Conversions Desired

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, MARCH 5, 1876,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed,
and turned unto the Lord." Acts 11:21.

THE Brethren who had dwelt together in Church fellowship at Jerusalem
were scattered abroad by persecution which arose about Stephen. Their
Master had told them that when they were persecuted in one city they
were to flee to another. They obeyed His command and in the course of
escape from persecution they took very long journeys–very long
journeys, indeed, for that age of the world, when travel was
exceedingly difficult. But wherever they found themselves, they began,
at once, to preach Jesus Christ, so that the scattering of the
disciples was also a scattering of good Seed in broader fields. The
malice of Satan was made the instrument of the mercy of God.

Learn from this, dear Brothers and Sisters, every one of you, that
wherever you are called to go, you should persevere in making known the
name and Gospel of Jesus. Look upon this as your calling and
occupation. You will not be scattered, now, by persecution, but should
the demands of business carry you into different countries, employ your
distant travel for missionary purposes. Providence, every now and then,
bids you remove your tent–take care that wherever it is pitched you
carry with you a testimony for Jesus. At times the necessities of
health require relaxation and change of air and this may take you to
different places of public resort–seize the opportunity to encourage
the Churches in such localities, by your presence and countenance, and
also endeavor to spread the knowledge of Jesus among those to whom you
may be directed.

The position which you occupy in society is not an accidental one–it
has not been decreed to you by a blind, purposeless fate–there is
predestination in it and that predestination is wise–and looks towards
a merciful end. You are placed where you are that you may be a
preserving salt to those around, a sweet savor of Christ to all who
know you. The methods of Divine Grace have ordained a happy connection
between you and the people with whom you associate. You are a messenger
of mercy to them, a herald of good tidings, an Epistle of Christ. The
surrounding darkness needs you and, therefore, it is written, "Among
whom you shine as lights in the world."

You are intended to warn and rebuke some, to entreat and encourage
others. To you the mourner looks for comfort and the ignorant for
instruction. Let them never look in vain. Be the true friend of men,
observe their condition before God and endeavor to reclaim them from
their wanderings. If Joseph was sent to Egypt that he might save his
father's house, you, also, are sent where you are for the sake of some
hidden ones of the Lord's chosen family. If Esther was placed in the
court of a heathen king for the deliverance of her nation, so are you,
my Sister, called to occupy your present position for the good of the
Church of Christ. Look to it, Brothers and Sisters, lest you miss your
life's calling and live in vain. It would be a sad thing, indeed, if
you who profess to belong to Christ should be "creation's blot,
creation's blank," by having failed to work while it is called today.

These good people of the early Church, however, with all their zeal,
were somewhat narrow-minded and hampered by their national prejudices,
for they preached at first to only Jews and it was very hard to make
them see that the Gospel was meant for the whole race of man, Gentiles
as well as Jews. Their Master had said, "Go you into all the world and
preach the Gospel to every creature," and yet they began with preaching
only to Jews. Words could not have been plainer and yet they missed
their meaning. It is not to be wondered at, that some in our day are
still unable to preach to men as men, when we see how slow the early
saints were to learn the lesson.

Brethren, if there is any narrowness about our spirit, let us pray the
Lord to take it away. We shall not, of course, be shackled as these
Jews were by boasting of our nationality, but perhaps there may be
classes of society of whom we despair and, therefore, for whom we make
no effort. We say, "It would be useless to attempt the conversion of
such charac-

ters. I feel myself quite able to talk to other persons and although I
am placed in the midst of these people I cannot bring my mind to speak
with them about spiritual things, for I feel hopeless of success."
Beloved, may you be delivered from this snare and learn to sow beside
all waters.

The Gentiles, though they were, for awhile, passed over by the
Brethren, turned out to be the most hopeful of all classes. From the
Gentile fields they reaped harvests such as were never gathered in
Judea. Antioch, with its Grecians, became famous among Christian
Churches–there the Church of Christ first took its name amid a revival
of religion when great multitudes believed and turned unto the Lord!
God had, from of old, intended that the great majority of the election
of Grace should be gathered out of those very Gentiles whom even the
Apostles, themselves, scarcely ventured to address!

