In the early part of my ministry, I was requested by a clergyman to attend a meeting for religious inquiry and converse with the young men who were there. I spoke to each one separately. Nothing occurred to impress the circumstance particularly on my memory. Twenty years afterward, I met with a clergyman, who called up my recollection of that meeting. Said he; “I was there, and you spoke to me. Do you remember what you said?” I had no recollection of the particulars. “Well, I have,” said he; “and I will tell you how it was. I have long wanted to tell you. You asked me, if I was seeking the Lord, and I told you that I was trying to.
You asked me, if my trying had done me any good; and I answered, that I did not know as it had. You told me then, that you could tell me the reason why it had not:—the reason was, that I had sought with only a part of my heart. You went on to say to me, you must search with all your heart, not half of it: ‘Ye shall seek me and ye shall find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart?’ (Jeremiah 29:13) I wondered you said that. I thought I was seeking with all my heart. But this idea, ‘with all your heart,’ remained with me. I could not get rid of it; and finally I found out, that this was exactly my difficulty. I had been seeking for months but with a part of my heart only. Your words, ‘all your heart, all your heart,’ led me to the knowledge of my character, and into the right way. I have often thought of that meeting; and wondered, that you should know me so well. That circumstance has since been of great use to me, in conversing with anxious inquirers.”
Ministers must sometimes draw their bow at a venture. But it is better to take aim. There are some scripture arrows, which we should always have in our quiver, because they are sure to hit. They will at least ring upon the harness, if they do not penetrate the joints. They will alarm if they do not kill.—After we have “toiled all night and taken nothing;” if we cast our net on the right side of the ship, it will not come in empty.
There is but one way to Christ. Faith saves: the Faith of the whole heart. Jesus, save me—or I die!
