Bringing Sinners to the Savior
(No. 2731)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JUNE 16, 1901.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
AUGUST 22, 1880.
"And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, Have brought unto
You my son, who has a dumb spirit; and wherever he takes him, he tears
him: and he foams, and gnashes with his teeth, and pines away: and I
spoke to Your disciples that they should cast him out; and they could
not. He answered him, and said, O faithless generation, how long shall
I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me. And
they brought him to Him: and when he saw Him, straightway the spirit
convulsed him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming at the
mouth." Mark 9:17-20.
I DO not intend to speak so much upon the whole of this text as to use
the latter part of it as a sort of motto for an appeal to Christian
people to be diligent in the service of their Lord. If we wish to do
good to our fellow creatures, the best thing that we can do for them is
to bring them to the Lord Jesus Christ. At the feet of Jesus we
ourselves obtained salvation if we are saved–we never had any true
peace of heart until we came to Christ–and we never would have had any
if we had remained apart from Him. The great Physician, who healed our
soul-sickness, was Christ Jesus the Lord! And if we are to be the means
of blessing to the sons of men, we must recommend to them the Physician
whom we have proved to be so exceedingly useful to ourselves. They
cannot be blessed, any more than we could be, until they are brought to
Jesus!
When any of us desire to be of service to others, it is well for us to
learn the best way of setting about our task, for if we do not know how
to go to work, all our earnestness may be expended upon that which is
useless. But when we understand what we are doing and concentrate all
our powers upon wise and proper efforts, then are we likely to succeed.
To my mind, the first thing that we have to strive after, in the name
of God, and by the help of the Holy Spirit, is to bring men to Jesus
Christ–and God forbid that we should ever lift even a finger to point
them anywhere else for salvation! Each true Believer, as well as every
Christian minister, should say–
"'Tis all my business here below To cry, 'Behold the Lamb!'"
We are to point sinners to Jesus– all the while looking at Him and
praying that they, also, may look unto Him and live.
I think I need hardly remind you that every Christian is bound to give
himself to the blessed work of bringing sinners to the Savior. Common
humanity should lead us to attempt this task. Is it necessary for me to
bid you love your fellows and seek their good? Why, even they who have
no Christianity are often exceedingly generous, humane and kind. Some
persons whose religious opinions are full of error have, nevertheless,
manifested great tenderness and sympathy towards the sick, the
suffering and the poor–and they have set a noble example of what
others might do for the needy. Much more, then, ought the followers of
the loving Christ to have tender, sympathetic hearts, and anxiously
desire to do the most they can for their fellow men. I shall take it
for granted, my dear Hearers, that you who are members of this Church,
or of any other true Christian Church, are desirous to be the means of
blessing to those who are about you and that you also believe that the
surest way to bless them is to bring them to Christ!
I. So, coming to our text, I begin by remarking that PARENTS ARE THE
FIRST PERSONS WHO SHOULD LABOR TO BRING THEIR CHILDREN TO CHRIST.
In the 17th verse, we read that the epileptic youth was, in a sense,
brought to Christ by his father. "Master," said the poor man, "I have
brought unto You my son, who has a dumb spirit." He hardly knew how to
set to work, for he somehow confused Christ with His disciples. So, as
the Lord Jesus was away upon the mountain, he brought his son to the
disciples. They could not cast out the devil, yet it was a right thing,
on the part of the father, to bring his child to them. It showed a
loving spirit and a desire to see him cured. I am afraid there are some
fathers, who even call themselves Christians, who have not yet done as
much for their sons and daughters as that father did for his boy, for
they have not asked for the sympathy and help of Christian people on
behalf of their own children. I am utterly ashamed of some professors
of religion who say that they really must leave that matter to their
children. I have heard of one man who said that he did not like to
prejudice his boy, so he would not say anything to him about religion!
The devil, however, was quite willing to prejudice the lad, so very
early in life he learned to swear, although his father had a foolish
and wicked objection to teaching him to pray! If you ever feel it
incumbent upon you not to prejudice a piece of ground by sowing good
seed in it, you may rest assured that the weeds will not imitate your
impartiality, but they will take possession of the land in a very sad
and shocking manner! Where the plow does not go, and the seed is not
sown, the weeds are quite sure to multiply– and if children are left
untutored and untrained, all sorts of evils will spring up in their
hearts and lives!
