The Conversion of All Mankind

In 1812, Leonard Woods, minister and founder of Andover Theological Seminary, delivered a sermon at the ordination of Adoniram Judson, who soon would go to Burma as a missionary, as well as several other young men who were preparing to be missionaries in Asia. He encouraged them to think through the motives for missions, preaching on six main motives. Though preached over two hundred years ago, the reasoning still holds true today, and should be thoughtfully considered by all who wish to properly follow Christ’s Great Commission. We have republished that sermon here, edited it for length. The full unedited sermon can be found here.

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“God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy. Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.” -Psalm 67

Can any real Christian be a stranger to the enlarged views, the benevolent desires, and pleasing anticipations of the pious author of this Psalm? …every true worshipper of God resembles him in love, and can be satisfied with nothing short of all that infinite love designs. The Christian has a heart to feel for his fellow creatures…

His heart’s desire and prayer to God is, that all men may be saved, — that all human beings may forsake their evilways, and turn to the Lord;that his kingdom may come, and his will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. With this holy affection reigning in his heart, the fervent, devoted Christian presents himself a living sacrifice unto God; and counts it a privilege to do and to suffer anything for the advancement of his cause.…

This, my dear brethren, is the true spirit of our holy religion. This is the affection which glows in every newborn soul. This is the principle which governs and animates the church of Christ. …I would persuade you to act, decidedly and zealously to act under the influence of Christian love. I would excite you by motives which no follower of Christ can resist, to make the spread of the gospel, and the conversion of the world, the object of your earnest and incessant pursuit. 

First Motive

My first motive is the worth of souls. Man; a creature of yesterday,frail as the tender grass, is made for immortality.…Such a mind, destined to exist and act forever, destined to the bliss of heaven, or the pains of hell, lives in every human being, in the savage as well as in the citizen; in the heathen as well as in the Christian…In the name of him who died on Calvary, I call upon you, O Christians, to labor for the salvation of beings that will never die. Of what consideration is their nation, climate, color, language, government, education, manners? Here all distinctions vanish. …Rise then above all the distinctions which misguide our judgments and our hearts, and seek salvation of this great family of immortals. 

In some favored hours of divine illumination, have you not seen…the ineffable preciousness of your own souls?… The souls of all these are as precious as your own. The wisdom of God, — the blood of the dying Savior has so declared. Do you love your own souls, then? And will you not love theirs? … Now, if salvation would be so great a blessing to you, why not to those who are actually in the condition here supposed? And if you would love and thank those who sought your salvation, why not secure to yourselves the same love and gratitude from heathens saved by your labors?… 

Second Motive

The second motive by which I urge you to seek the conversion of all mankind is the plenteousness of the provision which Christ has made for their salvation. Were there any thing scanty in this provision,— any deficiency in divine grace,... the tongue and hand of Christian charity would be paralyzed. But my brethren, the word of eternal truth has taught us that Jesus tasted death for every man; that he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world; that a rich feast is prepared, and ali things ready; that whosoever will may come and take of the water of life freely. …This abundant provision is made for them as well as for us. …The mercy of God is an ocean absolutely exhaustless; and so far as His benevolence is a pattern for our imitation, and a rule to govern our exertions and prayers, He wills that all men should be saved. Christians, you have, then, full scope for your pious benevolence and zeal. In your labors and prayers for the salvation of men, you cannot go beyond the bounds fixed for you by the Savior Himself. …Remember then. Christians, you cannot exhaust the mercy of God. Exert yourselves to the utmost for the salvation of mankind; your exertions will fall far below the height of redeeming love. Its length and breadth will infinitely transcend your largest benevolence. 

Third Motive

The third motive I shall present, is the command of our Lord; — "go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." This command is an exact expression of the heart of Jesus; a display of the vastness of His love. It would be very easy to show that the obligation of this command is not to be confined to the twelve apostles. It is limited to no age or nation. The command is binding upon Christians "always even to the end of the world." The reasons which moved the apostles to preach the gospel to every creature, remain in full force. Nations without the gospel are as wretched now as they were then. Their salvation is as necessary, as important, and as easily accomplished. … The universal spread of the gospel, and the salvation of the ends of the earth is a business in which every Christian ought to take a part. This gracious injunction was given by our Lord just before He ascended into heaven. It was a most memorable occasion. He had finished His work on earth, and was about to return to His Father and our Father, to His God and our God. He knew the superabounding grace which flowed from Calvary, the ruined state of man, and the saving power of His cross. All nations and ages were before him. Then, with the love and authority of the King of Zion, He gave the command, to evangelize all nations. And can any one who has the heart of a Christian… refuse obedience? 

