THE SPIRITUAL CLAIMS OF LONDON
A SERMON
DELIVERED
ON WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 20, 1850.
BY THE REV. C. G. FINNEY,
OF THE OBERLIN COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE,
UNITED STATES,
TO THE MEMBERS AND VISITORS OF THE CHRISTIAN
INSTRUCTION SOCIETY,
AT THE TABERNACLE, MOORFIELDS.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
In
speaking from these words, I propose to show:
I. WHO THESE WORDS
WERE ADDRESSED TO;
II. WHAT THEY
MEAN;
III. WHAT IS
IMPLIED IN THEM;
IV. THE CONDITIONS
OF OBEYING THIS INJUNCTION;
V. WHY THE WORK IS
NOT DONE.
I. TO WHOM THESE WORDS WERE ADDRESSED.
Undoubtedly these words were first words addressed
to Christ’s immediate disciples; but I don’t think that you believe that the
spirit of these words was confined to them.
Don’t assume that Christ expected the Apostles to do all this work
themselves. This commission was given
to the Church of Christ. The spirit of
these words, then, from the very nature of the case, was addressed to the
Church of Christ of every age; and not just to the Church as a body, but to
particular individuals of the Church.
II. WHAT THESE
WORDS MEAN.
If you will read the margin of your Bibles, you
will see that the translation is, “make disciples, or Christians, of all
nations”. This is its true
meaning. Not just teach all nations,
but disciple them; make them disciples, or Christians. The injunction is this: Go and convert all
the nations on earth; make Christians of them; “teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo! I am with you always, even unto
the end of the world.” I believe all of
you agree that the spirit of this injunction is addressed to the Church of
Christ; and if it is addressed to the Church collectively; it must be addressed
to each minister and member of the Church in particular. The Spirit of this injunction binds every
Christian in the world who reads and understands this passage.
III. WHAT IS IMPLIED IN THIS INJUNCTION.
1. The injunction itself implies the ability of the
Church to do what Christ requires.
Every command of God implies that those to whom the command is given
have ability to obey it. I believe we
all must admit that when God commands anything, the very injunction itself
implies the ability to perform in those to whom the command is given. Understand me; I do not mean by this that we
have the ability to fulfill this command of God without Christ; but observe the
promise, “Lo! I am with you ALWAYS”. This promise does not mean sometimes and in
some places, but always and everywhere.
Of course, it is implied that if Christ is with us always, He is with us
everywhere. It is implied, then, that
with Christ's strength, and with His presence, the Church is able to do all
that He requires her to do.
2. Another thing implied is that it is the mission
of the Church to convert the world.
Now, let me say, if the Church is required to convert the world, you are
required to convert London because London is that part of the world where you
live. In other words, you are to do
your part in the work. God requires nothing more than that you should do just
what you are able to do through the presence and agency of Christ. Since we know that Christ commands the
Church to convert the world; it is the great mission of Christians in every
locality to secure the conversion of everybody in their immediate neighborhood,
and as many others as they can. By no
means should they forget their own families, friends, and relatives. Their business is to convert and lead others
to Christ.
3. This injunction implies that this is their
first, great, and only business in the world.
I’m not saying that preaching the Gospel is the only business of the
Church, for books and tracts must be prepared and printed, and many other things
done which are included in this requirement and essential to its
fulfillment. But remember, all things
are to be done to this end. Christians
are to eat and drink, work and rest, for the glory of God. They are to do everything with the view of
fulfilling this command of God. They
are to make it their whole business to secure this great goal. It implies, then, that the Church should be
a band of missionaries; that every individual in the Church is a missionary;
that the spirit of Christ is essentially a missionary spirit; that every individual
in every locality is to view himself as a missionary of Christ, placed there
for the purpose of securing the salvation of those around him. It is said in the Bible that you are ‘the
light of the world,” set there that you may exhibit the light of truth, and be
an example to those around you. You are
“the salt of the earth,” scattered among the people to preserve them from
corruption.
IV THE CONDITIONS
OF OBEYING THIS INJUNCTION.