If a professedly Christian parent has not even put his children under
godly tuition, what shall I say of him? He must be a Christian watered
down to a very low point, or beaten out to extreme thinness. There must
be very little, if any, Divine Grace left in such a man as that! We
have known wealthy Christian men send their boys to school where the
whole influence was altogether against religion, or else utterly
neutral. Girls have sometimes been sent abroad to learn a foreign
language in the midst of those who are steeped in gross error–and it
does not seem to have occurred to the parents that they first ought to
have cared about the souls of their daughters. Oh, dear me! Are such
people as these worthy to be called Christians at all? Or do they
merely wear the Christian label upon their breasts without having the
Grace of God in their hearts? Dear Brother or Sister, if you cannot
speak to your own children altogether as you can wish about their
souls, do follow the example of this man and bring your dear ones to
the disciples, that they may see what they can do for them in the
Master's name. Still, remember that there was a mistake in this
father's action because, at first, he made the disciples the terminus
of his journey instead of merely coming to them en route to Christ. We
may make Christian men the way by which we try to get to Christ, but to
stop at them and not to bring the children to Christ, Himself, will be
fatal to all our desire for the salvation of their souls!
This man did not see his child cured by the disciples, yet he
persevered after his first failure. ' 'Master," he said, "I have
brought unto You my son, who has a dumb spirit…I spoke to Your
disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not." In
effect, he said, "They have failed, so I have brought him to You." So,
if the Sunday school teacher has not been blessed to your girl–if the
instruction in that Bible class, to which she has gone for years, has
not been the means of her conversion–if your boy, after having had the
best religious training, remains unsaved, go straight away to the great
Master in your earnest prayers and so bring your dear children to
Christ! I am not a believer in the theory that some hold–that children
do not grow up in the fear of God if they have been trained in it. It
is true that there have been many ministers' sons who have been ungodly
young men–I have had very sad proof of that fact–yet I fear that some
of those ministers may have neglected their own families while they
were preaching to others! It is very easy for a man–especially if his
wife does not help him to train their children aright–to neglect the
affairs of his own family while he is continually busy about the work
of the Church. And thus his own children are not trained up in the way
they should go. I wish that this evil was not so common as it is, but I
do know that some have grown up ungodly because there was not due
attention paid to them. The vineyard at home was neglected while other
people's vineyards were being kept.
If you have no family prayer and your children do not grow up to be
Christians, how can you expect that they will? If there is no altar in
the house, is it right to call it God's house at all? Wherever Abraham
pitched his tent, he built an altar–and that is the custom of all
those who live near to God–they sanctify their dwellings with daily
prayer and praise. But if that practice is neglected and the father
keeps his religion in the background and does not let it be seen at
home, I do not marvel if his boys and girls grow up to say that there
is nothing in it! It is a sad thing when children can say, "Father made
a profession of religion, but his life was not consistent with it.
Mother also professed to be a Christian, but we never heard her speak
of Christ. She never prayed with us, or, in our hearing, for us."
Where no influence is used, it is not probable that there can be any
result! I told you, the other night, of a dear Brother who said, when I
exhorted my hearers to select somebody to pray for, that he had prayed
for one person for 20 years and that he is not converted yet. So I said
to him, "Have you spoken to your friend personally about his soul? Have
you made it your business to go down to his house and tell him that you
are anxious about him?" "No," he replied, "I cannot say that I have
done so." "Well, then," I asked, "do you expect God to hear prayers of
that kind? Suppose I were to pray that it might be a good harvest over
in that field and yet, for 20 years, I did not sow any corn there? The
probability is that when I did sow some, I should get my prayers
answered, and gather in the harvest." If we pray for anything, God
expects us to use the proper means of obtaining it–and if we neglect
the means, we have no right to expect Him to believe in the sincerity
of our prayer. If a father and mother pray for their children, but
never pray with them, or speak to them personally about the welfare of
their souls, they must not wonder if they are not brought to Christ.
II. But, secondly, although parents should be the first persons to
bring their children to Christ, WE MAY, EACH ONE OF US, HELP IN THIS
BLESSED WORK. Our text says, "They brought him to Him." That is, the
disciples helped the father to bring this poor epileptic child to
Jesus.
