559. The Cripple at Lystra

No. 559-10:154. A Sermon Delivered On Lord’s Day Evening, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

The same heard Paul speak: who steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he leaped and walked. {Ac 14:9,10}

1. I have read in your hearing the story of the preaching of Paul and Barnabas in the town of Lystra. The name of Christ was totally unknown there. They were a kind of country people, partly pastoral and partly agricultural, who seemed to have been deeply sunken in superstition. At the gates of their town there stood a great temple dedicated to Jupiter, and they appear to have been his zealous votaries. Coming down from the mountainside, Paul and Barnabas enter the town, and when a fitting time has come, they stand up in the market-place, or the street, and begin to speak concerning Jesus, the Son of God, who had come down from heaven, had suffered and died, and had again ascended up on high. The people gather around them. Among the rest a cripple listens with very marked attention. They preach again. The crowds are still greater, and on one occasion, while Paul is in the middle of a sermon, using his eyes to watch the audience as all preachers should do, and not looking up at the ceiling or at the gallery front as some preachers are accustomed to do, he spies this cripple, fixes his eyes on him, and looks earnestly into his face. Either by the exercise of his judgment or by the promptings of revelation, the apostle gathers that this man has faith — faith to be healed. In order to attract the attention of the people, to glorify the name of Christ, to proclaim more widely his glorious fame, and to make the miracle well known, Paul stops the sermon and, with a loud voice, cries, “Stand upright on your feet.” The cripple leaps and praises God. The population is all amazed, and knowing that there was a tradition that Jupiter and Mercury had once appeared in that very town, a tradition preserved in the Metamorphoses of Ovid to this present day, they at once conclude that surely Jupiter and Mercury must have come again. They think that Barnabas, who was probably the older and the nobler looking man, to be Jupiter, and since Jupiter was always attended by Mercury as a messenger, and Mercury was the god of eloquence, they conclude that Paul must be Mercury. They rush to the temple, and they tell the priests that the gods have come down. The priests, only too ready to foster popular credulity and pander to it, bring out the sacred bulls and the garlands and are about to offer sacrifice before Paul and Barnabas. Such homage these men of God indignantly refuse; they tear their clothes; they beseech them to do no such thing, for they are nothing but men, yet they can hardly stop the people with their earnest words. But the next day, certain Jews came there and produced a counter-irritation in the simple minds of the people. This is a simple task where rude fanaticism rouses the wild passions of the mob. Such an assembly must rage, whether it is with redundant applause or with derisive jeers. Accordingly, Paul finds himself exposed to peril; he is stoned, dragged through the streets, and left for dead by the very men who worshipped him only yesterday as a god; he was left to die as a villain outside the town gates. But Paul’s preaching had not been in vain. There were a few disciples who remained faithful. His ministry was rewarded and honoured by God.

2. There are two or three points in this narrative to which I shall call your attention tonight, making, however, the lame man the centre of the picture. We shall notice, first of all, what preceded this lame man’s faith; secondly, in what lay this man’s faith to be healed; and thirdly, what is the teaching of the miracle itself and the blessing which the lame man obtained through faith.

3. I. WHAT WAS IT WHICH PRECEDED HIS FAITH?

4. That “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,” is a great and universal rule, but the hearing of what? Doubtless, the hearing of the gospel is intended. Turning to your Bibles, you will find it is written — “And there they preached the gospel.” What, Paul, do you not change your voice? You have preached the gospel in the cities of Iconium and Antioch, where there were enlightened and intelligent hearers; if the gospel suited them, surely it will not do for these wolfish boors! Why go and preach to these poor, ignorant, superstitious fanatics the very same truths that you spoke to your enlightened Jewish brethren? But he does do so, my friends. The very gospel which he preached at Damascus in the synagogue he preaches here at Lystra in the marketplace. He makes no difference between the education of his hearers in different places; he has the same gospel to preach to them both. You remember that Paul went to Ephesus, and Ephesus, as a city, was besotted with a belief in sorcery. The people had given themselves up to practise magical arts. What is the right way to begin to preach at Ephesus? Deliver a course of lectures on the impossibility and absurdity of such superstition? No, sir, nothing of the kind. Preach Christ, preach the gospel, and as Jesus Christ is lifted up, they bring their magical books and make a bonfire of them in the open forum. But here is a polished governor, Sergius Paulus, sitting on the judgment seat. What shall be preached to him? Would it not be good to begin with a dissertation on politics and to show that the Christian religion does not interfere with proper government, that it does not stir up the people to anarchy? No, sir, nothing of the kind. There is nothing for Sergius Paulus any more than there is for Elymas the sorcerer but the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul goes to Athens.

