broke my promise; but still, O Lord, I pray
Thee to bless me, and forgive my sin, although I keep my money, and
make me happy in Thy love”? Will such prayers be heard? Never.
LECTURE XX
INSTRUCTIONS TO CONVERTS
- (continued)
Feed My lambs. – John 21.15.
I Propose to continue the subject by:
I. Noticing several other points upon which young converts ought to be
instructed.
II. Showing the manner in which young converts should be treated by the
Church.
III. Mentioning some of the evils which naturally result from defective
instructions given in that stage of Christian experience.
I. FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS.
- It is of great importance that young converts should early be made to
understand what religion consists in. Perhaps you will be surprised at my
mentioning this. “What! Are they converts, and do not know what religion
consists in?” I answer: “They would know, if they had had no instruction
but such as was drawn from the Bible.” But multitudes of people have
imbibed such notions about religion, that not only young converts, but a
great part of the Church members do not know what religion consists in,
so as to have a clear and distinct idea of it. There are many ministers who
do not. I do not mean to say that they have no religion, for it may be
charitably believed they have; but what I mean is, that they cannot give 79
a correct statement of what does, and what does not, constitute real
religion.
It is important that young converts should be taught: Negatively, what
religion does not consist in.
(a) Not in doctrinal knowledge. Knowledge is essential to religion, but it is
not religion. The devil has doctrinal knowledge, but he has no religion. A
man may have doctrinal knowledge to any extent, without a particle of
religion. Yet some people have very strange ideas on this subject, as
though an increase of doctrinal knowledge indicated an increase of piety. In
a certain instance, where some young converts had made rapid progress in
doctrinal knowledge, a person who saw it remarked: “How these young
converts grow in grace!” Here he confounded improvement in knowledge
with improvement in piety. The truth was, that he had no means of
judging of their growth in grace, and it was no evidence of it because they
were making progress in doctrinal knowledge.
(b) They should be taught that religion is not a substance. It is not any
root, or sprout, or seed, or anything else, in the mind, as a part of the mind
itself. Persons often speak of religion as if it were something which is
covered up in the mind, just as a spark of fire may be covered up in the
ashes, which does not show itself, and which produces no effects, but yet
lives, and is ready to act as soon as it is uncovered. And in like manner
they think they may have religion, as something remaining in them,
although they do not manifest it by obeying God. But they should be
taught that this is not of the nature of religion. It is not part of the mind
itself, nor of the body; nor is it a root, or seed, or spark, that can exist,
and yet be hid and produce no effects.
Teach them that religion does not consist in raptures, or ecstasies, or
high flights of feeling. There may be a great deal of these where there is
religion. But it ought to be understood that they are all involuntary
emotions, and may exist in full power where there is no religion. They
may be the mere workings of the imagination, without any truly religious
affection at all. Persons may have them to such a degree as actually to
swoon away with ecstasy, even on the subject of religion, without having
any religion. I have known a person almost carried away with rapture, by
a mere view of the natural attributes of God, His power and wisdom, as
displayed in the starry heavens, and yet the person had no religion.
Religion is obedience to God, the voluntary submission of the soul to His
will.
(d) Neither does religion consist in going to services, or reading the Bible,
or praying, or any other of what are commonly called religious duties. The
very phrase, “religious duties,” ought to be struck out of the vocabulary of
young converts. They should be made to know that these acts are not
religion. Many become very strict in performing certain things, which they
call “religious duties,” and suppose that is being religious; while they are
careless about the ordinary duties of life, which, in fact, constitute A LIFE
OF PIETY. Prayer may be an expression and an act of piety, or it may not
be. Going to church or to a prayer meeting, may be considered either as a
means, an act, or an expression of pious sentiment; but the performance of
these does not constitute a man a Christian; and there may be great
strictness and zeal in these, without a particle of religion. If young
converts are not taught to discriminate, they may be led to think there is
something peculiar in what are called religious duties, and to imagine they
have a great deal of religion because they abound in certain actions that are
commonly called “religious duties,” although they may at the same time be
very deficient in honesty, or faithfulness, or punctuality, or temperance,
or any other of what they choose to call their common duties. They may
be very punctilious in some things, may “pay tithe of mint and anise and
cummin” (Matthew 23:23), and yet neglect “the weightier matters of the
law”; justice and the love of God.
