The Saviour's converts...

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The Sa v iour'S Conver ts.

I

THE

Prefatory Note

HIS little book was written not so much to call the attention of the Church to the duty of which it treats, as for the purpose of deepening the interest which all Christians take in converts, and of inciting the members of our churches to increased efforts to benefit them. There are portions of the volume, as the third and fourth chapters, which the writer ventures to hope may be read with profit by the convert himself.

CONTENTS,

Chapter I

CONVERTS—THE HOLY SPIRITS AGENCY—REVIVALS —THE RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OP CONVERTS.

HE vigor of the spiritual life, and the strength of the faith of some converts, have attracted the attention of the whole Church. Not all those who in primitive times suffered tortures and death rather than deny the Saviour were mature Christians. Many of them were converts. It is interesting to know this. In various periods, and in many places where the standard of the cross has been planted, the Church has had her martyrs, and of these none have been more steadfast than new disciples. Young maidens like Blandina, mere boys like Ponticus, cheerfully, nay tri-

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umphantly, bore tortures rather than deny their Lord. Churches established in our own times by the labors of missionaries have often been severely persecuted, but none of the members of these churches have endured persecution at the hands of their heathen countrymen with greater constancy than young converts.

But although piety and devotion to the Saviour and His cause have been very remarkable in the case of many converts, yet it is not to be expected that, as a general rule, young disciples will be strong and well established in the faith. They greatly need the sympathy and assistance of their brethren who are more advanced, and it is our design in writing this little book to incite our readers to do all in their power to aid them.

Some are of opinion that of the number who have recently begun the Christian course only those born outside of the Church can, with strict propriety of speech, be called converts. They doubt whether those should be considered accessions to the Church who are born and bred within her pale. We intend, however, to apply the word converts to all who have only been the

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professed followers of the Saviour for a short time, whether, as children of the covenant, they were born within the visible Church, or whether they had been outside of the Church until they, in their own persons, professed repentance and faith. Many belonging to this latter class are old in years, while considered as members of the Saviour's Church they are young. " I am just four years old," said a man of fourscore, as he leaned on his hoe in the garden. "Four years ago I began to serve God, and then I began to live."

We wish in this chapter to show briefly, I. That it belongs to the Holy Spirit alone to make converts. 2. That although none are true converts except those whom the Holy Spirit has made such, many regard themselves as converts who have never been the subjects of the Spirit's saving work, and who are therefore self-deceived. 3. That souls may be converted, and are in fact constantly converted, at other times than in revivals. But 4. That countless numbers of converts are the fruits of revivals. And 5. That different converts vary as to their exercises.

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I . It belongs to the Holy Spirit alone to make converts.

This will be evident, in the first place, when we consider that it is by being regenerated that one becomes a convert, that is, turns from sin unto God, and that regeneration is that instantaneous change from spiritual death to spiritual life of which the soul is the subject when the Holy Spirit creates it anew by a single exertion of His power.

If no soul ever turns from sin unto God, and exercises faith in the Saviour, until it is regenerated, while turning from sin unto God certainly follows regeneration, then if regeneration is the sole and exclusive act of the Holy Spirit, converts can only be made such by the Holy Spirit.

Some, however, deny that regeneration is the sole and exclusive act of the Holy Spirit. They reject the doctrine that the natural state of man since the fall is one of total spiritual death, and consequently they maintain that the influence by which men are regenerated is a mere suasion. These persons contend that the whole work of the Spirit in our regeneration consists

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in His exerting an influence on our minds by the presentation of truth and motives. Regeneration being thus affected by moral suasion — by the moral power of the truth in the hands of the Spirit, the truth co-operates with the Spirit in the regenerating act, as also does the soul which yields to the influence of this moral power.

The Scriptural doctrine, however, is that raising a soul from spiritual death to spiritual life is the act of God's omnipotent agency. It is effected by the mighty power of God. So says the Apostle in Eph. i. 17-19. He tells the Ephesians that they had been quickened — regenerated — new created by the very power which wrought in Christ when God raised Him from the dead. This is only one passage out of many w T hich teach that regeneration is a change which the Holy Spirit's power alone can accomplish.