Now, the Athenians are the most learned and philosophical of the whole race of men. What will Paul preach there? The gospel, the whole gospel, and nothing but the gospel. He may change his tones, but never his matter. It is the same remedy for the same disease, no matter who the men are. He comes to Corinth, and here you have not only polished manners but the very refinement of vice. It is a city, an emporium of trade, and a kind of central depot of sin. What then? Will he now, to please the trader, assume a different dialect? Not he! The Christ for Athens is the Christ for Corinth, too. And now see him. He has come to Lycaonia and is preaching at Lystra. Here is an ignorant set of people who worship an image. Why does he not begin by preaching about the Deity? Why does he not talk to them about the Trinity in unity? Why does he not try and refute their notions about their gods? No, my dear sir, he will do nothing of the kind; that may be done incidentally, but the first and the last thing that Paul will do at Lystra is, there he will preach the gospel.

5. Oh, the glorious gospel of the blessed God! Wherever we take you, you are suited to the needs of men. If we take you to Persia with all its gems and jewels, then you suit the monarch on his throne; we take you to the naked savage with all his poverty and squalid filth, and you suit him too. You may be preached, thrice-glorious wisdom of God, to the wisest of men; but you are not too great a mystery to be understood and believed even by the fools and the babes; the things which are not can receive you as well as the things which are. Never, I urge you, brethren, lose heart in the power of the gospel. Do not believe that there exists any man, much less any race of men, for whom the gospel is not suited. Wherever you go, do not cut, trim, shape, and alter; but just bring out the whole truth as God has taught it to you, and rest assured that you will be to God a sweet savour of Christ in every place, both in those who are saved and in those who perish.

6. What then, was this gospel which the apostle Paul preached everywhere? Well, it was a gospel which had in it three things, certain facts, certain doctrines, and certain commands.

7. It was a gospel of facts. Every time Paul stood up to preach, he told the following unvarnished account: God, looking at the race of men, saw them lost and ruined. Out of love for them, he sent his only-begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was born of the virgin Mary and lived some thirty-five or thirty-six years, a life of spotless innocence and perfect obedience to God. He was God: he was man. In due time, he was delivered up by the traitor Judas. He was crucified and actually put to death. Although he was the Lord of life and glory, who is the only one who has immortality, he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. On the third day, he rose again and showed himself to many of his disciples so that they were well assured he was the same person who had been put into the grave, and when the forty days were finished, he ascended up to heaven in the sight of them all, where he sits at the right hand of God, and shall also come before long a second time to judge both the living and the dead. These were the facts which Paul would state. “God was made flesh and lived among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” Briefly, these were the facts that Paul would preach, and if any one of these facts is preached doubtfully or is left out of any ministry, then the gospel is not preached, for the foundations on which the gospel rests have been removed, and then what can the righteous do?

8. Following on these facts, Paul preached certain doctrines, the doctrines flowing out of the facts. That is, he preached that Jesus Christ had offered a full atonement to divine wrath for the sin of his people, so that whoever would believe in him, and trust him, should be saved. The doctrine of the atonement would form the most prominent feature in the gospel of the apostle Paul. Christ also has suffered for us, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. “God commends his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.” Then would come the doctrine of pardon. Paul with glowing tongue would tell how God could be just, and yet the justifier of him who believes; how all kinds of sin and iniquity shall be forgiven to men, the simple condition being that the man believes in Christ, and this not so much the man’s own work, as a gift of the Holy Spirit. Everywhere Paul would be unmistakable in this — “You chief of sinners, look to the wounds of Jesus, and your sins shall be forgiven you.” He would be equally clear on the doctrine of justification. “Christ,” he would say, “will wash you; indeed, more, he will clothe you; the perfect holiness of his character shall be imputed to you, and being justified, you shall have peace with God, and there shall be no condemnation, because you are in Christ Jesus.” I think I see the flashing eye of the apostle; I think I listen to his earnest voice, while he pleads with men to lay hold on eternal life, to look to Jesus Christ, to forsake the deeds of the law, to put their trust in nothing which comes from man, but to look to Jesus, and to Jesus only. These great truths, atonement, pardon, and justification, with all the other truths connected with them, of which we cannot now speak particularly, were just the gospel which the apostle Paul preached.