Now then, my Brother, in the light of this incident, begin to work
where as yet you have done nothing–begin to hope where up to now you
have despaired. Throw out your best energies in that very direction in
which you have felt most hampered, for there awaits you, to your own
intense surprise, a success which will amply reward you. You need not
restrict yourselves to lands familiar with the plow–invade the
primeval forest, fell the ancient trees and clear the broad acres–that
virgin soil will yield you harvests a hundredfold such as you will
never find in fields where others have labored before you. If your
spiritual mining has become a failure, open fresh lodes of the precious
metal, for veins of treasure lie concealed in the unbroken ground.

Launch out into the deep! Let down your nets for a catch and multitudes
of fish shall crowd the net. It seems to me to be the obvious teaching
of the text that wherever we are cast, we should try to do good, and
that we may hope for the largest success among the most neglected
portions of society. Coming closely to the text, I desire to press upon
you, this morning, with great earnestness, the need of the conversion
of men and the desirableness that we should have many converted here.
And I shall suggest what we can do to produce that result. In all these
I beg to be assisted by the Holy Spirit, without whose aid I shall only
exhibit my own weakness and deaden those energies which I long to
awake.

These will be our heads–first, the end we aim at–that many may
believe and turn unto the Lord. Secondly, the power by which this can
be attained–"The hand of the Lord was with them." Thirdly, the
desirableness of our objective and, fourthly, how we may promote its
attainment.

I. Let us speak upon THE END WHICH WE DESIRE. It may seem very
commonplace, but it is, in fact, one of the grandest designs under
Heaven. He who contemplates it has a higher aim than philosopher,
Reformer, or patriot. He aims at that for which the Son of God both
lived and died! We desire that men may believe, that is to say, first,
that they may believe the testimony of Jesus Christ to be true, for
there are some who have not attained as far as that. They reject
altogether the Inspired Word and to them the Incarnation, the
Redemption, the Resurrection, the Glory, the Second Advent, are so many
old wives' fables.

You to whom these Truths are the light of your lives can scarcely
realize the power of unbelief of this kind and yet some men live and
die in its gloom. We pray that they may be taught better and that the
evidence of these great facts may be forced home upon them. Alas, there
are many who profess to believe these things, but their only reason for
doing so is that they have been taught so from their childhood and it
is the current religion of the nation. They regard the Inspiration of
Scripture, and so on, as matters about which it is not expedient to
trouble themselves–they do not care one way or the other. They find it
the easier and more respectable plan to admit the Truth of the Gospel
and think no more about it. Such a vain complimentary belief is rather
an insult to our holy faith than a thing to be rejoiced in.

But, dear Friends, we need more than this faith of indifference which
is little more than dishonest unbelief! We want men to believe for
themselves because they are personally convinced and have felt in
themselves the saving power of Christ Jesus. We pray that nominal
Believers may treat the doctrines of Revelation, not as dogmas, but as
facts–not as opinions, but as Truths of God–as surely facts as the
events of history, as much truths as the actual incidents of everyday
life. For, alas, the grand doctrines of the eternal Truths are
frequently treated as venerable nonentities and have no effect whatever
upon the conduct of those who profess to receive them because they do
not realize them as matters of fact, or see their solemn bearings.

It is shocking to reflect that a change in the weather has more effect
on some men's lives than the dread alternative of Heaven or Hell! A
woman's glance affects them more than the eye of God. We, therefore,
desire to see men really and truly believing the facts of the Gospel in
an honest, practical manner. We cannot, however, be content with this.
We la-

bor that those around us may savingly believe by putting their trust in
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the grand saving act– the man brings
his soul and commits it to Christ for safe keeping–and that entrusting
of the soul to Jesus saves him. He makes the Savior, Trustee of his
spiritual estates and leaves himself and all his eternal interests in
those dear hands which once were nailed to the Cross. Oh, how we long
to see the Holy Spirit bringing men to this, that they may believe in
Jesus Christ by resting in Him and trusting upon Him!