Let it not be forgotten that we are now speaking of regeneration. It is admitted that in conversion (z. e. t in the turning of the soul from sin unto God) and in exercising faith, which are the effects of regeneration, and imply it, the soul is active and co-operates with the Divine Spirit. Faith, we say, implies regeneration, but no man is for that reason excusable for refusing to believe in Christ until he knows that he is regenerated. To obey the gospel call (and to believe in Jesus is to obey the gospel call), is the immediate duty of all who hear that call. All who when they hear the call obey it as the jailer of Philippi did, are saved. Paul said to him, i. e. 9 the gospel call to him was, u Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.'' Had he rejected Christ thus offered to him he would have been conscious that he did it voluntarily and deliberately. When the believer looks back upon the years of his impenitency, he mourns that he so long and so constantly rejected the blessed Saviour. He knows that he did it deliberately and freely. He knows, indeed, that the sin is now forgiven by Him whom he rejected, but that does not remove his sorrow for it and he does not forgive himself. The unrenewed in Christian lands are living in this sin, but they are conscious that they are not forced to reject Christ — that they do it of their own free will. Instead of feeling

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that they are not accountable in the matter, they know that they reject the Saviour as free agents, and that they are justly condemned because they love darkness rather than light.

Thus it is seen that the Holy Spirit alone can make a convert, because He alone regenerates the soul.

But, secondly, there is another way in which the affirmation can be shown to be true.

If we should say that a Christian is one who has passed from a state of spiritual death to a state of spiritual life, who has been created anew by the regenerating act of the Holy Spirit, who has undergone a transformation of nature so as to be in some degree holy, as God is holy, we should assert what is true, and yet this is not a full description of a Christian. Nor would a Christian be fully described if we should add to this that he is one, who having received spiritual life, has turned with grief and hatred of his sin unto God. When we explain what we mean by a Christian, we do indeed affirm these things of him, but we feel that our representation is incomplete unless we describe

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him as one who worships, loves, trusts, and obeys the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, a convert does not differ from any other Christian except in this, that he has only been a Christian a short time, and is therefore immature. The spiritual life and the spiritual perceptions of a convert are precisely the same as to their nature as those of all Christians, and he has, as the object of his adoration and trust, the same blessed Saviour.

No one is a convert unless he has begun to see Jesus to be the chief among ten thousands, to apprehend the glory of God in the face of Jesus, to discern His divine loveliness, to rest upon Him, love Him, trust in Him, worship Him, and serve Him.

But not a soul in the universe can thus know, trust, love, and follow Jesus of itself. Only the Holy Spirit can take of the things of Christ and show them into the soul, and therefore those only can be converts who are made such by the Spirit of God.

To the natural man the Lord Jesus is as a root out of a dry ground, one in whom there is no form nor comeliness. It is as true of the

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Saviour now as it was in the apostle's days, that He is disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious.* Only to those who are the subjects of the work of the Holy Spirit can these words be addressed with any meaning : ''That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ : whom having not seen, ye love ; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. " f Let it never be forgotten, then, that poor, lost, blind, perishing sinners, though richly deserving eternal punishment for their sins, and especially for the sin of rejecting Christ, can never be made true converts except by the Holy Spirit.

2. Although none are really converts, except those whom the Holy Spirit has made such, many regard themselves as converts who have never been the subjects of the Spirifs saving work, and who are therefore self-deceived.

* I Pet. ii. 4.

f 1 Pet. i 7.

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Our Lord, in His parable of the sower> presents to us a class of hearers of the Word who, under the common operations of the Spirit, exercise a temporary faith, which, however, is only temporary, and who even receive the Word with joy. The faith which they exercise, and which has the appearance of being genuine, not only produces joy, but, for a while, seems to produce other effects of a saving belief, for they do many things, discharge their religious duties with alacrity, and even practise severe self-denial with cheerfulness. It is no matter for surprise, however, that this class of hearers fall away, for they are like the seed which had no root, of which our Saviour speaks in His parable, and which, therefore, notwithstanding that it sprung up at first with every appearance of health and vigor, was scorched as soon as the sun reached his meridian.