(e) Religion does not consist in desires to do good actions. Desires that do
not result in choice and action are not virtuous. Nor are such desires
necessarily vicious. They may arise involuntarily in the mind, in view of
certain objects; but while they produce no voluntary act, they are no more
virtuous or vicious than the beating of the pulse, except in cases where we
have indirectly willed them into existence, by voluntarily putting ourselves
under circumstances calculated to excite them. The wickedest man on earth
may have strong desires after holiness. Did you ever think of that? He
may see clearly that holiness is the only and indispensable means of
happiness. And the moment he apprehends holiness as a means of
happiness, he naturally desires it. It is to be feared that multitudes are
deceiving themselves with the supposition that a desire for holiness, as a
means of happiness, is religion. Many, doubtless, give themselves great
credit for desires that never result in choosing right. They feel desires to do
their duty, but do not choose to do it, because, upon the whole, they have
still stronger desires not to do it. In such desires there is no virtue. An
action or desire, to be virtuous in the sight of God, must be an act of the
will. People often talk most absurdly on this subject, as though their
desires had anything good, while they remain mere desires. “I think I
desire to do so-and-so.” But do you do it? “Oh, no, but I often feel a
desire to do it.” This is practical atheism.
Whatever desires a person may have, if they are not carried out into actual
choice and action, they are not virtuous. And no degree of desire is itself
virtuous. If this idea could be made prominent, and fully riveted in the
minds of men, it would probably annihilate the hopes of half the members
of the Churches, who are living on their good desires, while doing nothing
for God.
(f) They should be made to understand that nothing which is selfish, is
religion. Whatever desires they may have, and whatever choices and
actions they may put forth, if, after all, the reason of them is selfish, there
is no religion in them. A man may just as much commit sin in praying, or
reading the Bible, or going to a religious service, as in anything else, if his
motive is selfish. Suppose a man prays simply with a view to promote his
own happiness. Is that religion? What is it but attempting to make God his
Almighty Servant? It is nothing else but to attempt a great speculation,
and to put the universe, God and all, under contribution to make him
happy. It is the sublime degree of wickedness. It is so far from being piety
that it is in fact superlative wickedness.
(g) Nothing is acceptable to God, as religion, unless it is performed
heartily, to please God. No outward action has anything good, or anything
that God approves, unless it is performed from right motives and from the
heart. Young converts should be taught fully and positively that all religion
consists in obeying God from the heart. All religion consists in voluntary
action. All that is holy, all that is lovely, in the sight of God, all that is
properly called religion, consists in voluntary action, in voluntarily
obeying the will of God from the heart.
2. Young converts should be taught that the duty of self-denial is one of
the leading features of the Gospel. They should understand that they are
not pious at all, any further than they are willing to take up their cross
daily, and deny themselves for Christ. There is but little self-denial in the
Church, and the reason is that the duty is so much lost sight of, in giving
instruction to young converts. How seldom are they told that self-denial is
the leading feature in Christianity! In pleading for benevolent objects, how
often will you find that ministers and agents do not even ask Christians to
deny themselves for the sake of promoting the object! They only ask them
to give what they can spare as well as not; in other words, to offer unto
the Lord that which costs them nothing. What an abomination! They only
ask for the surplus, for what is not wanted, for what can just as well be
given as not.
There is no religion in this kind of giving. A man might give a very large
sum to a benevolent object, and there would be no religion in his doing so,
if he could give the money as well as not; nor would there be any
self-denial in it. Jesus Christ exercised self-denial to save sinners. So has
God the Father exercised self-denial in giving His Son to die for us, and in
sparing us, and in bearing with our perverseness. The Holy Ghost
exercises self-denial, in condescending to strive with such unholy beings to
bring them to God. The angels exercise self-denial, in watching over this
world. The apostles planted the Christian religion among the nations by
the exercise of self-denial. And are we to think of being religious without
any self-denial? Are we to call ourselves Christians, the followers of
Christ, the “temples of the Holy Ghost” (1 Corinthians 6:19), and to claim
fellowship with the apostles, when we have never deprived ourselves of
anything that would promote our personal enjoyment for the sake of
promoting Christ’s kingdom? Young converts should be made to see that
unless they are willing to lay themselves out for God, and ready to
sacrifice life and everything else for Christ, they “have not the Spirit of
Christ, and are none of His” (Romans 8:9).
3. They must be taught what sanctification is. “What!” you will say, “do
not all who are Christians know what sanctification is?” No, many do not.
Multitudes would be as much at a loss to tell intelligibly what
sanctification is, as they would be to tell what religion is. If the question
were asked of every professor of religion in this city: “What is
sanctification?” I doubt if one in ten would give a right answer. They
would blunder just as they do when they undertake to tell what religion is,
and speak of it as something dormant in the soul, something that is put in,
and lies there, something that may be practiced or not, and still be in them.
So they speak of sanctification as if it were a sort of washing off of some
defilement, or a purging out of some physical impurity. Or they will speak
of it as if the faculties were steeped in sin, and sanctification is taking out
the stains. This is the reason why some people will pray for
sanctification, and practice sin, evidently supposing the sanctification is
something that precedes obedience. They should be taught that
sanctification is not something that precedes obedience, some change in the
nature or the constitution of the soul. But sanctification is obedience, and
as a progressive thing consists in obeying God more and more perfectly.
