HOW TO CHANGE YOUR HEART

SERMONS ON IMPORTANT SUBJECTS

SERMON II

 

by the Rev. CHARLES G. FINNEY

 

“Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.  For why should you die, O house of Israel?”  (Ezekiel 18:31)

In my first discussion on this text, I answered three questions:

1. What is the meaning of the command in this text?

2. Is this text reasonable?

3. Is this text consistent with those passages that declare a new heart to be the gift and work of God?

In answer to the first question, “what does the requirement to make a new heart and a new spirit mean?”  I tried to show negatively,

1. This requirement is not talking about the fleshly heart, that bodily organ which is the seat of animal life.

2. It is not talking about a new soul.

3. We are not required to create any new faculties of our body or mind.  We are not to alter the constitutional powers, propensities, or susceptibilities of our nature.  Nor are we to implant any new principle, or taste in the substance of either our mind or body.

I tried to show that a change of heart does not take place while a sinner is passive, but while he is active.  The change is not physical, but moral.  It is the sinner's own act.  It consists in changing his mind, or disposition, concerning his supreme object of pursuit.  It is a change in the end that he aims at, and not merely in the means of obtaining his end.  It is a change in the governing choice or preference of his mind.  This results in a change of one’s purpose in life.  It consists in preferring the glory of God, and the interests of His kingdom, to everything else, including one's own happiness.  It is a change from a state of selfishness where a person prefers his own interests above everything else, to that unselfish benevolence that prefers God's happiness and glory, and the interests of His kingdom to his own private happiness.

Under the second topic, I tried to establish that this duty is reasonable, by showing the sinner's ability, and the reasons why he does what he does.

In the third topic, I showed that there was no inconsistency between this scripture and passages that declare a new heart is the gift and work of God.

I come now to my fourth and final topic, to which the discussion of the above topics naturally leads to, which is: How shall I perform this duty, and change my own heart?  This is a question often asked by anxious sinners when they are commanded to change their hearts, and convinced that it is their duty to do so, and of the dreadful consequences of failing to obey.  They anxiously ask, “How can I do it?  By what process of thought or feeling is this great change to be wrought in my mind?  The purpose of this discussion is to help you out of this dilemma.  It is to remove, if possible, the darkness from your minds; to clear up what seems to you to be so mysterious; to hold the lamp of truth directly before you so it lights up your path.  So, if you stumble and fall, your blood will be on your own head.

1. I observe, negatively, that you cannot change your heart by working your imagination and feelings into a state of excitement.  Many sinners think that great fears and terrors, great horrors of conscience, and the greatest amount of excitement that the mind is capable of bearing must necessarily precede a change of heart.  They are led to this conclusion because they know that such feelings often come before this change.  But, sinners should understand that this highly excited state of feeling, these fears, alarms, and horrors, are only the result of ignorance and/or obstinacy.  It often happens that sinners will not yield and change their hearts, until the Spirit of God drives them to extremes; until the thunders of Sinai roll in their ears, and the lurid fires of hell flash before their eyes.  All this is no part of the work of making a new heart; but is the result of them resisting doing their duty.  These terrors and alarms are, by no means, essential to perform their duty, but are rather an embarrassment and a hindrance.  Because some sinners have those horrors of conscience and fears of hell before they will yield, they believe that those things are necessary, and all sinners must experience them before they can change their hearts.  That is as unwarrantable a conclusion as if all of your children said that they must be threatened with severe punishment, and see the rod uplifted, and thus be thrown into great turmoil, before they can obey; simply because one of your children had been that obstinate, and had refused to obey until driven to extremes.  If you are willing to do your duty when you are shown what your duty is, fears, terrors, and great excitement of mind are unnecessary.  God has no delight in them for their own sake, and never causes them simply because the sinner is obstinate.  When sinners are obstinate, God often sees that it is unwise to produce these great terrors, and will rather let the sinner go to hell without them.

2. You cannot change your heart by attempting to force yourself into a certain state of feeling.  When sinners are called on to repent, and give their hearts to God, it is common for them, if they undertake to perform this duty, to make an effort to feel emotions of love, repentance, and faith.  They seem to think that all religion consists in highly excited emotions, and that these emotions can be produced by a direct effort of the will.  They spend a lot of time in prayer to manufacture certain feelings, and struggle to produce those highly wrought emotions and feelings of love to God that they hear Christians talk about.  But these emotions can never be brought into existence by a direct effort to feel. 

Feelings can never be produced, and glow and burn in our mind at the direct bidding of our will.  Our will has no direct influence over our emotions, and we can only produce emotions through the medium of our attention.  Feelings, or emotions, depend on our thoughts, and are spontaneously produced in our mind when our thoughts are intensely occupied with their corresponding objects.  Our thoughts are under the direct control of our will.  We can direct our attention and meditations to any subject, and the corresponding emotions will be spontaneously produced in our mind.  If a hated subject is under consideration, emotions of hatred will be produced.  If an object of terror, grief, or joy occupies our thoughts, the corresponding emotions will of course be produced, and with strength corresponding to the concentration and intensity of our thoughts on that subject. 

Thus, our feelings are only indirectly under the control of our will.  Our feelings are sinful or holy only as they are indirectly brought into existence by our will.  We often complain that we cannot control our feelings.  We form overwhelming attachments, which we say we cannot control.  We are verbally attacked.  We respond in anger.  We say that we can’t help it.  Now, as long as our attention is focused on an object, those emotions, which are associated with our thoughts about that object, will exist.  But, if our conscience disapproves of those emotions, that subject must be dismissed from our thoughts, and our attention must be directed to some other subject before we can get rid of those emotions.  So in the case where we are verbally attacked, all thoughts concerning the attack must be dismissed, and our thoughts must be occupied with other considerations, or emotions of hatred will continue to fester and rankle in our minds.  “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”  We are responsible for any feelings after allowing such a subject to occupy our thoughts.