What is described in our Saviour's parable has always been, and is still going on, especially, perhaps, in seasons of revival. You will see many who, having attended to the presentation of the Word, are brought under convic-

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1 1 tion. They feel the power of the truth because their conscience is aroused and enlightened, and yields to the truth an irresistible assent. Their conviction terminates in a hope of acceptance, and this hope produces joy. But their outward duties which they begin to practise — their new mode of life — ere long becomes burdensome. By degrees they relax their efforts, and finally become like those who have never made any profession. The secret of their falling away is that they never had any true grace existing in their hearts. Their faith is not that which is exercised by a soul truly renewed. It is not founded on the illumination of the Holy Spirit; it is founded only on the assent of an awakened conscience, No wonder these hearers are unable to withstand the world's temptations.

The thorny-ground hearers present us with still another class of self-deceived converts. They are the apparent converts who speedily become steeped in the cares, the riches, and the pleasures of this life. The world, in some one of its forms, absorbs their whole attention and thus destroys the influence of the truth which had begun to affect their hearts, just as the thorns in our Saviour's parable sprung up with the seed, choked it, and so prevented it from bringing forth fruit.

When self-deceived converts, such as the thorny-ground and stony-ground hearers, are spoken of as falling away, or going back to the world, it is not meant that they certainly become immoral in their lives, or that they always forsake the house of God. They may continue to be steady attendants on the preaching of the Word, and they may ever be found in their places at the Lord's table. But they may properly be said to fall away if they relapse into a state of carnal security, and if during the remainder of their lives they attend to their religious duties as a matter of form, and without any relish for them. Nor is it meant that their case is necessarily hopeless. Would their pastors and the other church officers, and also all their fellow communicants, with tender solicitude, watch over them as our Lord requires all church members to watch over each other, they might yet be converted, although their case may seem discouraging in consequence of

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their having gone so far as to join the Church while in an unconverted state.

The danger of self-deception is not sufficiently dwelt upon by ministers of the gospel, and yet how many professors, without any intention to appear what they are not, are only Christians in name, have never experienced the new birth, and are still dead in trespasses and sins ! That those who seek admission into the visible Church are in great danger of deceiving themselves, and that many already in the Church remain in delusion, and at last perish, is apparent from the alarming declarations of Christ in Matt. vii. 21-23.

Many self-deceived professors think that they have good reason to be satisfied that all is well with them on this ground, viz., that the officers of the church upon examining them at the time of their admission, judged them to be true Christians. They do not consider that those who are appointed to receive persons into the visible Church never pretend to feel certain that those whom they receive as Church members are true believers. They admit that they have no power to read the heart, and to tell

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what is going on within the soul of another. The truth is they are required by Christ to receive into the Church all applicants who profess to exercise faith in Jesus, whose profession is credible. They are never to be considered as passing any judgment on the validity of the evidence given by the applicant. Let no Church member then rest his assurance that he is a true Christian on the favorable opinion of his case, formed by the church office bearers at the time of his admission.

We are not to ascribe that conviction of sin and enlightenment of conscience, and temporary faith with its accompanying joy, which we often witness in spurious converts to the mere power of the truth. Even those exercises of soul which are not of a holy nature, much as they resemble the religious exercises of the regenerated, would never have any existence but for that influence of the Spirit usually called common grace which attends the truth wherever it is proclaimed, and which, in a greater or less measure, is granted to all who hear the word.

As long as the heart is deceitful, and Satan is

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busy, and church officers are unable to read the heart, there will always be additions to the Church of unconverted persons, but these additions would be less frequent than they are were all pastors skilful and diligent in warning their hearers as to the danger of indulging false hopes, and in explaining to them the nature of true religion. Many have felt that there is often too great haste in admitting the hopefully converted to sealing ordinances. Says the late Dr. Spencer, in his " Pastor Sketches:" " Admission to the sealing ordinances of the Church, especially in times of revival, is a point of no little danger. Our ministers and churches have too often erred on this point. It seems to be too often forgotten that then the popular feeling tends into the Church. Fashion is that way, and sympathy that w r ay, and all the common influences which the young are particularly likely to feel tend to urge them forward in the same direction. Far better would it be for the purity of the Church, and for the comfort and salvation of individuals, if some few months were allowed to pass before the hopefully converted were received into the communion."

As to unconverted persons who are already communicants, if more faithful efforts were put forth to save even tkem, such efforts would doubtless be attended with the happiest results.