9. And out of these we said there sprang certain commands. The commands were these — “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.” Nor do I suppose that the apostle for a moment stammered to preach that other command — “Arise, and be baptized.” He would not preach half the gospel, but all of it — “he who believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he who does not believe shall be damned”; and often after his hearers had cried, “What must we do to be saved,” and they had believed in Christ, they would say to him — “See, here is water, what hinders me from being baptized?”

10. The apostle then preached a gospel which was made up of certain authenticated facts, out of which there flowed certain most gracious evangelical doctrines, which were enforced and driven home with divine authority, by Christ’s own commands. “Well,” one says, “do you think the world will be turned upside down by this?” Sirs, it has been, and it will be again. In vain do those who seek after human learning, and who aim at dreamy sentimentality or spurious science in preference to the standard teaching which is from above, attempt to find a nobler instrument. This is the great battering-ram which shall yet shake the bastions of error. This is the sword, the true Excalibur,1 which, if any man knows how to wield it, shall cut through joints and marrow, and make him more than a conqueror. He who lays hold on the gospel of Christ, and knows how to use it, has what make the demons tremble, and what the angels adore, what cherubs long to look into, and what God himself smiles on as his noblest work. The truth we proclaim is not what is discovered by us, but what has been delivered to us. Do you ask, then, where this man’s faith came from? It came from Paul’s preaching of the gospel.

11. II. Now IN WHAT LAY THIS MAN’S FAITH?

12. Paul looked at the man, we are told, and perceived “that he had faith to be healed.” What does this mean “faith to be healed?” In this man’s case I think it was something like this. Poor fellow! As he listened to Paul’s preaching, he thought perhaps — “Well, that looks like truth; that seems to be the truth; it is the truth; I am sure it is true; and, if it is true that Jesus Christ is so great a Saviour, perhaps I may be healed; these lame legs of mine, which never would carry me anywhere, may yet become straight; I — I — I think they may; I hope they may; I believe they may; I know it can be done if Christ wills it; I believe that, and from what Paul says about Christ’s character, I think he must be willing to do it; I will ask the apostle; the first convenient time that I have I will lift up my cry, for I believe it can be done, and I think there is a perfect willingness, both in the mind of the apostle and of the Master that it should be done; I believe it will be done, and that I shall yet stand upright.” Then Paul said to him, “Stand upright on your feet,” and he did so in a moment, for “he had faith to be healed.”

13. Do you think I am overstraining the probabilities of the case? You will perhaps say, “It does not appear that Paul had any communication with the poor cripple before the miracle was performed.” Now I venture to draw quite an opposite inference. I know from my own experience that it is no uncommon thing for one individual to arrest the preacher’s attention. The group of countenances which lay before him in a large assembly like the present, might to the first glance of a stranger look confused and inexplicable, as a Chinese grammar does to those who do not know the language. But you need not doubt that a practised eye can learn to read the one as well as the other. The languor and indifference of some; the curious enquiring looks of others; the cold, critical attention of a considerable number, and the countenances of those who are rather absorbed in a train of thought just awakened in their own minds — all these have a particular impressiveness, and form a picture which often reacts on us, and kindles a vehement desire in our hearts to reach the souls of those who, for a brief hour, hang on the words of our lips. But there will sometimes be one who has faith dazzling in his very eyes, as they are fixed with an intentness, of which it would be vain for me to attempt to describe, seeming to drink in every word and every syllable of a word, until the preacher becomes as absorbed in that man as the man is in the preacher. And while he pursues the discourse, gaining liberty at every step, until he forgets the formality of the pulpit in the freedom of conversation with the people, he perceives that at last this man has heard the very truth which suits his case. There is no concealing it. His features have suddenly relaxed. He still listens, but it is no longer with painful anxiety; a calm satisfaction is palpable on his face now. That soul of communion which is in the eye has unravelled the secret. Preacher and hearer, unknown to all the rest of the audience, have secretly greeted each other, and met on the common ground of a vital faith. The anxious one feels that it can be done. And I can readily conclude that the apostle perceived that feeling with greater certainty than he would have done had the man whispered it in his ears. So I have sometimes known that the exhortation to believe has become from these lips a positive command to the struggling conscience of someone, who has been brought to a point where the remedy is instantly applied, and the cure instantly accomplished.