4. Young converts should be taught so as to understand what perseverance
is. It is astonishing how people talk about perseverance. As if the doctrine
of perseverance is: “Once in grace, always in grace”; or, “Once converted,
sure to go to heaven.” This is not the idea of perseverance. The true idea
is, that if a man is truly converted, he will CONTINUE to obey God; and
as a consequence, he will surely go to heaven. But if a person gets the idea
that because he is “converted,” therefore he will assuredly go to heaven,
that man will almost assuredly go to hell.
5. Young converts should be taught to be religious in everything. They
should aim to be religious in every department of life, and in all that they
do. If they do not aim at this, they should understand that they have no
religion at all. If they do not intend and aim to keep all the commandments
of God, what pretense can they make to piety? “Whosoever shall keep the
whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10).
He is justly subject to the whole penalty. If he disobeys God habitually in
one particular, he does not, in fact, obey Him in any particular. Obedience
to God consists in the state of the heart. It is being willing to obey God;
willing that God should rule in all things. But if a man habitually disobeys
God, in any one particular, he is in a state of mind that renders obedience
in anything else impossible. To say that in some things a man obeys God,
out of respect to His authority, and that in some other things he refuses
obedience, is absurd. The fact is, that obedience to God consists in an
obedient state of heart, a preference of God’s authority and
commandments to everything else. If, therefore, an individual appears to
obey in some things, and yet perseveringly and knowingly disobeys in any
one thing, he is deceived. He offends in one point, and this proves that he
is guilty of all; in other words, that he does not, from the heart, obey at all.
A man may pray half of his time and have no religion; if he does not keep
the commandments of God, his very prayer will be hateful to God. “He
that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be
abomination” (Proverbs 28:9). Do you hear that? If a man refuses to obey
God’s law, if he refuses to comply with any one duty, he cannot pray, he
has no religion, his very devotions are hateful.
6. Young converts, by proper instructions, are easily brought to be
“temperate in all things” (1 Corinthians 9:25). Yet this is a subject greatly
neglected in regard to young converts, and almost lost sight of in the
Churches. There is a vast deal of intemperance in the Churches. I do not
mean intemperate drinking, in particular, but intemperance in eating and in
living generally. There is, in fact, but little conscience about it in the
Churches, and, therefore, the progress of reform in the matter is so slow.
Nothing but an enlightened conscience can carry forward a permanent
reform. Ten years ago, most ministers used ardent spirit, and kept it in
their houses to treat their friends and their ministering brethren with. And
the great body of the members in the Churches did the same. Now, there
are but few, of either, who are not actual drunkards, that will do so. But
still there are many that indulge, without scruple, in the use of wine.
Chewing and smoking tobacco, too, are acts of intemperance. If they use
these mere stimulants when there is no necessity for them, what is that
but intemperance? That is not being “temperate in all things.” Until
Christians shall have a conscience on this subject, and be made to feel that
they have no right to be intemperate in anything, they will make but little
progress in religion. It is well known, or ought to be, that tea and coffee
have no nutrients in them. They are mere stimulants. They go through the
system without being digested. The milk and sugar you put in them are
nourishing; and so they would be, just as much so, if you mixed them with
rum, and made milk punch; but the tea and coffee afford no nourishment;
and yet I dare say, that a majority of the families in this city give more in a
year for their tea and coffee than they do to save the world from hell.
Probably this is true respecting entire Churches. Even agents of benevolent
societies will dare to go through the Churches soliciting funds, for the
support of missionary and other institutions, and yet use tea, coffee, and,
in some cases, tobacco. Strange! No doubt many are giving five times as
much for mere intemperance as they give for every effort to save the
world.
If professing Christians could be made to realize how much they spend for
what are mere poisons, and nothing else, they would be amazed. Many
persons will strenuously maintain that they cannot get along without these
stimulants, these poisons, and they cannot give them up, no, not to
redeem the world from eternal damnation. And very often they will
absolutely show anger, if argued with, just as soon as the argument begins
to pinch their consciences. Oh, how long shall the Church show her
hypocritical face at the missionary meeting, and pray God to save the
world, while she is actually throwing away five times as much for sheer
intemperance, as she will give to save the world! Some of you may think
these are little things, and that it is quite beneath the dignity of the pulpit
to lecture against tea and coffee. But I tell you it is a great mistake of
yours if you think these are little things, when they make the Church
odious in the sight of God, by exposing her hypocrisy and lust. Here is an
individual who pretends he has given himself up to serve Jesus Christ, and
yet he refuses to deny himself any darling lust, and then he will go and
pray: “O Lord, save the world; O Lord, Thy Kingdom come!” I tell you it
is hypocrisy. Shall such prayers be heard? Unless men are willing to deny
themselves, I would not give a groat for the prayers of as many such
professors as would cover the whole of the United States.
These things must be taught to young converts. It must come to this point
in the Church, that men shall not be called Christians, unless they will cut
off the right hand, and pluck out the right eye, and deny themselves for
Christ’s sake. A little thing? See it poison the spirit of prayer! See it
debase and sensualize the soul! Is that a trifle beneath the dignity of the
pulpit, when these intemperate indulgences, of one kind and another, cost
the Church five times, if not fifty times, more than all she gives for the
salvation of the world?