The distinguished servant of Christ, from whose work the above quotation is made, was a model pastor in regard to the duty of watching over those who had already joined the Church. Speaking of certain members of his church over whom his heart yearned, and for whom he felt a deep solicitude lest they had become communicants without having been truly converted, he says : " I afterwards sought out every one of them, and alone they opened their hearts to me," and the happiest results, as we are led to infer, rewarded his faithfulness to these members.

He adds, " But it is a very difficult and laborious thing for a minister to deal with such cases. But he ought to deal with them. He will seldom labor in vain ; and while engaged in this field of duty he is engaged in the best field of study. His work then lies nearest his heart, and he cannot fail to know the human

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heart more accurately, and learn how to apply the powers of his mind, and the truth of God to souls ready to perish. ,,

3. Souls may be converted \ and are in fact constantly converted^ at other times than in seasons of revival.

If by a revival we mean a great and sudden multiplication of believers — the simultaneous conversion of many persons, then, of course, it is not through revivals that the children of the covenant come into the visible Church.

But setting aside the children of believers, immense numbers come from the world into the Church at other times than in revivals. The conversion of many is spoken of in the Bible who were not brought into the Church during periods of revival, as the conversion of Zaccheus the publican ; of the woman who washed the Saviour's feet with tears ; of the thief crucified with our blessed Saviour ; of Cornelius, the Roman centurion ; of Lydia ; of the Eunuch, the treasurer of the Queen of Ethiopia ; of Saul of Tarsus, and his companions, Barnabas, Apollos, Timothy, Titus, Aquila and Priscilla, Epaphroditus, Onesemus and others. During the centuries that are past, and in all countries where the Church has been planted, the labors of pastors and private church members have been fruitful in the steady quiet ingathering of souls without revivals. It cannot be denied that this is one of the methods of advancing His kingdom, which the Saviour chooses to employ.

And yet some unhesitatingly proclaim that revivals are the only or almost the only means of promoting religion. This error leads many to teach, not only that it depends entirely on ourselves whether we enjoy these visitations or not — that God would at any time send them, were the desire for them sufficiently strong, but to appeal to particular passages of Scripture (as for example certain prophecies of the Old Testament) as containing promises of God to grant revivals at any season the petitioner may specify.

When a believer importunately prays that God would give His Holy Spirit, he can plead numerous express promises that such a prayer shall be heard — he is able to present to his Heavenly Father this reason why he should

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grant the request, viz., that there are plain promises in the Scriptures to bestow the Holy Spirit on all who ask for Him. And in like manner when he intercedes for the Saviour's Church, or for the world of perishing men, he can appeal to explicit assurances given in the Bible that prayer for the descent of the Spirit upon the Church of God, and upon men, shall be answered literally. But there is no promise in the Bible that prayer for the descent of the Holy Spirit on a particular church at a particular time shall meet with a literal answer. It is admitted that it is freely permitted us to offer such a request if we confide in the Saviour's love for us, and for His Church, and in His willingness to do what will be best for His cause. But we can point to no express promise that such prayer will inevitably secure the help of the Holy Spirit at the time, and in the way we specify. For a revival preacher therefore to say to a church : " You will certainly have an outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the expiration of ten days or a fortnight from now, if you will but pray for it," is presumptuous. And yet we knew a revival preacher to say

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this, and to warn the people not to come hastily to a conclusion adverse to his prediction, but to wait till ten days or two weeks had expired, and they would certainly see his prediction fulfilled. And sometimes revival preachers, at the beginning of the protracted meetings about to be held, publicly and ostentatiously thank God for the revival which they are certain He will send before the series of meetings is concluded. The only proper object of faith is some revelation of God, but it is nowhere revealed that it is God's purpose to give a particular church a revival at a time the petitioner may fix upon, provided that petitioner's prayer is sincere and oft repeated.

Errors of this kind men naturally fall into who limit the Holy One of Israel to revivals, and think that this is the only way in which the Saviour's kingdom can be built up. Souls are constantly converted at other times than in seasons of revival.

