LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
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 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
New Testament Conversions: 
 
 a series of sermons 
 
 REV. Of H^ERBERDING, A. M. 
 
 PASTOR OF ST. MARK'S ENGLISH EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH, FARGO, 
 
 DAKOTA, AUTHOR OF •* THE WAY OF SALVATION IN THE 
 
 LUTHERAN CHURCH." 
 
 PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR. 
 
 LUTHERAN PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 
 
 PHU^ADEXyPHIA, PA. 
 *0 
 
-frl 
 
 
 Copyrighted, 1889, 
 
 BY 
 
 G. H. GERBERDING. 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 
 
TO 
 
 THE CAUSE OF A HEARTY, HEALTHY, 
 LIVING PIETY, 
 WHICH SPRINGS NOT FROM SUPERFICIAL SENTIMENTALISM, OR 
 OCCASIONAL EMOTIONALISM; A PIETY THAT GROWS OUT 
 OF A CORRECT UNDERSTANDING, A TRUE APPRE- 
 CIATION AND A PRAYERFUL, DILIGENT USE 
 OF THE CHRIST-ORDAINED MEANS OF 
 GRACE, THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction 9 
 
 SERMON I. 
 
 Conversion : Its Nature, Necessity and Efficient 
 Agencies 15 
 
 SERMON II. 
 The Woman of Samaria 31 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 The Prodigal Son 43 
 
 (v) 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 The Pubucan 57 
 
 SERMON V. 
 Zaccheus 71 
 
 SERMON VI. 
 Peter, Eai,i, and Re-Conversion of 85 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 The Dying Thief 101 
 
 SERMON VIII. 
 Tests and Fruits of Peter's Re-Conversk>n . ... 117 
 
 SERMON IX. 
 The Three Thousand 133 
 
CONTENTS. Vll 
 
 PAGE 
 
 SERMON X. 
 
 The Ethiopian Eunuch 151 
 
 SERMON XI. 
 Paul's Conversion 167 
 
 SERMON XII. 
 Cornelius 185 
 
 SERMON XIII. 
 Sergius Paulus 201 
 
 SERMON XIV. 
 Lydia 215 
 
 SERMON XV. 
 The Jailer 233 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 SERMON XVI. 
 A Spurious Conversion 251 
 
 SERMON XVII. 
 Almost Converted • 263 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 "Of the making of books, there is no end." If 
 this was true in Solomon's day, how much more 
 true in our day? 
 
 The saying of the wise man can also be applied 
 to many special departments of literature. It can 
 be said with truth, "of the making of sermon 
 books, there is no end." Why, then, send forth 
 another Book of Sermons ? 
 
 Does it bring out truths unknown before? Does 
 it occupy ground unused before? Does it treat of 
 subjects not handled in the past ? No ! It sets 
 forth truth as old as Revelation. It tills in fields 
 that have been broken and dragged and rolled by 
 all sorts of ploughmen and teams and implements. 
 It treats of a trite and worn and common subject. 
 
 God was treating of it and aiming at it when He 
 said in Eden: "Adam, where art thou?" God's 
 Book is full of it. Books and sermons without 
 number have been written upon it. 
 
 Why, then, a new book of sermons on con- 
 version? 
 
 (9) 
 
IO INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Because not all that has been written and 
 preached on the subject is truth. Much of it is the 
 saddest and most dangerous caricature of truth. 
 Few subjects have been more abused, misrepre- 
 sented and misunderstood. A veritable flood of 
 ruinous error has emanated from pen and pulpit on 
 this subject. A sad wreckage of doubt, gloom, 
 skepticism, despair, insanity and self-destruction is 
 the result. Much of the current twaddle is the 
 shallowest sentimentalism or the wildest fanat- 
 icism, with all the various baseless gradations be- 
 tween. It tends to confuse the mind, to harden 
 the heart, to quench the spirit, to ruin the soul. 
 
 Here, on the one hand, are our cold, humani- 
 tarian moralists. These are the apostles of culture 
 and progress. They would evolve a dignified and 
 proud manliness out of the natural man. Man is 
 too great, and grand, and good, to need a re-crea- 
 tion — a new heart and life! Conversion, with 
 them, is nothing but a laying aside of bad habits, 
 an outward reformation. 
 
 On the other hand, here is a whole host of 
 would-be evangelizers. They seem to consider it 
 their special mission and commission to "convert 
 sinners." They often become quite proficient in 
 their avocation. They can bring about hundreds 
 
INTRODUCTION. 1 1 
 
 of conversions in an evening. They get up a re- 
 vival in the home church, or start out to revive a 
 town or city. We have heard some of them assert 
 how they have converted whole communities, and 
 how they were going to "capture" such a town or 
 city "for Jesus!" 
 
 With them, conversion is a rousing of the feel- 
 ings, a wave of emotion, a burst of excitement. 
 
 While they will speak in thunder tones of the 
 necessity of conversion and of the damnation of 
 the unconverted, they rarely even attempt to ex- 
 plain the nature of conversion. Ask them what 
 it is, and they can give at best very vague and un- 
 satisfactory answers. Ask them how it is brought 
 about, what its agencies and instrumentalities are, 
 and they don't know. Ask them what its evi- 
 dences are, and they don't tell you. They are full 
 of pious phrases, and earnest exhortations, and 
 touching stories, and tearful pleadings. But the 
 teaching of the divine Word on this all-important 
 subject they know not ! 
 
 There is still another class in the Church who 
 need to give renewed attention to this subject. 
 
 Repelled by the fanaticism and the vagaries of 
 the aforenamed class, they have gone to the other 
 extreme. While the former make a hobby of the 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 subject, these latter almost ignore it. They don't 
 preach much conversion. They seem to be almost 
 afraid of the term. They speak much of truth, 
 and Grace, and faith, and righteousness. And 
 against all this we would be the last to say one 
 word. But to neglect or ignore the subject of con- 
 version is certainly a very grievous and dangerous 
 mistake. It may result in a false security in the 
 unconverted — of whom there are certainly many 
 among the hearers of every preacher. It may re- 
 sult in the loss of souls, which will be required at 
 the pastor's hand. 
 
 In these godless and worldly times we must earn- 
 estly and diligently preach conversion. We must 
 insist on its necessity. We must reason, exhort, 
 convince, beseech, and plead; "Turn ye, turn ye; 
 why will ye die f ' ' 
 
 We must explain from the divine Word what is 
 the nature of this change. We must labor to have 
 the plainest hearer understand this vital subject and 
 his personal relation to it. We must show how 
 God, who alone has the power to give the new life, 
 yet has thrown all the responsibility on man, by 
 putting within his reach the life-bearing means of 
 Grace. 
 
 It was the lot of the writer of this book to be 
 
INTRODUCTION. 1 3 
 
 brought up in the midst of revivalistic surroundings 
 and preaching. As a pastor also his lot has been, 
 at times, cast among proselyting zealots. His 
 Church, his faith, and his people, have been rudely 
 attacked and slandered. It became necessary either 
 to give way or to defend himself and his faith. 
 This made it necessary to study and examine the 
 whole subject of conversion and experimental re- 
 ligion. He has enjoyed the happy experience of 
 finding that the more he studied the matter in the 
 Word of God, the more did he discover that the 
 Church whose name he bears holds, confesses, and 
 teaches on this point also nothing but the pure 
 truth as it is in Jesus. It has been a source of the 
 greatest delight and comfort to discover how the 
 scriptural doctrine meets every difficulty, clears 
 away all doubt, harmonizes seeming contradictions 
 between divine sovereignty and human responsibil- 
 ity, giving all the glory to God, and laying all the 
 responsibility on man. 
 
 It was to help others, who perhaps had difficulties 
 on this vital subject, that he prepared and preached 
 the series of sermons contained in this book. 
 
 It is with the hope that they may be helpful to 
 others also that he offers these sermons to the 
 public. He believes that in this direction the field 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 has not been overworked, and there is room for 
 this book of sermons. 
 
 That it may help to lead some confused and 
 groping ones into the light; that it may counteract 
 dangerous error; that it may show the beauty, sim- 
 plicity and satisfying nature of the teachings of 
 the Word; and that it may become instrumental 
 in leading to true conversions, is the hope and 
 prayer of The Author. 
 
 Fargo, Dakota, Easter, 1889. 
 
SERMON I. 
 
 CONVERSION: 
 
 Its Nature, Necessity, and Efficient Agencies. 
 
 Acts iii. 19. 
 
Acts iii ig. Be Converted. 
 
SERMON I. 
 
 A Smau, text, but a big subject. A subject of 
 the most vital importance. A subject round which 
 cluster the issues of eternity. 
 
 Not only is it a subject of general interest; it is 
 a subject of the most intense personal concern; it is 
 a subject in which each one that reads these lines 
 is much more deeply concerned than in the matter 
 of making a living, getting on in the world, hav- 
 ing a reputation in the community, or being well 
 booked up in the questions of the day. All these 
 questions taken together are of no weight at all 
 when compared with the question, "How about 
 my conversion? Am I in a converted state?" 
 Jesus says, Matt, xviii. 3: Except ye be converted 
 and become as little children, ye shall not enter into 
 the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 Yes, dear reader, the question of your eternal 
 weal or woe depends on the question of your con- 
 version. 
 
 We .need not stop therefore to argue that each 
 
 one ought to have clear ideas on this vital subject. 
 
 And yet there are few subjects on which many 
 2* (17) 
 
1 8 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 well meaning persons are more in the dark. Worse 
 still, often those who talk most about it and are 
 loudest in urging its necessity, know least about 
 it Why this should be so we can scarcely tell. 
 It is certainly not because the Word of God is so 
 misty that no one can know what it teaches. It 
 must be because many are unwilling to search the 
 Scriptures with a view to bow to their authority, 
 and take their own reason captive. Too many 
 would rather take their feelings and impulses for 
 guides and standards, than the teachings of the 
 Divine Word. We desire to study and examine 
 this subject in the light of that Word, and inquire 
 into the nature of this change, its necessity and 
 how it is brought about, and finally some variations 
 in the process. 
 
 If we inquire first into the meaning of the term, 
 we find that to convert means "to turn," "to turn 
 round," "to change about." We find this is also 
 the clear meaning of the Latin word which is the 
 root of the English. The same thing is true of the 
 Greek word (emerpeten) translated ' ' convert ' ' in the 
 New Testament. Its simplest meaning is "to 
 turn round." We, therefore, find that the same 
 word which is in some places translated ' ' to con- 
 vert," is in other places translated "to turn." 
 
NATURE, NECESSITY AND AGENCIES. 1 9 
 
 As if a traveler discovers that he is on the wrong 
 road, he turns, faces about, and gets on the right 
 road — so the unconverted sinner, when he realizes 
 that he is traveling on the broad road that leadeth 
 to destruction, turns or is turned round, and gets 
 on the narrow way that leadeth unto life. 
 
 If now we inquire more closely into the nature 
 of this turning or changing about, we find that it 
 comprises two distinct steps or parts. The first is 
 penitence or contrition. The sinner realizes what 
 he is, where he is, and whither he is tending. He 
 realizes his lost and ruined and guilty state. See- 
 ing as he never saw before the deep depravity of 
 his own heart, the heinousness and damnableness 
 of its sin, the justness of the judgment, and wrath 
 to which it exposes him, he loathes that sin, he 
 mourns over it, he desires to flee from it, and 
 longs for deliverance. This is what the Bible calls 
 penitence or repentance ; though sometimes the 
 word repentance is used in a broader sense, and 
 covers the whole process of conversion. This pen- 
 itence or heartfelt sorrow for sin, and earnest desire 
 to be free from it, is the first step in conversion. 
 
 The second step is faith in Christ. The penitent 
 heart longing for deliverance, crying out for for- 
 giveness, has Jesus the Saviour from sin presented 
 
20 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 to it. It looks to Him. It begins to realize that 
 He by His life and death has wrought out a com- 
 plete salvation. It realizes that this Saviour has 
 become its own substitute, borne and atoned for all 
 its guilt. It reaches out and lays hold and casts 
 itself upon that Saviour, and cries "Lord, if thou 
 wilt, thou canst make me clean, ' ' and then, ' k Lord, 
 I believe, help thou mine tmbelief" and then, 
 ' ' My Lord and my God. ' ' This is faith ; it is the 
 second step in conversion. In the first step, the 
 sinner saw and realized that he was on the road to 
 destruction, earnestly desired to get off that road, 
 and began to turn his back upon it. In the second 
 step, he saw the narrow way that leadeth unto life, 
 and confidently set foot thereon. He is now con- 
 verted or turned from darkness to light and from 
 the power of Satan unto God. 
 
 Penitence then is not something that goes before 
 conversion, and faith something that follows after, 
 and conversion itself a mysterious something sand- 
 wiched in between; but penitence and faith are 
 the two component parts that make up conversion. 
 Where the former is, there the latter — unless there 
 be a violent rupture — is sure to follow. 
 
 We inquire, in the next place, who needs this 
 change? The self-evident answer certainly is, all 
 
NATURE, NECESSITY AND AGENCIES. 21 
 
 who are not in a converted state; that is, all who 
 do not have the elements or evidences of the new 
 life in them. In other words, all who do not have 
 in their hearts true penitence for sin, and true faith 
 in Christ. Wherever we find true penitence and 
 true faith, there we find a converted person; and, 
 conversely, where these elements of the new life 
 are wanting, there is an unconverted sinner. 
 
 Now if we look for these elementary principles 
 of the new life, we find that there are numbers of 
 the children and youth of Christian parents, who 
 certainly possess them. From their earliest recol- 
 lection these young disciples hated and sorrowed 
 over their sins. From tenderest childhood they 
 trusted in and loved the dear Saviour. They can- 
 not think of a time when they did not love Him. 
 These are children of the covenant. They were 
 consecrated and given to the Saviour in tender in- 
 fancy. Believing parents had them carried to the 
 baptismal font, where, with "the washing of re- 
 generation" the "washing of water by the word" 
 they were "born of water and of the Spirit" in 
 that "baptism which doth now also save us" and 
 thus "baptized into Christ." This was to them 
 the birth, i. e., the feeble beginning of new life. 
 
 The germs of the new life then and there im- 
 
22 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 planted by Christ's own ordinance, were afterwards 
 carefully fostered and nurtured by the Word of God 
 and prayer. Among the earliest conscious lessons 
 that they learned from pious parents, were lessons 
 about Christ and salvation and eternal life. Their 
 parents realized that the promise is not only to 
 them, but also to their children. Such children are 
 children of the covenant. They belong to Christ 
 since the day of their baptism. They are in line 
 with Moses, and Samuel, aud Jeremiah, and John 
 the Baptist, and Timothy. Their mothers are in 
 the spiritual succession of Hannah, and Elizabeth, 
 and Lois, and Eunice. 
 
 Such children, aud the youth and adults who 
 grow from such childhood, need no conversion. 
 They are among the best Christians, the most 
 spiritual and consecrated disciples, the most stead- 
 fast and useful members of the Church of Christ. 
 Oh, how many more of such, who need no conversion 
 because they have the elements of the new life and 
 are in a consecrated state, there might be ! How 
 many more there would be, if, in this fast age, this 
 age of new measures, and new methods, and new 
 experiments in the churches, so many had not 
 drifted away from the old foundations laid in God's 
 Word! — if a large part of what still calls itself the 
 
NATURE, NECESSITY AND AGENCIES. 23 
 
 Church of Jesus Christ had not repudiated the 
 ancient Bible and church teaching concerning bap- 
 tismal Grace, the baptismal covenant, prayerful 
 home nurture, feeding the lambs in Sunday-school 
 and Church. But, we digress. 
 
 Not all who are baptized remain true to their 
 baptismal covenant. Largely on account of the 
 unscriptural notions and theories indicated above, 
 many lose or throw away the Grace conferred in 
 baptism. They become prodigal sons, wanderers 
 from their Father's home and protecting care. All 
 such need conversion. As a matter of course, also, 
 all such as have never been baptized, and know 
 nothing of true penitence and living faith. We 
 insist, our Lutheran Church insists, in all her 
 standards, that all such must be converted, or they 
 will be eternally lost. 
 
 There is absolutely no salvation, no heaven for 
 those who remain and die in an unconverted state. 
 Theirs is certainly a state of great peril. We in- 
 quire now how is this change brought about? 
 What are the means or agencies through which it 
 is wrought? 
 
 Here we remark, first of all, that no man can 
 bring about this change by his own reason or 
 strength. This must be accomplished, "not by 
 
24 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 might, i. e. , not by human might, nor by power, 
 but by my spirit, saith the Lord. " "No man can 
 say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." 
 
 Conversion is a divine work. The Spirit of God 
 must bring it about. How does He do it? Un- 
 doubtedly, through the Word. Of that Word Jesus 
 says, "The words that L speak unto you, they are 
 spirit and they are life." The Word is the organ 
 of the Spirit. We know of no operations of the 
 Spirit' outside of the Word. We have never heard 
 of a person under the influence of the Spirit pos- 
 sessing the elements of the new life in a place 
 where the Word had never gone. Only after the 
 Word has gone into a heathen land, do we find the 
 blessed influences of the Spirit there. 
 
 That Word calls itself a "ministration of the 
 Spirit, " " The power of God unto salvation. ' ' It 
 claims to be "quick," i. e., living, " and powerful, 
 and sharper than any two-edged sword." "Able 
 to save the soul." It claims to have the force of 
 "a hammer," the fervency of "afire," the life of 
 a "seed," the refreshing power of "the rain and 
 the dew." It says of itself that it "is perfect, con- 
 verting the soul. ' ' 
 
 We find further that the same divine operations, 
 such as calling, enlightening, regenerating, sancti- 
 
NATURE, NECESSITY AND AGENCIES. 25 
 
 fying, etc., are indiscriminately ascribed, some- 
 times to the Spirit and again to the Word, evi- 
 dently because the Spirit is in the Word and 
 operates through it. 
 
 This Word then is the instrument through which 
 the Holy Spirit operates on the sinner's heart, and 
 converts him. Penitence is generally brought 
 about through the law. ' 'By the law is the knowl- 
 edge of sin.'''' It is the great preacher and producer 
 of repentance, and thus becomes " our schoolmaster 
 to lead us to — or towards — Christ.'''' 
 
 Faith is generally encouraged and developed by 
 the Gospel. It holds up a crucified and risen 
 Redeemer as the sinner's substitute and Saviour. 
 It is generally while the penitent and yearning 
 heart is contemplating the Word of the cross that 
 "faith cometh by hearings and hearing by the 
 word of God. ' ' 
 
 Therefore it is the Word of God as the organ and 
 instrument of the Spirit, that converts the sinner. 
 What a beautifnl and simple method of Grace is 
 thus presented by this true doctrine of the efficacy 
 of the Word. The sinner cannot convert himself. 
 What is he to do ? He is to come to the Word, 
 prayerfully read it, hear it, ponder it: he is to be 
 careful that he resist not, nor rid himself of its 
 
26 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 divine influence. It will do its own blessed work. 
 It will awaken a sense of sin, true sorrow therefor, 
 earnest longing for deliverance, and finally a joyful 
 trust and resting in Christ. 
 
 This doctrine solves and clears up and reconciles 
 the relation of the sovereignty of God to the re- 
 sponsibility of the sinner. It gives all the glory to 
 God, and yet throws all the responsibility on man. 
 It makes the way of salvation so clear and plain 
 that the wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err 
 therein. 
 
 In conclusion we desire to notice some of the 
 variations in the process of conversion. 
 
 Here we remark first that there is a difference in 
 the intensity of change. Some have more intense 
 realization and abhorrence of their sin than others. 
 Some have a more strong and joyful faith than 
 others. With some the feelings predominate. 
 With others the judgment controls. 
 
 Again there are differences in the duration of the 
 process. Some may see the awful depths of their 
 sin and the greatness of their guilt at a glance. 
 They may likewise see at once the availability of 
 the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, reach out and 
 vigorously lay hold of and rejoice in a personal 
 Saviour. Others may be a long time in coming to 
 
NATURE, NECESSITY AND AGENCIES. 2J 
 
 a sense of sin and helplessness and need of a 
 Saviour. The Word of God may come to them, 
 and at first make only a slight impression, perhaps 
 a feeling of dissatisfaction with self and a little 
 restlessness. Little by little their eyes are opened. 
 Message after message conies to them. Deeper and 
 clearer do they see into their lost and ruined and 
 guilty state. At first they see, as through a mist, 
 the offered Saviour. Brighter and brighter shines 
 the light from the Word of God. At first only a 
 tremulous look to the cross, then a timid reaching 
 forth to it, then a steadier gaze and a surer grasp 
 and a closer approach. And so "it shall be little by 
 little" l [first the blade, then the ear, and then the 
 full corn in the ear. ' ' It may be weeks or months 
 before such persons can rest confidingly in a 
 present and personal Saviour. 
 
 In these matters it will not do to lay down 
 arbitrary rules. Much depends on the natural 
 temperament of the person. One is sanguine, im- 
 pulsive, hasty. In him the feelings predominate 
 over the judgment. With such a one the change 
 is apt to be vivid, decisive and short. 
 
 Another is of a cool, phlegmatic temperament. 
 His feelings are not deep. He habitually weighs 
 every matter brought to his attention most carefully. 
 
28 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 He never gets excited or does anything hastily. 
 In such an one the change will likely be almost im- 
 perceptible and slow. And yet, when this latter 
 has once unreservedly accepted Christ as a personal 
 Saviour, he is likely to be the more steadfast Chris- 
 tian of the two. 
 
 Again, in the work of conversion, much may de- 
 pend on the former life of the person. One has 
 wandered very far away. He has become a sinner 
 above the Galileans. He has fallen deeply into 
 shame and sin. 
 
 Another has not so openly and flagrantly been a 
 sinner exceedingly before the Lord. 
 
 When the former has his eyes opened, he will be 
 apt to be more deeply impressed with his guilt and 
 need of a Saviour than the latter. The conversion 
 of the one will probably be more strongly marked 
 and sudden than the latter. 
 
 11 There are diversities of operation, but the same 
 Spirit that worketh all in ally To some, the 
 Word of God comes like a hammer, or, as a fire. 
 On others it drops as the rain, and distils as the 
 dew. Into some hearts it cuts as the sword of the 
 Spirit. 
 
 They feel it piercing even to the dividing asundet 
 of the joints and the marrow. Into other hearts it 
 
NATURE, NECESSITY AND AGENCIES. 29 
 
 falls as a seed, and gently strikes its roots down- 
 ward and sends its shoots upward. Or it is hid 
 there like leaven, and only slowly and silently 
 leavens the whole. 
 
 It again follows, as a matter of course, that not 
 every one can tell the exact time when and where 
 he was converted. Some can. Zaccheus, and Saul 
 of Tarsus, and the Philippian jailer, and the three 
 thousand on the day of Pentecost, and others 
 mentioned in the Bible, doubtless could always tell. 
 But we do not believe that the apostles of Christ 
 could tell,, neither could many others mentioned 
 in the Bible. 
 
 Neither does the Bible anywhere demand that 
 we should. Else what of those mentioned above, 
 who were children of God from infancy? What of 
 those who cannot think of a time when they did 
 not love the dear Saviour? Shall we say: "They 
 are still in an unconverted state ?' ' Who will dare 
 to say so? 
 
 To go to such a trusting child of God with such 
 a heartless assertion, would be to confuse the mind, 
 to burden the heart and to quench the spirit. It is 
 by just such baseless and arrogant assertions that 
 many a promising spiritual life has been blighted 
 in its budding, blasted in its growing, and ruined 
 
30 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 in its fruitage. Perplexity, doubt, unbelief and 
 despair are the baleful fruits of such anti-scripture 
 fanaticism. 
 
 The great and momentous question for each one 
 is not when or how were you converted, but are 
 you now in a converted state? Do you now mourn 
 over, hate, endeavor to be rid of and confess your 
 sins? Do you now constantly turn to, cling to 
 and rest on Christ as your only help and hope? 
 Do you "die daily ," and are you "renewed day by 
 day?" 
 
 On these questions, dear reader, does your and 
 my eternal salvation depend. 
 
SERMON II. 
 
 THE CONVERSION OF THE WOMAN OF 
 SAMARIA. 
 
 John iv. 28, 29. 
 
John iv. 28, 2g. The woman then left her water-pot, and 
 went her way into the city, and saith to the men : Come see a 
 man which told me all things that ever I did : Is not this the 
 Christ? 
 
SERMON II. 
 
 Using these words merely as a standing point 
 from which to look back over that whole interest- 
 ing meeting and conversation between Christ and 
 the woman of Samaria, we enter at once on the 
 subject of her conversion. 
 
 We inquire first, who was this woman? 
 
 As to nationality, she was a Samaritan. As such 
 she was a member of a despised and disreputable 
 people. 
 
 From the seventeenth chapter of second Kings . 
 we learn that after the king of Assyria had carried 
 captive the ten tribes, he re-peopled or colonized 
 their land with colonies of heathen from different 
 parts of his kingdom. These idolaters were soon, 
 troubled by lions, which the Lord sent among them., 
 as a punishment for their abominable rites. They 
 attributed the visitation by the lions to their igno- 
 rance of the manner of the God of the land. They 
 petitioned their king to send back a priest of Israel, 
 that he might teach them how to propitiate "the 
 God of the land. ' ' One of the apostate priests of 
 Israel, who had before mingled the worship of the 
 3 (33) 
 
34 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 calves at Bethel with the worship of Jehovah, was 
 sent. 
 
 Naturally these heathen dwellers in Samaria 
 would not learn a very pure worship of the true 
 God. ' ' They feared the Lord, and served their 
 own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they 
 carried away from thence" 2 Kings xvii. 33. 
 After the return of the Jews, when they began to 
 rebuild the temple, these semi-idolatrous Samari- 
 tans wanted to help to build, and thus acquire 
 rights in the new sanctuary. Ezra and the Jews 
 wisely refused to permit such union effort. From 
 time to time these Samaritans received renegade 
 Israelites and profligate priests among them, and 
 intermarried with them. By and by they built 
 their own temple on Mount Gerizim, where they 
 established and maintained a mongrel worship of 
 Israel's God. Their religion was never recognized 
 by the Jews, who treated them as even worse than 
 heathen. To this semi-barbarous and disreputable 
 people did this woman belong. Nationally, not a 
 very promising subject for Grace. 
 
 But when we inquire into what she was person- 
 ally, she becomes still less attractive. Her history 
 ■was a dark one : she had had five husbands. What 
 became of all of them we do not know. Worse 
 
THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA. 35 
 
 than that, she was now living with a man who was 
 not her husband. She was the mistress of a para- 
 mour ! Certainly she had fallen deeply into degra- 
 dation and sin. There was not much left to appeal 
 to. If a work of Grace is to be done in her heart, 
 the seeds will have to be sown, the life implanted 
 and the very foundations laid. If she is converted, 
 it will not be the return of a once regenerate and 
 now lapsed one, but the regeneration and conver- 
 sion of one dead in trespasses and sins. Will Jesus, 
 tired, thirsty, hungry and worn as He is, pay any 
 attention to her? Will He try to open her eyes and 
 turn (or convert) her from darkness to light and 
 from the power of Satan to God? Yes, He will. 
 
 We inquire, therefore, in the second place, how 
 did Jesus treat her and deal with her? 
 
 As He saw her approach, He did not stop to con- 
 sider her race or her character. He saw in her a 
 human being, with a soul capable of being renewed 
 into the image of God. He did not stop to reason 
 that it would not be worth while to endeavor to 
 enlighten and convert this single individual, when 
 He could at any time have the multitudes to crowd 
 round Him to hear His word. Jesus had a care for 
 the individual. He understood that the only way 
 to reach the masses is to reach the single soul. A 
 
36 new Vestament conversions. ' 
 
 lesson for all who have, or profess to have, the cure 
 of souls. 
 
 He preached the Word to her. It pleased Him 
 in ivhom dwelt all the fulness of the God-head bodily, 
 who claimed that His own words they are spirit 
 and they are life, by the foolishness of preaching to 
 save them that believe. In His own practice and in 
 His instruction and commission to His Apostles, 
 He always went on the principle that the Word 
 carries the Spirit and power of God, and is, there- 
 fore, the only instrument for the effectual conver- 
 sion of the sinner. 
 
 Much depends on the manner of using the Word. 
 It may be presented in such a way as to repel. Had 
 Jesus begun by at once railing at this woman's 
 false religion and denouncing her character, we 
 believe she would have left Him in bitterness of 
 heart. It is interesting and profitable to notice 
 His method of presenting and applying that Word. 
 He first gains her attention, and at the same time 
 secures her good will by asking a favor of her. 
 Having thus opened the way and in a manner put 
 himself under obligations, He skilfully leads her 
 thoughts from the water of Jacob's well to the 
 living water, which He could give. So artlessly 
 and yet so forcibly does He speak of that living 
 
THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA. 37 
 
 water as the gift of God, and of His own ability to 
 give it, that He wakes in her heart a vague longing. 
 
 He gives clearness and proper direction to that 
 longing by showing her her sin. He instructs her 
 that to get rid of this sin, it is not enough to out- 
 wardly worship in the true Church ; but that she 
 must believe Him and have the true spirit express- 
 ing itself in a pure worship. Thus He calls out 
 that clear, earnest, yearning for the help of the 
 Messiah, which is called Christ. 
 
 This yearning He now readily turns into a joyful 
 faith by plainly revealing and declaring Himself 
 as the Deliverer, the Christ whom she needs. 
 
 What lessons of pastoral theology, of true soul 
 cure, are here ! Oh, that all pastors and teachers 
 might learn and practice them. 
 
 We proceed to notice in the third place how this 
 woman was affected. And this will bring to light 
 the process of her conversion. 
 
 We notice how, first of all, she became interested. 
 She was willing to listen to and talk with this 
 strange Teacher. This is of prime importance. 
 We cannot expect to reach the careless sinner until 
 we get him interested enough to gain his attention. 
 
 After her first rather frivolous question, and the 
 earnest, lofty answer of Jesus, she became more 
 
38 NRW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 serious. She addresses the stranger as Sir, i. e., 
 Rabbi, Lord. She inquires about this living water, 
 the manner of procuring it, and the manner of per- 
 son who offers it. She may not have been much in 
 earnest as yet, still it is a point gained when we can 
 get sinners to inquire, to ask about spiritual things. 
 
 The woman hears more about that living water 
 and its wonderful powers to permanently satisfy. 
 It makes her think of her own life, of its emptiness, 
 its toil, and its weariness. She begins to experience 
 an undefined and vague longing after something 
 better. True, she does not yet understand what 
 she needs. But she realizes that her life is unsatis- 
 factory, that she needs something. She is thirsty. 
 
 Unexpectedly, doubtless, but very clearly, she is 
 made to look back over her life and down into her 
 heart. She sees the darkness of the one and the 
 vileness of the other. One word from Him who 
 says, "Is not my word like a JireP'' had flashed in 
 and shown her her shame and her sin. She felt, 
 and winced as she felt it, that His word is indeed 
 1 ' quick, " i. e., a thing of life, ' ' and powerful and 
 sharper than any two-edged sword, pierci7ig even 
 to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of 
 the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the 
 thoughts and intents of the hearty Heb. iv. 12. 
 
THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA. 39 
 
 Why did she ask that next question about the 
 proper place to worship? Was it to turn aside the 
 light of the Word, to parry its blows, to draw off 
 her own gaze and turn aside the gaze of Jesus? 
 Did she simply want to change the subject? Did 
 she desire to discuss an old theological question 
 about the externals of worship rather than have 
 any further reference to her own sin and need of 
 salvation? So many interpreters have thought, 
 and it may be that there was something of this 
 spirit in her question. But we cannot believe that 
 this was all that was in that question. We believe 
 that we must find a deeper sense in it. Otherwise 
 Jesus would not have treated it so seriously and so 
 instructively. Neither would a flippant and evas- 
 ive question fit into the course of the narrative. 
 
 Her thirst had been intensified and properly di- 
 rected. She realized her guiltiness, her need of 
 forgiveness and change. She now had full confi- 
 dence in the wisdom of Christ, she recognized Him 
 as a divine Prophet. She wanted a sanctuary, a 
 place where she could be certain, beyond the per- 
 adventure of a doubt, that God was present, and 
 would attend to the worshippers. She wanted to 
 pray, to sacrifice, to seek forgiveness and peace. 
 
 After the rather full and deep answer of Jesus, 
 
40 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 she plaintively expresses her heart's longing for 
 ' ' the Messias which is called Christ. ' ' Like the 
 two disciples who afterwards walked with Him on 
 the way to Emmaus, her heart burned within her as 
 He talked with her, and she knew Him not. Her 
 faith was not yet intelligent. But out of a peni- 
 tent heart the tendrils of faith were reaching up 
 and feeling after something to grasp and cling to. 
 Faith was coining by hearing, and hearing by the 
 Word of God. 
 
 She was now ready to hear the full Gospel, 
 which reveals the Messias which is called Christ. 
 Jesus says to her, ' ' / that speak to thee am He. ' ' 
 
 She at once recognizes and accepts Him as the 
 Christ, her Saviour. And is not this true faith? 
 Does any one doubt it ? If so, see how that faith at 
 once proved itself. 
 
 She immediately left her water-pot — she forgot, 
 for a time, her temporal affairs. She had found 
 better water than that in Jacob's well. 
 
 Like the disciples, when they recognized the call 
 of Jesus, they left their boats and fishing-nets. 
 Like Matthew, who on a similar occasion left the 
 receipt of customs, so this new disciple leaves her 
 water-pot. 
 
 She hurries into her city, where she is well 
 
THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA. 41 
 
 known. She turns evangelist. She invites the 
 men to ' ' come. ' ' She tells them of the Christ whom 
 she has found. She makes known to them that He 
 ' ' told her all she ever did. ' ' Thereby she confesses 
 her sin, and expresses her penitence. She assures 
 them that this is the Christ. Thus she professes 
 her faith, and thus her faith is beautifully bearing 
 fruit. She is truly converted. Her conversion be- 
 comes the occasion of many others. As in David's 
 time, ' ' Then will I teach transgressors thy ways 
 and sinners shall be converted unto thee." Jesus 
 remains two days in that city, reaps a glorious 
 harvest there. During these two days He no 
 doubt further instructs the woman of Samaria, and 
 her faith becomes more intelligent. 
 
 A few closing reflections. This was the conver- 
 sion of a bad woman. Let no one say that such or 
 such a one is a hopeless case. Let no sinner say, 
 ■ ' My case is hopeless. ' ' He can and does, save to 
 the uttermost, all that come unto God through Him. 
 
 This conversion was brought about by the Word. 
 So is every true conversion. Its elements were 
 penitence and faith. These are the component 
 elements of every conversion. 
 
 Reader, are you converted? Have you in your 
 heart true sorrow for and hatred of sin ? Do your 
 3* 
 
42 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 sms trouble you? Do you die daily? Are you 
 constantly turning to Him and resting in Him who 
 is the Christ, the Saviour of the world ? Are you 
 in an unconverted state? Can you and do you 
 laugh at your sins? Are they as trifles to you? 
 Would you be converted ? Come to the Word ! 
 Hear it. Read it. Ponder it. It will bring about, 
 if prayerfully used and not resisted, a vivid sense 
 of your lost, ruined and guilty state. It will also 
 beget a saving and appropriating faith in Christ. 
 " Turn you, turn you; for why will you die?" 
 
