Conversion in Christian preaching describes the profound transformation when a person turns from sin to Christ, embracing salvation and new life (Acts 3:19). Illustrations often use vivid pictures like life-boats, soldiers enlisting, or hearts melting to depict the urgency, decision, and total surrender involved in this spiritual rebirth.
The gospel transforms lives, turning outcasts into faithful believers and society members.
As Dr. Harry A. Ironside preached one day, he noticed a man in the crowd writing on a card, which he presently handed to the speaker. The man was Arthur Lewis, an agnostic lecturer, and he proposed a challenge to the speaker to debate the subject, "Agnosticism versus Christianity," and offered to pay all expenses involved.
Dr. Ironside read the card aloud to his audience and then said: "I accept on these conditions:
"First, that you promise to bring with you on the platform one man who was once an outcast, a slave to sinful habits, but who heard you or some other infidel lecture on agnosticism, was helped by it and cast away his sins and became a new man and is today a respected member of society, all because of your unbelief.
"Second, that you agree to bring with you one woman who was once lost to all purity and goodness, but who can now testify that agnosticism came to her while deep in sin and implanted in her poor heart a hatred of impurity and a love of holiness, causing her to become chaste and upright, all through a disbelief in the Bible."
"Now, sir," he continued, "if you will agree, I promise to be there with one hundred such men and women, once just such lost souls, who heard the gospel of the grace of God, believed it and have found new life and joy in Jesus Christ our Savior. Will you accept my terms?"
As might be expected, the atheist could only walk away silently.
Persistent Scripture quoting led an infidel to conversion and faith in the Bible's truth.
An infidel had come the other day, to one of our meetings, and when I talked with him, he replied that he didn't believe one-twelfth part of the Bible, but I kept on quoting Scripture, feeling that if the man didn't believe, God could do what He chose with His word, and make it quick and powerful, and sharper than a two-edged sword. The man kept saying that he did not believe what the Bible said, and I kept on quoting passage after passage of Scripture, and the man, who, two hours before, had entered the hall an infidel, went out of it a converted man, and a short time after his conversion he left the City for Boston, a Christian, to join his family in Europe. Before this gentleman went away, I asked him if he believed the Bible, and his reply was: "From back to back, every word of it."
A decisive choice leads a man from unbelief to active Christian service and gratitude.
A few years ago as I stood at the door of a church giving out invitations to a meeting to take place that evening, a young man to whom I offered one said, "I want something more than that. I want something to do!" I urged him to come into the meeting, and after some remonstrance he consented. After the meeting I took him home, and after dinner I told him there was a room which I called the "Prophet's Room," and up stairs was another which I called the "Unbeliever's Room," and I would give him till night to decide which he would take. He was able by night to take the first, and the next day was at work urging young men to attend the noonday prayer-meeting. When I was burned out in the great fire and was left perfectly destitute, I received a letter with some money from this young man in Boston, who said:
"You helped me and took me in your home, keeping me six weeks and refused to take anything for it, and I have never forgotten your kindness." I had lost sight of him, but he had remembered that as a turning-point in his existence.
God can transform even the most hopeless into faithful Christian leaders and witnesses.
A young man in one of our meetings in New York got up and thrilled the audience with his experience. "I want to tell you," he said, "that nine months ago a Christian came to my house and said he wanted me to become a Christian. He talked to me kindly and encouragingly, pointing out the error of my ways, and I become converted. I had been a hard drinker, but since that time I have not touched a drop of liquor. If anyone had asked who the most hopeless man in town was they would have pointed to me." To-day this man is the superintendent of a Sabbath-school. Eleven years ago, when I went to Boston, I had a cousin who wanted a little of my experience. I gave him all the help I could, and he became a Christian. He did not know how near death was to him: He wrote to his brother and said: "I am very anxious to get your soul to Jesus." The letter somehow went to another city, and lay from the 28th of February till the 28th of March--just one month. He saw it was in his brother's handwriting, and tore it open and read the above words. It struck a chord in his heart, and was the means of converting him. And this was the Christian who led this drunken man to Christ. This young man had a neighbor who had drank for forty years, and he went to that neighbor and told him what God had done for him, and the result was another conversion. I tell you these things to encourage you to believe that the drunkard can be saved.
