SPURGEON CONVERSION
“Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth; and one convert him;
Let him know that he which converteth sinner from the error of his
way, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of
sins.” James 5:19,20
THE true believer is always pleased to hear of anything which concerns the
salvation of his own soul. He rejoices to hear of the covenant plan drawn
up for him from all eternity, of the great fulfillment on the cross at Calvary,
of all the stipulations of the Savior, of the application of them by the Holy
Spirit, of the security which the believer has in the person of Christ, and of
those gifts and graces which accompany salvation to all those who are heirs
thereof: But I feel certain that, deeply pleased as we are when we hear of
things touching our own salvation and deliverance from hell, we, as
preachers of God, and as new creatures in Christ, being made like unto
him, have true benevolence of spirit, and therefore are always delighted
when we hear, speak, or think, concerning the salvation of others. Next to
our own salvation, I am sure, as Christians, we shall always prize the
salvation of other people; we shall always desire that what has been so
sweet to our own taste, may also be tasted by others; and what has been of
so inestimably precious a value to our own souls, may also become the
property of all those whom God may please to shall unto everlasting life. I
am sure, beloved, now that I am about to preach concerning the conversion
of the ungodly, you will take as deep an interest in it as if it were
something that immediately concerned your own souls, for, after all, such
were some of you once. You were unconverted and ungodly; and had not
God taken thought for you, and set his people to strive for your souls,
where had you been? Seek, then, to exercise that charity and benevolence
towards others which God and God’s people first exercised towards you.
Our text has in it, first of all, a principle involved-that of instrumentality.-
”Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him
know that he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way, shall save
a soul from death.” Secondly, here is a general fact stated: — “He who
converteth a sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death,
and shall hide a multitude of sins.” And thirdly, there is a particular
application of this fact made. “Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth
and one convert him,” -that is the same principle as when a sinner is
converted “from the error of his way.”
I. First, then, here is a great principle involved-a very important one-that
of INSTRUMENTALITY. God has been pleased in his inscrutable wisdom and
intelligence to work the conversion of others by instrumentality. True, he
does not in all cases SO do, but it is his general way. Instrumentality is the
plan of the universe. In the new creation it is almost always God’s
invariable rule to convert by means of instruments. Now we will make one
or two brief remarks upon this first principle.
First, then, we say that instrumentality is not necessary with God. God
can, if he pleases, convert souls without any instruments whatsoever. The
mighty Maker who chooses to use the sword sometimes, can, if he pleases,
slay without it. He who uses the workman, the trowel, and the hammer,
can, if he so sees fit, build the house in a moment, and from the foundationstone
even to the topstone thereof, can complete it by the words of his own
mouth. We never hear of any instrument used in the conversion of
Abraham. He lived in a far-off land in the midst of idolaters, but he was
called Ur of the Cheldees, and thence God called him and brought him to
Canaan by an immediate voice, doubtless from above, by God’s own
agency, without the employment of any prophet; for we read of none who
could, as far as we can see, have preached to Abraham and taught him the
truth. Then in modern times we have a mighty instance of the power of
God, in converting without human might. Saul, on his journey towards
Damascus, upon his horse, fiery and full of fury against the children of
God, is hastening to hail men and women and cast them into prison; to
bring them bound unto Jerusalem; but on a sudden, a voice is heard from
heaven, “Saul! Saul! why persecutest thou me?” and Saul was a new man.
No minister was his spiritual parent, no book could claim him as its
convert; no human voice, but the immediate utterance of Jesus Christ
himself, at once, there and then, and upon the spot, brought Saul to know
the truth. Moreover, there are some men who seem never to need
conversion at all; for we have one instance in Scripture of John the Baptist,
of whom it is said, “He was filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his
mother’s womb.” And I do not know but what there are some who very
early in life have a change of heart. It is quite certain that all infants, (who,
doubtless, being each of them elect, do ascend to heaven,) undergo a
change of heart without instrumentality; and so there may be some,
concerning whom it maybe written that though they were born in sin and
shapen in iniquity, yet they were so early taught to know the Lord, so soon
brought to his name, that it must have been almost without instrument at
all. God can if he pleases cast the instrument aside. The mighty Maker of
the world who used no angels to beat out the great mass of nature and
fashion it into a round globe, he who without hammer or anvil fashioned
this glorious world, can if he pleases, speak, and it is done; command, and
it shall stand fast. He needs not instruments, though he uses them.