 Beside the well at noon-tide 
 
 I hear a sad one say, 
 " I want that living water, 
 
 Give me to drink, I pray ; 
 
 The well is deep, O Pilgrim, 
 
 But deeper is my need ; 
 I thirst for Life eternal 
 
 The ' Gift of God' indeed." 
 
 Ho every one that thirsteth, 
 
 The living water buy ! 
 Ye blessed ones that hunger, 
 
 Take eat, and never die. 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 THE CONVERSION OF THE PRODIGAL SON. 
 
 Luke xv. 17-20. 
 
Luke xv. ij-20. And when he came to himself, he said, 
 How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough 
 and to spare, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to 
 my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against 
 heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called 
 thy son : make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, 
 and came to his father. 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 Somebody lias said : " If I could have only one 
 book of the Bible, and had my choice, I would 
 select as that book the Gospel of St. Luke." 
 When asked why he would select this book above 
 all others, he said: "Because of the fifteenth 
 chapter. ' ' 
 
 We cannot find much fault with this choice. 
 This is indeed a rich and precious chapter. Its 
 three parables are radiant with the reflections of 
 the glowing love of the Father's heart. 
 
 If it were possible to narrow down the choice 
 still more closely, and where all is so supremely 
 excellent to select the most excellent, we would 
 unhesitatingly select the parabolic story of the 
 wandering, returning and welcomed prodigal. 
 This parable has well been called "the Gospel in 
 the Gospel" — the Gospel in a nutshell. 
 
 The whole parable naturally divides itself into 
 two parts: First, the part that delineates the 
 younger son; and second, the part that portrays 
 the elder son. 
 
 The former part again naturally subdivides it- 
 
 (45) 
 
46 NEW" TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 self into three parts. The first shows us the wilful 
 departure from a loving parent and good home of 
 the wayward youth. It pictures to us the wilful 
 departure of the sinner from God. The second 
 portrays the wanderer's return, portraying for us 
 the sinner's conversion. The third part paints in 
 vivid colors the reception of the returning one. 
 
 We propose to consider more particularly the 
 second point, viz: the prodigal's return, or con- 
 version; for a turning round, or returning, is a 
 conversion. Before entering upon the process of 
 the conversion itself, we would further remark, 
 that this conversion differs from some others re- 
 corded in the New Testament. This is the return- 
 ing of one who once enjoyed a good home, a father's 
 love and care. He had a birth-right in that home, 
 but renounced it and the father who gave it. The 
 father, however, had not yet renounced him. 
 
 In the case of the Samaritan woman, we had the 
 conversion of one who, as far as we know, had 
 never had a birth-right in a spiritual home. She 
 had always been a stranger to the covenant and 
 an alien from the household of faith. Hers was 
 the regeneration and conversion of a sinner: this 
 is rather the conversion or restoration of a once re- 
 generate, but now lapsed one. That was the 
 
THE PRODIGAL SON. 47 
 
 bringing to God for the first time of a sinner: 
 this is the coining back of a wanderer who was 
 once baptized into Christ, enjoyed some Christian 
 nurture, and was, perhaps, confirmed in the church. 
 
 We would further note, as preliminary to the ex- 
 position that particular parables are intended to 
 bring out and specially portray different phases or 
 features of the same truth. Some, e. £■., that of 
 the great supper, are intended to show more espec- 
 ially the part that God works in the bringing back 
 of the sinner. Others, as the one before us, are 
 intended to emphasize the process in the sinner, 
 and the manner of its manifestation. The divine 
 side, the efforts and means of Grace, are, therefore, 
 only incidentally shown. 
 
 Turning now to the conversion of the prodigal, 
 we divide the process into three steps. 
 
 The first step was : He began to think. There- 
 tofore he didn't want to think. If a reproachful 
 thought, or a memory of the past, would occasion- 
 ally flit through his mind, he made positive efforts 
 to shake it off. It was, doubtless, partly to prevent 
 or drown all sober, serious thought, that he 
 plunged so heedlessly into dissipation. Thinking 
 would disturb his wild enjoyment. It would 
 make him uneasy. It would rob him of what he 
 
48 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 called his peace. And, therefore, he did not wish 
 to think. 
 
 Is it not always thus? Will any wilful, wayward 
 wanderer sit down quietly and think of himself, his 
 life, and his God? Dare he? No. On the con- 
 trary, he will use every endeavor to prevent serious 
 thought, or to banish it, when it comes unbidden. 
 
 But God was training that prodigal. He desired 
 to make him think. He permitted him, or may 
 we not say He led him, to taste the bitter fruits of 
 his own sin. 
 
 He began to be in want. This was intended to 
 make him pause and think. So God often dis- 
 ciplines the sinner. He sends privations, losses, 
 disappointments, diseases or death. These afflictive 
 dispensations are not in themselves means of Grace. 
 They do not carry saving virtue. But they are in- 
 tended to prepare the careless for the reception of 
 the means of Grace. They are designed to make 
 the thoughtless think. 
 
 He came to himself. He had been beside him- 
 self. The inconsiderate and careless sinner is not 
 in his right mind. When he has been made will- 
 ing to consider, to think, to remember, then he 
 comes to himself, and in coming to himself, he is 
 beginning to come to his God. 
 
THE PRODIGAL SON. 49 
 
 Look at that prodigal ! He has come to want. 
 He is herding swine. He is hungry. He craves 
 the husks, the pods of the carob-tree, on which the 
 swine are feeding. He begins to consider the sit- 
 uation. He looks at himself. He is covered with 
 rags and filth. He looks over his life. What a 
 loving father gave, he has wasted in riotous living. 
 He looks into his heart. He sees its vileness and 
 its ungrateful meanness. His thoughts go back to 
 what he once was. He recalls his home. That 
 father-heart and father-love — those fatherly coun- 
 sels and admonitions ! He remembers it all. He 
 thinks it all over. 
 
 Here we incidentally see that it is the work of 
 the Word. And it is thus the sinner is brought 
 to himself. He remembers that he was baptized 
 into Christ, and set apart for the kingdom of God. 
 He recalls the holy lessons he once learned and 
 loved. He recollects the prayers, the counsels and 
 admonitions of years gone by. He contrasts with 
 all that his present life, his heart, his whole self. 
 He is coming to himself. He is beginning to 
 think. An important point is gained. He has 
 taken the first step in his conversion. 
 
 We do not know how long the prodigal had been 
 thinking, or how long he had fought against sober, 
 
50 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 serious thought. It m^y have been many days 
 since he began. It may have been very reluctant 
 and timid thinking at first. It may have been 
 weeks and months since the first serious and un- 
 welcome thought had crossed his mind. Little by 
 little, in quietness and alone, he pondered, till at 
 last he fully came to himself. The first step was 
 taken. 
 
 The second step in his conversion was that he 
 began to feel. 
 
 We hear him talking to himself. He speaks of 
 his own unworthiness. With him these are not 
 mere words. In public, men often make confes- 
 sions and acknowledgments for effect. They are 
 mere words. Not so with him who is alone, who 
 is musing out of a full heart, whose heart is so 
 full that his lips speak almost unconsciously. He 
 can say: While I mused the fire burned. 
 
 The prodigal felt his unworthiness, his ungrate- 
 fulness, his meanness. He loathed himself. He 
 felt he was vile. He also felt the load and burden 
 of guilt. / have sinned, sinned against heaven, 
 am guilty in God's sight; I deserve punishment, 
 am no more worthy to be called a son, forfeited my 
 sonship, sold my birthright, deserve to be cast 
 out, disinherited, disowned. These, we believe, 
 
THE PRODIGAL SON. 5 1 
 
 were the feelings of his heart. It was a true 
 mourning over sin. It was godly sorrow, working 
 that repentance that needeth not to be repented of. 
 He was a penitent, and penitence is the first part 
 of conversion. It manifested itself in his case in 
 first thinking of the father, his love and his coun- 
 sels. He then thought of himself, his heart and 
 his life. He contrasted self with the father and the 
 father's word. He saw his sin. His thinking 
 made him feel. It awoke a consciousness of un- 
 worthiness and self-abhorrence. It made him feel 
 his guilt and the deservedness of punishment. 
 This is God's way of dealing with the sinner. He 
 makes him think, thinking leads to feeling, the 
 heart is reached through the head, the judgment 
 is informed, and through it the conscience stirred 
 and the heart moved. When Paul was sent to con- 
 vert the Gentiles, he was commissioned "to open 
 their eyes and to turn — i. e. to convert — them from 
 darkness to light.'''' The first thing then was to 
 open their eyes, i. e. to enlighten or instruct them; 
 and this is the only true way. Instruction must 
 come first. There must be knowledge, something 
 to think about; then the feeling will come of its 
 own accord. Those who would begin with the 
 feelings, who aim to arouse and excite the sinner 
 
52 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 whom they desire to convert, are beginning at the 
 wrong end. They are proceeding in a method that 
 is contrary to the laws of the mind, as well as con- 
 trary to the Word of God. Rational feeling is the 
 product of rational thinking. 
 
 We go on to notice the third and final step in the 
 prodigal's conversion. He began to turn. 
 
 In all his wanderings he had been turned away 
 from his father and away from his real self. He 
 was unwilling to turn even his thoughts back to his 
 father or in on himself. But now he was turning. 
 His thoughts were looking homeward and inward. 
 His feelings also, so deep within him, were begin- 
 ning to reach out toward his home. His heart 
 was yearning for that father's pardon and love. 
 
 As he thought and longed, he remembered his 
 father's goodness. He became convinced that the 
 father was merciful. His heart reached out tow- 
 ards that mercy; it grasped it and was ready to 
 throw itself upon it. He had no self-justification. 
 He pleaded no excuse or extenuation. He didn't 
 say he would go back and say he couldn't help it, 
 it was the fault of others who led him astray. No, 
 no; he frames no plea for self, he trusts only in the 
 father's mercy, he wants only pardon. He rises, 
 he turns, he hastens to receive that pardon. 
 
THE PRODIGAL SON. 53 
 
 And what is this turning towards the mercy of 
 the father? What is it but faith f Yes, it is the 
 outgrowth of penitence, and that is always faith; 
 and penitence and faith together are conversion. 
 The prodigal has turned to his father. His turn- 
 ing is believing. Where there is believing there 
 is conversion. 
 
 Iyook at it. 
 
 It began in pondering the blessings and counsels 
 of his home days. The Word of our heavenly 
 Father, even when silently pondered, is a means 
 of Grace, a bearer of the Spirit. 
 
 His thinking wrought feelings of unworthiness; 
 a sense of guilt; a hatred of his sin, and a longing 
 for deliverance. 
 
 This turned his thought and heart to his father; 
 it made him lay hold of the remembered mercy; 
 it made him arise and go. It brought him to his 
 father. 
 
 The thoughts and feelings of his heart were al- 
 already framed in words for his lips. He confesses: 
 true faith always confesses. With tlie heart man 
 believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth 
 confession is made unto salvation. 
 
 Look at the reception of the returning one. Will 
 the father receive him? He comes in rags and 
 
54 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 filth. He carries the handwriting of sin on his 
 countenance. The mark of Cain is there. He 
 looks degraded and vile. Will not the father shut 
 the door in his face? Will he not tell him, "You 
 made your bed, now lie in it?" Will he do like 
 many an earthly father has done? Look and see. 
 The old father has been waiting and watching. 
 When he is yet a great way off, the father sees him ; 
 he runs to meet him; he falls on his neck; he kisses 
 him; he calls him u my son!" 
 
 Oh yes, the son had tried to forget the father, 
 but the father had not for a moment forgotten or 
 disowned the son. The baptized one may forget, 
 he may repudiate his side of the covenant, but God 
 never forgets or breaks His side. He is ever ready 
 to welcome back the penitent one; to give him the 
 kiss of forgiveness ; to own him as ' ' my son, " " my 
 daughter. ' ' 
 
 Notice how eagerly the two come together. On 
 the part of the son, there is no struggling, no 
 wrestling, no pleading, no penitential season of 
 waiting, and working, and getting through. On 
 the part of the father, no holding back, no barring 
 of the door, no refusing to hear or to heed, no re- 
 luctant opening at last, because the son is about 
 ready to frantically break in. Surely no modern 
 revivalist drew that picture! 
 
THE PRODIGAL SON. 55 
 
 Dear reader: Are you a wanderer? Are you 
 now away from the Father-home and Father- 
 heart? Are you sojourning in that far country, 
 that wild, waste land, where God is not? Is there 
 sometimes a thought of former and better days — a 
 pang of home-sickness? Do you sometimes realize 
 that you are in want? Do you perhaps recall the 
 prayers once, in the dim and distant past, lisped at 
 a mother's knee? Do there come at times echoes 
 of the stories and sayings of Jesus, which then fell 
 into eager ears and a receptive heart? Do there 
 flit occasionally across memory's canvas, unsought 
 images of childhood's Lord's Days, of the walk to 
 the Sunday-school, of the teacher, the lessons, the 
 hymns and prayers? Do you see again the sainted 
 pastor, and hear again those words that then were 
 sacred with a heavenly sound? Has the church- 
 bell ever startled you? Does the sight of others 
 going joyfully to the sanctuary of God make you 
 restless ? Oh, do not shake off these serious im- 
 pressions. Cherish them ! Take down the old 
 Bible and catechism : begin to think ; think till 
 you feel ; feel till you loathe yourself, and long for 
 deliverance. L,ook then to mercy as it shines from 
 the cross. Turn to the Crucified; there the Father 
 will meet you. He is waiting. He is coming to 
 
56 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 meet you. He is standing before you. Accept 
 Him. Receive His advances. Call Him Father. 
 He calls you son. He kisses you with the kiss of 
 pardon and adoption. 
 
 Come home ! Come home ! 
 You are weary at heart, 
 For the way has been dark, 
 And so lonely and wild. 
 O Prodigal Child, come home ! 
 
 Come home ! Come home ! 
 From the sorrow and blame, 
 From the sin and the shame 
 And the tempter that smiled. 
 O Prodigal Child, come home ! 
 
 Come home ! Come home ! 
 There is bread and to spare, 
 And a warm welcome there. 
 Then, to friends reconciled, 
 O Prodigal Child, come home ! 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 THE CONVERSION OF THE PUBLICAN. 
 
 Luke; xviii. 13. 
 
Luke xviii. /j. And the publican standing afar off, would 
 not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven ; but smote upon 
 his breast, saying, God be merciful unto me a sinner. 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 We have before us a character sketch, drawn by 
 a master hand. With a few words, two represen- 
 tative persons, quite opposite in heart and life, are 
 made to stand before us in life-like colors. It is a 
 double picture, drawn by Him who could portray 
 the inner and outer man as none else can, because 
 He knew what was in man, and needed not that any 
 one should tell Him. 
 
 It is no wonder that those writers who have best 
 succeeded in delineating human nature — as e. g. 
 Shakespeare — have been close students of the 
 Bible. No other book uncovers and lays bare the 
 secret springs of the human heart like this book. 
 No other master can portray the hidden impulses 
 and motives of humanity like He who made man. 
 For the same reason none else could so truthfully 
 and vividly show the out-workings and manifesta- 
 tions of the spirit within. 
 
 He in whom dwelt all the fulness of the God-head 
 bodily, has with a few master strokes, drawn for us 
 the pictures of the Pharisee and the Publican. 
 These pictures are set before us for our instruction 
 
 (59) 
 
60 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 and profit. We are to contemplate them. We are 
 to be warned by the one: we are to be instructed 
 and drawn to imitation by the other. 
 
 We desire for the present to look more particu- 
 larly at the second picture, and consider the conver- 
 sion of the publiccm. 
 
 We will consider first one of the greatest hinder- 
 ances to conversion — we mean self-righteousness. 
 We see this delineated and manifested in the 
 Pharisee. We, therefore, study him as contrasted 
 with the Publican. The Pharisee is self-righteous- 
 ness personified. We see it standing before us. 
 We see how it lives and moves and exalts itself 
 toward heaven. We see what it is and whence it 
 springs. 
 
 It is a complacent satisfaction with self. It is 
 an unctuous self-flattery. It is a magnifying of 
 one's supposed virtues. It is a wilful blindness to 
 one's own faults. It is greatest in negative virtues. 
 Its passive virtues are trifles magnified. Look at 
 and listen to that Pharisee. He goes up to the 
 temple, he considers himself a religious man, he 
 professes to pray ; but what a prayer! There is no 
 word of confession, except a confession of other 
 people's sins. There is no breath of petition. He 
 stands forth boldly and prominently. He begins 
 
THE PUBLICAN. 6l 
 
 with thanksgiving, but he does not thank for mercy, 
 for Grace, for blessings received; he is so full of self 
 and self-sufficiency, that he can only thank for 
 what he is and what he does, in contrast with 
 others. He delights to compare himself with the 
 common herd. He first tells the Lord what he 
 does not do. He is not an extortioner. He is in 
 no sense unjust. He is too pure to ever be capable 
 of committing adultery. He can best sum up his 
 goodness by thanking the Lord he is not like this 
 Publican. Such is self-righteousness, a fearful 
 disease of fallen humanity, one of the greatest 
 hinderances to its restoration. 
 
 It is well that we understand this disease. There 
 are few places in the Word of God that so clearly 
 describe it, as does this parable. It will be profit- 
 able for us to look into it a little more deeply. 
 
 What are the roots of self-righteousness ? There 
 are two main roots. One is a shallow view of God 
 and His law. The other is a superficial under- 
 standing of sin and self. 
 
 This was the trouble with this Pharisee, and 
 indeed with all the Pharisees of Christ's day. He 
 did not realize the august, sublime and holy nature 
 of the Being whom he so bluntly and boldly ad- 
 dressed. Had he had even a faint conception of 
 
62 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 Him whose eyes are like flames of fire, too pure to 
 behold iniquity or look upon sin with allowance — had 
 he understood even remotely, how the very nature of 
 God shrinks from and abhors sin, that He is so in- 
 expressibly pure that He charges His angels with 
 folly, and that the very heavens are unclean in His 
 sight — had he even approximately known that the 
 whole past history of Israel, the whole service of 
 that temple in which he stood, was intended to 
 teach God's holiness — had he, in short, under- 
 stood the nature of God, he could not have done as 
 he did. 
 
 Because he did not understand God's nature, 
 therefore, he did not at all know God's law. In 
 boasting of his own good deeds, which he doubtless 
 regarded as a fulfilling of the law, there is not a 
 word of fearing, loving or trusting in God. In- 
 deed, the whole first table is deliberately passed 
 over. He flatters himself that he has kept the law 
 because he has abstained from the gross acts of 
 extortion, adultery and injustice. He mentions 
 two positive virtues. He boasts of these as marks 
 of supererogation, as doing even more than the 
 law demanded. Had he heard and understood the 
 Sermon on the Mount, he could not have imagined 
 that he kept the law. 
 
THE PUBLICAN. 63 
 
 Because he did not understand the spirit of the 
 law, therefore, he did not know what sin is. To 
 him sin consisted in the outward acts of the hand, 
 the tongue, the stomach, or other bodily organs. 
 He did not realize that sin is really a matter of the 
 heart and spirit. He had not learned that lust or 
 desire is sin. Had he known what sin is, in its 
 essence and nature, he would not have dared to so 
 stand before God. Knowing not what sin is, he 
 had no conception of the sinfulness and desperate 
 wickedness of his own heart. He did not know 
 himself. Thus his ignorance of God and His law, 
 and his ignorance of self and sin, made him self- 
 righteous. 
 
 Self-righteousness was the greatest obstacle our 
 Saviour had to contend with. It was characteristic 
 of the Scribes and Pharisees. He could reach and 
 gather in Publicans, and sinners, but He reached 
 very few Pharisees. To them He said : ' ' The Pub- 
 licans and harlots go into the kingdom of God before 
 you. ' ' 
 
 Self-righteousness is the great obstacle to the 
 Church's progress to-day. Our age is sadly afflicted 
 with this malady. It has crept into many popular 
 churches. The holiness of God and the sinfulness 
 of sin are too little understood and realized. Con- 
 
64 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 sequently Christ is too little appreciated. Repent- 
 ance and faith are not preached as they should be. 
 Superficial expedients are tried to gather in sinners. 
 Self-righteousness is not exposed and dislodged. 
 True conversions are comparatively rare. 
 
 The Church can stoop- down and pick up the 
 fallen out of the filth and mire of sin, when such 
 are brought to realize their sin. But the Church 
 cannot reach, Christ cannot save men, as long as 
 they trust in themselves that they are righteous, and 
 despise others. 
 
 The only remedy for this dire malady is the 
 Word of God. That sword of the Spirit must cut 
 in and lay bare the corruption and soreness of the 
 deceitful and desperately wicked heart. It must 
 pierce even to the dividing asunder of the joints 
 and marrow, and discern the thoughts and intents 
 of the heart. ' k By the law is the knowledge of sin. ' ' 
 Through the Word the Holy Spirit convinces the 
 world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. 
 
 This living Word, carrying the Spirit's life, had 
 certainly done its preparatory work in the heart of 
 the Publican, to whom we now turn. 
 
 We believe that we see in him a product of the 
 power of the Word. It had prepared his heart: 
 although our parable does not definitely mention 
 
THE PUBLICAN. 65 
 
 this, we reason from the effect to the cause. It 
 was now converting that heart. We see in that 
 heart the workings first of penitence and then of 
 faith. Notice the penitence as manifested first in 
 his actions. 
 
 He stood afar off. He felt himself unfit to ap- 
 proach too near the Holy place — like some outcast, 
 coming into a church and standing by the door, as 
 if too base to enter farther into the house of God. 
 
 How opposite to the Pharisee, who stood forth 
 conspicuously, doubtless as near the Holiest place 
 as possible! 
 
 He would not so much as lift his eyes unto heaven. 
 Unworthy and ashamed to look up, he casts his 
 eyes upon the ground. Ashamed because of his 
 sin, bowed down with a sense of guilt, his very at- 
 titude is a confession of sin and sorrow therefor. 
 
 Blessed shame! It is a hopeful symptom. The 
 blush of shame because of sin, has well been 
 called the morning dawn of a new life. Ezra said: 
 "/ am ashamed, and blush to lift up my face unto 
 Thee." Job said: "/ am vile." Jeremiah com- 
 plained of the impenitent Jews: " They were not at 
 all ashamed, neither could they blush.''' 1 And 
 again: <( Thou hadst a whore'' s forehead, thou re- 
 fusedst to be ashamed. ' ' 
 
66 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 The Publican smote upon his breast. As if to in- 
 dicate, "here is the sore spot, here is the impure 
 heart, here is the seat of sin." To him sin did not 
 consist in a few outward acts. To him it was, first 
 of all, a diseased and denied condition of his very 
 being. It was not so much the sins of the hand or 
 tongue that worried him, but the sinful heart from 
 which those sprung. He smote upon his breast. 
 
 By this he further indicated that he deserved 
 smiting. As a transgressor, he felt guilty. As 
 guilty, he felt worthy of stripes. As justly subject 
 to punishment, he smote upon his breast. His 
 actions betokened penitence. 
 
 So did his words. He designates himself "a 
 sinner." More literally translated, the sinner, or 
 the sinful one. As though he had been a sinner 
 above all others. As though he had been the only 
 one. Here was a strong confession of individual 
 and personal guilt. It was more than a general 
 confession of general sinfulness. It was self-con- 
 demnation. It expressed in words what had been 
 shown in acts. 
 
 This singling of himself out as the chief of sin- 
 ners is the very essence of a thorough repentance. 
 When the sinner sees himself as standing apart 
 from a sinful race, as justly condemned for personal 
 
THE PUBLICAN. 67 
 
 guilt, then has he been enlightened from on high, 
 convinced of sin by the Spirit of God. 
 
 It is this sense of personal guilt and condemna- 
 tion to which all must come. There is no true 
 conversion without it. A general confession is 
 easily made. It is not so hard to believe that all 
 are sinners. But it is quite another matter to real- 
 ize and feel, "/am a sinner," "I am the sinner," 
 ' ' I am the chief of sinners, " " Sin in the abstract 
 has become concrete in me." Such was the Publi- 
 can's confession. He was truly penitent. 
 
 But his penitence grew into faith. True peni- 
 tence is the root of faith, and true faith is the fruit 
 of penitence. 
 
 We see his faith in his plea for mercy. Like the 
 penitent prodigal, when he thinks of his father, he 
 remembers and ponders the one trait of mercy — so 
 this Publican. His eye is cast down, but his 
 bowed heart cries upward. He calls to mind that 
 God is merciful. His heart yearns for mercy. 
 While his mind thinks of mercy, his heart reaches 
 out for it. 
 
 Mercy is something unmerited. It cannot in- 
 deed be earned. What is earned or paid for cannot 
 be mercy. It cannot be bought. It can only be 
 received as a free gift. Faith is a turning towards 
 
68 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 and laying hold of mercy. Self-righteousness asks 
 for rights. It demands wages. It wants justice. 
 
 Faith claims nothing as a right. It asks not for 
 wages. It seeks not justice. Faith knows that to 
 ask for justice is to ask for rejection, to claim 
 wages earned is to claim condemnation. 
 
 In the days of Napoleon the Great, a timid little 
 girl once pressed her way through the courtiers 
 and stood before him. Looking down into her 
 pleading face, the emperor said, "Well, child, 
 what is it?" Tremblingly she told him that she 
 came to beg for the life of her father, who was 
 under sentence of death. Growing stern, the em- 
 peror replied, "Child, your petition is useless: 
 twice before your father deserved death, and was 
 pardoned, and now justice! justice to my country, 
 and justice to myself, demands that he suffer the 
 penalty." "Sir," said the little pleader, "I come 
 not to ask for justice, but to beg for mercy. ' ' 
 
 And so the Publican came. And so must every 
 penitent come. And so does true faith ever come. 
 It sees the proffered mercy. It realizes that it is 
 unmerited and free. It reaches out towards that 
 mercy. It grasps it, it clings to it, it casts itself 
 upon it, it rests there. This is faith. The Publi- 
 can is converted. 
 
THE PUBLICAN. 69 
 
 Sinner, there is mercy for you. You cannot 
 earn it. It has been earned, by the obedient life, 
 the atoning death and triumphant resurrection and 
 ascension of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. 
 You cannot buy it. It has been bought and paid 
 for by Him. You cannot prepare yourself for it. 
 You need only let Him prepare you, by coming to 
 that living Word, which will convict you of your 
 guilt, your need, your own helplessness, and the 
 abounding help of free mercy. It will enable you 
 to lay hold of and rejoice in that mercy. 
 
 The Publican went down to his house justified. 
 He was justified, not because he had made himself 
 worthy, but because he believed. "A man is not 
 justified by the works of the law, but by the faith 
 of Jesus Christ . . . for by the works of the law 
 shall no flesh be justified. Bei?ig justified by faith, 
 he had peace with God through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ^ 
 
 It was a blessed church-going to jhim. Every 
 church-going ought to be attended with the same 
 blessed results. Oh, for a congregation of wor- 
 shippers with hearts bowed down with a sense of 
 sin, emptied of self-sufficiency, yearning for richer 
 measures of Grace, and believing that Jesus does 
 furnish that satisfying Grace. 
 
JO NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 One of our old German ministers was once con- 
 gratulated by a Presbyterian pastor on bis large 
 audiences and general popularity. "Oh, no," said 
 the old Lutheran, "I have nothing yet to be con- 
 gratulated on. My people don't realize yet that 
 without Christ they are all poor, lost and ruined 
 sinners." May our church-going be always so 
 blessed to us, that each attendance may deepen 
 our penitence and increase our faith. 
 
 All that I was, my sin, my guilt, 
 
 My death, was all my own. 
 All that I am I owe to Thee, 
 
 My gracious God, alone. 
 
 The evil of my former state 
 
 Was mine, and only mine, 
 The good in which I now rejoice 
 
 Is Thine and only Thine. 
 
 Thy Grace first made me feel my sin, 
 
 It taught me to believe, 
 Then, in believing, peace I found, 
 
 And now I live, I live ! 
 
SERMON V. 
 
 THE CONVERSION OF ZACCHEUS. 
 
 Luke xix. 2-9. 
 
LukesS^L. 2-9. And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. 
 And, behold, there was a man named Zaccheus, which was the 
 chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to 
 see Jesus who He was ; and could not for the press, because he 
 was little of stature. And he ran before and climbed into a 
 sycamore tree to see Him ; for He was to pass that way. And 
 when Jesus came to the place, He looked up, and saw him, and 
 said unto him, Zaccheus, make haste and come down ; for to- 
 day I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, and came 
 down, and received Him joyfully. And when they saw it, they 
 all murmured, saying, That He was gone to be guest with a 
 man that is a sinner. And Zaccheus stood, and said unto the 
 Lord : Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor ; 
 and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, 
 I restore him four-fold. And Jesus said unto him : This day is 
 salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of 
 Abraham. 
 
SERMON V. 
 
 Zaccheus was a publican. The publicans were 
 the tax collectors among the Jews of our Saviour's 
 day. The tax, or tribute as they called it, was 
 levied by Rome. Though conquered by Rome 
 and under its rule, the Jews fretted under the yoke 
 and yielded only a sullen and unwilling obedience 
 to its authority. They hated to pay tribute to 
 Caesar, and consequently hated those who collected 
 the tax. And so every one hated the sight of a 
 publican. 
 
 The Roman government took contracts for the 
 taxes. For example, some rich man would become 
 responsible for the taxes of a certain district or 
 county. He would sub-let that district to a num- 
 ber of others, each one of whom became responsi- 
 ble to him for a certain section, as e. g. a town- 
 ship. The sub-contractor again would generally 
 hire men to go from house to house and gather in 
 the money. Thus it came about that the tax 
 money had to pass through three or four hands 
 before it reached the treasury of Rome. Each one 
 of these hands wanted a profit. In order to make 
 (73) 
 
74 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 a profit more tax was collected than was levied by 
 Rome. And so it became almost a part of the sys- 
 tem to extort unlawful money. The people knew 
 this, and therefore hated these unjust and oppres- 
 sive publicans still more. To be a publican was, 
 in the eyes of the people, to be an extortioner. 
 Those who had the contracts for larger districts, 
 were chief among the publicans. Such was 
 Zaccheus. 
 
 The city of Jericho was probably the most im- 
 portant commercial city in Palestine. Lying just 
 opposite the fords of the river Jordan, it was on the 
 great highway that led from Arabia and Assyria 
 across into Egypt. This City of Palm Trees was 
 naturally a headquarters for those who were chief 
 of the publicans. Zaccheus lived there. 
 
 Our text gives us an account of the remarkable 
 conversion of this chief publican. It is this con- 
 version that we now desire to consider. 
 
 We inquire, first : WJiat led to that conversion ? 
 There are some who tell us that it was the curiosity 
 of Zaccheus that led to his conversion. They say 
 that he had heard about Jesus, and therefore had 
 that curious desire to see Him that we all have to 
 look upon some eminent or famous person. And 
 this idle curiosity alone, they tell us, made him so 
 eager to see Jesus. 
 
THE CONVERSION OF ZACCHEUS. 75 
 
 We confess that this strikes us as a rather super- 
 ficial view of the matter. To us the eagerness of 
 Zaccheus seems too great to be accounted for on 
 the mere ground of curiosity. There seems to be 
 a deep and intense earnestness underlying his 
 rather strange actions. The sequel of the story 
 also seems to squarely contradict the idea of a mere 
 curiosity. 
 
 We believe there were deeper motives there. 
 We believe that prevenient Grace was at work 
 there. 
 
 Jesus was closing up His public ministry. He 
 was on His last journey to Jerusalem. For three 
 years He had been going up and down in the land 
 with blessings in His heart, with blessings on His 
 lips, and with blessings in His hands. He had 
 been the great Helper and Healer of the bodies and 
 souls of men. 
 
 His fame had gone abroad into all the land. 
 Everywhere people were talking about Him. He 
 had been in the region of Jericho at different times 
 before. Zaccheus must have heard about Him. 
 The tax-collectors under him, who were going 
 from house to house, among the people, would 
 naturally come in contact with some who had seen 
 and heard Jesus, who had been helped, or had seen 
 
y6 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 others helped. Quite likely some of these under- 
 publicans had themselves seen some of those 
 wonderful deeds of love, and heard some of those 
 wonderful words of life. All this they would re- 
 port to Zaccheus when they came to pay over their 
 money. They would also be very likely to tell 
 him that this wonderful Jesus did not think Him- 
 self above speaking to, mingling with, and helping 
 men of their own despised class — that He had 
 even called one, who had been a chief among the 
 publicans, from the receipt of custom, to become 
 one of His twelve disciples. 
 
 Zaccheus heard these stories about Jesus. This 
 was Gospel to him, for what is the Gospel but the 
 glad tidings, the good news of the Son of God ? 
 Zaccheus had this Gospel only in disconnected 
 stories and rumors. It was only a fragmentary 
 Gospel, but it was all the Gospel he had. And 
 even this Gospel was to him the power of God unto 
 salvation. 
 
 He had accepted that Gospel. He had believed 
 those stories. They had stirred in him longings 
 after a better life. They had worked an earnest 
 desire to come near to this Jesus and receive a 
 blessing from Him. His heart was going out to- 
 wards this unknown Jesus. 
 
THE CONVERSION OF ZACCHEUS. JJ 
 
 Here let us notice, in passing, that Zaccheus 
 might have resisted, and shaken off these impres- 
 sions; he might have plunged more deeply into 
 business and speculation; he might have quenclied 
 the Spirit, who was working through the Word — 
 but he did not. He allowed that fragmentary 
 Word to do its blessed preparatory work. This 
 led to his conversion. 
 
 We notice, secondly, the obstacles in the way of 
 his conversion. 
 
 First: He was rich. Riches have ever proved a 
 formidable obstacle to the conversion of sinners. 
 God demands the whole heart or none. He will 
 not have a divided heart. We cannot serve God 
 and Mammon. Riches take a strong hold on the 
 human heart. Covetousness grows as wealth in- 
 creases. ' ' Take heed, and beware of covetousness, ' ' 
 ' ' which is idolatry. ' ' 
 
 In the chapter preceding our text we have a 
 sad example of the adverse power of riches. In 
 view of that example Jesus said: How hardly shall 
 they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! 
 It is easier for a camel to go through a needle 1 's eye, 
 than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of 
 God. Further on He explains that while with man 
 it is impossible, with God it is possible. It seems 
 
;S NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 to require a special measure of Grace from God, and 
 special earnestness on the part of himself, for a rich 
 man to become and remain a child of God. Zaccheus 
 was rich. Here was an obstacle to his conversion. 
 
 Again, there was a bodily impediment, he was 
 small of stature — so small that he could not see 
 Jesus for the crowd that surrounded Him. This 
 physical disability might have kept him away from 
 Jesus. He might have said, " I want to see Jesus, 
 I had fully intended to see Him; but my smallness 
 of stature prevents me, and so I'll give it up." 
 
 A further difficulty in the way was the ridicule 
 to which he would expose himself by taking a 
 position where he could see. As a publican he 
 was despised by the people. He knew that they 
 would be only too ready to ridicule him if he 
 should climb into that tree. Again, he had a cer- 
 tain dignity to maintain. He was a rich man, a 
 chief among the publicans, an officer of the Roman 
 government; and should he so compromise his 
 dignity as to make a public spectacle of himself? 
 Should he run ahead of the crowd, and in full view 
 of them, climb into a tree like a boy? Should he 
 become a laughing-stock to his enemies and a 
 mortification to his friends? Here were obstacles 
 to overcome. 
 