Superficial change leaves the sinful nature unchanged; true transformation requires new birth.
"A wolf may be scared from his prey, but yet he keepeth his preying and devouring nature." He has not lost his taste for lambs, though he was obliged to drop the one which he had seized. So a sinner may forego his beloved lust, and yet remain as truly a sinner as before. He gives up the drink for fear of losing his situation, or dying of disease, but he would be at his liquor again if he dared. The fear of hell whips him off some favourite vice, and yet his heart pines for it, and in imagination he gloats over it. While this is the case the man in the sight of God is as his heart is: the muzzled wolf is still a wolf, the silenced swearer is still profane in heart, the lewd thinker is still an adulterer. Something is done when a wolf is scared, or a transgressor driven out of his evil ways, yet nothing is done which will effectually change the wolf or renew the ungodly heart. A frightened sinner is a sinner still. Like the frightened dog, he will return to his vomit; and like the sow that was washed, he will wallow in the mire again as soon as opportunity offers. "Ye must be born again:"—this is the only effectual cure for sin. While the nature is unchanged it is but the outside of the cup and platter which is washed. "Truth in the inward parts" is that which God desireth, and till that is given we remain under wrath. Any thief will turn honest under the gallows, and yet if he were set free he would rob the first house he came to. A scare is not a conversion. A sinner may be frightened into hypocrisy, but he must be wooed to repentance and faith. Love tames and grace transforms; may the God of all grace deal thus with each of us.
A determined refusal to sin can overcome even long-standing sinful habits.
A heathen king, who had been for years confirmed in the sin of drunkenness, had been led to forsake the habit. He said to a missionary, "Suppose you put four thousand dollars in one hand, and a glass of rum in the other. You say, 'You drink this rum, I give you four thousand dollars.' I no drink it. You say you kill me. I no drink it."
A young girl's conversion reveals the Bible's transformative power.
One morning, when two parents awoke, they were surprised to see their daughter sitting near their bed, intently engaged in reading the Bible. As soon as she found that they were no longer sleeping, she sprang to the bedside, the tears streaming down her cheeks, exclaiming, "Mother! O mother! why didn't you tell me what a book the Bible is? It is wonderful: I never knew any thing about it before." And she went on to explain to the wondering and rejoicing parents, how that she had been induced to go to the evening meeting, which they had not attended, that she had been deeply convicted of sin, and led at once to repentance, and then faith in her crucified and risen Lord, and came home a joyful convert: her eyes were opened to the beauties of the Bible.
Rejecting infidel tracts led to physical weakness and eventual Christian conversion.
A person whom I knew some years ago was associated with an infidel club, and had been to the city to obtain tracts setting forth their pernicious doctrine, to be distributed among the young people of the village. When ready for his return, he missed the stage, and was compelled to walk home with his burden, which was not a very large package. He had gone but a very short distance, not far enough to be weary, when suddenly his strength gave out. Startled, yet thinking it only a momentary weakness, he rested for a half-hour upon a fallen log; but, when he arose to pursue his journey, his feet would not perform their wonted office. Several times he essayed to walk, after an interval of some length; but it was in vain. Thoroughly alarmed, and pricked by the consciousness that the profane books had something to do with his singular attack, he deliberately tore them into small fragments, and scattered them to the four winds, so that no one could find coherency in the detached portions, or be injured by them; when, strange to say, he arose and walked off with as light and quick a step as ever in his life. From this time he was a changed man, a firm believer in the Christian faith, and as earnest a worker in the cause of truth as he had hitherto been in that of error. Christian Banner.
A centenarian's conversion was sparked by Scripture learned in childhood.
