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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/9957.txt b/9957.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0320d9f --- /dev/null +++ b/9957.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2726 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Personal Touch, by J. Wilbur Chapman + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Personal Touch + +Author: J. Wilbur Chapman + +Posting Date: November 5, 2011 [EBook #9957] +Release Date: February, 2006 +First Posted: November 4, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PERSONAL TOUCH *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Anne Folland, Tom Allen, +and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading +Team + + + + + + + + + + + + +THE PERSONAL TOUCH + +BY + +J. WILBUR CHAPMAN, D.D. + + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + FOREWORD + + I. A TESTIMONY + + II. A GENERAL PRINCIPLE + + III. A POLISHED SHAFT + + IV. STARTING RIGHT + + V. NO MAN CARED FOR MY SOUL + + VI. WINNING THE YOUNG + + VII. WINNING AND HOLDING + +VIII. A PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATION + + IX. WHOSOEVER WILL + + X. CONVERSION IS A MIRACLE + + XI. A FINAL WORD + + + + +_FOREWORD_ + + +IF + + +If to be a Christian is worth while, then the most ordinary interest in +those with whom we come in contact should prompt us to speak to them of +Christ. + + * * * * * + +If the New Testament be true--and we know that it is--who has given us +the right to place the responsibility for soul-winning on other +shoulders than our own? + + * * * * * + +If they who reject Christ are in danger, is it not strange that we, who +are so sympathetic when the difficulties are physical or temporal, +should apparently be so devoid of interest as to allow our friends and +neighbours and kindred to come into our lives and pass out again +without a word of invitation to accept Christ, to say nothing of +sounding a note of warning because of their peril? + + * * * * * + +If to-day is the day of salvation, if to-morrow may never come, and if +life is equally uncertain, how can we eat, drink, and be merry when +those who live with us, work with us, walk with us, and love us are +unprepared for eternity because they are unprepared for time? + + * * * * * + +If Jesus called His disciples to be fishers of men, who gave us the +right to be satisfied with making fishing tackle or pointing the way to +the fishing banks instead of going ourselves to cast out the net until +it be filled? + + * * * * * + +If Jesus Himself went seeking the lost, if Paul the Apostle was in +agony because his kinsmen, according to the flesh, knew not Christ, why +should we not consider it worth while to go out after the lost until +they are found? + + * * * * * + +If I am to stand at the judgment seat of Christ to render an account +for the deeds done in the body, what shall I say to Him if my children +are missing, my friends not saved, or if my employer or employee should +miss the way because I have been faithless? + + * * * * * + +If I wish to be approved at the last, then let me remember that no +intellectual superiority, no eloquence in preaching, no absorption in +business, no shrinking temperament, no spirit of timidity can take the +place of or be an excuse for my not making an honest, sincere, prayerful +effort to win others to Christ by means of the _Personal Touch_. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +_A Testimony_ + + +I have the very best of reasons for believing in the power of the +personal touch in Christian work, especially as it may be used in the +winning of others to Christ. + +My boyhood's home was in the city of Richmond, in the State of Indiana, +my mother was a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in +the first years of my life in company with my father and the other +children of the household, I attended the church of my mother. When she +was just a little more than thirty-five years of age she was called +home. My father in his youth had been trained as a Presbyterian; many +of his ancestors having belonged to that denomination; therefore it was +quite natural that he should return to the Church of his fathers when +my mother had gone home. + +It was thus I became a member of the Presbyterian Church, and my Church +training as a boy after fifteen years of age was in that denomination. +Because of this special interest in both the Church of my father and my +mother, I attended two Sunday Schools. In the morning I was in a class +in the Presbyterian school and in the afternoon was a member of a class +in the Grace Methodist Sunday School, my teacher in the afternoon school +being Mrs C.C. Binckley, a godly woman, the wife of Senator Binckley of +Indiana, through all her life from girlhood, a devout follower of Christ +and a faithful teacher in the Sunday School. Not so very long ago I +heard that she was still teaching in the same school, and I am sure, as +in the olden days, winning boys to Christ. + +I fear that I was a thoughtless boy, and yet the impressions made upon +my life in those days by the death of my mother, the teaching of my +father, and the influence of my Sunday School teacher, were such that I +have never been able to get away from them. + +One Sunday afternoon a stranger came to address our school--his name I +have never learned; I would give much to find it out. At the close of +his address he made an appeal to the scholars to stand and confess +Christ. I think every boy in my class rose to his feet with the +exception of myself. I found myself reasoning thus: Why should I rise, +my mother was a saint; my father is one of the truest men I know; my +home teaching has been all that a boy could have; I know about Christ +and think I realise His power to save. + +While I was thus reasoning, my Sunday School teacher, with tears in her +eyes, leaned around back of the other boys and looking straight at me, +as I turned towards her she said, "Would it not be best for you to +rise?" And when she saw that I still hesitated, she put her hand under +my elbow and lifted me just a little bit, and I stood upon my feet. I +can never describe my emotions. I do not know that that was the time of +my conversion, but I do know that it was the day when one of the most +profound impressions of my life was made upon me. Through all these +years I have never forgotten it, and it was my Sunday School teacher +who influenced me thus to take the stand--it was her personal touch +that gave me courage to rise before the school and confess my Saviour. + +In the good providence of God, during my student days, as well as +during the first years of my ministry, I was thrown in contact with men +who knew God, who were being marvellously used by Him, and who seemed +ready and willing to give assistance to one who was just beginning the +journey of life with all its struggles and conflicts ahead of him. + +When I was a student attending Lake Forest University, not far from +Chicago, I was very greatly troubled about the matter of assurance. I +heard that Mr Moody was to be in Chicago, and in company with a friend +I went in from Lake Forest to hear him. Five times in a single day I +sat at his feet and drank in the words which fell from his lips. He +thrilled me through and through. I heard him preach his great sermon on +"Sowing and Reaping," when old Farwell Hall was crowded with young men +many of whom were students like myself. + +The impression that Mr Moody made upon me as a Christian young man, was +that I myself was not absolutely sure I was saved. I analysed my +experience and found that sometimes I was more than sure and at other +times dwelt in Doubting Castle. When the great evangelist called for an +after-meeting, I was one of the first to enter the room where he had +indicated he would meet those who were interested, and to my great joy +he came and sat down beside me. He asked me my difficulty and I told +him I was not quite sure that I was saved. He asked me to read John v. +24, and trembling with emotion I read: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, +He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath +everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed +from death unto life." + +He said to me, "Do you believe this?" I said, "Certainly." He said, +"Are you a Christian?" and I replied, "Sometimes I think I am, and +again I am fearful." Then he said, "Read it again." And I read it once +more. His question was again repeated, and I answered it in the same +manner as before. Then he seemed to lose his patience, and the only +time I can remember Mr Moody being sharp with me was when he turned +upon me and said, "Whom are you doubting?" And suddenly it dawned upon +me that I was doubting Him who said I was possessed of everlasting life +because I believed on the Son and on the Father who had sent Him, and +in spite of this possession and His sure Word of promise concerning it, +I was sceptical. But as I sat there beside him I saw it all. Then he +said, "Read it again." And I read it the third time, and talking to me +as gently as a mother would to her child he said, "Do you believe this?" +I said, "Yes, indeed I do." Then he said, "Are you a Christian?" And I +answered, "Yes, Mr Moody, I am." From that day to this I have never +questioned my acceptance with God. + +For some reason Mr Moody always seemed to keep me in mind. He came into +my church in the early days of my ministry, told me where he thought I +was wrong and suggested how I might be more greatly used of God. He +advised me to give my time wholly to evangelistic work, and when I said +to him one day that I was going to take up the pastorate after three +years of experience in general evangelism, he seemed disturbed. To him +more than to any other man, I owe the greatest blessing that ever came +into my life. + +Through Mr Moody I met the Rev F.B. Meyer, and one sentence which he +used at Northfield changed my ministry. He said, "If you are not +willing to give up everything for Christ, are you willing to be made +willing?" That seemed like a new star in the sky of my life, and one day +acting upon his suggestion, after having carefully studied the passages +in the New Testament which relate to surrender and to consecration, I +gave myself anew to Christ and I shall never be able to express in words +my appreciation of what this man of God to whom I have referred, did for +me by personal influence. + +All along the way I have been brought in contact with men whom God has +signally blessed, and I am persuaded that there are many to-day whose +hearts are hungering for a blessing, who are waiting as I was myself, +for someone to speak to them personally, and help them out of darkness +into light; out of a certain kind of bondage into a glorious freedom. +The personal touch in Christian work, to me, means everything. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +_A General Principle_ + + +I have been amazed in my study of the biographies of men and women who +have been specially used of God, to see how almost universal is the +rule that they have come to Christ, or to an experience of power, +through the personal influence of a friend or acquaintance. Preaching +is not enough, it is sometimes too general; the impressions of a song +may soon be effaced, but the personal touch, the tear in the eye, the +pathos in the voice, the concern which is manifested in the very +expression of one's countenance; these are used with great effect, and +thousands of people are to-day in the Kingdom of God, or in special +service, because of such influences being brought to bear upon their +lives. + +John Wesley is a notable illustration of the influence of the personal +touch. Peter Bohler of the Moravian Church, came into his life when he +was in sore need of just such assistance as he seemed able to give. Dr +W. H. Fitchett of Australia, writes:-- + +"The Moravians of Savannah taught him exactly what Peter Bohler taught +him afterwards in London, but the teaching at the moment left his life +unaffected. Wesley's own explanation is, 'I understood it not; I was +too learned and too wise, so that it seemed foolishness unto me; and I +continued preaching, and following after, and trusting in that +righteousness whereby no flesh can be justified.' + +"The truth is that Peter Bohler himself, had he met Wesley in Savannah, +would have taught him in vain. The stubborn Sacramentarian and High +Churchman had to be scourged, by the sharp discipline of failure, out +of that subtlest and deadliest form of pride, the pride that imagines +that the secret of salvation lies, or can lie, within the circle of +purely human effort. Wesley later describes Peter Bohler as 'One whom +God prepared for me.' But God in the toilsome and humiliating +experiences of Georgia, was preparing Wesley for Peter Bohler." + +Bohler described Wesley as "a man of good principles, who did not +properly believe on the Saviour, and was willing to be taught." Later +on, in the city of London, where Wesley had been intimately associated +with Peter Bohler and had come directly under his influence, he one +night attended a religious service in Aldersgate Street, where the one +conducting the service was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to +the Romans. The effect of that service upon Wesley is best told in his +own words. + +"About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which +God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart +strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for my +salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my +sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death. I began to +pray with all my might for those who had in a more special manner +despitefully used me and persecuted me. I then testified openly to all +there what I now first felt in my heart. But it was not long before the +enemy suggested, 'This cannot be faith; for where is thy joy?' Then was +I taught that peace and victory over sin are essential to faith in the +Captain of our salvation; but that, as to the transports of joy that +usually attend the beginning of it, especially in those who have +mourned deeply, God sometimes giveth, sometimes withholdeth, them +according to the counsels of His own will." + +Charles Haddon Spurgeon, in speaking of his own early experiences, +writes thus: "When I was a young child staying with my grandfather, +there came to preach in the village Mr Knill, who had been a +missionary at St Petersburgh, and a mighty preacher of the gospel. He +came to preach for the London Missionary Society, and arrived on the +Saturday at the manse. He was a great soul winner, and he soon spied +out the boy. He said to me, 'where do you sleep? for I want to call you +up in the morning.' I showed him my little room. At six o'clock he +called me up, and we went into the arbour. There, in the sweetest way, +he told me of the love of Jesus and of the blessedness of trusting in +Him and loving Him in our childhood. With many a story he preached +Christ to me, and told me how good God had been to him, and then he +prayed that I might know the Lord and serve Him. + +"He knelt down in the arbour and prayed for me with his arms about my +neck. He did not seem content unless I kept with him in the interval +between the services, and he heard my childish talk with patient love. +On Monday morning he did as on the Sabbath, and again on Tuesday. Three +times he taught me and prayed with me, and before he had to leave, my +grandfather had come back from the place where he had gone to preach, +and all the family were gathered to morning prayer. Then, in the +presence of them all, Mr Knill took me on his knee and said, 'This +child will one day preach the gospel, and he will preach it to great +multitudes. I am persuaded that he will preach in the chapel of Rowland +Hill, where (I think he said) I am now the minister.' He spoke very +solemnly, and called upon all present to witness what he said." + +D.L. Moody was thus won to Christ. His Sunday School teacher in Boston +was Mr E.D. Kimball. He was not one of the ordinary type of Sunday +School teachers. Mere literal instruction on Sunday did not satisfy his +ideal of the teacher's duty. He knew his boys, and if he knew them, it +was because he studied them, because he became acquainted with their +occupations and aims, visiting them during the week. It was his custom, +moreover, to find opportunity to give to his boys an opportunity to use +his experience in seeking the better things of the Spirit. The day came +when he resolved to speak to young Moody about Christ, and about his +soul. + +"I started down to Holton's shoe store," says Mr Kimball. "When I was +nearly there, I began to wonder whether I ought to go just then, during +business hours. And I thought maybe my mission might embarrass the boy, +that when I went away the other clerks might ask who I was, and when +they learned might taunt Moody and ask if I was trying to make a good +boy out of him. While I was pondering over it all, I passed the store +without noticing it. Then when I found I had gone by the door, I +determined to make a dash for it and have it over at once. I found +Moody in the back part of the store wrapping up shoes in paper and +putting them on shelves. I went up to him and put my hand on his +shoulder, and as I leaned over I placed my foot upon a shoe box. Then I +made my plea, and I feel that it was really a very weak one. I don't +know just what words I used, nor could Mr Moody tell. I simply told him +of Christ's love for him and the love Christ wanted in return. That was +all there was of it. I think Mr Moody said afterwards that there were +tears in my eyes. It seemed that the young man was just ready for the +light that then broke upon him, for there at once in the back of that +shoe store in Boston the future great evangelist gave himself and his +life to Christ." + +Many years afterward Mr Moody himself told the story of that day. "When +I was in Boston," he said, "I used to attend a Sunday School class, and +one day, I recollect, my teacher came around behind the counter of the +shop I was at work in, and put his hand upon my shoulder, and talked to +me about Christ and my soul. I had not felt that I had a soul till +then. I said to myself. This is a very strange thing. Here is a man who +never saw me till lately, and he is weeping over my sins, and I never +shed a tear about them. But, I understand it now, and know what it is +to have a passion for men's souls and weep over their sins. I don't +remember what he said, but I can feel the power of that man's hand on +my shoulder to-night. It was not long after that I was brought into the +Kingdom of God." + +The personal touch is necessary. It is not so much what we say, as the +way we say it, and indeed, it is not so much what we say and the way we +say it, as what we are, that counts in personal work. We cannot delegate +this work to others. God has called the evangelist to a certain mission +in soul winning. He has given ministers the privilege of winning many to +Christ. Mission workers, generally, are charged with the responsibility +for this special work. But this fact cannot relieve the parents, the +children, the husband, the wife, the friends, the business man, the +toiler in the shop, from personal responsibility in the matter of +attempting to win others to the Saviour. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +_A Polished Shaft_ + + +"He hath made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me," +Isaiah xlix. 2.[1] Personal preparation is essential to the best success +in personal work. No familiarity with the methods of other workers; no +distinction among men because of past favours of either God or men; no +past success in the line of special effort; no amount of intellectual +equipment and no reputation for cleverness in the estimation of your +fellowmen will take the place of individual soul culture, if you are to +be used of God. + +[Footnote 1: Suggested by Dr Charles Cuthbert Hall.] + + Thou must be true thyself, + If thou the truth would teach; + It takes the overflow of heart + To give the lips full speech. + +The words of Isaiah the Prophet literally refer to Him who was the +servant of Jehovah. He was God's prepared blessing to a waiting and +needy people. He came from the bosom of the Father that He might lift a +lost and ruined race to God. And swifter than an arrow speeds from the +hand of the archer when the string of the bow is drawn back, He came to +do the will of God. In the Epistle to the Hebrews we find Him saying, +"Lo I come, in the volume of the Book it is written of me I delight to +do thy will." This was the spirit of all His earthly life. When He was +hungry and sent His disciples to buy meat, He found it unnecessary to +partake of the food they brought to Him, saying, "My meat is to do the +will of him that sent me." And when He came to the garden of Gethsemane, +well on to the climax of His sacrificial life, we hear Him saying again, +"Not my will, but Thine be done." In such a completely surrendered life +we have a perfect representation of the prepared Christian worker. + +In the expression of Isaiah we have also the thought of His anguish. +"He was made a polished shaft." In these days when there is a disposition +to place Jesus upon the level with others who have wrought for the good +of humanity, it is well to remember that He is the Lamb slain from the +foundation of the world. There is also the thought of the beauty of His +character, for He is a "polished shaft," "chiefest among ten thousand," +and "the One altogether lovely." He is "the lily of the valley" for +fragrance, and "the rose of Sharon" for beauty, and thus prepared He +stands before us beckoning us on to a work which is indescribable in its +fascination. Calling His disciples He said, "I will make you fishers of +men." The same promise is made to us. Working His miracles He said to +those about Him, "Greater works than these shall ye do." We have only +to follow in His footsteps and walk sufficiently near to hear His +faintest whisper when He directs us to be, in the truest sense of the +word, successful personal workers. + +It is a great encouragement to hear Him say, "As the Father hath sent +me, even so send I you." The shaft mentioned by Isaiah is an arrow +prepared with all care. The quiver in which this arrow is placed is +carried on the left side of the archer, placed upon the string of the +bow, the archer drawing back the string adds to the elasticity of bow +and string his own strength, and the shaft is off to do the archer's +will. There is in this story an illustration for all Christian workers. +Fitness for service lies first of all in divine endowment. God has +given to each one of us special and peculiar qualifications. If we live +as we ought to live, exercising the gift that is in us; the painter may +paint for His glory; the poet may sing and speak of Him; the preacher +may preach and declare His righteousness, and should we live in less +conspicuous spheres than these, we have only to do our best with that +with which He has endowed us and our lives will be pleasing to Him. + +It lies also in the divine call. The shaft was made for a special +purpose. We have been created to do His will. The possession of power +is not enough; talents unused will rise at the Judgment Seat to rebuke +us. God gives us ability and then calls us forth into the field that we +may exercise it. Fitness for service also lies in the response to God's +will. The possession of power and the call of God may both be realised +and we may still fail. It is when we say "I will," to God that human +weakness is linked to divine strength and then a great service is +possible. + +Life is not drudgery, it is an inspiration. + + "Let me but do my work from day to day, + In field or forest, at desk or loom; + When vagrant wishes beckon me away, + Let me but find it in my heart to say, + This is my work, my blessing not my doom; + Of all who live I am the only one by whom + This work can best be done." + +The word of the Prophet Isaiah is a picture of the child of God, as +well as of Him who is our inspiration for service. There is the thought +of definiteness of use in the shaft. Other articles may be created for +a variety of purposes. This shaft is made to go at the owner's will. +There is only one way to live in this world and that is according to +the will of God and for His glory. + + It matters little where I was born, + Or if my parents were rich or poor; + Whether they shrank from the cold world's scorn, + Or walked in the pride of wealth secure; + But whether I live a surrendered man, + And hold my integrity firm in my clutch, + I tell you, my brother, as plain as I can, + It matters much! + + + It matters little where be my grave, + Or on the land or on the sea. + By purling brook, or 'neath stormy wave, + It matters little or nought to me; + But whether the angel of death comes down + And marks my brow with his loving touch, + And one that shall wear the victor's crown, + It matters much! + +There is also in this picture of the shaft the thought of directed +motion. The aim is everything. The arrow cannot aim itself. There is no +such thing as an aimless life. Our energies are either being directed +for Christ or against Him; in the interests of humanity or contrary to +them. Every child of God must reach the place where he will say, Not my +will, but Thine, O God, be done; not my path but Thine, O Christ, be +travelled; not my ambitions realized but Thine own purposes in me +fulfilled, my Heavenly Father. The progress of such a life is peace, +the consummation of it the most perfect victory. + + When I am dying how glad I shall be + That the lamp of my life has been blazed out for Thee. + I shall be glad in whatever I gave, + Labour, or money, one sinner to save; + + I shall not mind that the path has been rough, + That Thy dear feet led the way is enough. + When I am dying how glad I shall be, + That the lamp of my life has been blazed out for Thee. + +In the picture of the archer and his arrow, there is an illustration of +derived energy. The arrow placed upon the string and drawn back by the +archer speeds away to do the master's will. It has no power in itself; +it flies forward in the master's strength. God is always seeking an +outlet for His power along the line of service. It is when our lives +are surrendered to Him that victory is possible. A friend of mine took +for his year text the expression "I believe, and I belong." We might +well add, "I live and I love," and because I do both I will obey. Ole +Bull once played his violin in the presence of a company of University +students. He charmed them, they knew at once that they were in the +presence of a master. When he was finished playing, one who was present +said to him, "What is the secret of your power, have you a special bow, +or is it in the instrument you use?" Ole Bull responded, "I think it is +in neither, but it has always seemed to me that I had power in playing +because I waited to play until I had an inspiration, when my soul was +overflowing with music and I could not stay the torrent that was back +of me; it is then that I take my violin and the music flows forth." If +we were always passive in the hands of the Master He would show forth +in and through us His marvellous grace and power. + +The polishing of the shaft is always necessary. God uses all our +experiences to equip us for life. Parental influence; the power of +prayer as offered in our behalf by others; the education given us in +the schools; the disappointments of life which seem almost to crush us; +the sorrows which are indescribable; all these are like the touch of a +master's hand, and forth from such a school and such a training we +ought to come prepared to do the will of God. + +The arrow was carried in the quiver and the quiver was near to the +master's side. Nearness to God is essential if we are to be used of +God. He chooses the vessel nearest His hand. This has always been true. +The apostles, martyrs, missionaries, and saints who have finished their +work and have gone on before, as well as those who live to-day, prove +the statement that we must be in closest relationship with Christ if we +are to be entrusted with the gift of power. It is when we are in the +secret place of the Most High that we learn God's will concerning us. +Many people do not know God's will because they live too much in the +bustle and confusion of life. God speaks His best messages to us in +whispers, not in thunder tones, and we must be still to know that He is +God and study to be quiet that we may go forth from quietness to conquer. +The practice of the quiet hour is the secret of many a soul's victorious +service. + + Shut in with God alone, + I spend the quiet hour; + His mercy and His love I own, + And seek His saving power + + Shut in with God alone; + In meditation sweet, + My spirit waits before the throne, + Bowed low at Jesus' feet. + + Shut in with God alone; + I praise His holy name, + Who gave the Saviour to atone + For all my sin and shame. + + Shut in with God alone; + And yet I have no fear, + I rest beneath the cleansing blood, + And perfect love is here. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +_Starting Right_ + + +"Every one over against his house," Nehemiah iii. 28. The first part of +the Book of Nehemiah gives us a striking picture of destruction, and as +we look about us we see a city in ruins: the walls are down; the homes +have been destroyed; the people are in despair, so great is the +desolation that even the temple has been defaced. When the tidings +concerning the havoc which has been wrought in the city of Jerusalem +reached Nehemiah he was well nigh heart-broken. Speaking about the +story that had been brought to him he said, "And they said unto me, The +remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in +great affliction and reproach; the wall of Jerusalem also is broken +down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire," Nehemiah i. 3. When +he reaches the city of Jerusalem he goes about to view the ruins, and +he thus describes his journey: "So I came to Jerusalem and was there +three days. Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon +me; as also the king's words that He had spoken unto me. And they said, +Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this +good work," Nehemiah ii. 11 and 18. + +This picture of despair as seen in the olden days in Jerusalem is almost +if not altogether being repeated to-day. The case is really desperate. +The need of Divine help in the re-construction of human lives has never +been greater. Hosts of men find the following testimony a description +of their own experience. It is a young university man who is speaking, +and before a great crowd of people he says:-- + +"Probably nine out of every ten of you men standing in front of me know +who I am and know my family well. You will no doubt be surprised to +hear of the awful experiences through which I have gone during the past +six months. Just six months ago, as most of you know, I was an active +Christian worker, and there are many of you in front of me who as +recently as last July sat and heard me preach. During the last six +months trouble came upon me, and in a weak moment, losing faith in God, +I took to drink, and sank as low as it is possible for any man to sink. +Not even the prodigal in the parable could have fallen lower than I +did. Disowned by my mother; cast aside by my brother and sisters; +despised by the members and officers of the church to which I belonged +and in which I preached, I was in every respect an outcast. Just before +Christmas, whilst tramping on the road, I actually took the shirt off +my back to sell it for drink, so miserable was I. My nights I spent in +the open fields, waking in the morning covered with frost. Something +seemed to compel me to attend the meetings in this city. I attended +night after night, and although the singing and the address had a +wonderful effect upon me, I kept struggling against the working of the +Spirit, until the singing of the chorus "I am Included," brought home +to me as never before, the fact that even I, wretched outcast that I +was, had not gone too far. I then and there made up my mind to accept +the promise of John iii. 16. From that time I have realized, as never +before, that Christ went to Calvary not so much for the world, as He +did for me. And I intend to devote the rest of my life to winning souls +for Him." + +There is surely cause for great alarm because of the present condition +of affairs, and for the following reasons: Home life is not what it +used to be. In the olden times the home was a harbour into which +tempest-tossed souls came day after day, and thus protected, had time +to regain lost strength and go forth again to battle with the storm. It +was once true that fathers were priests in their own households and +mothers were saints. The best memory that some of us have is that which +centres in a home where love ruled and reigned; where Christ was +honoured; where the Bible was read, explained and loved, and where the +very atmosphere was like heaven. In many instances to-day this is +missing and he is to be pitied who has not such a memory as this, and +such an influence for good in his life. The family altar in too many +households has been broken down or given up. "What led you to Christ?" +was the question asked of a distinguished Christian worker. And the +answer quickly given was, "My father's prayers at the family altar. +They followed me through my manhood and compelled me eventually to +accept Christ." When the family altar is gone from a home, it is like +the taking away of a strong foundation from a building or depriving the +arch of its keystone. Better sacrifice everything than this spirit and +practice of prayer in the home. + +It is barely possible that because of conditions family prayers may not +be conducted to-day as in other days, but there is at least time for a +verse of scripture and a prayer out of a full heart, and the influence +of even so brief a service will keep the members of the household from +many a failure. + +Church attendance is not what it once was. The old-fashioned family pew +is a thing of the past in too many cases. In other days the father, the +mother, and the children attended divine worship in the house of God. +They sang the hymns of the church together; they worshipped God with +the same spirit of devotion; they listened to the minister's preaching +and they came forth from such a service clothed with a power that made +them able to stand against the mightiest influences for evil. Because +the family pew is out of date many boys are wandering, and many girls +have gone astray. + +With the beginning of the fourth chapter of Nehemiah there is a change +in the story as told by the Prophet. There is a ring of triumph when he +announces: "So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together +unto the half thereof; for the people had a mind to work," Nehemiah +iv. 6. And the completeness of his work is described when he says: "Now +it came to pass when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, +and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed ..." +Nehemiah vii. 1. I am sure it is quite true that out from all the +despair which sometimes appals us, we shall come into the same complete +victory. But if we are to win others to Christ and if our work is to be +a work of prevention, so that our children shall not go astray and our +friends may not wander, then it will be essential that we should, like +Nehemiah of old, begin to build everyone over against his own house. It +is a sad thing to find so many people in the world who are a public +success and a private failure. Great superintendents of Sunday Schools, +and poor fathers; experienced Sunday School teachers, and inconsistent +in their own homes; eloquent preachers and poor illustrations of the +spirit of Jesus; famed for piety as revealed to the public eye and +quite as famed for lack of piety, when living out of the lime light, in +the common round of daily duties with those who know us best and ought +to speak of us most highly. + +If our work is to be as God would have it where shall it begin? By all +means let it begin with ourselves. There is a text of Scripture which +every Christian must say over and over. He might begin the day with it +and it might not be amiss for him to say it over before he closes his +eyes in sleep. "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my +thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me," Psalm cxxxix. 23, +24. It is quite unnecessary to study the methods of men if we cannot +bear the test of God's searching eye. + +We must be right in our own homes. In a meeting conducted recently in +Wales a gentleman rose to say: "I came to the meeting on Friday +afternoon and made a covenant with God that I would speak to someone +about Christ. It laid so hold of my heart that I went home and spoke to +my little girl. I asked her if she loved the Lord Jesus Christ, and she +said, 'Yes, I do.' I said, 'Will you accept Jesus as your personal +Saviour?' 'Yes, I am willing to' she said. I went to the steel works, +and had been praying that God would use me. I asked the young man with +whom I was working if he were a Christian. He looked black at me, but I +asked him to be honest before God. In a moment his face changed as he +said without hesitation, 'I will accept Jesus as my Saviour now.' + +"I was working during the night, and it came to food time, so I asked +several of the men if they would come into the smith shop and have a +word of prayer. There was a young man there whose little boy I had +spoken to. This young man came to me at three o'clock in the morning to +tell me that he would accept Jesus as his personal Saviour. I asked +some of the men if they would come up to my house and have a little +prayer meeting after work, at six o'clock in the morning. They came up +and I spoke to them, quoting the texts John iii. 16 and John v. 24. +Some of the men present were not saved. I asked them if they really +understood the Scriptures, and they told me they did. 'Now,' I said, +'will you not accept Jesus as your personal Saviour?' and one who was +in the smith shop told me that he had definitely given himself to God +at three o'clock that morning. Then I asked a boy of fifteen if he +understood the words. 'Yes,' he said, so I asked him if he would not +accept Christ. 'Yes' he replied, 'I will.' The following night I spoke +to another in the works, concerning his soul, and asked him if he had +fully surrendered, because I knew he was in trouble. About one o'clock +I spoke to him and said, 'Will you give yourself to the Lord now?' +'No,' he said, 'not now.' 'Well,' I said, 'come to the smith shop at +food time and have a word of prayer.' After food time he came out, and +started again at his work. Presently he came across to me. 'Well,' I +said, 'have you fully surrendered?' 'Yes, Tom,' he said, 'I have given +myself to Christ, now.'" + +Beginning in the home it is quite easy to go out into a wider circle +and serve. The tendency, however, is to begin in some public place, and +oftentimes because of this we fail to win those who work by our side, +who sit with us at our own table and who live with us day after day and +for whom we are specially responsible. It will also be necessary for us +to enlarge the circle and reach the people in our own places of business. +Two business men journeyed into a New England city together for twenty +years. One of them was a Christian, the other was not. They were both +dying the same day, and the man who was not a Christian when he heard +that his friend was dying, had a right to say to his wife, as he did, +"It is a strange thing that my friend and I have known each other so +well, and love each other so dearly, that he has allowed me to come to +this day without a warning." + +A business man rose in a meeting to say, "I have been greatly concerned +about one young man who works in my office. I asked him if he would not +come to the office a little earlier this morning. When he came and we +were alone I asked him if he knew why I had got him to come a little +earlier. When he told me that he did not, I said to him 'I am a +Christian, I have never spoken to you about Christ and I have asked you +to come this morning that I might explain the way to you and urge you +to take your stand for Him.' That morning I had the great joy of +leading my employee to Christ. I gave him a little pocket Testament in +which I wrote his name, and under his name I wrote this Scripture, +'Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee,' and after that I +signed my name. Three days later," said the business man, "the young +man of whom I speak, led three others to Christ, one of them was the +head book-keeper in my office." + +If we are to be successful soul winners it is essential not only that +we should get right with God but that we should keep right with Him. +There must be a quick confession of sin and a quick turning away from +all that would work against Christ. Our friends with whom we live and +labour are keen critics, and as a rule, just ones. They know when we +are wrong and nothing so hinders a testimony as to allow a wrong to go +unrighted. When before our own households and with those who know us +best, and by whose side we toil, in shop, or store, or office, or with +those whom we employ, we keep ourselves unspotted from the world, we +have an unanswerable argument for Christ and a testimony as regards the +value of following Him which cannot be gainsayed. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +_No Man cared for my Soul_ + + +"No man cared for my soul," Psalm cxlii. 4. All about us people are +saying these words, and they really think we do not care. I believe +there has never been a story of a man in which was found more contrast +than in this account of the man who sobs out the words, "No man cared +for my soul." He is a shepherd boy, then a king, a saint, writing the +twenty-third Psalm, then suddenly turned into a sinner blackening the +pages of the Old Testament with the story of his transgressions. The +world has not had better poetry than that which came from the heart and +brain of this marvellous man. In addition to all this, he is a musician, +and all through the Psalms he is keeping time to heaven's music until, +when he comes to the close of the Psalter, he stands like the leader of +a mighty chorus, and calls upon every living breathing being to praise +the Lord. He is a pursuer of men, and the hosts of the enemy run and +cry and flee before him. + +Suddenly the scene is changed. He is himself pursued. He is in the cave +of Engedi. The cave is dark, and it is in the gloom that we hear him +crying out, "I looked upon my right hand and beheld, but there was no +man that would know me: refuge failed me." And as he said this I think +he must have said, with a sob, "No man cared for my soul." But it is +not my intention so much to tell the story of this man whose life was +so filled with contrasts, but rather to speak of those who live to-day, +and who think they have a right to use the same words as the Psalmist, +"No man cared for my soul." + +They walk on the streets of our cities; they live in our homes; they +meet us in our places of business; they are members of our circle of +friends; they know that we are Christians, and they are often thinking +or saying, "No man cared for my soul." It is strange that we should +permit this, because we read in the Bible, "He that believeth not is +condemned already." "He that hath not the Son of God hath not life, but +the wrath of God abideth on him." It seems strange that one could say +he believes the Bible to be true; that he accepts these statements +concerning the one who is not a Christian, and yet lives and works and +associates with him and never speaks to him about the salvation of his +soul. + +It would seem as if they at least had a right to say, "No man _seems_ +to care." But some may say, "They have the Church, and the doors are +wide open; they have the minister, and his message is faithful." Yet, +the average man who sits in church and listens to the most impassioned +appeal of the preacher, rarely considers the sermon personal. He finds +himself saying, sometimes against his will, that the preacher is +professional, that his plea is perfunctory, and so he goes out of +church and says again, "No man _seems_ to care for my soul." + +There came into my church in an Eastern city a man who worshipped with +us for a time. His family were in the mountains. I made it a rule never +to allow one to attend the church that I did not speak to him personally. +One day I called on this business man. He took me into his private +office. When I took him by the hand I said, "I have come to ask you to +be a Christian." He looked at me in amazement; and I said, "I am not +asking you to join my church, that may not be the church of your choice, +but I am asking you to be a Christian." He drew his hand out of mine, +walked away to the window, and stood looking down upon the busy street +for fully five minutes. I thought I had offended him. Then he came back, +and, brushing the tears out of his eyes, he took my hand again and said, +"It is the first invitation to be a Christian I have ever had in all my +life. Nobody ever asked me before. My mother never asked me; my wife +has never asked me; no minister has ever asked me." Then, sinking back +into the chair by his table, he used the words which are almost identical +with the words of David, "I thought no one cared." + +Such men are all around us; men in deepest need; men with sore aching +hearts. There was a man in an American city who occupied a high +position among men. He took his own life. Under the stress of political +excitement he misappropriated the funds of the bank, thinking he could +repay them, and in his beautiful home he put the revolver to his temple +and shot himself. The saddest letter I have ever seen was written by +that man. He wrote to his wife asking her forgiveness. He told her to +pray for the children whom he had dishonoured. Then he concluded his +farewell letter with this statement: "Through all the months I have +been wishing somebody would speak to me about becoming a Christian." In +the light of such facts I believe that what we need in these days is +not so much, more men to preach--although that would be a great +blessing--as people in the church who will be absolutely consistent. If +they say they believe God's Word to be true, they must speak to those +over whom they have an influence, about the personal acceptance of +Christ. + +I was waiting one day outside the office of the Governor of one the +Western States, and while I waited, the Lieutenant-Governor spoke to +me. He said, "I was in your service last night, and I want to take +issue with you on what you said. You told your hearers to go up and +down the streets asking the people to become Christians. I think if +anyone should come into my office and ask me to become a Christian I +should tell him to go about his business." "You surely misunderstood +me," I said; "what I told them was this, that if a business man was not +a Christian, his friend who is a Christian ought to speak to him kindly +about his soul." I had been introduced to the Lieutenant-Governor by +one of the great politicians of the State, who was a sincere Christian, +and I said, "Suppose our mutual friend here should come to you and say, +'I am a Christian. I think it is the best thing for a man to be a +Christian. I am not always what I would like to be myself, but I should +like to invite you to become a Christian.' Then suppose he should tell +you what a strength and help it had been to him, what would you say to +him?" He looked at me for a moment, and said, "I think I should say +'Thank you.'" I am sure thousands could be won to Jesus Christ if the +members of the Church were consistent in the matter of living in Christ +and giving an invitation to people to become acquainted with Him. + +It is not fair to charge the minister with being professional, nor to +say that in his appeal he is perfunctory. Nor is it always just to +criticize those who are in the church, for not speaking to the unsaved, +for there may be an explanation. Sometimes we feel a sense of our own +unworthiness. There are business men who know that if they should speak +to their employees, the first speech would have to be a confession of +failure. There are women who know that if they should go to their +husbands or children, and ask them to come to Christ, they would have +first of all to say, "You must forgive my inconsistency." There are +fathers who know that they could not go to their homes and call their +children around them, and bid them come to Christ without first saying, +"You must forgive your father." But if a confession is necessary, then +make it. It is sometimes a sense of unworthiness that seals one's lips, +but remember if you have a friend who is not a Christian, and to whom +you have never spoken of Christ, your friend counts you inconsistent +because of your failure. + +I said to the officers in my church one evening, "How many of you have +ever led a soul to Christ?" About half of them said they never had. One +officer said, "That is a sharp question for me. If you will excuse me I +will go home and speak to my children, to-night." He did so, and I +received two of his sons into the church shortly after. + +Again, we seem to have failed to warn our friends because we have such +a slight conception of the meaning of the word "Lost." A mother in +Chicago one day carried her little baby over to the doctor, and said, +"Doctor, look into this baby's eyes, something has gone wrong with +them." The doctor took the little child and held it in his arms so that +the light would strike its face, He gazed at it only for a moment, +then, putting it back into its mother's arms, he shook his head, and +the mother said quickly, "Doctor, what is it?" And he said, "Madam, +your baby is going blind. There is no power in this world that can make +him see." She held the baby in her arms close up against her heart. +Then with a cry she fell to the floor in a swoon, saying as she fell, +"My God--blind!" I think any parent must know how she felt. But Jesus +said, "Better to be maimed, and halt, and blind than to be lost." + +If you believe the Bible you cannot be indifferent. But you say, some +would not like to have you speak to them. I have been twenty-seven +years a minister, and have spoken to all classes and conditions of men +and women, and only in one single instance have I ever been rebuked. I +was once asked to speak to the president of a bank. I went into his +office, and was introduced to him by the pastor with whom I was staying. +I said, "My friend is very interested in you, and I wish I could lead +you to Christ." He looked at me in perfect amazement. Then, rising from +the chair, he took me by the hand, and said, "Thank you, sir." I saw +him that night, make his way down the crowded aisle of the church, give +the minister his hand, and say, "I will." + +But I had a sad experience at college. I roomed with a man when I was a +student for the ministry, and never spoke to him about his soul. When +the day of my graduation came, and I was bidding him good-bye, he said, +"By the way, why have you never spoken to me about becoming a Christian?" +I would rather he had struck me. I said, "Because I thought you did not +care." "Care!" he said. "There has never been a day that I did not want +you to speak; there has never been a night that I did not hope you would +speak." I lost an opportunity. I fear some day, I must answer for it. + +You had an idea that you had no influence, but you must remember that +when you speak in the name of Jesus Christ, God stands back of you; +that when you plead for the salvation of a person, all the power of +heaven is working through you. Some may ask, What is the best time to +speak to my friends about Christ? I should say, speak to them when they +are in trouble, seek them out when others are being saved, but, best of +all, go to them when the Spirit of God says go, that is the best time. +Whenever God says "Go," He is always making ready the heart for our +coming. I was one day walking down the streets of an American city with +a Methodist minister, when he said to me, "What would you do if you +were impressed that you should speak to a man?" I said, "Speak to him." +He said, "But this man has not been in church for thirteen years." +"Nevertheless," I said, "speak to him." He turned and made his way to +the great house where this business man lived. He rang the bell, and +the door was opened by the gentleman himself, who said, "Doctor, I am +glad to see you. I have been in all day thinking you might come." And +in a very few minutes he was kneeling in the library with this +gentleman whom he quickly led to Christ. + +A year later I was passing through the city of Chicago, when, picking +up a newspaper, I noticed that this man whom the minister had won to +Christ, had died suddenly. I got a letter from the minister not long +afterwards, and he said, "I was with him when he died. He sent a +messenger for me to come and see him, and when I arrived he turned his +face towards mine and said, "Dr ----, thank you for coming that day, +for if you had missed that day, I might have missed this. Then he began +to sing as best he could. He raised himself on his pillow, with his +arms outreaching, and said, "Jesus Lover of My soul," and passed away. +The minister's letter was marked with tears, and down at the foot of it +was written this sentence; "God helping me, I will never hesitate +again." They are all about us, men with aching hearts, men caught by +the power of sin, young people and older people as well. They are +waiting. Preaching may not win them; singing may not touch them. But +personal effort will. + +I might change the text and make it read: "The world does not care for +your soul," You may win it, and it will mock you. Satan does not care +for your soul. He will fascinate you and snare you, and when you say, +"Oh, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this +death?" there will be no deliverance. But God cares. Christ cares. The +minister cares, and thousands of others care. Some are saying, "What +must I do to be a Christian?" A gentleman once said to me, "I do not +love God." Another person once said, "You talk about love for Christ; +is it like love for my mother, because if it is I have not got it." No, +it is not like that. That is not the first step in the way. Tell them +God does not say, "Love me, and I will save you." God says, "Trust me. +Accept my conditions, believe on my Son and follow Him." + +There was a great man in a Western city who had a little girl who was +deaf and dumb. He loved his child so much that he would not allow +anybody to teach her. She had a kind of sign language which they both +understood, but nobody else was allowed to teach her. This gentleman at +one time had occasion to leave home and go abroad. He could not take +his daughter with him, so his minister persuaded him to send her over +to an institution where she could be taught to use the sign language of +the deaf and dumb. He took her over himself, never for a moment +imagining that she would learn to speak with her lips, as she did. The +months passed by, and when the father returned, the minister went with +him to see his child in the institution. The little girl had been told +that he was coming, and looking out of the window she saw her father +coming through the gate. She sprang to the door, and ran down the +steps, and along the walk until she reached her father. Then she climbed +up into his arms, and, putting her lips up against his ear, she said, +"Father, I love you, I love you." The great man held her out at arm's +length, looked into her face, then pressed her more closely to his +heart and fell in a faint--when he recovered consciousness he was +sobbing. All the day he kept saying, "I have heard her speak, and she +loves me, she loves me." So tell the people very plainly that God does +not say, "Love me." He says, "Believe on me; trust me; follow me." Then +ask them, Will you do it? And if they will follow Him, having accepted +His Son as their Saviour, and with his help having turned from sin, +then if they will obey Him, they will come to love Him with all their +hearts. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +_Winning the Young_ + + +"There is a lad here," John vi. 9. Jesus had just crossed over the sea +of Galilee and, attracted by the miracles which he had wrought, great +multitudes had followed after Him. In order that He might escape the +throng, He went up into a mountain and there He sat with His disciples. +When the Master saw the great company stretching out on every side of +Him He said unto Philip, "Whence shall we buy bread that these may +eat." Philip was so amazed at the crowd that he answered Him, "Two +hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one +of them may take a little." Then one of His disciples, Andrew, Simon +Peter's brother, said unto Him, "_There is a lad here_ which hath +five barley loaves and two small fishes." Then Jesus made the multitude +sit down, and took the loaves and gave to the disciples, and the +disciples to them that were seated, and likewise of the fishes as much +as they would, and when they were filled, the fragments that remained +filled twelve baskets. + +The presence of this lad and the service which he rendered to Jesus, as +well as the use which the Master made of him, all help us to teach our +lesson. Youth is the time to turn to Christ. The wise man knew this +when he said, "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth; while +the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh; when thou shalt say, I +have no pleasure in them." Sin has not so strong a hold upon a life in +the time of youth, therefore it is the easiest time to turn to Christ. + +I once heard a man tell the story of his special work among outcast men +and women, and when I asked him he told me how he himself was converted. +He said that as a boy in London, he was left one day in charge of the +private office. He said "I wanted to write a letter and I took the +firm's note-paper; I used one of their envelopes, and when I wanted +postage I opened the private drawer of the safe, the door of which was +swinging open, and took out one postage stamp, and when I put this stamp +upon my letter and dropped it into the post-box I felt as if I had +dropped my character with it. That was the beginning, and the end was a +prison cell, for I went from one form of thieving to another until I was +obliged to pay the penalty. I found Christ while I was in prison, but I +feel as if the mark of my early sin would never leave me. I would urge +every boy to accept Christ," he said, "before the cords of sin bind him +too securely." + +When one reaches the age of eighteen he finds it extremely difficult to +turn away from the sins that are mastering him, and when he passes +beyond twenty years of age, the tide against him is extremely heavy. +The critical time in the life of boys and girls is from twelve to +twenty. If they do not accept Christ during these years, it is wellnigh +impossible to win them. If this is true then we must make the most of +the opportunities of influencing the youth whom God is ever bringing +before us. + +The Scripture used in connection with this feeding of the multitude is +a good illustration. It is a lad who confronts us, and this is, as has +been said, the favourable time for bringing Christian influence to bear +upon him. There is a time in the life of every boy when it is +comparatively easy to win him to Christ. Parents surely know this, and +Sunday school teachers may easily discover it. "How did you come to +Christ?" said a New York minister to a little boy. His reply was, "My +Sunday school teacher took me last Sunday out into the park. She drew +me away from the crowd and took her seat beside me. She asked me if I +would become a Christian. I felt that I ought to do so, and because her +invitation was so definite, and she seemed so interested, I told her I +would do so, and because I am a Christian I went to join the Church." + +Too much cannot be said in favour of reaching the young while they are +in the days of their youth. Recently in an audience of 4500 people I +found that at least 400 of the audience came to Christ under 10 years +of age; between 10 and 12, 600; between 12 and 14, 600; between 14 and +16, about 1000; between 16 and 20, fully one half, and in the entire +audience not more than 25 people came to Christ after they were 30 +years of age. Five hundred ministers were in the same audience. The +majority of them were converted before they were 16 years of age; 40 of +them between 16 and 20; and only 15 out of the 500 ministers were +converted after they were 20. This in itself is an unanswerable +argument in favour of personal work for the young. + +The lad is here now before us, but he will soon be gone. Boys quickly +grow into manhood. As a rule religious influence weakens as they pass +on, while the power of sin increases. Many young men would turn to +Christ if they thought they could, but it seems to them that the +attraction towards evil is almost, if not quite irresistible. I +recently heard a Christian gentleman speaking before a great audience +in London. He was telling of his going over the Alps in the care of a +trusted guide. As they came to one of the most dangerous places in the +journey his guide stopped him, and said, "Do you see those footprints +off here to the right?" The gentleman said he did, plainly. "Do you +notice," said the guide, "how they get farther and farther apart?" And +when asked to give an explanation he said that a week before a young +telegraph operator had attempted to cross the mountains without a +guide, that just at the place where they were standing his hat blew +off, and, without thinking, he reached out after it, lost his balance +and started to fall. In trying to recover himself he started down the +mountain to the right. The way was all covered with snow; when once he +started he could not stop; farther and farther apart were his footprints +until at last they were lost on the edge of a great abyss. He had gone +over to his death. It is thus that young men go to destruction. Because +they do, we ought to be instant in season and out of season in seeking +to arrest their downward progress. + +When Jesus took the loaves and fishes in the possession of the lad and +brought to bear upon them his own marvellous power, the results were +great. No one realises what is being accomplished when he assists or +influences a boy. I am wondering what that minister, who led Spurgeon +to Christ, thinks of his work now that he sees it from the heavenly +standpoint, and I have many times thought I should like to ask the +business man who spoke to D.L. Moody about his soul, what estimate he +puts upon the importance of the work he did that day. To win a boy to +Christ may be to turn towards the Master one who may one day move the +world for Christ. + +A great number of Chinese young men have come from their native land +to study in the educational institutions of the United States. Some +of them have found Christ in these institutions, others have passed +through their course of study and returned to their native land without +a hope in the Saviour. What a marvellous work might have been accomplished +if the Christian students in these educational institutions had set +themselves to win these Chinese boys. The students in China are to have +an increasing influence in the Government, and if the majority of them +had been led to Christ, the whole Chinese Government might have been +powerfully affected. Some years ago there came to the United States a +little Chinese boy. He was sent to a New England educational institution, +and made his home in the house of a very humble woman. She knew Christ +and loved Him, and she recognised the presence of this little boy as +presenting an opportunity for service. She treated him as if he were +her own child. She mothered him and grew to love him. She taught him +how to read the Bible and she told him the story of Jesus and His love. +That little boy came to Christ. He passed through the educational +institution, went back to China to exercise his strongest influence for +righteousness, and has recently been entrusted with the commission of +bringing to the United States a number of other Chinese boys, all of +whom, it is said, he will place in institutions that are Christian. The +poor woman in New England did not realise that when she led one boy to +Christ that she was touching forty others. This is the fascination of +Christian work. + +Some of the noblest men and women the Church has ever known came to +Christ in youth. Polycarp, Matthew Henry, Jonathan Edwards, the +immortal Watts, John Hall, and a countless host of others who have +served conspicuously in the advancement of the Kingdom of God, came to +Christ before they were fifteen years of age, some of them coming as +early as seven. The lad is here, it will be a pity if we allow him to +grow to manhood without a hope in Christ all because we do not seek to +win him. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +_Winning and Holding_ + + +"From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to +make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus," +2 Timothy iii. 15. Timothy's inheritance was invaluable. His equipment +was superb, and his experience from the day of his birth until the end +of his life upon earth, ideal. He had a good grandmother. Evidently she +influenced him profoundly. I am quite sure that his parents too must +have fulfilled their obligations to their child, and in addition to his +own immediate ancestry, he had Paul, the Apostle, who looked upon him +as a son in the Gospel, and honoured him by sending him his last +message when he said, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my +course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a +crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give +me at that day, and not to me only, but to all them also that love His +appearing. Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me" 2 Timothy iv. 7-9. + +It is a great loss to any child to be deprived of what Timothy had. We +may not all be rich, and we certainly cannot all be great, but we may +all be true and faithful as parents, and when a child has such an +inheritance he is well started in life. It is because children do not +have this that many of them drift. Given a good ancestry it is +comparatively easy to draw children to Christ, and even to draw them +back when once they have wandered. It is the testimony of rescue +mission workers that when they have the privilege of appealing to lost +and ruined men in the name of a mother who was saintly and a father who +was true to Christ, they have a hold upon an almost irresistible force, +to bring the wanderer back to the faith of his father and the teaching +of his mother. + +There is the sorest need to-day of a special and continued interest in +behalf of our young people. David Starr Jordan is authority for the +statement that "one-third of the young men of America are wasting +themselves through intemperate habits and accompanying vices," the +conditions in other lands are also very serious. The secretary of the +College Association of North America has been quoted as saying that +there are twelve thousand college men in New York City alone who are +down and out through vice. "Talk of the ravages of war. The ravages of +war, pestilence and disease combined are as nothing compared with the +awful moral ravages wrought in the teen period. The shores are strewn +thick with the wasted lives of those who have been wrecked in youth." + +"We have been seeking results too far afield and overlooking great +opportunities near at hand. If you take a census of a Christian +congregation and ask those who were converted before their eighteenth +birthday to rise, five-sixths of your congregation will stand. This +means that five-sixths of all the people who give themselves to Christ +do it on the under side of the eighteenth year. Put beside this the +fact that we have more than 12,000,000 children and youth in the +Protestant Sunday Schools of America under eighteen years of age and +you will see that our great evangelistic opportunity does not lie +outside of the Church, but inside, in the Sunday School department. +Here we have a vast army, ready and waiting for the Christian call."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Rev Edgar Blake.] + +It is one thing to lead souls to Christ, it is quite another thing to +hold them when once they have been won. The serious time for drifting +is between the ages of twelve and twenty. If we could but safeguard +these years we would hold for the Church many who drift out upon the +sea of life, make shipwreck of their hopes and break the hearts of +those who are interested in them. + +"An investigation in the Wesleyan Church of England showed that only +ten per cent of the Sunday School were held in active membership in the +Church. Ten per cent. were held in a merely nominal relationship. +Eighty per cent. were lost entirely. This is a fair statement of the +situation in many churches. We have lost multitudes of our youth who +might have been saved if they had been properly cared for. + +"At the very time the Church loses its grip upon the boys and girls the +public school loses its grip also. The exodus begins about the fifth +grade, and at the eighth grade fifty per cent. of the scholars have +departed. At the twelfth grade, near the middle teens, ninety per cent. +of the scholars have gone out from the public schools. Thus these two +most powerful forces in the creation of character, the Church and the +School, lose their hold upon youth at the same time. + +"The home also loses its hold at this period. Up to his middle teens +your youth accepts everything on the authority of others, but midway of +the critical teen period there comes an awakening. The consciousness of +his own personality, his right to make decisions for himself comes to +him for the first time. Sometimes spontaneously, sometimes gradually, +but always he breaks with authority. He insists upon deciding matters +for himself. Parents may counsel, but they cannot determine[1]." + +[Footnote 1: Rev Edgar Blake.] + +"A gentleman came to a friend of mine at the close of an address which +he had delivered and said to him, 'I was much interested in what you +said about the boys we lose. I teach a class of the finished product.' +'Where do you teach?' said I. 'In the State prison' he said. A few +years ago seventy-five per cent. of the inmates of the Minnesota State +prison were boys who had once been in Sunday School and had been +permitted to drift away. The later teen age, sixteen to twenty, is the +criminal period. It is an appalling thing that 12,000 children were +brought before the courts of New York in 1909, and in the same year +more than 15,000 boys and girls suffered arrest in Chicago. Our +criminal ranks are added to, at the rate of 300,000 a year, and in the +vast majority of cases the criminal course is begun in the teen age. Is +it necessary? Is this awful waste--this moral havoc--unavoidable? I +believe not. Recently a young man in his teens was convicted of theft +in the court of Milwaukee. When the judge asked him if he had anything +to say before sentence was pronounced upon him, the young man arose, +pale with excitement and said, 'Your honour, my father and mother died +when I was three years old. I never had anyone who loved or cared for +me. I have been kicked about all my life. Judge, I never would have +been a thief if I had had a chance.' This is the pitiful plea of +thousands who have been wrecked around us. They were not shepherded and +they went astray." + +There is a way to hold the majority of those whom we may win to the +Saviour. A friend of mine led to Christ a young man who had gone to the +very depths of sin and shame. He was a drunkard; he had disgraced his +father's name; had broken his wife's heart, and when his little boy +died he did not have enough money to bury the child decently; when the +mother put the child in the grave the father was wild with drink, and +he was buried without his father being present. But my friend won this +man to Christ. After he was saved, every day for three weeks he went to +sit by his side and talk with him; he guarded him at the critical time; +he kept him from growing discouraged; he hindered him from drinking. +To-day this man is himself one of the most noted rescue mission workers +in the world, and is being used of God to save multitudes of men who +like himself had gone down through drink. + +It is what we are ourselves that largely counts in the holding of our +friends for Christ. Paul wrote to Titus saying, "In all things showing +thyself a pattern of good works ... that he that is of the contrary +part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you," which is only +another way of saying that a Christian life is an unanswerable argument +in favour of Christ. When our lives are right with God; when we keep +ourselves unspotted from the world; when we quickly confess our own +failure or wrongdoing; when we have a concern not only that others +should be saved, but that they might do something for Christ after +their salvation, it is comparatively easy to hold them, and to keep +from drifting those who have just started along the way. + +When my friend S.H. Hadley, the great rescue missionary, was lying in +his coffin, a timid knock was heard at the door of the room where the +body was resting. When the one who had knocked entered the room it was +found that he was a drunkard, he had fallen from a high position to the +very depths of despair, and as he stood timidly in the presence of the +sorrowing friends of the great man, he said, "I thought I would like to +come and look into his face and if I might be permitted to do so I +would like to touch his hand. He did his best to win me while he was +living and now that he is dead I cannot let his body be placed in the +grave without coming here by the side of his casket to yield myself to +Christ. All that he has said has followed me and I cannot get away from +it." + +Timothy knew the Scriptures, and a familiarity with God's Word is one +of the best preventives in the case of drifting. One verse of Scripture +committed to memory each day would help us to overcome the tempter; +would keep us in loving touch with Jesus Christ; would inspire us to +higher and holier living; and these suggestions made to those whom we +win to Christ would keep them from wandering. It is the man who does +not know his Bible who finds himself an easy prey to the wicked one. +The ability to pray is also a God-given force which keeps us from +drifting. When we read the Bible God talks to us; when we pray we talk +to Him. We cannot always speak plainly of our condition to those about +us, but we may tell Him what we are and what we wish we might have +been. And while it is true that He knows before we speak, it is also +true that in the telling we draw nearer to Him, and drawing nearer we +absorb a little bit more of His spirit, and in that spirit we stand. + +Service is also one of the surest preventives from wandering. It is +when the brain is idle that evil thoughts master it; when the heart is +given up to impure imaginations that we find it easy to fall. And it is +when we are busy lifting others' burdens; making the way easier for +others to travel; comforting those who are in distress; speaking a word +of cheer to the cheerless, and above all, when we are seeking to lead +others to Christ, that we ourselves grow in grace and in the knowledge +of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. If these things are true, and we +know they are, then it is the duty of every Christian not only to seek +to win another to Christ, but by all means to seek to hold him when +once he is won, and that which we know holds us will keep others from +stumbling. + +The suggestions made above are for the young as well as the more +mature. Young people will be interested in spiritual things if we have +sufficient interest in them ourselves to make them attractive. + +If we would show as great interest in helping to keep those whom we may +have won for Christ, as we revealed when we were seeking them, fewer of +them would drift. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +_A Practical Illustration_ + + +It will be a great day when the Church is aroused to the responsibility +and privilege of personal work. + +In Swansea, Wales, with Mr Charles M. Alexander, I had the satisfaction +of conducting a mission in which I preached for an entire week on Soul +Winning. I then urged the people to go forth and labour, and asked them +to come back with their reports. These reports were thrilling. Often +ten or twelve people would be standing at the one time waiting to +speak. The following are only a few testimonies taken from the many:-- + +A minister said: "I spoke to a bright young fellow, under the influence +of drink, as I was going home in the car last night. He got off the car +when I did, so I stood at the street corner and talked with him for a +few minutes. He told me that he had been a follower of the Lord Jesus +many years ago, but had fallen away through bad company. I asked him to +pray for himself. He said he could not, but asked me to pray for him. +And there on that street corner I put my arm around his shoulder and we +prayed together, and he has promised to come to the meeting to-night." + +"About three years ago," said another, "I came in touch with a man who +has been the biggest and most hardened scoffer I have had to contend +with. He had such a sarcastic way of ridiculing the Lord Jesus Christ. +But this last fortnight I have seen a distinct change in that young +man's life. Last week, as we were working near to one another, I spoke +to him and his eyes filled with tears. He said, 'I have decided to come +out and accept Christ.' I could hardly credit it, but it has proved to +be real, and when I see God moving in such a hard case as this, I have +hope for every sinner in this city." + +Another said, "I came to the Lord three years ago, one of the worst +drunkards in Swansea. Since the Saviour found me, I have spoken to men +on their death-beds. I have spoken to drunkards all over Swansea, but I +neglected my own charge that God had given to me. Dr Chapman woke me up +to approach my own household and children. It was the greatest struggle +in all my life. I went to my two boys and put my hands on their shoulders +saying, 'I want you to do something for Jesus and for your father.' They +said, 'Father, we will do it.' Two of my boys came to the Albert Hall +yesterday and gave their hearts to Jesus. This has been one of the most +blessed weeks I have had since I was saved three years ago." + +"On Thursday night I had been asking the Lord to lead me to the right +one to speak to. He led me to a young man of sixteen years of age who +was under tremendous conviction. He said, 'I think I will make a clean +breast of it. I have done something,' and he told me his story. This +young lad, in his employer's service for four years, last week, for the +first time, began to steal. He turned out his pocket and showed me what +he had. He said, 'What shall I do? I go to bed at night and I cannot +sleep, it is haunting me.' I said, 'Look here, laddie, do this. Go to +your master to-morrow morning, and make a clean breast of it and get +the victory.' 'What about my situation?' said the boy. 'I will pray for +you,' I said. 'If your master is so unkind as to dismiss you, come to +me and I will see what I can do.' It was a long time before he gave in, +but eventually he said, 'I will.' I prayed for him, and last night I +got this letter: 'Victorious! Devil conquered; overjoyed. I cannot very +well explain what I experienced so will be pleased to meet you on +Thursday next in the mission at Albert Hall.'" + +A week later this gentleman said: "I have a lot to thank God for these +last ten days. I have had a glorious blessing. I can say with all +humility, I have been on fire for Jesus. I had a letter yesterday from +the young man whom I was talking about last Sunday. He says, 'Dear +Friend, My only regret now is that I did not accept Jesus as my Saviour +years ago. It would have saved me so much trouble. I explained +everything to my master and handed him the article back. Then he gave +me two-thirds of this particular article and burned the letter. So that +is what I got for owning up.'" + +Another said: "I do thank and praise God this morning for the great +things He has done in my home. He has brought my children to trust in +the Saviour. I have great pleasure in reporting that a brother at the +works, to whom I spoke a week ago, has decided for Christ. One of the +workers presented me with a Testament to give to that brother, who was +in very poor circumstances, and he received it with joy. The following +day he came to tell me that he had read a chapter to his wife. His wife +is travelling the wrong way. They have five little children, and on +Thursday I took them to the meeting. On Friday morning he came to thank +me for taking them there, and told me that during his absence from the +house, his eldest boy, of about ten years of age, had got into a Bible +Reading Circle, led by a Christian boy, and he asked his father if he +could spare sixpence for him to buy a Testament. What joy filled my +heart and soul from the fact that I could present that little lad with +a Testament, and I sent my own lad back a mile, yesterday, with it. + +"I spoke to a dear Christian brother last night at the works. I asked +him if his household were saved. 'I have one boy of sixteen not saved,' +he said 'Brother, will you promise me to speak to him when you go +home?' He went home and put his hand on the shoulder of the lad and +gave him the invitation. The boy gladly promised to accept Jesus." + +Continuing with the reports, one said: "Last night, in one of our +public houses I spoke to a woman about Jesus. Years ago she had lost +her husband and instead of going to God for comfort she had turned to +drink. She became a drunkard and had separated from her children. When +I spoke to her she said, 'I know I am a sinner. I am the worst woman in +Swansea, but I want to be good.' 