1. We must have confidence in the presence, and in
the ready and effective co-operation of Christ. What do you suppose Christ intended when He said, “Lo! I am with you always, even to the end of the
world”? For what purpose did Christ
make this promise if He did not mean, “Lo!
I am with you to effectively help you to do what I have commanded
you”? Now, I suppose when Christ said
these words, ”Lo, I am with you always even to the end of the world,” He wanted
us to understand the spirit of the promise, which is, “do this work, obey, and
remember, My path is not difficult; you shall receive all the help you need
from Me. I will be with you in this
thing. My heart is with you. My power is with you. My presence is with you, and My sympathies
are all with you, always and everywhere.”
Isn’t this the meaning? What
else could these words mean?
Now, I suppose no Christian will deny that this is
the meaning of the words, and the meaning that Christ wanted to convey to
us. Now, if this is true, we must believe
it. Everything that Christ has said is
to be received in faith. In order that
it may be effective, it must be received in faith. Therefore, I observe, as the first condition on which the Church
can ever convert the world, or individuals can convert those around them, we
must believe that Christ is with us.
Now, all Christians should agree that Christ is in some sense with His
Church; but He is only with His Church as far as He is there personally with
the individuals who are in that Church, in their efforts to secure and do what
He requires of them. We must believe
this. We must have confidence in the
fact that He is present to help us by His Spirit; that He is always present
with us, and ready to sympathize and co-operate with us for securing the great
end that we are commanded to accomplish.
2. We must rely on, and appropriate this truth
until we realize this as a fundamental condition of success for the Church of
Christ. Where this is not realized and
appropriated, I believe there is little power to convert men from their sins.
3. Another condition of success is that we
thoroughly believe that we are able to go up and possess the land in Christ’s
strength. The Church must be convinced
of the fact that she is able to do what Christ has commanded her to do: that
Christians are able to accomplish the goal that He has placed before them. This truth stands out blazing on the pages
of inspiration: the Church is able to convert the world, and she will ultimately
possess the land.
4. Another condition
of success in this great enterprise is the devotion of the whole Church to this
work. This enterprise cannot be
accomplished by a few Church members, while the rest of them stand in the way. Every worthless member is a hindrance in the
way of good being done. Any individual
who is not engaged in the work stands right in the way, and will often undo as
much as the others can accomplish.
Therefore, all of the members of the Church must engage in this
work. If, right now, the entire body of
the Church of this City of London were to engage in this work with passion, and
take hold of it in faith believing that in Christ’s strength they are able to
possess the land, what a tremendous revival of religion would be witnessed in
this city.
5. Once more, a
thorough realization of individual responsibility in this work is indispensable
to success. Multitudes of professing
Christians feel little personal responsibility. But, if masses of people are to be converted, the entire
membership of the Church must become alive to the fact that they are
individually accountable for the conversion of those around them. Everyone will see, if he thinks about it,
that this must be a condition of success on a large scale. Now, if you ask me what I believe is the
greatest difficulty in the way of success in the growth of religion in any
area, I would reply that it is the unbelief and lack of a right spirit and
agency on the part of professing Christians in that locality. They are not in a state in which they can
realize their own responsibility; and they have no confidence in the
Gospel. Now, as long as this is true
with them, they are hindering, instead of advancing, the Gospel in their midst.
6. Another
indispensable condition of success is that there must be sympathy with Christ
in love for souls. You who would
undertake this work must enter into Christ’s sympathies, feel as He feels for
sinners, pity them as He pities them, blame them as He blames them; take God’s
side against them as He does. But you
must also stand in such a relationship that you sympathize both with God and
man; devoting yourselves to the work as Christ and the Apostles devoted
themselves to the work. It is a very
remarkable fact that those Christians in every age of the Church, who have
entered into sympathy with both God and man, have been those whose efforts have
had the most positive influence on the world.
The Lord Jesus Christ is a beautiful, perfect, example of this. He strongly sympathized with the holiness of
God, and yet He felt most tenderly for the distressed and guilty condition of
fallen man. He was full of zeal for the
purity of the Divine government; He was always ready to sacrifice His life, and
He did sacrifice it to honor the law; still He was full of compassion, kindness,
and love for all men, no matter what their forlorn and suffering condition
might be. He stood between God and man,
and sympathized, not with the sins of men, but with the infirmities and
sufferings of their nature, everything that affected their well-being. He stood in such a relation as to be an
example for us; He sympathized with both God and man.