THE CONVERSION OF ZACCHEUS. 79 
 
 But Zaccheus was too much in earnest to be de- 
 terred. Oh, how many have been kept away from 
 Christ by just such impediments as were in his way. 
 How many have had their first serious thoughts, 
 their first good impulses, checked by the deceitfulness 
 of riches. How many have been kept out of the 
 kingdom of Grace here, and the kingdom of Glory 
 there, by the glitter of gold. Not so Zaccheus, 
 he was already beginning to esteem the reproach of 
 Christ greater riches than the treasures of Rome. 
 
 And how many again have been kept out by 
 bodily impediments. Oh, how many are kept 
 away, or rather keep themselves away, from the 
 house of God and the means of Grace, by real or 
 imaginary bodily ailments. Alas, these nervous 
 spells! These Sunday headaches! This dread of 
 exposure on the Lord's day! We have known 
 many who could work hard all week, but were too 
 weak or nervous or sick to go to church on Sunday ; 
 because of slight or only supposed bodily ills, the 
 poor soul was allowed to starve and die. 
 
 On the other hand, we have known persons who 
 really had serious bodily ailments, who yet had 
 themselves led or carried into the house of God. 
 We have seen persons sit under the preaching of 
 the Word, while their bodies were shaking with 
 
80 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 pain. These were in earnest. They were hungry. 
 They wanted to meet Jesus in His Church and in 
 His ordinances. Such was Zaccheus. Too little 
 to see Jesus like other people, he quickly devised a 
 way and found a place where he could. 
 
 How many also have been kept from yielding to 
 the strivings of the Spirit in the preaching of the 
 Word, because they were afraid of ridicule. Alas 
 for the number that have been laughed and sneered 
 out of heaven. Zaccheus did not stop for this, but 
 boldly braved the bravado of the crowd. Thus he 
 overcame every obstacle that stood in the way of 
 his conversion. 
 
 In the third place we notice the conversion itself. 
 
 We have already noticed the preparatory work 
 that had been done by the fragmentary Gospel he 
 had doubtless received. Through this the prepar- 
 atory Grace had reached him, and drawn him to- 
 wards Jesus. This had brought him to where the 
 Word and look of Jesus could reach him. And 
 Jesus did reach him. He looked up and saw. him. 
 As an old writer says, "He saw in Zaccheus a ripe 
 fig, ready to drop into His lap." It was there, in 
 that tree, where the turning point was made. 
 There the decisive step was taken, and Zaccheus 
 was converted. 
 
THE CONVERSION OF ZACCHEUS. 8 1 
 
 When Jesus spoke to him, called him by name, 
 and bade him to come down, it was the same voice, 
 the same living Word that had spoken power into 
 a withered hand, and life into dead bodies. 
 
 Zaccheus heard that Word. He yielded fully to 
 its power, and in yielding he turned from darkness 
 to light, and from the power of Satan to God. 
 When Zaccheus made haste and came down, he 
 was a converted man. 
 
 How far the beginnings, that led to that final 
 step, lay back, we do not know. Doubtless the 
 beginnings were small. A passing thought about 
 Jesus, a timid look into his own heart, a hasty 
 glance over his past life, a slight dissatisfaction 
 with self, an unexpressed longing after some- 
 thing better — such may have been the beginnings. 
 It was the seed-corn, rooting and sprouting. With 
 clearer ideas of sin and the Saviour, with deeper 
 sorrow for sin and more earnest longing to come 
 to this Saviour, the change was becoming more 
 decisive. And now the crisis had come, and he 
 surrendered fully to Christ The great rending 
 choice was made. 
 
 Let no one despise the day of small things. 
 Where small measures and opportunities of Grace 
 5 
 
82 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 are improved, greater ones are given. Let it also 
 be still borne in mind, that even now Zaccheus 
 might have refused to come down and receive 
 Jesus into his house. He might have resisted 
 even this effectual call. Man always has the sad 
 and awful prerogative and power to beat back the 
 hand that is stretched out to save him. 
 
 In conclusion, we notice the evidences that 
 Zaccheus was truly converted. A true conversion 
 always proves itself. So did this one. Zaccheus 
 made a public confession. This must follow every 
 conversion. " With the heart man believeth unto 
 righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made 
 unto salvation." Zaccheus confessed his former 
 sins. He did this in the presence of the people, 
 and before Christ. 
 
 He said, " If I have taken anything from any 
 man by false accusation." This is at least an ac- 
 knowledgment that he had not been careful to be 
 honest, that he had been capable of taking by false 
 accusation. Thus he confessed his sinfulness and 
 his sin. 
 
 He confessed Christ by coming down from the 
 tree at His call, going with Him in presence of the 
 murmuring crowd, and making this public declar- 
 ation to Him as his Lord. 
 
THE CONVERSION OF ZACCHEUS. 83 
 
 He further proved his conversion by his determi- 
 nation to make restitution for any wrong done. 
 A truly converted man cannot keep what he knows 
 is ill-gotten gain. His enlightened and now ten- 
 der conscience, compels him to make restoration as 
 far as possible. 
 
 In purposing to make restitution, Zaccheus, at 
 the same time, professed that henceforth he would 
 be strictly honest in all his dealings. There can 
 be honesty where there is no religion, but there 
 certainly can be no true religion where there is no 
 honesty. A true Christian cannot misrepresent, 
 adulterate, give short weight, or measure or take 
 advantage of ignorance, in his business transactions. 
 A man may pray ever so fervently in prayer-meet- 
 ing, or talk ever so touchingly in experience meet- 
 ing, but if he is not strictly truthful and honest in 
 all his dealings, we take no stock in his religion. 
 A true conversion turns a dishonest into an honest 
 man. 
 
 Again, Zaccheus became liberal. Half of his 
 goods he determined to give to the poor. A true 
 conversion turns the stingy into the liberal man. 
 It opens the pocket-book as well as the heart. 
 There is no such thing as a Christian miser. If 
 one is a miser he is not a Christian, he needs to be 
 converted. 
 
84 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 Finally, salvation came to the house of Zaccheus. 
 not that all the members of the household were at 
 once converted, but the head of the family had 
 become a disciple of Christ. This brought a 
 Christian atmosphere into the home. The Word 
 of God and prayer took their proper place in the 
 family. The things of God were talked about and 
 taught in the household. A true conversion shows 
 piety at home. We once heard a boy say with 
 considerable bitterness: "Yes, my father can pray 
 at prayer-meeting, but I never heard him pray at 
 home." He professed to be a Christian, but sal- 
 vation had not been brought by him into the 
 house. 
 
 Behold then, in Zaccheus, the proofs of conver- 
 sion. Do you profess to be in a converted state? 
 Can you show the evidence that he showed? 
 
 Are you still unconverted ; in the gall of bitter- 
 ness and the bond of iniquity? Would you be 
 converted? What must you do? Simply use the 
 means. Use them diligently and prayerfully, and 
 they will bring renewing Grace into your soul. 
 
SERMON VI. 
 
 THE FALL AND RECONVERSION OF PETER. 
 
 Matt. xxvi. 69-75. 
 
Matt. xxvi. <5p-7j. Now Peter sat without in the palace : and 
 a damsel came unto him, saying : Thou also wast with Jesus of 
 Galilee. 
 
 But he denied before them all, saying : I know uot what thou 
 sayest. 
 
 And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw 
 him, and said unto them that were there : This fellow was also 
 with Jesus of Nazareth. 
 
 And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. 
 
 And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and 
 said to Peter : Surely thou also art one of them ; for thy speech 
 bewrayeth thee. 
 
 Then began he to curse and to swear, saying : I know not the 
 man. And immediately the cock crew. 
 
 And Peter remembered the word of Jesus. Before the cock 
 crow thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out and wept 
 bitterly. 
 
SERMON VI. 
 
 Among all the interesting characters of the New 
 Testament, there are none more interesting than 
 the Apostle Peter. There is something about him 
 that invites study. There is much in him that is 
 fascinating. We often feel that we cannot help 
 but love him. On the other hand, he often vexes 
 us. His character requires careful and unpre- 
 judiced examination. If we fail to understand the 
 whole man, if we stop short of considering his 
 whole career, we will be quite likely to form a one- 
 sided judgment. There is danger of making him 
 either a hero or a coward. Before we can under- 
 stand his fall and recovery, we must understand 
 the man. 
 
 Peter, with his younger brother Andrew, was 
 among the earliest of Christ's followers. He had 
 been a disciple of John the Baptist, by whom he 
 had been directed to Jesus. Jesus at once took 
 particular notice of him and paid special attention 
 to him. His name had been Simon; Jesus changed 
 it to Cephas, which is the Syriac word for Petros, 
 which is the Greek word for rock. " And when 
 (87) 
 
88 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the sou 
 ofjoua: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by in- 
 terpretation, A stone." John i. 42. 
 
 From among the large number of disciples, Jesus 
 selected twelve to be apostles. It seems that Peter 
 was the first chosen; his name is always mentioned 
 first in the lists of the apostles. From the begin- 
 ning he was a recognized leader. By common 
 consent he acted as the spokesman for the rest. 
 He was one of the favored three who stood closest 
 to Jesus; they were permitted to witness miracles 
 that none others saw; they were with Jesus on the 
 mount of transfiguration; they with Andrew heard 
 that long, deep and thrilling prophecy concerning 
 the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the 
 world. Jesus certainly recognized Peter as a true 
 disciple; he was neither a formalist nor a hypocrite. 
 Not only did he witness good lip-confessions, but 
 Jesus said to him, Matt. xvi. 17, "Blessed art thou, 
 Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed 
 it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." 
 
 We notice some elements of strength in liis 
 character. The first is the conviction of his own sin. 
 On one occasion when he was suddenly confronted 
 with the power and divinity of his Lord, he vehe- 
 mently confessed, il fam a sinful man, O Lord." 
 
FALL AND RECONVERSION OF PETER. 89 
 
 This we consider an element of strength. In the 
 kingdom of Grace there is no strength without a 
 sense of sin and unworthiness. He who most 
 clearly and most fully realizes this has in him the 
 foundation of the greatest strength. Paul, who 
 could say " of 'whom — i. e. of sinners — I am chief' 1 '' 
 could also say, ' ' when I am weak, then am I 
 strong. ' ' 
 
 Again we recognize his strength in his clear and 
 unreserved confession of Christ, or his faith. When 
 ' ' many of His disciples went back and walked no 
 more with Him, then said fesus unto the twelve, Will 
 ye also go away ? Then Simon Peter answered and 
 said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the 
 words of eternal life." John vi. 66-68. And so 
 again when Jesus asked, Matt. xvi. 15, 16: " But 
 whom say ye that I am ? And Simon Peter an- 
 swered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the 
 living God.'''' 
 
 We see a further element of strength in his deep 
 love for his Iyord. When he recognized Jesus 
 walking on the water, he at once desired to get 
 near to Him. ''''Lord, if it be thou, bid me come to 
 thee.'''' When Jesus announced that one of them 
 should betray Him, Peter became very solicitious 
 for his Master. When told that all should be of- 
 5* 
 
90 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 fended because of Him, Peter violently protested, 
 that for his part, he was ready to go to prison and 
 to death with Jesus. Neither was there any in- 
 tended hypocrisy in this. Peter spoke as he felt; 
 he did love his Saviour; he did on the first approach 
 of violence draw his sword and begin to fight for 
 Him. There is no doubt but that even some of his 
 blunders were in part the expressions of unreason- 
 ing and impulsive love. So, on the mount, when 
 he wist not what he said, and proposed to build three 
 tabernacles because it was good to be there, there 
 was in it a desire to remain near Jesus. So again 
 when he rebuked his Lord for intimating His ap- 
 proaching sufferings and death, there was doubt- 
 less love in his hasty words; and so also when he 
 protested against Jesus washing his feet. 
 
 But there was also some self-love present. Peter 
 had his weak side; it showed itself again and 
 again. It culminated in his sad deep fall. 
 
 Peter was too much guided by impulse; He was 
 too much a man of feeling; he acted too much on 
 the spur of the moment; he was too hasty; he was 
 inconsiderate; he spoke without thinking; he was 
 swift to speak and slow to hear; he was willing to 
 build towers without counting the cost; ready to 
 go on a warfare on his own charges. We see this 
 
FALL AND RECONVERSION OF PETER. 9 1 
 
 in nearly all his actions; we hear it in most of his 
 words. When he started so boldly to go to Jesus 
 on the water, he soon began to look on the winds 
 and waves, and began to sink. Instead of asking 
 Jesus for instruction concerning His sufferings 
 and death, he presumed to rebuke the Lord, and 
 thus drew upon himself the severest rebuke that 
 Jesus ever gave to a disciple. Before he under- 
 stands or tries to understand the foot-washing, he 
 breaks out, "Thou shalt never wash my feet." 
 Before Jesus gets through explaining it, he flies to 
 the other extreme and gives the Lord directions: 
 "Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my 
 head." He hasn't the patience to sit still in the 
 darkness and watch, as directed; but after each 
 plaintive plea from Jesus, he goes to sleep. But 
 without being bidden, he draws his sword and 
 blindly smites and threatens to make more mis- 
 chief for the Master. Self-love also sounds through 
 his rebuke of the Lord and his transfiguration 
 speech ; he wanted an earthly kingdom and a place 
 in it. For this he was willing to smite with the 
 sword; for this he was asking when he said ''''Be- 
 hold, we have forsaken all and followed thee: what 
 shall we have therefor? " 
 
 We naturally inquire into the underlying causes 
 of these weaknesses and contradictions in Peter. 
 
92 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 From what we have already noticed and from 
 other instances and glimpses of Peter, we believe 
 we can safely infer that he did not understand the 
 mission of Jesus. Together with nearly all the 
 people of his day, the enemies as well as the friends 
 of Jesus, Peter believed that it was the mission of 
 the Messiah to deliver Israel from the Roman rule 
 and re-establish the throne of David and Solomon. 
 In this sense Peter also "trusted that it was He 
 which should redeem Israel." To redeem Israel 
 was to break the power of Rome and make of 
 Israel a great and glorious nation. Peter had laid 
 hold of this idea with all the ardor and enthusiasm 
 of his impulsive nature. What a kingdom that 
 would be with " the Son of the living God" on the 
 throne ! And what privileges and prerogatives for 
 those who should be great or favored by being near 
 the King ! This he thought was coming on the 
 mount. For this he was willing to draw the 
 sword, to brave the prison and the death. 
 
 But when Jesus so earnestly set His face toward 
 Jerusalem, when on that momentous journey He so 
 solemnly repeated the predictions of His suffering 
 and death, Peter was shocked, he was bewildered, 
 he was offended, he refused to give up his favorite 
 idea — he didn't want a suffering Saviour. He had 
 
FALX AND RECONVERSION OF PETER. 93 
 
 made up his mind that it should not be. His mind 
 thus pre-occupied and pre-determiued, he was not 
 in a teachable frame. And though Jesus spoke 
 plainly and repeated His instructions, Peter under- 
 stood not; he didn't want it so, and therefore per- 
 suaded himself that it would not be so — that there 
 must be some hidden meaning in the words of 
 Christ. And so Peter remained in ignorance; he 
 did not understand that Jesus must first be our 
 Priest to offer up Himself as the Lamb of God for 
 the sins of the world; he did not understand that 
 His kingdom must be built on His Priesthood. 
 He did not understand the principal lesson which 
 Jesus as a prophet had come to teach, viz., the 
 nature of His Priesthood and its necessity in the 
 sinfulness of man. 
 
 Oh, how hard it is to unlearn an error when that 
 error is congenial and well-pleasing to the reason 
 and the desires of the natural heart ! How hard to 
 accept a truth when that truth is above reason, 
 and makes the proud reason bow in child-like sub- 
 mission, and when it is contrary to the desires of 
 the natural heart and condemns that heart and its 
 desires as sinful and guilty of wrath ! 
 
 We might go a step further in Peter's case, and 
 affirm that Peter did not understand the vicarious 
 
94 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 work of Jesus, because he didn't understand him- 
 self. He didn't have a full and clear conception 
 of the sinful and utterly ruined state of his own 
 heart. He was conscious of a certain enthusiastic 
 devotion to Jesus. He further believed that his 
 salvation in some way depended on fellowship with 
 this Jesus. But had he fully known the depravity, 
 the deceitfulness, the lurking roots of treachery 
 that lay hidden there, he would have had a deeper 
 penitence and a more clinging faith. He would 
 have felt that he needed first of all a sacrifice for 
 sin, that there could be no kingdom for him with- 
 out this. Peter lacked in intelligent conviction. 
 His feeling was not the outgrowth of knowledge. 
 Instead of being guided by principle, based on un- 
 derstanding of self, and of his Master, he was 
 guided too much by impulse. 
 
 How important to be carefully instructed in the 
 truth! How necessary to have clear ideas of God's 
 way of salvation! How indispensable for safety 
 and strength, especially in our dangerous age, to 
 have piety built on principle, principle on convic- 
 tion, and conviction on clear conceptions of God's 
 truth. The most glowing spurts of enthusiasm, 
 the most fervid feelings of love, cannot dispense 
 with the necessity of instruction. We still need 
 the catechism. 
 
FALL AND RECONVERSION OF PETER. 95 
 
 To return to Peter. We are now ready to under- 
 stand his shameful fall. 
 
 He had followed after Jesus to the High Priest's 
 palace. John had procured him admittance into 
 the open court in the centre of the palace. The 
 room in which the trial of Jesus was going on 
 opened on this court-yard by a hallway or porch. 
 Those that were without could see and hear all that 
 was going on within. Peter was first accosted by 
 a portress who kept the gate. To her he made a 
 simple denial. The second time he was more 
 closely questioned by another servant-maid of the 
 High Priest, who charged him more directly and 
 more publicly with being a follower of Jesus. 
 "And agai?i he denied with an oath, I do not know 
 the many About an hour afterwards he was still 
 more forcibly accused by a kinsman of Malchus. 
 Others that stood by joined in the charge, and told 
 him that his very speech or dialect betrayed him. 
 And now comes the lowest step. ' ' Then began he 
 to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. ' ' 
 
 What a fall was that for a disciple! And that 
 disciple Peter! And Peter all this time in the pres- 
 ence of Jesus! And all this only a few hours after 
 that earnest warning, ' ' Simon, Simon, Satan hath 
 desired to have thee, that he may sift thee as wheat ! ' ' 
 
g6 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 A few hours after that clear prediction, meant to 
 prevent the denial: " Before the cock crow twice 
 thou shalt deny 7ne thrice. ' ' And those tender words 
 * '■But I have prayed for thee. ' ' And that confident 
 boasting, " Though all should be offended, yet will 
 not I. " "/ am ready to go with thee to prison and 
 to death /' ' We are shocked at Peter ! We are 
 ready to hold up our hands in holy horror! We 
 are eager to hurl our anathemas at the miscreant! 
 
 Let us not be hasty. We have before us the 
 natural manifestations of the remains of "the old 
 man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful 
 lusts." We all carry the remnants of that same 
 old nature. Let us not be high-minded, but fear. 
 
 We have looked into the character of Peter, and 
 seen in it the remote causes that led to that sad 
 fall. There were also immediate causes. 
 
 We have already seen that Peter did not know 
 himself. Therefore, he did not mistrust himself. 
 On the other hand, he had a large amount of self- 
 confidence. Jesus had several times on that event- 
 ful night exhorted him to " watch and pray that ye 
 enter not into temptation : the spirit indeed is will- 
 ing, but the flesh is weak." Peter did not feel 
 himself weak, and therefore, after each exhortation 
 to watch, he had gone to sleep. Had Peter watched 
 
FAIX AND RECONVERSION OF PETER. 97 
 
 and prayed in the garden as directed, he would 
 have been stronger when he came to the High 
 'Priest's palace. Had he not trusted too much in 
 self, he probably would not have slept away those 
 momentous hours when his Redeemer was crushed 
 to the earth under the load of man's sin. 
 
 Here was an immediate cause of his fall. 
 
 Another cause, closely connected with this one, 
 was his running needless risks. He had not been 
 told to follow Jesus to the trial. He had been 
 clearly told that he could not and should not inter- 
 fere to help his Master. His duty, for the present, 
 was to let matters take their course. 
 
 But he went to the palace. He mingled freely 
 with the enemies of his Lord. He sat down among 
 them and warmed himself by their fire. What a 
 place for an apostle who had no mission there and 
 no motive but to see the end. 
 
 Ah, Peter! Better would it have been for you, 
 one of the keenest smarts would have been spared 
 the Master, if you had waited at a distance till He 
 had again required your service! They that rush 
 needlessly and heedlessly into danger have no right 
 to count on divine protection. 
 
 What a terrible weapon is ridicule! How many 
 disciples have done like Peter! Uncalled by duty, 
 
98 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 and not for the sake of doing good, they have 
 mingled with the enemies of their Lord. They 
 have warmed themselves at the coal-fires of the 
 world. They walk in the counsels of the ungodly, 
 stand in the way of sinners, and sit in the seat of 
 the scornful. The finger of scorn is pointed at 
 them. They wilt, and shamefully deny the Lord 
 that bought them. 
 
 Beware of bad company! 
 
 But we hasten to notice the recovery or re-con- 
 version of Peter. 
 
 What brought it about? The crowing of the 
 cock, say some. Such expounders tell us that a 
 thunder-storm, a grievous loss, a sad disappoint- 
 ment, the news of an accident, or the sight of a 
 funeral, has converted many a sinner. We do not 
 believe it. Neither the crowing of a cock, nor a 
 fright, nor an affliction of any kind, is in itself a 
 means of Grace. These things do not carry renew- 
 ing or sanctifying power. They are of use only in 
 so far as they make one think, as they direct atten- 
 tion to, call to mind, and drive to the Word and the 
 sacraments. These are God's means of Grace. 
 They carry His Spirit, His life, and His power. 
 
 So it was with Peter. He hadn't noticed or paid 
 attention to the first crowing; but now that crowing 
 
FALL AND RECONVERSION OF PETER. 99 
 
 startled him, it recalled the Word. Then Peter re~ 
 membered the word of Jesus. That Word was the 
 sword of the Spirit. It cut down, it showed Peter 
 his awful sin. 
 
 Thus do the providences of God bring the sinner 
 to the Word and the Word does its own blessed 
 work. Where there is or never has been a Word 
 of God, there all the providences have never con- 
 verted a single soul. 
 
 As the Word pierced Peter's heart, he looked 
 and saw Jesus turned and looking at him. Had 
 Jesus turned permanently away from Peter, would 
 Peter ever have really turned to Him ? We believe 
 not. In this case also He turned to Peter before 
 Peter turned to Him. God always comes first to 
 us. 
 
 That look of Jesus, so full of grief, and compas- 
 sion, and yearning ! Oh ! how it went to Peter's 
 heart. It recalled still more forcibly His Word. 
 
 It was enough ; Peter did not resist that Word. 
 It did its own blessed work. Peter went out and 
 wept bitterly. All his bravado was gone. All his 
 self- trust had vanished; he was humbled into the 
 dust. His heart cried out, " I am vile." " I loathe 
 myself." He was truly penitent. 
 
 But his penitence grew into faith. Had it not, 
 
IOO NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 it would have turned to despair. His heart turned 
 back to Jesus; eagerly, restlessly, sadly, and no 
 doubt prayerfully, he awaited events. On the 
 morning of the resurrection, he, with John, was 
 the first man at the tomb; he was the first to enter 
 into the sepulchre. Surely his faith had again 
 turned to Jesus; he was again converted. Jesus 
 sent to him His first personal message by the 
 women; and Peter was the first apostle to have a 
 private interview with his risen Lord. Jesus had 
 predicted his conversion or turning back, and now 
 the prediction was fulfilled. 
 
 From the example of Peter ' ' let him that think- 
 eth he standeth, take heed lest he fall," and let him 
 who has fallen, learn how to rise again. 
 
SERMON VII. 
 
 THE CONVERSION OF THE DYING THIEF. 
 
 IvUKE xxiii. 39-44. 
 
Luke xxiii. 39-44. And one of the malefactors which were 
 hanged railed on Him, saying, If thou be Christ, save Thyself 
 and us. 
 
 But the other answering him, rebuked him, saying, Dost not 
 thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation ? And 
 we indeed justly ; for we receive the due reward of our deeds ; 
 but this man hath done nothing amiss. 
 
 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou 
 com est into (in) thy kingdom. 
 
 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, to-day shalt 
 thou be with me in paradise. 
 
SERMON VII. 
 
 The scene of our text is laid amid the most 
 tragic and exciting surroundings. 
 
 A little outside of the city of Jerusalem, just be- 
 yond its north wall, is a bare elevation, overlooking 
 the city and its temple. An immense and excited 
 crowd of people are gathered there. It is a mixed 
 multitude. The rabble from the streets of Jerusa- 
 lem "are there. The small traffickers who have 
 come to the city to make money off the Passover 
 crowd are there. The villagers and peasants of 
 Judea and Galilee and remoter parts are there, 
 come to Jerusalem- to keep the feast of the Passover. 
 The officials and dignitaries of the temple, the re- 
 ligious rulers and teachers of the people, the 
 Scribes and Pharisees, the chief priests and elders 
 are there. 
 
 In the centre of that surging and boisterous mass 
 of humanity is a band of Roman soldiers. In the 
 midst of that band stand three crosses, and on them 
 hang the naked victims, enduring the intensest 
 agony and the fiercest tortures. 
 
 And who is that central figure, so different from 
 (103) 
 
104 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 the others ? What means that sublime appearance, 
 that look of heaven on His face, though marred 
 with anguish and blood ? Let us look on in rever- 
 ence and adoration. It is the Lamb of God on the 
 self-chosen altar of sacrifice, making expiation for 
 the sins of the world. 
 
 We desire at present to look more particularly at 
 one of the other victims. They are called male- 
 factors or thieves — more literally, robbers. Prob- 
 ably men like Barabbas, who had been engaged in 
 revolt against the Roman government, and had 
 been guilty of robbery and murder. 
 
 The one is well-known to us by the name " The 
 Dying Thief," or " The Penitent Malefactor." 
 
 His sudden penitence and conversion have 
 afforded matter for much speculation. They have 
 been made the basis of dangerous errors and soul- 
 destroying practices. 
 
 It is well then for us to carefully and prayerfully 
 study that remarkable conversion. We naturally 
 look first for the cause of that change of heart. 
 What was it that so powerfully influenced that 
 criminal and softened his heart ? 
 
 There are some who believe that he had come in 
 contact with Jesus, or at least heard about Him in 
 former times; that if he had not himself witnessed 
 
CONVERSION OF THE DYING THIEF. IO5 
 
 His blameless and benevolent life, seen some of His 
 mighty works and heard some of His life-giving 
 words, others had told him of these things. There 
 seems to be some ground for this position in the 
 words ' ' this man hath done nothing amiss. ' ' 
 
 But this is at best an inference, and we cannot 
 build positively on it. 
 
 But we do know that this man had been led out 
 from the hall of Pontius Pilate, through the streets 
 of Jerusalem and up to Gabbatha, in company with 
 Jesus. The title, " This is Jesus the King of the 
 Jews" had been either carried ahead or hung to 
 the neck of Jesus. This alone was enough to make 
 that man, in whom all seriousness and right feeling 
 had not yet been crushed, think. He had noticed 
 the strange calm dignity, the unearthly demeanor, 
 the heavenly look of this fellow prisoner. He had 
 heard and seen the bitter lamentations of the women 
 for Jesus. He had heard those awful, search- 
 ing and prophetic words from the thorn-crowned 
 Jesus: " Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, 
 but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For, 
 behold, the days are coming in the which they shall 
 say, Blessed are the barren and the wombs that 
 never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. 
 Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall 
 
106 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 on us; and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do 
 these things in a green tree, what shall be done in 
 the dry." 
 
 Pregnant words ! Fearful warning ! Words 
 peculiarly quick and powerful and sharper than 
 any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing 
 asunder of the joints and marrow, and discerners 
 of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 
 
 This malefactor had heard the taunts and jeers 
 of the crowd. And from these bitter scoffings he 
 learned what Jesus had claimed for Himself, that 
 He was "the Christ," "the Son of God," that He 
 ' ' saved others. ' ' 
 
 In the midst of their fiendish insults and injuries 
 Jesus had calmly prayed, u Father, forgive them, 
 for they know not what they do." How confidently 
 this Sufferer cast those breaking eyes upward and 
 called God "Father!" What divine love and 
 compassion breathed forth in that petition! And 
 all this the thief had heard and seen. Had he not 
 had enough of that "engrafted Word which is able 
 to save the soul?" 
 
 Doubtless the Divine Spirit was at work. 
 Through the spoken and the embodied Word. 
 That Spirit was convincing him of his own sin, of 
 Christ's righteousness, and of a judgment which 
 
CONVERSION OF THE DYING THIEF. 107 
 
 threatened him, but from which the righteousness 
 of this Divine Sufferer could save him. Thus was 
 he brought to that true repentance that needeth not 
 to be repented of. 
 
 We notice briefly, in the next place, the mani- 
 festation of his penitence. 
 
 From the accounts of the two former evangelists 
 it appears that he had even joined in, probably very 
 feebly, with the railings of his fellow criminal. 
 That very railing may have been an unintentional 
 expression of the struggle and restlessness within 
 his own breast. At any rate, he immediately re- 
 pented of having said even an unguarded word 
 against Jesus. 
 
 And now, when his companion again breaks 
 out in bitter scoffing, he openly rebukes him, and 
 at the same time gives expression to the deep pen- 
 itence of his own heart. 
 
 He publicly confesses that they are having to do 
 with God — that they have every reason to fear, 
 and that they are under conde?nnation. 
 
 Thus does he publicly confess his own guilt, 
 without extenuation or palliation. He recognizes 
 indeed they are justly under condemnation, for we 
 receive the due reward of our deeds. 
 
 Here indeed we see the very essence of true pen- 
 
108 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 itence. Here is undoubted evidence of a work of 
 Grace. The sinner, in his natural state, can never 
 thus realize his own ruined and condemned state, 
 and the righteousness of whatever punishment 
 God sees fit to lay upon him. When these symp- 
 toms appear, then the Holy Spirit is doing His 
 own blessed work. That warning to his brother 
 sinner, that solicitude lest he plunge himself still 
 deeper into the abyss of suicidal impenitence, that 
 warning to stop, to turn, to recognize who it is at 
 whom he is railing — all that also proves his peni- 
 tence. 
 
 As soon as the sinner is really concerned about 
 his own salvation, just so soon does he become 
 anxious for the safety of others. 
 
 We notice in the third place the faith of this pen- 
 itent one. 
 
 He sees in Christ a holy, a sinless one, who has 
 done nothing amiss. He confesses that Jesus 
 1 ' knew no sin. ' ' He acknowledges and addresses 
 Him as "Lord." He believes that this Lord has a 
 kingdom at His disposal. He believes that He has 
 power to help, and that His power extends beyond 
 the grave. He believes that this King not only 
 can but will save him. Therefore he turns to Him. 
 He addresses to Him that humble yet large petition. 
 
CONVERSION OF THE DYING THIEF. 109 
 
 In that petition he claims no merit. He pleads 
 not that because of his own suffering, because of 
 his own faith in the midst of unbelief, because of 
 his confession in the midst of denial, that therefore , 
 the Lord should save him. 
 
 Oh, how many there are who comfort themselves 
 with the idea that because they have had such a 
 hard time in this world, because they have suffered 
 so much, therefore the Lord will surely save them. 
 Thus they would make a merit out of the suffering 
 which they often bring upon themselves by their 
 sin. Or they make a merit out of their faith. 
 They flatter themselves that God owes them salva- 
 tion, that they have earned it by believing. 
 
 But faith earns no merit. It is only the beggar's 
 hand that reaches out to receive the free gift. The 
 malefactor makes no plea for self. He simply asks 
 to be remembered. And thereby he bases his en- 
 tire hope on Christ's merit and mediation. It is 
 not faith in self, but faith in Christ. 
 
 This has been called the brightest example of 
 faith in the whole Bible, and there is ground for 
 such a claim. 
 
 Look at the situation. Jesus of Nazareth was 
 hanging helpless in His blood. He was dying a 
 felon's death. He had been tried by His own people, 
 
IIO NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 condemned as a deceiver and blasphemer. The 
 public teachers of the Jews, the guardians of the 
 faith and of the temple, repudiated and spurned 
 Him. His own followers, who had professed im- 
 plicit confidence in Him and His kingdom, had 
 also given Him up and forsaken Him. 
 
 In the face of all this, this man believes in Him. 
 He sees Him hanging there, and on His bowed 
 head there rests a crown of thorns. Yet he believes 
 that to Him belongs a crown of glory, and the 
 throne of the universe! Those eyes are filming in 
 death, yet he believes that He is the Prince of Life 
 and can give eternal life to all who believe. Those 
 hands are now nailed fast, yet he believes that they 
 can distribute the amnesties and endowments of 
 heaven. 
 
 Surely, from that malefactor's cross there shines 
 a faith that is radiant with the reflection from the 
 Redeemer's cross. Surely this dying thief is well- 
 fitted to be the first trophy of the cross of Christ. 
 Lord, give us such a faith as this ! 
 
 And that faith is accepted. Jesus immediately 
 responds, "Verily, I say unto thee, To-day thou shalt 
 be with me in Paradise.' 1 '' Had the penitent prayed 
 ' ^Remember me V ' Jesus answers, ' ' Thou shalt be 
 with me." Instead of getting merely a concern in 
 
CONVERSION OF THE DYING THIEF. Ill 
 
 thought, he gets a place with Jesus "in Paradise.'''' 
 The prayer looked . to an indefinite future, '''"when 
 thou contest in thy kingdom.'''' The answer is 
 "to-day" not in the distant future, thou shalt be 
 with Me. 
 
 Jesus always gives to the prayer of faith, far 
 more exceedingly above all that we can ask or think. 
 The promise is to Jerusalem, i. e. , to all the believ- 
 ing, that " she hath received of the Lord" 1 s hand 
 double for all her sins." 
 
 We notice here, in passing, how the word of 
 Christ to the penitent malefactor disposes of the 
 old heresy lately again so prominently and boldly 
 put forth by certain Adventists and other sects, that 
 the soul does not live between the death and res- 
 urrection of the body. If we had no other passage 
 on the subject but this one, it alone would give the 
 lie to all soul-sleeper heresies. But besides this 
 passage, we have the clear declaration of Christ, 
 when speaking of the God of 'Abraham and of Isaac 
 and of Jacob, He says that God is not the God of the 
 dead but of the living. We have the actual appear- 
 ance of Moses and Elias recorded; one as a glorified 
 body and one a disembodied spirit, showing clearly 
 that there is a soul-life and a body -life beyond this 
 world. Then we have also the narrative of the 
 
112 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 rich man and Lazarus. All which agrees with 
 Christ's words here and with Paul's expression 
 that to be absent from the body is to be present with 
 the Lord. This is the teaching of the Word from 
 beginning to end. 
 
 Our passage likewise effectually disposes of the 
 figment of a purgatory. If there were such a place 
 where the sins of this life are to be purged by fire, 
 there could have been no fitter case or place than 
 this to set it forth. 
 
 We desire to offer a few reflections in closing. 
 We have here a case of true conversion. There is 
 no room for the least doubt about its genuineness. 
 It was also most certainly a conversion in the last 
 hour of life and in full view of death. 
 