14. Most unquestionably there is such a thing as faith to be saved. I do not know how many here may possess it; but, thank God, there are hundreds of you here who have faith that you are saved. That is better; that is the best faith, the faith which knows you are saved and rejoices in hope of the glory of God. Alas! there are others who have no faith at all. But I am more particularly concerned at this moment with those who have faith, and that only faith to be saved, not faith that you are saved.

15. Shall I describe this “faith to be saved?” for I believe that there may be some here who may just now stand upright on their feet; some who may at this time leap for joy of heart because they are saved and did not know it. You have “faith,” but you have not fully exercised it. Now, do you believe that Jesus Christ is God’s Son? “Yes.” That he has made a full atonement for his people? “Yes.” Do you believe that they are his people who trust him? “Yes.” Do you believe he is worthy to be trusted? “Yes.” Do you have nothing else to trust in? “No, sir.” Do you depend on nothing which you have ever felt, or thought, or done? “No, sir, I depend on nothing but Christ.” And you do, in a way, trust Christ. You hope that one of these days he will save you, and you think, and sometimes you almost know, he will. You are ready to trust him. You do believe he is able, you do not think he is unwilling; you have faith in his ability, and you almost have faith in his willingness; sometimes you half think to yourself, “I am a child of God.” But then, there is some ugly “but” that comes in. Those lame legs again; those lame legs again. You are still afraid. You have “faith to be saved,” but you do not have the full assurance of faith which can utter out this joyful psalm, “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.”

16. Well now, I do not know whether I have singled you out, whether I have given a right description of you or not. I remember the time when I was in that state. I can honestly say I did not doubt Christ. I then partly believed that he would save me. I knew he was worthy of my trust, and I did trust him as far as this, that I resolved, if I did perish, I would perish crying to him, and that if I was cast away, it should be clinging to the cross. I believe I had “faith to be saved,” and was for months in bondage, when there was no necessity that I should have been in bondage at all, for, when there is “faith to be saved,” then the man only needs that gracious command — “Stand upright on your feet,” and immediately he leaps out of his infirmity, and walks freely in the integrity of his heart.

17. III. I shall not enlarge further on this, because I want to go to THE SPIRITUAL TEACHING OF THE MIRACLE, AND OF THE BLESSING CONFERRED.

18. Are there not many, who though they have “faith to be saved,” are still entirely lame or painfully limping? The reasons may be different in different cases. Some have been so stunned by the grief which they have suffered on account of sin, and the frightful convictions through which they have passed, that while they do believe that Christ is able and willing to save, they cannot get a hold of the fact that they are saved; such is the faintness of spirit and the languishing of soul brought on by long despair. “Stand upright on your feet,” you trembling sinner. If you believe in Jesus, whatever your fears may be, there is no reason for them. As for your sins, they were laid on him, every one of them, and though you have been grievously broken in the land of dragons, thus says the Lord to you, “I have put away your sin; you shall not die; I have blotted out like a cloud your transgressions, and like a thick cloud your sins.” Rejoice, then, and be glad. If you do trust Christ, you are saved; though as yet it only looks like faith which heralds the tidings of a salvation which has not yet arrived. Still, it is the grace of God which brings salvation which has enabled you to believe; and he who believes in the Son has everlasting life. Oh receive the welcome message; spring up at the sound of the words; stand upright on your feet and rejoice.