For this we live, for this we would be content to die that many might
believe! The end we aim at is that men may so believe in Jesus that
they may be altogether changed in their relation towards God, for "many
believed and turned unto the Lord." What does that mean? It means that
these heathen gave up their idols and began to worship the only living
and true God! We desire, dear Hearers, that faith in the Lord Jesus may
lead you to give up the objects of your idolatrous love–yourselves,
your money, your pleasures, the world, the flesh, the devil–and there
are some whose God is their belly and who glory in their shame. When a
man believes in Jesus Christ he puts away his false gods and worships
the great Father of Spirits–he makes no inferior objective the aim of
his being–but from then on lives for the glory of

God!

This is a glorious turning, a complete conversion of the man's heart
and soul. To turn to God means not merely to forsake the false god for
the true, but to turn from the love of sin. Sin lies that way, but
God's Glory lies in the opposite quarter. He who looks sin-ward has his
back to God–he who looks God-ward has his back to sin. It is blessed
conversion when men turn from the folly of sin to the Glory of God.
With weeping and supplication do men so turn, confessing their
wrongdoing, lamenting their transgressions, abhorring their evil lusts,
desiring pardon and hoping for renewal of their nature.

Precious in the sight of the Lord are the tears of penitence and the
sighs of contrite hearts! We can never be satisfied with the results of
our ministry unless faith leads man to hearty repentance towards God,
an intense loathing of their sins and an actual forsaking of them. To
turn to God means that from now on God shall be sought in prayer.
"Behold he prays" is one of the indications of a true convert. The man
who lives without prayer lives without God, but the man who has turned
to God is familiar with the Mercy Seat. What a turning it is when the
eyes are turned upward to seek the Lord–with the solemn glances of the
eyes when none but God is near. To turn to God means to yield yourself
obediently to His sway, to be willing to do what He bids, to think what
He teaches, and to be what He commands.

Faith is nothing unless it brings with it a willing and obedient mind.
Willful rebellion is the child of unbelief– sincere obedience is the
offspring of humble believing. "They believed, and turned unto the
Lord." We want men, indeed, to turn so that their whole life shall be a
going towards God, growing more like He, a closer communing with Him,
leading on to the soul's becoming perfectly like He and dwelling
forever where He is. Now, dear Friends, when I speak thus of believing
and turning unto God, some will say, "Well, but that must be a very
easy matter, only to believe and turn." Yes, my Brothers and Sisters,
it appears simple, but it is, none the less, vitally essential. "He
that believes on the Lord Jesus has everlasting life; but he that
believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed."

You say, "Why make all this stir about it?" Because upon this
apparently little matter depends the present and eternal condition of
the sinner! To believe and to turn to God is to be delivered from the
present dominion of sin and from the future punishment of it. To be
without faith and without God is to be without joy here and without
hope hereafter. Brothers and Sisters in Christ, this is what you and I
must aim at in all our attempts to influence our fellow men. It may be
useful to reform them, but it is far better that Grace should
regenerate them! God speed every effort to promote sobriety, chastity,
thrift, honesty and morality–but you and I are sent for something more
than this–our work goes deeper and is more difficult.

It is not ours to wash the African, but to seek to change his skin. We
do not so much pray that the lion may be tamed as that he may be turned
into a lamb. It may be well to lop the branches of the tree of sin, but
our business is to lay the axe at the root of the trees by leading men
to turn to God. This is a change, not merely of the outward conduct,
but of the heart! And if we do not see this result–if men do not
believe and turn to God–we have labored in vain and spent our strength
for nothing and in vain. If there are no believing and turning to the
Lord, we may go to our secret chambers and bewail ourselves before God
because none have believed our report and the arm of the Lord has not
been revealed. There is the objective–aim at it, saying, "This one
thing I do."