The early Church caught the same spirit, for
although His personal interaction with them ended, He continued to be with them
through the agency of His Holy Spirit; and thus they possessed the same idea,
and practiced the same course of conduct.
They developed a deep sympathy with God in their love for souls. They did not consider their lives important
to them, if it meant that they might save souls. And their personal possessions that they lost in this enterprise,
they lost joyfully, counting themselves honored to suffer for His name and
cause. They laid themselves without
reservation on the altar, and that was the secret of their success. Now, beloved brethren, the conditions of success
are the same now as then. If there is
to be many converted, there must be a spirit of fervent prayer, and a large
development of this sympathy in the souls of Christ’s ministers; the same as in
the days of the Apostles.
If you ask me, “What is the reason for the lack of
success today?” I say, the reason is
because the spirit with which Christ and the Apostles began this work is not
developed in the Church and in individual members of the Church, to such an
extent as to move the world. This is
the reason for the lack of success in soul winning today. It’s not that the Gospel is different. The Gospel is the same now as it was in the
days when the Apostles preached it; it will have the same power in our hands
that it had in the hands of the Apostles.
Some people speak as if they believe that through the mouths of uninspired
men the Gospel can’t produce results as great as when the Apostles preached
it. But why? What does inspiration have to do with it? Inspiration revealed the Gospel and taught
men to write what they have recorded.
But we have that record and the same Spirit that inspired it is given to
us to explain it. Where, then, are we
deficient? Depend upon it,
friends! If we have the same spirit of
love and confidence with the same sympathy that they had with both God and man,
the Gospel will be as powerful in our hands as it was in the hands of the
Apostles. Since I became a Christian, I
have seen many hundreds of instances where wonderful success in winning souls
to Christ has accompanied those who’s only qualifications have been sympathy
with God and man. But I don’t have the
time to go into details or even mention these instances in one lecture. I would like to deliver a course of lectures
to this Society, instead of one, so I could direct your attention to these
things.
7. Another
condition of the success of the Churches in any given locality is that they
must enter into sympathy with Christ, concerning His spirit of self-sacrifice,
for promoting this work. The spirit of
the Gospel is essentially a spirit of self-denial. I promise you, when this spirit is developed in the Church, she
will succeed in making great progress in this work. In order to achieve great success, there must be the same willingness
to lay everything on the altar, that was manifested by Christ, His Apostles,
and the early Church. Jesus laid
everything on the altar in order to save men; and we must count anything dear
to us that can be given up for the promotion of this great object.
8. Another
indispensable condition for success is the complete consecration of the
ministry to this work. The ministers of
Christ bear a very important relationship to this work, but they are not required
to accomplish it all by themselves.
They are like the officers in an army; instead of attempting to do all
the fighting themselves, they direct the energies of others. Ministers are the officers in Christ’s great
army, who are fighting against sin, and seeking to win dominion for their
Master. They take on an important and
leading part in the work, but by no means are they to be expected to do all the
fighting themselves, any more than officers are, in any army in the world.
9. I said there
must be complete consecration to this work; and let me add that unless they
manifest a true spirit of consecration, they will be stumbling-blocks to the
rest of the Church. It is indispensable
that they show themselves to be men totally given up to this work, men possessing
the true spirit of self-sacrifice, sympathizing with God and man; and that they
are on the altar in this matter.
Without this, the unsaved in any area will never be moved, and the
minister will be a hindrance in the way of good being done. I do not know what is the condition of the
ministry here in London, and therefore I can’t speak personally. But I speak a general truth when I say that
if Christians do not see their ministers’ heart and soul in this work, that
they are ready to sacrifice anything to promote it, they are, and must be,
stumbling-blocks in the way of good being done. In order to be greatly useful, ministers must let everybody see
that their heart and soul is in this work, that they’ve laid their all on the altar,
that they do not consider their comfort, their reputation, their salary, nor
even their lives dear to themselves in comparison to moving the masses of mankind
and bringing them to God.