In seeking to bring sinners to the Savior, we shall find that some are
brought to Him by almost unconscious influence. I believe that where a
man is full of the Grace of God, he is like a Leyden jar that is
charged with electricity–if he possesses true holiness, he will give
some of it to others almost without knowing that he is doing so. I have
met with many singular instances of that indirect way of doing good.
Some three or four months ago there was a working man, whose wife,
being suddenly taken ill, needed a certain Christian woman to come and
attend her. The husband went to her house to try to find her. It was on
the Sabbath evening, so she was where she ought to be at that time–in
the House of God, in a little Chapel not many miles from here.
The man knew that he must have this good woman to go to his wife, so he
went to the Chapel. And as he could not get her at once, he waited for
a few minutes and listened to the preacher. He was interested in what
he heard, so he went to that Chapel again the next Sabbath morning.
Before long, he was brought to know the Lord and now he has joined the
Church and, by his earnest work, is a great help to the minister. Well,
now, if that good woman had not been a Christian, she might not have
been in that Chapel! If she had not been a regular attendant to the
means of Grace, she would not have been there and the man would not
have had to go to the place where he found blessing to his soul!
I know of another case that may seem equally strange. A man and his
wife went to live in a certain street where nobody, to their knowledge,
attended any place of worship. It is dreadful to think that, in London,
you may go into street after street where a person who goes to either a
Church or a Meeting House is quite an exception to the general rule! It
is sad that it should be so, but it certainly is. These two people
regularly went to a place of worship and it happened there was living
in the same street a man who, when he resided in the country, was a
regular attendant on the means of Grace. And, as these people went by
his window, Sunday after Sunday, although they did not know him and
never said a word to him–and were even quite unconscious of their
influence over him–they were preaching to him by their action, for it
rebuked him and he said to himself, "What would my mother think if she
knew how I spend my Sundays? There are two good people who, are just
like my father and mother at home, who, about this time, are going to
the Meeting House." He brushed himself up for the evening service,
found his way to the House of God and soon became a Christian!
When you are doing anything that is right, you cannot tell how much
blessing you are scattering! Any man or woman, a master or a servant,
may be of essential service in bringing others to Jesus simply by a
happy, cheerful, kind, gentle behavior. You may not have the
opportunity of saying much for Christ–perhaps it might not be proper
in your position that you should do so–but those about you watch you,
they note your genial spirit and they begin to like you. They observe
your consideration for others and they admire it. Then they see your
cheerfulness and they wonder what is the secret of it. Possibly you are
ill and someone comes to visit you. You are very patient, you even sing
in the midst of your pain. Persons who see and hear you, and who note
how you bear it all, say to themselves, "There is something within
these people that we do not understand." And thus you exercise an
influence over them although you may have said very little to them. The
fact that you are a Christian is one of the most practical and powerful
means of bringing others to inquire what this religion is which
elevates, sweetens, softens and yet strengthens–and makes people to be
manifestly like their Father in Heaven!
I remember hearing Mr. Jay, of Bath, tell the story of a good girl, a
servant, who attended his Meeting House. Her master and mistress were
very strict Church people, and when they found out that Jane went to
the Meeting House, they talked to her very roughly and said that she
must give up going there. She answered very gently that she must go
where her own soul was fed and she could not meet their wishes in that
matter, though she was willing to do so in everything else. "Very well,
Jane," they replied, "then you must take a month's notice, for we
cannot have any of these horrible Dissenters living with us." That
evening, as the lady and gentleman sat talking together, one of them
said, "She is really a good girl. Do you not think we are treating her
very badly? Suppose she were to insist that we should go to the Meeting
House with her–we would say that it was very wrong for her to
tyrannize over us–so is it not wrong for us to try to tyrannize over
her?" "She took it so gently, too," said the other. "We would not have
stood it as she did. Suppose we go and see what this Mr. Jay is like
whom she goes to hear–for if he is a good man, she may as well go to
the Meeting House as to the Church."