Our moral character must be voluntary.  It is our universal and irresistible conviction, that any praise worthy or blame worthy action must be free.  If, while walking down the street, you should see a tile fall from a building where men were working, and kill a man, and on inquiring you found that it was an accident, you could not feel that it was murder.  But, if you learned that one of the workmen deliberately threw that tile at the victim, you would not hesitate to say that it was murder.  So, if God, or anybody else, should force a dagger into your hand, and force you against your will to stab your neighbor, the universal conscience of man would not condemn you, but would condemn the person who forced you to do this deed.  And so, for any action, thought, or feeling to have moral character, it must be directly or indirectly under the control of the will.  If a man voluntarily places himself under such circumstances that produce wicked emotions, he is entirely responsible for them.  If he places himself under circumstances where virtuous emotions are produced, he is praiseworthy in exercising them, precisely in proportion to his willingness to bring his mind into circumstances that cause their existence.

Love, repentance, and faith, may exist in the mind, either willfully or emotionally.  Love, when it is willful, is simply preferring God and the things of religion to everything else.  This preference may, and often exists in the mind so completely separate from our emotions or our feelings, that we may not even be aware of its existence.  But, even though we may not be aware of its existence because we don’t feel that it is there, yet its influence over our conduct will be such that the fact of its existence will be seen in the things that we do.  The love of our family and friends may likewise exist in our mind in both of these forms.  When a man is engaged in business or traveling, and his mind is occupied with other subjects, he exercises no sensible or felt love for his family; but still his preference remains, and it is his love for his family that is the mainspring that directs his movements in his business and travels.  He does not forget his wife or family, nor acts as if they don’t exist.  His conduct is modified and governed by this abiding preference for them, even when his thoughts are so entirely occupied with other things, that no emotions or feelings of affection currently exists in his mind.

But as soon as the business of the day is over, and those other objects cease to occupy his attention, his preference of home, wife, and family comes forth and directs his thoughts to those beloved objects.  No sooner do they enter into his mind, than the corresponding emotions arise, and his love as a father and the husband rekindles in his heart.  The same is true with the Christian.  When his thoughts are intensely occupied with business or study, he may not notice or experience any feelings of love for God.  Still, if he is a Christian, his preference for God will have its influence over all his conduct.  He won’t feel or act like an ungodly man under similar circumstances.  He will not curse, nor swear, nor get drunk.  He will not cheat, nor lie, nor act as if he is under the dominion of unmingled selfishness.  But his preference for God will so modify and govern his behavior, that even though he doesn’t sense or feel the presence of God, he is indirectly influenced in everything he does by a regard for God’s glory.  And when the bustle of business is over, his abiding preference for God naturally directs his thoughts to Him, and to the things of His kingdom.  Then, of course, he becomes filled with the corresponding feelings, and warm emotions of love kindle, and glow, and fill his soul with joy.  He understands the words of the Psalmist, when he says, “While I mused the fire burned.”  (Psalms 39:3)

I also said, that repentance may exist in our mind, either in the form of an emotion or willfully.  Repentance is a change of mind concerning the nature of sin, and it does not necessarily include the idea of sorrow.  It is simply an act of our will.  Our will rejects sin and chooses or prefers holiness.  This is the form of repentance when it exists as an act of the will.  When existing as an emotion, repentance sometimes rises into a strong abhorrence of sin and love of holiness.  It often melts away into an honest yielding of our heart; in gushings of sorrow, and the strongest feelings of disapproval and self-condemnation in view of our own sins.

Therefore, faith may simply be a conviction or mental persuasion of the truths reveled to us.  The influence of this faith depends on the strength and permanency of this persuasion.  It is not evangelical faith, however, unless our will consents to this persuasion.  We often believe that there are things that are harmful to us.  Devils and wicked men may have a strong conviction of the truth.  We know they often do.  So strong is their persuasion of the truth that they tremble; but they still hate the truth.  (James 2:19)  But, when the conviction of Gospel truth is accompanied with the consent of our will, or our mind's preference of it, it is evangelical faith, and it will influence our conduct in proportion to its strength.  However, this is faith existing as an act of our will.  When the objects of faith, as revealed in the Gospel, become the subjects of intense thought, faith rises into emotion.  It then becomes a felt confidence and trust, so sensible as to calm all the anxieties, fears, and disturbances of our soul.

Emotions of love or hatred for God, that are not directly or indirectly produced by our will, have no moral character.  A real Christian, under circumstances of strong temptation, may feel emotions of opposition to God rankling in his mind.  If he has voluntarily placed himself under these circumstances of temptation, he is responsible for these emotions.  If the subject that creates these emotions is forced on him by Satan, or in any way against his will, he is not responsible for them.  If he diverts his attention, if he flees from the scene of temptation, if he does what he can to resist and repress these emotions, he has not sinned.  Such emotions usually enter into the mind of a Christian by some false view of the character or government of God.  Likewise, emotions of love to God may exist in the mind of someone who is completely selfish.  These emotions may come from a persuasion that God has a particular regard for us, or some vain assurance that we are good and are going to heaven.  Now, if this love is not based on a preference for God for who He really is, it is not virtuous love.  Although our will may have indirectly produced these emotions, but because our will prefers God, not for who He is, but for selfish reasons, the emotions that are produced are selfish.

To change your heart is to change your primary purpose, to change your goal in life.  What is needed, is that your will should be rightly influenced, that you should reject sin, and prefer God and obedience to everything else.  The question is, then, how can your will be rightly influenced?  By what process is it reasonable to expect this to influence your mind?  Until your will is right, don’t expect to feel emotions of true love to God, repentance, and faith.  Don’t expect to receive those feelings that you are seeking after, and trying to force yourself, until your will is bowed, until the ruling preference of your mind is changed.