'Will you decide now?' we asked her. +'Yes,' she said. She came out into the cold biting wind and knelt in +the open air, and there she sent up this simple prayer: 'Oh, God, +although I am a bad woman, please make me good, for Jesus' sake.' Later +she arose in a crowded meeting and told her story, concluding with this +remark, 'By God's help I am going to be a child of God.'" + +Another said: "On the second night of the mission I was led to speak to +a dear brother who was a back-slider. I plead with him that evening to +turn to Christ, but he did not come to a decision. The next night I +went in and talked with him. I asked him again at the close of the +meeting would he come back to the Lord Jesus Christ. He told me he +could not come back that night. On the following night I went up and +spoke to him again. When we got outside the building I said, 'I may not +ever have the privilege of speaking to you again. Will you kindly give +me your name? I will give you a guarantee that no one but God shall +know about it. I want your name that I may pray for you.' On Tuesday +night in the minor hall at the after meeting I searched for him. I had +been praying continually every night and morning, and sometimes during +the day. When I found him that night I said, 'You have withstood the +Spirit of God long enough. Make a definite decision to-night to return +to the Lord. If you do not care about coming to the front, fill out +this card, but make up your mind to give yourself to Christ.' He took +the card and filled it out. Then I said, 'You know the way of salvation +because you have been that way before. When you get home tonight, will +you kindly make a definite decision at your bedside?' And he told me he +would." + +Another gentleman rose to give his testimony and said: "I belong, as +you know, to another city, but I want to speak a word to the glory of +God, and for the encouragement of those who have taken up personal work +for Him. Some two years ago in our city I spoke to one who was an +inspector in the Police Force, but who is to-day the Chief Inspector of +our Police, about the claims of Christ. He told me that I was the first +one who had ever spoken to him as to how he stood in relation to these +matters for a period of fifteen years. Having once broken the ice and +spoken to him, I never gave him up. + +"About two months ago I had occasion to go to the Police Court to ask +his assistance on behalf of a woman who wanted an ejectment notice +against another woman who was living in the same house. When he heard +the name of the woman who wished to obtain the notice he refused to +have anything to do with the matter. She had been a bad character. He +said, 'I tell you candidly, she ought to be drowned for her cruelty to +her children.' I said, 'You knew her once, but you do not know her now. +How long is it since you saw her?' 'About nine weeks' he replied. +'Well,' I said, 'nine weeks ago she and her husband both came to Christ +in our mission hall. For the first time in thirteen years they entered +a place of worship. She had a black eye that covered over half her +face, but both her husband and she are now Christians, and are +faithfully following Christ to-day. And yet you call her a lost soul.' +He said, 'Certainly I do. If there is a lost soul she is one.' 'Then +Sir,' I said, striking him on the shoulder, 'Jesus came to seek and to +save that which was lost. Jesus has saved that woman. When she comes on +Monday night, Inspector, just look at her and see what Christ has +wrought. I ask you to grant her request.' He shook himself free. 'Wait +a moment, Inspector,' I said, 'I have never given up praying for you. +You have risen to the position of Chief Inspector, but I want you not +to forget Christ.' + +"On the Thursday of the following week he came to my home. When I saw +him there I was glad, for he had kept away from me for a long time. I +said, 'I am glad to see you in my home.' He said, 'You will be more glad +when you know why I have come. In my room the other night I knelt down +and gave myself to Jesus Christ, and asked the Lord to save me.' I would +ask those of you who are working for souls not to get disheartened and +discouraged. When the mission ceases do not give up taking a personal +interest in those for whom you are concerned. + +"Some months ago I was sitting in the Assize Court in your city. I sat +next to our Chief Inspector. The case that was being tried was one of +attempted murder. As I sat there following the case this Chief +Inspector turned to me and said, 'Why didn't they know Him on the road +to Emmaus?' I said, 'I suppose because their eyes were holden.' He +said, 'How did they know Him when they got to the home?' I said, +'Probably in the breaking of the bread.' 'Don't you think,' said he, +'that in the breaking of the bread they saw for the first time the +marks of the wounds in His hands and knew Him by them?' What a +difference Christ had made in the life of that Chief Inspector." + +A man employed in the steel works rose in one of our meetings to say: +"I made my covenant with God last Saturday. The burden was laid heavy +on my heart on behalf of two souls. One of them was my own little girl. +I spoke to her about Jesus, and she told me she would accept Him as her +Saviour. I have been working this week on a shift that ran from ten +o'clock at night to six o'clock in the morning. On Tuesday night I +asked the Lord to pour out His blessing on our workmen. About one +o'clock in the morning I had an opportunity of speaking to a young man. +I asked him if he had accepted Jesus as his Saviour, and he said he had +not. Then I asked him to be honest before God, and I said, 'Will you +accept Him now?' With a smile he looked up at me and said, 'Tom, I will +accept Jesus as my Saviour now.' I have brought some of my mates with +me here to-day and I thank God for what He has done. + +"Down at the works the other day there was a young man who came on duty +at three o'clock in the morning. I knew he was troubled about his soul, +and I spoke to him. I said, 'Are you in trouble about your soul?' He +said, 'Yes, I am.' 'Well,' I said, 'Jesus has died to save you. Will +you accept Him now?' He said to me, 'But, Tom, I have done this and +that,' 'Well,' I said, 'Jesus has died for you, will you accept Him?' +As he looked me straight in the face he said, 'Yes, I will.' + +"I asked these men who had accepted Jesus and one or two others, to +come up to my home at six o'clock when we finished work. As we went +through the yard there was a boy about fifteen years of age standing +there and we got him to come along with us. In my home we had a small +meeting. I asked God to pour down His blessing upon us. I asked one +friend who was drifting, if he had ever accepted Christ, and he said at +one time during a revival. I said, 'Praise God for that. He is willing +to receive you back. Will you come?' and he said, 'At three o'clock +this very morning, I came back to the Lord Jesus.' And then I turned to +the boy of fifteen and said, 'Are you willing to accept the Saviour?' +And he said he didn't think he was ready. I said, 'Well, my boy, if you +don't, what will become of you?' He said, 'I will go to hell, I +suppose.' Not long afterwards he accepted the Saviour.[1] + +[Footnote 1: This man worked at night and slept during the day.] + +"Yesterday I could not sleep. I went home from my work. I was up in the +morning with a burden on my heart because of the poor souls who were +going to eternity without a Saviour. A young woman came to our house +and started to sing 'Lord save Swansea,' and the words kept ringing in +my ears. I went back to bed but could not sleep. I had no peace. I +said, 'Well, Lord, I believe Thou hast surely started the work.' I went +to the works last night. I did not feel very well as I had been up all +day. I asked some of the men if they would come to a prayer meeting for +the mission. We did not have much time before work commenced, but we +went in and I asked one of the young fellows if he would accept Jesus. +He replied, 'I must have time to think of it.' The next night I said to +him, 'Johnnie, have you thought of what we spoke on last night?' and he +said, 'I have been in trouble about my soul.' Before we had tea I asked +him if he would accept Christ now. He said, 'I cannot do it now.' I +said, 'God will give you strength.' We went into a little shop and I +prayed for him. At three o'clock this morning I spoke to him again. +'Johnnie,' I said, 'can you see the way clear?' 'Yes,' he said, 'I can +see the way clear now. I will accept Jesus as my personal Saviour.'" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +_Whosoever Will_ + + +All classes of persons may do personal work if they will. A prominent +business man in a Welsh city began to do this work and one morning +spoke to eighteen people before breakfast. Several, to whom he spoke, +accepted Christ. Making a further report of his work, he said. "An old +man, about seventy years of age, whose face was white and who appeared +to be very ill, was leaning against the wall of a building near where I +have my office. I said to him, 'Have you been to the mission?' 'No,' he +said, 'I have not.' I then asked him if he had accepted Christ. 'Well,' +he said, 'I have been a believer all my life.' I said, 'Are you saved?' +'I cannot say that,' he replied. 'Why?' I asked; 'God says, "He that +believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. Do you believe that?' He +stood staring me in the face for a few minutes, when he said, 'I never +saw it in that light before.' I said, 'Will you take him at His word +now?' And he replied, 'Yes, I will.' + +"An old woman, an office cleaner, was making her way up the steps of a +building. As I came up I recognised her, and said, 'Mrs Bell, I have +been constrained to ask you if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your +personal Saviour.' She looked at me, then setting down her broom she +said, 'I want to, but no one has ever asked me,' 'Well,' I said, 'I ask +you now. Will you accept Him just here? Will you say, Lord Jesus I +accept Thee as my personal Saviour?' But she could not see the way. +After some conversation I asked her if she would come to the hall and +hear Dr Chapman and Mr Alexander, and she said she would go that +evening. I was unable to go to the service myself that night and did +not see her until the following Saturday morning. She came to my office +and said, 'Since you spoke to me a few days ago I have had no peace. I +am in an awful state, and unless I take Jesus I shall die. I am sure I +shall because I cannot live like this.' And right there in the office +she knelt down and accepted Christ as her Saviour and had the joy that +always comes with this acceptance. + +"This morning, the very first man I met, I was constrained to speak to +about Jesus. I introduced myself by asking him if he had been to the +mission. He said, 'Yes, I was at the Grand Theatre last Sunday +afternoon.' 'Well,' I said, 'did you give your heart to the Lord?' +'No,' he replied, 'I did not.' I said 'Why?' 'Because I missed my +opportunity,' was his answer. I said to Him, 'Will you do it now?' 'Do +it now!' he exclaimed. 'Listen,' I said, 'God says in His Word. As many +as received Him to them gave He power to become the sons of God. Will +you receive Him? It is either one thing or the other--receive or +reject. Your sins have been atoned for by His precious blood. Will you +take Jesus now?' And suddenly, taking me by the hand, he said, 'I +will.' + +"From time to time I have been speaking to a young man belonging to a +respectable family. At one time he was being brought up for the +ministry, but he got into sin and sank very low. I persuaded him to +attend one of the mission meetings. When Dr Chapman requested all those +who wished prayer offered for themselves or for their loved ones, this +poor fellow got up in the balcony and said, 'Pray for me.' Prayer was +offered for him, and there, that night, he experienced the joy of +salvation. He came to me the other day and said that he had definitely +taken Jesus Christ as his Saviour." + +One would not expect a police officer to be a personal worker, but many +of them are, and notably so in Great Britain. Ex-Sergeant Wheeler of +Oldham came to attend one of our meetings, and being asked to speak, he +said: "Though an Ex-Sergeant, I am not an Ex-Christian. There are a +large number of people who look upon a policeman from many standpoints, +but it is very seldom that they see him in the position in which I am +placed to-night. They have an idea that a policeman does not exist to +preach the Gospel or to tell them about Jesus Christ, and it is +Christian people who get that idea sometimes." + +"I know a police sergeant in London who is a particular friend of mine +and a great Christian worker. A lady went to one of our Provincial +Police Conferences in connection with the Police Association and saw +this big man who was so enthusiastic in connection with the work that +the lady doubted his genuineness, and to satisfy her curiosity she +ascertained his private address, travelled by rail from London, visited +his home during his absence, and asked his wife what sort of a man he +was. That is the way to find a man out. But she found that he was even +a better man in the home than he was out of it. If you want to find +what a man's character is, you do not ask about it on special occasions +when he is on his guard, you ask what it is when he is at home, it is +there that he unconsciously reveals it, and this revelation just +because of its unconsciousness, proves invariably correct. + +"When the Lord Jesus brought me out of darkness into the light, when He +broke the fetters and snapped the chains eleven years ago, I went home +and said to my wife, 'I am going to live for Jesus, and we will start +here, at home. We will have family prayers--we were not a large family, +only nine of us, and for the first time in their lives, my children +heard their father pray; and there on my knees in all humility I +pledged myself before God that I would do anything, make any sacrifice, +if by so doing I could help a weaker brother and lift him out of the +gutter. That is the way I started. I am not what I ought to be, I am +not what I hope to be, but, thank God, by His grace and love, I am what +I am and not what I once was. The Lord changed my desires when he put a +new heart within me. When I see a drunken man in the streets I do not +pass him like I used to. My heart goes out to him and I look beyond the +man in the streets to the life in the home he comes from, and see the +misery there; but I thank God that He put the desire in my heart to try +to help that brother. And how often opportunities present themselves. + +"On one occasion at five o'clock on a Sunday morning in the month of +August, a policeman and I were going along the street. There was a man +standing at a gate near the corner. As we approached he said to me, +'Sergeant, can you get me a drink of whisky?' I said, 'That is rather a +strange thing to ask a Sergeant of Police,' 'Well,' he said, 'I have +plenty of bottled ale in my home, but it sticks in my throat.' I said, +'Do you take whisky when you are thirsty?' 'Yes,' he replied. I got into +conversation with him and after a while I said to him, 'Do you ever go +to a place of worship?' 'No,' he said, 'I don't, I pay a sovereign for a +sitting.' 'That won't get you to heaven,' I said, and after a little +further talk with him he remarked, 'Sergeant, I am all right financially, +but wrong here, in my heart.' And then he said, 'Will you come to my +home and pray for me?' 'Yes,' I replied, und we went. It was not far +away, a fine home, a palace to mine, I thought, as I walked across the +velvet carpet into the drawing-room. He brought a Bible and said, 'Read +me something out of that.' And he sat down like a little child, to +listen. I turned to Isaiah liii. 6, and read, 'All we like sheep have +gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath +laid on Him the iniquity of us all.' 'Now,' I said, 'it starts with All +and finishes with All, so we are both included.' Then I took him to +John iii. 16, and then to the last chapter in the Book of Revelation, +verse 17: 'And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that +heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst--I stopped at that--and +whosoever ...' 'Now,' I said, 'we will read it again. And after we had +read it again we knelt down, and there in that large home I poured out +my soul to God over that man. I plead for him, and while I prayed he +said, 'Lord, if I am not too bad, save me.' I said, 'Amen.' And the Lord +heard his prayer, and before I left the house he was a changed man. When +I was leaving he came to the door and said, 'I never bargained for this, +this morning, Sergeant.' The man who wanted whisky got Christ. He drank +of something different, he drank of the living water which Christ spoke +about at the well of Samaria when He said, 'Whosoever drinketh of the +water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I +shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into +everlasting life.'" + +"I left him and went back the following day. I rang the bell and he +answered the door himself. I asked him how he was, and he said, 'Grand, +I have had no whisky.' I went back a month later and he told me he was +never so happy in all his life. He said, 'Do you remember me telling +you I paid a sovereign for my sitting in church? Well, I occupy that +pew myself now.' And that day he gave me a donation for the Christian +Police Association and told me to call again at any time. That is what +the Lord does when he changes a man's heart. There are many men to-day +who may be all right financially; they may have a seat in God's House; +they may be members of a Church and yet not be right at heart. I urge +upon you, get right with God and you will have, not the peace of this +world, but the peace that passeth all understanding. + +"Something like seven years ago I went to some services in Manchester +that were being conducted by Dr Torrey and Mr Alexander. At the close +of these services I went to the front and took some Gospel literature +that was there for distribution. When I got home and commenced my +duties I began to give this literature to the policemen. I thought the +policemen stood as much in need of it as anybody else. If he is a +peacemaker, sometimes he is a peacebreaker, and with all due respect to +him he is not always a law-abiding man. + +"There were two booklets in which I was specially interested. One which +was called 'God's Sure Promise,' asked several questions at the close, +and then requested the reader to sign his name. The other was, 'Get +Right with God.' I gave the latter to policemen on their beats, and +asked them to read them carefully. I went on with my praying. One man +received the book with great scorn. About a week after I visited this +particular man, and with a smile upon his face he said, 'You remember +those two booklets you gave me?' 'Yes,' I said. 'Well,' he said, 'the +one called "God's Sure Promise" I tore up and put into the fire, the +other I tore up and threw over the wall, but not before I read them +both. Now, I have never got away from that, and about half an hour ago +I came to the climax. I got down on my knees in the street, and now I +can honestly say that God for Christ's sake has pardoned all my sins.' +I felt overjoyed with his testimony, for he was the most scornful and +bitter man in the division. I was so overjoyed that I walked round his +beat with him, talking with him, and giving him words of encouragement. +I can never forget that night. From ten o'clock until six in the +morning it was one continual downpour of rain. We were soaked through. +As we walked round I said, 'We will have a word of prayer.' We took off +our helmets, knelt down on the pavement and there we had a little +prayer meeting just about two o'clock in the morning. The showers of +rain were nothing compared to the showers of blessing we had. I was so +delighted when we went off duty that morning that I could not sleep. + +"I came to Manchester when Dr Torrey was holding a meeting, and during +the meeting I sent a note up to Dr Torrey saying that a policeman +wanted to say something. However, the opportunity did not present +itself that night. A week after that another policeman came to me and +said, 'Sergeant, do you remember that booklet you gave me, "God's Sure +Promise?"' I said, 'Yes.' 'Well,' he said, 'here it is signed.' Seven +years have passed away since that time, and those two policeman and I +have stood together on the platform many and many a time telling the +story of Jesus and His love. We have had some meetings together and I +have seen them speaking to hundreds of men and the Lord has blessed +them both. If the Lord Jesus Christ can save a policeman, He can save +anybody. + +"I found that we existed for something more than locking up +people. I wanted to arrest people in their sin, and going along the +street one night in company with another constable we were called into +a little house. The kind people there had taken in a woman off the +street. She was lying on the floor in a very drunken condition, +unconscious of everything around her. I knew this woman, she was about +twenty-seven years of age. I made her acquaintance when I used to be on +night duty. Every Saturday night or in the early hours of Sunday +morning I used to find her door open--her home was in a little side +street, that kind of people generally live in a side street. It was +about three o'clock on Sunday morning when I walked in and saw the man +lying on the floor and the wife who was also drunk, lying on a sofa. +The next time I was on night duty I found the same door open, and this +time the wife was lying on the floor and the man on the sofa, and both +were drunk. + +"These kind people that I spoke of, consented to keep the woman there +while I went to see the husband. I got to the house but found that he +had removed to a little room in a little back street. There he was +lying on a bit of a shake-down. I roused him up and told him where he +would find his wife. He said, 'What time is it?' I said, 'Three o'clock +in the afternoon.' He had one shilling left and he took a cab and went +and brought his wife home. + +"A few days afterwards I got them both to sign the pledge. The man was +about the same age as his wife. He told me he did not know the taste of +tea and coffee, he drank nothing but beer. He only had the clothes he +stood up in. Four months passed after he signed the pledge. I met him +one night and he had on a black suit of clothes and a watch and guard +in his pocket. I was delighted to see him. Some time after that I went +to address a very large temperance meeting. The hall was packed, and +when I went on to the platform who should be there but this young +fellow occupying the chair. What a sight it was to me! He pointed out +to me his wife in the audience. There she sat, all smiling and well +dressed. Time went on and I was the means not only of keeping them to +the pledge but of bringing them to Christ; the Christ of the Gospel; +the Christ that has bridged the gulf between God and the gutter; +between the saint and the sot; between the pew and the slum. + +"Oh, what a pleasure it has been to see how that man works for Jesus. I +went to his house some time after that. It was not in the back streets, +although he worked there and got some people to sign the pledge. But he +came out into the front street, and there was a knocker on his door. +When I knocked, his wife admitted me into the sitting room. She told me +that Sunday morning that her husband was out visiting the sick. I know +that he brought many men to the Sunday morning Bible Class. He told me +this story. 'Do you know,' he said, 'When I used to spend all my money +in the public house, oftentimes on the holidays I would take the +landlord's luggage to the station for the price of a pint of beer. Not +long ago we had our holiday, and instead of taking the landlord's +luggage to the station I had a man to carry mine, and as we were going +up the street with this man walking in front of us we passed one of the +public houses where I had often spent my wages. The landlord was +standing at the door. When he saw me passing he said, 'What does this +mean?' I said, 'It means that I am going to Ireland instead of thee.' +That man is being used to-day in God's service. The blood of Jesus +Christ cannot only save but it can keep." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +_Conversion Is a Miracle_ + + +When one turns from sin to Christ and thus becomes a new creature, it +is entirely the work of God. He must feel a sense of his need and +appreciate the power of the Saviour, but it is the power of the Holy +Spirit of God that transforms him. The stories of men and women who +have been brought to Christ are always thrilling. + +Every Christian ought to be a soul winner, and however many other +obligations may rest upon him, the obligation of introducing others to +Jesus Christ is of the first importance. If our lives are right; if we +are wholly submitted to Him; if we are quick to do His bidding; if we +have a familiarity with the Scriptures; if we have a confidence in the +willingness of God to save; then we are emboldened to seek the lost and +turn to those who are furthest away from Christ. + +To know that others have been won to Him is always an inspiration. +Recently in one of our meetings in New York, the Salvation Army forces +came to assist us, and they brought with them some men and women whose +stories of conversion were truly remarkable. In quick succession they +appeared before an audience of several thousand. + +The first speaker modestly began by saying: "What I am this afternoon, +I am by the grace of God. For years and years I had been nothing but an +every-day drunkard. Not far from where the Salvation Army held their +open air meetings was an old lamp post. One Sunday afternoon I heard +their music and their singing, and I made my way to this lamp post. If +it had not been there I believe I would never have been saved, for I +was so intoxicated I could not stand. + +"After the meeting was over one of the sisters came to me and said, 'My +brother, wont you come along to the meeting? You need salvation.' 'Yes,' +I said, 'I need something better than what I have got.' At the same time +I did not go--I finished up the day in the saloon. I came out into the +open air again and the devil said, 'You cannot mix with these people +they are too far above you.' By and by there came a man who said he had +been every bit as bad as I was, and he told me how his life had been +changed. And my eyes were opened then and there, and I kept going to the +meetings and I got some decent clothes, and a home of my own--though I +had been working every day I had not a home to go to--but when I was +converted all became changed. And now I am perfectly happy. My life is +completely made over. I never think of drink and have no desire for it. +I have a happy home and a "little lump of glory" for a wife. + +"When I first became a Christian the devil said to me, 'You cannot stay +there with those people, there is a whisky bill you have not yet paid. +Suppose you are out in one of those open air meetings and the saloon +keeper should see you and say, 'Why, he owes me six dollars,' what +could you say then?' I went to that saloon keeper and said to him, 'How +much do I owe you?' And he said, 'Six dollars.' 