10. Another
indispensable condition of success is this: Lay men and women must stop laying
down one rule for their minister and another for themselves. They must conduct themselves by the same
rule, and lay themselves on the altar in their respective spheres of labor. Instead of criticizing their ministers and
finding fault with them, they must work under his direction and
assistance. If the membership of the
Church thinks that they can pawn off their responsibilities on their ministers,
they are completely mistaken. Suppose
that the ministers stood in their pulpits Sunday after Sunday, and labored, and
toiled, and wept, and prayed, and the sinners sit and listen to the solemn and
awful truths that come from the preacher’s lips, and feel that they are solemn
and awful realities. But suppose in the
same place there are multitudes of careless professing Christians who show by
their conduct that they don’t believe what has been preached. They are tremendous obstacles in the way of
the conversion of these sinners, who would otherwise, in all probability, be
converted! By their conduct they seem
to say, “We don't believe in the truth of what our minister says in the pulpit,
it’s fine for Sunday, and he is paid to believe and teach these things, but
those things aren’t important to us”.
How many times, when ministers have poured out their hearts before a
congregation, sinners have been roused, and felt their hearts tremble in fear,
and their hair stand on end because of what they have heard. They are deeply impressed. The congregation begins to leave the church,
the professing Christians laugh and shake hands with each other, and going home
they talk about indifferent subjects just as if they had not heard one word of
those great and eternal realities. They
appear to say, by all their words, actions, and looks, “Don’t be alarmed, you
see that we are not alarmed, and we have heard more about these things than
ever you did. These things may be fine
for the Sabbath, and fit for the pulpit, but there is no truth in them.” No wonder sinners are unconverted! The members of the Churches must be made to
feel their individual responsibility; they must come into sympathy with Christ,
and with the minister as far as he sympathizes with Christ, and labor with him
for the conversion of souls. Let them
understand that they must stop applying one rule to the minister and another to
themselves. Let them feel their
individual responsibility, and come right out and consecrate themselves to the
work, and lay their all on God; and then we shall see a great revival of true
religion in our midst.
11. Another indispensable condition of success is,
that our religion must begin at home, with our children and those immediately
under our influence; and then we must seek the conversion of those whom, next
to these, we can most readily reach and influence. When others are converted, let them first secure the conversion
of their children and those around them; and if they did this, they would
create around them a little green and refreshing spot like that around the Siloam
well, and its delightful soul-cheering and holy influence would soon be felt on
every side. Let it be understood that
people must begin at home, and with those immediately around them, and then the
influence will flow outward. People
must not only feel that this is true of ministers, but of everybody professing
godliness. Let each of them get a hold
of their closest friend, and bring him to Christ.
12. Another condition of success is that the
Church, and every individual member of the Church, must realize the guilt and
danger of sinners. Let them look at it,
and dwell on it as they should, and not turn their minds away from it. I have often thought that the reason why
there is so little distress in the Church concerning the state of sinners is
that Christians do not like to consider their real guilt and danger. They do not stir up their minds to consider
the real state of their children and their neighbors around them. Now, let me say, if people are stirred up,
and grab a hold of this subject, they must think about it; and if they are ever
to come into sympathy with God and man, they must pay attention to this
subject; the mind must dwell on it.
13. Another condition of success is that the
members of the Church must stop operating by proxy as much as they now do. The fact is, there is a very great and fatal
tendency in Christians to perform the great business of their lives by proxy.
They hire a minister, and tithe generously to support a missionary, or a
ministry, and feel that they have done their duty. Now, it is true that ministers, missionaries, ministries,
district visitors, and others can do a lot of good in their calling, but the
Church membership must be totally engaged if there is to be a large measure of
success. The personal exertion of every
Christian is needed and important; personal influence, personal conversation,
prayer, and intelligent warning must be a condition of success in this great
enterprise. I have never known this
kind of effort to be used in any area without an immediate and glorious
result. I don’t believe, in the history
of the world, that the membership of any Church, in any part of the world, has
engaged in this work in a right spirit, and from proper motives, without the
success being so far above all that they had expected that they astonish
themselves. I say that every individual
should be personally engaged in making known the Gospel, but I don’t mean that
they can give up their entire time to this work. However, professing Christians could employ a lot more time in
this work than they currently do, and tremendous good would result from it.