Some years since, a venerable man, upwards of one hundred years old, was the subject of converting grace in America. The cause of his conversion was hearing a text of Scripture which his pious mother had taught him in England one hundred years before.
External religious behavior without true regeneration leaves the heart dark and untransformed.
A variety of minerals exhibit translucency only on their edges. The central mass is dark; but, holding the specimen up to the light, light is transmitted dimly through thin edges. Marble and flint, or hornstone, are examples. These symbolize the man who has been brought so much under the influence of Christianity that it has modified his external conduct, produced some regard for true piety, led to some outward reformations, and caused him to adopt some of the forms of religion. Yet the darkness of unregeneracy reigns within. The central mass of character has never been penetrated by the subduing and remodelling power of divine grace; and therefore no heavenly light can pass through. Friends, and, possibly, the man himself, mistake the rays that struggle through the edges of his character for genuine Christian experience. Nothing but divine alchemy can re-arrange and transmute the elements of character so as to give it the transparency of true religion. Hitchcock.
Most Christians are converted before age twenty, with fewer conversions at older ages.
Take a congregation of a thousand Christians; divide them into five classes, according to the ages at which they became Christians. Of these thousand Christians, there would be, probably, hopefully converted, under twenty years of age, 548; between twenty and thirty years of age, 337; between thirty and forty, 96; between forty and fifty, 15; between fifty and sixty, 3; between sixty and seventy, 1.
— Dr. Spencer
St. John's counsel led a thief captain to conversion, who then influenced others to repent.
It is related of St. John the Evangelist, that being upon his return from Patmos to Ephesus, after the death of Domitian, he was set upon by a company of thieves, amongst whom was a young man their captain; to him St. John applied himself by way of wholesome counsel and advice, which took so good effect, that he became a new man, and was converted, and went thereupon to all his fellow-thieves, and besought them, in the name of Jesus Christ, that they would not walk any longer in their former wicked ways. He told them, withal, that he was troubled in conscience for his former wicked life; and earnestly entreated them, that, as they cared for the eternal welfare of their own poor souls, they would now leave off their old courses, and live more consciously for the time to come. The counsel was good, and well taken; so that many of those great robbers became great converts.
— Spencer
Many reach the point of conversion but hesitate to fully commit and move forward.
Many persons come to the right point in conversion; but they never shove off. I question them about their state, and I find all as it should be; but they are waiting for something, they know not what; standing still in thought and feeling. Beecher.
God's power to transform a sinner into a saint surpasses all natural wonders.
None of the fanciful transformations of which Ovid sang of old could ever rival the matchless work of God when he displays his power upon the human mind. Oh, what a difference between a sinner and a saint! between "dead in trespasses and sins," and quickened by divine grace! If God should speak to Niagara, and bid its floods in their tremendous leap suddenly stand still, that were a trifling demonstration of power compared with the staying of a desperate human will. If he should suddenly speak to the broad Atlantic, and bid it be wrapped in flames, we should not even then see such a manifestation of his greatness as when he commands the human heart, and makes it submissive to his love. Spurgeon.
True relief from sin comes only by casting burdens upon Christ, not through human help.
A convicted sinner sought relief by conversation with his pastor. This was repeated without result. At last, the pastor said, "Go home. Man cannot help you. The whole matter lies between yourself and God." He turned away, downcast. It seemed as if his last prop was gone. When man cast him off, he in despair cast the burden of his sins upon Christ, and found almost immediate relief. Look only to Christ for salvation.
Conversion should be early and continuous, like a pure river flowing from its source.
At the mouth of the Mississippi, where it pours its immense flood into the Gulf of Mexico, how impossible would it be to stay the flow of its waters, and to separate from each other the drops of the various streams that have poured into it on either side!—of the Red River, the Arkansas, the Ohio, and the Missouri; or to sift, grain by grain from the detritus, the particles of sand that have wasted from the Ozark, or the Alleghany, or the far Rocky Mountains! yet how much more impossible would it be, when character is the river, and habits, formed one after another, are the side-streams, to throw a little dam of conversion across, and separate the bad from the good! Let the stream run pure from its source. Beecher.