19. Some are still lame, although they have faith, through ignorance. They do not know what being saved is. They entertain wrong expectations. They are trusting in Christ, but they do not feel any surprising emotions; they have not had any remarkable dreams, or visions, or striking ebullitions {outbursts} of aroused joy, and therefore, though they have “faith to be saved,” they do not have the faith of a present salvation. They are waiting for something, they hardly know what, to embellish their faith, or to fortify it with signs and wonders. Now, poor soul, why do you wait? These things are not necessary for salvation. In fact, the fewer you have of them, I think, the better, especially of things which are envisioned. I rather tremble for those who talk much about tangible evidences; they are too often the frivolities of unstable hearts. Beloved, although you may have never had any ecstatic joys, or suffered any deep depression of your spirits, if you are resting on Christ, it does not matter one bit what your feelings have been or have not been. Do you expect to have an electric shock, or to go through some mysterious operation? The operation is mysterious, too mysterious for you to discern it; but all that you have to do is this — “Do I believe in Jesus? Am I simply depending on him for everything?” If you do you are saved, and I urge you to believe this. Stand upright on your feet, and leap for joy; for whether you believe it or not, if you are now depending on Christ, your sins are forgiven you; you are a child of God; you are an heir of heaven.

20. How many, too, are kept lame because of a fear of self-deception. “I do trust Christ, but I am afraid lest I should deceive myself; suppose I were to get confidence, and it should be presumption! suppose I should think myself to be saved, and I am not!” Now, sir, if you were dealing with yourself there would be reason to be afraid of presumption, but your faith has to deal with God, who cannot deceive you, and with Christ who will never tempt you to be a deceiver. Does not the Lord Jesus Christ himself tell you that if you believe in him you are saved? You believe that, do you not? Then, soul, if you believe in him, it is not presumption to say, “I am saved.” Away with all that affectation of modesty, which some good people think to be so pretty — saying, “I hope”; “I trust”; but “I feel such doubts, such fears, and such gloomy misgivings.” My dear sir, that is not humility: that is a vain unseemly questioning of God. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ tells you, and he gives his own unequivocal word for it, that if you rest on Christ you rest on a rock; that if you believe in him you are not condemned. Is it an evidence of the lowliness of your heart that you suspect the veracity of God, or the faithfulness of his promise? Surely this would be no fruit of the meekness of wisdom. No, beloved; it may seem too good to be true, but it is not too good for my God to give, although it is too good for you to receive. You have his word for it, that if you trust his Son to save you, and simply trust him, and him alone, even if the pillars of the heavens should shake, yet you would be saved. If the foundations of the earth should reel, and the whole earth should pass away like a vision, yet this eternal promise and oath of God must stand firm.

21. Others again, cannot stand upright on their feet, because they are afraid that if they did begin they would go back again, and so bring dishonour to Christ. This would be a very proper fear if you had anything to do with keeping yourselves. If you had to carry yourselves to heaven, it would be reasonable enough for you to despair of doing it. It is impossible that you can be too deeply convicted of your own impotence. You cannot do anything whatever, but Christ gives you his promise to preserve you even to the end. If you believe in him you shall be saved. He does not say you shall be saved for a year, or for twenty years, and then, perhaps, be lost at last. No; but “he who believes and is baptized, shall be saved.” If one man who believes in Christ is cast away, that promise of Christ is not true. Brethren, it is true, and it must be true, and let its glorious truth be sweetly familiar with you now — if you give your soul to Christ, putting simple faith in his person as the Son of God, and in his work as the Mediator between God and man, you shall as surely see his face within the pearly gates of heaven as your eyes see me tonight. There may be a question about your seeing me, but there can be no question about Christ fulfilling his promise and keeping his word. Now sit down in the dust no longer, you doubting, mourning, trembling sinner. With a loud voice I say to you, as Paul did, “Stand upright on your feet.” Why do you mourn? There is nothing to mourn about. Your sin is forgiven; your eternal salvation is secure; a crown in heaven is provided for you, and a harp of gold awaits you. If you believe in Jesus no one can lay anything to your charge. Not even the principalities of darkness shall be able to prevail against you. Eternal love secures you against the malice of hell. Stand upright, then, on your feet, for if you believe you are saved, completely saved, saved in time, and for eternal days, saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation.