They went and, in telling the story, Mr. Jay said, "they have continued
to come and hear Mr. Jay up to the present time." So, you see, that the
servant had, by her consistent Christian character, brought her master
and mistress round to her way of thinking although they could not
coerce her to theirs–and you can judge what influence you also may
exert over others if you have the Grace of God abounding in you! May
God fill us full of it, that we may be the means of bringing many
sinners to the Savior! Yet we must not be content with unconscious
influence–and I hope none of us will be like the young gentleman who
advertised that he would like board and lodging where his Christian
example would be considered to be an equivalent for what he received!
In many instances, much good has been done in bringing souls to Christ
by casual seed-sowing. Eternity alone will disclose the good results
that have sometimes followed from the utterance of one short word. I
trace all the light I have upon a certain subject to a remark made by
the usher in a school where I was many years ago. He was teaching
geography and he let drop a sentence, which I need not repeat, but I
remember it to this day, and it later had an influence upon my whole
career and character. I also remember a few gracious words that were
spoken to me by a godly old woman who used to read her Gospel Heraldand
talk to me about the power of Divine Grace. I rejoiced to get a grip of
the grand old Calvinistic doctrine, very much through half a dozen
sentences that fell from the lips of that poor, humble Christian woman,
whom it was my great happiness to help, in later years, when she was in
poverty. I felt that I owed so much to her that I must do anything I
could to comfort her!
You will often prove that, as George Herbert says–
"A verse may find him who a sermon flies"– and that a short sentence
may strike and stick where a long address may altogether fall flat.
Give away a tract whenever you can. Better still, give a little book
that will not be torn up–one that has a cover on it–for you will
probably see it upon the table when you call again. Speak a word for
the Master whenever it is possible and offer a short prayer at every
convenient opportunity. I think we should make it a rule, whenever we
hear a foul or blasphemous word in the street– (and, alas, we
constantly do so)–always to pray for the person who utters it. Perhaps
then the devil might find it expedient not to stir up people to swear,
if he knew that it excited Christians to pray. Try it, at all events,
and see whether it may not have a subtle power to stop the profanity
which is so terribly on the increase.
Over and above all this indirect service, there ought to be direct
effort made by all Christians for the conversion of those around them.
Try what you can do, each one, by personally addressing other people. I
have heard of one, an utter stranger to religion, who was brought to
Christ through a gentleman tapping him on the shoulder and saying to
him, "Well, my Brother, how does your soul prosper today?" The one to
whom he spoke turned round, having never heard such a question before,
and the other, as he saw his face, exclaimed, "I beg a thousand
pardons! I thought you were my old friend, So-and-So, who has been in
the habit of putting that question to me." It was a mistake, but it was
a very blessed mistake, for the Spirit of God used it to the awakening
of a conscience that was lying dormant–an honest conscience which only
needed to be awakened by some such startling inquiry as that! Dear
Friends, try to speak personally to some friends about their immortal
souls! I know that it is not easy work for some of you to break the ice
and make a beginning in such service, but I can assure you that you
will do it better and better the more often you attempt it.
Beside that, bring people to the means of Grace with a definite view to
their conversion. Help me all you can in trying to preach to the
people. Get any in whom you are concerned to come to the House of God.
A young man who grew
up to be a most useful minister of Christ had been entirely careless
about Divine things until a neighbor said to him, "I have a sitting in
the Tabernacle. If you will come with me, you can use my ticket." The
friend, who made that kind suggestion, stood through all the service
where he could see the young man, and he was earnestly praying for him
all the while. The result of lending his seat on that one occasion, was
that the young man was brought to the Savior! He was soon in the Sunday
school as a teacher and, afterwards, as I told you, he became a most
useful minister. Are there not more of you who might try that plan? I
know that some of you have done this–then do it over and over again!
Deny yourself of a Christian privilege for the sake of bringing others
where the Lord will be likely to meet with them, especially if you back
up the preacher's word with your continual prayer on behalf of those
whom you have brought to listen to his message!
Then, if you really want to bring souls to Christ, remember that there
are the young to be taught. Just now, all our schools are languishing
for lack of teachers. O you who would have your crown studded with
gems, seek them among the little ones! It is a happy task, however
arduous it may be, so give yourselves to it with your whole heart and
soul. Others of you, if you do not feel called to take a class of
children, might sometimes speak words of warning to the grosser sinners
with whom you come into contact–and words of encouragement to those
who are seeking the Savior. There are many and many a poor sinner
floundering in the Slough of Despond who only need someone, rightly
named, Help, to come and point out to them where the steppingstones
are, or to lend them a hand lest they should altogether sink under
their crushing burden of guilt.