3.  Three types of motives affect the will. 

First, there are purely selfish motives.  Selfishness prefers one's own interest and happiness to God and His glory.  Whenever our will chooses selfishly, whether directly or indirectly, the choice is sinful.  All selfishness is sin.

Next, there are motives that come from self-love.  Self-love is a constitutional dread of misery and love of happiness, and whenever our will is influenced purely by considerations of this kind, its decisions either have no moral character at all, or they are sinful.  Our constitutional desire for happiness and the dread of misery is not sinful in itself, and the consent of our will to lawfully gratify this constitutional love of happiness and dread of misery is not sinful.  But when our will consents, as in the case of Adam and Eve, to a prohibited indulgence, then it becomes sinful.

Finally, there are motives are connected with conscience.  Conscience is the judgment our mind forms of the moral qualities of actions.  When our will is decided by the voice of conscience, or a regard to what is right, its decisions are virtuous.  When our mind chooses at the bidding of principle, then, and only then, are our decisions according to the law of God.

The Bible never appeals to selfishness.  It often addresses self-love, or our hopes and fears, because self-love is not sinful in itself.  By thus appealing to our hopes, fears, and conscience, our mind, even selfish minds, are led prepared for the enlightened and powerful reproofs of conscience.  Thus, our investigation is carried on under the influence of our hopes and fears; but it is not the constitutional principle of self-love that finally influences us to make that ultimate choice to obey God.  Under the combined influence of hope, fear, and conscience, our mind is led to fully investigate and consider the claims of God.  When these principles have influenced our mind so far that we admit and cherish the influences of the Holy Spirit to allow us to become enlightened and to see what our duty is, our mind is then ripe for a decision.  Our conscience then has firm footing.  It then has the opportunity of exerting its greatest power on our will.  And if our will decides virtuously, our attention is not occupied at that time with either hopes or fears, or with those considerations that excite them.  But at that moment when the decision is made, our attention must be occupied either with the reasonableness, fitness, and propriety of our Maker's claims, or with the hatefulness of sin, or the stability of His truth.  The decision of our will, or the change of preference is mainly made, not because, at that moment, you hope to be saved or you are afraid you will be damned, but because the decision to obey God, to serve Him, to honor Him, and promote His glory, is reasonable, right, and just.  This is a virtuous decision: this is a change of heart.  It is true that the offer of pardon and acceptance has a powerful influence, by more fully demonstrating the unreasonableness of rebellion against such a God.  While in despair, the sinner would rather flee than submit.  But the offer of reconciliation annihilates the influence of despair, and gives to conscience its utmost power.

4. You cannot change your heart by attending to the present state of your feelings.  It is very common for people who are called on to change their hearts to turn their thoughts on themselves, to see whether they possess the required feelings; whether they have enough conviction, and whether they have those emotions which they think should precede a change of heart.  They take their attention away from those considerations that will affect their will, and think about their current feelings.  When they divert their mind from the motives that are designed to change their heart, and fix their attention on their present mental state, they lose what feeling they have.  For the time being it makes a change of heart impossible.  Our present feelings are subjects of our consciousness.  We have a felt existence in our mind.  But if you focus on feelings alone, they will disappear.  As long as our thoughts are warmly engaged and intensely occupied with objects that are outside our feelings, for example, our past sins, the character or requirements of God, the love or sufferings of the Savior, or any similar subjects, corresponding emotions will develop within us.  But as soon we turn away from all these and focus our attention on our present feelings and attempt to examine them, there is no longer anything before our mind to make us feel.  Our emotions will automatically fade.  As long as we steadily look at a physical object, its image is painted on the retina of our eye.  Now, as long as we continue to focus on that object, the image will remain on our retina, and the corresponding impression will be in our mind.  But as soon as we look away, the image on our retina will disappear.  Should we focus our attention on the mental impression instead of the object that caused it, the image will quickly fade and disappear.

Therefore, instead of waiting for certain feelings, or making your present state of mind the subject of your attention, please get your thoughts off your present emotions, and give your undivided attention to some of the reasons for changing your heart.

Remember, your present purpose is not to directly call into existence certain emotions, but, by leading your mind to a full understanding of your obligations, to induce you to yield to principle, and to choose what is right.  If you will give your attention, I will try to place before you such considerations as are best calculated to induce the state of mind that constitutes a change of heart.

First.  Fix your mind on the unreasonableness and hatefulness of selfishness.  Selfishness is the pursuit of one's own happiness as a supreme good; this is in itself inconsistent with the glory of God and the highest happiness of his kingdom.  You must be aware that you have always, directly or indirectly, aimed at promoting your own happiness in all that you have done.  God's glory and happiness, and the interests of His kingdom, have not been the leading motive of your life.  You have not served God, but have served yourself.  But the importance your happiness is nothing compared with the happiness and glory of God and the interests of His immense kingdom.  Therefore, to pursue, as a supreme good, your own happiness, is to prefer an infinitely less to an infinitely greater good, simply because it is your own.  Is this virtue?  Is this honest?  Is this benevolence?  Is this loving God supremely, or your neighbor as yourself?  No, it is exalting your own happiness into the place of God; it is placing yourself at the center of the universe, and attempting to force God and all His creatures to revolve around you as your satellites.

Your success, in pushing your selfish aims, would ruin the universe.  A selfish being can never be happy until his selfishness is fully satisfied.  But, no selfish being can ever be fully satisfied.  Selfishness aims at appropriating all good to self.  Give a selfish man a township, and he covets a state; give him a state, and he longs for a nation; give him a continent, and he cannot rest without the world: give him a world, and he is wretched if there is nothing more to gain.  Give him all authority on earth, and while there was a God to rule the universe, his selfish heart would rankle with insatiable desire, until the world, the universe, and God himself would fall prostrate at his feet.  Even then, his ambition could not be satisfied, his selfish heart would not rest.  If, then, you could succeed in your selfish aims, your success would subordinate and injure, if not ruin everybody else.