22. Then possibly there is one here who cannot stand upright because of his many sins. Ah! while I have been talking about Christ it may be that something has been saying in your heart, “Ah! ah! what is it? Christ taking men’s sins, suffering in their place? That suits me. Is God doing this? Ah! then he must be able to save, and I am told that whoever trusts in him shall never perish; is it so? Why, here I am; I who have not been in a place of worship for months, for years, I have strayed in here tonight, and if what this man says is true, well then I will even venture my soul on it; I have nothing, I know, but he says there is nothing needed; I am not prepared to trust Christ, but he says there is no preparation required, and if I trust Jesus Christ just as I am, Christ will save me; why, I will do it; by the grace of God I will do it; can he save me?” Then comes in the bitter reflection — “Look what a sinner I have been! Why, I should be ashamed to say how foully I have sinned; he must shut me out; I have been too great a villain, too gross an offender; I have cursed and sworn at such a rate; he cannot mean that if I trust Christ I shall be saved; I believe he can save me; I see the wisdom of the plan, and the excellency of it; I believe it, but see what a sinner I am!” Sinner, stand upright on your feet, for “all kinds of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men.” Return, you wanderer, return to your Father’s house! He comes to meet you. He will fall on your neck, and you shall be his child for ever. Only believe in his Son Jesus Christ, and although this is the first time you have ever heard his Word, I wish to settle my eyes on you earnestly, and say, “Stand upright on your feet.”

23. Oh! how often I do wish that someone had come to me when I was under depression of mind, and had told me about the simple gospel of Jesus Christ. I think I should have stood upright on my feet long before I did, but, alas! I kept hearing about what people felt before they believed in Christ — very proper preaching — and I was afraid I did not feel it, although now I know I did. I heard a great deal about what Christians ought to be, and a great deal more about God’s elect, what they are in his esteem, but I did not know whether I was one of God’s elect, and I knew I was not what I ought to be. Oh for the trumpet of the archangel, to sound the words, “Believe and live,” as loud as the voice which shall awaken the dead in their graves! And oh for the quickening Spirit to go with voice, as it shall go with the ringing of the archangel’s trump, when the graves shall open, and the dead shall arise! Go, you who know it, and tell it everywhere, for there are multitudes, I do not doubt, who are really seeking Christ, and who have his Spirit in them, but it is just like the prophet says, “The children have come to the birth and there is no strength to deliver.” They have come to the very edge of light, and they only need one helping hand to bring them into noonday. They are slipping around in the Slough of Despond, and they are almost out of it, but they need just a helping hand to pull them out. This hand of help is stretched out by telling them, telling them plainly, it is in Jesus their help is found, and that trusting him, relying on him, they shall never perish, neither shall any one snatch them out of his hand.

24. Oh that some of you, who have been hearing me for long time, might be found in this class. I have been bowed down in spirit at some sad things which have been brought to my hearing recently. I know that there are some here, and there always have been a few attending my ministry, who have a personal affection for me, and who listen to the Word with very great attention, and who, moreover, are very greatly moved by it, but who have some besetting sin which they either cannot or will not give up. They do renounce it for a time, but either bad associates, or else the strength of their passions, take them away again. Oh sirs! I wish you would take warning. There was one of whom we had some hope for, who listened to our ministry. There came a turning-point with him; it was this, either that he must give up sin, or else give up coming to the Tabernacle; and what — oh! what became of him? I could indicate the place where he sat. He died of delirium tremens! {DTs} And I do not wonder. When you have heard the gospel preached Sabbath after Sabbath, when your response to the solemn appeals you have earnestly listened to has only been that you reject Christ and refuse eternal life — is it any wonder that in making the choice of your own damnation reason should resign its seat as director of your actions, and cease to curb your headstrong will, leaving the maddened passions to dash on with reckless fury, and precipitate your destruction. Am I clear of their blood? I have asked myself the question. I may not be in some things, but I know I am as far as my ministry is concerned. I have not shunned to declare to any of you the whole counsel of God. When I have known any vice, or any folly — which of you have I been afraid of, or before whom of you all have I trembled? God is my witness; I have served him in the spirit; and if these turn aside to their crooked ways, they have not done it without knowing well the consequences; indeed, they have not done it without being warned and entreated, and persuaded to look to Jesus Christ.