An estimate has recently been made, showing that in the United States
seven millions of dollars’ worth of coffee is consumed yearly; and who
does not know, that a great part of this is consumed by the Church. And
yet grave ministers and members of Christian Churches are not ashamed to
be seen countenancing this enormous waste of money; while at the same
time the poor heathens are sending upon every wind of heaven their
agonizing wail for help. Heaven calls from above: “Go… preach the Gospel
to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Hell groans from beneath, and ten
thousand voices cry out from heaven, earth, and hell: “Do something to
save the world!” Do it now Oh, NOW, or millions more are in hell through
your neglect. And oh, tell it not in Gath, the Church, the ministry, will not
deny even their lusts to save a world. Is this Christianity? What business
have you to use Christ’s money for such a purpose? Are you a steward?
Who gave you this liberty? Look to it, lest it should be found at last, that
you have preferred self-gratification to obedience, and made a “God of
your belly” (Phillippians 3:19).
The time to teach these things with effect is, when the converts are young.
If converts are not properly taught then, if they get a wrong habit, and
begin with an easy, self-indulgent mode of living, it rarely happens that
they become thoroughly reformed. I have conversed with old professors
on these subjects, and have been astonished at their pertinacious obstinacy
in indulging their lusts. And I am satisfied that the Church never can rise
out of this sloth until young converts are faithfully taught, at the outset of
their religious course, to be temperate in all things.
7. They should be taught to have just as much religion in all their business
as they have in prayer, or in going to a religious service. They should be
just as holy, just as watchful, aim just as singly at the glory of God, be
just as sincere and solemn in all their daily employments, as when they
come to the Throne of Grace. If they are not, their Sabbath performances
will be an abomination.
8. They should be taught that it is necessary for them to be just as holy as
they think ministers ought to be. There has for a long time been an idea
that ministers are bound to be holy and practice self-denial. And so they
are. But it is strange they should suppose that ministers are bound to be
any more holy than other people. They would be shocked to see a
minister showing levity, or running after the fashions, or getting out of
temper, or living in a fine house, or riding in a coach. Oh, that is dreadful!
It does not look well in a minister. Indeed! For a minister’s wife to wear
such a fine bonnet, or such a silk shawl – oh no, it will never do! But
they think nothing of these things in a layman, or a layman’s wife! That is
no offense at all! I am not saying that these things do look well in a
minister; I know they do not. But they look, in God’s eyes, just as well in
a minister as they do in a layman. You have no more right to indulge in
vanity, and folly, and pride, than a minister. Can you go to heaven without
being sanctified? Can you be holy without living for God, and doing all
that you do to His glory? I have heard professedly good men speak against
ministers having large salaries, and living in an expensive style, when they
themselves were actually spending a great deal more money for the
support of their families than any minister. What would be thought of a
minister living in the style in which many professors of religion and elders
of Churches are living in this city? Why, everybody would say they were
hypocrites. But it is just as much an evidence of hypocrisy in a layman to
spend God’s money to gratify his lusts, or to please the world, or his
family, as it is for a minister to do so.
It is distressing to hear some of our foremost laymen talk of its being
dishonorable to religion, to give ministers a large salary, and let them live in
an expensive style, when it is a fact that their own expenses are, for the
number of their families, and the company they have to receive, far above
those of almost any minister. All this arises out of fundamentally wrong
notions imbibed while they were young converts. Young converts have
been taught to expect that ministers will have all the religion – especially
all the self-denial. So long as this continues there can be no hope that the
Church will ever do much for the glory of God, or for the conversion of
the world. There is nothing of all this in the Bible. Where has God said:
“You ministers, love God with all your heart, and soul, and mind, and
strength”? Or, “You ministers, do all to the glory of God”? No, these
things are said to all alike, and he who attempts to excuse himself from any
duty or self-denial, from any watchfulness or sobriety, by putting it off
upon ministers, or who ventures to adopt a lower scale of holy living for
himself than he thinks is proper for a minister, is in great danger of proving
himself a hypocrite, and paying in hell the forfeit of his foolishness.
Much depends on the instructions given to young converts. If they once
get into the habit of supposing that they may indulge in things which they
would condemn in a minister, it is extremely unlikely that they will ever
get out of it.
9. They should aim at being perfect. Every young convert should be taught
that if it is not his purpose to live without sin, he has not yet begun to be
religious. What is religion but a supreme love to God and a supreme
purpose of heart or disposition to obey God? If there is not this, there is
no religion at all. It is one thing to profess to be perfect, and another thing
to profess and feel you ought to be perfect. It is one thing to say that men
ought to be perfect, and can be, if they are so disposed, and another thing
to say that they are perfect. If any are prepared to say that they are
perfect, all I have to say is: “Let them prove it.” If they are so I hope they
will show it by their actions, otherwise we can never believe they are
perfect.