14. Another
condition of success is that the Church must stop neglecting her duty, and then
blame her failure on the sovereignty of God.
Some people talk as if the lack of success is because of some mysterious
sovereignty of God. It’s fine if we
talk about the sovereignty of God after we have done our duty, but not
before. Why, what would you think of a
man who neglects to sow his field, and then, because he has no crop at harvest
time, he attributes it to the sovereignty of God? Or what would you think of a man who so shamefully neglected his
business that he went bankrupt, and then blamed it on the sovereignty of
God? Why, you would immediately see the
absurdity and wickedness of it. If the
farmer tills and sows his land properly and wisely, and then God sends a blight
on it, so be it; but until he has done his duty in the spirit of dependence on
God, let him stop talking as if the lack of a crop was the result of some
mysterious sovereignty of God. The same
is true with Christians. They must stop
neglecting their duty before they talk about the sovereignty of God hindering
the conversion of sinners.
15. Professing Christians must stop thinking that
they do their duty when they don’t live in the true spirit of the Gospel. For example, suppose a minister preaches
from ambitious motives, that his main goal is to secure a great name for
himself; and suppose this minister should say when he got home, “Well, I have
preached twice today, so I have done my duty”.
He preaches with a cold and unbelieving heart, with little or no
sympathy with Christ and little of no faith in the effectiveness of the Gospel;
and then he goes home and says, “Well, whatever the result, I have done my
duty”. Thus, the lack of success that
is sure to follow such preaching is thrown carelessly and wickedly on God. “I have done my duty!” No!
You have not done your duty!
Even if you have preached the Gospel in all its fullness, unless you
have done it for the right reasons and in the spirit of the Gospel you have not
done your duty. If there are ministers
here tonight, let me say that I am not claiming that you do any of these
things. I am not saying that you preach
the Gospel from wrong and impure motives because I don’t know you. However, I would call your attention to
this, my brethren: neither you nor I will preach the Gospel in the spirit that
we should preach it, even though we may preach the truth and nothing but the
truth, if we do not preach it in the spirit and with the faith that Christ
requires. Suppose people come to a
meeting and listen to the Gospel, but they don’t obey it, nor believe it, and
then they go home and say, “Well, we have been to a meeting, and so we have
done our duty”. No! They’ve tempted God instead of doing their
duty. Let us, then stop talking about
religion or duty, unless we do our duty with the right motives, and perform
them in a right spirit. When we have
done this, we may cast the results on God, assured that Christ will complete
the work that we have begun, for He says, “Lo!
I am with you always, even to the end of the world”.
16. Another
condition of success is that the Church must come out from the world and show
herself, and let it be known that God has a people in the world. Let there be a visible and plain
distinction. Let people see that
Christians are motivated by a different spirit, and living for a different
end. Christians must appear to be what
God says they are, “a holy nation, a royal priesthood, a peculiar people, zealous
of good works”. This is to be plainly
seen as an indispensable condition of eminent success.
17. The obstacle, which has been produced by a
worldly spirit, must be taken out of the way.
If we demonstrate an unkind, unjust, or unchristian spirit in our
families, in our neighborhoods, or in our business relations, these things
cause men to stumble and lead them to doubt our Christianity. These things give them reasons to doubt
whether there is any truth in religion at all.
We must pick up these stumbling-blocks and toss them out of the way. We must confess our sins and forsake them,
and show, by our constant anxiety for the souls of our children and our
neighbors, that we have faith in our religion, and we desire them to
participate in its blessings. As an
illustration, let me mention something that happened in America. An elder of a Presbyterian Church, one of
the most respectable men in the town where he lived, was thought by his
neighbors to be a very religious man, since he attended to the forms of
religion very regularly. However, there
was a lot of formality about him, and he had little of the powerful life-giving
energy of religion. This man had a
large family of sons and daughters. At
the time that I’m talking about his older children were practically full-grown,
and yet none of them were converted.