Fourth Motive

My fourth motive is derived from the conduct of those who received this command, and of Christian missionaries in succeeding times. The apostles went forth, and preached everywhere. They travelled into various parts of the idolatrous world, preaching the gospel to the poor; — planting and watering churches; and encountering fierce and cruel persecutions. In all their journeyings, labors, and sufferings, their invariable object was that God's way might be known upon earth, and His salvation to all nations…Will you not imitate those who beheld the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, and received of His fulness? Shall the first apostles and martyrs of Christianity be forgotten? …Do you not look with admiration upon the faithful messengers of grace? and do you not long to be partakers of their labors and sufferings, their success, and their crowns of glory? 

Fifth Motive

My fifth motive is derived from the peculiar design of Christianity in contradistinction to Judaism, and its adaptedness to be a universal religion. Brethren, we are not disciples of Judaism. But have we not had too much of its limited and exclusive spirit? Have we not thought it enough to enjoy the scriptures and the ministers of religion among ourselves, without any care to send them to other nations? But why should we indulge feelings so adverse to the Christian dispensation, and limit that, which its divine author has left unlimited? Why should we engross a religion to which all nations have an equal right, and which is adapted to universal use? As well might we think of engrossing the common light and air. 

The doctrines of Christianity are applicable to all men; because all have the same nature, and stand in the same relation to God and to one another… The repentance, faith, and holiness, which they demand, are equally the duties of all nations. All the promises, ordinances, and blessings of the gospel, would be as precious to renovated pagans, as they are to us. — Why should we withhold such a religion from the unnumbered millions who people the eastern world? We will not, brethren. We, who profess to believe and love Christianity, will not adopt principles and measures so contrary to its celestial nature, and its diffusive, benign tendency. 

Sixth Motive

My sixth motive is derived from prophecy. My brethren, has not the notion often insinuated itself into our minds, that all has been done which can be done for the conversion of the world, and that things are likely to remain much as they are? …When we have looked upon the millions of men who are uncivilized, degraded, without God and without hope, are we not prone to give up their conversion as hopeless? …To raise you above this sinking discouragement and indolence, I will open to you the prophetic page. 

“He shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied.” (Isaiah 53:11)

“It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; — I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation to the ends of the earth. Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thus saith the Lord God; behold I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people. — all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God.” (Isaiah 49:6)

Shall these glorious predictions fail of accomplishment? Shall these unchangeable decrees of the almighty be frustrated?— heaven and earth shall pass away, but not one jot or tittle of these promises shall fail. The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it…

Conclusion

Are you not persuaded by these motives, and others which will readily occur to you, to give yourselves to this great work? Are you not resolved to do every thing, to part with every thing, to submit to every thing, to forward this glorious design of filling the earth with the knowledge of the Lord? Yes, I trust many of you say — we are persuaded; we are resolved. We feel that we are not our own. Lord, what wilt thou have us to do? We will no longer live to ourselves, but to him who died for us, and rose again. Lord, make use of our talents, our substance, our labors, our sufferings for the welfare of thy church; for the salvation of those who are perishing in sin. …

Brethren and friends, these dear young men are going to preach to the heathen that religion, which is your comfort in life, your hope in death, your guide to heaven. Consider yourselves now looking upon them for the last time, before you shall meet them at the tribunal of Christ. Assist them in their arduous office by your substance, and by your prayers. Bear them on your hearts when you draw near to God. 

The decisions of the judgment day will show, how cold has been our warmest zeal, how trifling our best exertions, how languid our most fervent prayers, compared to the greatness of the object now before us. — The Lord of the universe, in these last days, is about to do a marvellous work; a work of astonishing power and grace. The time of his glory is come. He will soon destroy all idol worship. The thrones of wickedness he will level with the dust. He will dissipate the gross darkness, which covers the nations. He will send out his light and truth, shed down his quickening Spirit, and renovate the world. The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. My hearers, God offers you the privilege of aiding in this great work of converting the nations; — a work, which He has reserved to these last, best days; — a work, which the holy apostles would almost wish to live again to promote; and in which the hosts of heaven exceedingly rejoice. The God of love offers you the honor and happiness of taking a part in this blessed work. Nothing else is worth living for. But who would not live, labor, and die for this? — "Arise, shine. Oh Zion, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. — And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." Amen.