A child's changed behavior shows evidence of genuine Christian conversion.
Two little children, a boy and a girl, used to play a great deal together. They both became converted. One day, the boy came to his mother, and said, "Mother, I know that Emma is a Christian."—"What makes you think so, my child?"—"Because, mother, she plays like a Christian. If you take every thing she's got, she don't get angry. Before, she was selfish; and, if she didn't have every thing her own way, she would say, 'I won't play with you: you are an ugly little boy.'"
Conversion is like a soldier obeying a command to turn and follow Christ anew.
An old soldier said, "When I was a young fellow in the army, we used often to receive the word of command, 'Right about face!' and, when I became a soldier of the cross, this is just the command I received from my Captain still, calling me to him, 'Right about' from where I was before; and I love to obey the call."
A simple man finds Christ at the well and demonstrates true conversion by holy living.
There lived in the west of England a well-known character called "Foolish Dick." One day, he was going for a pitcher of water, when a good old man hailed him with, "So, Dick, you are going to the well?"—"Yes," he replied. "Well, Dick, the woman of Samaria found Jesus at the well."—"Did she?" was the answer. "Yes." The remark, riveted on Dick's mind by the Holy Spirit, quickened him into new life. He thought, "Why should I not find Jesus at the well? Oh that I could find him! Will he come to me?" He prayed, and found Christ at the well; left his water-pot to tell his neighbors what he had found; and from that time proved the reality of his conversion by his holy and active life.
— Biblical Treasury
True conversion results in a profound and unmistakable change in a person's life.
A Scotch girl was converted under the preaching of Whitefield. She was asked if her heart was changed, and gave the beautiful reply, "Something I know is changed; it may be the world, it may be my heart. There is a great change somewhere, I'm sure; for every thing is different from what it once was."
Like a magnetic needle, the soul takes time to steady after beginning to turn toward God.
Late observations have shown, that, under many circumstances, the magnetic needle, even after the disturbing influence has been removed, will keep wavering, and require many days before it points aright, and remains steady to the pole: so is it ordinarily with the soul after it has begun to free itself from the disturbing forces of the flesh and the world, and to convert (turn) itself towards God.
— McCash
Heavy burdens of sin and worldly power hinder reaching true happiness and eternal life.
Akaba was the captain of a robber clan. His treasuries were filled with countless stolen stores. His mind was ill at ease. He came to Ben-Achmet, a dervish living on the borders of a wilderness in Arabia, and thus addressed him, "Five hundred swords obey my nod, innumerable slaves bow to my control, my storehouses are filled with silver and gold; tell me, how can I add to all these the hope of eternal life?" The dervish led him to a rugged mountain-track, pointed to three immense stones, bade him take them, and follow him to the top of the hill. Akaba took them up; but, with such a weight, he could scarcely move. One by one, he was obliged to leave them, and then easily climbed the hill. "My son," said the hermit, when they sat on the top, "you have a three-fold burden to hinder you on the road to a better state. Dismiss the robber band, set your slaves free, give back your ill-gotten gain. Sooner would Akaba reach the mountain-top, bearing those heavy stones, than find real happiness in power, lust, and wealth." Akaba obeyed the hermit.
Conversion is a sudden heart change by the Spirit, leading outward to new habits and life.
When grace subdues a rebel man, if I may so speak, the citadel first is taken, afterwards the city. It is not as in those great sieges which we have lately watched with such anxious interest. There, approaching with his brigades and cavalry and artillery, man sits down outside the city. He begins the attack from a distance, creeping like a lion to the spring, with trench and parallel and battery, nearer and nearer to the walls. These at length are breached: the gates are blown open; through the deadly gap the red, living tide rolls in. Fighting from bastion to bastion, from street to street, they pass onward to the citadel; and there, giving no quarter, and receiving none, beneath a defiant flag, the rebels, perhaps, stand by their guns, prolonging a desperate resistance. But, when the appointed hour of conversion comes, Christ descends by his Spirit into the heart, — at once into the heart. The heart won, she fights her way outward from a new heart on to new habits. A change without succeeds the change within. Dr. Guthrie.