Secondly, we make another remark, which is, that instrumentality is very
honorable to God, and not dishonorable. One would think, perhaps, at
first sight, that it would reflect more glory to God, if he effected all
conversions himself, without the use of men; but that is a great mistake. It
is as honorable to God to convert by means of Christians and others, as it
would be if he should effect it alone. Suppose a workman has power and
skill with his hands alone to fashion a certain article, but you put into his
hands the worst of tools you can find; you know he can do it well with his
hands, but these tools are so badly made, that they will be the greatest
impediment you could lay in his way. Well now, I say, if a man with these
bad instruments, or these poor tools-things without edges-that are broken,
that are weak and frail, is able to make some beauteous fabric, he has more
credit from the use of those tools, than he would have had if he had done it
simply with his hands because the tools, so far from being an advantage,
were a disadvantage to him; so far from being a help, are of my
supposition, even a detriment to him in his work. So with regard to human
instrumentality. So far from being any assistance to God, we are all
hindrances to him. What is a minister? He is made by God a means of
salvation, but it is a wonderful thing that any one so faulty, so imperfect so
little skilled, should yet be blessed of God to bringing forth children for the
Lord Jesus. It seems as marvellous as if a man should fashion rain from
fire, or if he should fabricate some precious alabaster vase out of the refuse
of the dunghill. God in his mercy does more than make Christians without
means; he takes bad means to make good men with, and so he even reflects
credit on himself because his instruments are all of them such poor things.
They are all such earthen vessels, that they do but set of the glory of the
gold which they hold, like the foil that setteth forth the jewel, or like the
dark spot in the painting that makes the light more brilliant; and yet the
dark spot and the foil are not in themselves costly or valuable. So God uses
instruments to set forth his own glory; and to exalt himself.
This brings us to the other remark, that usually God does employ
instruments. Perhaps in one case out of a thousand, men are converted by
the immediate agency of God-and so indeed are all in one sense,-but
usually, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, God is pleased to use the
instrumentality of his ministering servants, of his Word, of Christian men,
or some other means to bring us to the Savior. I have heard of some-I
remember them now-who were called like Saul, at once from heaven. We
can remember the history of the brother who in the darkness of the night
was called to know the Savior by what he believed to be a vision from
heaven or some effect on his imagination. On one side he saw a black tablet
of his guilt, and his soul was delighted to see Christ cast a white tablet over
it; and he thought he heard a voice that said, “I am he that blotteth out thy
transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” There
was a man converted almost without instrumentality; but you do not meet
with such a case often. Most persons have been convinced by the pious
conversation of sisters, by the holy example of mothers, by the minister, by
the Sabbath-school, or by the reading of tracts or perusing Scripture. Let
us not therefore believe that God will often work without instruments; let
us not sit down silently and say, “God will do his own work.” It is quite
true he will; but then he does his work by using his children as instruments.
He does not say to the Christian man when he is converted, “Sit thee
down; I have nought for thee to do, but I will do all myself and have all the
glory.” No; he says, “Thou art a poor weak instrument; thou canst do
nothing; but lo! I will strengthen thee, and I will make thee thrash the
mountains and beat them small, and make the hills as chaff: and so shall I
get more honor through thy having done it than I should had mine own
strong arm smitten the mountains and broken them in pieces.”
