In this final installment of William Booth’s Vision of the Lost, we hear the heart—broken cry of a man who has been taken by passion. What he saw was so very real to him. It was as though his eyes were opened to fully see the truth. He is hoping that hearing the vision will do the same for us. There is no mistaking his passion as he pleads with us to join the mission.

Leaving the vision, I now come to speak of the fact — a fact that is as real as the Bible, as real as the Christ who hung upon the cross, as real as the judgment day will be, and as real as the heaven and hell that will follow it.

Look! Don’t be deceived by appearances — men and things are not what they seem. All who are not on the rock are in the sea! Look at them from the standpoint of the great White Throne, and what a sight you have! Jesus Christ, the Son of God is, through His Spirit, in the midst of this dying multitude, struggling to save them. And He is calling on you to jump into the sea — to go right away to His side and help Him in the holy strife. Will you jump? That is, will you go to His feet and place yourself absolutely at His disposal?

A young Christian once came to me, and told me that for some time she had been giving the Lord her profession and prayers and money, but now she wanted to give Him her life. She wanted to go right into the fight. In other words, she wanted to go to His assistance in the sea. Like when a man from the shore, seeing another struggling in the water, takes off those outer garments that would hinder his efforts and leaps to the rescue, so will you who still linger on the bank, thinking and singing and praying about the poor perishing souls, lay aside your shame, your pride, your cares about other people’s opinions, your love of ease and all the selfish loves that have kept you back for so long, and rush to the rescue of this multitude of dying men and women?

Does the surging sea look dark and dangerous? Unquestionably it is so. There is no doubt that the leap for you, as for everyone who takes it, means difficulty and scorn and suffering. For you it may mean more than this. It may mean death. He who beckons you from the sea however, knows what it will mean — and knowing, He still calls to you and bids to you to come.

You must do it! You cannot hold back. You have enjoyed yourself in Christianity long enough. You have had pleasant feelings, pleasant songs, pleasant meetings, pleasant prospects. There has been much of human happiness, much clapping of hands and shouting of praises — very much of heaven on earth.

Now then, go to God and tell Him you are prepared as much as necessary to turn your back upon it all, and that you are willing to spend the rest of your days struggling in the midst of these perishing multitudes, whatever it may cost you.

You must do it. With the light that is now broken in upon your mind and the call that is now sounding in your ears, and the beckoning hands that are now before your eyes, you have no alternative. To go down among the perishing crowds is your duty. Your happiness from now on will consist in sharing their misery, your ease in sharing their pain, your crown in helping them to bear their cross, and your heaven in going into the very jaws of hell to rescue them. Now what will you do?

What will you do? Are you willing to see the suffering that is around you? Are you willing to shake free of your conveniences and preferences so that you can serve those who are suffering and drowning. My friends, were it not for God’s grace, we would be in the dark and stormy sea. Have we forgotten?

My prayer is that Booth’s vision will stoke a passion in all of us. We live in a self—absorbed, narcissistic world that is driven mad by materialism and hedonism. If we’re not careful, that narcissism can infiltrate the heart of the Christian and even the heart of the Church, resulting in a drift away from the mission of God. We must fight against that current and pull hard toward passion. The lost are counting on us.

If not us, then who? If not now, then when?

May God take us with passion!