 These are facts. There is nothing to be gained 
 by denying them or explaining them away. These 
 facts have however been used as the basis of un- 
 warranted conclusions. They have been made the 
 basis of soul-destroying doctrines and practices. 
 They have been so used, or rather abused, as if they 
 were written for the special purpose of encouraging 
 the putting off of repentance to a dying day. This 
 is certainly an inference without the shadow of a 
 support, either in this narrative or in any part of 
 the Bible. It is an inference inspired from beneath. 
 
CONVERSION OF THE DYING THIEF. 113 
 
 The teaching of the Word is, "To-day, if you 
 will hear his voice, harden not your hearts?" 1 
 ' ' Now is the accepted time;'' ' ' ( Now is the day of 
 salvation;" "If thou hadst known, at least in this 
 thy day, the things that belong tmto thy peace. ' ' To 
 him who did postpone and say to his soul, "Soul, 
 thou hast much goods laid tip for many days" God 
 said, " Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be re- 
 quired of thee" 
 
 At the very most this incident teaches that it is 
 barely possible to be saved in a dying hour. An 
 old writer has well said, ' ' we have this one case 
 that no penitent sinner may despair, only one that 
 no sinner may presume." The Bible covers a 
 history of nearly four thousand years, and yet it 
 has only this one instance of a dying man's conver- 
 sion. And even this case certainly was not one 
 who had deliberately planned to postpone attention 
 to his soul's salvation to a dying day. In all 
 probability this was the first time that Christ and 
 His Word were ever brought home to this criminal. 
 It is quite likely a parallel case with those eleventh 
 hour laborers who could truly say, "no man hath 
 hired us." Certainly no parallel to those who de- 
 liberately and with purpose slight every call from 
 
 God's Word, wilfully shake off every impression 
 6* 
 
114 N EW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 from above, grieve away the Spirit of God, and say, 
 "I'll wait till I'm old or threatened with death." 
 What must be the state of heart at which such 
 arrive ? What must be the withering and harden- 
 ing influence of madly saying, "I'll first grind out 
 the corn of life; I'll use all the good meal for self, 
 and then I'll offer the bran to God." For such per- 
 sons there is not a single promise in the Bible. 
 They can certainly extort no consolation from the 
 story of the dying thief. The Grace of God in 
 Christ Jesus can truly save to the uttermost all who 
 come to God, i. e., all who come by the one way of 
 genuine penitence and faith. But the probabili- 
 ties all favor the supposition that those who wil- 
 fully neglect and resist the means of Grace and 
 postpone repentance to a dying day will never come 
 to true penitence and faith. Like Jerusalem, these 
 things will be "hid from their eyes." So-called 
 death-bed conversions are nearly all spurious. 
 
 Again it has been said, ' ' this man was saved 
 without baptism, without the Lord's Supper, with- 
 out belonging to church." Probably this is all 
 true; but it by no means follows from this, as some 
 would have it, that therefore the Church and the 
 sacraments are of no consequence. To say this is 
 to charge our Saviour with folly. He said, "/ will 
 
CONVERSION OF THE DYING THIEF. 115 
 
 build my Church.'''' He instituted the sacraments 
 and made them binding on His Church till He 
 would come again. He connected promises and 
 Grace with His own sacraments. Now if, after all^ 
 one is just as well off without as with them, then 
 our Saviour made a great mistake. 
 
 But the dying thief was saved without them. 
 Yes, for the simple and very good reason that he 
 could not obtain them. Had they been available, 
 doubtless he would most thankfully and devoutly 
 have used them. But as he could not have them, 
 God in mercy took the desire for the deed, and 
 conveyed His saving Grace through the oral Word, 
 without the Sacramental Word. 
 
 Our Lutheran confessions and theologians clearly 
 and tersely state the teaching of the Word on the 
 necessity of the Sacraments when they say "not 
 the absence but the contempt of the sacraments con- 
 demns." 
 
 With those who could have the sacraments of 
 Christ and the privileges of the Church, but neglect 
 them, it is contempt of what God has ordained as 
 channels of Grace. And such can extract no justi- 
 fication of their course and no hope of salvation 
 from the conversion and salvation of the penitent 
 malefactor. 
 
Il6 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 How sad that men will wrest even the most 
 precious portions of the Scriptures to their own de- 
 struction, and thus turn what was intended as a 
 savor of life unto life into a savor of death unto 
 
 death. 
 
 There is a fountain filled with blood 
 
 Drawn from Immanuel's veins, 
 And sinners plunged beneath that flood, 
 
 Lose all their guilty stains. 
 
 The dying thief rejoiced to see 
 
 That fountain in his day, 
 And there may I, as vile as he, 
 
 Wash all my sins away. 
 
SERMON VIII. 
 
 The Tests and Fruits of a True Conversion 
 
 as seen in Peter's Reinstatement 
 
 into the apostleship. 
 
 John xxi. 15-20. 
 
John xxi. 15-20. So when they had dined, Jesus saith to 
 Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than 
 these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I 
 love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. 
 
 He saith to him again, the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, 
 lovest thou me ? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord ; thou knowest 
 that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 
 
 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest 
 thou me? Peter was grieved, because he said unto him the 
 third time, Lovest thou me ? And he said unto him, Lord, thou 
 knowest all things ; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith 
 unto him, Feed my sheep. 
 
 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou 
 girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldst: but when 
 thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and an- 
 other shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldst not. 
 
 This spoke he, signifying by what, death he should glorify 
 God. And when he had spoken this he saith unto him, Follow 
 me. 
 
SERMON VIII. 
 
 In a former discourse we considered the Fall and 
 Re-conversion of Peter. 
 
 We saw how after all the admonitions, warnings, 
 and prayers of Jesus, after all his self-confident 
 boasting, Peter shamefully denied his Lord. He 
 denied Him three times. 
 
 We saw further how the crowing of the cock 
 brought to Peter's remembrance the Word of the 
 Lord, and how that Word fell like a hammer and 
 burned like afire. We saw Peter deeply penitent 
 in his bitter tears. We saw again how Peter did 
 not, like Judas, turn his back entirely on Jesus and 
 give way to despair. But even as Jesus had turned 
 upon Peter a look of sorrow, compassion, and love, 
 so Peter turned his penitent heart towards Jesus, 
 and yearned for forgiveness and restoration. We 
 noticed how anxiously Peter awaited further devel- 
 opments, how he was early at the sepulchre, was 
 the first man to enter in and see the abandoned 
 grave-clothes of his dear Lord, and was the first 
 apostle to have a private interview with the risen 
 Jesus. Thus did Peter show his faith. He was 
 turned back again, re-converted. 
 ("9) 
 
120 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 At that private interview on the afternoon of 
 Resurrection day, Peter no doubt made full confes- 
 sion, and Jesus granted full absolution. 
 
 On the evening of the same day also, Jesus met 
 the ten apostles in that upper chamber. Peter was 
 one of them. There Jesus recognized the apostle- 
 ship of all of them by His emphatic words: " Peace 
 be unto you : as my Father hath sent me, even so 
 send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed 
 on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy 
 Ghost. Wlwsesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted 
 unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are 
 retained. ' ' 
 
 Thus had Jesus, on the very day of the Resur- 
 rection, recognized the apostleship of Peter. But 
 notwithstanding this, it was due to Peter, and it 
 was due to the other apostles, that before Jesus re- 
 ascended to His Father, Peter should make a spe- 
 cial and public profession and receive a special and 
 public commission. It is this special profession 
 and commission of Peter that is recorded in our 
 text. In this deeply interesting scene Jesus brings 
 out and shows us the Tests and Fruits of a true 
 Conversion. 
 
 We notice first how skilfully and yet how forci- 
 bly Jesus reminds Peter of his sin. It is well to 
 
TESTS AND FRUITS OF CONVERSION. 121 
 
 be reminded often of weakness and sin. Such re- 
 minders are calculated to keep believers humble, 
 to make them more watchful and prayerful, to in- 
 cline them to a more diligent use of the means of 
 Grace, and in every way to keep them closer to 
 Christ. Such reminders are also very good tests of 
 spiritual life. Those who have little or no spirit- 
 ual life, grow impatient under such reminders. 
 The self-righteous become angry and turn away 
 from him who shows and recalls their sin. But a 
 true Christian, one who has in him the elements 
 of the new life, viz., penitence and faith, grows 
 humble and prayerful and pure under them. 
 Thus it was with Peter. 
 
 That night of fruitless toil and that miraculous 
 draught at Jesus' word would naturally recall to 
 Peter that similar night and miracle three years 
 before. It would remind him how, at that time, 
 he was clearly called into the apostolic band to be 
 a "fisher of men." It would naturally bring up 
 the reflection : ' ' How unworthy of my office and 
 calling have I proved." 
 
 And then that " ' k fire of coals, ' ' how naturally 
 would it recall that coal-fire in the court-yard of 
 the high priest's palace! 
 
 But when Jesus asked that question three times 
 
122 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 over, then would Peter keenly feel the reminder to 
 the thrice repeated denial. 
 
 And in that searching question Jesus never calls 
 him Peter, but only Simon, son of Jonas. This 
 was his old name; the name by which he was 
 known when he plied his trade as a fisherman, and 
 knew not Jesus. When he became a disciple Jesus 
 had said: "Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is, 
 by interpretation, a stone. ' ' After this he was gen- 
 erally known by that new name, either the Syriac 
 Cephas or the Greek Petros, which reminded him 
 of his new life and destiny. But here Jesus ad- 
 dresses him every time by the old earthly name, 
 as if to say "Where is that Cephas, that rock 
 which seemed so firm ? Is not all that professed 
 strength and stability gone ? Is it not merely the 
 son of Jonas that is left?" Peter doubtless felt 
 the reminder, and smarted under it. He was 
 grieved. 
 
 Still further, that first question inquired not 
 merely after some love, but after a special, a super- 
 ior love. Lovest thou me more than these ? Again 
 Peter would recollect how he had claimed superior 
 devotion. He had put himself above all the rest. 
 ' ' Though all should be offended, yet will not I. ' ' 
 Where was that more love ? 
 
TESTS AND FRUITS OF CONVERSION. 123 
 
 Thus did Jesus probe that hitherto wayward, im- 
 pulsive, and self-confident apostle. Thus did He 
 test the sincerity and the genuineness of that peni- 
 tence. Thus did He, at the same time, deepen that 
 godly sorrow, and gently draw it more into that 
 repentance to salvation, not to be repented of. 
 
 Jesus was also testing and developing Peter's 
 faith. Was Peter's faith strong enough to admit 
 and bow to the authority of Jesus to thus examine 
 and probe him? Did Peter believe that this Ques- 
 tioner examined not merely with words, but that 
 He searched the heart, that He looked in upon the 
 hidden springs and motives and desires of the in- 
 most soul ? Peter's faith stood the severe test. He 
 not only recognized the authority of Jesus, but 
 clearly confessed His divine omniscience when he 
 said " Lord, thou knowest all things ; thou know- 
 est that I love thee." Peter's faith was not only 
 tested and proved, but in the testing his faith was 
 developed and strengthened. 
 
 The penitence and faith of Peter were proved. 
 The new life was there. Peter was again in a con- 
 verted state. 
 
 But Jesus does still more. He wants to lay bare 
 that which is the very breath of the new life. 
 This leads us to notice secondly how Jesus probes 
 for Love. 
 
124 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 Jesus had certainly loved all the disciples. But 
 to Peter He had granted special manifestations of 
 love. How had He not borne with his wayward- 
 ness! How often He had reached out to restrain 
 and uphold the impulsive one! How patiently He 
 had instructed him! How earnestly He had ad- 
 monished and warned him! How gently He had 
 led him! How tenderly He had prayed for him! 
 How freely He had forgiven him! 
 
 It is in the very nature of love to demand love. 
 Scarcely anything is so hard to bear as unrecipro- 
 cated love. Therefore Jesus asks for Peter's love. 
 Therefore those earnest, searching questions. Jesus 
 wants to know from Peter whether that heart of 
 his is really attached to Him, whether it yearns 
 for Him, whether it pants for Him " as the hart 
 panteth after the water-brooks. ' ' Jesus wants to see 
 whether that heart beats warm for Him, whether 
 it longs for closer fellowship and communion; 
 whether it eagerly responds to His approach, and 
 hears music in His name and words. Jesus wants 
 the warm, fervent, glowing feelings of the heart 
 for Himself. 
 
 Ah! yes; Jesus demands real love from all who 
 would be His. As we shall see in a moment, Jesus 
 is not satisfied with a religion that is all feeling 
 
TESTS AND FRUITS OF CONVERSION. 1 25 
 
 and nothing but feeling. But, on the other hand, 
 let it never be forgotten that the Word of God no- 
 where recognizes a religion without feeling. There 
 is no such thing as a cold-hearted, loveless Chris- 
 tian. Feeling has its place in true religion. It 
 is a vital part of genuine piety. It is not the 
 beginning of the new life. It does not come first 
 in conversion. It is not the first step in a return 
 towards God. The first element of an inner, 
 spiritual life is penitence, the next is faith; these 
 two belong together. They are the new life. But 
 after penitence has begun and grown into faith, 
 then love is sure to be present. It is the inner 
 witness, the manifestation, the very breath of the 
 new life. Lovest thou me? was asked of Peter. 
 Lovest thou me ? is asked of every one who professes 
 to be turned from darkness to light and from the 
 power of Satan to God. 
 
 That the love which Jesus demands is not a mere 
 sentiment is seen in its outward manifestations. 
 We might call these the fruits which grow on the 
 tree of love, which again springs from the roots of 
 penitence and faith. 
 
 This brings us to notice thirdly, how Jesus brings 
 out and shows the fruits of love. 
 
 We have seen that love is the vital breath of the 
 
126 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 new life; that it manifests itself in the inner life; 
 that its seat is in the emotional part of our nature; 
 that we love with the heart. 
 
 But this love of the heart manifests itself or 
 shows itself in the outward life. It dare not remain 
 confined in the heart. Jesus does not recognize a 
 secret love. He knew that Peter had love in his 
 heart; but that love is to be called out; it is to prove 
 itself. And now we shall see how clearly Jesus 
 teaches that mere feeling is not enough. 
 
 First: That love of the heart must be confessed 
 by the lips. Peter must speak it out three times. 
 Peter is to be taught that public confession is nec- 
 essary. He is to be taught further that such confes- 
 sion is to be made not only before the friends of 
 Jesus, but also before His enemies. Peter had 
 heretofore more than once witnessed a good con- 
 fession before Jesus and the other disciples. That 
 is not so hard to do. It is easy to confess the sen- 
 timents of those around us. But Peter had proved 
 insufficient to confess before enemies. He is now 
 to learn that his love is to be strong enough to 
 confess that faith before bitter and angry foes. His 
 love is to enable him to declare his convictions 
 before chief priests, and scribes, and elders, and a 
 howling mob. How nobly did Peter's love after- 
 
TESTS AND FRUITS OF CONVERSION. 1 27 
 
 wards bear this fruit. When arrested, tried before 
 the Sanhedrin, charged to cease preaching Jesus 
 and the resurrection, and threatened with dire pun- 
 ishment in case of disobedience, Peter boldly chal- 
 langed them and said : ' ' Whether it be right in the 
 sight of God, to hearken unto you more than unto 
 God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things 
 which we have seen and hear -d." Acts iv. 19, 20. 
 
 The love of the heart must speak from the lips, 
 even before enemies. Again: Love shows itself in 
 service. True love is not only willing but glad to 
 labor for the loved one. Therefore, every time that 
 Peter professed to love, Jesus bade him prove that 
 love by labor. ' ' Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep. ' ' 
 
 Invest thou Me? Then love those who are 
 mine. Thou knowest that it was said of Me ages 
 ago: u He shall gather the lambs in His arms and 
 carry them in His bosom.' 1 '' Therefore, as the Good 
 Shepherd, I have a special regard for the lambs. 
 Feed them "with the sincere milk of the Word, that 
 they may grow thereby. ' ' Have a special care for 
 the weak and tender ones. Look after the children 
 and after such new disciples who are as yet babes 
 in Christ. Labor for them. Feed them. Neglect 
 not the older ones. Feed my sheep. Give to them 
 who are able to bear it the strong meat of God's 
 
128 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 Word. Let your whole life be a service in shep- 
 herding my flock. Thus let your love make you 
 not only willing but eager to spend and to be spent 
 in my service. Such service is a proof and a fruit 
 of love. And without willingness to labor, profes- 
 sions of love amount to nothing. True love is 
 something more than mere sentimental gush. 
 Peter's love did thus prove itself. His whole after- 
 life was a service of love. How earnestly and 
 enthusiastically he gathered in the sheep and the 
 lambs! How glad he was to announce to that first 
 in-gathered flock: "For the promise is unto you 
 and to your children." How eagerly he preached 
 the Gospel in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, 
 and afterwards was the first to carry it to the Gen- 
 tiles, and thus admitted and tended some of the 
 1 ' other sheep, not of this fold. ' ' He became second 
 only to Paul in his missionary activity and left for 
 the Church of all ages those two precious epistles 
 addressed in general to the strangers scattered 
 abroad. Peter's love bore rich fruit. 
 
 Finally, true love is ready to sacrifice and to suffer. 
 
 After Peter had so earnestly avowed his devotion 
 to his Master, Jesus further told him that even con- 
 fession in the face of opposers and blasphemers, 
 and in addition to that a life of incessant and 
 
TESTS AND FRUITS OF CONVERSION. 1 29 
 
 wearisome toil, was not all — that still severer 
 tests would be made and still more precious fruit 
 demanded. 
 
 "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou- wast 
 young, thou girdedst thyself and walkedst whither 
 thou wouldst: but zvhen thou shall be old, thou shall 
 stretch forth thy hands and another shall gird thee 
 and carry thee whither thou wouldst not.' 1 ' 1 Cer- 
 tainly very pregnant, earnest, and searching words! 
 Words of the most vital import to all who would 
 be or profess to be God's children! Jesus reminds 
 Peter that there was a time when he was his own 
 master. In those young days, when he knew not 
 Jesus, he followed no law but inclination. Thou 
 girdedst thyself and walkedst whither thou wouldst. 
 What a lifelike portrayal of the unconverted youth ! 
 Such an one asks only, what do I feel like doing ? 
 Where do I feel like going ? But now, Peter, thou 
 hast another Master. Thou hast voluntarily be- 
 come His follower. Thou professest to love Him. 
 Now thou art no longer thine own. Now thou 
 must always say, " Lord, what wilt thou have me to 
 do ? Henceforth another shall gird thee. All self 
 inclination, all self pleasing, must now give way to 
 pleasing Him whofrst loved thee and gave Him- 
 self for thee. 
 
130 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 The time will come when because of thy love 
 others will carry thee whither thou wouldst not. 
 Peter had to suffer for his Lord before he could be 
 glorified with Him. He was imprisoned. He was 
 girded with chains to sentinel soldiers. He was 
 bound to the whipping-post and scourged. And 
 at last, as all the earliest records testify, he was 
 bound to a cruel cross and crucified with his head 
 downward. And thus, when he was old, he proved 
 that his love was stronger than death, and by his 
 death he glorified God. And thus did that love 
 bear the final test and yield the choicest fruit. It 
 was more than a sentiment. 
 
 Dear reader, Do you love Jesus ? How is it with 
 your heart? Is it listless, lifeless, cold? Or does it 
 beat warm with affection ? Does it yearn for closer 
 and more intimate union and communion ? Does it 
 find delight in the communings of the closet ? 
 Does it bound with pleasure at sound of His Word ? 
 Does it find its highest joy in communing with that 
 dear Master in His Church, in His Word, and es- 
 pecially His Sacramental Feast? Is that love of 
 the heart ready whenever called upon to speak 
 from your lips? When enemies surround you, 
 when your Church, your Bible, your Lord are rid- 
 iculed and sneered at, are you ready always to de- 
 
TESTS AND FRUITS OF CONVERSION. 131 
 
 fend them? When you are questioned by the 
 scoffer, when the finger of scorn is pointed at you, 
 are you ready to say : "Yes, I am trying to be a 
 Christian. I do love Jesus ? ' ' 
 
 Does your love prompt you to labor ? Do you try 
 to bring the straying and neglected lambs, the wan- 
 dering and endangered sheep, into the fold of the 
 Church ? Do you try to feed them by telling them 
 of Jesus and His love? How often have you 
 spoken to your careless, God-less neighbor or ac- 
 quaintance or companion about these things? How 
 many unpleasant duties have you lately performed 
 for Jesus? or how many disagreeable errands have 
 you gone? Lovest thou? Feed ! Feed ! Feed ! 
 
 Is your love willing to sacrifice? Do you still 
 gird yourself and go where you feel like going? 
 Or do you always ask yourself, Where does my 
 Ivord want me to go? What does He want me to 
 do ? Does your love always constrain you and per- 
 mit Him to gird and lead ? 
 
 And finally, Is your love willing to suffer ? Are 
 you ready, for love of Him who loved you with an 
 everlasting love, and with loving kindness drew 
 you, who stands before you with pierced hands and 
 feet and side and asks, Lovest thou me, to meet 
 opposition, to lose money, to lose friends, to cut 
 
132 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 associates, to turn your back on your former de- 
 lights? Are you ready to take up your cross and 
 follow Him ? 
 
 Blessed are they who can look up and say and 
 sing: 
 
 " Do not I love Thee, O my Lord? 
 Behold my heart and see ; 
 And cast each idol from its throne, 
 That dares to rival Thee. 
 
 " Is not Thy Name melodious still 
 To mine attentive ear ? 
 Doth not each pulse with pleasure thrill 
 My Saviour's voice to hear? 
 
 " Hast Thou a lamb in all Thy flock 
 I would disdain to feed ? 
 Hast Thou a foe before whose face 
 I fear Thy cause to plead ? 
 
 " Thou know'st I love Thee, dearest Lord ; 
 But O, I long to soar 
 Far from the sphere of mortal joys, 
 That I may love Thee more. ' 
 
SERMON IX. 
 
 The Conversion of the Three Thousand. 
 
 Acts ii. 37-42. 
 
Ads ii. 37-42. Now when they heard this, they were pricked 
 in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apos- 
 tles, Men and brethren, what shall we do ? 
 
 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every 
 one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, 
 and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all 
 that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. 
 
 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, 
 Save yourselves from this untoward generation. 
 
 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized : and 
 the same day there were added unto them about three thousand 
 souls. 
 
 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and 
 fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. 
 
SERMON IX. 
 
 ThK scene of our text is laid 'in Jerusalem. The 
 time is that memorable day of Pentecost when the 
 Christian Church received her baptism from above, 
 and was fully equipped for her work and mission. 
 The church in Jerusalem was then made up of 
 about one hundred and twenty members, with the 
 twelve apostles for a nucleus. The apostles had 
 been instructed by Jesus to tarry at Jerusalem 
 until they would be endowed with power from on 
 high. That full endowment had now come, es- 
 pecially upon the twelve, and also upon the whole 
 one hundred and twenty; otherwise the prophecy 
 quoted by Peter would not have been fulfilled. 
 Not that there had been no Spirit upon the be- 
 lievers of the Old or New Testament before this. 
 Had there been no Spirit of God at all, there could 
 have been no believers at all. For the Grace that 
 makes believers comes not by might, nor by power, 
 but by my Spirit, saith the Lord. 
 
 But the Spirit had not come in His full New 
 Covenant measure and power. This full and com- 
 plete endowment of which the prophets and Christ 
 (i35) 
 
136 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 had spoken, and for which all saints had waited 
 and longed, had now come. The infant Church 
 was now fully equipped and furnished for her great 
 work. The endowment was to be permanent. The 
 Spirit had come to stay. Jesus had promised Him 
 as a substitute for His own visible presence. Jesus 
 assured His sorrowing disciples that He would not 
 leave them comfortless or desolate or orpha?ied. He 
 had clearly and unequivocally promised, "He shall 
 abide with you forever. ' ' 
 
 Had He come as a transient visitor, to operate 
 mightily and then depart, and at a time of special 
 interest to come again, and thus arbitrarily come 
 and go, and alight now on this one and now on 
 that one, as some seem to imagine, the Church 
 would indeed be left in an uncertain and comfort- 
 less state. 
 
 Since He came to stay, we need look for no 
 more Pentecosts. The Spirit has been in the 
 Church since that coming. Had He ever left the 
 Church entirely, it would have ceased to exist. 
 He began on that very day of His coming to oper- 
 ate through means. He did not fall on the three 
 thousand as flames of fire, but reached them 
 through Word and Sacrament. 
 
 It is the Conversion of the Three Thousand that 
 we now desire to study. 
 
CONVERSION OF THE THREE THOUSAND. 1 37 
 
 We inquire first who were these three thousand? 
 
 It was the season of Pentecost. The city was 
 crowded with strangers come from near and far to 
 worship at the Feast. They were all Jews, or such 
 as had accepted the Jewish religion. The blessings 
 of the Gospel also were to come to the Jew first and 
 then through the Jew to the Gentile. 
 
 Of these Jews, many were devout. They were 
 sincere believers in and worshippers of Israel's 
 God. To these belonged the persons who were 
 amased and were in doubt, saying one to another, 
 What meaiieth this ? 
 
 Others were frivolous triners or scoffers who 
 mocking said, These men are full of new wine. 
 
 There were present also many who had been 
 there at the last Passover. They had witnessed 
 the exciting scenes of the trial and crucifixion of 
 Jesus. They had joined in the insane cry of the 
 multitude: ''''Away with Him! Crucify Him ! Cru- 
 cify Him ! " Peter therefore directly charges them 
 with having part in the awful crime of crucifying 
 the Son of God. 
 
 All these people had now had six weeks' time for 
 
 reflection. Some of them at least must have heard 
 
 of the strange scenes that attended the death of 
 
 Jesus. They had noticed the earthquake and 
 
 7* 
 
138 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 darkness. They had heard of the rending of the 
 temple's vail. They had heard also of the resur- 
 rection. The more thoughtful among them must 
 have pondered and wondered and questioned con- 
 cerning these things. To such a multitude Peter 
 preached his sermon, and under it three thousand 
 were converted. 
 
 We notice secondly the conversion itself. 
 
 In looking at the process of their conversion 
 we notice how first their minds were enlightened. 
 
 They looked at and saw Jesus of Nazareth in an 
 entirely new light. They saw that He was indeed 
 the Anointed of the Father, the promised Mes- 
 siah, the Son of God. They understood now that 
 His coming, His life, His death, His resurrection, 
 ascension, mediatorial reign and sending of the 
 Spirit, that all this was a clear and complete fulfil- 
 ment of the prophecies, the hopes, the prayers and 
 longings of the saints of all ages. 
 
 On the other hand, they saw themselves in a 
 new light. They were now willing to look deep 
 down into their own hearts, and look back over 
 their own lives. They saw their hearts full of 
 nothing but sin. They saw their lives all defiled 
 by transgression. 
 
 Thus were they enlightened to understand the 
 
CONVERSION OF THE THREE THOUSAND. 1 39 
 
 Saviour, His person and His work. Thus had 
 they learned also to see themselves as poor lost and 
 condemned creatures. This was the first step in 
 their conversion. It ought to be the first step in 
 every true conversion. Before we can expect any 
 one to turn from the wrong to the right road, he 
 must be instructed as to what "is the right road, and 
 why it is right, and conversely why the one he is 
 on is wrong. 
 
 But enlightenment alone is not enough. It is 
 not yet conversion. One might be considerably 
 enlightened, and yet not saved. It is possible to 
 have quite a clear understanding of Christ and His 
 salvation, to know much about Him, and not know 
 Him as a personal Saviour. 
 
 It is possible to have clear ideas of the nature 
 and guilt of sin in general, to be able to give ac- 
 curate and sound definitions of sin, to be able even 
 to prove one's answers by properly quoted Scrip- 
 ture, and yet have no deliverance from sin and con- 
 demnation. The three thousand did not only have 
 their minds enlightened; but through the mind 
 the heart was reached. 
 
 This brings us to the second step in the process. 
 They were pricked in their hearts. 
 
 Not only did they now know about Jesus of 
 
140 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 Nazareth, and have entirely new views concerning 
 Him, but they also felt themselves verily guilty be- 
 cause of Him. Not only did they see that in gen- 
 eral all are sinners, and that sin in its inner essence 
 is a rejection of Christ, but their own hearts were 
 pierced with the awful feeling of their own fearful 
 guilt and condemnation. They felt the awful load 
 of personal guilt and ruin. Restless and self-con- 
 demned, each one was bowed low, and the lan- 
 guage of his heart was: " I abhor myself.'''' Thus 
 had the arrow of conviction pierced to the quick, 
 and each one was ready to reproach himself as the 
 guilty one. These were feelings of true penitence. 
 This was that godly sorrow that leadeth to repent- 
 ance U7ito life, not to be repented of 
 
 And in such feeling we believe. More or less of 
 it must enter into every true conversion. It came 
 as the result of divine illumination. Instruction 
 must come first. The mind must first be taught. 
 The judgment must first be reached and influenced, 
 and through it the heart or the feelings. The 
 grievous mistake that many make, especially 
 among modern revivalists, is that they appeal di- 
 rectly to and work immediately on the feelings. 
 They play on the nerves, they work up an excite- 
 ment, they rouse a deep and violent feeling, but it 
 
CONVERSION OF THE THREE THOUSAND. 141 
 
 is of the flesh. It is not the result of intelligent 
 conviction. Hence it is as the morning cloud and 
 as the early dew. It is groundless enthusiasm, and 
 results in the saddest disappointments and the most 
 dangerous reaction, doubt, and often confirmed un- 
 belief. Such feeling is not religion, but a snare 
 and a delusion. 
 
 We notice in the third place how the three thou- 
 sand had their wills influenced. Their desires and 
 purposes were turned in a new direction. They 
 manifested this in their anxious and sincere in- 
 quiry: u Men and brethren, what shall we do?" 
 We have been doing wrong. We have been pur- 
 suing a sinful course. We now want to do right. 
 We want to be helped on the right road. 
 
 Here was a true turning round, a real conver- 
 sion. The language of the natural, sinful, and 
 unchanged will is, ' ' we will not have this man to 
 reign over us. ' ' The sad and repeated complaint 
 of God and Christ is, ye will not come. I would 
 have gathered thee. Ye would not. 
 
 These men now say we will. Only tell us how. 
 
 In every true conversion, as a result of an enlight- 
 ened mind and a contrite heart there is a changed 
 will. This was the third step. And now we see 
 how the whole man was changed. There was a 
 
142 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 change in the intellect, in the sensibilities, and in 
 the will. There were new views, new emotions, 
 and new purposes. "Behold, I make all things 
 new ! ' ' 
 
 In all this process we must also see the springing 
 and budding of faith. Had they not believed what 
 Peter preached unto them, they would not have 
 been pricked in their heart. Had they not believed 
 what Peter said about Jesus of Nazareth, they would 
 not have felt guilty concerning their part in His 
 death. Neither would they have accepted baptism 
 in His name, and expected through it the remission 
 of sins. They clearly believed. Their penitence 
 had grown into faith. And thus we see that they 
 had the elements of the new life, penitence and 
 faith. And when Peter told them to repent, he 
 here used that word in its broadest sense, as cover- 
 ing the whole process of conversion, and showing 
 them that they were already "doing" what was 
 necessary to salvation. 
 
 We inquire in the third place; "How was this 
 conversion brought about V ' 
 
 The answer is not far to seek. It was brought 
 about clearly by Peter's preaching of the Word. 
 Thus did God in the very outstart show to the 
 young Church that henceforth His Spirit would op- 
 
CONVERSION OF THE THREE THOUSAND. 143 
 
 erate through the Word, and that it pleased Him by 
 the foolishness of preaching to save them that be- 
 lieve. 
 
 Peter, in preaching the Word, preached Christ as 
 the very heart and substance of that Word. He 
 showed them that this Pentecostal miracle was only 
 a direct and clear fulfilment of their own prophecy; 
 that their psalms also clearly predicted fesus of 
 Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by 
 miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by 
 Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also 
 know. He went on to sketch rapidly the death, 
 resurrection, and exaltation of this Jesus, and 
 showed how David had foreseen and foretold all 
 this. He charges them directly and plainly with 
 the awful sin of rejecting and crucifying this Lord. 
 He assures them that this same Jesus had shed forth 
 this which they did now see and hear. 
 
 And this Word was the vehicle of the Spirit. 
 Through it He convinced them of their own sin, 
 their need of another's righteousness, even Christ's, 
 and the certainty of judgment on all the children 
 of the prince of this world. The Spirit of wisdom 
 and light comes through the Word, and therefore 
 J ' The entrance of thy Word giveth light. ' ' The 
 Spirit in the Word convinced them of sin, and there- 
 
144 N ^W TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 fore : "By the law is the knowledge of sin." Their 
 wills were turned, "not by might nor by power, 
 but by my Spirit, saith the Lord, ' ' and the Gospel, 
 through which that Spirit comes, became "the 
 power of God unto salvation." They certainly 
 did "not by their own reason or strength believe 
 in Jesus Christ, their Lord, or come to Him," for 
 11 No man can say that fesus is the Lord, but by the 
 Holy Ghost." That Holy Ghost came with the 
 Word, and so ' ' faith came by hearing, and hearing 
 by the Word of God." 
 
 They gladly received the Word. They might 
 have resisted. This is man's melancholy preroga- 
 tive. Man cannot take the first step towards sav- 
 ing himself. God must always come first to the 
 sinner. But man can dismiss the Saviour when 
 He does come. Man cannot raise himself out of 
 the deep pit and the miry clay, but he can beat 
 back the hand that reaches down from heaven to 
 raise and save him. No doubt many who heard 
 Peter did resist. The charge of Stephen a few 
 weeks later was, "Ye do always resist the Holy 
 Ghost." 
 
 Thus does God reserve to Himself all the glory 
 of saving man, and yet throw on man all the re- 
 sponsibility of being saved. It all becomes clear 
 
CONVERSION OF THE THREE THOUSAND. 145 
 
 when we accept the old, sound and scriptural doc- 
 trine, that the Spirit of God carries the Grace of 
 God through the Word of God. 
 
 But why did Peter instruct those people to be 
 baptized? Was not the Word enough? Yes. And 
 baptism is only another and a further application 
 of that same Word, for ' ' Baptism is not simply 
 water, but it is the water comprehended in God's 
 command, and connected with God's Word." 
 (IvUther's Catechism.) There is no valid baptism 
 without the Word. Oceans of water, without God's 
 Word used in the administration, would be utterly 
 useless. Baptism has therefore been well called 
 "the visible Word," or "the sacramental Word." 
 There is a great blessing in baptism, because 
 the Spirit-bearing Word is always connected with 
 it. Therefore, these strong expressions, "Born of 
 water and of the Spirit ;" " Be baptized . . . . for 
 the remission of sins /" " The washing of regener- 
 ation and renewing of the Holy Ghost /' ' ' 'Baptism 
 doth also now save us;" "Baptized into Christ" 
 and other like forcible passages. 
 
 There was indeed a great blessing to these peni- 
 tent believers in their baptism. The preached 
 Word carried the Spirit and Grace of God to them 
 collectively. The sacramental Word carried them 
 
146 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 to them individually. The preached Word offered 
 and carried forgiveness and salvation to the crowd. 
 The sacramental Word carried them to them one 
 by one. The former held out pardon and life to 
 the mass, the latter to each one personally and in- 
 dividually, as if he were the only one. Under the 
 preaching of the Word, some timid, doubting one 
 might have said, ' ' That is all very good, but I fear 
 it is not for me. " But when the water and Word 
 of baptism are applied, and each one is taken 
 singly and called by name, then faith is implanted 
 and mightily strengthened, as each recipient real- 
 izes, the blessing is now bestowed on me personally. 
 