Praying in the Holy Spirit and depending upon His power, push on with
this one sole objective. Drive at it, you teachers in the Sunday
school–do not be satisfied with instructing the children–labor to
have them converted! Drive at it, you preachers–do not believe that
you have done your work when you have taught the people–you must never
rest till they believe in Jesus Christ! Pursue this end in every sermon
or Sunday school address–throw your whole soul into this one
objective. Yours must not be a cold inculcation of an external
morality, but a warm enthusiasm for an inward regeneration. You are not
to bring men to believe in themselves and so become self-made men, but
to lead them to believe in Jesus and to become new creatures in Him.
There is our end and aim–are we all alive to it?

II. Secondly, let us consider THE POWER BY WHICH THIS CAN BE
ATTAINED–"The hand of the Lord was with them." None ever believe in
Jesus except those in whom God's arm has been revealed, for Jesus says,
"No man can come to Me except the Father, which has sent Me, draws
him." But, Brother ministers, in answer to prayer, that power has been
revealed among His people and is with them still! His arm is not
shortened that He cannot save, neither has He withdrawn it from His
Church.

Be encouraged while I suggest to you a few thoughts. The hand of God is
upon many of our friends before we speak to them. It is most pleasant
to me, when I am seeing inquirers, to observe how God makes ready the
hearts of my hearers. I am studying a certain subject and praying to
God for a blessing on it–and upstairs in a chamber, which I have never
seen, one of my hearers is being made ready for my message. He is
struck with a sense of sin, or troubled with uneasy thoughts, or
rendered hopeful of better things–and thus he is being made ready to
accept the Christ whom I shall preach to him! Yes, and ready to accept
that particular form of the Gospel message which the Spirit of God gave
me when I preached!

There on a sick bed will lie a woman painfully exercised with the sad
memory of her sinful life, in order that when she comes up to the House
of God, every word may have power over her. Sickness and pain, shame
and poverty, often produce a condition of mind most hopeful for the
reception of the Gospel. A man well-to-do in circumstances has been
ruined in business, he despairs of happiness below and, therefore,
comes to hear the Gospel, made willing to seek his happiness above.
Another has lately felt failures of bodily strength and so has been
warned that life is frail–and thus he is prepared to listen to the
admonitions which speak of eternity. Courage, minister of God! You are
nothing, but the Almighty God is with you! When you lift your hand to
build the House of the Lord, Omnipotence works with you and names your
labor a success.

Every revolution of those awful wheels, so ponderous that even the
Prophet said, "O wheel!" is working to accomplish the objective which
is near your heart. The stars in their courses fight for you! The
stones of the field are in league with you! Eternal wisdom plans for
you, infinite power works with you, boundless patience perseveres with
you and almighty love will conquer by you! "The hand of the Lord was
with them." What more do we need? Sow, Brother, for God has plowed! Go
up and build, for God has prepared the stones and made ready the
foundation!

Moreover, the hand of the Lord is with His people in helping the
teachers and preachers, themselves. There are strange impulses which
come over us at times, which make us think and say what otherwise had
never crossed our minds–and these work with power upon men's minds. If
you will live to win souls it shall be given you in the same hour what
you shall speak. You will often say to an inquirer what you would not
have beforehand arranged to say, but God, who knows that inquirers
heart better than you do, has prevented your saying what you would have
liked to have said and has led you to say what you afterwards judged to
be a mistake.

My experience teaches me that we are often wise in our ignorance and as
often foolish in our wisdom. We have frequently done best when we felt
that we did but badly. If we will but trust God and be whole-hearted in
the winning of souls we shall have a power assisting us in our speech
of which the greatest orator in the world is not aware. Speak in the
House of Commons for a party and you will have to look within for aid,
but speak in the House of the Lord and you may look upward for
spiritual aid. The poet invokes the fabled muses, but for you, O
servant of the Lord, there is real help from a higher source! Think of
this, you workers, and be encouraged!

Besides Providence and the gracious help by which good men speak, there
is a distinct work of the Spirit of God upon the hearts of men where
the Gospel is preached. Not only is the Spirit in the Word, but over
and above that, in His own elect, God works most effectually so His
Truth is rendered Irresistible. Let us never forget where our great
strength lies, for in this matter we must rely alone upon the Spirit of
God. How often has God worked in the power of His Grace

by making men feel the majesty of the Word? They come, perhaps, to hear
the preacher out of the most idle curiosity. They look for something
which shall amuse them–but the Truth of God comes home to them and
searches their heart. Simple as the language is, "as if an angel spoke
they hear the solemn sound," it goes through them like a dart and they
cannot help feeling, "Surely God was there, and He spoke with me."