Conversion brings overwhelming joy and gratitude that fills the heart and soul.
Cowper the poet relates of his overpowering sensations at the time of his conversion, "Unless the Almighty had been under me, I think I should have been overwhelmed with gratitude and joy. My eyes filled with tears, and my voice choked with transport. I could only look up to heaven in silent fear, overwhelmed with love and wonder." Dr. Jobson.
Conversions are rare in old age, like withered trees that no longer respond to life.
Conversions after forty years of age are very rare; like the scattered grapes on the remotest branches after the vintage is over, there is only one here and there. I have sometimes seen an old withered oak, standing with its stiff and leafless branches on the slopes of a woody hill, though the same refreshing rains and genial sunshine fell on it as on its thriving neighbors, which were green with renewed youth, and rich in flowing foliage: it grew not, it gave no signs of life; it was too far gone for genial nature to assist. The old blanched sapless oak is an emblem of the aged sinner. Dr. Thomas.
True conversion involves a costly commitment, not a religion that costs nothing.
A Methodist laborer in Wesley's time, Capt. Webb, when any one informed him of the conversion of a rich man, was in the habit of asking, "Is his purse converted?" He agreed with Dr. Adam Clarke, who used to say, he did not believe in the religion that cost a man nothing.
Conversion brings relief and comfort when trusting Christ amid fear of perishing.
Judson. "It is just a year this day," says Mrs. Judson, "since I entertained hope in Christ. About this time in the evening, when reflecting on the words of the lepers: 'If we enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; if we sit still here, we die also;' and felt, that, if I returned to the world, I should surely perish; if I staid where I then was, I should perish, and I could but perish if I threw myself on the mercy of Christ. Then came light and relief and comfort, such as I never knew before."
Conversion means rejecting self-righteousness and gladly accepting Christ's righteousness.
An Indian and a white man, at worship together, were both brought under conviction by the same sermon. The Indian was shortly after led to rejoice in pardoning mercy. The white man, for a long time, was under distress of mind, and at times ready to despair; but he was at last brought also to a comfortable experience of forgiving love. Some time after, meeting his red brother, he thus addressed him, "How is it that I should be so long under conviction, when you found comfort so soon?"—"O brother!"
replied the Indian, "me tell you. There come along a rich prince. He propose to give you a new coat. You look at your coat, and say, 'I don't know: my coat pretty good. I think it will do a little longer.' He then offer me new coat. I look on my old blanket. I say, 'This good for nothing.' I fling it right away, and accept the beautiful garment. Just so, brother, you try to keep your own righteousness for some time; you loath to give it up; but I, poor Indian, had none: therefore I glad at once to receive the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ."
Conversion is a complete heart transformation creating a new person in holiness.
Conversion is no repairing of the old building; but it takes all down, and erects a new structure. It is not the putting in a patch, or sewing on a list of holiness; but, with the true convert, holiness is woven into all his powers, principles, and practice. The sincere Christian is quite a new fabric, — from the foundation to the top stone all new. He is a new man, a new creature. All things are become new. Conversion is a deep work, a heart-work; it turns all upside down, and makes a man be in a new world. It goes throughout with men, — throughout the mind, throughout the members, throughout the motions of the whole life. R. Alleine.
Ceremonial rites do not guarantee true conversion or salvation.
A black was baptized some time since in this district by a Romish priest. The name given was Adam. The aboriginal, it is evident from what followed, was more witty than devout. Fasting was of course enjoined on the convert; but it was reported that he was not duly observant of this ordinance: and, upon a certain Friday, the priest made an unexpected raid on his sable neophyte, and found on his breakfast-table a goodly piece of beef. The reproof and exhortation ended, Adam essayed to have his say, and spoke thus: "That no beef, massa! you wash me, and Christ me, and cross me, and you give me noder name: you call me Adam.