But it is the duty of all to be perfect, and to purpose entire, perpetual, and
universal obedience to God. It should be their constant purpose to live
wholly to God, and obey all His commandments. They should live so that
if they should sin it would be an inconsistency, an exception, an individual
case, in which they act contrary to the fixed and general purpose and tenor
of their lives. They ought not to sin at all; they are bound to be as holy as
God is; and young converts should be taught to set out in the right course,
or they will never be right.
10. They should be taught to exhibit their light. If the young convert does
not exhibit his light, and hold it up to the world, it will go out. If he does
not bestir himself, and go forth and try to enlighten those around him, his
light will go out, and his own soul will soon be in darkness. Sometimes
young converts seem disposed to sit still and not do anything in public till
they get a great deal of light, or a great deal of religion. But this is not the
way. Let the convert use what he has; let him hold up his little twinkling
rushlight, boldly and honestly, and then God will make it like a blazing
torch. But God will not take the trouble to keep a light burning that is hid.
Why should He? Where is the use?
This is the reason why so many people have so little enjoyment in
religion. They do not exert themselves to honor God. They keep what
little they do enjoy so entirely to themselves, that there is no good reason
why God should bestow blessings and benefits on them.
11. They should be taught how to win souls to Christ. Young converts
should be taught particularly what to do to accomplish this, and how to do
it; and then taught to live for this end as the great leading object of life.
How strange has been the course sometimes pursued! These persons have
been converted, and – there they are. They get into the Church, and then
they are left to go along just as they did before; they do nothing, and are
taught to do nothing, for Christ; and the only change is that they go more
regularly to church on the Sabbath, and let the minister feed them, as it is
called. But suppose he does feed them, they do not grow strong, for they
cannot digest it, because they take no exercise. They become spiritual
dyspeptics. Now, the great object for which Christians are converted and
left in this world is, to pull sinners out of the fire. If they do not effect
this, they had better be dead. And young converts should be taught this as
soon as they are born into the Kingdom. The first thing they do should be
to go to work for this end – to save sinners.
II. HOW THE CHURCH SHOULD TREAT YOUNG CONVERTS.
- Old professors ought to be able to give young converts a great deal of
instruction, and they ought to give it. The truth is, however, that the great
body of professors in the Churches do not know how to give good
instruction to young converts; and, if they attempt to do so, they give
only that which is false. The Church ought to be able to teach her children;
and when she receives them she ought to be as busy in training them to
act, as mothers are in teaching their little children such things as they will
need to know and do hereafter. But this is far enough from being the case
generally. And we can never expect to see young converts habitually
taking right hold of duty, and going straight forward without declension
and backsliding, until the time comes when all young converts are
intelligently trained by the Church.
2. Young converts should not be kept back behind the rest of the Church.
How often is it found that the old professors will keep the young converts
back behind the rest of the Church, and prevent them from taking any
active part in religion, for fear they should become spiritually proud.
Young converts in such Churches are rarely or never called on to take a
part in meetings, or set to any active duty, or the like, for fear they should
become lifted up with spiritual pride. Thus the Church becomes the
modest keeper of their humility, and teaches them to file in behind the old,
stiff, dry, cold members and elders, for fear that if they should be allowed
to do anything for Christ, it will make them proud. Whereas, the very way
to make young converts humble and keep them so, is to put them to their
work and keep them there. That is the way to keep God with them, and as
long as God is with them, He will take care of their humility. Keep them
constantly engaged in religion, and then the Spirit of God will dwell in
them, and so they will be kept humble by the most effectual process. But
if young converts are left to fall in behind the old professors, where they
can never do anything, they will never know what spirit they are of, and
this is the very way to run them into the danger of falling into the worst
species of spiritual pride.
3. They should be watched over by the Church, and warned of their
dangers, just as a tender mother watches over her young children. Young
converts do not know at all the dangers by which they are surrounded.
The devices of the devil, the temptations of the world, the power of their
own passions and habits, and the thousand forms of danger, they do not
know; and if not properly watched and warned, they will run right into
such dangers. The Church should watch over and care for her young
children – just as mothers watch their little children in this great city, lest
the carts run over them, or they stray away; or as they watch over them
while growing up, for fear they may be drawn into the whirlpools of
iniquity. The Church should watch over all the interests of her young
members, know where they are, and what are their habits, temptations,
dangers, privileges – the state of religion in their hearts, and their spirit of
prayer. Look at that anxious mother, when she sees paleness gather round
the brow of her little child. “What is the matter with you, my child? Have
you eaten something improper? Have you taken cold? What ails you?”