One day he was walking alone not far from his house, when he became very
seriously impressed with the thought that his family was not converted. He began to ask himself why; and he was
forcibly struck with the conviction that he had never discussed religion with
them in such a manner that they should realize their guilt and danger. As he continued to think about this, his
agony become so great that he trembled fearfully, and perspiration rolled down
his face. He started for his house, and
before he could get there, he began to run.
When he reached his house, he asked in a very excited voice for one and
another of his children. Hearing the
tones and manner in which their father was speaking, the family were soon assembled
to learn what was the matter. When they
were all together, the father fell on his knees and confessed to them and to
God, and prayed for their souls. It so
affected the whole family that in a very short time they were all
converted. Now, I could tell you
hundreds of cases similar to this, where individuals have come to see that they
have not done their duty, but have resolved to do it, and obtained a blessed
result.
18. If the Church will succeed in this matter, she
must be willing to be searched and reproved; and the language of every member
must be, “Search me, Oh search me, and try my heart, and see what evil might
exist in me; and lead me in the way that is everlasting”. (Psalms 139:23-24) They must intensely desire to know what is essential to this
great work and to be made fit for its accomplishment. There must be deep self-examination, and a determination to do
whatever must be done.
19. The Church must stop grieving the Holy Spirit
by her selfishness and self-indulgence.
The fact is, people often complain that they want the Spirit, while they
are grieving the Spirit by their self-indulgent practices. While in this state it is naturally
impossible for them to have the Spirit dwelling in their hearts. Many individuals grieve the Holy Spirit, and
yet they aren’t aware of it. They live
in a great many forms of self-indulgence, complain about the absence of the
Spirit, and yet don’t know where they are at fault. Are not ministers often very guilty in this respect? My purpose is not to reprove ministers where
reproof is not needed; but I must be faithful.
Oh, brethren, take care not to grieve the Holy Spirit! Watch your thoughts, be careful of all your
actions, and separate yourselves from worldly men and worldly influences as
much as you can, in order that you may more effectively help forward the work
of God.
20. The spirit of
caste must be eliminated. By the spirit
of caste, I mean the spirit that seems to overlook the fact that all men are
brothers. From the very nature of
things, I know there are different social positions that probably will always
exist, more or less; and those that are proper I do not condemn. But there is an improper feeling and spirit
that is too common among many in the higher lifestyles, which prevents them
from doing good to those below them in society. Sometimes, I am astonished to see the aversion that many good
professing Christians have to descending to the lower class of society to do
them good. This wasn’t the case with
Jesus Christ, whose constant aim was to benefit and bless the poor; and He even
went to this class to choose His apostles to carry the Gospel to the
world. I cannot enlarge on this now;
but you all know that in every region there is a spirit of caste that
misrepresents the Christian religion, and it does a lot of harm to much of the
lower class. Christians, while they
should faithfully rebuke their vices and reprove the poor for their sins,
should also deeply sympathize with them in their poverty, and pity their
distresses; and this is the way to win their hearts and lead them to the Savior.
The poor know how to appreciate such kindness; and
the fact is, there is a great lack of deep and intense sympathy on the part of
the Christian Church towards the poor.
Let this situation change; let the poor get the impression, let them
understand, that Christians are living to do them good in every way, and they
will prefer Christianity to infidelity.
It does not mean that Christians, in showing their sympathy should take
such a part as to appear to agree with their intemperance or sin in any
form. But let the Christian seek to win
them from vice, and persuade them to give up their intemperance in every form
and degree. Let the Christian seek
their welfare, temporal and spiritual, and a blessed result will follow. I have often been astonished to see the lack
of this spirit in so many different localities; and, as a result, much of
mankind is carried away by the flimsiest and most absurd temptations, because
Christians fail to take any deep sympathy and interest in them. Now, if you are parents, let your families
see that you earnestly desire their conversion to God. If you are a master, and have many people
under your influence, let them see that you have an earnest desire for their
good, that you are more interested in securing their soul’s salvation than
their services in your business. The
power of such conduct will be very great.
It will move them; there is no mistake about it.