This I know, dear Christian Friends–if you are not trying to bring
sinners to the Savior, you are missing the chief end of your being and
you are also missing the most joyous work that can ever occupy your
attention. Oh, if you bring a soul to Jesus, the joy of it is
unspeakable! I have before my mind's eye, at this moment, a little
cottage in the country in which lived the first person of whom I heard
that I had been the means of bringing her to Jesus. After preaching for
some little time, I wanted some seal to my service and when the deacon
of the little Church of which I was the minister said to me, "There was
a poor woman cut to the quick, the other Sunday night, and I believe
she has found the Savior," I posted off directly to see her. Those of
you who have had a similar experience can imagine the joy I had in
hearing her tell the story. She went Home years ago–perhaps the first
of those who have gone to Heaven, whom God has called by my means–but
I was so glad, so happy, so delighted with my first convert that I say
to you, "Seek the same joy, if you, yourself, know the Lord!"
So that is my second point, that all of us, who are, believers in
Christ, may bring others to Him.
III. My third observation is that THERE ARE SOME OCCASIONS THAT NEED
UNITED EXERTIONS.
God, the Holy Spirit, of course does the whole work in the conversion
of a soul, but He works by instrumentalities, and there are some
desperate cases in which He does not work upon a soul through one
instrument, alone, but He moves a number of persons to act together to
that end. Our text says, "They brought him to Him." This poor youth was
foaming and gnashing with his teeth–and tearing himself just as you
have seen persons do in an epileptic fit–so that it took several
persons to hold him. Together they grasped him and, with one desperate,
united effort, they brought him to the feet of Jesus–and Jesus cast
out the evil spirit and healed the poor sufferer.
In this way, people and minister may unite in bringing sinners to the
Savior. There may be some persons who come here, who will never be
converted until you and I join in seeking their salvation. Somebody
must preach, but other bodies must pray–and if a score of you should
be praying about any one person in the congregation, I believe that it
will not be long before that epileptic is cured! The devil himself
shall be defeated by the united prayers of many Believers, especially
if they are those mighty prayers of which our Savior spoke when He
said, "This kind goes not out but by prayer and fasting"–when the
praying souls hunger for the salvation of the suffering one and
unitedly cry to God to effect it!
We have had much happy union in Christian work, let us have more of it!
Say to one another, "While the pastor preaches, we will pray. No, more
than that, we will continually remember him in our prayers, for we know
that he needs them and prizes them." That is quite true, dear Friends,
for it is no small thing to minister, every Sabbath, to this great
company of people and then, through the printed page, to address tens
of thousands of readers, even to the utmost ends of the earth. Yes, I
do, indeed, need your prayers and your help–give them to me, for then
we may be sure that "they"–that is, all of us together–shall bring
many to Jesus!
Another form of cooperation is when there is a soul that has been
prayed for, but no answer has come. So you call a few praying people to
meet in your house and you tell them the details of the case and make a
point of praying especially for that person. I have known instances in
which Brothers and Sisters have collected a score of Christian friends,
who, perhaps, never before met in one place–but they pledged
themselves to pray about one particular case and their united prayers
have, with God's blessing, accomplished what previously seemed to be
impossible! It has been truly said that if you have a very hard thing,
you can cut it with something harder. And if any heart is especially
hard, God can use the hard, strong, persistent vehemence of other
mighty, passionate souls to pray the blessing of eternal life into that
stubborn, rebellious heart! I would like to hear more frequently of
friends banding themselves together and meeting in their private houses
to pray about somebody or other, making the person about whom they are
interested the subject of special supplication–that would be the way
to bring him to Jesus!