 And this individualizing, this taking of each 
 penitent, hungry and thirsty one by himself, is in- 
 deed one of the chief blessings in both Sacraments, 
 in the Sacrament of the altar as well as in the 
 Sacrament of baptism. 
 
 And thus we see that the conversion of this mul- 
 titude was brought about by the means of Grace, 
 as ordained by Christ, the Great Head of the 
 Church, viz., the Word and the Sacraments — for 
 Ihe other Sacrament also was used after they were 
 baptized. 
 
 And these were indeed all the means that the 
 apostles used at any time. They did not worry 
 
CONVERSION OF THE THREE THOUSAND. 147 
 
 themselves with the question " How shall we reach 
 the masses?" They had faith enough in Christ 
 to believe in the means they had received from His 
 hands, and these they prayerfully used. 
 
 And these same old means, wherever rightly 
 used, have been effective in the conversion of sin- 
 ners and the sanctifying of saints. 
 
 We might notice in passing here that these con- 
 versions, as nearly all the conversions recorded in 
 the New Testament, were those of adults, to whom 
 the Gospel had come for the first time. And there- 
 fore we read of adult baptisms. The parents had 
 to be reached before the children. After the parents 
 had become believers, we have no doubt whatever 
 that they had their children also baptized. Peter, 
 indeed, when he exhorts them to be baptized, 
 says in the same breath, "for the promise is unto 
 you and to your children" As Jews also they 
 knew that it was God's own order that infants had 
 a place in the covenant, and received the Old Tes- 
 tament sacrament of circumcision. God had never 
 revoked this, His own order of infant membership 
 in His Church. Therefore it stood; for man can- 
 not annul what God has ordained. 
 
 In conclusion, we notice briefly the evidences of 
 these conversions. 
 
148 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 First they were ' ' added ' ' to the apostles. In 
 the last verse of the chapter it is said "and the 
 Lord added to the Church daily such as should be 
 saved." They at once became living and active 
 members of the Church of Christ. A true convert 
 always wants to have a spiritual home. He finds 
 it in the Church. He cannot despise or make light 
 of the institution founded by Christ for the salva- 
 tion of man. 
 
 Again, they continued steadfastly in the apostles' 
 doctrine. They accepted the teaching or doctrine 
 of the apostles. They learned more and more of 
 it. They held fast to it. They had no notions or 
 opinions of their own. The apostles' doctrine was 
 good enough for them. They wanted no faith ex- 
 cept that which was once delivered to the saints. 
 
 Further: They continued in the fellowship, in 
 the community, or brotherhood of the apostles. 
 They wanted no other society. They no longer 
 found pleasure in the company of unbelievers. 
 They cut the acquaintance of those who were ene- 
 mies of their Lord. A blessed fruit, a sure test of a 
 true conversion. They continued in the fellowship. 
 
 And still more: They continued in the breaking 
 of bread. That is, they ate their evening meals 
 together. These meals were closed with the Lord's 
 
CONVERSION OF THE THREE THOUSAND. 1 49 
 
 Supper. They partook frequently and devoutly 
 of that Holy Sacrament. No doubt they found it 
 meat indeed and drink indeed. 
 
 A true convert always prizes highly the Com- 
 munion of the Lord's Supper. He does not slight 
 and neglect it for every trivial excuse. He finds 
 in it the Holy of Holies of the militant Church, 
 the most sacred spot and act this side of heaven. 
 
 And finally: They continned steadfastly in 
 prayers. No doubt, they had their private prayers. 
 There is no such thing as a Christian without 
 prayer. While the true child of God wants to have 
 his times and seasons to be alone with his Father, 
 he also wants the help and blessing of public 
 prayer. These early Christians wanted the prayers 
 of the Church. They continued in prayer. Every 
 believer wants the fellowship of prayer. He wants 
 the Church's prayers. He wants to lift his heart 
 upwards on the congregation's devotions. To him 
 there is an inspiration and an elevation in such 
 public worship, which lifts him above the sordid 
 things of earth, and helps him to set his affections 
 on things in heaven. 
 
 And thus did this new life of these new converts 
 manifest itself. Thus did it develop and increase 
 more and more. 
 
150 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 Are we converted? Does our life thus manifest 
 itself in the beauty of holiness, in the Communion 
 of Saints ? 
 
 What strange perplexities arise, 
 What anxious fears and jealousies ! 
 What crowds in doubtful light appear, 
 How few, alas, approved and clear ! 
 
 And what am I ? my soul, awake, 
 And an impartial survey take. 
 Does no dark sign, no ground of fear, 
 In practice or in heart appear? 
 
 What image does my spirit bear? 
 
 Is Jesus formed and living there? 
 
 Ah, do His lineaments divine 
 
 In thought, and word, and action shine ? 
 
 Searcher of hearts, O search me still ; 
 The secrets of my soul reveal ; 
 My fears remove ; let me appear 
 To God and my own conscience clear ! 
 
SERMON X. 
 
 THE CONVERSION OF THE ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH. 
 
 Acts viii. 35-39. 
 
Ads viii. 35-39. Then Philip opened his mouth, and began 
 at the same Scripture and preached unto him Jesus. 
 
 And as they went on their way they came unto a certain 
 water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth 
 hinder me to be baptized ? 
 
 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thy heart, thou 
 mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ 
 is the Son of God. 
 
 And he commanded the chariot to stand still : and they went 
 down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch : and he 
 baptized him And he went on his way rejoicing. 
 
SERMON X. 
 
 The young Church had just received her first 
 baptism of blood. Peter, who only a few weeks ago 
 had shamefully backed down and denied his Lord 
 because of the finger-point and sneer of a Jewish 
 maiden, had now bravely suffered imprisonment 
 and scourging, rather than cease to teach and to 
 preach Jesus Christ. John, who had claimed that 
 he was able to drink of his Master's cup, and be 
 baptized with His baptism, not knowing what it 
 meant, had shared with Peter in suffering impris- 
 onment and the scourge. They had departed from 
 the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were 
 counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. 
 
 Stephen, the first Christian martyr, had died a 
 cruel death, for the testimony of Jesus. And now 
 the persecution had become general. A deter- 
 mined effort was made by those who had crucified 
 the Lord to violently destroy His followers, and 
 blot out that new way which they called heresy. 
 
 Then already, as ever after, "the blood of the 
 martyrs was the seed of the Church. ' ' The Church 
 multiplied rapidly in Jerusalem. The disciples 
 8 (i53) 
 
154 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 also were forcibly scattered abroad in the regions 
 round about. Wherever they went, they preached 
 that same Jesus. 
 
 Philip, one of the seven deacons, who, like 
 Stephen, was also an evangelist or public teacher 
 authorized and commissioned by the Church to 
 preach the Word, had gone to the city of Samaria. 
 There he had preached the Word with signal suc- 
 cess, and multitudes were gathered into the Church. 
 True, the Church had already found that the 
 Gospel net would gather in fishes, both bad and 
 good, and that while they were sowing the seeds 
 of the kingdom, an enemy was sowing tares, even 
 among the good wheat. At Jerusalem Ananias and 
 Sapphira had come in and had been excommuni- 
 cated from above. At Samaria also, Simon the 
 sorcerer had been added, on a false and hypocritical 
 profession. 
 
 While Philip was doing a great work in Samaria, 
 the Lord called him away from that seemingly im- 
 portant work, and directed him to go upon a lonely 
 road in a desert country. Philip knew neither the 
 destination nor object of his mission, yet he was 
 not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but followed, 
 not knowing whither he went. 
 
 Philip soon found that he was sent to preach 
 
THE ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH. 1 55 
 
 to an audience of one person. Quite a change 
 from the multitudes who crowded to hear him 
 in Samaria! Most of us would have said it was 
 a serious mistake. But the Lord's ways are not 
 our ways. He has a care for the individual. 
 He sends His messengers after one soul. The 
 ninety and nine must be left for a time, that the 
 single wanderer may be sought and found. Would 
 that all Gospel ministers and indeed all Christian 
 priests or believers would recognize the opportuni- 
 ties and missions He gives them to preach Jesus to 
 the individual ! Then would the masses soon be 
 reached. 
 
 Let us look at that individual for whom Philip 
 must give up his great work in Samaria. 
 
 We find that as to race he was one of the de- 
 spised of the earth. He was not of the chosen 
 race, but by birth a Gentile. To him, therefore, 
 did not pertain that birthright in the covenant and 
 promises and oracles of God. 
 
 Worse than that, among the Gentiles he belonged 
 to the most despised people. He was a descendant 
 of the accursed Ham, an African from Ethiopia, a 
 negro. 
 
 As to position, we do indeed find him among 
 the great ones of the earth. He was treasurer of a 
 
156 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 great kingdom. He held the purse-strings of an 
 empire, and had the dispensing of its silver and 
 gold. In the eyes of men, his office would make 
 him great and honored, in spite of his race. We 
 will now consider the conversion of this Ethiopian. 
 
 As we find him already, to some extent, under 
 the divine guidance, we naturally inquire first: 
 What had the Grace that bringeth salvation already 
 done for him ? 
 
 We find that it had brought to him a knowledge 
 of the true God. As we find him, he is not, like 
 most of his countrymen, an idolater. He has 
 learned to regard Jehovah, the God of Israel, as 
 the only true God. This knowledge had probably 
 been brought to him by some of the Jews, of whom 
 there was quite a colony in Ethiopia at that time. 
 
 In accepting Israel's God as the only true Lord 
 of Heaven and earth, he had to submit, as a matter 
 of course, to the rite of circumcision. This made 
 him a proselyte, and entitled him to a right to par- 
 ticipate in the worship of the temple at Jerusalem. 
 
 We, therefore, find him an attendant of the great 
 Feasts. We meet him on the way returning from 
 Jerusalem, whither he had gone to worship. He 
 had made the long journey from his own land in 
 order to participate in the solemnities and festivities 
 of Pentecost. 
 
THE ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH. 157 
 
 He had tarried in Jerusalem for several weeks 
 after trie Feast, and is now leisurely returning 
 home. The fact that he was permitted to thus 
 absent himself for so long a time, shows that he 
 had the perfect confidence of his queen and her 
 advisers. We, therefore, infer that he was, what 
 Nathaniel was before he found Jesus, K<k An Israelite 
 in whom there was no guile." 
 
 It was now only about two months since the last 
 eventful Passover. The memory of the tragic 
 scenes of the crucifixion, and the stories of the 
 resurrection, were still fresh in people's minds. The 
 whole city had again been moved by the exciting 
 scenes of Pentecost. Thousands of followers and 
 believers had been added to the young Church. So 
 confident and steadfast was the faith of these new 
 converts that neither the dungeon, nor the whip- 
 ping post, nor the prospect of death by stoning, 
 could shake it or prevent its confession and promul- 
 gation. 
 
 All this the Ethiopian must have seen and heard 
 at Jerusalem. In a devout and honest heart like 
 his, all this would certainly awaken inquiries and 
 longings for more light. This drove him to the 
 Scriptures, and made him search anew the oracles 
 of God. And thus we find that he was under the 
 
158 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS, 
 
 divine tuition. He was partially enlightened. He 
 needed and was seeking further light. Prevenient 
 Grace, the Grace that goes before and prepares the 
 way for conversion, was at work in him. 
 
 We notice secondly how he was brought to the 
 full light and life. 
 
 We find him reading the Scriptures. When he 
 wanted more light and longed for more satisfaction, 
 he did not try to satisfy himself by an effort of 
 reason. He did not try to solve his perplexities 
 with his own understanding. Neither did he say 
 that he would wait until his return home, and then 
 he would ask the philosophers and wise men of his 
 own nation. It was not with any human light that 
 he sought to dispel the darkness of his mind, nor 
 with any earthly good that he endeavored to satisfy 
 the longings of his heart. He went directly to the 
 Word of God, believing that the entrance of that 
 W070I giveth light, that it is a lamp unto the feet 
 and a light unto one's path. Looking up to the 
 Author of that Word, his heart said, "In thy light 
 shall we see light. ' ' 
 
 He wanted the light of life. He went to the 
 fountain of life. He found it in the book of life. 
 These wonderful words of life were unto him spirit 
 and life. Thus do we find this enquirer searching 
 
THE ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH. 159 
 
 the Scriptures that in them he might find that eter- 
 nal life which he craved. 
 
 We get a better idea of his eagerness and earnest- 
 ness when we remember how inconvenient it was 
 to read at that time. He was riding over a desert 
 road, under the heat and glare of a Syrian sun. 
 He was not riding in a palace car, but jolted along 
 in one of the rude chariots of those days. Books 
 and printing were not known. There were none 
 of those handy editions of the Bible, nor vest- 
 pocket Testaments. This man had to carry with 
 him a heavy scroll of parchment, and this un- 
 wieldy roll of finely written manuscript he was 
 trying to read as the chariot rumbled along. Truly 
 he was interested. He could say, u I have desired 
 the words of thy mouth more than my necessary 
 food." ''''More to be desired are they than gold ; 
 yea, than much fine gold ; sweeter also than honey 
 and the honey- comb.'''' He was seeking and finding 
 light and life in the Word of God. 
 
 Further, we find this man gladly availing him- 
 self of the assistance of an evangelist. He did not 
 belong to the class of those who are so wise in 
 their own conceits that they imagine that they 
 neither need nor could get assistance from others. 
 Such are those people who say they need no minis- 
 
l6o NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 ters of the Gospel. They need not go to Church. 
 They can just as well, or far better, read the Bible 
 for themselves. They do not stop to inquire who 
 instituted the office of the ministry. They do not 
 try to inform themselves as to its origin, nature, 
 necessity. Strange, that with all their professed 
 Bible reading and Bible reverence, they have not 
 found the ministry in it! Strange, indeed, that 
 they could read the Bible without discovering that 
 it is God's own ordainment that there should ever 
 be these living teachers and " preachers, because 
 man needs the help of his fellow-man: and that 
 the Lord, the great Head of the Church, has so ar- 
 ranged and ordered that His saving Grace, coming 
 through the Word, should be brought to man by 
 man. It is certainly clearly taught that God or- 
 dained the Old Testament priesthood, and that 
 Christ appointed the New Testament ministry, 
 and that, through the Church, which is His bride, 
 He still calls and sends these preachers and dispen- 
 sers of His written and .sacramental Word. 
 
 So the eunuch believed. He humbly confessed 
 that he could not understand all he read without 
 some one to assist him. Finding one whom he be- 
 lieved to be a regular and true expounder of that 
 Word, he appeals to him for instruction and light. 
 
THE ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH. l6l 
 
 And Philip opened his mouth and began at the 
 same Scripture and preached unto him Jesus. And 
 thus did the living ministry expound and apply to 
 him the living Word. The eunuch was preached 
 to. 
 
 It is important to notice also the character of the 
 preaching. It was true Gospel preaching. Not 
 every one who calls himself a minister or an evan- 
 gelist is such indeed and in truth. There always 
 have been false prophets, blind leaders, and wolves 
 in sheep* s clothing. They have come without be- 
 ing called of the Lord, they run without being 
 sent. 
 
 Not all that is called Gospel preaching is such in 
 reality. There be many who preach aitother gos- 
 pel, which is not another, i. e., it is no gospel at 
 all. Oh how many preach themselves ! They stand 
 before a congregation of poor, lost, and ruined sin- 
 ners. Week after week they appear before them to 
 display their own wisdom, to parade their own 
 abilities, to magnify their own persons! How many 
 preach as pleasing men! Their constant effort is 
 to entertain, to natter, to gratify the tastes and de- 
 sires of the natural man! How much of the 
 preaching of the present day is a magnifying of 
 
 the innate powers and capabilities of man. An 
 8* 
 
1 62 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 appeal to the pride and dignity of manhood, an 
 effort to get man to lay aside vice because it is un- 
 becoming to such a noble and gifted creature. 
 Alan's ?nanhood is to shame him out of sin. Man's 
 pride is to make him desire to be a son of God. 
 Man's noble endowments axe. to be so developed that 
 by his own strength and reason he shall be as God! 
 
 It was well for the eunuch that he did not meet 
 some popular nineteenth-century preacher or evan- 
 gelist! 
 
 Philip preached unto him Jesus. In this he 
 showed himself to be a true evangelist. This is 
 the substance of all true Gospel preaching. One 
 greater than Philip had said, when urging the 
 searching of the Scriptures, " for they are they that 
 testify of me." When preaching to a congregation 
 of two, on the way to Emraaus, He began " with 
 Moses and all the prophets, and expounded unto 
 them in all the Scriptures the things concerning 
 Himself'' Jesus was the burden of every Old 
 Testament prayer, the hope of every patriarch 
 and saint, the inspiration of every psalm, the 
 aim of every sacrifice, the goal of every prophecy. 
 Jesus is the very heart and life of the whole New 
 Testament. Jesus was the great central theme, the 
 sum and substance of all apostolic preaching and 
 
THE ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH. 163 
 
 writing. Philip had a good text. He had a large 
 subject. He had a theme that cannot be exhausted 
 in one sermon, nor in the sermons of one lifetime, 
 nor of all ages. It will take eternity to know and 
 tell it all ! 
 
 In preaching Jesus to this Ethiopian, Philip 
 would naturally teach him the Bible doctrine of 
 His person and His two-fold nature. He would 
 unfold to him the great work or mission of Jesus, 
 His life of obedience, the positive righteousness 
 thereby wrought out — not for Himself, for He 
 needed it not, but for those who were destitute of 
 a righteousness that could stand before God. He 
 would instruct him of the passive or suffering 
 obedience of Jesus, even His obedience unto death, 
 or His atonement. 
 
 Then he could not help explaining further what 
 made all this great work of the God-man necessary. 
 He would have to speak of sin, of its damnable 
 nature and the necessity of punishment, and how 
 that the work of Jesus was an' expiation for man's 
 sin, and that in it all He was the sinner's substi- 
 tute. He would show that thus justice was satis- 
 fied, and redemption and salvation purchased for 
 every sinner. 
 
 Again, it would be necessary to teach the Ethio- 
 
164 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 pian how this Jesus had sent the Holy Spirit, and 
 how that Spirit applies and brings home to the in- 
 dividual heart and life that redemption. He would 
 show how that Spirit comes and operates through 
 the Word and Sacraments, and how that Jesus had 
 founded a Church in and by which the Word 
 was to be preached and the two sacraments, Bap- 
 tism and the Lord's Supper, administered. Thus 
 would it be necessary for Philip in preaching Jesus 
 to expound the way of salvation through Him, and 
 the application of salvation, by His Spirit, through 
 His Word and Sacraments. 
 
 That Philip did this becomes quite evident from 
 the eunuch's request to be baptized. Whether the 
 verse containing Philip's question and the Ethio- 
 pian's answer be genuine or not, even without it 
 we find the clearest evidence of his faith. It was 
 indeed because he believed so heartily in this Jesus 
 Christ, that he believed confidently in all the words 
 and institutions of Jesus. Such faith in Christ 
 cannot make light of any of Christ's ordinances. 
 Whether reason can see anything in the ordi- 
 nance or not, faith believes that everything that 
 comes from the hands of the Blessed One must, 
 on that account, have blessing in it. Because the 
 eunuch believed in Christ, therefore he believed in 
 
THE ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH. 165 
 
 Christ's baptism and wanted it applied to himself. 
 It was not hard for him to believe ' ' in one baptism 
 for the remission of sins," and that "it worketh 
 forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the 
 devil, and confers everlasting life and salvation on 
 all who believe as the Word and promise of God 
 declare." Believing in Christ, it was not hard to 
 believe all that His Word says of the blessings and 
 benefits of His sacrament. He wanted to be and 
 was baptized. He wanted to have a place in 
 Christ's Church. 
 
 Who will doubt his conversion ? While there is 
 not much said of his penitence or sorrow for sin, 
 this is natural, because, as we saw above, he had 
 been for a long time under the divine tuition. His 
 faith, however, shines out brightly and clearly. 
 Therefore, ' ' being justified by faith, he had peace 
 with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. ' ' 
 
 He went on his way rejoicing. He had found 
 the pearl of great price, in comparison to which 
 the treasures of Ethiopia were as nothing. He had 
 found the forgiveness of sin and adoption into the 
 family of God. He- had found Christ in the Scrip- 
 tures, and thus had the key to their interpretation. 
 
 This converted Ethiopian on his return to his 
 native land would naturally tell what the Lord had 
 
1 66 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 done for his soul. He would naturally want to 
 teach transgressors God's ways, that sinners might 
 be converted unto Him. 
 
 Whether the early traditions that tell us of his 
 turning evangelist and missionating among his 
 countrymen are true or not, whether he did baptize 
 his queen and establish the Church in that land or 
 not, we cannot positively affirm. 
 
 But we do know that in the early centuries the 
 Church seemed to find a ready footing and great 
 prosperity in the north of Africa. And between 
 that fact and the Ethiopian eunuch's conversion 
 there may be a closer connection than we can 
 trace. And if this be so, we need no longer wonder 
 why the Lord directed Philip to leave his work in 
 Samaria, to follow and evangelize one soul. 
 
 Who knows what results may follow the preach- 
 iag of Jesus to a fellow-traveler, a companion^ a 
 neighbor, a fellow-workman, or an individual any- 
 where ? 
 
 Let every Gospel minister and every member of 
 the priesthood of believers do the work of an evan- 
 gelist by preaching Jesus to the individual, when- 
 ever God gives the opportunity. 
 
SERMON XI. 
 
 THE CONVERSION OF PAUL 
 
 Acts ix. 1-9, and 17, 18. 
 
Acts ix. i-g, and 17, 18. And Saul yet breathing out threat- 
 enings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went 
 unto the high priest, 
 
 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, 
 that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or 
 women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. 
 
 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus : and suddenly 
 there shined round about him a light from heaven. 
 
 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him : 
 Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me ? 
 
 And he said, Who art thou, Lord ? And the Lord said, I am 
 Jesus whom thou persecutest ; it is hard for thee to kick against 
 the pricks. 
 
 And he, trembling and astonished, said: Lord, what wilt 
 thou have me to do ? And the Lord said unto him : Arise and 
 go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. 
 
 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, 
 hearing a voice, but seeing no man. 
 
 And Saul arose from the earth ; and when his eyes were 
 opened, he saw no man : but they led him by the hand, and 
 brought him into Damascus. 
 
 And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor 
 drink 
 
 And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house ; and 
 putting his hands on him said : Brother Saul, the Lord, even 
 Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou earnest, hath 
 sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled 
 with the Holy Ghost. 
 
 And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been 
 scales : and he received sight forthwith, and arose and was 
 baptized. 
 
 (Compare chapter xxii. 6-17, and xxvi. 13-16.) 
 
SERMON XL 
 
 IT has been claimed that since the coming of 
 Christ and the inauguration of the New Testament 
 dispensation there has not been an individual con- 
 version of such transcendant importance to the 
 Church of Jesus Christ as the conversion of the 
 apostle Paul. This claim may at first thought 
 seem extravagant, but the more we study the life 
 and character and achievements of that greatest of 
 the apostles, the more are we inclined to accept the 
 claim as sober truth. 
 
 Consider for a moment what kind of a man he 
 was. He was endowed with one of the greatest 
 and brightest of intellects. He had the advantage 
 of a thorough and liberal education. He had been 
 trained by the most reputable teachers, in the best 
 of schools. His learning covered not only all the 
 wisdom of the Hebrews, but it embraced also a 
 thorough knowledge of the histories, the philoso- 
 phies, the literature, and the mythology of the an- 
 cients of renown. As a scholar he probably had 
 few peers and no superiors among his contempor- 
 aries. 
 
 (169) 
 
170 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 He was a clear thinker, a strong reasoner, a 
 powerful logician. Along with his bright intellect, 
 he was possessed of a strong will, an indomitable 
 purpose, a dauntless courage. With all this he had 
 a scrupulous conscience and a tender heart. 
 
 Think of his former life and religious training. 
 Brought up from childhood according to the tenets 
 of ' ' the straitest sect of the Jews, a Hebrew of the 
 Hebrews, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, as touching 
 the law blameless." 
 
 With all the ardor and enthusiasm of his young 
 nature, he had embraced what his famous teachers 
 taught him as the old orthodox faith of the cove- 
 nant people. He had become a thorough legalist 
 and a firm believer in the coming of a world-con- 
 quering Messiah. All his associations, training 
 and education had thus confirmed him more and 
 more in what he considered as the faith of the 
 fathers. 
 
 Now this educated and zealous man is brought 
 face to face with the new way. He hears the 
 preaching of the Galilean fishermen. They teach 
 that one Jesus of Nazareth, a son of an obscure 
 carpenter, whose pretensions had been rejected and 
 condemned by chief priests, elders, scribes and 
 Pharisees, who had died the disgraceful death of 
 
CONVERSION OE PAUL. 171 
 
 a malefactor, hanged between two thieves — that this 
 was the Messiah, the Redeemer of the world! He 
 is told that his own righteousness, which is of the 
 law, and in which he prides himself so much, can- 
 not save him ; that he must repent as a poor sinner, 
 and put his whole trust in the crucified Messiah. 
 
 No wonder that his whole being rises up in re- 
 volt at such doctrines and their teachers. He sees 
 that the acceptance of this new faith means the 
 overthrow of that colossal system of legalism and 
 Messianic hope built up during centuries by Tal- 
 mudists, Rabbis, Scribes and Pharisees. He 
 eagerly disputes in the synagogues with Stephen 
 and the other defenders of the new faith. He 
 makes up his mind that this awful, revolutionizing 
 heresy, this treason to Jehovah's covenant, must be 
 exterminated root and branch. He becomes a 
 leader in the persecution, takes part in the murder 
 of Stephen, gives his voice or vote in the council 
 against every believer in Jesus, lays hold of men 
 and women, endeavors to compel them to blas- 
 pheme, and puts to death all persistent disciples. 
 When through with his searching and torturing at 
 Jerusalem, he starts to Damascus to carry on the 
 same cruel work there. But before he gets there 
 he becomes a believer in Jesus of Nazareth. He 
 
172 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 afterwards becomes the greatest of all the apostles, 
 the most intrepid and invincible defender of the 
 faith he once persecuted. Himself becomes the 
 most persecuted man living. He endures such 
 hardships, privations, tortures and torments, that 
 his whole after life is a continuous martyrdom 
 till it ends in a martyr's death. Surely such a 
 man, from such a life, to such a life, could not have 
 been converted by a delusion, to a delusion! No, 
 to believe that would require far more credulity 
 than to believe that he was converted by Him who 
 is the Truth, to His own truth. 
 
 It is his conversion that we now desire to exam- 
 ine. Many false and dangerous errors have been 
 drawn from and connected with this conversion. 
 May the Spirit of truth lead us to know and accept 
 His own truth. 
 
 We inquire first: What likely prepared the way 
 for that conversion ? 
 
 Whether Paul had ever been in Jerusalem when 
 Jesus was in that city, we know not. But we do 
 know that he was there a few years after the cruci- 
 fixion, when the young Church was making such 
 progress as to alarm the custodians and defenders 
 of the old faith. He was there when there was 
 that general interest and commotion caused by the 
 
CONVERSION OF PAUL. 1 73 
 
 preaching of the apostles and deacons. Paul must 
 have heard some of that preaching and public 
 reasoning in the synagogues. 
 
 It is also more than likely that he was one of 
 those Cilicians who openly disputed or debated with 
 the fiery and convincing Stephen. Unable to re- 
 sist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke, 
 they became wroth, and determined on physical 
 force to put down the heresy. Paul, in the mean- 
 time, must have pondered and studied these new 
 and wonderful truths. From the sincere and in- 
 quiring nature of the man, we believe that these 
 wonderful words of life made him think, question, 
 and feel. As long as he was unconvinced, he be- 
 came the more hostile. 
 
 Stephen was dragged before the council, and 
 made that masterly defense of his. Paul heard 
 every word. It could not fail of an impression. 
 It has been noticed how that, on more than one 
 occasion, in his reasoning with the Jews, in later 
 years, he adopted the same line of argument that 
 Stephen used. He never lost that speech. No 
 doubt it carried prevenient or preparatory Grace. 
 
 Then, again, as Paul listened to Stephen's con- 
 vincing words, he also saw his face as it had been 
 the face of an angel. With that look, reflecting 
 
174 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 the glory of heaven, he claimed, in Paul's hearing: 
 " Behold I see the heavens opened, and the Son of 
 Man standing on the right hand of God. ' ' 
 
 Paul heard that prayer for the murderers, and that 
 peaceful commitment of his spirit to the Lord Jesus. 
 
 With what feelings must not Paul have gone 
 from that martyrdom! What a tumult must have 
 raged in his breast! What conflicting thoughts 
 and emotions must have stirred within! But he is 
 not yet convinced. It is no trifle for a sincere, 
 investigating, well-fortified, and perfectly satisfied 
 spirit to throw off the convictions of a lifetime. 
 Paul would likely blame his rising questions, 
 doubts, and strange feelings on some unseen 
 tempter. He would try to shake them off. He 
 would drown them in redoubled zeal for the old 
 faith. He would be more eager than ever to put 
 down that new heresy, so subtle and dangerous as 
 even to threaten to unsettle him! As long as he 
 can find heretics, he keeps his head and hands full 
 in Jerusalem. By and by he is through there. He 
 cannot be idle. He must keep himself busy to 
 keep down these troublous thoughts and feelings. 
 Armed with the proper credentials, he starts for 
 Damascus, to carry on the same awful, absorbing 
 work there. 
 
CONVERSION OF PAUL. 1 75 
 
 But Damascus is over one hundred and fifty 
 miles away. It will take almost a week to make 
 the journey. The route is over historic ground. 
 The scenes along the way recall scenes and associ- 
 ations of great interest to the devout Jew. Along 
 this way the impetuous and unsettled Paul must 
 journey. He has nothing now to absorb his en- 
 ergy and attention. He is alone with himself. He 
 has time to think. And such a man cannot dream 
 away the time. He must think. The road would 
 remind him of the covenant people and the cov- 
 enant words. From these his mind would again 
 revert to the new interpretation of those covenant 
 deeds and words. Again and again he would re- 
 call the wonderful and elevating power of those 
 new interpretations. Again and again the question 
 would come, Is not the new interpretation more 
 consistent and more true to the history and spirit 
 of the covenant than the old? And then again 
 would he feel the tortures of doubt and the inde- 
 finable longings after peace, and would send up a 
 prayer to Abraham's God for light. And thus were 
 those six quiet days, days of Grace and preparation. 
 The Spirit of God was working through the Word 
 and preparing the way for the Lord. The hammer 
 was falling. The fire was burning. The light was 
 
176 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 shining. The seed was rooting; and Paul was in 
 the way to conversion. 
 
 We therefore notice secondly, what brought that 
 conversion to pass? 
 
 Paul and his attendants were nearing the city, 
 11 And suddenly there shined around about him a 
 light from heaven." But it was not that light that 
 converted him — it was only a symbol of another 
 light that he needed, and that was about to be 
 vouchsafed unto him. 
 
 In that light there appeared a form, and from 
 that form there came a voice saying unto him, Saul, 
 Saul, why persecutes t thou me? It was Jesus re- 
 vealing Himself and making Himself known 
 through His own Word, and this brought about 
 Paul's conversion. 
 
 Notice the manner of this revealing of Himself 
 by Christ. He first calls him. He calls him by 
 name. It is Christ coming first to Paul, and not 
 Paul first turning to Christ. It is the shepherd 
 seeking the sheep, and not the sheep the shepherd. 
 Yes, God always comes first to us. The first step 
 is from heaven to earth after the sinner, and not 
 from earth towards heaven after God. That call 
 is the call of seeking Grace. It is the call of yearn- 
 ing love. It is a repetition of that first call, 
 
CONVERSION OF PAUL. 177 
 
 ii Adam ) where art thou?" It is the call that 
 sounds so frequently in the ears of all of Adam's 
 children. 
 
 Notice further how the Lord enlightens Paul. 
 He shows him his sin. Thou persecutest Me.. 
 This is the awful character of sin. This is its. 
 damnable nature. It is opposition to Christ. It 
 is rebellion against heaven. It is fighting against 
 God. This is indeed the essence of all sin. Here- 
 in lies its fearful guilt. And this is what the 
 sinner needs to know, and to know this he needs 
 the light of God's Word. 
 
 The word of Christ shows Paul not only the 
 guilt of his sin, but also its folly. It is a kicking 
 against the pricks. As the stubborn ox only hurts 
 himself by kicking against the sharp goad of the 
 driver, so the sinner is only hurting himself. This 
 is the folly of all sin. Even when it seems to give 
 momentary satisfaction, it really brings sores and 
 pains. It is a kicking into the sharp goad of Satan, 
 the cruel driver. 
 
 The Lord further shows Paul the fearful danger 
 of sin. As fighting against Jesus, to whom all 
 Power is given both in heaven and on earth, it is a 
 hopeless battle. The sinner must miserably fail 
 in the end. He will be utterly vanquished. He is 
 
178 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 only provoking the wrath of the Lamb, and laying 
 up for himself ivrath against the day of wrath. 
 
 Thus is Paul enlightened by the Divine Word. 
 He is taught to see and understand what his sin is. 
 Its nature, its guilt, its folly and its danger, are 
 all shown him. 
 
 On the other hand, he is taught to know that 
 there is One who loves him, who calls him, who is 
 seeking to save him. 
 
 Now all this revelation of Christ is intended and 
 calculated to awaken in Paul true penitence, a 
 knowledge of sin, a sense of his guilt, and a long- 
 ing for deliverance. And this is the first part of 
 conversion. 
 
 Christ's interest and call is also intended and 
 suited to beget faith in Paul. It is calculated to 
 draw him to that compassionate Seeker, and to 
 enable him to cast himself on His mercy. Faith 
 is to come by hearing, and hearing by the Word of 
 God. But faith is the second part of conversion. 
 
 That such was the result with Paul we can 
 plainly see from his conduct. Paul fell to the 
 earth; but that fall was not conversion, it was only 
 a symbol of that coming down of his sinful pride, 
 self-sufficiency and self-righteousness. 
 
 We find that the prostrate and humbled Paul 
 
CONVERSION OF PAUL. 179 
 
 first inquires for more light. "Who art thou, 
 Lord?" Paul has become an inquirer. He wants 
 to be certain first of all with whom he has to do. 
 It is a blessed token of a work of Grace when the 
 sinner begins seriously to inquire about Christ and 
 divine things, when he goes to his Bible to find 
 out who this Lord is and what he desires of him, 
 and what he himself is over against this Lord. 
 Paul further asks: "What wilt thou have me to 
 do?" It is a further cry for light and instruction. 
 
 But this question is also more than that. It con- 
 tains an acknowledgment of sin. What wilt thou 
 have me to do? As much as to say : " I have been 
 following my own way. I have been doing my own 
 works. My way, I now see, is all wrong. It is the 
 way of Cain, the way of death. My works have 
 been works of darkness and crime against my 
 Lord. I acknowledge my transgression. I hate 
 my sin. I abhor myself." Such we believe were 
 the penitent feelings of the contrite heart of Paul. 
 
 This question of Paul also contains a confession 
 of faith in Christ. "I acknowledge Thee to be my 
 Lord, only do Thou direct ; I will trust Thee ; I will 
 put myself in Thy hands ; I will follow Thee. No 
 longer will I consult my own inclination or my 
 own reason. Thou shalt direct and Thou wilt 
 
l80 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 save." And thus the turning point was made. 
 Paul was a converted man. But he was by no 
 means a full-grown man in Christ Jesus. He was 
 but just a babe in Christ — a feeble beginner of 
 the Christian life. We notice, therefore, thirdly: 
 
 The further leadings of Divine Grace towards 
 the fuller light of assurance and the higher calling 
 of apostleship. 
 