Now another thought, and that is-If God sees fit to make use of any of us
for the conversion of others, we must not therefore be too sure that we are
converted ourselves. It is a most solemn thought, that God makes use of
ungodly men as instruments for the conversion of sinners. And it is strange
that some most terrible acts of wickedness have been the means of the
conversion of men. When Charles II ordered the Book of Sports to be read
in churches, and after the service the clergyman was required to read to all
the people to spend the afternoon in what are called harmless diversions
and games that I will not mention here-even that was made the means of
conversion; for one man said within himself, “I have always disported
myself thus on the Sabbath-day; but now to hear this read in church! how
wicked we must have become! how the whole land must be corrupt.” It led
him to think of his own corruption, and brought him to the Savior. There
have been words proceeding, I had almost said from devils, which have
been the means of conversion. Grace is not spoiled by the rotten wooden
spout it runs through. God did once speak by an ass to Balaam, but that
did not spoil his words. So he speaks, not simply by an ass, which he often
does, but by something worse than that. He can fill the mouths of ravens
with food for an Elijah, and yet the raven is a raven still. We must not
suppose because God has made us useful that we are therefore converted
ourselves.
But then another thing. If God in his mercy does not make us useful to the
conversion of sinners, we are not therefore to say we are sure we are not
the children of God. I believe there are some ministers who have had the
painful labor of toiling from year to year without seeing a single soul
regenerated. Yet those men have been faithful to their charge, and have
well discharged their ministry. I do not say that such cases often occur, but
I believe they have occurred sometimes. Yet, mark you, the end of their
ministry has been answered after all. For what is the end of the gospel
ministry? Some will say it is to convert sinners. That is a collateral end.
Others will say it is to convert the saints. That is true. But the proper
answer to give is- it is to glorify God, and, God is glorified even in the
damnation of sinners. If I testify to them the truth of God and they reject
his gospel; if I faithfully preach his truth, and they scorn it, my ministry is
not therefore void. It has not returned to God void, for even in the
punishment of those rebels he will be glorified, even in their destruction he
will get himself honor; and if he cannot get praise from their songs, he will
at last get honor from their condemnation and overthrow, when he shall
cast them into the fire for ever. The true motive for which we should
always labor, is the glory of God in the conversion of souls; and building
up of God’s people; but let us never lose sight of the great end. Let God be
glorified; and he will be, if we preach his truth faithfully and honestly. So,
therefore, while we should seek for souls, if God denies them unto us, let
us not say, “I will not have other mercies that he has given; “but let us
comfort ourselves with the thought-that though they be not saved, though
Israel be not gathered in, God will glorify and honor us at last.
One thought more upon this subject-God by using us as instruments
confers upon us the highest honor which men can receive. O beloved! I
dare not dilate upon this. It should make our hearts burn at the thought of
it. It makes us feel thrice honored that God should use us to convert souls;
and it is only the grace of God which teaches us on the other hand, that it is
grace and grace alone which makes us useful; which can keep us humble
under the thought, that we are bringing souls to the Savior. It is a work
which he who has once entered if God has blessed him cannot renounce.
He will be impatient; he will long to win more souls to Jesus; he will
account that; he will think that labor is but ease, so that by any means he
may save some, and bring men to Jesus. Glory and honor, praise and
power, be unto God, that he thus honors his people. But when he exalts us
most, we will still conclude with, “Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy
name be all the glory for ever and ever.”
II. Secondly, we come to the GENERAL FACT. “He who converteth the
sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide
a multitude of sins.” The choicest happiness which mortal breast can know
is the happiness of benevolence,-of doing good to our fellow-creatures. To
save a body from death, is that which gives us almost heaven on earth.