Is this right?  Even if you could succeed in subduing the universe to yourself, your happiness would still not be obtained; for a selfish moral agent cannot be happy.  If you could ascend the throne of Jehovah, if you could wield the scepter of universal government, if you could appropriate to yourself the honor and the wealth of the entire universe, if you could receive the homage and the obedience of God and all his creatures, the very elements of your nature would be outraged.  Even while you are exercising your supreme selfishness, your conscience would condemn you.  The very laws of your moral constitution would rise up in mutiny; self-accusation and reproach would rankle in your heart, and, in spite of you, you would be forced to hate and detest yourself.

While you are selfish, all moral beings must hate and despise you; and it is impossible for any moral being to be happy when he is aware of being deservedly hated and despised.  The desire for approval is a law of human nature.  It is laid in the very constitution of the mind by the hand that formed it.  It is, therefore, as impossible for us to be happy when we are aware that we are deservedly hated, as it is for us to alter the very structure of our being.  It is therefore foolish for you to expect to be happy in your selfishness.  God, angels and saints, wicked men and devils, the entire universe of moral beings must be conscientiously and heartily opposed to you while you are selfish; while your conscience gives forth the verdict that you deserve their hatred, and pronounces you unfit for any other world than hell.

Look at the guilt of this.  No thanks to you, if there is any virtue or happiness in the universe.  If your example should have its natural influence, and not be counteracted by God, it would, like a little leaven, leaven the whole lump.  If everybody you knew copied your example, and all their acquaintances copied their example, and so on, you can easily see that your influence would soon destroy all benevolence, and introduce universal selfishness and rebellion against God.  No thanks to you, if someone respects the government of God.  You have never obeyed it, and everything you have been has been against it.  If God had not been constantly wakeful in using counteracting influences, His government would have long since been demolished, and virtue, obedience, and love to God and man would have been banished from the world.

Your influence helps to establish forever the dominion of Satan over men.  Selfishness is the law of Satan's empire. You have up until now perfectly obeyed it; and since example speaks louder than words, you have used the most powerful means possible to encourage everybody to obey the devil.  If God has a virtuous subject on earth, if all men are not in league with hell, and, by their example at least, not shouting forth, “O Satan, live for ever!” no thanks to you.  The legitimate tendency of your conduct has been to produce this horrible result.

No thanks to you if all mankind is not lost forever.  You have done nothing to save them.  Your whole life has had a natural tendency to destroy them.  Your neglect and contempt of God has exerted the strongest influence within your power to lead them in the way to death.  You have done nothing to save yourself, and by neglecting your own soul, you have virtually said to all around you, your family and friends, to all who are near and afar off “let religion alone,” “who is the Lord that we should obey Him, or what profit should we have should we pray to Him?”  Don’t thank yourself, and don’t expect thanks from God, the universe, or any soul that has ever been saved.

Now, look at the guilt of this.  The guilt of any action is equal to the evils that it has a natural tendency to produce.  Now look at this.  Your selfishness has the natural, and, if unrestrained, the inevitable tendency to ruin the world, to destroy God's government, to establish Satan's throne, and to populate hell with all mankind.

Next, let us look at the reasonableness and usefulness of benevolence.  Benevolence is good will.  It is pure unselfish love.  Benevolence towards God prefers His happiness and glory to all created good.  Benevolence towards men is exercising the same concern and desire for the happiness of others, as we have for ourselves.  Benevolence towards God, or preferring God's happiness and glory, is right all by itself, because His happiness and glory are infinitely the greatest good in the universe.  God prefers His own happiness and glory to everything else, not because they are His own or for any selfish reason, but because they constitute the greatest good.  All of us, when compared with Him, are less than nothing.  His capacity for enjoying happiness or enduring pain is infinite, not only in duration but in degree.  If all the creatures in the universe were completely happy, or perfectly miserable for all eternity, their happiness or misery, though endless in duration, would be only finite in degree.  But God's happiness is not only infinite in duration, it is also infinite in degree.  Therefore, His happiness is infinitely more valuable than the happiness of all his creatures.  Then, is it not right; and it is not according to the moral fitness of things, that we should value His happiness and glory infinitely above our own?  Is it not right that we should do this, not because it is His happiness, but because it is an infinitely greater good?

Does not the eternal law of right demand that God should regard His own happiness according to its real value?  Does He have any right to prefer the happiness of His creatures above His own?  Does not justice require that He should regard everything in the universe according to its relative importance?  Should God not regard His own happiness and glory infinitely above all other things; and should He not require all His intelligent creatures to do the same?  Therefore, to have a supreme regard for your own happiness, to value it, and to desire it more than you desire the happiness and glory of God is to trample on the eternal principles of justice and moral fitness that God maintains.  It is to array yourself in an attitude of open and outrageous war against God, the universe, heaven, the principles of your own nature, and against whatever is right, whatever is lovely and of good report.

Again.  That you should love your neighbor as yourself is the universal law.  You know that you should view your neighbor's happiness according to its real value, and the happiness of all mankind according to the relative importance of each one's individual happiness, and the happiness of the whole as much above your own as the amount of theirs is more valuable than yours.  To refuse to do this is to sin against God and to declare war with all men.

But lets take another look at the usefulness of benevolence.  We know that we are made in such a way that true benevolent love is the fountain of happiness, and pure selfishness is the fountain of misery.  God's happiness consists in his benevolence.  Wherever pure benevolence is, there is peace.  If perfect benevolence reigned throughout the universe, we would have universal happiness.  The happiness of heaven is perfect, because the benevolence there is perfect.  They love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and they love their neighbors as themselves.  Anyone who knows the joy there is in holy love, knows that true benevolence is only another name for true happiness.