Me wash him, and Christ him, and cross him, and call him fish. Him no beef, him fish."
We deem that it was quite as possible for the one ceremony to make the beef fish as for the other rite to make the beathen an heir of salvation.
— Vanderkiste
Conversion is like refitting a ship with a new master, pilot, and direction.
Conversion is like entirely and wholly refitting an old ship, and employing it in the service of a new and better master. By nature, a man is full of vanity, sailing under the colors of the world.
Now, when Christ meets a man, and apprehends him in conversion, he takes him off all the ends he had in himself, takes possession of the ship, puts in a new pilot, a new compass, and turns its prow another way; and all the lading the ship contains, which he dislikes, he throws overboard, and fills it with a better cargo.
— Bowes
Conversion purifies the heart, but daily cleansing from worldly sin remains necessary.
When a man has washed his body in the bath, he does not need to wash again, save his feet, which may be soiled even in passing from the bath to the dressing-chamber. This most aptly represents the general purification, which, in their great principles, the heart, and character undergo when a sinner is converted to God; and at the same time the daily and hourly soiling or pollution, from contact with the world, which every convert is ever contracting, and from which he is ever requiring to be cleansed.
— Dr. Wardlaw
A man seeking the devil finds Christ and converts at a Protestant meeting.
An "Evangelical Christendom" letter from Italy says,
"One man, who has since become a colporter, was saved from the error of his ways in a very singular manner. Some time ago, he was most wretched. He did not believe in God. He tried to believe in the Devil, and to love him.
He cherished in his heart the infernal image, and read with avidity all that related to Satan, or could recall his influence. He went the length of invoking him, asking the Evil One to reveal himself to him. One day, the curé from the pulpit announced that the town of Perugia was infested with Protestants. 'And do you know, my dear brethren,' said he, 'what Protestants are? They are monsters of iniquity, who have renounced Jesus Christ, and who worship the Devil.'—'Excellent news!' said the man of whom we are speaking, to himself;
and that very day he ran to the meeting of those worshippers of the Devil; and it was there that he learned to give himself to Jesus
Christ, and to worship him."
Soldiers facing execution find Christ through prayer and Bible reading in prison.
A returned soldier relates his conversion in a rebel prison at Atlanta, Ga., thus: "There were twenty-two of us in that prison, all wild boys. We suffered every kind of privation; but we spent our time in any way, playing cards, and the like.
We were pretty much all at cards one day, when some rebel officers came in; and one of them read the names of eight of us, with the order for execution, and directed those whose names were called to prepare immediately for death.
Their lives were to be taken in retaliation for something the rebels said our side (the Yunkees) had done. Those eight of our comrades hardly had time to say good-by, and they were led out, and hung. It came upon the rest of us like a thunderbolt. Then we began to think we needed something more than we had, to be ready to die. We didn't know who would have to go next. There were fourteen of us left. We got a Bible, and began to read and pray. We had prayer-meetings every day, morning and night; and there, in that prison, every one of us found Christ. One of the number is now a preacher of the gospel. I have been able to hold on since; and my Christian experience is the sweetest remembrance I have of the army."
Sound conversion means fully committing body, soul, and spirit to God and obedience.
Where there is a sound conversion, then a man is wholly given unto God, to serve him in his whole man both body, soul, and spirit. He shakes hands with all sins; he sells all for the jewel of the gospel; he regards not sin in his heart, but hath a respect to all God's commandments. R. Bolton.
Unsound conversion lacks true sanctification and allows sin to continue reigning.