Some men can boast that they have sent so many souls to perdition; that
they have hurled many of their fellows out of the world. We meet, now and
then a soldier who can glory that in battle he struck down so many foemen;
that his swift and cruel sword reached the heart of so many of his enemies;
but I count not that glory. If I thought I had been the means of the death of
a single individual, methinks I should scarce rest at night, for the uneasy
ghost of that murdered wretch would stare me in mine eyes. I should
remember I had slain him, and perhaps sent his soul unshaven and
unwashed into the presence of his Maker. It seems to me wonderful that
men can be found to be soldiers. I say not if it be right or wrong; still I
wonder where they can find the men. I know not how after a battle they
can wash their hands of blood, wipe their swords and put them by, and
then lie down to slumber, and their dreams be undisturbed. Methinks the
tears would fall hot and scalding on my cheek at night, and the shrieks of
the dying, and the groans of those approaching eternity would torture mine
ear. I know not how others can endure it. To me it would be the very
portal of hell, if I could think I had been a destroyer of my fellowcreatures.
But what bliss is it to be the instrument of saving bodies from
death! Those monks on Mount St. Bernard, surely, must feel happiness
when they rescue men from death. The dog comes to the door, and they
know what it means; he has discovered some poor weary traveler who has
lain him down to sleep in the snow, and is dying from cold and exhaustion.
Up rise the monks from their cheerful fire, intent to act the good Samaritan
to the lost one. At last they see him, they speak to him, but he answers not.
They try to discover if there is breath in his body, and they think he is dead.
They take him up, give him remedies; and hastening to their hostel, they lay
him by the fire, and warm and chafe him, looking into his face with kindly
anxiety, as much as to say, “Poor creature! art thou dead? “When, at last,
they perceive some heavings of the lungs, what joy is in the breast of those
brethren, as they say, “His life is not extinct.” Methinks if there could be
happiness on earth, it would be the privilege to help to chafe one hand of
that poor, almost dying man, and be the means of bringing him to life
again. Or, suppose another case. A house is in flames, and in it is a woman
with her children, who cannot by any means escape. In vain she attempts to
come down stairs; the flames prevent her. She has lost all presence of mind
and knows not how to act. The strong man comes, and says, “Make way!
make way! I must save that woman! “And cooled by the genial streams of
benevolence, he marches through the fire. Though scorched, and almost
stifled, he gropes his way. He ascends one staircase, then another, and
though the stairs totter, he places the woman beneath his arm, takes a child
on his shoulder, and down he comes, twice a giant, having more might than
he ever possessed before. He has jeopardized his life, and perhaps an arm
may be disabled, or a limb taken away, or a sense lost, or an injury
irretrievably done to his body, yet he claps his hands, and says, “I have
saved lives from death!” The crowd in the street hail him as a man who has
been the deliverer of his fellow-creatures, honoring him more than the
monarch who had stormed a city, sacked a town, and murdered myriad’s.
But ah! brethren, the body which was saved from death to-day may die
tomorrow. Not so the soul that is saved from death: it is saved
everlastingly. It is saved beyond the fear of destruction. And if there be joy
in the breast of a benevolent man when he saves a body from death, how
much more blessed must he be when he is made the means in the hand of
God of saving “a soul from death, and hiding a multitude of sins.” Suppose
that by some conversation of yours you are made the means of delivering a
soul from death. My friends, you are apt to imagine that all conversion is
under God done by the minister. You make a great mistake. There are
many conversions effected by a very simple observation from the most
humble individual. A single word spoken maybe more the means of
conversion than a whole sermon. There you sit before me. I thrust at you,
but you are too far off. Some brother, however, addresses an observation
to you-it is a very stab with a short poignard in your heart. God often
blesses a short pithy expression from a friend more than a long discourse
from a minister. There was once in a village, where there had been a revival
in religion, a man who was a confirmed infidel. Notwithstanding all the
efforts of the minister and many Christian people, he had resisted all
attempts, and appeared to be more and more confirmed in his sin. At length
the people held a prayer meeting specially to intercede for his soul.