 Paul was blind. That light above the noon-day 
 brightness of the Syrian sun . had temporarily 
 darkened his eyes. He was led by the hand into 
 the city. For three days he sat in the gloom and 
 saw no man. This doubtless was to further teach 
 him how dark his way had been without the Light 
 of the world. During these days he did neither eat 
 nor drink. He was as one who had been hanging 
 over a fearful gulf, and was suddenly rescued by a 
 heavenly hand. He could not help but review the 
 past, reflect on his awful course, lament over his 
 fearful sins, shudder at the frightful danger that he 
 had been inviting, and cry again and again for 
 mercy, even after he had obtained mercy. The 
 only account we have of the occupation of these 
 momentous days is, " behold, he prayeth. " What 
 pleading and wrestling that must have been! 
 Then he was further instructed by one commis- 
 
CONVERSION OF PAUL. l8l 
 
 sioned to be a spiritual guide. From Ananias he 
 learned the way of God more plainly. He brought 
 to that broken and contrite heart the heavenly 
 light, and life, and comfort of the divine Word. 
 As a new-born babe he desired and received the 
 sincere milk of the Word, that he might grow 
 thereby. Ananias also instructed him to receive 
 the Sacramental Word, that "washing of regener- 
 ation and renewing of the Holy Ghost" which 
 " doth also now save us." "And now why tarriest 
 thou ? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy 
 sins, calling on the name of the Lord." 
 
 And thus, by the Word, as he had studied it be- 
 fore his conversion, as he had heard it from 
 Stephen, as he heard it from Christ and from 
 Ananias, as he received it in connection with the 
 baptismal water, was Paul led out into the blessed 
 light of acceptance, into the family of the re- 
 deemed, and the full assurance of forgiveness and 
 inheritance among the saints in light. 
 
 It is a general opinion that Paul at once, as soon 
 as he was baptized, entered upon his public minis- 
 try. If we had no other account of his conversion 
 and mission than the Acts of the Apostles, then 
 such would be our natural conviction. But Paul 
 gives us many details in his letters, which are not 
 
l82 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 mentioned in the Acts. In the first chapter of 
 Galatians, after speaking of his former life and 
 how it pleased God to call him and reveal His Son 
 in him, he says, "Immediately I conferred not with 
 flesh and blood; neither went I up to Jerusalem to 
 them which were apostles before me; but I went into 
 Arabia, and returned agai?i to Damascus." 
 
 Comparing this statement with the account in 
 Acts, it seems that, after his baptism, Paul spoke 
 a few times in the synagogue of Damascus, thus 
 professing publicly his new faith, and that then he 
 retired to Arabia, where he was alone with his 
 Lord, in training for his great work for a part of 
 three years. Thus, like Moses in Midian, and 
 afterwards in the mount, like Elijah in the desert, 
 and Christ in the wilderness, like Luther in the 
 monastery, and afterwards in the Wartburg, Paul 
 was first schooled and prepared for his arduous 
 mission. Only after that did he enter fully on his 
 apostolic labors. 
 
 In closing, let us still notice briefly what was ex- 
 traordinary and miraculous about this conversion, 
 and what was ordinary. The extraordinary feat- 
 ures were the blinding flash of light, the vision of 
 the glorified Christ, and His audible personal 
 address to Paul, as also his prostration and blind- 
 
CONVERSION OF PAUL. 1 83 
 
 ness. These extraordinary manifestations and ex- 
 periences need not be expected to be repeated. To 
 wait and hope for such things, is to expect that for 
 which there is neither ground nor promise. They 
 were clearly exceptional, and no one has a right to 
 look for their repetition. Whoever puts off his 
 conversion in hope of some such manifestations, 
 will probably die unconverted. Neither were these 
 extraordinary features the real agencies of Paul's 
 conversion. They were only the incidental and 
 attending circumstances. The real means of the 
 conversion were its ordinary features. 
 
 These were, on God's part, the Word. Through 
 it Christ revealed Himself and His seeking Grace. 
 Through it He convinced Paul of his sin. Through 
 the spoken and sacramental Word brought by 
 Ananias, Paul received and was assured of the for- 
 giveness of sin. 
 
 On the part of Paul the ordinary experiences, as 
 a result of the operation of the Word, were the 
 sense of sin or penitence and faith. 
 
 Such are the ordinary means of Grace, and such 
 Grace comes still through such means, and such 
 converting power they still carry. These are the 
 ordinary features of Paul's conversion. They are 
 its vital and essential elements. They are repeated 
 
184 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 with varied experiences and phenomena in all 
 conversions. They can be had by every sinner. 
 They are herewith offered to every unconverted 
 reader of these pages. 
 
SERMON XII. 
 
 THE CONVERSION OF CORNELIUS. 
 
 Acts x. i-6. 
 
Acts x. 1-6. There was a certain man of Cesarea called Cor- 
 nelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band. 
 
 A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, 
 which gave much alms to the people and prayed to God always. 
 
 He saw in a vision, evidently about the ninth hour of the 
 day, an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, 
 Cornelius. 
 
 Aud when he looked on him he was afraid, and said : What 
 is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine 
 alms are come up for a memorial before God. 
 
 And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose 
 surname is Peter : 
 
 He lodgeth with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the 
 sea-side : he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. 
 
SERMON XII. 
 
 The very interesting chapter from which our 
 text is taken, records the conversion and reception 
 into the Christian Church of the first Gentiles. No 
 doubt there had been Gentile converts received 
 into the Apostolic Church before Cornelius. But 
 they had all become converts to Judaism first. 
 They had come into the Christian Church through 
 the door of the Jewish. They had first submitted 
 to circumcision and all the ceremonial require- 
 ments of the Law of Moses. Thus they had be- 
 come proselytes of righteousness and worshippers 
 in the temple of Jerusalem. 
 
 Cornelius and his household were uncircumcised, 
 and were not attendants on the temple services. 
 Without these hitherto essential requirements, they 
 were admitted to full membership in the infant 
 Church. This was the turning of a new leaf in 
 the Church's experience and polity. It was a rad- 
 ically new departure, an epoch of the most vital 
 and far-reaching consequences. 
 
 It is interesting to notice the characters that fig- 
 ure in this most important transaction. 
 
 The apostle who was commissioned to bring 
 (187) 
 
1 88 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 about the conversion and admittance into the 
 Church of these first Gentiles was Peter. 
 
 Now, as far as we know, there was scarcely 
 another apostle so intensely devoted to the tradi- 
 tions 'and ceremonies of the Fathers as he. It re- 
 quired a vision, thrice repeated, a special message 
 from heaven, and a plain and distinct commission 
 from the Spirit, to remove his prejudices and doubts 
 and make him willing to go to Cornelius. 
 
 It is also of interest to study the history and 
 character of the first Gentile convert. This will 
 appear as we now consider more particularly the 
 conversion of Cornelius. 
 
 We notice first : His unfavorable surroundings. 
 
 It is said that man is a creature of circumstances. 
 Much is said and written of the potent influence 
 of environment. And while environment is wrongly 
 made the excuse for many sins of omission and of 
 commission, yet we must admit that it is a factor 
 in the shaping of life and character. 
 
 Some persons are so situated that it is almost a 
 matter of course that they should take an interest 
 in religion. Others, however, are so circumstanced 
 that everything seems to be against their taking an 
 interest in spiritual things. 
 
 Not that we believe these things a valid excuse 
 
CONVERSION OF CORNELIUS. 189 
 
 for the neglect of salvation. Where there is the 
 proper earnestness and interest one can find Christ 
 and be true to Him in any honest and honorable 
 calling and amid the most adverse surroundings. 
 Joseph maintained his integrity in Potiphar's house 
 and at Pharaoh's court. Obadiah remained true 
 to his God at the corrupt court of Ahab and Jezebel. 
 And Daniel did not defile himself, but devoutly 
 worshipped and obeyed his God, even in Babylon. 
 
 Cornelius also was begirt with unfavorable sur- 
 roundings. By birth he was a heathen. He had 
 no birth-right in Israel, and was not of the chosen 
 race. He was born an alien to the covenant, a 
 stranger to the commonwealth, and excluded from 
 their promises. He belonged to that idolatrous 
 nation whose corruption and degradation are so 
 vividly portrayed in the first chapter of Romans. 
 At the time when godlessness, abomination, and 
 crime of every kind had reached their flood-tide in 
 the empire, Cornelius held a government office. 
 We know to our sorrow that even in Christian 
 lands comparatively few government officials pay 
 much attention to religion. What then could we 
 expect from an officer of the Roman Empire in its 
 darkest days ? 
 
 But, worse than that, Cornelius was a soldier, an 
 
190 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 army officer, centurion, or captain, of the Italian 
 band or company. Military life has always been 
 looked upon as unfavorable to earnestness in re- 
 ligion. Soldiers even in Christian lands are noted 
 for God-lessness, looseness of morals and general 
 recklessness. The camp, the field, and the march 
 seem to have a withering influence on everything 
 that is spiritual. Now Cornelius was a captain in 
 Caesar's army. Surely his calling and situation were 
 not calculated to make him a devout and earnest 
 inquirer after the true God and the right worship. 
 His environment was against him. From a human 
 standpoint he would not be considered a very hope- 
 ful subject for conversion. And yet, in spite of all 
 this, he was an exceptionally good man. 
 
 Let us notice therefore, secondly, his good char- 
 acter. 
 
 He was a strictly honest man. His servants, who 
 ought to know him, bring this report to Peter: 
 Cornelius is a just man and of good report among 
 all the nation of the Jews. The Jews were certainly 
 not partial to the Roman soldiers. They were far 
 more ready to see the sins than the virtues of these 
 their enemies. 
 
 If a Roman centurion therefore had a good re- 
 port among the Jews, his character must have been 
 
CONVERSION OF CORNELIUS. 191 
 
 of exceptional uprightness. In attributing to him 
 such a character for honesty, the Jews and the ser- 
 vants of Cornelius agree. 
 
 But honesty is not religion. A man can be 
 scrupulously just and upright in all his dealings, 
 and yet be and remain a stranger to God and His 
 Grace. Honesty alone can never save the soul. 
 On the other hand, however, let it never be forgot- 
 ten, that while honesty is not religion, yet there 
 can be no true religion without honesty. There 
 never can be saving Grace in the heart and wilful 
 dishonesty in the life. A man may talk ever so 
 earnestly about his experience, he may pray ever 
 so fervently in prayer-meeting, if he does not make 
 every effort to pay his honest debts, if he cheats in 
 his business transactions, takes advantage of ignor- 
 ance, adulterates his goods, gives short weight or 
 measure, misrepresents value, or does dishonest 
 work, we take no stock in his piety. To be a 
 Christian one must be honest, but one can be 
 honest and not a Christian. 
 
 Cornelius was also a liberal man. He gave 
 much alms to the people. It is a good thing to be 
 liberal. To be large-hearted and open-handed is 
 certainly no small virtue. But liberality in itself 
 is not religion. A person can give liberally and 
 
192 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 freely to every good cause, even while he has an 
 unregenerate heart. There are many who have no 
 saving interest in Christ who yet give largely to 
 Christ's poor and to Christ's Church. 
 
 Again, however, we must also bear in mind that 
 while one can be liberal without being in a state 
 of Grace, one cannot be in a state of Grace without 
 being ready to communicate. We have no faith in 
 a stingy Christian. According to the divine Word 
 covetousness is idolatry. He who professes to love 
 Christ and is yet unwilling to give to the cause of 
 Christ, loves only in word. If it hurts him to give 
 instead of giving him joy, if he complains when 
 asked to give back a part of what God has just 
 lent him, instead of rejoicing that he is able to 
 give, there is something seriously wrong with his 
 heart. A true conversion reaches the pocket-book 
 as well as the heart. Grace enlarges the heart and 
 opens the hand. 
 
 So while Cornelius had the virtue of liberality, 
 this would not necessarily prove him in a state of 
 Grace. But he was, further, a devout man. He 
 feared God with all his house, and prayed to God 
 always. 
 
 It is possible to be a devout heathen. Those 
 who were loyal to the divinities of Rome and their 
 
CONVERSION OF CORNELIUS. 193 
 
 temples and shrines, those who regularly brought 
 their sacrifices and offerings, were devout worship- 
 pers of false gods. It was not in this sense that 
 Cornelius was devout. He had long since seen the 
 folly and sin of recognizing and worshipping the: 
 myriad gods of Rome. He had learned to recog- 
 nize Jehovah, the God of Israel, as the one andt 
 only true God. It was Jehovah that he feared. It. 
 was Jehovah that he taught his family and servants 
 to fear. It was to Jehovah that he prayed always r 
 i. e., habitually and regularly. 
 
 In this also Cornelius was in advance of many 
 who profess to be children of God and members of 
 the Church of Christ. It is a humiliating fact that 
 there are thousands of professing Christians who 
 seldom if ever pray. They allow the pastor to do 
 the praying for them. They know not what it 
 is to bow the knee in the closet and pour out the 
 heart and heart-yearnings before God. Much less 
 do they pray with their families. Their children 
 grow up around them without an example of either 
 private or family devotion. And as to praying 
 with their servants and encouraging them to pray, 
 this would seem to them preposterous. The ser- 
 vants are treated as if they had no souls. There 
 are no provisions for their spiritual wants. They 
 
194 N EW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 are almost compelled to live heathen lives in so- 
 called Christian families. Cornelius prayed. He 
 prayed with his family. He prayed with his ser- 
 vants. 
 
 Then he was certainly a child of Grace, a con- 
 verted man, a true believer! Was he ? Not nec- 
 essarily. It is indeed possible to have a correct 
 knowledge of the true God, to offer Him an out- 
 ward worship, and even to have regular habits of 
 prayer, and yet not be a subject of His saving 
 Grace. There is certainly no healthy Christian 
 life without prayer. Prayer has been aptly called 
 the pulse of the new life. And yet one can have 
 the form of prayer without its spirit and life. Not 
 that we think the prayers of Cornelius hypocriti- 
 cal, engaged in for the express purpose of deceiv- 
 ing. Neither were they altogether lifeless and 
 formal. But they were not yet the outbreathings 
 of a renewed heart. We believe that Cornelius 
 was seeking after more light, feeling after God, if 
 haply he might find Him, as a wandering child 
 finds a loving father, and nestles in his strong arms. 
 
 This leads us to inquire thirdly, What did Cor- 
 nelius still want ? 
 
 We know that there are those who contend that 
 he was already a true believer, or a converted man. 
 
CONVERSION OF CORNELIUS. 195 
 
 After a careful study of the whole subject, we are 
 persuaded that he was in the way towards conver- 
 sion, was being prepared for it by his study of the 
 Word, his prayers, and strivings. But the one 
 thing needful he had not yet found. 
 
 If Cornelius had been already in the way of sal- 
 vation, why was he directed to send for Peter? 
 And why did Peter consent to go? The servants 
 who came for Peter remained with him a part of a 
 day and a whole night. Peter had ample time to 
 inquire into the character and attainments of Cor- 
 nelius. Why, after hearing such a good report of 
 his character, his good works, and his devotion, 
 did Peter still consent to go? Why not dismiss 
 these servants, with the message to Cornelius that 
 he needed no further light or Grace? Evidently 
 Peter did not believe that Cornelius was already in 
 a state of Grace. 
 
 This becomes still more manifest when we read 
 in the fourteenth verse of the eleventh chapter that 
 the angel told Cornelius that he "shall tell thee 
 words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved. ' ' 
 If he needed words whereby he should be saved, he 
 was not yet in the way of salvation. 
 
 Again, in the eighteenth verse of the same 
 chapter, after Peter had rehearsed the whole story 
 
196 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 to the doubting brethren, we read: "When they 
 heard these things they held their peace and glori- 
 fied God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles 
 granted repentance unto life. ' ' Cornelius therefore 
 had still needed that repentance tcnto life. 
 
 It would seem then that he still needed a clear 
 idea of the sinfulness of sin, a realizing sense of 
 his own guiltiness, his need and helplessness. He 
 needed to learn that sin was such a serious, death- 
 bringing and damning thing, that his own good 
 works and devotions could not render satisfaction 
 and make him acceptable in God's sight. True, 
 God was well pleased with his searchings and 
 strivings and efforts. But all these could not save 
 him. He needed a change of heart, a repentance 
 unto life. He was too much of a poor, lost and 
 condemned creature to bring this about by his own 
 strength or reason. He needed "words" to bring 
 him to such repentance, and to save him. These 
 words were not only to inform him about sin and 
 about one mighty to save, but they were to bring 
 this Saviour to him, and him to this Saviour. For 
 "to Him give all the prophets witness that through 
 His name, whosoever believeth i7i Him shall receive 
 remission of sin." Cornelius needed to give up all 
 confidence in self, and to put his whole trust in a 
 
CONVERSION OF CORNELIUS. 1 97 
 
 crucified Redeemer. Only after this had taken 
 place could it be said that he had passed from death 
 unto life. 
 
 We notice finally how this change was brought 
 about in Cornelius. 
 
 The change that he needed could be brought 
 about '"''not by might nor by power, (i. e., not by 
 human might or power,) but by my Spirit, saith the 
 Lord.'''' He needed that Spirit to convince him of 
 his own sin, of his need of another's righteousness, 
 and of ^ judgment to come on all those who are not 
 delivered from the prince of this world. In other 
 words, he needed the Spirit of God to bring him to 
 repentance and to beget faith in him. 
 
 And how did he receive that Spirit? Jesus had 
 said, "the words that I speak unto you, they are 
 spirit and they are life. ' ' And that this applied not 
 only to the words that fell from His own lips, but 
 to the preaching of all who would preach His 
 Word, becomes clear when we remember how He 
 breathed on His apostles, and said, ' ' receive ye the 
 Holy Ghost, ' ' and afterwards : ' ''He that heareth you 
 heareth me . . and he that despiseth you despiseth 
 me." The whole Word of God is therefore called 
 an administration of the Spirit, and the sword of 
 the Spirit. In the former sermons on the conver- 
 
198 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 sions of the New Testament, we have seen how the 
 Spirit of God every time brought the renewing 
 Grace of God through the Word of God. So here 
 Peter was to bring words, mere words. And what 
 good could words do? By them or through them 
 Cornelius was to be saved. Peter brought words; 
 He preached, He preached Christ, His coming, 
 His office, His work, His death, His resurrection, 
 and His return to judgment. He preached the 
 necessity of Faith in this Christ, and the certainty 
 of the remission of sins through faith in His name. 
 These words were spirit and life. They carried 
 the Spirit, and therefore this preaching of the 
 Gospel was the power of God unto salvation to Cor- 
 nelius also. It pleased God by the foolishness of 
 preaching to save Cornelius and his household. 
 
 While Peter preached words, the spirit fell visibly 
 on those who heard. He does not always come 
 thus visibly. He ordinarily comes invisibly but 
 effectually through the Word. But this was a 
 special case. It was the first coming of the Spirit 
 of Pentecost to the uncircumcised. Apostles and 
 believing Jews did not believe that the Spirit would 
 come upon the uncircu-ncised. In order to fully 
 convince Peter, in order to convince the six 
 Jewish witnesses who had come from Joppa with 
 
CONVERSION OF CORNELIUS. 1 99 
 
 Peter, in order to remove every possible doubt from 
 the minds of the Gentiles themselves, therefore, 
 He came in this instance visibly. Therefore He 
 came not as usually through the preached . and 
 sacramental Word, which was afterwards adminis- 
 tered. It was thus for special reasons that He sep- 
 arated Himself on this occasion from the Word 
 while it was being preached, and fell in visible 
 form. 
 
 We see then how Cornelius was saved by the 
 words preached, followed by the sacramental Word 
 of baptism. 
 
 But the Word had to be preached. It had to be 
 preached by one called of God. This also is God's 
 order. It has so pleased Him that His saving 
 Word should be brought to man by man. The 
 angel might have preached to Cornelius. He 
 might have brought to him the words that he 
 needed. But this is not God's plan. IftheNine- 
 vites are to be warned, Jonah must needs go and 
 preach the preaching that he is commanded. If 
 Saul of Tarsus asks, "Lord, what wilt thou have 
 me to do?" the Lord does not tell him, but directs 
 him to go and wait for one Ananias. And if Cor- 
 nelius sees an angel and asks him: What is it, 
 Lord? he is directed to send for Peter. And so it 
 
200 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 is still. The ministerial office is a divine institu- 
 tion. As such it is necessary, but let no man take 
 this office unto himself but he that is called, as was 
 Aaron. 
 
 And thus was Cornelius converted. 
 
 This whole history is of the most vital import- 
 ance to the whole Church of Christ. It teaches 
 that one can go quite far in professions, in works, 
 and in worship, and still be in an unsaved condi- 
 tion. 
 
 If such a good man, and of such good report, 
 and honored for his devoutness, if such an one still 
 needed conversion, how is it with us? What of 
 our hearts? Do we know what penitence is? 
 — what trusting, clinging faith in Christ is? Do 
 we experimentally know Christ and the fellowship 
 of His suffering and the power of His resurreetion? 
 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith : 
 prove your own selves. 
 
SERMON XIII. 
 
 The Conversion of Sergius Paulus. 
 
 Acts xiii. 6-12. 
 
Acts xiii. 6-12. And when they had gone through the isle 
 unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a 
 Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus: 
 
 Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a 
 prudent man ; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to 
 hear the word of God. 
 
 But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) 
 withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the 
 faith. 
 
 Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy 
 Ghost, set his eyes on him, 
 
 And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child 
 of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not 
 cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord ? 
 
 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and 
 thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And im- 
 mediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness, and he 
 went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. 
 
 Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, be- 
 ing astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. 
 
SERMON XIII. 
 
 The apostle Paul was just starting on his first 
 missionary journey. Of his labors from the time 
 of his conversion up to this point, we have only 
 the most general account. He had labored some 
 in Damascus, in Jerusalem, in his native city of 
 Tarsus, and in Antioch. In the latter city he and 
 Barnabas had labored for about a year, and gath- 
 ered quite a congregation. It was there also that 
 the disciples were first called Christians. 
 
 It was not the mission of the great apostle, how- 
 ever, to be the settled pastor of a congregation. 
 He had been called to the more important and 
 difficult work of a traveling missionary. It was to 
 be his work to be a pioneer, to go ahead, preach 
 the Gospel in places where it had not yet been 
 heard, gather congregations and plant Churches in 
 these new places. He was not to enter upon other 
 men's labors, but was rather to lay foundations for 
 others to build on. 
 
 It was while Barnabas and Paul were busy at 
 Antioch, and while their work was prospering 
 abundantly, that the. Holy Ghost said to the 
 (203) 
 
204 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 Church: Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the 
 work whereunto I have called them. Departing 
 from Antioch they had sailed to the island of 
 Cyprus. There they preached first in the city of 
 Salamis, and from thence they went to the western 
 end of the island, to the city of Paphos. Here also 
 they entered vigorously upon their work of preach- 
 ing the Gospel. But here, as everywhere, they 
 found that the devil had been there ahead of them. 
 So it has always been, and so it is to-day. The 
 prince of this world gets in his work first. We 
 are indeed all born under the dominion of sin and 
 Satan. Every human heart, in its natural state, is 
 the abode of sin, and where sin is there is Satan 
 also. And therefore every city and country and 
 clime are more or less under his dark and mysteri- 
 ous sway. Wherever missionaries go, at home or 
 abroad, into churchless districts or Christless 
 homes, they find that the devil has been there be- 
 fore them. They find that he will oppose every 
 effort they make to bring in the kingdom of God 
 and eslablish the right ways of the Lord. The 
 prince of darkness had a special and powerful 
 emissary in the capital city of Paphos. Through 
 his wicked agent he tried, as he always does, to 
 bring the governor of the island completely under 
 
CONVERSION OF SERGIUS PAULUS. 205 
 
 his sway. He is crafty enough to know that if he 
 can get a ruler, a king, a mayor, or any one of 
 authority and influence, it is a mighty help to his 
 cause. 
 
 The two missionaries had to meet him. It came 
 to an open contest. The result was the conversion 
 of Sergius Paulus, the first prominent conversion 
 under Paul of which we have any account. We 
 consider this a very important conversion. Some 
 conversions are more important than others. Not 
 that one soul is of more value in God's sight than 
 another. He is no respecter of persons. In his 
 sight the soul of Sergius Paulus, the governor of 
 Cyprus, is of no more value than the soul of one of 
 his slaves. Both are equally the purchase of the 
 precious blood of Christ. Still, the conversion of 
 Paulus is of greater importance and of greater 
 value to the Church, because of his position, his 
 authority and influence. He could do more for 
 the young Church and new faith than one of his 
 slaves, and therefore we consider his an important 
 conversion. 
 
 In studying this conversion, we inquire first into 
 the history, character and position of the man. 
 
 Sergius Paulus was a Roman, and therefore a 
 heathen. He had been bred and brought up in 
 
2o6 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 the state religion of the Roman empire. That re- 
 ligion was at that time the most vile, corrupt, and 
 criminal heathenism on the face of the earth. We 
 have a graphic picture of it in the first chapter of 
 Romans. Sergius Paulus had, from childhood 
 up, drunk in its abominations and criminalities. 
 Surely all this was against him. 
 
 But, notwithstanding all this, we read that he 
 was a prudent man. He was a thoughtful man, 
 given to sober investigation and clear discernment. 
 This is all the more to his credit, when we recall 
 the fact that, in those dissolute times, there were 
 few men who were prudent thinkers. It was a 
 time when most Romans of means and leisure were 
 wholly given up to the indulgence of the lusts of 
 the flesh. To revel in dissipation, debauchery and 
 vice was the chief occupation of Roman citizens. 
 This was especially true of government officials. 
 Their position seemed to entitle them to rioting 
 and drunkenness, and chambering and wantonness. 
 And to these they gave their attention, their money 
 and their time. 
 
 Sergius Paulus was Proconsul, or governor of 
 Cyprus. As a quiet and peaceful province, this 
 island was under the control and patronage of the 
 Senate. As such it required very little governing, 
 
CONVERSION OF SERGIUS PAULUS. 207 
 
 and the office of Sergius was without much care or 
 responsibility. It would have been the most nat- 
 ural thing therefore for him to while away the 
 tedium of his monotonous life by headlong indul- 
 gence of the flesh. Add to this the fact that the 
 capital city Paphos was the reputed birthplace of 
 the goddess Venus, and that her impure worship 
 flourished abundantly there. Consider the influ- 
 ence on public life and morals which that most 
 unchaste of all idolatries would have. Then re- 
 member that to all this temptation Sergius Paulus 
 was exposed. And still he remained a prudent 
 man. This speaks much for his intelligent and 
 moral character. 
 
 Such was Sergius Paulus, the governor of 
 Cyprus. 
 
 Let us notice secondly his deeper longings. 
 
 He evidently believed in the higher powers of an 
 unseen realm. He was convinced of the existence 
 of beings and influences beyond and above the 
 regions of sense. He had faith in the supernatural. 
 As a serious, reflecting and candid man, he felt 
 that this earth is not the only abode of man, 
 and this life is not the whole of existence. He 
 realized that man is related to two worlds. No 
 doubt his conceptions were very vague, and his 
 
208 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 ideas very crude. How could it be otherwise, when 
 his only guides were nature, conscience and the 
 ignorant pretenders of a degraded religion? The 
 belief in the unseen powers of an unseen world is 
 inborn with man. He can only rid himself of it 
 by a positive and persistent effort of his will. In- 
 deed, it is doubtful whether man ever really gets 
 rid of this innate conviction. It is more than 
 likely that all thoughtful skeptics are like that one 
 in Ohio, who said: "I do not believe in a here- 
 after, and yet I would give my best yoke of oxen 
 if I were sure that there is none. ' ' The conviction 
 is too deep-seated to be easily got rid of, and how- 
 ever individuals may here and there try to become 
 atheists, the mass of mankind must always believe 
 in some kind of a god, and in some kind of a relig- 
 ion. So it was with Sergius Patilus. He had no 
 doubt accepted the religion of the Empire in his 
 earlier days, but he had become disgusted with 
 and discarded it. It had degenerated into such 
 open and public fraud and knavery, that its own 
 priests scarcely believed in it. Cicero tells us that 
 in his day two priests, while ministering together 
 in the temples of the gods, could not look each 
 other in the face without laughing. 
 
 But Sergius Paulus was not ready to throw away 
 
CONVERSION OF SERGIUS PAULUS. 209 
 
 all religion. He felt that somewhere there must 
 be a true religion; one that could satisfy the crav- 
 ings of the heart. Would that all who have been 
 deluded by the vagaries of man, as if these were 
 the revelation of God, would thus seek for the 
 truth until they find it, and the peace which it 
 alone can give. 
 
 Sergius had heard of the Jewish religion. Its 
 purer and sterner faith had attracted many thought- 
 ful strangers, who became proselytes. Now there 
 was a Jewish sorcerer or magician in Paphos. He 
 doubtless passed himself off as a representative of 
 the Jewish faith. Sergius Paulus had heard of his 
 pretensions to occult powers and mysteries. He- 
 had sent for him with the hope of finding that 
 truth and satisfaction for which he longed. This 
 deceiver was present at the governor's court when 
 the two missionaries of the Gospel began their 
 work in the city. Sergius Paulus heard of their 
 preaching of the Gospel of the Son of God. He 
 heard how they claimed to be the ambassadors of 
 Jehovah, the God of Israel, and to bring His mes- 
 sage; how they preached that Jesus of Nazareth 
 was the Redeemer and Saviour of mankind, and 
 had been delivered up to the cross for man's of- 
 fences, and raised again for his justification, and 
 
2IO NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 that whosoever believeth in Him should have the 
 full and free remission of all his sins. The simple 
 and earnest preaching of these sincere and devoted 
 missionaries had made an impression in the city. 
 The governor had heard about it. The tricks and 
 pretensions of his magicians had failed to satisfy 
 him. The rumors of the evangelists and their 
 pure and wondrous message had waked in his heart 
 also longings after the pure and holy. He called 
 for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the 
 Word of God. This desire for the Word shows the 
 workings of preparatory Grace in his heart. It 
 was an important step towards his conversion 
 when he sent for these preachers of the Gospel. 
 
 It is always a very hopeful and helpful step, 
 when the sinner, weary of the vagaries and specu- 
 lations of men, seeks out the true ministers of the 
 truth, and desires from them light from the Word 
 of God. Or, uncertain to whom to go, if he resorts 
 simply to his Bible, and prayerfully seeks the light 
 from its sacred pages, such an inquirer is already 
 entering upon the way of salvation. 
 
 We notice thirdly the work of the Word with 
 Sergius Paulus. 
 
 The Word was preached to the governor. It was 
 preached in all its plainness and with all its power. 
 
CONVERSION OF SERGIUS PAUUJS. 211 
 
 It was a new revelation to Sergius Paulus. Such 
 wonderful words of life he had never heard. The 
 Word was making way in his heart, and he felt 
 himself convinced, convicted and drawn. 
 
 The sorcerer saw that he was in danger of losing 
 his profitable and influential position. Satan does 
 not give up his votaries and victims without an 
 effort to hold them. The governor was too valua- 
 ble an adherent to give up. He must be held at 
 all hazards. The Word of God is not allowed to 
 have free course. It must be mightily opposed. 
 Barnabas and Saul must be refuted or silenced. 
 " Ely mas the sorcerer withstood them, seeking to 
 turn away the deputy from the faith." 
 
 So it always is. The proverb says: "Where the 
 Lord builds a church the devil puts up a chapel 
 along side of it." There are not wanting those 
 who like this sorcerer oppose the Word, and try to 
 turn every prospective convert away from the faith. 
 
 We have then the ambassador of Christ and the 
 child of the devil face to face. We have on the 
 one side the plain unvarnished Gospel, on the 
 other all subtilty and mischief and perversion. 
 We have open candor in conflict with knavery, 
 treachery and lies. The prudent governor looks 
 on. He hears both sides. He sees the truth and 
 
212 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 error face to face. Like Janties and Jambres who 
 withstood Moses and Aaron in the presence of the 
 ruler of Egypt, so Ely mas withstands Paul in the 
 presence of the ruler of Cyprus. What will the 
 outcome be? Pharaoh had hardened his heart and 
 sided with the magicians, against Moses and 
 Aaron. 
 
 But Sergius Paulus does not harden his heart. 
 He does not resist the truth. He does not stifle con- 
 viction, or grieve the Spirit, or dismiss Paul as an- 
 other ruler afterwards did, and said: "Go thy way 
 for this time ; when I have a more convenient sea- 
 son I will e all for thee." The mind of Sergius is 
 unbiased. His heart is opened. He hears and re- 
 ceives the truth. The truth comes out triumphant. 
 Truth needs never to be afraid of error. Truth is 
 mighty and must prevail. Wherever hearts are 
 not barred against it, truth does prevail. All it 
 asks is an unprejudiced mind and a sincere heart. 
 
 Sergius saw and felt the superiority of the truth. 
 He saw the trickster and liar confounded. He saw 
 the righteous indignation of Paul against the im- 
 postor. He heard the authoritative and stern 
 rebuke of villainy. He saw its power. He saw 
 the would-be miracle worker stricken blind. 
 
 In the stern rebuke of the sorcerer, Sergius must 
 
CONVERSION OF SERGIUS PAUUJS. 213 
 
 have felt himself rebuked for harboring such a 
 child of the devil and enemy of all righteousness. 
 This must have moved the governor to shame and 
 contrition. Otherwise it would have moved him 
 to anger. He felt the rebuke, he bowed under it. 
 He repented of his sin. He cherished that godly 
 sorrow that leadeth to repentance not to be re- 
 pented of 
 
 Further, he believed, as a prudent, clear-headed, 
 and wise man. He weighed the truth. He was 
 convinced of its superiority. So is every candid 
 inquirer. He felt its power in his own heart. He 
 saw its power on the wilful impostor. He was as- 
 tonished at the doctrine. He accepted the doctrine 
 because he saw and felt its power. Why don't 
 unbelievers now judge the doctrine by its fruits? 
 Why will they shut their eyes against its effects? 
 Why deny its purifying and transforming power in 
 those who sincerely accept it? Why deny its con- 
 quests over error and opposition ? Sergius saw the 
 power and was astonished at the doctrine. He 
 believed. 
 
 He was therefore a converted man. He had true 
 faith, and true faith presupposes penitence. And 
 penitence and faith make up conversion. 
 
 We see again how the Spirit wrought through 
 
214 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 the Word. The Word, as the organ of the Spirit, 
 did the whole work. The Word is the Lord's 
 agency in every conversion. There can be no true 
 conversion without the Word. There are true con- 
 versions wherever hearts bow to the power of the 
 Word. 
 
 Does any one read these pages who has not found 
 peace in believing? Reader, are you such an one? 
 You believe in another life and another world. 
 You have felt your need of some kind of a religion. 
 You have perhaps made trial of something that has 
 called itself the religion of Jesus Christ. You have 
 been deluded, disappointed. Have you then 
 thrown away all religion? Why not follow the 
 example of Paulus? Go to the Word of God. It 
 will satisfy. It will save. It has never disap- 
 pointed an honest seeker after truth and life. It 
 will not disappoint you. 
 
SERMON XIV. 
 