Oh, how different it is with the children of the Church, the lambs that the
Savior has committed to the care of His Church! Alas! instead of
restraining her children, and taking care of them, the Church lets them go
anywhere, and look out for themselves. What should we say of a mother
who should knowingly let her children totter along to the edge of a
precipice? Should we not say she was horribly guilty for doing so, and
that if the child should fall and be killed, its blood would rest on the
mother’s head? What, then, is the guilt of the Church, in knowingly
neglecting her young converts? I have known Churches where young
converts were totally neglected, and regarded with suspicion and jealousy;
nobody went near them to strengthen or encourage or counsel them;
nothing was done to lead them to usefulness, to teach them what to do or
how to do it, or to open to them a field of labor. And then – what then?
Why, when they find that young converts cannot stand everything, when
they find them growing cold and backward under such treatment, they just
turn round and abuse them, for not holding out!
4. Be tender in reproving them. When Christians find it necessary to
reprove young converts, they should be exceedingly careful in their manner
of doing it. Young converts should be faithfully watched over by the elder
members of the Church, and when they begin to lose ground, or to turn
aside, they should be promptly admonished, and, if necessary, reproved.
But to do it in a wrong manner is worse than not to do it at all. It is
sometimes done in a manner which is abrupt, harsh, and apparently
censorious, more like scolding than like brotherly admonition. Such a
manner, instead of inspiring confidence, or leading to reformation, is just
calculated to harden the heart of the young convert, and confirm him in his
wrong courses, while, at the same time, it closes his mind against the
influence of such censorious guardians. The heart of a young convert is
tender, and easily grieved, and sometimes a single unkind look will set him
into such a state of mind as will fasten his errors upon him, and make him
grow worse and worse.
You who are parents know how important it is when you reprove your
children, that they should see that you do it from the best of motives, for
their benefit, because you wish them to be good, and not because you are
angry. Otherwise they will soon come to regard you as a tyrant, rather
than a friend. Just so with young converts. Kindness and tenderness, even
in reproof, will win their confidence, and attach them to you, and give an
influence to your brotherly instructions and counsels, so that you can
mold them into finished Christians. Instead of this, if you are severe and
critical in your manner, that is the way to make them think you wish to
Lord it over them. Many persons, under pretense of being faithful, as they
call it, often hurt young converts by such a severe and overbearing manner,
as to drive them away, or perhaps crush them into despondency and
apathy. Young converts have but little experience, and are easily thrown
down. They are just like a little child when it first begins to walk. You see
it tottering along, and it stumbles over a straw. You see the mother take
everything out of the way, when her little one is going to try to walk. Just
so with young converts. The Church ought to take up every stumbling
block, and treat converts in such a way as to make them see that if they
are reproved, Christ is in it. Then they will receive it as it is meant, and it
will do them good.
5. Kindly point out things that are fault in the young convert, which he
does not see. He is but a child, and knows so little about religion, so that
there will be many things that he needs to learn, and a great many that he
ought to mend. Whatever there is that is wrong in spirit, unlovely in his
deportment, or uncultivated in manner, that will impede his usefulness or
impair his influence as a Christian, ought to be kindly pointed out and
corrected. To do this in the right way, however, requires great wisdom.
Christians ought to make it a subject of much prayer and reflection, that
they may do it in such a way as not to do more hurt than good. If you
rebuke him merely for the things that he did not see, or did not know to be
improper, it will grieve and disgust him. Such instruction should be
carefully timed. Often, it is well to take the opportunity after you have
been praying together, or after a kind conversation on religious subjects
which has been calculated to make him feel that you love him, seek his
good, and earnestly desire to promote his sanctification, his usefulness,
and his happiness. Then, a mere hint will often do the work. Just suggest
that “Such a thing in your prayer,” or “your conduct in so-and-so, did not
strike me pleasantly; had you not better think of it, and perhaps you will
judge it better to avoid a recurrence of it?” Do it rightly, and you will help
him and do him good. Do it in the wrong way, and you will do ten times
more hurt than good. Often, young converts will err through ignorance;
their judgment is unripe, and they need time to think and make up an
enlightened judgment on some point that at first appears to them doubtful.
In such cases the older members should treat them with great kindness and
forbearance; should kindly instruct them, and not denounce them at once
for not seeing, at first, what perhaps they themselves did not understand
until years after they were converted.
6. Do not speak of the faults of young converts behind their backs. This is
too common among old professors; and, by and by, the converts hear of it;
and what an influence it must exercise to destroy the confidence of young
converts in their elder brethren, to grieve their hearts and discourage them,
and perhaps to drive them away from the good influence of the Church.
III. SOME OF THE EVILS OF DEFECTIVE INSTRUCTION.
- If not fully instructed, they will never be fully grounded in right
principles. If they have right fundamental principles, this will lead them to
adopt a right course of conduct in all particular cases. In forming a
Christian character a great deal depends on establishing those fundamental
principles which are correct on all subjects. If you look at the Bible, you
will see there that God teaches right principles which we can carry out, in
detail, in right conduct. If the education of young converts is defective,
either in kind or degree, you will see the result in their character all their
lives. This is the philosophical result – just what might be expected, and
just what will always follow. It could be shown that almost all the
practical errors that have prevailed in the Church are the natural results of
certain false dogmas which have been taught to young converts, and which
they have been made to swallow, as the truth of God, at a time when they
were so ignorant as not to know any better.