Afterwards God put it into the heart of one of the elders of the church to
spend a night in prayer in behalf of the poor infidel. In the morning the
elder rose from his knees, saddled his horse, and rode down to the man’s
smithy. He meant to say a great deal to him, but he simply went up to him,
took him by the hand, and all he could say was, “O sir! I am deeply
concerned for your salvation. I am deeply concerned for your salvation. I
have been wrestling with God all this night for your salvation.” He could
say no more, his heart was too full. He then mounted on his horse and rode
away again. Down went the blacksmith’s hammer, and he went
immediately to see his wife. She said, “What is the matter with you?”
“Matter enough,” said the man, “I have been attacked with a new argument
this time. There is elder B — — – has been here this morning; and he said,”
I am concerned about your salvation.’ Why, now, if he is concerned about
my salvation, it is a strange thing that I am not concerned about it.” The
man’s heart was clean captured by that kind word from the elder; he took
his own horse and rode to the elder’s house. When he arrived there the
elder was in his parlor, still in prayer, and they knelt down together. God
gave him a contrite spirit and a broken heart, and brought that poor sinner
to the feet of the Savior. There was “a soul saved from death, and a
multitude of sins covered.”
Again, you may be the means of conversion by a letter you may write.
Many of you have not the power to speak or say much; but when you sit
down alone in your chamber you are able, with God’s help, to write a letter
to a dear friend of yours. Oh! I think that is a very sweet way to endeavor
to be useful. I think I never felt so much earnestness after the souls of my
fellow-creatures as when I first loved the Savior’s name, and though I
could not preach, and never thought I should be able to testify to the
multitude, I used to write texts on little scraps of paper and drop them
anywhere, that some poor creatures might pick them up, and receive them
as messages of mercy to their souls. There is your brother. He is careless
and hardened. Sister, sit down and write a letter to him, when he receives
it, he will perhaps smile, but he will say, “Ah, well! it is Betsy’s letter after
all!” And that will have some power. I knew a gentleman, whose dear
sister used often to write to him concerning his soul. “I used,” said he, “to
stand with my back up against a lamp-post, with a cigar in my mouth,
perhaps at two o’clock in the morning, to read her letter. I always read
them; and I have,” said he, “wept floods of tears after reading my sister’s
letters. Though I still kept on the error of my ways, they always checked
me, they always seemed a hand pulling me away from sin; a voice crying
out,” Come back! come back!’” And at last a letter from her, in
conjunction with a solemn providence, was the means of breaking his
heart, and he sought salvation through a Savior.
Again. How many nave been converted by the example of true Christians.
Many of you feel that you cannot write or preach, and you think you can
do nothing. Well, there is one thing you can do for your Master-you can
live Christianity. I think there are more people who look at the new life in
Christ written out in you, than they will in the old life that is written in the
Scriptures. An infidel will use arguments to disprove the Bible, if you set it
before him; but, if you do to others as you would that they should do to
you, if you give of your bread to the poor and disperse to the needy, living
like Jesus, speaking words of kindness and love, and living honestly and
uprightly in the world, he will say, “Well, I thought the Bible was all
hypocrisy; but I cannot think so now, because there is Mr. So-and-so, see
how he lives. I could believe my infidelity if it were not for him. The Bible
certainly has an effect upon his life, and therefore I must believe it.”
And then how many souls may be converted by what some men are
privileged to write and print. There is “Dr. Doddridge’s Rise and Progress
of Religion.” Though I decidedly object to some things in it, I could wish
that everybody lad read that book, so many have been the conversions it
has produced. I think it more honor to have written “Watts’s Psalms and
Hymns,” than “Milton’s Paradise Lost, “and more glory to have written
that book of old Wilcocks,” A Drop of Honey; “or the tract that God has
used so much — “The Sinner’s Friend” -than all the books of Homer. I
value books for the good they may do to men’s souls. Much as I respect
the genius of Pope, or Dryden, or Burns, give me the simple lines of
Cowper, that God has owned in bringing souls to him. Oh! to think that we
may write and print books which shall reach poor sinners’ hearts. The
other day my soul was gladdened exceedingly by an invitation from a pious
woman to go and see her. She told me she had been ten years on her bed,
and had not been able to stir from it. “Nine years,” she said, “I was dark,
and blind, and unthinking; but my husband brought me one of your
sermons. I read it, and God blessed it to the opening of my eyes. He
converted my soul with it. And now, all glory to him! I love his name!