 Perfect benevolence to God and man would at once give us a share in all the happiness of earth and heaven.  Benevolence is good will, or willing good to the object that is to receive it.  If we desire the happiness of others, their happiness will increase our own according to the strength of our desire.  If we desire their welfare as much as we desire our own, we are made as happy by the good that is done for others as the good done for us; and nothing but selfishness prevents us from tasting the cup of every man's happiness, and sharing equally with them in all their joys.  If we desire the happiness and glory of God more than anything else in the world, the fact that He is always infinitely happy and glorious, and that He will glorify himself, and that “the whole earth shall be full of His glory”, will constitute our supreme joy.  It will be to us a never failing source of pure, high, and holy blessedness.  And when we look at the people of the world today and see all the wickedness on earth, and when, through the pages of inspiration, we survey as with a telescope the deep caverns of the pit, and when we listen to its wailings, behold the lurid flashes of its fires, and contemplate the agonies of the deathless soul, we see the legitimate results of selfishness.  Selfishness is the discord of the soul.  It is the jarring discord and grating of hell's eternal anguish.  Benevolence, on the other hand, is the melody of the soul.  When it is exercised, all our mental powers are harmonized, and we breathe the sweetness of heaven's charming symphonies.  To be happy, then, you must be benevolent.  Selfishness, you see, is neither reasonable nor profitable.  Its very nature is at war with happiness.  It makes you stink before God. You become the abhorrence of heaven and the contempt of hell.  It buries your good name, your ultimate self-esteem, and your present and future happiness in one common grave beyond the hope of resurrection, unless you turn, renounce your selfishness, and obey the law of God.

Let us look at the reasons why God should govern the universe.  Perhaps, in words or in theory, you have never denied His right to govern; yet, in practice you have always denied it.  Your having never obeyed is the strongest possible declaration of your denial of His right to govern you.  The language of your conduct has been, “Who is Jehovah, that I should obey him?”  “I do not know Jehovah, neither will I obey his voice.”  But, have you honestly considered his claims on your obedience?  Have you not only admitted the fact that He has a right to govern, but have you understood and thoroughly considered the foundation of this right?  If you have never paid any attention to this, it is not surprising that you have refused to obey.  The foundation of God's right to govern the universe is made up of the three following considerations:

The first consideration is His moral character.  His benevolence is infinite.  If He was a malevolent being, and if His laws were like Himself as they would be of course, He could have no right to govern.  Instead of being under an obligation to love and obey Him, it would be our duty to hate and disobey Him.  But His benevolence makes Him worthy of our love and obedience.  But His benevolence alone cannot qualify Him for, nor give Him a right to govern the universe.  No matter how benevolent He may be, if His natural attributes are not what they should be, He cannot be qualified to be the Supreme Ruler of all worlds.  But just looking at His natural attributes will show that He is no less worthy to govern in respect to His natural attributes, than in respect to His moral attributes.

Next, God has infinite knowledge, so that His benevolence will always be wisely exercised.

Finally, God has infinite power.  However benevolent He might be, if he lacked either the knowledge to direct, or the power to execute His benevolent desires, He would not be fit to govern.

God is omnipresent.  He is always everywhere, so that nothing that benevolence desires, wisdom directs, or power can achieve, can be lacking in His administration.

God is immortal and unchangeable.  If God could die, or even change, these would be fundamental defects in His nature as supreme Ruler of the universe.

But, no matter how we look at them, God’s moral and natural attributes cannot provide sufficient ground for Him to assume the reins of government.  For no matter how good and great God may be, these considerations are not enough for God to take on Himself the office of supreme magistrate, outside of being elected by other beings.  But God is also the Creator, and holds by the highest possible tenure the entire universe as His own.  Thus, he is not only infinitely suited to govern, but by creation, He has the absolute and inalienable right to govern.  He not only has this right, but it is His duty to govern.  He can never yield this office, nor throw away this responsibility.

Just look at the reasonableness of His requirements.  God’s requirements are not arbitrary but they are such that it is His bound duty to enforce.  The laws of God do not have their foundation in His arbitrary will, but in the nature, relations, and fitness of things.  To love God and our neighbor is not our duty simply because God requires it; but because the requirement is right in itself.  God requires it simply because it is right all by itself.  God is not free to do away with our obedience if He pleases.  He cannot good-naturedly humor His creatures and let them have their own way, let them run into sin and rebellion, and then let them go unpunished.  He is solemnly pledged and bound by the rules of His own government.  If, therefore, you continue in sin, it is not at His option, when you come to the judgment, to punish you or not.  The laws of His empire are fixed, eternal principles, which He can no more violate, without sin, than any of His creatures.  Do not hope then, if you persevere in sin, to escape “the damnation of hell”.

But perhaps, like many others, you have made this excuse for your rebellion.  That, on the whole, God desires you to sin because, since He is almighty, He could prevent you from sinning if He wanted to; and because He does not prevent you from sinning, you conclude that He prefers the existence of sin to its non-existence; and the present amount of your rebellion to holiness in its place.  To say nothing of His word and oath on this subject, you have only to look into His law to see that God has done everything that could possibly be done to prevent the existence of sin.  The rewards and punishments of His law are infinite.  In them, He has placed before you the highest possible motives to encourage you to obey.  His law is moral, not physical.  His government is a government of motives, and not a government by force.  It is worthless to talk of God’s omnipotence physically preventing sin.  If infinite motives will not prevent sin, sin cannot be prevented under any moral government.  To administer moral laws is not the purpose of physical power.  To maintain, therefore, that the physical omnipotence of God can prevent sin, is to talk nonsense.  If governing the mind were the same as governing matter; if swaying the mind could be accomplished by the same power that sways the physical universe, then, indeed, it would be just, from the physical omnipotence of God, and from the existence of sin, to conclude that God prefers sin to holiness.  But, since the mind must be governed by moral power, and the only power that can be brought to bear on our mind to influence it are motives, it is unjust, un-philosophical, illogical, and absurd, to conclude from the existence of sin and God's physical omnipotence, that He prefers its existence.

