The Oberlin Evangelist

February 13, 1839

Professor Finney's Letters--No. 3.

TO THE CONVERTS OF THE GREAT REVIVALS THAT HAVE PREVAILED IN THE UNITED STATES, WITHIN THE FEW LAST YEARS.

[#2]

Beloved, I closed my last letter; by referring to the fact, that several supposedly religious periodicals have referred to what I had said, as suggesting that you are “a disgrace to religion”. They virtually represent me, as denying the reality, genuineness, and power of those glorious revivals that you were converted in. I denied having said anything to that effect, in the context of what I did say. However, I did state in my lecture, and repeated in my last letter, that I believed many of you were, by your lives, a disgrace to the religion of Jesus Christ. Now, beloved, I did not say this, nor do I repeat this to bring a railing accusation against you. I said and still say this to prepare the way to drive some questions home to your conscience with the purpose to get you to turn your eyes fully on your own life, and your spirit, as you display them before the world.

And here let me say, that after you receive this issue of the Oberlin Evangelist, I want each of you, to consider this letter as directed to you individually, as a private letter to you, although communicated through this public channel.

I will write it on my knees; and I beg you to read it on your knees. And when you have read it as if I wrote it just for you, and you receive it as a private communication to you, from me, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, as I asked you to do, will you please hand it to all your Christian friends in your neighborhood, and within your reach, humbly asking them to receive it, and consider it as a private letter to them also, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

From now on, should the providence of God permit me, I may address different groups of individuals in more detail, than I can in this letter. I intend to address fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, children, ministers, church officers, editors of religious papers, young men, and young women. There are so many different groups of individuals, to whom particular truths apply.

In this letter, I address you without reference to your age, or sex, or your status in life, or you calling, but simply as a person who says that you possess the religion of Jesus Christ. I have said that I fear and believe that many of you, at least, are a disgrace to the religion you profess.

By this, I mean, that, instead of fairly and truly representing the religion of Christ in your life and in your spirit, you, in many respects, grossly misrepresent it.

Please, don’t allow your temper to rise, and turn on me, and say, “Physician heal thyself”. I could certainly confess my own sins; but my business now, as an “ambassador of Jesus Christ”, is with your conscience.

And now, dearly beloved, bear with me, while I drive these questions deep down into your hearts, as if I am addressing you by name.

Isn’t your life, and spirit, and habits a miserable misrepresentation of the religion you profess?

You claim that you possess the religion of Jesus Christ. Your profession of religion, or your profession of faith, has placed you on high, as “a city that cannot be hid”, as the Bible says. You are not hidden. The eyes of God, of Christians, of the world, of hell are all upon you.

And now, precious soul, do you sincerely believe that you feel, act, live, and do, as the Lord Jesus Christ would do, under similar circumstances?

Are those around you forced, by your life and spirit, to recognize the distinct outline of the divine character of Christ in you?

Would those who know nothing about Christ be able to catch, and understand the true spirit and meaning of the religion of Jesus, by coming to know you?

Would they obtain from your life and example, the kind of idea of the nature, design, and tendency of the gospel that would lead them to value it? Would your life and example help them to understand its need and importance?

Is your spirit, behavior, and conversation so unearthly, so heavenly, so divine, and so much like Christ, that it represents Him fairly? Or do you misrepresent Christ?

Isn’t the behavior that you manifest, the life that you lead, your conversation, your pursuits, are not all of these, in many respects, the very opposite of the spirit of the religion of Christ?

My beloved brother, sister, father, mother, whoever you are, remember that while you read these questions, God’s eye is pouring its searching blaze into your inmost soul.

What is your behavior around your family, among your friends, in your private life, in your domestic relations, and in your public walk?

Is your fellowship in heaven, or is your fellowship “earthly, sensual, devilish”?

What is the testimony of your prayer closet? Can it bear witness to all your sighs, groans, and tears over the wickedness and desolations of this world?

Are others, by beholding your good works, constrained to “glorify your Father who is in heaven”? Or is the name of God blasphemed, because of your earthly and unchristian life and spirit?

Can those who remain unconverted in the neighborhood where you live, bear witness that the Spirit of the living God has wrought a great and divine change in you?

I beg you, in the name of Christ, to ask yourself, are your impenitent friends and acquaintances constrained to confess, that only a work of God could have wrought such a great a change in you, from what they witness every day?

Do you think that your life really advances the interests of religion, and that you are continually making an impression, in favor of holiness, on those around you?

Do they witness in you the “peace of God that passes all understanding”?

Do they behold, in you, that sweet and divine rest and satisfaction in the will and ways of God, that spreads a heavenly serenity, calm, and sweetness over your mind, in the midst of the trials, and sudden changes that you are forced to experience?

Or can they see that you are vexed, anxious, careful, easily disturbed, and displaying the spirit of the world? My dear soul, if this is true; you are a horrible disgrace to religion. You are unlike Jesus. Was this the spirit that Jesus manifested while He was on earth?

Let me ask again: what are you doing for the conversion of sinners around you; and what are you doing for the conversion of the world?

Would one hundred million such Christians that are just like you, and living just like you live, be instrumental in converting the world?

Suppose there are seven billion people on earth; and suppose that one hundred million of these were Christians just like you in your present state, and at your present rate of usefulness. How long would it take these people to convert the world?

Is the Church, and the world, better and holier, because of your profession of faith? And, does your life really benefit them?

If not, your profession of faith in Christ is a libel on the Christian religion. You, like Peter, are denying your Savior; and like Judas, you have kissed Jesus, but only to betray Him.

Now, beloved, I will not take it upon me to decide these questions that I have presented to you on my knees, and in the spirit of love. Will you be honest, and, on your knees, spread out this letter, to God your Maker, and Christ your Savior?

Will you not, on your knees, read over these questions, one by one, and ask God to show you the true state of your life, as it relates to each one of them?

And here, beloved, I leave you, for now; and may the Savior aid you, and make you honest, in cordially meeting and honestly answering these questions. God must have the opportunity to search and humble you, and break down your heart, before He can build you up and make you strong in Christ.

Please be honest, and as soon as you possibly can, immediately address yourself to the work of self-examination. I beg you to prepare yourself to receive the consolations of the gospel of Christ; for my soul is panting to spread them out before you.

Providence permitting, you may expect to hear from me again soon.

C.G. FINNEY,

A Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.