Each Sabbath morning,” she said, “I wait for your sermon. I live on it all
the week, as marrow and fatness to my spirit.” Ah! thought I, there is
something to cheer the printers, and all of us who labor in that good work.
One good brother wrote to me this week, “Brother Spurgeon, keep your
courage up. You are known in multitudes of households of England, and
you are loved too; though we cannot hear you, or see your living form, yet
throughout our villages your sermons are scattered. And I know of cases
of conversion from them, more than I can tell you.” Another friend
mentioned to me an instance of a clergyman of the Church of England, a
canon of a cathedral, who frequently preaches the sermons on the Sabbathwhether
in the cathedral or not, I cannot say, but I hope he does. Oh! who
can tell, when these things are printed what hearts they may reach, what
good they may effect? Words that I spoke three weeks ago, eyes are now
perusing, while tears are gushing from them as they read! “Glory be to God
most high!”
But, after all, preaching is the ordained means for the salvation of sinners,
and by this ten times as many are brought to the Savior as by any other.
Ah! my friends, to have been the means of saving souls from death by
preaching-what an honor. There is a young man who has not long
commenced his ministerial career. When he enters the pulpit everybody
notices what a deep solemnity there is upon him, beyond his years. His face
is white, and blanched by an unearthly solemnity, his body is shriveled up
by his labor, constant study and midnight lamp have worn him away; but
when he speaks he utters wondrous words that lift the soul up to heaven.
And the aged saint says, “Well! ne’er did I go so near to heaven as when I
listened to his voice!” There comes in some gay young man, who listens
and criticizes his aspect. He thinks it is by no means such as to be desired;
but he listens. One thought strikes him, then another. See you that man; He
has been moral all his life long- but he has never been renewed. Now tear
begin to flow down his cheeks. Just put your ear against his breast, and
you will hear him groan out, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Ah! good
reward for a withered frame, or a ruined constitution! Or, take another
case. A man is preaching the Word of God. He is standing up to deliver his
Master’s message, and in steals some poor harlot. Such a case I knew not
long ago. A poor harlot determined she would go and take her life on
Blackfriars Bridge. Passing by these doors one Sunday night, she thought
she would step in, and for the last time hear something that might prepare
her to stand before her Maker. She forced herself into the aisle, and she
could not escape until I rose from the pulpit. The text was, “Seest thou this
woman?” I dwelt upon Mary Magdalene and her sins; her washing the
Savior’s feet with her tears, and wiping them with the hair of her head.
There stood the woman, melted away with the thought that she should thus
hear herself described, and her own life painted. Oh! to think of saving a
poor harlot from death, to deliver such an one from going down to the
grave, and then, as God pleased, to save her soul from going down to hell!
Is it not worth ten thousand lives, if we could sacrifice them all on the altar
of God? When I thought of this text yesterday, I could only weep to think
that God should have so favored me. Oh! men and women, how can ye
better spend your time and wealth than in the cause of the Redeemer?
What holier enterprise can ye engage in than this sacred one of saving souls
from death, and hiding a multitude of sins? This is a wealth that ye can take
with you-the wealth that has been acquired under God, by having saved
souls from death, and covered a multitude of sins.