If the motives to encourage us to obey are infinite, God has a right to ask, “what more could I have done for My vineyard that I have not done?”  (Isaiah 5:4)  And will you, in the face of all these moving considerations, continue your rebellion?  And when you are required to turn, will you profanely reply: “If God is Almighty, why doesn’t He turn me?”  Oh, sinner, why provoke your Maker?  “Your judgment now of a long time lingers not, and your damnation does not slumber.”  (II Peter 2:3)

Now that the law has been broken, and all of mankind has been exposed to its fearful penalty, notice the justice to the universe, and mercy to sinners, displayed in the atonement.  To make a universal offer of pardon without any regard for public justice would virtually repeal His law.  But God’s regard for the public interests prevented Him from simply forgiving and setting aside executing the penalty.  Something had to be done that would secure a love for, and obedience to the law.  So great, was His compassion for man, and His regard for the law, that to satisfy His desire to pardon, He was willing to allow, in the person of His Son, a substitute for its penalty.  This was the most stupendous exhibition of self-denial that ever was made in the universe.  The Father gave His only begotten and well-beloved Son; the Son veiled the glories of His uncreated Godhead, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, so that we might never die.

Now, if you are an unrepentant sinner, you have never, for one moment, obeyed your Maker.  Every breath that you have breathed, every pulse of your heartbeat, has only added to the number of your crimes.  When God has fanned your heaving lungs, you have breathed out your poisonous breath in rebellion against the eternal God; and how should God feel towards you?  You have set your unsanctified feet on the principles of eternal righteousness; you have lifted up your hands, filled with poisoned weapons, against the throne of the Almighty; you have set at naught the authority of God and the rights of man.  You have spurned, as with your feet, every principle of right, of love, and of rational happiness.  You are the enemy of God, the foe of man, a child of the devil, and in league with hell. Should not God hate you with all His heart?

But in the midst of your rebellion, behold the longsuffering of God.  With tremendous patience, He put up with all your aggravated wickedness!  In spite of all you have done, He has kept silence.  Do you dare to think that He will never reprove?

But let’s look for a moment at the conditions of the Gospel, repentance and faith. To repent is to hate and renounce your sin.  This requirement is not arbitrary on the part of God.  It would neither be fair to the universe nor beneficial for God to pardon you until you comply with this requirement.  Can a sovereign forgive his subjects while they remain rebellious?  Can God forgive you while you persevere in sin?  No.  He would first have to give up His law, and by a public act, to confess that He is wrong and you are right.  He would have to renounce the stand He has taken, condemn Himself, and justify you.  But this meant that He would have to lie.  He would have to proclaim that sin is right and holiness is wrong.  Not only that, but to forgive you and leave you in your sin, would make your happiness impossible.  You might as well declare that a person who is dying with the plague is in perfect health.

Nor is faith an arbitrary appointment of God.  God has no means of getting you to heaven unless you believe His word, and walk in the path He points out to you.  If you will not believe what He tells you about heaven and hell, of the way to avoid one and gain the other, your salvation becomes impossible.  You cannot find heaven at the end of the road that leads to hell, nor hell at the end of the road that leads to heaven, and nothing but faith in what He tells you, can influence you to take the path that leads to heaven.  And now sinner, what do you have to say?  That the sentence of His law should not be executed on you?  You have never cared for God, so why should He be under any obligation to care for you?  You have never obeyed Him, what good then do you deserve at His hand?  You have always disobeyed Him, and what evil do you not deserve?  You have broken His law, despised His grace, and grieved His Spirit.  “You have cast off fear and restrained prayer.”  The tendency of your selfish conduct has been to ruin the universe, dethrone God, build up the throne and establish the dominion of Satan, and damn yourself and all mankind.  This you cannot deny.  Let conscience pass sentence on you.  Let it give forth its verdict.  Do you not, even now, hear it in the deep recesses of your soul cry out, guilty, guilty, and worthy of eternal death?

But, sinner, you have seen in the progress of this discussion, the reasonableness of benevolence, and the hatefulness of selfishness, the right and the duty of God to govern you, and your obligation to obey.  You have seen the reasonableness and usefulness of virtue.  I have shared with you the unreasonableness, the guilt, and the evil of sin.  And now, what do you say?  What is your present purpose in life?  Is it right?  Is it reasonable?  Is it appropriate to continue pursuing your selfish course?  Is it not best, right, manly, honorable, and timely, to turn right now and obey your Maker?  Look at the consequences your present course has on yourself, your friends over whom you have influence, the church, and the world.  Will you continue to cast firebrands, arrows, and death.  Will you continue to throw all your influence, your time and talents, your body and soul, onto the scale of selfishness! 

Shall all your influence continue to be on the wrong side, to increase the wickedness and misery of earth, to gratify the devil and grieve the Son of God?  Sinner, if you go to hell, you should be willing to go alone; company will not lessen, but increase your pain.  Should you not, instantly, throw all your influence to the other scale, and exert yourself to roll back the tide of death and save your fellow men from hell?  Do you see how reasonable this is?  What is your decision about this?  Do not stop to look at your emotions.  Do not turn your eye in on your present state of mind.  But will you cease your rebellion, throw down your weapons, and enlist in the service of Jesus Christ?  Jesus Christ has come to destroy the works of the devil, to demolish Satan’s empire, and re-establish the government of God in the hearts of men.  Who do you want to govern this world?  This is your choice.  If allowed to vote, would you elect Christ as supreme Governor of this world?  Will you obey Him yourself?  But do you reply, “Oh!  I am so great a sinner.  I am afraid there is no mercy for me!”  That is not the question.  The question is not, whether He will pardon you, but whether you will obey Him.  If He saw that it would not be wise to pardon you, if the circumstances of His government required your damnation, that does not make your duty to obey Him any less.  The question for you to settle is, whether you will obey Him, and leave the question of your salvation for Him to settle in view of all the circumstances of the case. 