A man may be changed from worse to better; from a notorious sinner to a civil, honest man. From civil honesty, he may pass on to a formal Christianity, and do and perform religious services, and yet lie in his sins, and want the power of inward sanctification. He may, by a general power of the Word, in some sort be inwardly enlightened. He may have some degree of understanding and joy in the Word, and may do many things after it, and forsake many sins; yet for all this becomes short of a sound conversion. If he suffer one sin to reign in him, he is not the Lord's; for this is a certain rule, that true turning unto God, and the remaining in the practice of any one sin, cannot stand together. R. Bolton.
Wibberforce's troubled heart finds salvation through prayer and counsel of John Newton.
Mr. Wibberforce was a gay young man, the delight of the clubs, and the joy of the Doncaster races. At the age of twenty, he was elected to the British Parliament, was sceptical in principles, and inclined to ridicule religion. He afterwards accepted the truth of the gospel through the influence of Dean Milner; but his heart was troubled. He must enter the wicket gate like any other sinner. He says, "I laughed; I sang; I was apparently gay and happy. Should I die in this state, I must go to a place of misery." The sinfulness of sin was revealed to his perception. His anguish was insupportable, until he sought the counsel of Cowper's friend, good old John Newton, whom he had often heard preach when he lived with his uncle and aunt. Mr. Newton "entered most kindly and affectionately into my case, and told me he well remembered me, and had never since ceased to pray for me." It is the old, old story of the omnipotence of prayer.
A Chinese convert leads many others to Christ, showing fruitful evangelism.
About seven years ago, a Chinese convert came to Hong-Kong, from a town about a hundred miles in the interior. He had been converted through the labors of a colporter, and sought the missionaries for advice and instruction. He was baptized and instructed, and shortly returned to his native town. The next year he came again, bringing with him a new convert, who had been led to Christ by his influence. The next year, and the next, he came again; each time with two new converts. Early in 1860 he came a fifth time, bringing nine converts for baptism; and in the spring of that year a missionary visited the place, and baptized forty-four more. At the commencement of 1861, he came again with sixteen converts. Here is an example for our imitation. Watchman and Reflector.
God answers prayer by transforming a scoffing drunkard Jew into a daily Jesus witness.
A gentleman of Chicago says, "Some most affecting answers to prayer are continually occurring at the daily prayer-meeting. A few days since, a Jew of good family came into the meeting drunk, and to scoff. The Spirit of God apprehended him before he left the meeting. He returned in three days rejoicing, having found 'Him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write.' He now stands up daily for Jesus. Three days since, he said, 'I received a letter from my father and family, saying, "We have buried you. We are wearing mourning for you as for one dead. We cast you off; we curse you. May you die in the street like a dog!" To-day he brought in another Jew, and, in a most touching manner, asked prayer for him."
Many notable Jewish converts honorably serve in Christian churches and society.
A Jewish convert says, "It is a well-known fact, that men celebrated as theologians, as lawyers, as teachers of the young, as professors at the various universities of Europe, have been or are converts from Judaism. The late M. Fould, the great French finance-minister, was a Jewish convert. The late Dr. Neander, the author of one of the most erudite works on the Church of Christ, and professor of theology at the University of Berlin, was a converted Jew. Dr. Crippadorn of Holland, physician to his Majesty the King of Holland, is a converted Jew. The late Dr. Dufosty, one of the greatest poets which Holland has ever produced, and the author of 'Israel and the Gentiles,' 'A Harmony of the Gospels,' and several other works, was a Jewish convert. Prof. Leone Levi of King's College is a Jewish convert. The late Dr. Alexander, the first bishop of Jerusalem, was a converted Jew; whilst not less than a hundred and thirty clergymen of the Church of England are converted Jews." He states further, that, in London, there are between two and three thousand Jewish converts, whose conduct, whether as heads of families, as citizens, or as men, is an honor and credit to the churches with which they are connected.
An infidel converted under conviction, crying out to 'God of my mother' for mercy.
An infidel of talent, under the power of the truth, bowed his knees at a religious meeting, and cried in agony, "God of my mother, have mercy on me!"