I know there are some now before the throne who first wept the penitential
tear in this house of prayer, and who thanked God that they had listened to
this voice; and methinks, they have a tender and affectionate love still for
him whom God honored thus. Minister of the gospel, if you on earth are
privileged to win souls I think when you die those spirits will rejoice to be
your guardian angels. They will say, “Father, that man is dying whom we
love, may we go and watch him?” “Yea,” saith God, “ye may go, and carry
heaven with you.” Down come the spirits, ministering angels, and oh! how
lovingly they look on us. They would, if they could, strike out the furrow
from the forehead, and take the cold clammy sweat with their own blessed
hands away. They must not do it; but Oh! how tenderly they watch that
suffering man who was made the means of doing good to their souls, and
when he opens his eyes to immortality he shall see them like guards around
his bed, and hear them say, “Come with us, thrice welcome, honored
servant of God; come with us.” And when he speeds his way upwards
towards heaven on strong wings of faith, these spirits who stand by him
will clap their wings behind him, and he will enter heaven with many
crowns upon his head, each of which he will delight to cast at the feet of
Jesus. Oh, brethren, if ye turn a sinner from the error of his ways,
remember ye have saved a soul from death, and hidden a multitude of sins.
III. The APPLICATION, I can only just mention. It is this; that he who is the
means of the conversion of a sinner does, under God, “save a soul from
death, and bide a multitude of sins,” but particular attention ought to be
paid to backsliders; for in bringing backsliders into the church there is as
much honor to God as in bringing in sinners. “Brethren, if any of you do
err from the truth, and one convert him.” Alas! the poor backslider is often
the most forgotten. A member of the church has disgraced his profession,
the church excommunicated him, and he was accounted “a heathen man
and a publican.” I know of men of good standing in the gospel ministry,
who, ten years ago, fell into sin; and that is thrown in our teeth to this very
day. Do you speak of them? you are at once informed, “Why, ten years ago
they did so-and-so.” Brethren, Christian men ought to be ashamed of
themselves for taking notice of such things so long afterwards. True, we
may use more caution in our dealings; but to reproach a fallen brother for
what he did so long ago, is contrary to the spirit of John, who went after
Peter, three days after he had denied his Master with oaths and curses.
Now-a-days it is the fashion, if a man falls, to have nothing to do with him.
Men say, “he is a bad fellow, we will not go after him.” Beloved, suppose
he is the worst, is not that the reason why you should go most after him?
Suppose he never was a child of God-suppose he never knew the truth, is
not that the greater reason why you should go after him? I do not
understand your mawkish modesty, your excessive pride, that won’t let
you after the chief of sinners. The worse the case, the more is the reason
why we should go. But suppose the man is a child of God, and you have
cast him off-remember, he is your brother; he is one with Christ as much as
you are; he is justified, he has the same righteousness that you have; and if,
when he has sinned, you despise him, in that you despise him you despise
his Master. Take heed! thou thyself mayest be tempted, and mayest one
day fall. Like David, thou mayest walk on the top of thine house rather too
high, and thou mayest see something which shall bring thee to sin. Then
what wilt thou say, if then the brethren pass thee by with a sneer, and take
no notice of thee; Oh! if we have one backslider connected with our
church, let us take special care of him. Don’t deal hardly with him.
Recollect you would have been a backslider too if it were not for the grace
of God. I advise you, whenever you see professors living in sin to be very
shy of them; but if after a time you see any sign of repentance, or if you do
not, go and seek out the lost sheep of the house of Israel; for remember,
that if one of you do err from the truth, and one convert him, let him
remember, that “he who converteth the sinner from the error of his way,
shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.”
“Backsliders, who your misery feel,” I will come after you one moment.
Poor backslider, thou wast once a Christian. Dost thou hope thou wast?
