Why, let them lecture on; this is a free country; why should we follow them around to try to debate them? The truth will win the day. Christianity needn’t wish for controversy; it is strong enough for it, if it wishes it; but that is not God’s way. God’s direction is to, “Preach, teach, and to express yourself dogmatically.” Don’t just stand there disputing; claim a divine mission; tell men and women that God says it, and there leave it. Say to them, “He that believes will be saved, and he that does not believe will be damned;” and when you have finished that, you have done enough. Why should our missionaries argue with Hindus? Why should they be wasting their time by attempting to refute first this dogma, and then another, of heathenism? Why not just go and say, “The God whom you fail to worship, I declare to you; believe me, and you will be saved; do not believe me and the Bible declares you are lost.” And then, having thus declared God’s word, say, “I leave it there, I declare it to you; it is a thing for you to believe, not a thing for you to try to reason about. Religion is not a thing merely for your intellect; it is a thing that demands your faith. As a messenger of heaven, I demand that faith; if you don’t choose to give it, then your own doom will be your own head. I have done my duty; I have told you the truth; that is enough, and there I leave it.” O, Christian, instead of arguing with unbelievers, let me tell you how to prove the truth of your religion to them. Live it out! Live it out! Give the external as well as the internal evidence; give the external evidence of your own life.
You are sick; there is your neighbor, who laughs at religion; let him come to your house. When he was sick, he said, “O, send for the doctor;” and there he was fretting, and fuming, and whining, and making all kinds of noises. When you are sick, send for him; tell him that you are resigned to the Lord’s will; that you will kiss the chastening rod; that you will take the cup, and drink it, because your Father gives it. You needn’t make a boast of this, or it will lose all its power; but do it because you can’t help doing it. Your neighbor will say, “There is something in that.” And when you come near to your grave—he was there once, and you heard how he shrieked, and how frightened he was—give him your hand, and say to him, “Ah! I have a Christ that will be with me in my death; I have a religion that will make me sing in the night.” Let him hear how you can sing, “Victory, victory, victory!” through him that loved you.
I tell you, we may preach fifty thousand sermons to prove the gospel, but we will not prove it half as well as you will by singing in the night. Keep a cheerful disposition; keep a happy heart; keep a contented spirit; keep you eyes looking up, and your heart aloft, and you will prove Christianity better than all the wise men that ever lived. Give them the analogy of a holy life, and then you will prove religion to them; give them the evidence of internal holiness, developed externally, and you will give the best possible proof of Christianity. Try and sing songs in the night; for they are so rare, that if you can sing them, you will honor your God, and bless your friends.
So far I have been preaching this sermon to the children of God, and now there is a sad turn that this subject must take, just one moment or so, and then we will be done. There is a night coming, in which there will be no songs of joy—a night in which no one will even attempt to lead a chorus. There is a night coming when a song will be sung, of which misery will be the subject, set to the music of wailing and gnashing of teeth; there is a night coming when misery, and unutterable despair, will be the subject of an awful song of gloom—when the orchestra will be composed of damned men and women, and howling fiends, and yelling demons; and mark you, I speak what I know to be true, and testify the truth of the Scriptures. There is a night coming for a poor soul within this church tonight; and unless they repent, it will be a night where they will have to growl, and howl, and sigh, and cry, and moan and groan forever. “Who is that?” you say. It is you, my friend, if you are godless and Christless. “What!” you say, “am I in danger of the fires of hell?” In danger, my friend! Yes and more: you are already damned. So says the Bible. You say, “And can you leave me without telling me what I must do to be saved? Can you believe that I am in danger of perishing, and not speak to me?” I trust not; I hope I will never preach a sermon without speaking to the ungodly, for O! How I love them. O you blasphemer, your mouth is black with cursing and swearing; and if you die, you will go on blaspheming throughout eternity, and be punished for it throughout eternity. But listen to me, blasphemer! Will you repent tonight? Do you feel that you have sinned against God? Do you feel a desire to be saved? Listen you! You can be saved; you can be saved as much as any one that is here now.
There is another: she has sinned against God enormously, and she blushes even now, while I mention her case. Do you repent of your sin? There is hope for you. Remember him who said, “Go, and sin no more.” Drunkard! Just a little while ago you were reeling down the street, and now you need to repent. Drunkard! There is hope for you.
“Well,” you say, “What must I do to be saved?” Then again let me tell you the old way of salvation. It is this, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” [Acts 16:31]. We can get no further than that, do what we will; this is the sum and substance of the gospel. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and be willing to be baptized, and you will be saved. So says the Scripture. Do you ask, “What is it to believe?” Am I to tell you again? I can’t tell you, except that it is to look at Christ. Do you see that Savior there? He is hanging on the cross; there are his dear hands, pierced with nails, nailed to a tree, as if they were waiting for your tardy footsteps, because you would not come. Do you see his dear head there? It is hanging on his breast, as if he would lean over, and kiss your poor soul. Do you see his blood, gushing from his head, his hands, his feet, his side? It is running after you; because he knew that you would never run after it. Sinner! To be saved, all that you have to do is, to look at Jesus Christ. Can you do it now? “No,” you say, “I don’t believe it will save me.” Ah! my poor friend, try it; and if you don’t succeed, when you have tried it, then I will willingly share your doom. I promise you: if you cast yourself on Christ, and he deserts you, I will be willing to go halves with you in all your misery and woe. For he will never do it: never, never, NEVER!
“No sinner was ever sent back empty,
who came seeking mercy for Jesus’ sake.”
I beg you, therefore, try him, and you will not try him in vain, but will find him “able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them” [Hebrews 7:25]. You will be saved now, and saved forever.
May God give you his blessing! I can’t preach as earnestly as I could wish; but, nevertheless, may God accept these words, and send them home to some hearts this night! And may you, my dear brothers and sisters, have songs in the night!
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
