12 Sermon Illustrations on Commitment to God

The secret of the religious prosperity of a very useful Christian is thus given: On the very day in which he made a deliberate choice of God's salvation and service, he was joined by a clergyman who had addressed the meeting from which they were returning, and who walked home with him. After some conversation with Mr. W. and his | Wife, who was also rejoicing in hope, the minister said, "Mr. W., having chosen the Lord's service, it is your first duty to erect a family altar. Let us all kneel. I will first lead in prayer, and you will follow." This was the very first act of Christian service; and, to use Mr. W.'s own words, "the fire has burned brighter and brighter on that altar to this day, as I trust it will continue to do, so long as we live." | | --- | | 2NO. BEGINNING, Time of. Emma was a sweet little girl six years old. One day she said to her mother, "Mamma, I mean to begin at the new year to love Jesus." — "But," said her mother, "How do you know you will live till the new year?" Emma sat some moments without speaking. At length she looked up, with tears in her eyes, and said, "Perhaps I shall not. I will begin now; and then, mamma, if God lets me live, I shall be a Christian when the new year begins." | | 2NE. BEGINNING, Amid Bad. A youth once threw his head upon my knee in the bitterest agony, and said "O cousin! if I could only describe to you those awful feelings of insatiable thirst! It is like ten thousand devils gnawing at my vitals!" Said I, "Why will you not be persuaded to break of from these habits of drink?" He replied, "It is impossible. I would give every thing I own to be able to do it; but the raging fire within can only be assuaged by another drink, and another, and another, and another; and so it must go on till DEATH. Oh! it is hopeless, hopeless!" — and be a noble youth, with collegiate education, and with fine opportunities for honor and usefulness opening before him. In a few weeks from the time of that conversation, he was found in the street, was taken to the almshouse, and there died in a few days. Is more than one such record needed to prove the danger of taking the first glass? | | 2SE. BEGINNING, Result of Small. A boy overheard his mother say she had dedicated him to the service of God as a missionary. That boy was Samuel J. Mills. When he was converted, his mind was turned towards missions. He was wont to hold a prayer-meeting with some other students in a grove. A thunder-storm drove them to take shelter under a neighboring haystack; and there, amid the storm, the question of missions was discussed. It was not a missionary age. One of the five present relates, that "Mills proposed to send the gospel to that dark and heathen land (Asia), and said we could do it if we would." It was made a subject of prayer while the dark clouds were passing away, and the clear sky breaking out after the storm. They prayed together earnestly; and the young men founded a society the object of which was "to effect in the person of its members a mission to the heathen." This led to the formation of the American Board of Foreign Missions. Such was its small beginning. Five only assembled at its first meeting, seven at its second. Thousands are now assembled at its annual | meetings. Its missions are in almost all parts of the globe. "1,258 missionaries, ordained and unordained, male and female, have been sent out." They have formed 149 churches, and have gathered at least 55,000 church-members. It has 369 schools, containing more than 10,000 children. It has raised nations from the lowest forms of heathenism to Christian civilization.

A man who commenced life as an errand-boy rose rapidly, through his untiring industry and earnestness, to the head of an extensive business, which he conducted very successfully. Meeting an old friend one day, he spared a few moments to describe to him briefly the extent of his prosperity and of his prospects. His friend inquired the secret of his success. "I put my soul into it," replied the prosperous shopkeeper. "It is only by throwing my soul into my business, that I made it succeed." So must the teacher do.

Vows are easily made, but more easily broken. A sea-captain, while upon a single plank in the wide ocean, vowed to devote his life to God if he should be saved, but forgot his vow as soon as his feet were on the solid earth. Mrs. Judson, in the beginning of her religious life, twice forgot her vows; falling easily into the old habit of dancing when in the society of dancing people.

A woman who had dehim a gentle reproof, he replied "that a man of the world could not be so old-fashioned as to regard God and religion." Eliza started, but, on recovering herself, said, "From this moment, sir, when I discover that you do not regard religion, I cease to be yours. He who does not love and honor God can never love his wife constantly and sincerely."

Sir Thomas Abney was the beloved friend of the celebrated Dr. Watts, who found in his house an asylum for more than thirty-six years. This knight was not more distinguished by his hospitality than his piety. Neither business nor pleasure interrupted his observance of public and domestic worship. Of this a remarkable instance is recorded: upon the evening of the day that he entered on his office as lord mayor of London, without any notice, he withdrew from the public assembly at Guildhall after supper, went to his house, there performed family worship, and then returned to the company.

"I see God will have all my heart, and he shall have it," was a fine reflection made by a lady when news was brought of two children drowned, whom she loved very much.