“No,” sayest thou, “I believe I deceived myself and others; I was no child
of God.” Well, if thou didst, let me tell thee, that if thou wilt acknowledge
that God will forgive thee. Suppose you did deceive the church, though art
not the first that did it. There are some members of this church, I fear, who
have done so, and we have not found them out. I tell you your case is not
hopeless. That is not the unpardonable sin. Some who have tried to deceive
the very elect have yet been delivered; and my Master says he is able to
save to the uttermost (and ye have not gone beyond the uttermost) all who
come unto him. Come thou, then, to his feet, cast thyself on his mercy; and
though thou didst once enter his came as a spy, he will not hang thee up for
it, but will be glad to get thee anyhow as a trophy of mercy. But if thou
was a child of God, and canst say honestly, “I know I did love him, and he
loved me,” I tell thee he loves thee still. If thou hast gone ever so far
astray, thou art as much his child as ever. Though thou hast run away from
thy Father, come back, come back, he is thy Father still. Think not he has
unsheathed the sword to slay thee. Say not, “He has cast me out of the
family.” He has not. His bowels yearn over thee now. My Father loves
thee; come then to his feet, and he will not even remind thee of what thou
hast done. The prodigal was going to tell his Father all his sins, and to ask
him to make him one of his hired servants, but the Father stopped his
mouth He let him say that he was not worthy to be called his son, but he
would not let him say, “make me as an hired servant.” Come back and thy
Father will receive thee gladly; he will put his arms around thee and kiss
thee with the kisses of his love, and he will say, “I have found this my son
that was lost; I have recovered this sheep that had gone astray.” My Father
loved thee without works, he justified thee irrespective of them; thou hast
no less merit now than thou hadst then. Come and trust and believe in him.
Lastly, you who believe you are not backsliders, if you are saved,
remember that a soul is saved from death, and a multitude of sins hidden.
Oh, my friends, if I might but be a hundred-handed man to catch you all, I
would love to be so. If aught I could say could win your souls-if by
preaching here from now till midnight, I might by any possibility capture
some of you to the love of the Savior, I would do it. Some of you are
speeding your way to hell blindfolded. My hearers, I do not deceive you,
you are going to perdition as fast as time can carry you. Some of you are
deceiving yourselves with the thought that you are righteous, and you are
not so. Many of you have had solemn warnings, and have never been
moved by them. You have admired the way in which the warning has been
given, but the thing itself has never entered your heart. Hundreds of you
are without God, and without Christ, strangers to the commonwealth of
Israel: and may I not plead with you? Is a gloomy religious system to hold
me captive and never let me speak? Why, poor hearts, do you know your
sad condition? Do you know that “God is angry with the wicked every
day;” that “the way of transgressors is hard;” that “he that believeth not is
condemned already?” Has it never been told you that “he that believeth not
shall be damned? “and can you stand damnation? My hearers could you
make your bed in hell? Could you lie down in the pit? Do you think it
would be an easy portion for your souls to be rocked on waves of flame for
ever, and to be tossed about with demons in the place where hope cannot
come? You may smile now, but will not smile soon. God sends me as an
ambassador now; but if ye listen not to me, he will not send an ambassador
next time, but an executioner. There will be no wooing words of mercy
soon: the only exhortation thou wilt hear will be the dull cold voice of
death, that shall say, “Come with me.” Then thou wilt not be in the place
where we sing God’s praises, and where righteous prayers are daily
offered. The only music thou wilt hear will be the sighs of the damned, the
shrieks of fiends, and the yellings of the tormented. O may God in his
mercy snatch you as brands from the fire, to be trophies of his grace
throughout eternity. The way to be saved is to “renounce thy works and
ways with grief,” and fly to Jesus. And if now thou art a consciencestricken
sinner, that is all I want. If thou will confess that thou art a sinner,
that is all God requires of thee, and even that he gives thee. Jesus Christ
says “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest.” Do you hear his wooing words? Will ye turn from his sweet
looks of mercy? Has his cross no influence? have his wounds no power to
bring you to his feet? Ah! then, what can I say? The arm of the Spirit,
which is mightier than man, alone can make hard hearts melt, and bow
stubborn wills to the ground. Sinners, if you confess your sins this
morning, there is a Christ for you. You need not say, “Oh, that I knew
where to find him.” The Word is nigh thee, on thy lips, and in thy heart. If
thou wilt with thine heart believe, and with thy mouth confess, the Lord
Jesus, thou shalt be saved, for “He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved; and he that believeth not shall be damned.”
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