The Spirit of God makes men remember their sins. They try to forget
them, but sometimes they cannot. Sad memories steal over them and
wholesome regrets fatigue their very souls. Men who have been giddy,
careless and forgetful, have all of a sudden found themselves turning
over the pages of their old diaries and with thoughtfulness reviewing
the past. All this leads to repentance and faith! That same Spirit
makes men see the beauty of holiness. They cannot help admiring it,
though they are far from it. They are charmed with the loveliness of
the Character of Jesus and begin to feel that there is something about
it which they would wish to imitate. When the preacher proclaims the
way of salvation the same Spirit leads men to admire it and to say
within themselves, "There is something here which human wisdom could
never have devised"–and they begin to long for a share in it! A wish
takes possession of their heart, as though some strange bird from an
unknown land had flown into their souls and had amazed them with a new
song. They do not know where the desire came from, but they feel
strangely bound to entertain the stranger.

Sometimes the Spirit blows like a hurricane through men's hearts and
they have been borne along by its power without the will to resist. As
when a tempest rushes across the sea and drives the frail boat before
it helplessly, so have I known the Divine Spirit sweep away the peace
and quiet of the soul's self-righteousness, stir up the deeps of inward
trouble, make the soul reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken
man–and impel the heart forward to the iron-bound coast of
self-despair where every false hope and vain-glorious trust has been
wrecked forever. Glory be to God when this is the case, for then the
soul is driven to cling to Jesus!

Yes, Brothers, it is not the preacher and it is not altogether what the
preacher says, but there is a power abroad, as potent as that by which
the worlds were made. Unbelievers sometimes ask, "Where is your God?" O
Sirs, if you once felt the power of the great Spirit, you would never
ask that question! "Since the fathers fell asleep," they say, "all
things continue as they were." But this they willingly are ignorant of,
that new creations are being worked every day. That there are men and
women alive in this world who are neither liars nor enthusiasts who can
declare that upon their spirit the eternal power and Godhead has
operated and changed them. It has conquered them and holds them as
willing captives to its supreme majesty.

Yes, Brothers, there is a hand of the Lord and that hand of the Lord is
still with His people. If it is not, then we shall see no believing and
no turning to God. But since it is still at work among us, let us work
on, for as surely as we live we shall see great numbers converted to
God and God will be glorified.

III. Let us now dwell upon THE DESIRABLENESS OF CONVERSIONS. It is no
new thing to you and to me to see many believing and turning to God.
These 22 years God's hand has been stretched out–we have had no spasm
of revival, we have not alternated between furious spurts and sudden
lulls. But month by month, I think I might say Sunday by Sunday, souls
have been saved and the Church has grown exceedingly and God has been
glorified. What we have enjoyed we desire to retain–yes, we would have
more! The Lord says to us what he said to the Church at Philadelphia,
"Hold fast what you have, that no man take your crown," and our crown
is the crown of soul-winning, which we must hold fast, for we cannot
endure to lose it.

This must be our crown, that we have preached the Gospel, both minister
and church members, and have been all of us soul-winners. We desire
this because, first of all, we desire to see the Truth of God,
godliness, virtue and holiness extended. Who among you does not? Does
not every good man wish others to be good, every honest man wish others
to be honest? Does not every man who loves his family desire that other
families should be well-ordered? Oh, then, if there were no nobler
reason, you may desire that men may be converted, since conversion is
the root of everything that is pure and lovely and of good report!