2. If the instruction given to young converts is not correct and full, they
will not grow in grace, but their religion will dwindle away and decay.
Their course, instead of being like the path of the just, growing brighter
and brighter unto the perfect day (Proverbs 4:18), will grow dimmer and
dimmer, and finally, perhaps, go out in darkness. Wherever you see young
converts let their religion taper off till it comes to nothing, you may
understand that it is the natural result of defective instruction. The
philosophical result of teaching young converts the truth, and the whole
truth, is that they grow stronger and stronger. Truth is the food of the
mind – it is what gives the mind strength. And where religious character
grows feeble, rely upon it, in nine cases out of ten it is owing to their being
neglected, or falsely instructed, when they were young converts.
3. They will be left in doubt, justly, as to whether they are Christians. If
their early instruction is false, or defective, there will be so much
inconsistency in their lives, and so little evidence of real piety, that they
themselves will finally doubt whether they have any. Probably they will
live and die in doubt. You cannot make a little evidence go a great way. If
they do not see clearly, they will not live consistently; if they do not live
consistently, they can have but little evidence; and if they have not
evidence, they must doubt, or live in presumption.
4. If young converts are rightly instructed and trained, it will generally be
seen that they will take the right side on all great subjects that come before
the Church. Subjects are continually coming up before the Churches, on
which they have to take ground, and on many matters there is often no
little difficulty in making the members take right ground. Take the subject
of tracts, or missions, or Sabbath Schools, or temperance, for instance –
what cavils, and objections, and resistance, and opposition, have been
encountered from members of the Churches in different places. Go through
the Churches, and where you find young converts have been well taught,
you never find them making difficulty, or raising objections, or putting
forth cavils. I do not hesitate to charge it upon pastors and older members
of Churches, that there are so many who have to be dragged up to the right
ground on all such subjects. If they had been well grounded in the
principles of the Gospel at the outset, when they were first converted,
they would have seen the application of their principles to all these things.
It is curious to see how ready young converts are to take right ground on
any subject that may be proposed. See what they are willing to do for the
education of ministers, for missions, moral reform, or for the slaves! If the
great body of young converts from the late revivals had been well
grounded in Gospel principles, you would have found in them, throughout
the Church, but one heart and one soul in regard to every question of duty.
Let their early education be right, and you have got a body of Christians
that you can depend on. If it had been general in the Church, how much
more strength there would have been in all her great movements for the
salvation of the world!
5. If young converts are not well instructed, they will inevitably backslide.
If their instruction is defective, they will probably live in such a way as to
disgrace religion. The truth, kept steadily before the mind of a young
convert, in proper proportions, has a natural tendency to make him grow
“unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). If any one point is made too prominent in the
instruction given, there will probably be just that disproportion in his
character. If he is fully instructed on some points and not on others, you
will find a corresponding defect in his life and character.
If the instruction of young converts is greatly defective, they will press on
in religion no farther than they are strongly propelled by the first emotions
of their conversion. As soon as that is spent they will come to a stand, and
then they will decline and backslide. And ever after you will find that they
will go forward only when aroused by some powerful excitement. These
are your “periodical” Christians, who are so apt to wake up in a time of
revival, and bluster about as if they had the zeal of angels, for a few days,
and then die away as dead and cold as a northern winter. Oh, how
desirable, how infinitely important it is, that young converts should be so
taught that their religion will not depend on impulses and excitements, but
that they will go steadily onward in the Christian course, advancing from.
strength to strength, and giving forth a clear and safe and steady light all
around.
REMARKS.
- The Church is verily guilty for her past neglect, in regard to the
instruction of young converts.
Instead of bringing up their young converts to be working Christians, the
Churches have generally acted as if they did not know how to employ
young converts, or what use to make of them. They have acted like a
mother who has a great family of daughters, but knows not how to set
them to work, and so suffers them to grow up idle and untaught, useless
and despised, and to be the easy prey of every designing villain.
If the Church had only done her duty in training up young converts to
work and labor for Christ, the world would have been converted long ago.