God is infinitely wise, and He is as benevolent as he is wise.  Therefore, you should cheerfully submit your final destiny to Him, make your duty the object of your attention, and obedience your constant aim.  The atonement is full and perfect.  The presumption is, that nothing is in the way of your salvation but your impenitence and unbelief; and indeed you have the promise that on condition of submitting to His will, you shall have eternal life.  Do you see what you ought to do, and are you willing to do it?  “Choose this day whom you will serve.”  (Josh 24:15)  To choose God and His services, to prefer these to your own selfish interests is to change your heart.  Have you done it?  Do you still ask, how shall I do it?  You might with much more propriety ask, when this meeting is over, how shall I go home?  To go home would require two things, first, to be willing; second, to put your body in motion.  But here, no muscular power is needed.  Only one thing is required, and that is a willing mind.  Your consent is all that is needed.  Be willing to do your duty, and the work is done.

 

INFERENCES AND REMARKS.

 

1. From this subject you can see why many complain that they cannot submit to God.  They do not give their attention to the consideration necessary to lead them to submit.  Many focus their thoughts on their feelings, are looking steadily at the darkness of their own minds and the hardness of their own hearts.  They are anxiously waiting for the existence of certain feelings in their minds, which they believe must come before conversion.  As long as they do this, they will not submit.  Their mind’s eye is turned away from the reasons to submit.  In this state of mind, it is impossible that they should submit; it would be a counteraction of all mental laws.  Others, instead of looking at the reasonableness and fitness of their Maker's claims, focus their attention on their own danger, and try to submit only while they are influenced by fear.  This is acting under the influence of self-love.  This is not responding to the voice of conscience.  This is not submitting to the laws of right.  As long as the mind is motivated by fear and self-love, it can struggle until the day of judgment, and those considerations that must lead the soul to properly submit to God will never appear before the mind, and the soul will not submit.  It is a fact that obeying God is the right thing to do.  It is not the danger that comes from not obeying God that must influence the mind, if it would act virtuously.  I have already said, that both hope and fear bear are very important in leading the mind to make the required investigation.  But neither hope nor fear is the object of the mind's attention at the time of submission.  Anyone who does not understand the philosophy of this; anyone who does not understand the use and power of his attention, the use and power of conscience, and on what to fix his mind to lead him to a right decision, will naturally complain that he does not know how to submit.

2. Do you see how the Spirit of God operates to convert us?  He uses our attention and conscience.  He gets and keeps our attention, and, through the influence of hope, fear, and conscience, conducts us along the path of truth, until He has given our conscience the required information to exert its utmost power; so that when our conscience gives forth its verdict, our will may respond.  Amen.

3. This is the experience of every Christian.  He knows that this is how the Spirit of God exerted its influence to change his heart.  His errors and refuges of lies were swept away.  He can tell you that his attention was arrested and fixed, that his conscience was enlightened, and the subject pressed on his mind until he was induced to yield.

4. You can see how un-philosophical it is, while pressing the sinner to submit, to divert his mind, and turn his attention onto the subject of the Spirit's influence.  While his attention is directed to the Spirit’s influence, his submission is impossible.  He can only submit when his entire attention is directed to those reasons for submitting.  Every time his attention is diverted, he strays from that path that leads to salvation.  Hence, we never find the inspired writers, when calling on sinners to repent, directing their attention to the subject of divine influence.  Let’s begin with Joshua.  When Joshua assembled the people of Israel and laid their duty before them, and said, “choose you this day whom you will serve,” (Josh 24:15) he did not remind them at the same time of their dependence on the Spirit of God.  Joshua held the single point on which they were to choose before their minds, until their choice was made.  The same was true on the day of Pentecost, and in the case of the jailer, and indeed in every other case where prophets, Christ, and the apostles called men to repent immediately.  We find them keeping close to their text, and not going off to drag in the subject of divine influence to divert the attention of those listeners and confuse them.

5. You can see the importance of understanding the philosophy of conversion, and why it is that so many sermons are lost, and worse than lost, on the souls of men.  First, the sinner's attention is not secured; and, secondly, if it is secured, it is often directed to irrelevant matters, and the subject is watered down with irrelevant considerations that have nothing to do with the sinner's immediate duty.  Often the subject is not clear in his mind; or if he understands it, he does not see that it personally applies to himself.  If he sees that it applies to him, he is not made to feel the importance of his present obligation, and quite often, the impression is distinctly left on his mind that he is unable to do his duty.  The preaching that leaves this last impression is infinitely worse than none.

6. From this subject you can see that there are two kinds of evidence of a change of heart; one is, those vivid emotions of love to God, repentance of sin, and faith in Christ, that often follow a change of choice.  These constitute happiness.  They are most sought, and usually the most depended on, but not deservedly the most satisfactory.  Highly wrought emotions are liable to deceive.  Because emotions cannot be thoroughly examined without ceasing to exist, they are the least to be depended on as evidence of a title to the inheritance of the saints in light.  The other kind of evidence is a habitual disposition to obey the requirements of God; that abiding preference of God's glory over everything else that gives a right direction to all our conduct.

7. You can see, from this subject, the philosophy of self-examination.  Many people will set apart days of fasting and prayer, and spend the day trying to examine their present mental state, trying to catch a glimpse of their present emotions.  In this way, they are sure to quench whatever right feeling they have.  Their past thoughts and feelings, their past actions and motives, may be the subject of their present examination and attention; but whenever they make their present emotions or state of feeling the subject of their attention, they cease to feel.  If, then, you want to test your hearts concerning any object, bring that object before your mind, consider it intensely, and if there is any moral similarities between your state of mind and this object of attention, while you are dwelling on it, the fires of your emotion will burn.