You desire, too, that your fellow creatures should be happy, but there
is no such happiness as that which springs out of reconciliation to
God. The peace which you, yourselves, enjoy through pardoned sin must
surely make you desire that others may possess the same. If religion
is, indeed, a source of perennial joy to yourself, you are inhuman if
you do not wish others to drink of it. Brothers and Sisters, as you
would make eyes sparkle, as you would make countenances radiant with
delight, as I know you would spread gladness on all sides–desire above
all things that your children, your rela-

tions, your neighbors, your friends, should be converted to God! Thus
shall thorns and briars give place to myrtles and roses and deserts
shall be turned into gardens of the Lord.

You also desire conversion, I am sure, because you feel the dreadful
hazard of unconverted men. You have not yet subscribed to the modern
doctrine that these men and women around you are only two-legged cats
and dogs and horses and will ultimately die out and cease to be. You
believe in the God-given immortality of human souls–a heritage from
which no man can escape, the noblest of all man's endowments–in itself
the highest of all gifts, though sin may pervert it into the direst of
all evils. You would have scant motives for desiring men's conversion
if you did not believe that there is another and everlasting state.

But, believing that men live hereafter and exist forever, you must, I
am sure, be eager that men may escape from the wrath to come. Knowing
the terrors of the Lord, you would persuade men. Judging that there is
one of two things for them all, either, "These shall go away into
everlasting punishment," or else, "The righteous into life eternal,"
you can never rest until you feel convinced that those about you are
partakers of life eternal. Look at any unconverted person and your
sympathies should be awakened. If I saw tokens of fever, or marks of
consumption in the face of anyone I loved, I should be struck with
alarm. What, then, must I feel when I see damnation–as I do see it–in
the face of every unbeliever?

How is it that we are not more distressed than we are when men are
perishing in their sins? Why, my Brethren, are we not more intent upon
the conversion of men? Let these questions humble us and cause great
searchings of heart. It is a shame to us that we have so little of the
mind of Christ, so little compassion for men's souls. Moreover,
Brothers and Sisters, self-preservation is a law of Nature and the
Church can never preserve herself except by increasing from the world
by conversion. Where are the preachers for the next generation? Today
they are among the ungodly and we must labor to bring them to God.
Where are the stones that are to make the next course in the walls of
our Zion? They are not quarried yet and we must, by God's Grace,
excavate them.

We who now labor for the Lord will soon go our ways. Our thrones and
crowns are waiting for us and the angels are beckoning us away. Who
will fill our places? Who will bear the banner? Who will blow the
trumpet? Who will wield the sword? We must find new champions in the
ranks of the foe–they must be born unto God–and we must pray that
this may be accomplished by our instrumentality. Seek conversions for
Christ's sake. You know the agony and bloody sweat–shall these be
spent in vain? You know the nailing to the Cross and the shriek of,
"Why have You forsaken Me?" Shall these be unrewarded? You have thought
over and trusted in the bitter pangs of your Redeemer's death–shall He
not see of the travail of His soul?

Shall He not be satisfied? These lost sheep are His sheep, for whom He
shed His precious blood! These lost pieces of money are His money and
they bear His image and superscription–shall they not be found? These
lost sons spending their living in riotousness are His brothers,
children of His Father–do you not desire, for Jesus' sake, that they
should be brought home? Dear Friends, what joy it will be to yourselves
if men believe and turn to the Lord by your means! I put that motive
last and hope it will not be the strongest, but it may yet be one of
the liveliest. What joy it will be to yourselves if you see many
converted!

Somebody has asked, "If the heathen are not evangelized, what will
become of them?" I will put another question of a far more practical
character. If you do not try to evangelize the heathen, what will
become of you? Do not so much inquire about their destiny as your own
if you have no care for their salvation! He who never seeks the
conversion of another is in imminent danger of being damned, himself. I
do not believe in any man's salvation who is wrapped up in self!
Assuredly he is not saved from selfishness. I cannot believe in any
man's possessing the Spirit of God who is indifferent to the condition
of others–one of the first fruits of the Spirit is love. Even as
flowers, at their very first blooming, shed their perfume, so do the
saved ones, in their earliest days of Grace, desire the good of their
fellows.

I know that one of my earliest impulses, when I first looked to Christ
and lost the burden of my sin, was to tell everybody around me of the
blessings I had received, for I longed to make others as happy as I
was. I fear that you who never try to win souls lack an essential part
of the Christian character. I leave the question with your own
consciences.