Even at old age, conviction and repentance can lead to a new life in Christ.
Luke Short, a sinner a hundred years of age, was led to think of a sermon he had heard Mr. Flavel preach eighty-five years before, at the close of which service he said, "How shall I bless this whole assembly, when every person in it who loveth not the Lord Jesus Christ is, 'Anathema Maranatha'?" This led his to conviction, repentance, and conversion.
Spiritual healing must precede theological knowledge, like curing disease before studying it.
First a cure for your sin-sick soul, and then theologies. Suppose a man were taken with the cholera, and, instead of sending for a physician, he should send to a bookstore, and buy all the books which have been written on the human system, and, while the disease was working in his vitals, he should say, "I'll not put myself in the hands of any of these doctors. I shall probe this thing to the bottom." Would it not be better for him first to be cured of the cholera? Beecher.
Prayerful Christian influence can transform even the most quarrelsome into gentle believers.
In the early period of Methodism, some of Mr. Wesley's opponents took up a wagon-load of Methodists, and carried them before a justice. One of the accusers said, "They pretend to do better than other people; and, besides, they pray from morning till night." The magistrate asked if they had done any thing else. "Yes, sir," said an old man, "an't please your worship, they converted my wife. Till she went among them, she had such a tongue! and now she is quiet as a lamb." — "Carry them back, carry them back!" said the magistrate, "and let them convert all the scolds in the town."
A scripture verse can convict a proud scoffer and lead to his conversion.
A proud scoffer in Massachusetts was converted through the text, "A living dog is better than a dead lion." It made him feel, that he, if a lion, was a dead one, and not as good as the Christians whom he had called "silly dogs."
A Christian wife's kindness and concern led her unconverted husband to repentance.
A pleasure-loving husband boasted of the good temper of his wife; and a wager was laid, that she would rise at midnight and give the company a supper with perfect cheerfulness. It was put to the test: the boast of the husband was found true. One of the company thus addressed the lady, "Madam, your civility fills us all with surprise. Our unreasonable visit is in consequence of a wager, which we have certainly lost. As you are a very religious person, and cannot, therefore, approve of our conduct, give me leave to ask what can possibly induce you to behave with so much kindness to us?"—"Sir," replied she, "when I married, my husband and myself were both unconverted. It has pleased God to call me out of that dangerous condition. My husband continues in it. I tremble for his future state. Were he to die as he is, he must be miserable forever. I think it, therefore, my duty to render his present existence as comfortable as possible." This reply affected the whole company. It left a deep impression on the husband's mind. "Do you, my dear," said he, "really think I should be eternally miserable? I thank you for the warning. By the grace of God, I will change my conduct." From that time, he became another man, a serious Christian, and a good husband.
A wife's patient kindness under persecution brought her husband to God.
As I was conversing with a pious old man, I inquired what were the means of his conversion. For a moment he paused: I perceived I had touched a tender string. Tears gushed from his eyes, while, with deep emotion, he replied, "My wife was brought to God some years before myself. I persecuted and abused her because of her religion. She, however, returned nothing but kindness, constantly manifesting an anxiety to promote my comfort and happiness; and it was her amiable conduct, when suffering ill treatment from me, that first sent the arrows of conviction to my soul." N. Y. Observer.
A new convert is deeply concerned for his aged mother's spiritual welfare after his salvation.
At a village, in the Hastings circuit, (says the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine,) where the Gospel was introduced by the Methodist preachers, a poor laboring man was induced to hear the Gospel. By the blessing of God it proved effectual to his salvation. Having felt the power of divine grace himself, he was anxiously concerned for the spiritual the weary and the heavy laden,) that he was so impressed with a sense of the benefit he had derived from his afflictions, that lying on his death-bed and seeing his master stand by, he eagerly caught the hands of his oppressor, and kissing them, said, "These hands have brought me to heaven." Thus many have had reason to bless God for afflictions, as being the instruments in his hands of promoting the welfare of their immortal souls.