8. From this subject you cam see the error of those people who think that they have a lot more religion than others, merely because they have more emotion.  Many act like they are not influenced by principle, but instead are carried here and there by every gust of feeling, by whatever considerations produces these feelings.  And while they tell of their raptures, their love and joys, they have so little regard for principle that they are guilty of Christ-dishonoring conduct.  Others, who much less frequently demonstrate deep emotion, are influenced by a sacred regard to right.  They demonstrate more Christian character, but perhaps complain of the absence of religious joy.

9. From what has been said, it is clear, that when sinners continue to neglect the means of grace provided for them, their case is hopeless.  Many seem to think that if they are to be saved, they shall be saved, and if they are to be lost, they shall be lost.  They look on religion as something mysterious, and they must wait on the pleasure of a sovereign God to plant it into their minds.  They pay attention to every other subject, occupy their thoughts with everything that is designed to push religion out of their minds, and still hope to be converted.  This is as irrational as if a man, desiring to obtain the perfection of Christian sobriety, should continue to party, drink, stupefy his powers, and expect that, in some mysterious way, he should become sober.

10. From this subject you can see the importance of giving a convicted sinner proper instruction.  Great care should be taken not to divert his mind from fundamental truths.  His attention should be diverted from every thing irrelevant, from everything that only concerns the circumstances of religion, and focused on the main question, that of unconditional submission to God.

11. You can see the need to address the feelings, or the hopes and fears of men, as a means of awakening them, and securing their attention.  Very exciting means are often indispensable to awaken and secure sufficient attention to lead the way to conversion.  When there are so many exciting topics almost continually before his mind.  There are so many, “Look here’s…!”  and, “Look there’s…!”  to call and fix the sinner's thoughts on worldly objects, that we must pry him with the most moving considerations in the most affectionate and earnest manner, or we will fail to grab his attention, and get him to consider the subject.  The way that God created man provides us with a way to grab his attention, and through his attention, we can get to his conscience.  Many people are against addressing the feelings of men on the subject of religion, they are afraid to excite animal feelings, and consequently they generally excite no feelings at all.  The reason is this.  They overlook some of the most striking peculiarities of our mental constitution.  They strive to arouse the conscience, but fail for lack of attention.  Our attention will not ordinarily be secured unless you address our hopes and fears.

12. We should carefully distinguish between a convicted and an awakened sinner.  Once the sinner is thoroughly awakened, there is then no need to create further alarm; and indeed in this situation all appeals merely to hope and fear are rather an embarrassment and a hindrance to the progress of the work.  As soon as his attention is thoroughly secured, this favorable moment should be fully seized upon to enlighten his mind, and lead him to a right understanding of his responsibilities and the claims of his Maker.  If his attention begins to wander, such appeals should be instantly made to his feelings to arouse and fix his thoughts; and an anxious watchfulness should be constantly kept up to keep his attention, and enlighten his mind as fast as possible.  In this way, you will most effectually aid the operations of the Holy Spirit, push matters to an issue, and secure the conversion of the sinner to God.

Neglecting to distinguish between awakening and conviction has been the cause of many sad failures in securing sound conversions.  Often, when sinners have been merely awakened, they have been treated as if they were convicted: their spiritual guides have neglected to seize the opportunity to force home conviction on them; they have called on them to submit before they properly understood why they should submit.  But, as might be expected, instead of truly converting, they only imagine themselves willing to do so, until their awakenings have subsided, and the chill apathy of death has settled down on them.

13. You can see that preaching hellfire and brimstone alone will not convert sinners.  It is useful to awaken, but, unless accompanied with those instructions that enlighten, will seldom result in any good.

14. You can see why those that only preach to the hopes of men, seldom, if ever, convert sinners.  Some go to one extreme and some to the other extreme.  Some appeal to fear, and others appeal to hope, while they seldom reason with the sinner about temperance, righteousness, or the judgment to come.  They often excite a lot of feeling and produce many tears; but all those appeals, lacking those discriminating instructions that the sinner needs concerning his duty and the claims of his Maker, will seldom result in a sound conversion.

15. You can see the philosophy of special efforts to promote revivals of religion.  Why is it that protracted meetings, and other measures that are new, are designed to promote the conversion of sinners?  Their novelty excites and grabs their attention.  Their continuing from day to day serves to enlighten the mind, and has a philosophical tendency to result in conversion.

Finally.  From this subject it will be seen that a deathbed is a very poor place for repentance.  Many are expecting, that if they neglect repentance until they are on their deathbed, then they will repent and give their hearts to God.  But alas!  How vain is their hope!  In their languor and exhaustion, their pain and distraction, and the trembling and the anxiety of a deathbed, what opportunity or power is there to take their attention to the degree and intensity that is needed to break the power of selfishness and change the entire current of their soul?  Thinking can be hard work.  To think intensely can be exhausting, even for someone in perfect health.  But, oh! on a deathbed?  To have the intricate accounts of life to look over, the subject of the soul's character and destiny to ponder and understand; to place the agonized mind in warm and distressing contact with the great truths of revelation until the heart is melted and broken; rest assured, it is usually, if not always, too great an effort for a dying man.  Let everyone know, that as a general truth, to which there are few exceptions, men die as they live.  You cannot place any dependence on the wavering, flickering, and gleaming that comes from a struggling mind, while the body, weak and full of pain, is breaking down to usher it into the presence of its Maker.  Now is your time, while you are awake, healthy, and strong, while the command to make to you a new heart and a new spirit, and the reasons to perform this duty lies fully before you.  While the gate of heaven stands open, and mercy, with bleeding hands, beckons you to come; while the pearl of great price is tendered for your acceptance, seize the present moment, and lay hold of eternal life.