IV. Fourthly, let us enquire, WHAT WE CAN DO TO PROMOTE CONVERSIONS.
Conversion is God's work. It cannot be worked without His hand. Without
Him we can do nothing. Our hands are far too puny for such a work. The

power of the first disciples and our own lies in the fact mentioned in
the text–"The hand of the Lord was with them." Still, there are
certain circumstances under which that hand will work and there are
hindrances which will restrain it.

Let us think awhile. First, then, if sinners are to be converted we
must distinctly aim at it. As a rule, a man does what he tries to do
and not that which is mere by-play. The conversion of sinners is not
one of those things which a man is likely to accomplish without
intending it. Sometimes, in the Sovereignty of God, a preacher who does
not aim at conversion may, nevertheless, be made useful, for God works
as He wills. But as a rule, men do not win souls if they do not eagerly
desire to do so. Fishing for men cannot be carried out by throwing in
the net without caring whether fish are caught or not.

Few traders become rich by accident–they generally have to plod and
work hard for money–and to be rich in treasures of saved souls you
must aim at it and labor for it. I am struck with astonishment as I
think how many sermons are preached, how many Sunday school addresses
are given, how many religious books are written of which you are quite
sure that the intention was not immediate conversion. It is thought
that in some unknown way these good things may accidentally contribute
to men's salvation, but they are not aimed at as their present
objective. Ah, Brother, if you want men to come to Christ you must
preach Christ to them with all your heart–with this design–that they
may immediately close in with Christ and at once give their hearts to
Jesus!

Yes, and you are to pray that they may do so through the present effort
which you are making for their good. There is the target and if you
continue to shoot into the air long enough an arrow may strike it. But,
man alive, if you want to win the prize of archery you had better fix
your eye upon the white and take your aim distinctly and with skill! If
an individual would win souls, he must bend his whole soul to it and
make it the objective of his whole energy. Next to that we must take
care, if we would have souls won, that we press upon them the Truths
which God usually blesses. Shall I read to you the verse before my
text? Here it is–"They spoke unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord
Jesus, and the hand of the Lord was with them."

Now, if we do not preach Jesus Christ we shall not see souls saved.
There are certain forms of doctrines which condemn themselves by
working out their own extinction. Did you ever hear of a minister whose
preaching leaned towards Unitarianism but what the congregation, sooner
or later, began to diminish? Though many such preachers have been men
of great ability, they have not, as a rule, been able to keep the dead
thing on its feet! You shall go into our small towns and you may find
an ancient chapel which was once an Independent, or a Presbyterian, or
it may be a Baptist chapel. But if you see over the door, "Unitarians,"
you have, as a rule, seen all that there is. There is neither church
nor congregation worthy of the name–frequently the place is never
opened at all and the grass grows knee deep on the path to the door.

Even when these little places are used, you will generally find that
they contain half a dozen nobodies who think themselves everybody as to
intellect and culture. It is a religion of the utmost value to spiders,
for those insects are able to spin their webs in the meeting houses
without fear. Who ever heard, who will ever hear of a Unitarian
Whitfield, or a Socinian Moody gathering 20,000 people to listen to a
Christless Gospel? It is a phenomenon which never has been seen and
never will be! Men's instincts lead them to turn away from a creed
which contains so little which can solace the troubled soul.

If we want souls saved, we must equally avoid the modern intellectual
system in all its classes. "Oh," cries somebody, "you should hear the
great Mr. Bombast. It is–Oh, I cannot tell you what it is, but
something very wonderful! It is an intellectual treat." Just so. But
how many conversions are worked by this wonderful display of genius?
How many hearts are broken by fine rhetoric? How many broken hearts are
healed by philosophy? So far as I have observed, I find that God does
not save souls by intellectual treats. Certain views as to man's future
are equally to be kept clear of, if you would be the means of
conversion. Diminish your ideas of the wrath of God and the terrors of
Hell–and in that proportion you will diminish the results of your
work!