But instead of this, how many Churches actually oppose young converts
who attempt to set themselves to work for Christ. Multitudes of old
professors look with suspicion upon every movement of young converts,
and talk against them, saying: “They are too forward, they ought not to
put themselves forward, but wait for those who are older.” There is
waiting again! Instead of bidding young converts “Godspeed,” and
cheering them on, very often they hinder them, and perhaps put them
down. How often have young converts been stopped from going forward,
and turned into rank behind a formal, lazy, inefficient Church, till their
spirit has been crushed, and their zeal extinguished; so that after a few
ineffectual struggles to throw off the cords, they have concluded to sit
down with the rest, and WAIT. In many places young converts cannot
even attempt to hold a prayer meeting by themselves, without being
rebuked by the pastor, or by some deacon, for being so forward, and
upbraided with spiritual pride. “Oho,” it is said, “you are young converts,
are you? And so you want to get together, and call all the neighbors
together to look at you, because you are young converts. You had better
turn preachers at once!” A celebrated Doctor of Divinity in New England
boasted, at a public table, of his success in keeping all his converts still. He
had great difficulty, he said, for they were in a terrible fever to do
something, to talk, or pray, or get up meetings, but by the greatest
vigilance he had kept it all down, and now his Church was just as quiet as
it was before the revival. Wonderful achievement for a minister of Jesus
Christ! Was that what the blessed Savior meant when he told Peter: “Feed
My lambs”?
2. Young converts should be trained to labor just as carefully as young
recruits in an army are trained for war. Suppose a captain in the army
should get his company enlisted, and then take no more pains to teach and
train, and discipline them, than are taken by many pastors to train and lead
forward their young converts. Why, the enemy would laugh at such an
army. Call them soldiers! Why, as to any effective service, they would not
know what to do nor how to do it, and if you brought them up to the
CHARGE, how would they fare? Such an army would resemble the
Church that does not train her young converts. Instead of being trained to
stand shoulder to shoulder in the onset, they feel no practical confidence in
their leaders, no confidence in their neighbors, and no confidence in
themselves; hence they scatter at the first shock of battle. Look at the
Church now. Ministers are not agreed as to what shall be done, and many
of them will fight against their brethren, quarreling about “new measures,”
or something. As to the members, they cannot feel confidence when they
see the leaders so divided. And then if they attempt to do anything –
alas! what ignorance, what awkwardness, what discord, what weakness we
see, and what miserable work they make of it! And so it must continue,
until the Church shall train up young converts to be intelligent,
single-hearted, self-denying, working Christians. Here is an enterprise now
going on in this city, which I rejoice to see. I mean the tract enterprise – a
blessed work. And the plan is to train up a body of devoted Christians to
do – what? Why, to do what all the Church ought to have been trained to
do long ago: to know how to pray, and how to converse with people about
salvation, and how to act in anxious meetings, and how to deal with
inquirers, and how to SAVE SOULS.
3. The Church has entirely mistaken the manner in which she is to be
sanctified. The experiment has been carried on long enough, of trying to
sanctify the Church, without finding anything for the members to do. But
holiness consists in obeying God, and sanctification, as a process, means
obeying Him more and more perfectly. And the way to promote it in the
Church, is to give every one something to do. Look at these great
Churches, where they have five hundred or seven hundred members, and
have a minister to feed them from Sabbath to Sabbath, while there are so
many of them together that the greater part have nothing at all to do, and
are never trained to make any direct efforts for the salvation of souls. And
in that way they are expecting to be sanctified and prepared for heaven!
They never will be sanctified so. That is not the way God has appointed.
Jesus Christ has made His people co-workers with Him in saving sinners,
for this very reason, because sanctification consists in doing those things
which are required to promote this work. This is one reason why He has
not employed angels in the work, or carried it on by direct revelation of
truth to the minds of men. It is because it is necessary as a means of
sanctification, that the Church should sympathize with Christ in His
feelings and His labors for the conversion of sinners. And in this way the
entire Church must move, before the world will be converted. When the
day comes that the whole body of professing Christians shall realize that
they are here on earth as a body of missionaries, and when they shall live
and labor accordingly, then will the day of man’s redemption draw nigh.
Christian, if you cannot go abroad to labor, why are you not a missionary
in your own family? If you are too feeble even to leave your room, be a
missionary there in your bedchamber. How many unconverted servants
have you in your house? Call in your unconverted servants, and your
unconverted children, and be a missionary to them. Think of your
physician, who, perhaps, is laying himself out to save your body; think
that you receive his kindness and never make him the greatest return in
your power.
It is necessary that the Church should take hold of her young converts at
the outset, and set them to work in the right way. The hope of the Church
is in the young converts.
4. We see what a responsibility rests on ministers and elders, and on all
who have opportunity to assist in training young converts. How
distressing is the picture which often forces itself upon the mind, where
multitudes are converted, and yet so little pains are taken with young
converts, that in a single year you cannot tell the young converts from the
rest of the Church. And then we see the old Church members turn round
and complain of these young converts, and perhaps slander them, when in
truth these old professors themselves are most to blame – oh, it is too
bad! This reaction that people talk so much about after a revival, as if
reaction was the necessary effect of a revival, would never come, and
young converts never would backslide as they do, if the Church would be
prompt and faithful in attending to their instruction. If they are truly
converted, they can be made thorough and energetic Christians. And if
they are not made such, Jesus Christ will require it at the hands of the
Church.
Please backup one page to read the next section.