25. And I do implore some of you — you know to whom I refer — I do implore those of you who have a conscience which is not seared, but who, nevertheless, persevere in your sins — I implore you by the love of God, do me this one favour at the last: if you choose your own ruin, bear witness for me that I have not hesitated to warn you of it. I would infinitely rather, however, that you would do yourselves this great favour, to love your own souls. If you have anything to throw into the fire, throw it in, but do not let it be your soul. If you have anything to lose, go and lose it, but do not lose your soul. Sirs, if you must play the fool, indulge your sport at a cheaper rate than this. If sin is worth having, then I beseech you pay a cheaper price than your own souls for it, for it does seem to me so pitiful, so sorrowful a thing, that you who have been so short a time among us and are passing away before my very eyes, should still prefer the fleeting joy of the moment to the eternal joy, and risk everlasting torment for temporary mirth. By the tears of Jesus when he wept over Jerusalem, by the blood of Jesus which he shed for guilty men, by the heart of the eternal Father who does not will the death of a sinner but would rather that he should turn to him and live, I implore you be wise and consider your ways. Choose today whom you will serve, and may the Lord guide your choice. May you fall into the arms of divine mercy and say, “If you will help me, Jesus, here I am; I give myself to you.”

26. May my Master teach me how to address you if I do not know how to grasp the words of simplicity, tenderness, of terrible apprehension, but of persuasive power. If there were any words in any language that would melt you, this tongue is at your service to utter them. If there is any form of speech, although it should make me to be called vulgar, and subject me to the shame and hissing which I once endured, if the furnace could be heated seven times hotter than that, I would only laugh at it if I might only win your souls. Tell me, sirs, how shall I express the case? Would you have argument? I wish that I could reason with you. Would you have tears? There, let them flow! You dry eyes, why do you not weep more for these perishing souls? Would you have God’s Word without my word? Sirs, I would read it, and let my tongue be dumb if that would teach you. Would my death save you? That God who sees in secret knows that tonight it would be a joy for me to enter into my rest, and so it would be a little thing for me to talk about being willing to give a life for you, and it would be, indeed, only a trifle to me. Oh! why will you perish? Why should I plead with you, when you do not care for yourselves? What is it that besets you? Poor moths! Are you dazzled with the flames? Are you not content to have singed your wings? Must they also consume body and soul? How can you make your bed in hell? How can you endure eternal burnings?

27. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, I command you — for I can do no less — I command you to turn to him and live. Believe in him and you shall be saved. But remember, at your own peril you reject the message tonight. It may be the last message that shall ever come to your soul with power, if you cast this away — 

   What chains of vengeance must they feel,

      Who slight the bonds of love?

I wish to have you saved just now. I cannot talk about tomorrow. I wish to have you decide it at once. Oh! you have come as far as this twenty times, and have you gone back again? You have been aroused, you have made vows and you have broken them, resolutions and you have ignored them. Oh sirs, for God’s sake do not lie to the Almighty again. Now be true this time. May the Spirit of God make you speak the truth, even though you should be compelled to say, through your wickedness, “I will not submit myself to the Son of God.” Do speak the truth. Do not procrastinate. As Elijah said, “How long do you halt between two opinions?” I say the same. If God is God serve him, but if Baal is God serve him. But do not keep on coming here and then going to the public house. Do not come and take your seat here and then go to the brothel. Sirs, do not do this foul scandal for God’s sake, and for your own sake. If you will serve the devil serve him, and be a true servant to him. If you want to go to hell, go there; but if you seek eternal life and joys to come, give up these things. Renounce them. Why drink poison and drink medicine too? Be done with one or the other and be honest. Be honest to your own souls. May the Lord grant that tonight some may have given to them, not only “faith to be saved,” but the faith which saves, for his name’s sake. Amen.

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