I could not conceive a Bunyan or a Baxter, or any other great
soul-winner, falling into these new notions. Or if he did, that would
be an end to his success. Other crotchets and novelties of doctrine are
also to be left alone, for they are not likely to promote your
objective, but will most probably divert men's attention from the vital
point. Dear Brothers, if you want a harvest, look well to your seed.
Time was when gardeners threw all the little potatoes on one side for
seed and then they had bad crops. Now I have seen them pick out the
very best and put them by. "We must have good seed,"

they say. If I had to sow my fields with wheat I would not take the
tail corn. I should grudge no expense about seed, for it would be false
economy to buy any but the very best. Go preach, teach and instruct
with the best doctrine, even that of God's Word, for, depend upon it,
though the result is not in your hands, yet it very much depends upon
what you teach! O, eternal and ever blessed Spirit, guide Your servants
into all Truth!

Next to this, if you want to win souls for Christ, feel a solemn alarm
about then. You cannot make them feel if you do not feel yourself.
Believe their danger, believe their helplessness, believe that only
Christ can save them and talk to them as if you meant it. The Holy
Spirit will move them by first moving you. If you can rest without
their being saved they will rest, too. But if you are filled with an
agony for them, if you cannot bear that they should be lost, you will
soon find that they are uneasy, too. I hope you will get into such a
state that you will dream about your child, or about your hearer
perishing for lack of Christ–and start up at once and begin to cry, "O
God, give me converts or I die!" Then you will have converts–there is
no fear about that–God does not send travail pangs to His servants
without causing them to abound in spiritual children. There will be new
births to God when you are agonizing for them!

But, let me add, there must be much prayer. Delight to be at Prayer
Meetings where the Brethren will not let the Lord go except He bless
them, when a Brother prays, choking as he speaks, tears rolling down
his cheeks as he pleads with God to have mercy on the sons of men. I am
always certain that sinners are ordained to be blessed when I see
saints thus compelled to plead with God for them. In your closets,
alone, at your family altars and in your gatherings for prayer, be
importunate and the hand of the Lord must and will be with you. Cry
aloud and spare not, plead as for your lives and bring forth your
strong arguments, for only by prevailing with God will you be enabled
to prevail with men.

Then there must be added to prayer direct personal effort on the part
of all of you. Great numbers may be saved by my preaching if the Holy
Spirit blesses it, but I shall expect larger numbers if you all turn
preachers, if every Brother and Sister here becomes a witness for
Christ. Are you lazy? Are any of you beginning to sleep? I charge you,
wake up! By the love you bear to Jesus and by the love you bear to your
fellow men, begin at once to seek the conversion of those who dwell
around you. O my Beloved, do not become lukewarm! My heart fails me at
the very thought! If you are earnest, I live–if you grow slothful, my
spirit dies within me!

Last of all, if you want to see many converts, expect them. "According
to your faith so be it unto you." Look out for them. Believe that God
will bless every sermon and go hunting, after the sermon, to see where
the converts are. As a company of butlers and camp-followers generally
follow every army–and after a battle go up to strip the slain–so if
you cannot preach I would have you follow after the warriors to gather
in the spoil. No one needed to urge the voracious spoilers to prowl
over the field of Sedan or Gravelotte, but now it even seems necessary
to persuade you to collect a far nobler prey.

Come up! Come up, you servants of the Lord and divide the spoil with
the strong! Christ has fought your battle. His arrows have been sharp
in the hearts of the King's enemies–the two-edged sword has struck
right and left–come up, you sons of Jacob, to the prey and gather in
the converts as your spoil! Speak with the young converts, cheer the
broken hearts, comfort the seekers and bring into His palace trophies
for your Lord! Verily, I say unto you, if you look not for conversions,
neither shall you obtain them! And you cannot blame the Lord–you are
not straitened in Him–but in your own hearts!

God bless you, Beloved, and may we have a larger increase to this
Church during the next month than we have had for years past, that our
God may have greater praise.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Acts 11. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
HYMN BOOK"–887, 450, 881.
__________________________________________________________________

Conversions Encouraged