Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
— Matthew 11:28-30
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
— Isaiah 55:6-7
I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.
— Isaiah 65:1
For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
— 2 Corinthians 6:2
But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
— Jonah 3:8-9
And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Lule 11:9-10
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
— John 6:37
Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
— John 1:13
An Earnest Invitation to Sinners to Turn to God, In Order to their Eternal Salvation, by Joseph Alleine. The following contains an excerpt from his work, ” ‘An Alarm To The Unconverted.” Printed in 1816.
Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
— John 3:3
Dearly beloved and longed for, I gladly acknowledge I am a debtor to you all; and I am concerned, because I would like to be found a good steward to the household of God, giving to every one his portion. But the physician is most solicitous for those patients whose case is most doubtful and hazardous; and the father’s tender mercies are especially turned towards his dying child. The numbers of unconverted souls among you call for my most earnest compassions and hasty diligence to pluck them out of the burning. Jude 23 And therefore, I will first apply myself along these lines to these.
But where will I fetch my arguments from, or how will I choose my words? Lord, with what will I woo them? With what will I win them? Oh, if I could only tell! I would write to them in tears. I would weep out every argument. I would empty my veins for ink. I would petition them on my knees — truly (were I able), I would. Oh, how thankful I would be if they would be prevailed upon to repent and turn! How long have I travailed in birth with you? Gal. 4.19 How frequently have I courted you? How often would I have gathered you? Mat 23.37 How instant have I been with you? This is what I have prayed for and studied for, for many years: that I might bring you to God. Oh, that I might do it! Will you still be entreated? Oh, what a happy man you might make me if you would only listen to me, and allow me to carry you over to Jesus Christ!
“But, Lord, how insufficient I am for this work! I have been many a year wooing for you, but the damsel would not go with me. Lord, what kind of task have you set me to do? Alas! With what will I pierce the scales of Leviathan, or make the heart that is hard as stone to feel; hard as a piece of millstone? Should I go and press my mouth to the grave, and expect the dead to obey me and come forth? Will I make an oration to the rocks, or declaim to the mountains, and think I will move them by arguments? Will I make the blind see? From the beginning of the world, it was not heard of that a man had opened the eyes of the blind. But you, O Lord, can pierce the scales, and prick the heart of the sinner. I can only shoot at rovers,1and draw the bow at a risk; you direct the arrow between the joints of the harness, and kill the sin, and save the soul of a sinner who looks upon these labours.”
But I must apply to you, the one to whom I am sent: yet I am at a loss. I wish to God I knew how to work with you! Should I hesitate at the difficulty of it? God knows, you yourselves are my witnesses, how I have followed you in private, as well as in public, and have brought the gospel to your doors, testifying to you the necessity of the new birth, and persuading you to look for a sound and thorough change over time. Beloved, I have not acted out a part among you in order to serve my own advantage: our gospel is not yes and no. Haven’t you heard the same truths from the pulpit, by public labours, by private letters, and by personal instruction? Brothers, I am of the same mind as ever: that holiness is the best choice, that there is no entering into heaven except by the straight passages of the second birth, that without holiness you will never see God.Heb 12.14 Ah, my beloved! Refresh my tender mercies in the Lord. If there is any consolation in Christ, any comfort of love, any fellowship of the Spirit, any tenderness and mercies, fulfil my joy. Now give yourselves to the Lord.2Cor 8.5 Now set yourselves to seek him. Now set up the Lord Jesus in your hearts, and set him up in your houses. Now come in and kiss the son,Psa 2.12 and embrace the offers of mercy; touch his sceptre and live; why will you die? I don’t beg for myself, but I would willingly have you happy: this is the prize I run for and the mark I aim at. My soul’s desire and prayer for you is that you may be saved. Rom 10.1 The famous Lycurgus, having instituted the strictest and most wholesome laws for his people, told them he was compelled to go on a journey away from them. He got them to bind themselves in an oath that his laws would be observed until his return. This being done, he went into voluntary banishment and never returned. Why? So that, by virtue of their oath, they might be engaged to perpetually observe his laws. I think I would be glad to endure the hard conditions which he endured (though I love you tenderly) so that I might engage you thoroughly to obey the Lord Jesus Christ.
Dearly beloved, would you gladden the heart of your minister? Why then, embrace the counsels of the Lord by me: forego your sins; set to prayer; increase the worship of God in your families; keep your distance from the corruptions of the times. What greater joy for a minister than to hear of souls that are born to Christ by him, and that his children walk in the truth! 2Joh 4
Brothers, I beseech you, allow me friendly openness, and freedom with regard to your deepest concerns. I am not playing the orator to make a learned speech to you, nor am I dressing my dish with eloquence by which to please you. These lines are embarked on a weighty errand indeed, namely, to convince, convert, and save you. I am not baiting my hook with rhetoric, nor am I fishing for your applause, but for your souls. My work is not to please you, but to save you; nor is my business with your fancies, but with your hearts. If I don’t have your hearts, I have nothing. If I were to please your ears, I would sing another song. If I were to preach myself, I would steer another course: I could then tell you a smoother tale: I would make you pillows, and speak peace to you: for how can Ahab love his Micaiah who always prophecies evil concerning him?1Kng 22.8 But how much better are the wounds of a friend, than the fair speeches of the harlot who flatters with her lips until the arrow strikes through the liver and hunts for the precious life? Pro 7.21-23; 6.26 If I were to quiet a crying infant, I might sing him into a pleasant mood, and rock him asleep: but when the child has fallen into the fire, the parent takes another course: he will not go to still him with a song or a trifle. I know if we don’t make haste with you, you are lost: if we cannot get your consent to arise and come away, you will perish forever: if there is no conversion, there is no salvation. I must get your goodwill, or else I will leave you miserable.
But here the difficulty of my work again recurs to me. “Lord, choose my stones out of the rock.” 1Sam. 17.40, 45 I come in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel. I come out like the stripling David — not to wrestle with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world.Eph, 6.12 This day, let the Lord strike the Philistine, and strip the strong man of his armour, and allow me to fetch the captives out of his hand. Lord, choose my words, choose my weapons for me; and when I put my hand into the bag and take a stone from it, and sling it, carry it to the mark and make it sink, not into the forehead,1Sam. 17.49 but into the heart of the unconverted sinner, and knock him to the ground. As with Saul, in his so happy fall,Act 9.4 you have sent me as Abraham sent his servant, to obtain a wife for my master, your Son. Gen 24.4 But my discouraged soul is ready to fear that the woman will not be willing to follow me. Lord God of my master, I pray you send me good speed this day, and show kindness to my master, and send your angel before me, and prosper my way, that I may obtain a wife for your Son,Gen 24.12 that just as your servant did not rest until he had brought Isaac and Rebekah together, so I may be successful in bringing Christ and the souls of my people together before we part.”
But I turn to you. Some of you don’t know what I mean by conversion, and so it would be in vain to persuade you of something you don’t understand; therefore, for your sakes, I will show you what this conversion is. Others cherish secret hopes of mercy, even though they continue as they are in sin; and for them I must show the necessity of conversion. Others are likely to harden themselves with an empty conceit that they are converted already; to them I must show the marks of the unconverted. Others, because they feel no harm, fear none — and so they sleep on top of the mast; to them I will show the misery of the unconverted. Others sit still, because they don’t see their way out; to them I will show the means of conversion. And finally, for the enlivening of all, I will close with the motives for conversion.
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