 The Conversion of Lydia. 
 
 Acts xvi. 13-16. 
 
Ads xvi. 13-16. And on the Sabbath we went out of the city 
 by a river-side, where prayer was wont to be made ; and we sat 
 down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither. 
 
 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the 
 city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: 
 
 Whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the 
 things which were spoken of Paul. 
 
 And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought 
 us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, 
 come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us. 
 
SERMON XIV. 
 
 The Apostle Paul was on his second great mis- 
 sionary journey. Before he started out on this 
 memorable tour, and during the early part of its 
 progress, he had met with several sore disappoint- 
 ments, so that his plans and purposes seemed to b£ 
 repeatedly thwarted. It was while making prepa- 
 rations to start out from Autioch, that he had that 
 unhappy quarrel with Barnabas, which separated 
 these two pioneer missionaries in their future 
 activity. In Galatia, it seems, the Apostle was 
 detained by a long and severe sickness. When 
 they wanted to go into the province called Asia, 
 they were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the 
 Word there. 
 
 Again, when they assayed to go into Bithynia, 
 the Spirit suffered them not. 
 
 Thus Paul might have said like Jacob of old, 
 All these things are against me. And yet how 
 clearly all was overruled for good. Even in that 
 unhappy strife God made the wrath of man to praise 
 Him. Instead of one missionary band starting out 
 
 (2I 7 ) 
 
2l8 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 there were two, and instead of two missionaries 
 there were four. It was during these disappoint- 
 ments also that Paul found and became acquainted 
 with young Timothy, who became his most con- 
 stant friend and helper and his greatest comfort. 
 It was during the providential detention in Galatia 
 that he gathered the Churches in that wild region. 
 And had it not been for that we would probably 
 not have had that important and instructive epistle 
 to the Galatians. But most wonderful and best of 
 all were the hindrances and refusals to work in 
 Asia and Bithynia. That work was to be done 
 by others. Paul had a more important present 
 mission. Therefore came that remarkable vision 
 and that sad, impressive cry from that man of 
 Macedonia. 
 
 What a cry that was ! It came from a people 
 that had tasted world empire, and had been left 
 unsatisfied. It was a translation into words of that 
 remarkable scene, when, four hundred years earlier, 
 Alexander had returned from conquering the 
 world, and sat down on the seashore and wept like 
 a child because there were no other worlds to con- 
 quer, and his heart longings were not satisfied. 
 That Macedonian cry! It came from a people 
 that had enjoyed the civilization, and culture, and 
 
CONVERSION OF LYDIA. 2IO, 
 
 art, and science of Greece in her palmiest days. It 
 came from a people that was now enjoying the 
 splendor, and renown, and law, and order, and in- 
 dulgence of Rome. And still that people cried for 
 help! They asked it of a poor and obscure 
 preacher of the despised religion of the cross ! 
 What a cry was that, from such a people to such a 
 helper! Oh yes, it is the same cry that has 
 sounded down the ages. We hear its echoes in 
 the corridors of the centuries. It is borne across 
 the waters, and from the western prairies, and 
 ranches, and mining camps to-day. It is the old 
 cry from the world to the Church. It is the sad 
 wail that comes from the tenement districts, from 
 alleys and courts, from the abodes of sin and suffer- 
 ing in garret and cellar, from every Christless 
 home and heart. Come and help us! We cannot 
 help ourselves. The world cannot help us. Its 
 money, its friendships and flatteries, its pleasures 
 and indulgences, cannot still these longings. We 
 need what the Church alone can bring. We need 
 the living Gospel of a living Redeemer. Without 
 that Gospel in the home and in the heart, 
 
 " What am I but a child crying in the night, 
 What am I but a child crying for a light." 
 
220 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 Paul and his companions were not disobedient to 
 the heavenly vision. They hastened across the 
 gulf. They assuredly gathered that the Lord had 
 called them to carry the Gospel into Europe. They 
 went to the important city of Philippi. For sev- 
 eral days Paul, and Silas, and Timothy, and Luke, 
 walked up and down in that strange city, They 
 found very few Jews. There was not even a syna- 
 gogue. The people seemed not even to know that 
 there was a God of heaven and earth. The mis- 
 sionaries found no place or opportunity to begin 
 their work. They learned that there was a place 
 of prayer by the river-side, just outside of the city, 
 where a few devout persons were in the habit of 
 meeting on the Sabbath day. Thither the four 
 missionaries went. They found a few women, 
 some Jews, and some proselytes. What a congre- 
 gation ! What a place to begin missionary work 
 in Europe ! But the missionaries did not despise 
 the day of small things. They sat down and spake 
 unto the women. They preached to them as Jesus 
 preached to the woman at Jacob's well. And that 
 was the first preaching of the Gospel in Europe. 
 Its immediate result was what we will now 
 consider: 
 
CONVERSION OF LYDIA. 221 
 
 THE CONVERSION OF LYDIA. 
 
 We consider first, what she was before her con- 
 version: 
 
 By nationality she was not a Jewess. She was 
 of the city of Thyatira. This city was in the 
 Roman province of Asia, in which these mission- 
 aries were forbidden to preach. Ancient histori- 
 ans inform us that the inhabitants of the district 
 about Thyatira were so corrupt in their manners 
 that the fact had become proverbial. 
 
 In this place and among these people Lydia had 
 been born and brought up. 
 
 As she was by birth a Gentile, she was, as a 
 matter of course, an idolatress in religion. From 
 her childhood she had been trained in the abomi- 
 nations and superstitions of heathenism. 
 
 By occupation she was a merchantess, a seller of 
 purple. There was a guild of dyers, an associa- 
 tion of merchants, such as we would call a union, 
 or a trust, in Thyatira, whose goods were much 
 sought after everywhere. Lydia was probably a 
 member of .this guild, and had a branch or an 
 agency at Philippi. 
 
 As to her circumstances, Lydia was what in 
 those days would be called rich. She had a house 
 in Philippi that was large enough to accommodate 
 
222 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 the four missionaries in addition to her household. 
 She had means enough to entertain these men 
 comfortably while they were in the city, and she 
 doubtless was one of those Philippians whose lib- 
 erality afterwards helped to support Paul in his old 
 age and imprisonment, and also ministered to the 
 poor saints at Jerusalem. 
 
 Now all these things were certainly not calcu- 
 lated to predispose her to give serious attention to 
 religion. They were rather all hindrances to a 
 pious disposition. Her Gentile birth and heathen 
 training were against her. Her occupation would 
 tend to fill her more and more with the cares of 
 this life, and make her more and more worldly. 
 The deceitfulness of riches would exert its wither- 
 ing influence on her and make it hard to enter the 
 kingdom of God. 
 
 And yet, in spite of all this unfavorable environ- 
 ment, Lydia had made certain advances towards a 
 better life. Instead of demoralizing more and more, 
 she had improved herself. She had renounced 
 heathenism. She had learned about Jehovah, 
 the God of Israel, the Maker of heaven and earth. 
 She had accepted the teachings concerning the 
 true God. As far as she knew Him, she believed 
 in and worshipped Him. It was in such a state 
 and condition that Paul found her. 
 
CONVERSION OF LYDIA. 223 
 
 We inquire secondly, What did she do towards 
 her own conversion? 
 
 From what we are told further on about her 
 heart being opened, it is clear that her heart was 
 originally closed against divine Grace. And this 
 is indeed the sad truth as to every heart so long as 
 it is in its natural and unrenewed state. The un- 
 regenerate heart is ' ' deceitful above all things and 
 desperately wicked." Out of it proceed " evil 
 thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, 
 false witness, blasphemies. " " Every imagination 
 of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil continu- 
 ally." The natural man has his ''''understanding 
 darkened, " u is alie?iated from the life of God 
 through the ignorance that is in him, because of the 
 blindness of his heart. ' ' He ' ' receiveth not the 
 things of the Spirit of God .... neither can he 
 know them," He is "dn darkness," "dead in 
 trespasses and sins." His heart is a "heart of 
 stone. ' ' 
 
 It is of course utterly out of the question that 
 the sinner should by his own reason or strength be 
 able to change a heart so wicked, corrupt, blind, 
 stony, dead. If that heart is to be opened, 
 changed and quickened, it will certainly be not by 
 human '"''might nor by power, but by my Spirit, 
 
224 N E W TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 saith the Lord, " for " no man can say that Jesus is 
 the Lord, btit by the Holy Ghost.'''' 
 
 And yet Lydia did something towards her con- 
 version. 
 
 What did she do? 
 
 First, she heard the Word. She had heard it 
 from the Jews. Through it she had learned the sin 
 of idolatry, and the doctrine of the true God. She 
 attended the public worship of the believers in the 
 true God. She went to church with them. She 
 associated herself with them in their worship and 
 hearing of the Word. Secondly, she entered 
 heartily into that worship. She worshipped. She 
 was not a disinterested looker on. She prayed 
 herself as best she could. Thirdly, when Paul 
 came and spoke the New Testament Word, the 
 sweet and precious Gospel of Jesus Christ, she at- 
 tended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. 
 She gave attention; she listened eagerly; she lost 
 not a word; she took it all in. 
 
 Thus much the sinner can do. He can seek 
 out and associate with God's people. He can go 
 with them to church. He can hear the W T ord of 
 God. He can hear that Word attentively, and 
 when that Word stirs up longings, he can express 
 them, even if in inarticulate, halting and broken 
 
CONVERSION OF LYDIA. 225 
 
 petitions. This is his part in the work. Thus 
 much did Lydia do towards her conversion. 
 
 We inquire thh-dly, what did God do in her con- 
 version ? 
 
 The simple words of the record are, " whose 
 heart the Lord opened. ' ' 
 
 We have seen certain seeds encased in such close 
 and hard pods that one would wonder how they 
 would ever open. But in the gentle rains of early 
 autumn those pods would become soaked, as little 
 by little the moisture worked its way in, until 
 gradually they would spread, and the seams would 
 open and let the full drops fall on the seeds within. 
 
 We have seen the rose-bud hanging on its stem 
 enfolded tightly in its green casings. But as the 
 sunshine would fall upon that bud, as its gentle 
 warmth would work its way inward, reaching fold 
 after fold, the shriveled leaves would unfold and 
 spread until the outer casement was broken, and 
 by and by the full blown rose in all its queenly 
 beauty drank in the full rays of the sun, and gave 
 out its rich and odorous perfume. And thus was 
 the heart of Lydia opened. 
 
 How did the Lord open it? Through His Word. 
 That Word of which He says: ll As the rain cometh 
 down and the snow fi'om heaven, and returneth not 
 
226 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 thither, but watereth the earth and maketh it bring 
 forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower 
 and bread to the eater, so shall my Word be that 
 goeth forth out of my mouth: It shall not return 
 unto me void; but it shall accomplish that which I 
 please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I 
 sent it." Again He says: "My doctrine shall drop 
 as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the 
 small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers 
 upon the grassy Thus had the Lord opened her 
 heart through the Word. Through it the sun of 
 righteousness did rise upon her with healing on His 
 wings. 
 
 That Word had come to her first as the law. 
 She had learned first from the Old Testament, of 
 which the law was best known and first taught to 
 proselytes. Through this the prevenient or pre- 
 paratory Grace of God had reached her heart. 
 This law taught her to see, and made her feel, her 
 need. It awakened and intensified in her a long- 
 ing for salvation. The law became her school- 
 master to bring her to Christ — i. e., her leader to 
 take her by the hand and lead her towards Christ. 
 
 And now when this preparatory work had been 
 softening and making ready the heart, Paul brought 
 the life-giving Gospel. And through this power 
 
CONVERSION OF LYDIA. 227 
 
 of God unto salvation the Lord more fully opened 
 her heart. This Gospel not only showed her and 
 instructed her about that Jesus who shall save His 
 people from their sins; but this Gospel brought 
 that very Saviour home to her heart. "Say not in 
 thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven, that is to 
 bring Christ down from above, or who shall descend 
 into the deep, that is to bring Christ up again from 
 the dead." For u the Word is nigh thee . . . that 
 is the Word of faith which we preach." Thus 
 Christ comes through the written and preached 
 Word, through it He opens the heart and enables 
 the sinner to open it, as He says: "Behold, I stand 
 at the door and knock ; if any man hear my voice 
 and open the door, I will come in to him. It is by 
 hearing His voice as it sounds in His Word, that 
 He opens in such a way that in one sense the 
 sinner opens, with the strength that comes in hear- 
 ing. 
 
 But Christ also comes through the sacramental 
 or visible Word. ' '■Know ye not that as many of 
 you as were baptized into fesus Chtist were bap- 
 tized into His death ? " ' { For as many of you as 
 have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.^'' 
 This sacramental Word concerning which Paul, 
 who everywhere speaks of it in such strong terms 
 
228 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 as a positive bearer of Grace, must have instructed 
 her in his discourse, Lydia also desired. Paul ad- 
 ministered to her then and there this Divine means 
 of Grace. Through it her heart was still more 
 fully opened, and Christ was brought more fully 
 into that heart; and thus Lydia was converted. 
 
 We might here refer to the question in passing, 
 Why are the individual baptisms mentioned in the 
 New Testament all those of adults, and why is 
 there no distinct and specific mention of infant 
 baptisms? Waiving here the question of the four 
 family baptisms that we have recorded, besides 
 four others that we can legitimately infer, we 
 answer as follows: First. The labors of the apostles 
 were missionary labors, and not the labors of settled 
 pastors in well established congregations. As 
 missionaries, they had to begin with the parents 
 and adults. When these were converted they were 
 baptized, and if parents, their households. The 
 same procedure is necessarily followed by our mis- 
 sionaries at the present day. Their first baptisms 
 are adult baptisms. They would not baptize the 
 children while under the control of heathen or un- 
 believing parents. It would be as legitimate to 
 infer and try to prove that our missionaries do not 
 believe in infant baptism because they report 
 
CONVERSION OF LYDIA. 229 
 
 annually so many adult baptisms, as to conclude 
 that the apostles disbelieved in infant baptism 
 because we have the record of their adult baptisms. 
 Secondly. And this is an important point. Even 
 if we should grant — as we by no means do — that 
 there is no account of infant baptisms in the Bible, 
 where is there a single instance of the baptism of 
 an adult who had grown up in a Christian house- 
 hold? Such an instance would be parallel to the 
 adult baptisms in the Baptist church of to-day. 
 But there is none. Every single adult baptism 
 mentioned is that of a convert from Judaism or 
 heathenism. Such adult baptism we also practice. 
 But why is there no instance of the baptism of one 
 grown up in a believing family? It was more 
 than thirty years from the death of Christ to the 
 death of Paul — plenty of time for the children of 
 his first converts to become adults. Were they 
 baptized? When? The record tells us that when 
 parents were converted and baptized, their house- 
 holds were baptized. Bengel pertinently asks: 
 ' ( Who can believe that in so many families there 
 was no infant? And that the Jews who were wont 
 to circumcise, and the Gentiles who purified them 
 by washings, did not also present them for bap- 
 tism?" No, no; the idea of excluding children 
 
230 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 from the covenant blessings is contradictory to the 
 whole scheme of redemption and to the inmost 
 spirit of the Gospel. God Himself ordained infant 
 membership in His church. He alone has the 
 right to revoke it. He has never done so, there- 
 fore it stands. Infants had a place in the old 
 covenant. The new is not narrower but wider. 
 The promise was to Lydia and to her children, if 
 she had any. Her household was baptized. 
 
 We notice briefly in conclusion, The Fruits of 
 Lydia's Conversion. The first fair fruit of that 
 change of heart, was a change in her home. It 
 became henceforth only really worthy of that 
 sacred name, home. A Christian home is a type 
 of heaven. Outside of a sanctuary of the Most 
 High, there is no spot on earth more happy, holy 
 and heavenly, than a Christian home. There is a 
 "church in the house." There the religion of the 
 blessed Saviour permeates the whole atmosphere. 
 There the Word of God dwells richly. There are 
 altars of prayer, and closets for prayer. There 
 Jesus is a daily and well-known Guest. There the 
 children, baptized into Christ, are nourished with 
 the sincere milk of the Word, and grow thereby. 
 In such a home, parents and children, all children 
 of one Father, kneel at one altar, with the same 
 
CONVERSION OF LYDIA. 23 1 
 
 trust, the same love, the same hope, the same 
 Lord. 
 
 The religion that God ordained in the old cove- 
 nant was essentially a family religion. The relig- 
 ion of the new covenant is the same. Where father 
 or mother are converted, one of the fruits of that 
 conversion is a change in the home life. Such was 
 one of the fruits of Lydia's conversion. 
 
 Another fruit of that conversion was that she at 
 once began to cultivate a true Christian hospitality. 
 This also was a New Testament fruit from an Old 
 Testament seed. Hospitality was practiced by the 
 patriarchs and saints of old. They were not for- 
 getful to entertain strangers, and thereby some had 
 entertained angels unawares. This Christian grace 
 Lydia now cultivated. 
 
 Luke, one of the four missionaries, writes: "She 
 besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be 
 faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide 
 there. And she constrained us." She took in the 
 four missionaries. She entertained and provided 
 for them while they were in the city. She freely, 
 of her substance, ministered to their necessities. 
 
 And what a gain it must have been to her! She 
 furnished the missionaries a home and meat and 
 drink. They gave to her the bread and water of 
 
232 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 life, and thus nourished her for life eternal in the 
 heavenly home. Thus was she further instructed 
 and strengthened in the new life. Thus was she 
 more and more sanctified through the truth of God's 
 Word. 
 
 And this was the beginning of the evangeliza- 
 tion of Europe. Here is encouragement for mis- 
 sionaries and ministers. Here is inspiration for 
 laborers in new and hard fields. Here is hope for 
 small congregations. Let ministers be faithful 
 like Paul, let converts be true and devoted like 
 Lydia, and the Word will grow and multiply. 
 
SERMON XV. 
 
 THE CONVERSION OF THE PHILIPPIAN 
 JAILOR. 
 
 Acts xvi. 25-34. 
 
Ads xvi. 25-34. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and 
 sang praises unto God : and the prisoners heard them. 
 
 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the found- 
 ations of the prison were shaken : and immediately all the 
 doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed. 
 
 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and 
 seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would 
 have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. 
 
 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: 
 for we are all here. 
 
 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, 
 and fell down before Paul and Silas, 
 
 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be 
 saved? 
 
 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 
 shalt be saved, and thy house. 
 
 And they spake unto him the Word of the Lord, and to all 
 that were in his house. 
 
 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed 
 their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. 
 
 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat 
 before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. 
 
SERMON XV. 
 
 AFTER the Gospel had gained its first foot-hold 
 in Europe through Paul's speaking the Word to a 
 few devout women, gathered for prayer at the river 
 side, just outside of Philippi, the house of Lydia, 
 the first European convert, became the headquar- 
 ters of the new cause. Paul and Silas and Timothy 
 and Luke made that house their home during their 
 stay in the city. For many days they prosecuted 
 their work with peace and prosperity. They still 
 preached to and prayed with the people who met 
 at that river side. 
 
 But trouble soon arose. The kingdom of God 
 cannot be built without opposition from the king- 
 dom of darkness. The prince of this world would 
 not stand idly by and see the Gospel gain a perma- 
 nent footing in Europe. His ingenuity and power 
 must be employed to kill this new life in its be- 
 ginning. The devil uses many and various means. 
 He is fertile in resources. He is cunning, crafty 
 and full of guile. 
 
 At Paphos he had withstood and fought against 
 (235) 
 
236 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 Paul openly. Paul had met, resisted and routed 
 him. At Philippi he tries a new plan. He had 
 failed to frighten as a roaring lion. He will now 
 flatter as an angel of light. 
 
 For many days a certain damsel possessed with 
 a spirit of divination, i. <?., an evil spirit by which 
 she charmed, told fortunes and astounded the peo- 
 ple, followed the apostles. In the hearing of the 
 people who gathered to hear the apostles, she con- 
 tinually uttered this remarkable cry: "These men 
 are the servants of the most high God, which show 
 tmto us the way of salvation!" Noble words! 
 Blessed testimony ! 
 
 But why should an evil spirit utter such senti- 
 ments ? It may have been from constraint. The 
 evil spirit may have recognized in that Christ, 
 whom these servants of the most high God 
 preached, their Master and Judge. Like the de- 
 moniac of our Saviour's time, who cried out in 
 terror before Him, and confessed Him to be the 
 Christ the Son of the Living God, and acknowl- 
 edged that He would one day torment them as 
 their judge; so the evil spirit in this poor maiden 
 may have cried out and confessed in terror. 
 
 But it may also be that this evil spirit offered the 
 Apostles his help and co-operation. It may be that 
 
THE PHILIPPIAN JAILOR. 237 
 
 it was his dark design to help along the preachers, 
 to preach the Gospel himself, in order to draw them 
 into a league with himself, and afterwards easily 
 overthrow their whole work. No doubt he has in 
 this way beguiled and ruined many a Gospel min- 
 ister and many a congregation. 
 
 But, whatever may have been the motive of that 
 cry, Paul would no more accept testimony to the 
 truth or any kind of help from the devil, than 
 would Christ his Master. "Paul, being grieved, 
 turned and said to the spirit, I command thee, in the 
 name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her. And he 
 came out the same hour. ' ' 
 
 Now this damsel was a slave girl. She was the 
 property of her masters. They had been making 
 money out of her soothsaying and divining. They 
 saw that the hope of their gains was gone. They 
 loudly and vehemently accused the Apostles before 
 the magistrates as law-breakers and disturbers of 
 the public peace. Pretending to act in the interest 
 of law and order, they inflamed the multitude and 
 the magistrates against the preachers. Mob law 
 was invoked. Without trial or sentence the Apos- 
 tles were scourged, thrown into the inner prison or 
 dungeon, their feet fastened in the stocks, a kind 
 of a foot-rack, forcing the feet apart and holding 
 
238 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 them in a vise-like grip. And thus with bruised 
 and bleeding flesh, quivering with pain, without 
 light or air, or food or drink, were the sufferers left 
 for the night. What a night was before them! 
 Little did they know that it was to be a night of 
 triumph and conquest for them. And yet, so it 
 turned out. It witnessed the jailor* s conversion. 
 
 In studying that remarkable conversion, we look 
 first at the jailor himself, and his environment. 
 
 We know little about him as a man. Of his 
 former life we know nothing. We only know that 
 he was a heathen in that corrupt and cruel age. 
 
 His office was a menial one. Even now it is the 
 exception to find a refined and humane person oc- 
 cupying the position of jailor. 
 
 But prison life and rule is vastly different from 
 what it was in the dark days of heathenism. The 
 religion of Jesus Christ has thrown its softening, 
 sympathizing, and refining influences even into the 
 gloom and degradation of prison life. There is 
 still much room for improvement. Christian prin- 
 ciples do not always prevail in so-called Christian 
 cities. There is too much heathenism in too many 
 hearts and lives. But, with all this, it is vastly 
 better than it was. And even where Christian 
 principles are professedly disbelieved, their in- 
 fluence makes itself felt. 
 
THE PHIUPPIAN JAILOR. 239 
 
 In the days of Rome's declining glory, as a rule, 
 the low, corrupt and heartless were selected as 
 jailors. Even if upright and humane before, the 
 exercise of their office would tend to degrade 
 them. They worked and lived with the vile and 
 abandoned. Day by day they would see scenes of 
 degradation and brutality. They were compelled 
 to hear profanity and vulgarity. They would be 
 exasperated by the conduct of those under their 
 care. They were compelled to be inhuman and 
 cruel. If not naturally without feeling and hard- 
 hearted, they would perforce become more and 
 more so. To this class the Philippian belonged. 
 Such were his occupation and associations. Surely 
 all these things were against him. 
 
 His environment gave little promise of a better 
 life. He would be considered a rather hopeless 
 subject on which to expend missionary effort. It 
 is not the least of the glories of the young Church 
 that she won so many of her converts from the 
 ranks of those who seemed to be in every way pre- 
 disposed to wickedness and unbelief. It is no 
 small testimony to the power of the Gospel that it 
 can and in every age does reach, convert, and 
 entirely change the hearts and lives of such per- 
 sons. 
 
240 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 We desire to notice secondly, that conversion 
 itself. In studying this it is well to notice what 
 preceded it and likely prepared the way. We re- 
 call the significant cry of the possessed damsel: 
 ' ' These men are the servants of the most high God, 
 which show unto us the way of salvation.''' 1 This 
 cry had been publicly uttered for many days, by 
 one notorious in the city. Quite naturally it be- 
 came the talk of the town. The jailor also would 
 hear about it Questions would be asked, "Who 
 is that most high God?" "What is that salvation, 
 and what that way which these strange messengers 
 proclaim ? ' ' 
 
 Paul had, by a word in the name of Him whom 
 they preached, driven out the spirit. The girl 
 had become quiet and rational. What did it all 
 mean? 
 
 The principal preachers of this new way of salva- 
 tion had been rudely and illegally arrested, dragged 
 before the city magistrates, condemned without a 
 trial, stripped of their clothing and cruelly beaten 
 with rods. Under all this abuse and torture it 
 seems that the victims uttered no word of complaint 
 or malediction. 
 
 Faint and bruised and bleeding, they were given 
 into the custody of the jailor, who, it seems, wit- 
 
THE PHILIPPIAN JAILOR. 241 
 
 nessed the whole violent procedure. He was 
 charged to keep them safely. When he violently 
 thrust them into the inner prison and made their 
 feet fast in the cruel stocks, they did not curse 
 him, as he probably expected. Their whole de- 
 meanor must have impressed him deeply. He had 
 never handled such prisoners before. 
 
 Leaving them thus in their misery and agony, 
 the jailor went to bed. Now, if the man had any 
 thought and feeling at all, what would be more 
 natural than that he should lie down thinking of 
 these strange men, their strange conduct and their 
 strange work in the city? And so he went to 
 sleep with strange and new thoughts and feelings. 
 And in that sleep, perchance a restless, dreamy 
 sleep, what dreams he may have had! Judging 
 from the sequel, we believe that prevenient Grace 
 was at work. He was being prepared for conver- 
 sion. In a tragic and dramatic way was that 
 conversion brought to a crisis. 
 
 The two notable prisoners meanwhile were sit- 
 ting and suffering through the weary hours. And 
 how did they beguile away the long tedium of the 
 night? "At midnight Paul and Silas prayed and 
 sang praises unto God." The prisoners heard 
 them. Never before, we opine, had such sounds 
 
242 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 been heard in that place. Those cells and corridors 
 were wont to resound with curses and maledictions. 
 If ever the voice of song had been heard there, it 
 must have been the maudlin mutterings of the 
 ribald wretch. And now the music that rises and 
 swells through those sad and gloomy cells, at that 
 midnight hour, is a song of prayer and praise to 
 the most high God. 
 
 And while their God is giving to these martyrs 
 songs in the night, another strange event occurs, 
 no doubt as an answer to those midnight prayers 
 and praises. The foundations of the old prison 
 begin to tremble and the walls begin to rock. So 
 violent becomes the earthquake that the chains are 
 loosed from the prisoners, the stocks fly from 
 their feet, and the doors stand wide open! Did 
 they stop singing? We believe not. Why should 
 they, when they recognized heaven's amen to their 
 devotions? 
 
 The jailor is startled from his fitful slumbers. 
 He springs up frightened and almost frenzied. If 
 the singing is still going on, he neither hears nor 
 heeds. He sees the open doors. He believes the 
 prisoners are fled. He knows his life will have to 
 answer for their escape. Roman-like, he decides 
 on suicide. He draws his sword — but is arrested. 
 
THE PHIUPPIAN JAILOR. 243 
 
 Paul sees or hears what is going on. He calls out 
 in a clear tone, " Do thyself no harm.''' 1 How 
 much is in these words! They proclaim the whole 
 aim and object of the Gospel. It is the intent and! 
 purpose of this blessed Gospel of the Son of God to< 
 keep mankind from self-inflicted harm and ruin. 
 He who is harmed and ruined is so by his own' 
 hand. Whoever perishes under the sound or in 
 reach of the Gospel, is a spiritual suicide. 
 
 " We are all here.' 1 ' 1 We, servants of the most 
 high God, would not fly, because we are under our 
 God's protection, and fear not what man may do 
 unto us. The other prisoners heard our prayers 
 and praises. They see the answer. They desire 
 to remain with us. The language of their hearts 
 is ' ' Thy God shall be my God. ' ' And so we are all 
 here. The jailor saw the influence and power of 
 these servants of the most high God. 
 
 And now he recalled again that momentous cry 
 of the sooth-saying damsel. What did she say? 
 Who are these men? "Servants of the most high 
 God." And how were they treated? And how 
 did they bear it? They did neither abuse nor curse 
 me. Didn't I hear them singing? And they keep 
 all these prisoners here, though the doors are 
 wide open. Oh yes! They must be messengers of 
 
244 N EW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 the Most High. And what am I over against these 
 men? How have I ill-treated them? How have 
 they suffered at my hands ? What a wretch I am ! 
 Their God sent this earthquake. He will take 
 vengeance on me. Whither shall I fly ? But hold ! 
 What did that girl say? " They show unto us the 
 zvay of salvation." Is there a way to be saved? 
 Would that I knew it. I'll ask them: "Sirs, what 
 must I do to be saved f I am lost. I want to be 
 saved, if I only knew how. Tell me. What 
 must I do? I'll do anything. 
 
 Thus, we judge, was conviction doing its work 
 in his heart. Paul answered that anxious and 
 momentous question. How brief his answer! And 
 yet how full! Does it not contain the very marrow 
 of the Gospel ? What is the theme and import of 
 the Gospel? Is it not this? Man is a poor lost 
 and condemned sinner.* Jesus Christ came into the 
 world to save sinners. He offers Himself through 
 His Word and sacraments. Wherever thus offered, 
 the one great fundamental, all-conditioning and 
 damning sin, is unbelief. The one underlying, 
 all-conditioning condition of being saved is faith in 
 Christ. And all this is embraced in Paul's answer. 
 And then Paul goes on and speaks to him and his 
 whole household the Word of the Lord. 
 
THE PHILIPPIAN JAILOR. 245 
 
 He thus leads that now turning inquirer on into 
 the full light of trust and assurance. Taking his 
 own brief answer to the jailor for a text, he would 
 naturally go on and instruct him further. He 
 would instruct him about the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 His coming, His person and work. He would ex- 
 plain the benefits that flow from that atoning work. 
 He would show how the Holy Spirit applies those 
 benefits through the Word and Sacraments. How 
 that by these repentance is wrought, faith begotten, 
 and Grace imparted. Thus would he show to the 
 inquirers the way of salvation. In pointing out the 
 way, he would be leading the hearers into that 
 way. In learning about Christ, the Word would 
 enable those who rightly heard, to know Christ 
 and the fellowship of His suffering, and the power 
 of His resurrection. And here indeed is one of the 
 chief glories of the Word of God. It not only tells 
 about salvation, but in its words it is able to save 
 the soul. 
 
 Paul believed strongly in the Sacraments. He 
 had such implicit faith in Christ, that he had faith 
 in everything that comes from the hands of Christ. 
 
 In his writings he lays great store by baptism, 
 and calls it ' ' the washing of regeneration, and re- 
 newing of the Holy Ghost." 
 
246 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 He would naturally instruct the jailor and his 
 household as to the nature and benefits of this holy 
 sacrament. They accepted the instruction. u He 
 was baptized, he- and his, straightway.'''' 
 
 And thus was the jailor converted. In his con- 
 version we can clearly trace the two component 
 elements, penitence and faith. His trepidation, 
 prostration and anxious cry show a deep-felt ab- 
 horrence of self and sin. His desire to be saved 
 implies a confession of being lost and being help- 
 less. His penitence was deep and heart-felt. It 
 emerged into faith. With longing heart he listened 
 to the Word of the Lord. As he listened he was 
 drawn. His heart was more fully opened. He 
 believed. 
 
 Faith came by hearing, and hearing by the Word 
 of God. It was a peculiar, and in some respects an 
 extraordinary conversion. It was sudden and 
 strongly marked. There was something of a 
 miraculous agency in it. It was in part hastened 
 by an earthquake. It will not do to take it for a 
 general model. Those who want to be converted 
 just as the jailor was, must needs have an earth- 
 quake accompaniment. Those who wish to be 
 converted exactly as Paul was, must have a flash 
 of blinding light from the sky, an audible voice, 
 
THE PHIUPPIAN JAILOR. 247 
 
 and a visible appearance of Jesus. These are ex- 
 traordinary and miraculous features. They were 
 only accompaniments. They did not carry con- 
 verting power. That was carried in both cases, as 
 it is in every case, by the living Word of God. 
 
 The jailor's also was an unusual case. He was 
 an uncultured man. The animal naturally pre- 
 dominated over the intellectual. He would be 
 influenced more strongly by feeling than by judg- 
 ment, and this would have a tendency to make the 
 change more or less violent in its manifestations. 
 Again, the contrast between his former life and the 
 new life would be much greater than in the case of 
 Ivydia. This also would tend to make his a 
 strongly marked conversion. 
 
 There are sudden and strongly marked conver- 
 sions still. But it will not do to make them the 
 rule. They ought to be exceptions in the Church. 
 It is better to grow up like Timothy than to be 
 converted like Paul. It is far better to be filled 
 with the Holy Ghost from the womb than to be 
 converted like the jailor. Inside of the Church the 
 Samuels and Jeremiahs and Johns and Timothys 
 ought to be the rule, and the Sauls and jailors the 
 exception. And if the Church had not drifted 
 away from the old scriptural doctrine of baptismal 
 
248 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 Grace and a baptismal covenant, such would still be 
 the case. May the Lord help us to "stand in the 
 ways and see, atid ask for the old paths, where is 
 the good way, and walk therein. ' ' 
 
 We can only refer briefly to the fruits of the 
 jailor's conversion: 
 
 We notice first, that here, as in Lvdia's case, he 
 was baptized and all his. It was another house- 
 hold baptism. The conversion of the head of the 
 house brought the religion of Christ into the 
 family. This is a blessed fruit of a true conver- 
 sion. Let the heart of father or mother be 
 changed, and the home will be changed. We 
 know of a young man who said with bitterness, 
 "Yes, my father can pray at prayer-meeting, but 
 I never heard him pray at home." We doubted 
 that father's religion. "Let them learn first to 
 show piety at home." When Zaccheus was con- 
 verted, salvation came to his house. So to the 
 jailor's. 
 
 A second fruit. He rejoiced, believing with his 
 whole house. Faith brings joy into the heart and 
 into the home. There is no joy like the Chris- 
 tian's joy. It banishes long faces, and heavy 
 hearts, and complaining lips. It enables Paul and 
 Silas to sing with glad hearts, though their backs 
 
THE PHILIPPIAN JAILOR. 249 
 
 are swollen and torn, and their feet are fast in the 
 stocks. It brings a new joy into the heart of the 
 formerly rough jailor, and his home becomes radi- 
 ant with gladness. True, abiding joy is a fruit of 
 true conversion. 
 
 Again: That formerly cruel man became merci- 
 ful. He took those prisoners that same hour of the 
 night and washed their stripes. Surely he had 
 never done this before ! 
 
 He had screwed the ankles of these men into the 
 cruel stocks, and left them in their pain and 
 anguish, a few hours ago. Now he gently, with 
 his own hands, bathes the cuts and bruises, and al- 
 lays their burning. What a change was here! 
 He had obtained mercy, and he willingly exercises 
 mercy. 
 