Then, add to that prayer, distinct united effort. Perhaps if one friend
should speak to that person, he may resent it. Then, if another should
address him, he may receive it coolly. But when another speaks to him,
he may begin to listen a little more attentively–and the next one may
be able to put the key into the keyhole and be the means, in the hand
of God, of opening the closed door of that man's heart. If God moves us
to join in effort for any soul, I do not believe that we shall often
find it to be a failure. At any rate, if a man insists on going down to
Hell, I should like that we would make it very difficult for him to get
there! If he will not turn to Christ, I would that we were resolved
that it should not be for want of being prayed for, or for lack of
being earnestly pleaded with. We will be clear of his blood–we will
shake off the very dust from our feet against such as determine to
remain impenitent–and resolve that, to the utmost of our capacity,
Christ shall be set forth, so that if men reject Him at all, they shall
willfully reject Him.
Oh, that my words might stir up all of you who profess to be
Christians! We have over 5,000 members–nearly six thousand. Oh, if all
were alive unto God and earnest in His service–"all at it, and always
at it"–what might not be done, God the Holy Spirit blessing our
labors? But, alas, there are many people here like the camp-followers
of an army who do not fight when the battle comes on! Those who do the
fighting are often hampered by these other people and, sometimes, they
almost feel as if they needed to clear the ground of such loiterers and
hinderers. But, instead of doing that, I beg all of you, dear Friends,
to wake up and see what you can do for the Christ who has done so much
for you! Let us all ask to be awakened, again, and to be thoroughly
stirred up in the service of the Savior! God grant that this South of
London–and the North, and West, and East, too–may be permeated and
saturated with your earnest endeavors to bring sinners to the Savior!
The Lord bless you, for Christ's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 1 PETER 2:18-25; 3:1-17.
Peter is very practical in his Epistles. In the early days of the
faith, Christians occupied a far more difficult and dangerous position
than they do today. They were few in number and greatly despised. All
manner of crimes were falsely alleged against them–they were accused
of things too vile for me to mention. The Apostle, in writing to these
Christians, begs them to so behave that they should commend the Gospel
of Christ. Very many of them were servants or slaves, so the Apostle
says to these lowly followers of Christ, "Here are your duties"–
1 Peter 2:18-20. Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear;
not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh For this is
thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endures grief,
suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when you are buffeted
for your faults, you shall take it patiently? But if, when you do well,
and suffer for it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
A sense of injustice stings a man. He does not like to lose his rights,
or to be buffeted when he has done no ill. But the Spirit of Christ
teaches us to "endure grief, suffering wrongfully"–to bear still, and
still to bear. We are to be like the anvil–let others strike us if
they will, but we shall wear out the hammers if we only know how to
stand still and bear all that is put upon us.
21-23. For even hereunto wereyou called: because Christ also suffered
for us, leaving us an example, thatyou should follow His steps: who did
no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: who, when He was reviled,
reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed
Himself to Him that judges righteously. There was no reason why He
should be made to suffer, for He had done no wrong. He was buffeted for
no fault of His own, yet how patiently He
endured it all! He did not even open His mouth to murmur or complain,
but He handed the whole matter over to the Supreme Court of Appeal–"to
Him that judges righteously." It will be wise for us, also, to feel
that we can afford to wait, knowing that our Avenger lives and that, in
His own good time, He will rectify all wrongs and justify His people
against all their accusers. It is sweet, for the dear love of Jesus, to
put up with a thousand things which, otherwise, we should resent.
"But," says one, "if you tread on a worm, it will turn." Perhaps it
will, but a Christian is not a worm–he is a being of a nobler order
than that and he does not go for his example to reptiles–he looks up
to Christ and follows His steps.
24, 25. Who His own Selfbore our sins in His own body on the tree, that
we, being dead to sins, shouldlive unto righteousness: by whose stripes
you were healed. For you were as sheep going astray; but are now
returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. Therefore, since
you have been brought back by the rich Grace of God, continue to bear
and forbear, that you may be the means of bringing others back. That is
Peter's counsel to servants, or slaves, as most of them were.
1 Peter 3:1, 2. Likewise, you wives be in subjection to your own
husbands; that, if any obey not the Word, they also may, without the
Word, be won by the conversation of the wives; while they behold your
chaste conversation coupled with fear. Could any men be won to Christ
without the Word of God? Yes, it was even so in the Apostle's day. When
they refused to attend the little Christian meetings that were being
held, and so could not hear what was said, yet, at home, they saw the
change that the Gospel of Christ had worked in their wives and they
said, "She is quite different from what she used to be. Certainly, she
is a far better wife than any heathen woman is–there must be something
in the religion which can make such a change as that." In this way,
without the Word, many of them were won to Christ by the godly
conversation of their wives.