21. The Churches
must be willing to be searched, and must help search each other. Several years ago, the students of one of my
theological classes came to me for advice, as to the best plan they could adopt
to assist each other in the best possible way to prepare for the ministry. I advised them to have a weekly meeting to
search each other, to open their hearts to each other; and, furthermore, to privately
tell each other their faults, and in the most fraternal manner try to reform
everything that was wrong in their hearts, spirit, habits, and manners. In all and everything, they must make the
most holy self-denial; and to unite in prayer for each other. They did this in several classes, and just
in proportion as they had been faithful to each other, I’ve had the
satisfaction of seeing them become prosperous and godly men, scattered about
over our great country, with hearts full of love and faith, promoting the great
work to which Christ has called them.
Those classes that did most for each other in the way I have mentioned
have been the most successful in winning souls to Christ. Thus, I say, the Churches of Christ must be
willing to be searched; they must search each other by all possible fidelity,
kindness, and brotherly love.
22. Once more, all
parties must realize their true responsibility. Every individual must remember that he is a missionary. We speak of missionaries as if they are only
those who are sent to preach the Gospel in foreign countries, or are connected
with some Society for spreading the Gospel at home, often forgetting that every
Christian is a missionary, or should be.
23. A high standard of piety is an indispensable
condition to success in this work: there will never be any very great success
in this city, or in any other city, if the standard of piety is not greatly elevated
in the Churches. In those regions where
great religious revivals have taken place, the standard of piety has been
raised higher and higher from time to time.
Some people speak of revivals as if they were only temporary
excitements; that after these revivals take place there is a decline which
leaves the standard of religion lower than it was before the revival took
place. Now, as far as my experience
goes, I never knew of anything like that happening. If it was a true religious revival, and Christians had the
standard of piety raised in their own hearts, their spiritual life will
increase. And even though the
brightness of the light of the Holy Spirit may fade, it will never return to
what it was before the revival. I have
known people pass through revival after revival; but after every succeeding revival,
they had a higher development of spiritual life within them.
Now, I’m not here to charge you with being
hypocrites or backsliders, but I must say that if you are to move the masses,
and be the means of numerous conversions, you must have a higher standard of
piety, a higher development of spiritual life.
This must be! I will take your
present standard at any given point, and say, from that point, whatever it may
be, your piety must be greatly elevated; and just in that proportion will you
be able to reach and influence those around you. If there are any ministers who desire to stand
before their people and move their hearts, let me tell you that they never will
move the people, until they themselves have a higher development of spiritual
life.
Visitors, tract distributors, and all other
laborers in this work, let me tell you, and you will, of course, not be offended
with me when I tell you, that there must be a more thorough development of
Christ in you. It must manifest itself
in your looks and manners. Every man
with whom you meet must be satisfied that you are sincere. Some people, just by looking at you, can
tell whether you are sincere. The tone
of your voice will often reveal the state of your heart. A man could go through the streets of the
city yelling, “Fire! Fire!” in such
tones that nobody would believe him.
Now, you must speak about religion in such tones that people will
believe you, or you will fail to make any impression. If you speak about religion in such a way as to lead men to think
that you don’t believe what you are saying, it is impossible for you to get
people to believe what you say. You
must be so much in earnest that your earnestness cannot be concealed. Whitfield used to stand in this pulpit, and
let me ask what was the secret of his power?
His earnestness. Everybody knew
that he was in earnest. Everyone felt,
in fact they could not help but feel, that he was solemnly earnest, and so they
listened and were saved. Let the Church
awake up from her sleep, and show herself to be in earnest, and when she has
done this, if she fails, then talk about the sovereignty of God, and not
before.
Leaving the answer to the question, “Why is the
work not done?” until next Wednesday evening.
I close by asking:
1. Are you, my
dear brethren, prepared to comply with these conditions? What do you say, brethren? What do I say? Are you willing to lay your life on the altar? Am I willing? I think I can say, as honestly as I can say anything, Yes, I am.
2. Now, beloved,
let us come to this work asking, “Why am I not more useful, why can’t I do more
for God? There is a serious error
somewhere? Where is it?