 The spirit of Christ is a spirit of mercy and 
 good-will. It feeds the hungry and clothes the 
 naked, and ministers to the sick and imprisoned. 
 It does it in Jesus' name and for Jesus > sake. The 
 world knew nothing of mercy to unfortunates and 
 prisoners till it learned to know Christ. The ex- 
 ercise of mercy, pure and disinterested, is a fruit of 
 conversion. 
 
 And finally, he showed hospitality. He brought 
 the prisoners into his house and set meat before 
 
25O NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 them. Think of a Roman jailor spreading his own 
 table in the night, and inviting his prisoners to sit 
 down and partake of his meat! Surely such a 
 thing had never been heard of before. He had left 
 those two prisoners in the evening in their agony 
 and fever without even a drink of water. Now he 
 spreads a table for them in his own house. Here 
 was a change. The change of heart made the 
 change of life. His conversion made him hospita- 
 ble and liberal. It opened not only his heart but 
 his home, his hand and his store. A blessed fruit 
 of conversion. 
 
 Reader, are you converted? The question is not 
 when, or where, or how; but are you now in a 
 converted state? Have you now in your heart the 
 elements of the new life? Do you hate, flee from, 
 and mourn over sin? Do you constantly turn to 
 the Lord Jesus Christ as your only Saviour and 
 Redeemer? Do you believe? Do you rejoice believ- 
 ing? Does your religion show itself in your home 
 life? Are you merciful? Are you liberal and hos- 
 pitable? "Examine yourself, whether you be in the 
 faith: prove your own self'' 
 
SERMON XVI, 
 
 A. SPURIOUS CONVERSION. 
 
 Acts. viii. 9-14, and 18-25. 
 
Acts viii. 9-14, and 18-25. But there was a certain man 
 called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery 
 and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself 
 was some great one : 
 
 To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, 
 saying, This man is the great power of God. 
 
 And to him they had regard, because that of long time he 
 had bewitched them with sorceries. 
 
 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concern- 
 ing the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they 
 were baptized, both men and women. 
 
 Then Simon himself believed also : and when he was bap- 
 tized, he continued with Philip, and wondered ; beholding the 
 miracles and signs which were done. 
 
 And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' 
 hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, say- 
 ing, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands 
 he may receive the Holy Ghost. 
 
 But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, be- 
 cause thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased 
 with money. 
 
 Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter. For thy heart 
 is not right in the sight of God. 
 
 Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if 
 perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. 
 
 For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in 
 the bond of iniquity. 
 
 Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, 
 that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon 
 me. 
 
SERMON XVI. 
 
 AFTER the martyrdom of Stephen, the persecu- 
 tion raged fiercely against the young Church. 
 That Church was now receiving its first baptism 
 of blood. The blood of the martyr Stephen proved 
 a prolific seed of the Church. The disciples, with 
 the exception of the twelve Apostles, one of whom 
 soon became a martyr also, were scattered abroad 
 throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. 
 They went everywhere, preaching the Word. 
 Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and 
 preached Christ unto them. His success was 
 wonderful. The people with one accord gave heed 
 unto those things which Philip spoke, hearing and 
 seeifig the miracles which he did. Philip gathered in 
 a great harvest, and there was great joy in that city. 
 
 But even there the enemy sowed tares among the 
 wheat, and the Gospel net gathered in of fishes both 
 bad and good. Simon the sorcerer had for a long 
 time practiced the black art of sorcery among those 
 rude and ignorant people. Man, even in the dark- 
 ness of heathenism, feels that he is related to a 
 higher world. He must believe something. He 
 (253) 
 
254 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 believes in and fears the unseen powers of an un- 
 seen world. This intuitive faith in the unseen, has 
 always been utilized by imposters. They delude 
 the ignorant and superstitious either by mere pre- 
 tensions and juggleries, or receive aid in their 
 sorceries from the father of lies, who is the prince 
 of the powers of the air, and worketh hitherto in the 
 children of disobedience, 
 
 Simon was one of these practitioners of the black 
 art. He gave out that himself was some great one. 
 He taught or encouraged the people to regard him 
 as a sort of an incarnation, as the great power of 
 God. 
 
 But when Philip came, preaching Christ and the 
 things pertaining to the kingdom of God, Simon's 
 former followers resorted to the evangelist, heard 
 him gladly, and believed the Gospel which he 
 preached. Simon, forsaken of his admirers, also 
 came and heard the Word' and saw the miracles 
 that were wrought in the name of Jesus. He was 
 astonished and professed conversion. The sequel 
 shows that his was a spurious conversion. The ac- 
 count of it was no doubt written for our warning. 
 We do well therefore to learn and take to heart its 
 lessons. 
 
 We notice first his profession. He came and 
 
A SPURIOUS CONVERSION. 255 
 
 listened to the preaching of Philip. He heard the 
 plain and earnest Gospel message concerning Christ 
 and His kingdom. Wherever this pure old Gospel 
 is preached there is a wonderful charm and effect- 
 iveness about it. Simon no doubt felt himself 
 drawn by its mysterious influence. That influence 
 would make itself even more felt by winning a 
 multitude of converts. So it is still. That old 
 Gospel has not lost its power. It still interests and 
 influences and moves the children of men. Even 
 those who come to its preaching at first from 
 curiosity are soon made to feel its mysterious mov- 
 ings. Philip accompanied the preaching of Christ 
 with miracles wrought in His name. This as- 
 tonished Simon still more. Who was this Christ, 
 in whose name such mighty deeds could be done? 
 Simon was persuaded that this Christ must be some 
 great One. He was ready to believe in Him as a 
 being possessing miraculous power. He professed 
 to believe all that Philip said. He admitted that 
 it must be historically true. He believed what was 
 said about Christ, in the same sense in which he 
 might have believed some orator setting forth the 
 wonderful achievements of Alexander the Great or 
 Julius Caesar. It was an intellectual credence, a 
 historic assent, Only this, and nothing more. 
 
256 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 So it ever has been and so it is with multitudes 
 of hearers still. They admit the truth of the Bible. 
 They accept its facts and teachings just as they 
 accept the contents of a biography of George 
 Washington or Abraham Lincoln. They yield it 
 a historic credence, and nothing more. 
 
 Simon went a step further. He not only gave 
 credence to what he heard about Christ, but he 
 publicly confessed his belief. We know from the 
 record of the Acts that no adult was permitted to 
 be baptized without making a profession of faith. 
 Only on making such a profession were converts 
 baptized and received into the communicant mem- 
 bership of the Church. Simon offered himself for 
 baptism. He was accepted, and became a full 
 member of the young Church at Samaria. 
 
 Philip was not omniscient. He could not see 
 the heart. He could only hear the profession. On 
 that he baptized Simon and admitted him into the 
 congregation. 
 
 The apostles had likewise admitted Ananias and 
 Sapphira into the congregation at Jerusalem. 
 Now if inspired apostles and evangelists were thus 
 imposed on by the insincere, why should it be 
 thought a strange thing that such is still the case? 
 The Church does not want it so. She does not 
 
A SPURIOUS CONVERSION. 257 
 
 encourage hypocrisy. If she did, then it would be 
 fair to lay the blame on her. But as long as she 
 faithfully protests against all insincerity and 
 hypocrisy, as long as she earnestly warns against all 
 sin, and shows the judgment of God against all 
 such conduct, her skirts are clear, and it is the 
 grossest injustice to hold these things up as a re- 
 proach on her fair name. 
 
 Wherever there is a pastor and congregation 
 who encourage or even connive at a false profes- 
 sion, let them be held responsible. 
 
 We notice secondly the serious defects in Simon's 
 case. 
 
 From the whole account it is clear that his heart 
 remained in the world and still clung to the treas- 
 ures of earth. 
 
 It is expected of every one who desires to become 
 a follower of Christ, that he be willing to deny 
 himself and take up his cross and follow Him. He 
 who truly comes to Christ, in that very act re- 
 nounces, gives up and sacrifices his former self- 
 pleasing. His coming implies that instead of say- 
 ing as theretofore, "What do / feel like doing?" 
 he will henceforth say, "Lord, what wilt thou have 
 me to do?" 
 
 Simon's idea was the very opposite of this. 
 
258 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 When he saw Philip working miracles he longed 
 to have this power also. When Peter and John 
 came, and by the laying on of their hands imparted 
 the gift to work miracles to certain persons, 
 Simon wanted this apostolic power also. 
 
 Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay 
 hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. This was 
 his request, and for the granting of it he was will- 
 ing to pay. 
 
 Why did he want this power? Evidently that 
 he might use it as he used his sorceries in former 
 times. The people had paid him liberally for his 
 deeds of magic. Here was something that trans- 
 cended all his pretended powers. If he could ac- 
 quire this feat, what a name it would give him! 
 How he would then astound the multitudes far be- 
 yond those former days! And what money it 
 would bring in! Everybody would be willing to 
 pay for such an endowment from his hands! It 
 would prove a bonanza, and make him a rich and 
 renowned man! Yes, Simon had come into the 
 Church, and now he wanted to make his Church 
 membership pay. 
 
 It is a humilitating fact that Simon has had 
 multitudes of followers. There are many who still 
 come into the Church for worldly advantage. 
 
A SPURIOUS CONVERSION. 259 
 
 Persons come into a new community. They visit 
 and investigate the different churches in the place. 
 For what purpose ? Is it to find out where the 
 Word of God is preached in its greatest purity, and 
 where the sacraments are administered in accord- 
 ance with the Word? This should be the motive. 
 But, alas! these people are not looking for a spirit- 
 ual home. They are not seeking truth. They are 
 not in search of nourishment for the spiritual man. 
 They are after earthly gain. They want to find 
 out where the best society people go. They want 
 social standing and advantage for themselves or 
 their families. Where they find fashion, and tone, 
 and popularity, there they will worship — popular 
 favor! 
 
 Or, they are ambitious. They want to rise in 
 the world. They desire a name and a fame. 
 They would like to have a political office. Perhaps 
 they can get it through the Church! In which 
 church can they win the most influence, and gain 
 the most votes? That shall be their church. 
 There they will make profession — of a lie! 
 
 Or, they have an eye to business. They want 
 customers for their wares. Which church will 
 furnish the most? The writer knows of a com- 
 mercial firm of four brothers: each one belongs to 
 
26o NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 the leading church of a different denomination. 
 Rumor says the object is to draw trade from all the 
 denominations. Such persons are often quite 
 liberal. They ostentatiously give large sums of 
 money, because they believe it a good investment. 
 They are the followers of Simon Magus. Godliness 
 is gain with them. They are in the Church to 
 bow down to mammon! 
 
 Now all such persons have a name to live, while 
 they are dead. They have a form of godliness, but 
 know nothing of its power. They may have wit- 
 nessed a good confession before many witnesses. 
 They may have used the sacraments and heard the 
 Word. But they are unconverted Church members. 
 
 Such was Simon. Peter tells him that he is 
 still in the gall of bitterness. His heart was still 
 so full of sin, unrepented of and unforgiven, that it 
 was like the overflowing of bitter gall. 
 
 He is still in the bond of iniquity. Iniquity 
 fetters him like a bond. His spirit is bound with 
 it as with a chain. He has the old deceitful and 
 stony heart. It has not been softened by contri- 
 tion. It has not been purified through faith. Even 
 that semblance of repentance which he shows after 
 Peter's scathing rebuke and denunciation, bears 
 the mark of spuriousness on its face. He cries 
 
A SPURIOUS CONVERSION. 261 
 
 out cravenly: "Pray ye to the Lord for me, that 
 none of these things which ye have spoken come upon 
 me." Peter had exhorted him to pray. He says: 
 "Pray ye for me." Ah yes, it is easy to ask for 
 the prayers of the Church — any one can do that. 
 It is no sure evidence of the workings of Grace. 
 Peter had urged him to pray for forgiveness. He 
 begs them to pray for removal of punishment. 
 And who does not want punishment to be turned 
 aside? Who does not desire immunity from suf- 
 fering? It requires no Grace in the heart to want 
 to be kept out of hell. Peter had assured him that 
 his heart was not right in the sight of God. He 
 makes no mention of a desire of a change of heart, 
 but only that he may be safe against impending 
 calamity. We can find neither penitence, nor 
 faith, nor prayer in his response. It is only an 
 abject cry of fear. 
 
 And oh, how sad is the fate which Peter pro- 
 nounces upon this spurious convert! It is the fate 
 of every Church member who is living in an un- 
 converted state. Thou hast neither part nor lot in 
 this matter. 
 
 Thou didst desire the miraculous and extraordi- 
 nary gifts of the Spirit. Thou lackest even His 
 ordinary influences. Thou hast not even per- 
 
262 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 mitted that Spirit to come through Word or sacra- 
 ment to regenerate thy heart. 
 
 Thou knowest not even His renewing and sanc- 
 tifying operations. Thou hast no part or lot at all 
 in the Holy Ghost. Thou art an utter stranger to 
 His life-giving and saving efficacy. Thou hast 
 neither part nor lot in the forgiveness of sins, 
 neither part nor lot in the kingdom of God. No 
 part in Christ. No part in His purchased Redemp- 
 tion. No place in heaven. Ah, Simon, Simon! 
 Thou mayest have many other things. But what 
 shall it profit? Will thy other possessions help 
 thee in the hour and article of death? Can they 
 shield and save thee in the day of judgment? 
 
 Reader, have you a part and a lot in the redemp- 
 tion that is in Christ Jesus? Your name may be 
 on the Church-roll. But is it in the Book of Life? 
 You may regularly hear and read the Word. But 
 is it to you a savor of life unto life? If not, it is a 
 savor of death unto death. You go regularly to the 
 Lord's table. But do you find that Chris? s flesh 
 is meat indeed, and that His blood is drink indeed? 
 Or do you come unprepared, with impenitent and 
 unbelieving heart, and thus eat and drink judg- 
 ment to yourself ? Have you a real, conscious, liv- 
 ing and blessed part and lot in Christ? 
 
SERMON XVII. 
 
 ALMOST CONVERTED. 
 
 Acts xxiv. 24, 25. 
 
Acts xxiv. 24, 23. And after certain days, when Felix came 
 with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, 
 and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. 
 
 And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judg- 
 ment to come, Felix trembled and answered, Go thy way for 
 this time ; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. 
 
SERMON XVII. 
 
 The Apostle Paul had been down to the city of 
 Jerusalem. He had carried down money for the 
 poor saints in that city, collected from the 
 churches in Macedonia. It was the time of the 
 Feast of Pentecost. Paul always kept these old 
 festivals in their new spirit and significance. 
 While worshipping in the temple he had been 
 recognized by certain Asiatic Jews. These were 
 carnally minded fellows, who had heard Paul 
 preach in their own home, and had taken umbrage 
 at his doctrine, and at him for preaching it. They 
 became deeply enraged to see one who in their 
 eyes was such an arch-heretic in the temple during 
 the feast of Pentecost. They, therefore, "stirred 
 up all the people and laid hands on hint, crying out: 
 Men of Israel, help ! This is the man that teacheth 
 all men everywhere against the people, and the law, 
 and this place : and further brought Greeks also into 
 the temple, and hath polluted this holy place. ' ' 
 
 Paul was in imminent danger of being torn in 
 pieces by the mob, and was only rescued by the 
 quick and energetic interference of the captain of 
 (265) 
 
266 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 the guard of Roman soldiers stationed near the 
 temple. The captain guarded him and permitted 
 him to speak for himself from the steps of the 
 castle. Paul made a straightforward defence of 
 himself and his faith. The people heard him until 
 he declared that he was sent by the Lord to preach 
 unto the Gentiles. At this word the violence of 
 the mob broke out afresh, and apparently to ap- 
 pease them, the captain ordered Paul to be scourged. 
 From this indignity and torture Paul saved him- 
 self by declaring himself a Roman citizen. The 
 captain now insisted that Paul should have a fair 
 trial before the Sanhedrin, the highest court of the 
 Jews. Here again Paul pleaded his own cause. 
 The court broke up in a tumult, and the captain, 
 ' ''fearing lest Paul should have been pulled i?i pieces 
 of them, commanded the soldiers to go down and to 
 take him by force from among them, and to bring 
 him into the castled 
 
 And so Paul again escaped the lawless violence 
 of his own countrymen. Chagrined because he 
 had again escaped them, ''''certain of the Jews 
 banded themselves together, and bound themselves 
 under a curse, saying, that they would 7ieither eat 
 nor drink till they had killed Paul. " But God was 
 taking care of His servant. The conspiracy was 
 
ALMOST CONVERTED. 267 
 
 reported to the captain. He at once arranged to 
 transport Paul secretly and under a strong mili- 
 tary escort to Cesarea, that he might have a fair 
 trial before Felix, the Governor. 
 
 This Felix had been procurator of Judea for 
 about six years. Historians inform us that he had 
 been a slave, but had obtained his freedom, had 
 fought with distinction in the Roman army, and 
 through the influence of his brother Pallas, who 
 was quite a favorite at the court of the Emperor 
 Claudius, had been appointed Governor of Judea. 
 He had ruled the province in a mean, cruel, and 
 profligate manner. He had crucified hundreds of 
 turbulent Jews and false Messiahs. He had bribed 
 certain assassins to murder the High Priest Jona- 
 than. Tacitus tells us in one sentence, that "by 
 every form of cruelty and lust, he wielded the 
 power of a king in the spirit of a slave." We are 
 further told that he was the husband of three wives. 
 Drusilla, whom we meet as his wife on this occa- 
 sion, he had enticed away from her lawful husband, 
 Azizus, king of Emesa. He was therefore living 
 in open adultery with this Jewish mistress. 
 
 Before this Felix, Paul had had a hearing. It 
 seems that the dignified, manly and straightfor- 
 ward course of Paul, had, from the very beginning, 
 
268 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 made a favorable impression on the Governor. 
 But, to please the Jews, Paul was kept a prisoner, 
 though given as much liberty as possible for one in 
 custody. He was probably chained to a Roman 
 soldier, and with him was allowed to be more or 
 less at large. 
 
 Felix had probably told Drusilla about this un- 
 usual, interesting, and eloquent prisoner. She, 
 being a Jewess, and knowing something of the 
 faith of her fathers, also of that new way which 
 they called heresy, desired to see and hear this 
 prisoner preacher of Christ. To gratify her, Paul 
 was sent for and given the privilege of declaring to 
 this royal and profligate couple the faith in Christ. 
 Paul, like his Lord, was no respecter of persons. 
 He always preached the truth, and declared the 
 whole counsel of God, regardless of the fear or 
 favor of man. What a temptation to flatter! Paul 
 knew that Felix by a nod of his head could set him 
 free, and by a word could hand him over to death. 
 But he was not turned aside from a straightforward 
 course. His discourse is not given. We are 
 simply told that Felix sent for him, and heard him 
 concerning the faith in Christ. No doubt Paul 
 told him fully and plainly of that faith. And then, 
 as an application of the doctrine, as an exhortation, 
 
ALMOST CONVERTED. 269 
 
 growing out of and built on the preceding instruc- 
 tion concerning the faith, Paul reasoned of right- 
 eousness, temperance, and judgment to come. 
 
 The result of this sermon was that Felix was 
 
 ALMOST CONVERTED. 
 
 And this shall be the subject of the present dis- 
 course. To be almost converted is certainly to be 
 in a very serious and critical state. It is to be near 
 the kingdom of God, and yet not necessarily certain 
 of a place in that kingdom. 
 
 We inquire then, first of all, what does it mean 
 to be almost converted ? 
 
 It means, in the first place, that the mind has 
 been enlightened in spiritual things. So it was 
 with Felix. We read that he had a more perfect 
 knowledge — or understanding — of that way, i. e. , 
 the way that they called heresy, or the doctrines 
 preached by Paul. During the six years that he 
 had ruled among the Jews he had learned some- 
 thing of their faith. He would learn still more 
 from his Jewish wife Drusilla. Of the new way or 
 Christianity, he must also have known something. 
 It was now nearly thirty years since the resurrec- 
 tion of Jesus, the coming of the Spirit, and the 
 first preaching of the apostles. The first Gentile 
 
270 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 converts had been made eighteen years ago among 
 the troops of that very city of Cesarea. This new 
 way was therefore well known. It was every- 
 where spoken against, and therefore everywhere 
 spoken about. So Felix must have understood 
 something about it even before Paul came. And 
 now Paul had given that clear account and made 
 that masterly defense in the presence of his Jewish 
 accusers and of Felix. A second time Felix had 
 sent for Paul that he might hear further for him- 
 self and Drusilla, concerning the faith in Christ. 
 
 His mind, therefore, was enlightened. He knew 
 something about Christ and His redemption, and 
 himself as a sinner, needing that redemption. 
 And this is a vitally important step towards con- 
 version. When that scribe came to Jesus and 
 questioned Him about the law, and when Jesus saw 
 that he answered discreetly, He said unto him, 
 Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. His 
 mind was enlightened, and therefore he was near 
 the kingdom, or almost converted. 
 
 When Paul was pleading before Agrippa, he 
 appealed to Agrippa as one expert in all questions 
 and customs which are a?nong the Jews. And again, 
 " King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know 
 that thou believest." The king's mind was en- 
 
ALMOST CONVERTED. 27 1 
 
 lightened, and therefore he was almost persuaded 
 to be a Christian. And so it always is. When 
 the mind is enlightened by the Word of God; when 
 the sinner is made to understand what he is, what 
 he needs, where and how to get what he needs, 
 then there is an important step taken towards con- 
 version. But this divine illumination is not in 
 itself conversion. 
 
 A second step is when the conscience is aroused. 
 In his application of the doctrine of Christ, Paul 
 reasoned of righteousness, or uprightness, temper- 
 ance, or chastity, and judgment to come. 
 
 Before that unrighteous ruler whose reign was 
 stained with rapine and blood, Paul reasoned of 
 righteousness, right-doing, uprightness, moral char- 
 acter. And so forcibly did he reason, so directly 
 did he appeal to the conscience of his hearer, that 
 that conscience was aroused from its torpor. And 
 Felix felt, without Paul telling him : ' Hhou art the 
 man, thou art verily guilty of gross and criminal 
 unrighteousness. ' ' Unless thou seek to the right- 
 eousness of this Christ now set before thee, thou 
 art justly condemned. 
 
 Paul reasoned of temperance. The word in the 
 original means continence or chastity. Before this 
 libidinous queen and her lustful paramour, Paul 
 
272 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 reasoned of the duty and beauty of a chaste life. 
 Without Paul's pointing out their shameful 
 breaches of morality, they quailed under his words, 
 and conscience held before them their guilt. 
 
 And finally Paul reasoned of a. judgment to come. 
 Awful time! When every evil thought, every idle 
 word, and every sinful deed, shall be brought to 
 light and impartially judged. No wonder that the 
 guilty and now fully awakened conscience of Felix 
 spoke in thunder tones, and Felix trembled. Self- 
 condemned and self-convicted, he sat pale with ex- 
 citement. Surely the scales were turned. The 
 prisoner preacher had become the judge. The 
 Governor was the defendant. Alarmed and strick- 
 en, he acknowledged to himself that he was guilty. 
 When the conscience of the sinner is thus stirred 
 and alarmed, then another important step is taken 
 towards conversion. 
 
 But more than this. We believe that the heart 
 of the Governor was touched also. We believe that 
 as he saw and felt his own guilt and miser}', he 
 had some longings after deliverance and a better 
 life. If his heart had not been touched and drawn, 
 we believe he would have dismissed the Apostle in 
 anger. But he did not. He simply intimated 
 that he could bear no more now. But he wanted 
 
ALMOST CONVERTED. 273 
 
 to hear more at another time. He was so deeply 
 impressed that he wanted to think it all over. He 
 hoped at some other time to learn more and become 
 fully satisfied. 
 
 Here was a third important step. The heart was 
 moved and drawn. And when the heart is thus 
 reached and impressed, when there go up from it 
 unuttered yearnings after deliverance and righteous- 
 ness, then surely Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. 
 The sinner is almost converted. Surely, Felix was 
 in a hopeful way. The mind was enlightened. 
 The conscience was aroused. The heart was 
 moved. What lacked he yet? One other faculty 
 must be reached and changed. The will must give 
 its assent. If it does, Felix will be entirely con- 
 verted. 
 
 Before we look, however, at the obstacles that 
 often prevent an entire conversion, we inquire 
 secondly into the causes that bring the sinner thus 
 almost into the kingdom. 
 
 The prime and original cause of all such experi- 
 ences is always the Holy Spirit. He comes first to 
 the sinner. He operates through the written and 
 sacramental Word. As we have elsewhere shown, 
 the Word is His organ and instrument. Through 
 it He enlightens, convicts and draws. Through 
 13 
 
274 N] 5W TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 the Word He operated on Felix. He convinced 
 him of his own sin, of his need of another's right- 
 eousness, and of a fearful looking for of judgment 
 for all who are not clothed in the righteousness of 
 the Substitute. And wherever a sinner is thus en- 
 lightened, convinced, and drawn, it is always a 
 work of the Spirit of God. It is Divine Grace 
 reaching down to save him. And no one was ever 
 thus reached and drawn towards the kingdom of 
 God except by the Spirit through the Word. 
 
 True, God sometimes uses other influences as 
 helps to reach the sinner. He sends upon him 
 grievous affliction. He gives him over to bitter 
 losses and disappointments. He lays upon him 
 His chastening hand. Some people imagine that 
 such afflicting and- correcting dispensations convert 
 the sinner. But this is a mistake. Affliction and 
 correction carry no Divine Grace. They have no 
 renewing or sanctifying power. They are only 
 intended to drive the sinner to the Word and to 
 make him attentive thereto. They are like the 
 shepherd's crook. It cannot satisfy the hunger or 
 thirst of the sheep, but he uses it to drive them to 
 the green pastures and beside the still waters. The 
 chastenings of the Lord are not His vehicles of 
 Grace, but they drive to Word and Sacrament 
 
ALMOST CONVERTED. 275 
 
 which are. In so far, and in so far only, are they 
 helps in drawing the sinner towards the kingdom. 
 
 Again, when there is a general interest in the 
 things pertaining to the kingdom of God. When 
 others are coming to Christ. When friends, ac- 
 quaintances and neighbors are finding Him, this 
 also has a tendency to make the sinner think, 
 to draw his attention to the neglected Word, to 
 take him where that Word is preached. In the 
 days of Felix there was a deep interest in these 
 questions concerning the faith of Christ. Not only 
 in Jerusalem, but in every city where the apostles 
 had preached, no small stir was made about this 
 new way. At Cesarea, Cornelius and his house- 
 hold had long since embraced the new faith. 
 Philip, the evangelist, with his four daughters who 
 had the gift of prophecy, lived there. Other disci- 
 ples also were there. There must have been a 
 congregation, and regular services. All this may 
 also have had an influence on Felix and his Jewish 
 wife Drusilla, and induced them to send for Paul 
 to hear more of this faith in Christ. And thus did 
 Felix come to be almost converted. And thus are 
 sinners still brought near to the kingdom. 
 
 But not all who are almost converted become 
 entirely converted. They refuse to take the deci- 
 
276 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 sive step. They decline to make the final sur- 
 render. While the intellect, the conscience and 
 the heart have all become interested, the will re- 
 fuses, resists and rebels. And as long as the will 
 does not entirely surrender, no matter what the 
 knowledge, the conviction and the feelings may be, 
 there is no real conversion. The final decision 
 rests with the will. Its yielding is the decisive 
 step in conversion. 
 
 True, it is already influenced from above. When 
 the Holy Spirit has reached the understanding, the 
 conscience and the feelings of the heart, the will is 
 more or less influenced. Divine Grace is at work 
 upon it. With the help of that Grace, it can sur- 
 render, turn to Christ and accept the proffered 
 salvation. 
 
 But while it can do this only in the strength 
 given by the Holy Ghost, for no man can say that 
 Jesus is the Christ, but by the Holy Ghost, it can 
 also, without any outside assistance whatever, resist 
 and refuse. While God, therefore, always comes 
 first to man, and while man can do nothing except 
 with the help that God gives, yet the final deter- 
 mination rests with man, and on himself alone is 
 the responsibility if he is not saved. 
 
 We notice, therefore, thirdly, some of the ob- 
 
ALMOST CONVERTED. 277 
 
 stacks that keep men who are almost converted 
 from being entirely converted, or some of the in- 
 fluences that determine the will in deciding against 
 Christ. 
 
 What are some of the dreadful hindrances that 
 hold back persons who are not far from the king- 
 dom of God, and finally shut them out from that 
 kingdom? 
 
 Very often people are brought to the very door 
 of the kingdom, divine Grace has done a saving 
 work in them, they are almost and all but converted, 
 and yet they are not saved. They are kept out 
 by holding on to one sin. They have one evil 
 practice. They cherish it openly or secretly. 
 They are in love with it. They feel, when reached, 
 as described above, that it is dragging them down 
 to hell. They may even cry out in anguish on 
 account of the fearful hold it has on them. It has 
 wound its frightful coils so tightly about their life. 
 It seems burnt into the very fibre of their being. 
 They are ready to cry out in agony, ' ' Oh, wretched 
 man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body 
 of this death?" They rattle the chains of their 
 slavery, and anon they clutch and kiss them as if 
 they were cords that were drawing them to heaven. 
 The question is forced upon them, Shall I give up 
 
278 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 entirely and forever this sin? The answer is, I 
 cannot, because I will not. Angels' hands are 
 reaching down to release them. They ask, Shall 
 I yield? Shall I give np this sin? No; I will not. 
 And with a determined effort they beat back the 
 hand that is reaching down to save them. They 
 were almost in the kingdom. They might have 
 entered in. But that one sin, wilfully held on to, 
 stands like an evil spirit between them and the 
 kingdom, and shuts its gates against them. 
 
 Oh, the power of one cherished and therefore un- 
 forgiven sin ! It has kept thousands out of heaven 
 when they were almost in. Felix was almost con- 
 verted, but he would not give up his adultery 
 with Drusilla. Herod heard the Word of God 
 gladly from the Baptist's lips, and was drawn 
 towards the kingdom, but he would not restore his 
 brother Philip's wife. Judas, no doubt, had his 
 better moments and his serious impressions, and 
 felt himself drawn to the blessed Jesus. But he 
 loved money, and was unwilling to give up that 
 love. Ananias and Sapphira were drawn by the 
 apostles' preaching, and wanted a place in the 
 infant Church. But wanted to serve God and 
 mammon, and lied to the Holy Ghost. That one 
 sin kept them out of the church invisible. 
 
ALMOST CONVERTED. 279 
 
 And is it not so still? Many even in the Church 
 are cherishing some pet sin. They know it is stand- 
 ing between them and their God. They sometimes 
 weep over it, and tremble on account of it. But 
 they will not give it up. Often almost converted,, 
 they die unconverted and are lost. Others are 
 kept out of the Church, though often on the point 
 of going in and giving themselves to Christ, be- 
 cause unwilling to give up one particular sin. 
 
 Again, it may be bad company that holds such 
 persons back. Some godless person has obtained 
 a fatal influence over them. It may be more than 
 one person. They are almost persuaded to be 
 Christians. They are on the point of surrendering. 
 Suddenly the thought comes, What would that com- 
 panion say ? I would have to cut his acquaintance 
 and give up his friendship, unless I could get him 
 to go with me. No, I dread his displeasure. I am 
 afraid of his ridicule. I could never face him again. 
 I ought to be a Christian. I wish I were a Chris- 
 tian. But, for the sake of that person /'// not yield. 
 And thus these persons are under fhe fatal charm 
 of some evil companion, and rather than break 
 with that companion, they deliberately turn their 
 backs on their Redeemer, and drive away the good 
 Spirit who was striving to save them. The thought 
 
28o NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 of his associates may have had something to do 
 with holding Felix back. It may also have kept 
 him out of the kingdom of whom Jesus said, 
 "Thou art not far from the kingdom." It has 
 doubtless kept out thousands, and is doing so to-day. 
 Others again are almost converted, but when it 
 comes to the final decision they dread the sacrifices 
 they will have to make. They would like to have 
 the crown of life, but are unwilling to strive for it. 
 They love the world, its pleasures, its honors, or 
 its riches, so much that they dread giving up 
 these pursuits. They shrink from the self-denial 
 and cross-bearing which Jesus imposes. They 
 dread the burdens of discipleship. They forget 
 that the burdens which Jesus imposes are like the 
 weights of a clock, the old man's staff, or the bur- 
 dens of a bird's wing. Balaam wanted to die the 
 death of the righteous, but was not willing to give 
 up the wages of unrighteousness. The rich youth 
 wanted eternal life, but he was unwilling to tear 
 his heart from the love of his possessions. Demas 
 was a disciple and even a fellow-helper with the 
 apostles, but he forsook them, having loved this 
 present world. And so thousands forfeit eternal 
 life and the riches of heaven, because they dread 
 giving up something that affords momentary grati- 
 
ALMOST CONVERTED. 281 
 
 fication to the flesh. Almost converted sometimes, 
 they are never entirely converted, because they fear 
 the burdens, which are really no burdens to the 
 true disciple. 
 
 And finally, others are kept out of the kingdom 
 because \hzy put off their entrance to a more con- 
 venient season. Oh, what uncounted numbers are 
 to-day in hell, who were more than once almost 
 converted. They were not entirely converted be- 
 cause they said to the Spirit, "Go thy way for this 
 time ; when I have a convenient season I will call 
 for thee.' 1 '' Thus did Felix grieve away the good 
 Spirit. Many seasons came, for he sent for Paul 
 often and communed or conversed with him. 
 
 But he had deliberately shaken off serious im- 
 pressions, resisted the Spirit who was trying to 
 save, stifled conviction, hardened his own heart, 
 and was now less and less open to good impres- 
 sions. He became harder and harder. He wanted 
 an unlawful bribe from Paul. He became more 
 and more wicked, and came to a miserable end. 
 
 It is indeed an awful thing to trifle with convic- 
 tion. It is a serious thing to be almost converted, 
 and then deliberately to turn back to the world. 
 In most cases it means to deliberately start towards 
 hell. 
 
 13* 
 
282 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 
 
 How sad the results of being almost converted, 
 and yet not entirely! With Felix we have seen 
 that the refusal was fatal. 
 
 Every such opportunity unimproved leaves the 
 sinner harder in heart and harder to reach. It 
 gives him an impetus downward. 
 
 And when finally such an one is lost, must it 
 not be much harder to bear than if he had never 
 been touched by divine Grace? How hard for the 
 seafarer, after coining safely through the tempests 
 and dangers of a long sea voyage, to be wrecked 
 and drowned with the shore-lights in sight. And 
 what must it be to have been so near heaven. To 
 have almost looked inside. To have almost heard 
 the rustle of angel wings and the music of angel 
 harps — and then to find himself in hell. Almost — 
 but lost. 
 
 ' ' Almost persuaded ' ' now to believe ; 
 ' ' Almost persuaded ' ' Christ to receive ; 
 Seems now some soul to say, 
 " Go, Spirit, go Thy way, 
 Some more convenient day 
 On Thee I'll call." 
 
 " Almost persuaded," Come, come to-day; 
 " Almost persuaded," Turn not away ; 
 
ALMOST CONVERTED. 283 
 
 Jesus invites you here, 
 Angels are lingering near, 
 Prayers rise from hearts so dear : 
 O wanderer, come. 
 
 " Almost persuaded," harvest is past ! 
 " Almost persuaded," doom comes at last ! 
 "Almost " cannot avail ; 
 "Almost" is but to fail ! 
 Sad, sad, that bitter wail — 
 " Almost— but lost ! " 
 

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