3, 4. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting
the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let
it be the hidden person of the heart, in that which is not corruptible,
even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of
God of great price. There is no ornament like that! No taste can ever
conceive anything so lovely as a holy character. No expensive
materials, and no ingenious fashioning of them, can ever produce such
true beauty as "a meek and quiet spirit." You must have known some
godly matrons, venerable Christian women, whose gentle piety has
blessed the whole household of which they formed a part. They attained
supreme authority over all by simply yielding–they gained a queenly
position in the house by gentleness and quietness. Nobody dared to
offend them–not because they would have been in a passion, but because
they were so inoffensive, so kind, so gentle.
5-7. For after this manner in the old time the holy women, also, who
trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own
husbands: even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose
daughters you are, as long as you do well, and are not afraid with any
amazement. Likewise, you husbands, dwell with them according to
knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and
as being heirs together of the Grace of life; that your prayers be not
hindered. I t has been one of the most beautiful results of the spread
of the Christian religion that it has uplifted womanhood so that
now–instead of women being, as they were, and still are where the
Gospel is not received–the slaves of their husbands, Christianity has
taught that honor should be given to the wife. If there are any
husbands who do not so, they err from the Gospel way.
8. Finally, be you all of one mind. Be unanimous. Do not hold Church
meetings to talk about nothing, and so quarrel for the lack of
something to do. Be united with the resolve that you will glorify God
and that there shall be no dissension, no division among you. "Be you
all of one mind."
8. Having compassion one of another Have true fellow-feeling towards
each other.
8. Love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous. The Christian should be
the highest type of gentleman, in every respect the most gentle man,
kind, self-forgetful, seeking the comfort and well-being of others to
the utmost of his power.
9. Not rendering evil for evil That is beastlike–it is certainly not
the rule for a Christian. Good for evil is Godlike. And you who are the
children of God should seek to act as He does–"not rendering evil for
evil."
9. Or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that you
are thereunto called, that you should inherit a blessing. Every man
should give away according to what he has. He who gives curses probably
gives them because he has so much cursing in him. You can always tell
what a man is like by noticing what comes from him. If he curses, it is
be-
cause curses abound in him. But you are to give blessing to others
because you have inherited so much blessing from Christ–your whole
tone, temper, spirit, language, action should be the means of blessing
to others!
10. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his
tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile. Not only no
lies, but no guile, no deceit, no shuffling. Say to a man's face all
that you say behind his back. You will soon be in trouble if you have
two tales to tell–one in his presence and the other in his
absence–but if you are free from "policy"–from "knowing how to play
your cards," as the world says, then shall it be seen that you have one
of the attributes of a true Christian. If you refrain your lips, that
they speak no guile, people will know where to find you and they will
wantto find you, for such men are always in demand.
11, 12, Let him turn away from evil, andseek to do good; let him
seekpeace, andpursue it For the eyes ofthe Lord are over the righteous,
and His ears are open unto their prayers: but the face ofthe Lord is
against them that do evil He "sets His face against them," as we say
that we set our face against certain company which we do not approve.
But "the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous"–that is, those who
seek to do good to others, for Christ's sake, are under the special
protection of God–and they have the high privilege of being permitted
to pray with the certainty that "His ears are open unto their prayers."
13-15. And who is he that will harm you, if you are followers of that
which is good? But and ifyou suffer for righteousness ' sake, happy are
you: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; but
sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an
answer to every man that asks you a reason for the hope that is in you
with meekness and fear Have your doctrinal views and all your knowledge
of Christ packed away in a handy form, so that when people want to know
what you believe, you can tell them! If they wish to know why you
believe that you are saved, have your answer all ready in a few plain,
simple sentences–and in the gentlest and most modest spirit make your
confession of faith to the praise and glory of God. Who knows but what
such good seed will bring forth an abundant harvest?
16, 17. Having a good conscience that, whereas they speak evil of you,
as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good
conversation in Christ For it is better, if the will of God is so, that
you suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. Who can doubt the truth
of that clear declaration?