It is the happiness of almost every one to know faithful pastors whose churches, using only the ordinary means of grace, have prospered and increased by the constant addition

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of converts. A pastor speaking lately of the events of his thirty years' pastorate, said : " Revivals, technically so called, have not marked our history, but we have had long periods of ingathering, without greatly multiplying our services, and without painful reaction." The church of this servant of God, though not visited by revivals, has on three different occasions been able to give away members and families to form separate organizations, and these are now three flourishing churches.

We, of course, rejoice to acknowledge what is so evident, that it is God's design that the work of redemption should be carried on in part by means of revivals. Though each particular church would, on the whole, prosper more by a regular normal increase than by violent alternations, yet when we consider the masses, the immense fields white already to harvest, and when we consider the certainty that there are countless multitudes who will continue to be neglected, and who will never have salvation unless they have it quickly, we feel that revivals in our world, powerful works of grace, are absolutely necessary. We have only intended to remind the reader, that since there are often accessions to the Church when there are no revivals, in speaking of the great needs of converts in this little book, and in endeavoring to awaken a deeper interest in them, we do not have exclusive reference to those who are added to the Church in revival times. But we now add that,

4. Countless numbers of converts have been in times past, and will be in future times the fruits of revivals.

Although not all who lived in the Apostle's days were converted in seasons of remarkable awakenings, yet we know that three thousand of Peter's hearers were on the day of Pentecost thus gathered in. In the primitive age, and in what w r e call the reformation period, there was a succession of glorious revivals, and doubtless it was in these seasons that the principal part of believers then in the world had been converted.

There have been times when it could have been said with truth of the larger portion of church members in many sections of our own country, that they had been brought into the

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Saviour's kingdom during the progress of revivals. There are yet to be many such visitations before the second appearing of our blessed Lord. This can be doubted by no one. Remote, indeed, must be the establishment of our dear Lord's kingdom on the ruins of Satan's kingdom, unless our poor world is to be favored with numerous and powerful effusions of the Spirit, resulting in many precious harvests of souls. We should desire such precious harvests for all classes, not excluding the depraved multitude — the lowest and the vilest. " Could Ave unroof the dense portions of our great cities, and look into the dens of drink and debauchery, we should behold undeniable signs of wounded spirits, without hope, without God. The gospel was made for such, and has saved such. Amidst the reiterated and increasing prayers which go up for the outpouring of the Spirit, surely there ought to be importunate supplication for influences to penetrate these lowest strata. Awakening is incomplete unless it go deeper, far deeper down than our well-dressed throngs. We also crave it for the abject and the abandoned. The blind and the

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vicious, from whose ranks the levies are made for riots and prisons, will not flock to the preached word until some fresh and irresistible influence, affecting the whole population, find its way to the very scenes of their nocturnal orgies. We can think of nothing more likely to compel the attention of blasphemous, base, and even violent men. and women, than a mighty tide of revival, pressing its repeated waves into their miserable homes and hearts. Our blessed Lord has taught us that these not only need the truth, but are accessible to its power. " Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you."

The time is coming when, if the Church is to overspread the earth, there will be far more glorious revivals than have yet been witnessed, and she will be guilty of unspeakable folly unless she endeavors to be prepared for these ingatherings ; and in no way can she be better prepared for them than by using every means in her power to qualify herself for the work of training the converts who are to be the fruits of the revivals which are to be sent, and of build-

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ing them up in the faith. And since powerful outpourings of the Spirit will be as much needed in future times as in times gone by, it is a matter of the utmost importance that all her members avoid every act and every sinful neglect which may prove a hindrance to such effusions.

5. The exercises of soul previously to conversion, and also subsequently to this great change, differ hi different converts.

Conviction of sin is indeed essentially the same in all who are the subjects of it. All under conviction feel that they deserve, and are exposed to, eternal death, because of their want of conformity to God ? s law. They also feel that their sinfulness is pollution and renders them morally offensive, the objects of disapprobation and abhorrence. In addition to this, they see and feel that they are helpless, in that they cannot make any atonement for their guilt, nor deliver themselves from the dominion which sin has over them. All true converts had this sense of sin, of ill desert, of inward pollution, and of helplessness previously to their passing from death to life. They have it,

indeed, afterward and during their whole Chris- 2.

tian course, but then, i. e., after they have actually become Christians, it is accompanied with an apprehension of God's mercy, through Jesus Christ, with a sorrow which is godly and holy, and with filial feelings.