'Well,' I said, 'I want +to pay it.' I did pay it then and there, and glory to God He has kept +me from then to this day." + +The next testimony was that of a former anarchist. Before he was +converted he did not have a shirt to his back. He is now a business man +in New York City, and prosperous. + +"It was about eighteen years ago that I was with a group of men in a +back street attending a meeting of anarchists, when the police came +along and broke up the meeting. I made off as fast as I could, but I +did not get away fast enough, for the police officer caught me by the +arm and took me away to prison. While I was there the Salvation Army +came to preach to us. Thank God for that night! It was the first time I +had heard salvation preached, for I come from the stock of Abraham, +Isaac, and Jacob. When I got out of goal I went to the Salvation Army. +There stood on the platform that night two girls. They told me about +Jesus. They spoke of salvation for the drunkard, but that did not +appeal to me; they spoke of salvation for the unbeliever, but that did +not appeal to me; and when they spoke of salvation for the thief, +neither did that appeal to me. Then one night they said salvation is +for the Jew. I said to myself, 'That means me.' I came forward that +night and got rid of my wretchedness and my misery; I came for +salvation, and the Jew got salvation.' + +"I moved away from the Bowery, for that was where I spent most of my +time. I have walked down the Bowery many a night with not a place to +lie down in, with not fifteen cents to pay for a bed, and not a shirt +to my back. Thank God, I moved away from the Bowery. I started in +business myself. To-day I have a splendid business connected with +twenty houses on Broadway. Hallelujah! Godlessness, sin, vice, takes a +man off Broadway and puts him on the Bowery; salvation takes a man from +the Bowery and puts him on Broadway." + +In the year 1880, the second convert in the Salvation Army in the +United States was made, and after years of testing he came before us to +speak as follows: "I started to drink when about thirteen years of age, +and I kept drinking till the Salvation Army came to New York in 1880. I +read in the papers about seven sisters coming over to open up the +forces in the United States. There used to be an old lady who came to +our house to see my mother. She was a Methodist, and my mother was also +a Methodist. She used to come there like an old grandmother and darn +stockings. One day she said she would like to go to the Salvation Army, +and asked me to take her. I was leading such a dissipated and drunken +life, that I had no money to pay the car fare, but she slipped ten +cents into my hand and we went to the Salvation Army that night. She +was very deaf and got me away up to the front. The Spirit of God took +hold of me, and the Salvation Army people, in the way they have, got +after me. One of the officers came up and said, 'Are you saved?' I +said, 'No, I could not be saved.' I managed to get out of the meeting +that night without giving my heart to God. But all the time there was +something taking hold of me. I tried to drown it in drink. On Sunday +night with the old lady I was back at the Army again. On Monday night I +was drunk again. On Tuesday night I knelt down and gave my heart to +Jesus, and a Salvationist said, 'Now brother, if you want the Lord to +do anything, you just tell Him.' + +"Before that time I had served two terms in the penitentiary. Sometimes +twice a week I would be brought into the Police Court for drunkenness. +Every time I went out and got drunk I would get arrested. I tried to +get away from this life and went out West. I thought if I got out there +and got into new surroundings things would be different. I got as far +as Hornsville, New York, and got arrested there. I got a little further +West and was arrested again. But I never got rid of the kind of life I +used to live until I came to the Lord Jesus Christ. That was thirty +years ago. The Lord is not only able to save a man but, thank God, He +is able to keep him." + +This is the story of an English baronet. He went wrong in England, came +to America as a cow boy, was wild and reckless, but was soundly +converted. He said: "I will not say much about myself. Perhaps you +already know something about me. You may have seen my picture in the +papers, telling of my past life, but I want to try to tell you, to the +glory of God, how I was born again. + +"When I succeeded my father to one of the oldest titles in England, in +the year 1907, I was wild and reckless. I came over to America. To +escape from a wild scrape I beat the sheriff in Colorado into Utah. +Then I went home to England in 1908 and took over the title of the +estate, and I made the occasion simply one drunken spree. I was out for +all the devilment I could get into. I hated the Church. I hated +religion. I hated anything good. When I went down to the old church +which is in the grounds of the estate, they said to me, 'What will you +do about the minister?' I said, 'I would kick the fool out, but the law +would make me put in another.' If anybody mentioned the Salvation Army +to me, I would refer to them as thieves and liars. + +"I came back to America and immediately got involved in some more +sprees, such as driving horses into saloons, and other devilment. Then +I crossed again to London and started a wild-west show of my own in the +London Hippodrome. I came back to America deeper in sin than ever. One +day I was sitting in a saloon planning a fresh escapade when a +Salvation Army sister came in with her tambourine and some 'War Cries.' +She looked at me and said, 'Are you a Christian?' I said, 'No.' She +gave me the address of the Headquarters and asked me to come up. The +bar-tender turned round and said, 'Go up and rope somebody.' I said, 'I +will go up.' There was something different about me. I did not know +what was wrong with myself I went up to the open-air meeting and was as +quiet as a mouse. For five or six days I could not keep away from the +Headquarters. I did not know what was wrong. I went out to see some +moving pictures to see if I could see myself amongst them; then I went +and had another drink; but back to the Salvation Army Headquarters I +had to go. I was getting almost crazy. I reached the point when I had +either to give in or kill myself. + +"I locked the door of my room and then got down on my knees and asked +God to forgive me. Do you know, it seemed as if hell was turned loose +around me. Everything said, 'You have gone too far; you are too big a +sinner,' I said, 'But Jesus died for me.' I prayed and prayed, and I +heard that voice come and say, 'Go and sin no more,' It was just as if +a finger had touched my soul. My prayer turned from one of supplication +to one of thankfulness for what God had done for me. I was born again. +I rose up with the old life gone, and my two greatest blessings are +that all that old life is blotted out for ever, and that I have the +knowledge that the Spirit of Jesus my Saviour is in me, and I dwell in +Him. The union between us is perfect. I thank God for that." + +The following story was told by a man who had been a successful lawyer. +He had gone down into the depths of sin and by the power of God's grace +had been redeemed. He began by saying:-- + + Must Jesus bear the Cross alone, + And all the world go free? + No, there's a cross for you to bear, + And there's a cross for me. + +"It is a cross for me to come here and relate my experience, but I am +glad to be here inasmuch as something I say may gladden someone who is +discouraged. I was brought up in a Christian home. My mother was a good +woman and my father was a clergyman. I went through college and the +lower school before I took a single drop of strong drink. But when I +took my first drink--I remember it well--it seemed to be something I +had been looking for all my life and had never found before. From that +time on I drank periodically. I had a lovely family and an honoured +name, but I dragged it and my family into the dust. I struggled through +my own strength to redeem myself, but I could not, nor can any man. I +took cures, but they availed me not. I was in the hospital fourteen +times, struggling up all the time, but falling down again. I seemed too +hopeless. The light seemed to be fading for ever from the horizon, and +darkness was coming over me. I was without hope. I would rather have +fallen asleep in death, away from my companions, away from my loved +ones, and never have been seen again, than to have lived the way I was. +But through the providence of God, and through a kind wife and sister, +I am able to stand here to-day. God bless the wives of the drunkards +and drinking men, for if any will have a crown in heaven, it will be +the wife of the drunkard who stands by him through thick and thin and +who never gives him up. + +"I went away to a certain town and while there I noticed the title of a +book called 'Twice Born Men.' It aroused my curiosity, and I picked it +up and commenced to read it. I came to the story of the puncher, a man +who was formerly a prize fighter, and who had descended to the lowest +scale of humanity. He had become a drunkard of the worst type and had +gone one night into a saloon with murder in his heart. He was going +home to kill his wife, when there flashed in upon him some strange +influence, some mighty influence, some compelling influence--the power +of the Almighty--and drove him into the Salvation Army barracks, and +there he knelt at the Penitent form and God took the load from his +back. When he rose up there was a new light in his eyes, a new heart in +his breast, and he arose a new born man. He began to work for Christ. + +"As I read that story I said, 'If there is hope for the puncher, there +is hope for me.' I had been brought up a Christian, and during my +drinking days I had attended church, and I had fought as every poor +drunkard fights to redeem himself. But through my own strength I +failed, and I want to say to you here, there is no man who suffers +pangs of bitter conscience or from a broken heart more than a poor +drunkard who cannot tear the chains from himself. Have pity on him. And +I read about this man going out to save those who were lost, and then I +read on further about Danny, a drunkard, who while in prison was +visited by the puncher, who sought him out, and said, 'There is a +better life for you.' He took him to his home, and it was a new and +happy home he took him to, with a happy wife and children, and he +laboured with them. Danny the thief; Danny the drunkard; Danny the +murderer. When the day had passed Danny went back to prison. But the +power of God came over Danny in prison, and he said to himself, 'If God +can save the puncher, God can save me.' And then there came into his +heart a light; and I said, 'If God can save the puncher; if God can +save Danny--He can save me.' And He did save me, and He has kept me, +and from that day to this I have never desired a drop of alcohol. + +"I have gone through physical sufferings that are attendant upon it, +but thanks be unto God through the Lord Jesus Christ, He gave me the +victory, and I stand here to-day an example of the keeping power of +God. Oh, my friends, what a new life it opened up for me. I thought I +was a Christian once; but until I was thrown down, until I was +crucified twice over, not until then could I be convinced that God +could save me from this terrible curse. And I want to say that no +Christian man ever came to me and told me that God could save me from +wrong. Oh, what a duty rests upon Christians to speak to the drinking +men! When God took me by the hand I had a new life and I wanted to go +out and save drunkards, and I have been trying to save them since. I +went to the Salvation Army Barracks in Jersey City, and if it was not +for the Salvation Army, I do not know whether I could have held out or +not, but when I felt distressed those brothers prayed and stood round +me, and if there is anyone here who is discouraged, and who is away +from God, and who goes round the corner to see his little children +going to school because he cannot go home, if there is anyone who has +left a broken-hearted mother or wife at home; get up and go home to +them and give your heart to the Lord." + +The last story told at the meeting has to do with the complete +transformation of a woman's life. It is a modern miracle. The one who +tells the story is growing old and feeble, but all are thrilled as they +listen to her. + +This woman was educated in a young ladies' seminary, and had a fairly +good start in life among some of the leading people in Western New +York. She married a man who became an habitual drunkard. She was sorely +disappointed in him, and, little by little, she started to drink, till +there came the time when she and her husband were possibly two of the +worst drunkards the State had ever known. She had been in prison two +hundred or more times. But now, up in the little town of Canandaigua +where she lives, she is treasurer of the Salvation Army, and has been +for fifteen years. She is respected by all who know her. Not only the +people in the army, but the well-to-do people of the town all love and +respect Mary Law. + +Her husband was not converted until recently. She had been praying +fifteen years for him, and one night she prayed specially for him, the +last half hour of the meeting passed, the last twenty minutes, and then +Charlie came. + +"I thank God for what He did for me," she said. "Before the Salvation +Army got hold of me, I was one of the worst drunkards in the state of +New York. The first night they came I wanted to know what the Salvation +Army was like. Just like any other old drunken sot, I wanted to know +what the Salvation Army was going to be. So I walked out as far as the +Police Station, and I said, 'Where is the Salvation Army going to be +to-night?' 'Well,' said the police officer, 'it is going to be up at +the Presbyterian Church, but I want to tell you one thing. If you go up +there you will get run in,' I thought to myself for a moment, if I stay +out I will get run in, so I might just as well go up there and get run +in. I went up, and I suppose I was a terrible-looking object. I got +into a corner near the door, so that if anything turned up I could get +out. I had just one quarter in my purse when they came to take up the +collection, and I put that quarter in. I believe if I had been outside +I would have been run in. When I got outside I wanted that quarter for +a bottle of whisky. I then went up to the Police Station. When the +Police Justice saw me coming in he said, 'Where have you been +to-night?' I said, 'Up to the Salvation Army meeting.' 'Well,' he said, +'let me give you a little bit of advice. Keep right on going.' + +"The first night they had their meeting in the hall I went to the +penitent form, and the next night I got saved. That was over fifteen +years ago. I have neither tasted nor handled one drop of intoxicating +liquor from that day to this. I did not have a home fit for a dog to +live in. I hardly ever knew what it was to be without a black eye. I +have been pounded until I did not know where I was; until I was dazed. +And when I came to, and saw where I was, I was lying on the floor and +Charlie was lying on the bed with his dirty old clothes on, and if +anybody has gone through hell, it is I. But I thank God to-day I have +got just as good a husband as there is in the state of New York. I have +just as comfortable a home as anybody could wish, and every dollar of +it is paid for. Before that the saloons got the money, but I thank God +to-day the saloons don't get any of my money. + +"Charlie would get arrested, and when I saw him locked up, I would do +something that would get me locked up too. We went in together and we +came out together, We would not be out for long when back we would go +again. If one went to the lock-up, the other went, and that is the way +we carried on through life. + +"An election campaign was being held many years ago, and Charlie went +up the street to vote. He came home drunk. I suppose it was election +whisky, but he brought some home, and we had a drink together. We went +to bed on Tuesday night, and woke up intending to go to work the next +day. I asked one of the neighbours what time it was, and she said it is +almost night now, but where have you been for the last two or three +days? We had gone to sleep on Tuesday night and did not wake up till +Thursday night. I went back, and we took another drink that night, and +did not wake up till Saturday night. If my life, sixteen years ago, was +not hell upon earth, I do not know what you call hell. + +"Just about the time when I first started out to serve God in +Canandaigua, I was an outcast. Nobody cared for me. Nobody would notice +me. When they saw me they would go out of their way to avoid me. Nobody +wanted to come near me. But when I was drunk I thought I was about as +good as they were, and sometimes I gave them a little of my mind, and +that was the way I often got arrested. But to-day those very folks, who +were my very worst enemies, who tried to hurt me and who did everything +they could to injure me, are my very best friends. I have friends among +the rich, and friends among the poor. They do not shun my home, they +come and see me, and if I am sick some of the wealthy people come to +see how I am getting along, and if I have everything I want. For all +this I have to thank God and the Salvation Army. + +"I have been kicked and knocked and pounded until I have been almost +dead. Charlie did the kicking and the pounding, but I was as much to +blame as he was. I was drunk and so was he, but I was never the one to +go to the police officer and get a warrant out for my husband. If he +pounded me until I could hardly breathe, and he happened to get +arrested for it, I managed to get arrested too. I cannot tell you how +many times we have been in jail in the little village of Elgin, and in +the penitentiary too. But I would rather go back to the penitentiary +to-day and spend my days there than to live again the life that I lived +before I was converted. I thank God and the Salvation Army to-night +that I do not have to carry black eyes, and that I can go home in +peace. + +"I have a nice comfortable home, and it is all paid for, and if it had +not been for the Salvation Army coming to Canandaigua, I would have +been in a drunkard's hell to-day. When the Army first came there, I was +like a great many others. I wanted to see what the Salvation Army was +like, and out of curiosity I went to a meeting. But I was too drunk to +understand anything about it. The next night I went there quite sober, +and I gave my heart to the Lord. That was seventeen years ago, and I +thank God that since then I have tried to do my utmost to serve Him to +the best of my ability. And it is my determination, as long as He gives +me breath, to do for Him all I can, to spread His Kingdom on earth." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +_A Final Word_ + + +As has been suggested, it is necessary, if one is to be a successful +personal worker, to know well the Scriptures. The incorruptible seed, +which is the Word of God, when it is received into the human heart as +good and honest ground, will, without question, produce a satisfactory +harvest. If you should attempt to win one to Christ, who insists that +he is out of the Kingdom because of his doubts, tell him to come with +his doubts, and Christ will set him free. "My doubts are round about me +like a chain," said one in the audience, with whom one of our personal +workers was labouring, and the worker said quickly, "Come, chains and +all." The doubter hesitated a second, then said, "I will," and as he +rose to move forward, he testified that the chains were snapped, and he +was free. + +If the one you are seeking to introduce to Christ says that he is such +a great sinner, and because of this he cannot come, then tell him to +come with his sins. He wants him just as he is, and stands ready to set +him free from the sins that have enslaved him and blinded his eyes so +that he could not see Christ as he stood waiting to save him. + +It is a good thing to start by giving the assurance to the unsaved that +God is Love, and that His love is boundless. This may be easily proved +by the Scriptures. Tell him also that Christ is not only able, but +ready and willing to save. There are abundant evidences of this in the +New Testament. Tell him that no one is too sinful; none too far from +God; none too depraved by sin to be saved. There are evidences on every +side of us of many such seeking and finding pardon. + +It is well to start with such a declaration as is found in John i. 12, +"But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons +of God, even to them that believe on His name." Insist upon it that +Christ has laid down the conditions, and that if we are to be saved, we +must honestly and sincerely, with all our doubts and sins, receive Him +as a personal Saviour. + +Make it very plain to the one with whom you are dealing that when one +comes into the Kingdom he is born into it. There is no other way than +this, for Jesus said, John iii. 3, "Except a man be born again he cannot +see the Kingdom of God." If the joy of regeneration is to be experienced, +it is necessary that the acceptance of Jesus as a Saviour should be +definite, and that there should be sufficient confidence in God's Word +to lead us to believe that when we have fulfilled our part +of the contract the Saviour will keep His. + +If we are born into the Kingdom then we start as babes in Christ. We +are expected to grow. If we are to grow, we must have proper food; this +is found in the Word of God. We must be faithful in prayer. We must +have proper light and air; this is found by walking in fellowship with +Christ, and learning His will as we study the Scripture, we seek with +joy to do it. We may stumble as little children do, but He will help +us, and if at times we seem to fail, He will hold us fast. + +As little babes in Christ it will not be strange that at times we grow +discouraged and faint-hearted, but if we press on to know the Lord we +shall find our strength increasing and our temptations decreasing until +at last we may enter into a continuous and joyous Christian experience. + +Tell the one with whom you are dealing that the assurance of salvation +is possible. Jesus said, "He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him +that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, +but is passed from death unto life" (John v. 24). And the Apostle John +wrote, "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name +of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life and that +ye may believe on the name of the Son of God" (1 John v. 13). + +State very plainly the fact that we are saved by faith and not by +feeling, and being thus saved we are kept by Divine Power. + +When we have passed through the darkness of doubt into the light of our +conscious acceptance of Christ, and when on the authority of God's Word +we have the assurance of salvation, then let it ever be remembered that +we must seek to bring others to Him. And as we labour day by day our own +faith will grow stronger, our hope will be brighter, and our consciousness +of the presence of Christ will be more marked. Day by day we may walk +with Him and talk with Him until at last we shall see Him as He is and +then we may hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant ... enter +thou into the joy of thy Lord." + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Personal Touch, by J. Wilbur Chapman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PERSONAL TOUCH *** + +***** This file should be named 9957.txt or 9957.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/9/9/5/9957/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Anne Folland, Tom Allen, +and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading +Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b20a4b --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #9957 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9957) diff --git a/old/prsnt10.txt b/old/prsnt10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b2b0f2e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/prsnt10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2684 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Personal Touch, by J. Wilbur Chapman + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Personal Touch + +Author: J. Wilbur Chapman + +Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9957] +[This file was first posted on November 4, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE PERSONAL TOUCH *** + + + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Anne Folland, Tom Allen, and the +Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + +THE PERSONAL TOUCH + +BY + +J. WILBUR CHAPMAN, D.D. + + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + FOREWORD + + I. A TESTIMONY + + II. A GENERAL PRINCIPLE + + III. A POLISHED SHAFT + + IV. STARTING RIGHT + + V. NO MAN CARED FOR MY SOUL + + VI. WINNING THE YOUNG + + VII. WINNING AND HOLDING + +VIII. A PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATION + + IX. WHOSOEVER WILL + + X. CONVERSION IS A MIRACLE + + XI. A FINAL WORD + + + + +_FOREWORD_ + + +IF + + +If to be a Christian is worth while, then the most ordinary interest in +those with whom we come in contact should prompt us to speak to them of +Christ. + + * * * * * + +If the New Testament be true--and we know that it is--who has given us +the right to place the responsibility for soul-winning on other +shoulders than our own? + + * * * * * + +If they who reject Christ are in danger, is it not strange that we, who +are so sympathetic when the difficulties are physical or temporal, +should apparently be so devoid of interest as to allow our friends and +neighbours and kindred to come into our lives and pass out again +without a word of invitation to accept Christ, to say nothing of +sounding a note of warning because of their peril? + + * * * * * + +If to-day is the day of salvation, if to-morrow may never come, and if +life is equally uncertain, how can we eat, drink, and be merry when +those who live with us, work with us, walk with us, and love us are +unprepared for eternity because they are unprepared for time? + + * * * * * + +If Jesus called His disciples to be fishers of men, who gave us the +right to be satisfied with making fishing tackle or pointing the way to +the fishing banks instead of going ourselves to cast out the net until +it be filled? + + * * * * * + +If Jesus Himself went seeking the lost, if Paul the Apostle was in +agony because his kinsmen, according to the flesh, knew not Christ, why +should we not consider it worth while to go out after the lost until +they are found? + + * * * * * + +If I am to stand at the judgment seat of Christ to render an account +for the deeds done in the body, what shall I say to Him if my children +are missing, my friends not saved, or if my employer or employee should +miss the way because I have been faithless? + + * * * * * + +If I wish to be approved at the last, then let me remember that no +intellectual superiority, no eloquence in preaching, no absorption in +business, no shrinking temperament, no spirit of timidity can take the +place of or be an excuse for my not making an honest, sincere, prayerful +effort to win others to Christ by means of the _Personal Touch_. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +_A Testimony_ + + +I have the very best of reasons for believing in the power of the +personal touch in Christian work, especially as it may be used in the +winning of others to Christ. + +My boyhood's home was in the city of Richmond, in the State of Indiana, +my mother was a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in +the first years of my life in company with my father and the other +children of the household, I attended the church of my mother. When she +was just a little more than thirty-five years of age she was called +home. My father in his youth had been trained as a Presbyterian; many +of his ancestors having belonged to that denomination; therefore it was +quite natural that he should return to the Church of his fathers when +my mother had gone home. + +It was thus I became a member of the Presbyterian Church, and my Church +training as a boy after fifteen years of age was in that denomination. +Because of this special interest in both the Church of my father and my +mother, I attended two Sunday Schools. In the morning I was in a class +in the Presbyterian school and in the afternoon was a member of a class +in the Grace Methodist Sunday School, my teacher in the afternoon school +being Mrs C.C. Binckley, a godly woman, the wife of Senator Binckley of +Indiana, through all her life from girlhood, a devout follower of Christ +and a faithful teacher in the Sunday School. Not so very long ago I +heard that she was still teaching in the same school, and I am sure, as +in the olden days, winning boys to Christ. + +I fear that I was a thoughtless boy, and yet the impressions made upon +my life in those days by the death of my mother, the teaching of my +father, and the influence of my Sunday School teacher, were such that I +have never been able to get away from them. + +One Sunday afternoon a stranger came to address our school--his name I +have never learned; I would give much to find it out. At the close of +his address he made an appeal to the scholars to stand and confess +Christ. I think every boy in my class rose to his feet with the +exception of myself. I found myself reasoning thus: Why should I rise, +my mother was a saint; my father is one of the truest men I know; my +home teaching has been all that a boy could have; I know about Christ +and think I realise His power to save. + +While I was thus reasoning, my Sunday School teacher, with tears in her +eyes, leaned around back of the other boys and looking straight at me, +as I turned towards her she said, "Would it not be best for you to +rise?" And when she saw that I still hesitated, she put her hand under +my elbow and lifted me just a little bit, and I stood upon my feet. I +can never describe my emotions. I do not know that that was the time of +my conversion, but I do know that it was the day when one of the most +profound impressions of my life was made upon me. Through all these +years I have never forgotten it, and it was my Sunday School teacher +who influenced me thus to take the stand--it was her personal touch +that gave me courage to rise before the school and confess my Saviour. + +In the good providence of God, during my student days, as well as +during the first years of my ministry, I was thrown in contact with men +who knew God, who were being marvellously used by Him, and who seemed +ready and willing to give assistance to one who was just beginning the +journey of life with all its struggles and conflicts ahead of him. + +When I was a student attending Lake Forest University, not far from +Chicago, I was very greatly troubled about the matter of assurance. I +heard that Mr Moody was to be in Chicago, and in company with a friend +I went in from Lake Forest to hear him. Five times in a single day I +sat at his feet and drank in the words which fell from his lips. He +thrilled me through and through. I heard him preach his great sermon on +"Sowing and Reaping," when old Farwell Hall was crowded with young men +many of whom were students like myself. + +The impression that Mr Moody made upon me as a Christian young man, was +that I myself was not absolutely sure I was saved. I analysed my +experience and found that sometimes I was more than sure and at other +times dwelt in Doubting Castle. When the great evangelist called for an +after-meeting, I was one of the first to enter the room where he had +indicated he would meet those who were interested, and to my great joy +he came and sat down beside me. He asked me my difficulty and I told +him I was not quite sure that I was saved. He asked me to read John v. +24, and trembling with emotion I read: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, +He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath +everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed +from death unto life." + +He said to me, "Do you believe this?" I said, "Certainly." He said, +"Are you a Christian?" and I replied, "Sometimes I think I am, and +again I am fearful." Then he said, "Read it again." And I read it once +more. His question was again repeated, and I answered it in the same +manner as before. Then he seemed to lose his patience, and the only +time I can remember Mr Moody being sharp with me was when he turned +upon me and said, "Whom are you doubting?" And suddenly it dawned upon +me that I was doubting Him who said I was possessed of everlasting life +because I believed on the Son and on the Father who had sent Him, and +in spite of this possession and His sure Word of promise concerning it, +I was sceptical. But as I sat there beside him I saw it all. Then he +said, "Read it again." And I read it the third time, and talking to me +as gently as a mother would to her child he said, "Do you believe this?" +I said, "Yes, indeed I do." Then he said, "Are you a Christian?" And I +answered, "Yes, Mr Moody, I am." From that day to this I have never +questioned my acceptance with God. + +For some reason Mr Moody always seemed to keep me in mind. He came into +my church in the early days of my ministry, told me where he thought I +was wrong and suggested how I might be more greatly used of God. He +advised me to give my time wholly to evangelistic work, and when I said +to him one day that I was going to take up the pastorate after three +years of experience in general evangelism, he seemed disturbed. To him +more than to any other man, I owe the greatest blessing that ever came +into my life. + +Through Mr Moody I met the Rev F.B. Meyer, and one sentence which he +used at Northfield changed my ministry. He said, "If you are not +willing to give up everything for Christ, are you willing to be made +willing?" That seemed like a new star in the sky of my life, and one day +acting upon his suggestion, after having carefully studied the passages +in the New Testament which relate to surrender and to consecration, I +gave myself anew to Christ and I shall never be able to express in words +my appreciation of what this man of God to whom I have referred, did for +me by personal influence. + +All along the way I have been brought in contact with men whom God has +signally blessed, and I am persuaded that there are many to-day whose +hearts are hungering for a blessing, who are waiting as I was myself, +for someone to speak to them personally, and help them out of darkness +into light; out of a certain kind of bondage into a glorious freedom. +The personal touch in Christian work, to me, means everything. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +_A General Principle_ + + +I have been amazed in my study of the biographies of men and women who +have been specially used of God, to see how almost universal is the +rule that they have come to Christ, or to an experience of power, +through the personal influence of a friend or acquaintance. Preaching +is not enough, it is sometimes too general; the impressions of a song +may soon be effaced, but the personal touch, the tear in the eye, the +pathos in the voice, the concern which is manifested in the very +expression of one's countenance; these are used with great effect, and +thousands of people are to-day in the Kingdom of God, or in special +service, because of such influences being brought to bear upon their +lives. + +John Wesley is a notable illustration of the influence of the personal +touch. Peter Bohler of the Moravian Church, came into his life when he +was in sore need of just such assistance as he seemed able to give. Dr +W. H. Fitchett of Australia, writes:-- + +"The Moravians of Savannah taught him exactly what Peter Bohler taught +him afterwards in London, but the teaching at the moment left his life +unaffected. Wesley's own explanation is, 'I understood it not; I was +too learned and too wise, so that it seemed foolishness unto me; and I +continued preaching, and following after, and trusting in that +righteousness whereby no flesh can be justified.' + +"The truth is that Peter Bohler himself, had he met Wesley in Savannah, +would have taught him in vain. The stubborn Sacramentarian and High +Churchman had to be scourged, by the sharp discipline of failure, out +of that subtlest and deadliest form of pride, the pride that imagines +that the secret of salvation lies, or can lie, within the circle of +purely human effort. Wesley later describes Peter Bohler as 'One whom +God prepared for me.' But God in the toilsome and humiliating +experiences of Georgia, was preparing Wesley for Peter Bohler." + +Bohler described Wesley as "a man of good principles, who did not +properly believe on the Saviour, and was willing to be taught." Later +on, in the city of London, where Wesley had been intimately associated +with Peter Bohler and had come directly under his influence, he one +night attended a religious service in Aldersgate Street, where the one +conducting the service was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to +the Romans. The effect of that service upon Wesley is best told in his +own words. + +"About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which +God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart +strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for my +salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my +sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death. I began to +pray with all my might for those who had in a more special manner +despitefully used me and persecuted me. I then testified openly to all +there what I now first felt in my heart. But it was not long before the +enemy suggested, 'This cannot be faith; for where is thy joy?' Then was +I taught that peace and victory over sin are essential to faith in the +Captain of our salvation; but that, as to the transports of joy that +usually attend the beginning of it, especially in those who have +mourned deeply, God sometimes giveth, sometimes withholdeth, them +according to the counsels of His own will." + +Charles Haddon Spurgeon, in speaking of his own early experiences, +writes thus: "When I was a young child staying with my grandfather, +there came to preach in the village Mr Knill, who had been a +missionary at St Petersburgh, and a mighty preacher of the gospel. He +came to preach for the London Missionary Society, and arrived on the +Saturday at the manse. He was a great soul winner, and he soon spied +out the boy. He said to me, 'where do you sleep? for I want to call you +up in the morning.' I showed him my little room. At six o'clock he +called me up, and we went into the arbour. There, in the sweetest way, +he told me of the love of Jesus and of the blessedness of trusting in +Him and loving Him in our childhood. With many a story he preached +Christ to me, and told me how good God had been to him, and then he +prayed that I might know the Lord and serve Him. + +"He knelt down in the arbour and prayed for me with his arms about my +neck. He did not seem content unless I kept with him in the interval +between the services, and he heard my childish talk with patient love. +On Monday morning he did as on the Sabbath, and again on Tuesday. Three +times he taught me and prayed with me, and before he had to leave, my +grandfather had come back from the place where he had gone to preach, +and all the family were gathered to morning prayer. Then, in the +presence of them all, Mr Knill took me on his knee and said, 'This +child will one day preach the gospel, and he will preach it to great +multitudes. I am persuaded that he will preach in the chapel of Rowland +Hill, where (I think he said) I am now the minister.' He spoke very +solemnly, and called upon all present to witness what he said." + +D.L. Moody was thus won to Christ. His Sunday School teacher in Boston +was Mr E.D. Kimball. He was not one of the ordinary type of Sunday +School teachers. Mere literal instruction on Sunday did not satisfy his +ideal of the teacher's duty. He knew his boys, and if he knew them, it +was because he studied them, because he became acquainted with their +occupations and aims, visiting them during the week. It was his custom, +moreover, to find opportunity to give to his boys an opportunity to use +his experience in seeking the better things of the Spirit. The day came +when he resolved to speak to young Moody about Christ, and about his +soul. + +"I started down to Holton's shoe store," says Mr Kimball. "When I was +nearly there, I began to wonder whether I ought to go just then, during +business hours. And I thought maybe my mission might embarrass the boy, +that when I went away the other clerks might ask who I was, and when +they learned might taunt Moody and ask if I was trying to make a good +boy out of him. While I was pondering over it all, I passed the store +without noticing it. Then when I found I had gone by the door, I +determined to make a dash for it and have it over at once. I found +Moody in the back part of the store wrapping up shoes in paper and +putting them on shelves. I went up to him and put my hand on his +shoulder, and as I leaned over I placed my foot upon a shoe box. Then I +made my plea, and I feel that it was really a very weak one. I don't +know just what words I used, nor could Mr Moody tell. I simply told him +of Christ's love for him and the love Christ wanted in return. That was +all there was of it. I think Mr Moody said afterwards that there were +tears in my eyes. It seemed that the young man was just ready for the +light that then broke upon him, for there at once in the back of that +shoe store in Boston the future great evangelist gave himself and his +life to Christ." + +Many years afterward Mr Moody himself told the story of that day. "When +I was in Boston," he said, "I used to attend a Sunday School class, and +one day, I recollect, my teacher came around behind the counter of the +shop I was at work in, and put his hand upon my shoulder, and talked to +me about Christ and my soul. I had not felt that I had a soul till +then. I said to myself. This is a very strange thing. Here is a man who +never saw me till lately, and he is weeping over my sins, and I never +shed a tear about them. But, I understand it now, and know what it is +to have a passion for men's souls and weep over their sins. I don't +remember what he said, but I can feel the power of that man's hand on +my shoulder to-night. It was not long after that I was brought into the +Kingdom of God." + +The personal touch is necessary. It is not so much what we say, as the +way we say it, and indeed, it is not so much what we say and the way we +say it, as what we are, that counts in personal work. We cannot delegate +this work to others. God has called the evangelist to a certain mission +in soul winning. He has given ministers the privilege of winning many to +Christ. Mission workers, generally, are charged with the responsibility +for this special work. But this fact cannot relieve the parents, the +children, the husband, the wife, the friends, the business man, the +toiler in the shop, from personal responsibility in the matter of +attempting to win others to the Saviour. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +_A Polished Shaft_ + + +"He hath made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me," +Isaiah xlix. 2.[1] Personal preparation is essential to the best success +in personal work. No familiarity with the methods of other workers; no +distinction among men because of past favours of either God or men; no +past success in the line of special effort; no amount of intellectual +equipment and no reputation for cleverness in the estimation of your +fellowmen will take the place of individual soul culture, if you are to +be used of God. + +[Footnote 1: Suggested by Dr Charles Cuthbert Hall.] + + Thou must be true thyself, + If thou the truth would teach; + It takes the overflow of heart + To give the lips full speech. + +The words of Isaiah the Prophet literally refer to Him who was the +servant of Jehovah. He was God's prepared blessing to a waiting and +needy people. He came from the bosom of the Father that He might lift a +lost and ruined race to God. And swifter than an arrow speeds from the +hand of the archer when the string of the bow is drawn back, He came to +do the will of God. In the Epistle to the Hebrews we find Him saying, +"Lo I come, in the volume of the Book it is written of me I delight to +do thy will." This was the spirit of all His earthly life. When He was +hungry and sent His disciples to buy meat, He found it unnecessary to +partake of the food they brought to Him, saying, "My meat is to do the +will of him that sent me." And when He came to the garden of Gethsemane, +well on to the climax of His sacrificial life, we hear Him saying again, +"Not my will, but Thine be done." In such a completely surrendered life +we have a perfect representation of the prepared Christian worker. + +In the expression of Isaiah we have also the thought of His anguish. +"He was made a polished shaft." In these days when there is a disposition +to place Jesus upon the level with others who have wrought for the good +of humanity, it is well to remember that He is the Lamb slain from the +foundation of the world. There is also the thought of the beauty of His +character, for He is a "polished shaft," "chiefest among ten thousand," +and "the One altogether lovely." He is "the lily of the valley" for +fragrance, and "the rose of Sharon" for beauty, and thus prepared He +stands before us beckoning us on to a work which is indescribable in its +fascination. Calling His disciples He said, "I will make you fishers of +men." The same promise is made to us. Working His miracles He said to +those about Him, "Greater works than these shall ye do." We have only +to follow in His footsteps and walk sufficiently near to hear His +faintest whisper when He directs us to be, in the truest sense of the +word, successful personal workers. + +It is a great encouragement to hear Him say, "As the Father hath sent +me, even so send I you." The shaft mentioned by Isaiah is an arrow +prepared with all care. The quiver in which this arrow is placed is +carried on the left side of the archer, placed upon the string of the +bow, the archer drawing back the string adds to the elasticity of bow +and string his own strength, and the shaft is off to do the archer's +will. There is in this story an illustration for all Christian workers. +Fitness for service lies first of all in divine endowment. God has +given to each one of us special and peculiar qualifications. If we live +as we ought to live, exercising the gift that is in us; the painter may +paint for His glory; the poet may sing and speak of Him; the preacher +may preach and declare His righteousness, and should we live in less +conspicuous spheres than these, we have only to do our best with that +with which He has endowed us and our lives will be pleasing to Him. + +It lies also in the divine call. The shaft was made for a special +purpose. We have been created to do His will. The possession of power +is not enough; talents unused will rise at the Judgment Seat to rebuke +us. God gives us ability and then calls us forth into the field that we +may exercise it. Fitness for service also lies in the response to God's +will. The possession of power and the call of God may both be realised +and we may still fail. It is when we say "I will," to God that human +weakness is linked to divine strength and then a great service is +possible. + +Life is not drudgery, it is an inspiration. + + "Let me but do my work from day to day, + In field or forest, at desk or loom; + When vagrant wishes beckon me away, + Let me but find it in my heart to say, + This is my work, my blessing not my doom; + Of all who live I am the only one by whom + This work can best be done." + +The word of the Prophet Isaiah is a picture of the child of God, as +well as of Him who is our inspiration for service. There is the thought +of definiteness of use in the shaft. Other articles may be created for +a variety of purposes. This shaft is made to go at the owner's will. +There is only one way to live in this world and that is according to +the will of God and for His glory. + + It matters little where I was born, + Or if my parents were rich or poor; + Whether they shrank from the cold world's scorn, + Or walked in the pride of wealth secure; + But whether I live a surrendered man, + And hold my integrity firm in my clutch, + I tell you, my brother, as plain as I can, + It matters much! + + + It matters little where be my grave, + Or on the land or on the sea. + By purling brook, or 'neath stormy wave, + It matters little or nought to me; + But whether the angel of death comes down + And marks my brow with his loving touch, + And one that shall wear the victor's crown, + It matters much! + +There is also in this picture of the shaft the thought of directed +motion. The aim is everything. The arrow cannot aim itself. There is no +such thing as an aimless life. Our energies are either being directed +for Christ or against Him; in the interests of humanity or contrary to +them. Every child of God must reach the place where he will say, Not my +will, but Thine, O God, be done; not my path but Thine, O Christ, be +travelled; not my ambitions realized but Thine own purposes in me +fulfilled, my Heavenly Father. The progress of such a life is peace, +the consummation of it the most perfect victory. + + When I am dying how glad I shall be + That the lamp of my life has been blazed out for Thee. + I shall be glad in whatever I gave, + Labour, or money, one sinner to save; + + I shall not mind that the path has been rough, + That Thy dear feet led the way is enough. + When I am dying how glad I shall be, + That the lamp of my life has been blazed out for Thee. + +In the picture of the archer and his arrow, there is an illustration of +derived energy. The arrow placed upon the string and drawn back by the +archer speeds away to do the master's will. It has no power in itself; +it flies forward in the master's strength. God is always seeking an +outlet for His power along the line of service. It is when our lives +are surrendered to Him that victory is possible. A friend of mine took +for his year text the expression "I believe, and I belong." We might +well add, "I live and I love," and because I do both I will obey. Ole +Bull once played his violin in the presence of a company of University +students. He charmed them, they knew at once that they were in the +presence of a master. When he was finished playing, one who was present +said to him, "What is the secret of your power, have you a special bow, +or is it in the instrument you use?" Ole Bull responded, "I think it is +in neither, but it has always seemed to me that I had power in playing +because I waited to play until I had an inspiration, when my soul was +overflowing with music and I could not stay the torrent that was back +of me; it is then that I take my violin and the music flows forth." If +we were always passive in the hands of the Master He would show forth +in and through us His marvellous grace and power. + +The polishing of the shaft is always necessary. God uses all our +experiences to equip us for life. Parental influence; the power of +prayer as offered in our behalf by others; the education given us in +the schools; the disappointments of life which seem almost to crush us; +the sorrows which are indescribable; all these are like the touch of a +master's hand, and forth from such a school and such a training we +ought to come prepared to do the will of God. + +The arrow was carried in the quiver and the quiver was near to the +master's side. Nearness to God is essential if we are to be used of +God. He chooses the vessel nearest His hand. This has always been true. +The apostles, martyrs, missionaries, and saints who have finished their +work and have gone on before, as well as those who live to-day, prove +the statement that we must be in closest relationship with Christ if we +are to be entrusted with the gift of power. It is when we are in the +secret place of the Most High that we learn God's will concerning us. +Many people do not know God's will because they live too much in the +bustle and confusion of life. God speaks His best messages to us in +whispers, not in thunder tones, and we must be still to know that He is +God and study to be quiet that we may go forth from quietness to conquer. +The practice of the quiet hour is the secret of many a soul's victorious +service. + + Shut in with God alone, + I spend the quiet hour; + His mercy and His love I own, + And seek His saving power + + Shut in with God alone; + In meditation sweet, + My spirit waits before the throne, + Bowed low at Jesus' feet. + + Shut in with God alone; + I praise His holy name, + Who gave the Saviour to atone + For all my sin and shame. + + Shut in with God alone; + And yet I have no fear, + I rest beneath the cleansing blood, + And perfect love is here. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +_Starting Right_ + + +"Every one over against his house," Nehemiah iii. 28. The first part of +the Book of Nehemiah gives us a striking picture of destruction, and as +we look about us we see a city in ruins: the walls are down; the homes +have been destroyed; the people are in despair, so great is the +desolation that even the temple has been defaced. When the tidings +concerning the havoc which has been wrought in the city of Jerusalem +reached Nehemiah he was well nigh heart-broken. Speaking about the +story that had been brought to him he said, "And they said unto me, The +remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in +great affliction and reproach; the wall of Jerusalem also is broken +down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire," Nehemiah i. 3. When +he reaches the city of Jerusalem he goes about to view the ruins, and +he thus describes his journey: "So I came to Jerusalem and was there +three days. Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon +me; as also the king's words that He had spoken unto me. And they said, +Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this +good work," Nehemiah ii. 11 and 18. + +This picture of despair as seen in the olden days in Jerusalem is almost +if not altogether being repeated to-day. The case is really desperate. +The need of Divine help in the re-construction of human lives has never +been greater. Hosts of men find the following testimony a description +of their own experience. It is a young university man who is speaking, +and before a great crowd of people he says:-- + +"Probably nine out of every ten of you men standing in front of me know +who I am and know my family well. You will no doubt be surprised to +hear of the awful experiences through which I have gone during the past +six months. Just six months ago, as most of you know, I was an active +Christian worker, and there are many of you in front of me who as +recently as last July sat and heard me preach. During the last six +months trouble came upon me, and in a weak moment, losing faith in God, +I took to drink, and sank as low as it is possible for any man to sink. +Not even the prodigal in the parable could have fallen lower than I +did. Disowned by my mother; cast aside by my brother and sisters; +despised by the members and officers of the church to which I belonged +and in which I preached, I was in every respect an outcast. Just before +Christmas, whilst tramping on the road, I actually took the shirt off +my back to sell it for drink, so miserable was I. My nights I spent in +the open fields, waking in the morning covered with frost. Something +seemed to compel me to attend the meetings in this city. I attended +night after night, and although the singing and the address had a +wonderful effect upon me, I kept struggling against the working of the +Spirit, until the singing of the chorus "I am Included," brought home +to me as never before, the fact that even I, wretched outcast that I +was, had not gone too far. I then and there made up my mind to accept +the promise of John iii. 16. From that time I have realized, as never +before, that Christ went to Calvary not so much for the world, as He +did for me. And I intend to devote the rest of my life to winning souls +for Him." + +There is surely cause for great alarm because of the present condition +of affairs, and for the following reasons: Home life is not what it +used to be. In the olden times the home was a harbour into which +tempest-tossed souls came day after day, and thus protected, had time +to regain lost strength and go forth again to battle with the storm. It +was once true that fathers were priests in their own households and +mothers were saints. The best memory that some of us have is that which +centres in a home where love ruled and reigned; where Christ was +honoured; where the Bible was read, explained and loved, and where the +very atmosphere was like heaven. In many instances to-day this is +missing and he is to be pitied who has not such a memory as this, and +such an influence for good in his life. The family altar in too many +households has been broken down or given up. "What led you to Christ?" +was the question asked of a distinguished Christian worker. And the +answer quickly given was, "My father's prayers at the family altar. +They followed me through my manhood and compelled me eventually to +accept Christ." When the family altar is gone from a home, it is like +the taking away of a strong foundation from a building or depriving the +arch of its keystone. Better sacrifice everything than this spirit and +practice of prayer in the home. + +It is barely possible that because of conditions family prayers may not +be conducted to-day as in other days, but there is at least time for a +verse of scripture and a prayer out of a full heart, and the influence +of even so brief a service will keep the members of the household from +many a failure. + +Church attendance is not what it once was. The old-fashioned family pew +is a thing of the past in too many cases. In other days the father, the +mother, and the children attended divine worship in the house of God. +They sang the hymns of the church together; they worshipped God with +the same spirit of devotion; they listened to the minister's preaching +and they came forth from such a service clothed with a power that made +them able to stand against the mightiest influences for evil. Because +the family pew is out of date many boys are wandering, and many girls +have gone astray. + +With the beginning of the fourth chapter of Nehemiah there is a change +in the story as told by the Prophet. There is a ring of triumph when he +announces: "So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together +unto the half thereof; for the people had a mind to work," Nehemiah +iv. 6. And the completeness of his work is described when he says: "Now +it came to pass when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, +and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed ..." +Nehemiah vii. 1. I am sure it is quite true that out from all the +despair which sometimes appals us, we shall come into the same complete +victory. But if we are to win others to Christ and if our work is to be +a work of prevention, so that our children shall not go astray and our +friends may not wander, then it will be essential that we should, like +Nehemiah of old, begin to build everyone over against his own house. It +is a sad thing to find so many people in the world who are a public +success and a private failure. Great superintendents of Sunday Schools, +and poor fathers; experienced Sunday School teachers, and inconsistent +in their own homes; eloquent preachers and poor illustrations of the +spirit of Jesus; famed for piety as revealed to the public eye and +quite as famed for lack of piety, when living out of the lime light, in +the common round of daily duties with those who know us best and ought +to speak of us most highly. + +If our work is to be as God would have it where shall it begin? By all +means let it begin with ourselves. There is a text of Scripture which +every Christian must say over and over. He might begin the day with it +and it might not be amiss for him to say it over before he closes his +eyes in sleep. "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my +thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me," Psalm cxxxix. 23, +24. It is quite unnecessary to study the methods of men if we cannot +bear the test of God's searching eye. + +We must be right in our own homes. In a meeting conducted recently in +Wales a gentleman rose to say: "I came to the meeting on Friday +afternoon and made a covenant with God that I would speak to someone +about Christ. It laid so hold of my heart that I went home and spoke to +my little girl. I asked her if she loved the Lord Jesus Christ, and she +said, 'Yes, I do.' I said, 'Will you accept Jesus as your personal +Saviour?' 'Yes, I am willing to' she said. I went to the steel works, +and had been praying that God would use me. I asked the young man with +whom I was working if he were a Christian. He looked black at me, but I +asked him to be honest before God. In a moment his face changed as he +said without hesitation, 'I will accept Jesus as my Saviour now.' + +"I was working during the night, and it came to food time, so I asked +several of the men if they would come into the smith shop and have a +word of prayer. There was a young man there whose little boy I had +spoken to. This young man came to me at three o'clock in the morning to +tell me that he would accept Jesus as his personal Saviour. I asked +some of the men if they would come up to my house and have a little +prayer meeting after work, at six o'clock in the morning. They came up +and I spoke to them, quoting the texts John iii. 16 and John v. 24. +Some of the men present were not saved. I asked them if they really +understood the Scriptures, and they told me they did. 'Now,' I said, +'will you not accept Jesus as your personal Saviour?' and one who was +in the smith shop told me that he had definitely given himself to God +at three o'clock that morning. Then I asked a boy of fifteen if he +understood the words. 'Yes,' he said, so I asked him if he would not +accept Christ. 'Yes' he replied, 'I will.' The following night I spoke +to another in the works, concerning his soul, and asked him if he had +fully surrendered, because I knew he was in trouble. About one o'clock +I spoke to him and said, 'Will you give yourself to the Lord now?' +'No,' he said, 'not now.' 'Well,' I said, 'come to the smith shop at +food time and have a word of prayer.' After food time he came out, and +started again at his work. Presently he came across to me. 'Well,' I +said, 'have you fully surrendered?' 'Yes, Tom,' he said, 'I have given +myself to Christ, now.'" + +Beginning in the home it is quite easy to go out into a wider circle +and serve. The tendency, however, is to begin in some public place, and +oftentimes because of this we fail to win those who work by our side, +who sit with us at our own table and who live with us day after day and +for whom we are specially responsible. It will also be necessary for us +to enlarge the circle and reach the people in our own places of business. +Two business men journeyed into a New England city together for twenty +years. One of them was a Christian, the other was not. They were both +dying the same day, and the man who was not a Christian when he heard +that his friend was dying, had a right to say to his wife, as he did, +"It is a strange thing that my friend and I have known each other so +well, and love each other so dearly, that he has allowed me to come to +this day without a warning." + +A business man rose in a meeting to say, "I have been greatly concerned +about one young man who works in my office. I asked him if he would not +come to the office a little earlier this morning. When he came and we +were alone I asked him if he knew why I had got him to come a little +earlier. When he told me that he did not, I said to him 'I am a +Christian, I have never spoken to you about Christ and I have asked you +to come this morning that I might explain the way to you and urge you +to take your stand for Him.' That morning I had the great joy of +leading my employee to Christ. I gave him a little pocket Testament in +which I wrote his name, and under his name I wrote this Scripture, +'Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee,' and after that I +signed my name. Three days later," said the business man, "the young +man of whom I speak, led three others to Christ, one of them was the +head book-keeper in my office." + +If we are to be successful soul winners it is essential not only that +we should get right with God but that we should keep right with Him. +There must be a quick confession of sin and a quick turning away from +all that would work against Christ. Our friends with whom we live and +labour are keen critics, and as a rule, just ones. They know when we +are wrong and nothing so hinders a testimony as to allow a wrong to go +unrighted. When before our own households and with those who know us +best, and by whose side we toil, in shop, or store, or office, or with +those whom we employ, we keep ourselves unspotted from the world, we +have an unanswerable argument for Christ and a testimony as regards the +value of following Him which cannot be gainsayed. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +_No Man cared for my Soul_ + + +"No man cared for my soul," Psalm cxlii. 4. All about us people are +saying these words, and they really think we do not care. I believe +there has never been a story of a man in which was found more contrast +than in this account of the man who sobs out the words, "No man cared +for my soul." He is a shepherd boy, then a king, a saint, writing the +twenty-third Psalm, then suddenly turned into a sinner blackening the +pages of the Old Testament with the story of his transgressions. The +world has not had better poetry than that which came from the heart and +brain of this marvellous man. In addition to all this, he is a musician, +and all through the Psalms he is keeping time to heaven's music until, +when he comes to the close of the Psalter, he stands like the leader of +a mighty chorus, and calls upon every living breathing being to praise +the Lord. He is a pursuer of men, and the hosts of the enemy run and +cry and flee before him. + +Suddenly the scene is changed. He is himself pursued. He is in the cave +of Engedi. The cave is dark, and it is in the gloom that we hear him +crying out, "I looked upon my right hand and beheld, but there was no +man that would know me: refuge failed me." And as he said this I think +he must have said, with a sob, "No man cared for my soul." But it is +not my intention so much to tell the story of this man whose life was +so filled with contrasts, but rather to speak of those who live to-day, +and who think they have a right to use the same words as the Psalmist, +"No man cared for my soul." + +They walk on the streets of our cities; they live in our homes; they +meet us in our places of business; they are members of our circle of +friends; they know that we are Christians, and they are often thinking +or saying, "No man cared for my soul." It is strange that we should +permit this, because we read in the Bible, "He that believeth not is +condemned already." "He that hath not the Son of God hath not life, but +the wrath of God abideth on him." It seems strange that one could say +he believes the Bible to be true; that he accepts these statements +concerning the one who is not a Christian, and yet lives and works and +associates with him and never speaks to him about the salvation of his +soul. + +It would seem as if they at least had a right to say, "No man _seems_ +to care." But some may say, "They have the Church, and the doors are +wide open; they have the minister, and his message is faithful." Yet, +the average man who sits in church and listens to the most impassioned +appeal of the preacher, rarely considers the sermon personal. He finds +himself saying, sometimes against his will, that the preacher is +professional, that his plea is perfunctory, and so he goes out of +church and says again, "No man _seems_ to care for my soul." + +There came into my church in an Eastern city a man who worshipped with +us for a time. His family were in the mountains. I made it a rule never +to allow one to attend the church that I did not speak to him personally. +One day I called on this business man. He took me into his private +office. When I took him by the hand I said, "I have come to ask you to +be a Christian." He looked at me in amazement; and I said, "I am not +asking you to join my church, that may not be the church of your choice, +but I am asking you to be a Christian." He drew his hand out of mine, +walked away to the window, and stood looking down upon the busy street +for fully five minutes. I thought I had offended him. Then he came back, +and, brushing the tears out of his eyes, he took my hand again and said, +"It is the first invitation to be a Christian I have ever had in all my +life. Nobody ever asked me before. My mother never asked me; my wife +has never asked me; no minister has ever asked me." Then, sinking back +into the chair by his table, he used the words which are almost identical +with the words of David, "I thought no one cared." + +Such men are all around us; men in deepest need; men with sore aching +hearts. There was a man in an American city who occupied a high +position among men. He took his own life. Under the stress of political +excitement he misappropriated the funds of the bank, thinking he could +repay them, and in his beautiful home he put the revolver to his temple +and shot himself. The saddest letter I have ever seen was written by +that man. He wrote to his wife asking her forgiveness. He told her to +pray for the children whom he had dishonoured. Then he concluded his +farewell letter with this statement: "Through all the months I have +been wishing somebody would speak to me about becoming a Christian." In +the light of such facts I believe that what we need in these days is +not so much, more men to preach--although that would be a great +blessing--as people in the church who will be absolutely consistent. If +they say they believe God's Word to be true, they must speak to those +over whom they have an influence, about the personal acceptance of +Christ. + +I was waiting one day outside the office of the Governor of one the +Western States, and while I waited, the Lieutenant-Governor spoke to +me. He said, "I was in your service last night, and I want to take +issue with you on what you said. You told your hearers to go up and +down the streets asking the people to become Christians. I think if +anyone should come into my office and ask me to become a Christian I +should tell him to go about his business." "You surely misunderstood +me," I said; "what I told them was this, that if a business man was not +a Christian, his friend who is a Christian ought to speak to him kindly +about his soul." I had been introduced to the Lieutenant-Governor by +one of the great politicians of the State, who was a sincere Christian, +and I said, "Suppose our mutual friend here should come to you and say, +'I am a Christian. I think it is the best thing for a man to be a +Christian. I am not always what I would like to be myself, but I should +like to invite you to become a Christian.' Then suppose he should tell +you what a strength and help it had been to him, what would you say to +him?" He looked at me for a moment, and said, "I think I should say +'Thank you.'" I am sure thousands could be won to Jesus Christ if the +members of the Church were consistent in the matter of living in Christ +and giving an invitation to people to become acquainted with Him. + +It is not fair to charge the minister with being professional, nor to +say that in his appeal he is perfunctory. Nor is it always just to +criticize those who are in the church, for not speaking to the unsaved, +for there may be an explanation. Sometimes we feel a sense of our own +unworthiness. There are business men who know that if they should speak +to their employees, the first speech would have to be a confession of +failure. There are women who know that if they should go to their +husbands or children, and ask them to come to Christ, they would have +first of all to say, "You must forgive my inconsistency." There are +fathers who know that they could not go to their homes and call their +children around them, and bid them come to Christ without first saying, +"You must forgive your father." But if a confession is necessary, then +make it. It is sometimes a sense of unworthiness that seals one's lips, +but remember if you have a friend who is not a Christian, and to whom +you have never spoken of Christ, your friend counts you inconsistent +because of your failure. + +I said to the officers in my church one evening, "How many of you have +ever led a soul to Christ?" About half of them said they never had. One +officer said, "That is a sharp question for me. If you will excuse me I +will go home and speak to my children, to-night." He did so, and I +received two of his sons into the church shortly after. + +Again, we seem to have failed to warn our friends because we have such +a slight conception of the meaning of the word "Lost." A mother in +Chicago one day carried her little baby over to the doctor, and said, +"Doctor, look into this baby's eyes, something has gone wrong with +them." The doctor took the little child and held it in his arms so that +the light would strike its face, He gazed at it only for a moment, +then, putting it back into its mother's arms, he shook his head, and +the mother said quickly, "Doctor, what is it?" And he said, "Madam, +your baby is going blind. There is no power in this world that can make +him see." She held the baby in her arms close up against her heart. +Then with a cry she fell to the floor in a swoon, saying as she fell, +"My God--blind!" I think any parent must know how she felt. But Jesus +said, "Better to be maimed, and halt, and blind than to be lost." + +If you believe the Bible you cannot be indifferent. But you say, some +would not like to have you speak to them. I have been twenty-seven +years a minister, and have spoken to all classes and conditions of men +and women, and only in one single instance have I ever been rebuked. I +was once asked to speak to the president of a bank. I went into his +office, and was introduced to him by the pastor with whom I was staying. +I said, "My friend is very interested in you, and I wish I could lead +you to Christ." He looked at me in perfect amazement. Then, rising from +the chair, he took me by the hand, and said, "Thank you, sir." I saw +him that night, make his way down the crowded aisle of the church, give +the minister his hand, and say, "I will." + +But I had a sad experience at college. I roomed with a man when I was a +student for the ministry, and never spoke to him about his soul. When +the day of my graduation came, and I was bidding him good-bye, he said, +"By the way, why have you never spoken to me about becoming a Christian?" +I would rather he had struck me. I said, "Because I thought you did not +care." "Care!" he said. "There has never been a day that I did not want +you to speak; there has never been a night that I did not hope you would +speak." I lost an opportunity. I fear some day, I must answer for it. + +You had an idea that you had no influence, but you must remember that +when you speak in the name of Jesus Christ, God stands back of you; +that when you plead for the salvation of a person, all the power of +heaven is working through you. Some may ask, What is the best time to +speak to my friends about Christ? I should say, speak to them when they +are in trouble, seek them out when others are being saved, but, best of +all, go to them when the Spirit of God says go, that is the best time. +Whenever God says "Go," He is always making ready the heart for our +coming. I was one day walking down the streets of an American city with +a Methodist minister, when he said to me, "What would you do if you +were impressed that you should speak to a man?" I said, "Speak to him." +He said, "But this man has not been in church for thirteen years." +"Nevertheless," I said, "speak to him." He turned and made his way to +the great house where this business man lived. He rang the bell, and +the door was opened by the gentleman himself, who said, "Doctor, I am +glad to see you. I have been in all day thinking you might come." And +in a very few minutes he was kneeling in the library with this +gentleman whom he quickly led to Christ. + +A year later I was passing through the city of Chicago, when, picking +up a newspaper, I noticed that this man whom the minister had won to +Christ, had died suddenly. I got a letter from the minister not long +afterwards, and he said, "I was with him when he died. He sent a +messenger for me to come and see him, and when I arrived he turned his +face towards mine and said, "Dr ----, thank you for coming that day, +for if you had missed that day, I might have missed this. Then he began +to sing as best he could. He raised himself on his pillow, with his +arms outreaching, and said, "Jesus Lover of My soul," and passed away. +The minister's letter was marked with tears, and down at the foot of it +was written this sentence; "God helping me, I will never hesitate +again." They are all about us, men with aching hearts, men caught by +the power of sin, young people and older people as well. They are +waiting. Preaching may not win them; singing may not touch them. But +personal effort will. + +I might change the text and make it read: "The world does not care for +your soul," You may win it, and it will mock you. Satan does not care +for your soul. He will fascinate you and snare you, and when you say, +"Oh, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this +death?" there will be no deliverance. But God cares. Christ cares. The +minister cares, and thousands of others care. Some are saying, "What +must I do to be a Christian?" A gentleman once said to me, "I do not +love God." Another person once said, "You talk about love for Christ; +is it like love for my mother, because if it is I have not got it." No, +it is not like that. That is not the first step in the way. Tell them +God does not say, "Love me, and I will save you." God says, "Trust me. +Accept my conditions, believe on my Son and follow Him." + +There was a great man in a Western city who had a little girl who was +deaf and dumb. He loved his child so much that he would not allow +anybody to teach her. She had a kind of sign language which they both +understood, but nobody else was allowed to teach her. This gentleman at +one time had occasion to leave home and go abroad. He could not take +his daughter with him, so his minister persuaded him to send her over +to an institution where she could be taught to use the sign language of +the deaf and dumb. He took her over himself, never for a moment +imagining that she would learn to speak with her lips, as she did. The +months passed by, and when the father returned, the minister went with +him to see his child in the institution. The little girl had been told +that he was coming, and looking out of the window she saw her father +coming through the gate. She sprang to the door, and ran down the +steps, and along the walk until she reached her father. Then she climbed +up into his arms, and, putting her lips up against his ear, she said, +"Father, I love you, I love you." The great man held her out at arm's +length, looked into her face, then pressed her more closely to his +heart and fell in a faint--when he recovered consciousness he was +sobbing. All the day he kept saying, "I have heard her speak, and she +loves me, she loves me." So tell the people very plainly that God does +not say, "Love me." He says, "Believe on me; trust me; follow me." Then +ask them, Will you do it? And if they will follow Him, having accepted +His Son as their Saviour, and with his help having turned from sin, +then if they will obey Him, they will come to love Him with all their +hearts. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +_Winning the Young_ + + +"There is a lad here," John vi. 9. Jesus had just crossed over the sea +of Galilee and, attracted by the miracles which he had wrought, great +multitudes had followed after Him. In order that He might escape the +throng, He went up into a mountain and there He sat with His disciples. +When the Master saw the great company stretching out on every side of +Him He said unto Philip, "Whence shall we buy bread that these may +eat." Philip was so amazed at the crowd that he answered Him, "Two +hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one +of them may take a little." Then one of His disciples, Andrew, Simon +Peter's brother, said unto Him, "_There is a lad here_ which hath +five barley loaves and two small fishes." Then Jesus made the multitude +sit down, and took the loaves and gave to the disciples, and the +disciples to them that were seated, and likewise of the fishes as much +as they would, and when they were filled, the fragments that remained +filled twelve baskets. + +The presence of this lad and the service which he rendered to Jesus, as +well as the use which the Master made of him, all help us to teach our +lesson. Youth is the time to turn to Christ. The wise man knew this +when he said, "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth; while +the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh; when thou shalt say, I +have no pleasure in them." Sin has not so strong a hold upon a life in +the time of youth, therefore it is the easiest time to turn to Christ. + +I once heard a man tell the story of his special work among outcast men +and women, and when I asked him he told me how he himself was converted. +He said that as a boy in London, he was left one day in charge of the +private office. He said "I wanted to write a letter and I took the +firm's note-paper; I used one of their envelopes, and when I wanted +postage I opened the private drawer of the safe, the door of which was +swinging open, and took out one postage stamp, and when I put this stamp +upon my letter and dropped it into the post-box I felt as if I had +dropped my character with it. That was the beginning, and the end was a +prison cell, for I went from one form of thieving to another until I was +obliged to pay the penalty. I found Christ while I was in prison, but I +feel as if the mark of my early sin would never leave me. I would urge +every boy to accept Christ," he said, "before the cords of sin bind him +too securely." + +When one reaches the age of eighteen he finds it extremely difficult to +turn away from the sins that are mastering him, and when he passes +beyond twenty years of age, the tide against him is extremely heavy. +The critical time in the life of boys and girls is from twelve to +twenty. If they do not accept Christ during these years, it is wellnigh +impossible to win them. If this is true then we must make the most of +the opportunities of influencing the youth whom God is ever bringing +before us. + +The Scripture used in connection with this feeding of the multitude is +a good illustration. It is a lad who confronts us, and this is, as has +been said, the favourable time for bringing Christian influence to bear +upon him. There is a time in the life of every boy when it is +comparatively easy to win him to Christ. Parents surely know this, and +Sunday school teachers may easily discover it. "How did you come to +Christ?" said a New York minister to a little boy. His reply was, "My +Sunday school teacher took me last Sunday out into the park. She drew +me away from the crowd and took her seat beside me. She asked me if I +would become a Christian. I felt that I ought to do so, and because her +invitation was so definite, and she seemed so interested, I told her I +would do so, and because I am a Christian I went to join the Church." + +Too much cannot be said in favour of reaching the young while they are +in the days of their youth. Recently in an audience of 4500 people I +found that at least 400 of the audience came to Christ under 10 years +of age; between 10 and 12, 600; between 12 and 14, 600; between 14 and +16, about 1000; between 16 and 20, fully one half, and in the entire +audience not more than 25 people came to Christ after they were 30 +years of age. Five hundred ministers were in the same audience. The +majority of them were converted before they were 16 years of age; 40 of +them between 16 and 20; and only 15 out of the 500 ministers were +converted after they were 20. This in itself is an unanswerable +argument in favour of personal work for the young. + +The lad is here now before us, but he will soon be gone. Boys quickly +grow into manhood. As a rule religious influence weakens as they pass +on, while the power of sin increases. Many young men would turn to +Christ if they thought they could, but it seems to them that the +attraction towards evil is almost, if not quite irresistible. I +recently heard a Christian gentleman speaking before a great audience +in London. He was telling of his going over the Alps in the care of a +trusted guide. As they came to one of the most dangerous places in the +journey his guide stopped him, and said, "Do you see those footprints +off here to the right?" The gentleman said he did, plainly. "Do you +notice," said the guide, "how they get farther and farther apart?" And +when asked to give an explanation he said that a week before a young +telegraph operator had attempted to cross the mountains without a +guide, that just at the place where they were standing his hat blew +off, and, without thinking, he reached out after it, lost his balance +and started to fall. In trying to recover himself he started down the +mountain to the right. The way was all covered with snow; when once he +started he could not stop; farther and farther apart were his footprints +until at last they were lost on the edge of a great abyss. He had gone +over to his death. It is thus that young men go to destruction. Because +they do, we ought to be instant in season and out of season in seeking +to arrest their downward progress. + +When Jesus took the loaves and fishes in the possession of the lad and +brought to bear upon them his own marvellous power, the results were +great. No one realises what is being accomplished when he assists or +influences a boy. I am wondering what that minister, who led Spurgeon +to Christ, thinks of his work now that he sees it from the heavenly +standpoint, and I have many times thought I should like to ask the +business man who spoke to D.L. Moody about his soul, what estimate he +puts upon the importance of the work he did that day. To win a boy to +Christ may be to turn towards the Master one who may one day move the +world for Christ. + +A great number of Chinese young men have come from their native land +to study in the educational institutions of the United States. Some +of them have found Christ in these institutions, others have passed +through their course of study and returned to their native land without +a hope in the Saviour. What a marvellous work might have been accomplished +if the Christian students in these educational institutions had set +themselves to win these Chinese boys. The students in China are to have +an increasing influence in the Government, and if the majority of them +had been led to Christ, the whole Chinese Government might have been +powerfully affected. Some years ago there came to the United States a +little Chinese boy. He was sent to a New England educational institution, +and made his home in the house of a very humble woman. She knew Christ +and loved Him, and she recognised the presence of this little boy as +presenting an opportunity for service. She treated him as if he were +her own child. She mothered him and grew to love him. She taught him +how to read the Bible and she told him the story of Jesus and His love. +That little boy came to Christ. He passed through the educational +institution, went back to China to exercise his strongest influence for +righteousness, and has recently been entrusted with the commission of +bringing to the United States a number of other Chinese boys, all of +whom, it is said, he will place in institutions that are Christian. The +poor woman in New England did not realise that when she led one boy to +Christ that she was touching forty others. This is the fascination of +Christian work. + +Some of the noblest men and women the Church has ever known came to +Christ in youth. Polycarp, Matthew Henry, Jonathan Edwards, the +immortal Watts, John Hall, and a countless host of others who have +served conspicuously in the advancement of the Kingdom of God, came to +Christ before they were fifteen years of age, some of them coming as +early as seven. The lad is here, it will be a pity if we allow him to +grow to manhood without a hope in Christ all because we do not seek to +win him. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +_Winning and Holding_ + + +"From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to +make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus," +2 Timothy iii. 15. Timothy's inheritance was invaluable. His equipment +was superb, and his experience from the day of his birth until the end +of his life upon earth, ideal. He had a good grandmother. Evidently she +influenced him profoundly. I am quite sure that his parents too must +have fulfilled their obligations to their child, and in addition to his +own immediate ancestry, he had Paul, the Apostle, who looked upon him +as a son in the Gospel, and honoured him by sending him his last +message when he said, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my +course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a +crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give +me at that day, and not to me only, but to all them also that love His +appearing. Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me" 2 Timothy iv. 7-9. + +It is a great loss to any child to be deprived of what Timothy had. We +may not all be rich, and we certainly cannot all be great, but we may +all be true and faithful as parents, and when a child has such an +inheritance he is well started in life. It is because children do not +have this that many of them drift. Given a good ancestry it is +comparatively easy to draw children to Christ, and even to draw them +back when once they have wandered. It is the testimony of rescue +mission workers that when they have the privilege of appealing to lost +and ruined men in the name of a mother who was saintly and a father who +was true to Christ, they have a hold upon an almost irresistible force, +to bring the wanderer back to the faith of his father and the teaching +of his mother. + +There is the sorest need to-day of a special and continued interest in +behalf of our young people. David Starr Jordan is authority for the +statement that "one-third of the young men of America are wasting +themselves through intemperate habits and accompanying vices," the +conditions in other lands are also very serious. The secretary of the +College Association of North America has been quoted as saying that +there are twelve thousand college men in New York City alone who are +down and out through vice. "Talk of the ravages of war. The ravages of +war, pestilence and disease combined are as nothing compared with the +awful moral ravages wrought in the teen period. The shores are strewn +thick with the wasted lives of those who have been wrecked in youth." + +"We have been seeking results too far afield and overlooking great +opportunities near at hand. If you take a census of a Christian +congregation and ask those who were converted before their eighteenth +birthday to rise, five-sixths of your congregation will stand. This +means that five-sixths of all the people who give themselves to Christ +do it on the under side of the eighteenth year. Put beside this the +fact that we have more than 12,000,000 children and youth in the +Protestant Sunday Schools of America under eighteen years of age and +you will see that our great evangelistic opportunity does not lie +outside of the Church, but inside, in the Sunday School department. +Here we have a vast army, ready and waiting for the Christian call."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Rev Edgar Blake.] + +It is one thing to lead souls to Christ, it is quite another thing to +hold them when once they have been won. The serious time for drifting +is between the ages of twelve and twenty. If we could but safeguard +these years we would hold for the Church many who drift out upon the +sea of life, make shipwreck of their hopes and break the hearts of +those who are interested in them. + +"An investigation in the Wesleyan Church of England showed that only +ten per cent of the Sunday School were held in active membership in the +Church. Ten per cent. were held in a merely nominal relationship. +Eighty per cent. were lost entirely. This is a fair statement of the +situation in many churches. We have lost multitudes of our youth who +might have been saved if they had been properly cared for. + +"At the very time the Church loses its grip upon the boys and girls the +public school loses its grip also. The exodus begins about the fifth +grade, and at the eighth grade fifty per cent. of the scholars have +departed. At the twelfth grade, near the middle teens, ninety per cent. +of the scholars have gone out from the public schools. Thus these two +most powerful forces in the creation of character, the Church and the +School, lose their hold upon youth at the same time. + +"The home also loses its hold at this period. Up to his middle teens +your youth accepts everything on the authority of others, but midway of +the critical teen period there comes an awakening. The consciousness of +his own personality, his right to make decisions for himself comes to +him for the first time. Sometimes spontaneously, sometimes gradually, +but always he breaks with authority. He insists upon deciding matters +for himself. Parents may counsel, but they cannot determine[1]." + +[Footnote 1: Rev Edgar Blake.] + +"A gentleman came to a friend of mine at the close of an address which +he had delivered and said to him, 'I was much interested in what you +said about the boys we lose. I teach a class of the finished product.' +'Where do you teach?' said I. 'In the State prison' he said. A few +years ago seventy-five per cent. of the inmates of the Minnesota State +prison were boys who had once been in Sunday School and had been +permitted to drift away. The later teen age, sixteen to twenty, is the +criminal period. It is an appalling thing that 12,000 children were +brought before the courts of New York in 1909, and in the same year +more than 15,000 boys and girls suffered arrest in Chicago. Our +criminal ranks are added to, at the rate of 300,000 a year, and in the +vast majority of cases the criminal course is begun in the teen age. Is +it necessary? Is this awful waste--this moral havoc--unavoidable? I +believe not. Recently a young man in his teens was convicted of theft +in the court of Milwaukee. When the judge asked him if he had anything +to say before sentence was pronounced upon him, the young man arose, +pale with excitement and said, 'Your honour, my father and mother died +when I was three years old. I never had anyone who loved or cared for +me. I have been kicked about all my life. Judge, I never would have +been a thief if I had had a chance.' This is the pitiful plea of +thousands who have been wrecked around us. They were not shepherded and +they went astray." + +There is a way to hold the majority of those whom we may win to the +Saviour. A friend of mine led to Christ a young man who had gone to the +very depths of sin and shame. He was a drunkard; he had disgraced his +father's name; had broken his wife's heart, and when his little boy +died he did not have enough money to bury the child decently; when the +mother put the child in the grave the father was wild with drink, and +he was buried without his father being present. But my friend won this +man to Christ. After he was saved, every day for three weeks he went to +sit by his side and talk with him; he guarded him at the critical time; +he kept him from growing discouraged; he hindered him from drinking. +To-day this man is himself one of the most noted rescue mission workers +in the world, and is being used of God to save multitudes of men who +like himself had gone down through drink. + +It is what we are ourselves that largely counts in the holding of our +friends for Christ. Paul wrote to Titus saying, "In all things showing +thyself a pattern of good works ... that he that is of the contrary +part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you," which is only +another way of saying that a Christian life is an unanswerable argument +in favour of Christ. When our lives are right with God; when we keep +ourselves unspotted from the world; when we quickly confess our own +failure or wrongdoing; when we have a concern not only that others +should be saved, but that they might do something for Christ after +their salvation, it is comparatively easy to hold them, and to keep +from drifting those who have just started along the way. + +When my friend S.H. Hadley, the great rescue missionary, was lying in +his coffin, a timid knock was heard at the door of the room where the +body was resting. When the one who had knocked entered the room it was +found that he was a drunkard, he had fallen from a high position to the +very depths of despair, and as he stood timidly in the presence of the +sorrowing friends of the great man, he said, "I thought I would like to +come and look into his face and if I might be permitted to do so I +would like to touch his hand. He did his best to win me while he was +living and now that he is dead I cannot let his body be placed in the +grave without coming here by the side of his casket to yield myself to +Christ. All that he has said has followed me and I cannot get away from +it." + +Timothy knew the Scriptures, and a familiarity with God's Word is one +of the best preventives in the case of drifting. One verse of Scripture +committed to memory each day would help us to overcome the tempter; +would keep us in loving touch with Jesus Christ; would inspire us to +higher and holier living; and these suggestions made to those whom we +win to Christ would keep them from wandering. It is the man who does +not know his Bible who finds himself an easy prey to the wicked one. +The ability to pray is also a God-given force which keeps us from +drifting. When we read the Bible God talks to us; when we pray we talk +to Him. We cannot always speak plainly of our condition to those about +us, but we may tell Him what we are and what we wish we might have +been. And while it is true that He knows before we speak, it is also +true that in the telling we draw nearer to Him, and drawing nearer we +absorb a little bit more of His spirit, and in that spirit we stand. + +Service is also one of the surest preventives from wandering. It is +when the brain is idle that evil thoughts master it; when the heart is +given up to impure imaginations that we find it easy to fall. And it is +when we are busy lifting others' burdens; making the way easier for +others to travel; comforting those who are in distress; speaking a word +of cheer to the cheerless, and above all, when we are seeking to lead +others to Christ, that we ourselves grow in grace and in the knowledge +of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. If these things are true, and we +know they are, then it is the duty of every Christian not only to seek +to win another to Christ, but by all means to seek to hold him when +once he is won, and that which we know holds us will keep others from +stumbling. + +The suggestions made above are for the young as well as the more +mature. Young people will be interested in spiritual things if we have +sufficient interest in them ourselves to make them attractive. + +If we would show as great interest in helping to keep those whom we may +have won for Christ, as we revealed when we were seeking them, fewer of +them would drift. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +_A Practical Illustration_ + + +It will be a great day when the Church is aroused to the responsibility +and privilege of personal work. + +In Swansea, Wales, with Mr Charles M. Alexander, I had the satisfaction +of conducting a mission in which I preached for an entire week on Soul +Winning. I then urged the people to go forth and labour, and asked them +to come back with their reports. These reports were thrilling. Often +ten or twelve people would be standing at the one time waiting to +speak. The following are only a few testimonies taken from the many:-- + +A minister said: "I spoke to a bright young fellow, under the influence +of drink, as I was going home in the car last night. He got off the car +when I did, so I stood at the street corner and talked with him for a +few minutes. He told me that he had been a follower of the Lord Jesus +many years ago, but had fallen away through bad company. I asked him to +pray for himself. He said he could not, but asked me to pray for him. +And there on that street corner I put my arm around his shoulder and we +prayed together, and he has promised to come to the meeting to-night." + +"About three years ago," said another, "I came in touch with a man who +has been the biggest and most hardened scoffer I have had to contend +with. He had such a sarcastic way of ridiculing the Lord Jesus Christ. +But this last fortnight I have seen a distinct change in that young +man's life. Last week, as we were working near to one another, I spoke +to him and his eyes filled with tears. He said, 'I have decided to come +out and accept Christ.' I could hardly credit it, but it has proved to +be real, and when I see God moving in such a hard case as this, I have +hope for every sinner in this city." + +Another said, "I came to the Lord three years ago, one of the worst +drunkards in Swansea. Since the Saviour found me, I have spoken to men +on their death-beds. I have spoken to drunkards all over Swansea, but I +neglected my own charge that God had given to me. Dr Chapman woke me up +to approach my own household and children. It was the greatest struggle +in all my life. I went to my two boys and put my hands on their shoulders +saying, 'I want you to do something for Jesus and for your father.' They +said, 'Father, we will do it.' Two of my boys came to the Albert Hall +yesterday and gave their hearts to Jesus. This has been one of the most +blessed weeks I have had since I was saved three years ago." + +"On Thursday night I had been asking the Lord to lead me to the right +one to speak to. He led me to a young man of sixteen years of age who +was under tremendous conviction. He said, 'I think I will make a clean +breast of it. I have done something,' and he told me his story. This +young lad, in his employer's service for four years, last week, for the +first time, began to steal. He turned out his pocket and showed me what +he had. He said, 'What shall I do? I go to bed at night and I cannot +sleep, it is haunting me.' I said, 'Look here, laddie, do this. Go to +your master to-morrow morning, and make a clean breast of it and get +the victory.' 'What about my situation?' said the boy. 'I will pray for +you,' I said. 'If your master is so unkind as to dismiss you, come to +me and I will see what I can do.' It was a long time before he gave in, +but eventually he said, 'I will.' I prayed for him, and last night I +got this letter: 'Victorious! Devil conquered; overjoyed. I cannot very +well explain what I experienced so will be pleased to meet you on +Thursday next in the mission at Albert Hall.'" + +A week later this gentleman said: "I have a lot to thank God for these +last ten days. I have had a glorious blessing. I can say with all +humility, I have been on fire for Jesus. I had a letter yesterday from +the young man whom I was talking about last Sunday. He says, 'Dear +Friend, My only regret now is that I did not accept Jesus as my Saviour +years ago. It would have saved me so much trouble. I explained +everything to my master and handed him the article back. Then he gave +me two-thirds of this particular article and burned the letter. So that +is what I got for owning up.'" + +Another said: "I do thank and praise God this morning for the great +things He has done in my home. He has brought my children to trust in +the Saviour. I have great pleasure in reporting that a brother at the +works, to whom I spoke a week ago, has decided for Christ. One of the +workers presented me with a Testament to give to that brother, who was +in very poor circumstances, and he received it with joy. The following +day he came to tell me that he had read a chapter to his wife. His wife +is travelling the wrong way. They have five little children, and on +Thursday I took them to the meeting. On Friday morning he came to thank +me for taking them there, and told me that during his absence from the +house, his eldest boy, of about ten years of age, had got into a Bible +Reading Circle, led by a Christian boy, and he asked his father if he +could spare sixpence for him to buy a Testament. What joy filled my +heart and soul from the fact that I could present that little lad with +a Testament, and I sent my own lad back a mile, yesterday, with it. + +"I spoke to a dear Christian brother last night at the works. I asked +him if his household were saved. 'I have one boy of sixteen not saved,' +he said 'Brother, will you promise me to speak to him when you go +home?' He went home and put his hand on the shoulder of the lad and +gave him the invitation. The boy gladly promised to accept Jesus." + +Continuing with the reports, one said: "Last night, in one of our +public houses I spoke to a woman about Jesus. Years ago she had lost +her husband and instead of going to God for comfort she had turned to +drink. She became a drunkard and had separated from her children. When +I spoke to her she said, 'I know I am a sinner. I am the worst woman in +Swansea, but I want to be good.' 'Will you decide now?' we asked her. +'Yes,' she said. She came out into the cold biting wind and knelt in +the open air, and there she sent up this simple prayer: 'Oh, God, +although I am a bad woman, please make me good, for Jesus' sake.' Later +she arose in a crowded meeting and told her story, concluding with this +remark, 'By God's help I am going to be a child of God.'" + +Another said: "On the second night of the mission I was led to speak to +a dear brother who was a back-slider. I plead with him that evening to +turn to Christ, but he did not come to a decision. The next night I +went in and talked with him. I asked him again at the close of the +meeting would he come back to the Lord Jesus Christ. He told me he +could not come back that night. On the following night I went up and +spoke to him again. When we got outside the building I said, 'I may not +ever have the privilege of speaking to you again. Will you kindly give +me your name? I will give you a guarantee that no one but God shall +know about it. I want your name that I may pray for you.' On Tuesday +night in the minor hall at the after meeting I searched for him. I had +been praying continually every night and morning, and sometimes during +the day. When I found him that night I said, 'You have withstood the +Spirit of God long enough. Make a definite decision to-night to return +to the Lord. If you do not care about coming to the front, fill out +this card, but make up your mind to give yourself to Christ.' He took +the card and filled it out. Then I said, 'You know the way of salvation +because you have been that way before. When you get home tonight, will +you kindly make a definite decision at your bedside?' And he told me he +would." + +Another gentleman rose to give his testimony and said: "I belong, as +you know, to another city, but I want to speak a word to the glory of +God, and for the encouragement of those who have taken up personal work +for Him. Some two years ago in our city I spoke to one who was an +inspector in the Police Force, but who is to-day the Chief Inspector of +our Police, about the claims of Christ. He told me that I was the first +one who had ever spoken to him as to how he stood in relation to these +matters for a period of fifteen years. Having once broken the ice and +spoken to him, I never gave him up. + +"About two months ago I had occasion to go to the Police Court to ask +his assistance on behalf of a woman who wanted an ejectment notice +against another woman who was living in the same house. When he heard +the name of the woman who wished to obtain the notice he refused to +have anything to do with the matter. She had been a bad character. He +said, 'I tell you candidly, she ought to be drowned for her cruelty to +her children.' I said, 'You knew her once, but you do not know her now. +How long is it since you saw her?' 'About nine weeks' he replied. +'Well,' I said, 'nine weeks ago she and her husband both came to Christ +in our mission hall. For the first time in thirteen years they entered +a place of worship. She had a black eye that covered over half her +face, but both her husband and she are now Christians, and are +faithfully following Christ to-day. And yet you call her a lost soul.' +He said, 'Certainly I do. If there is a lost soul she is one.' 'Then +Sir,' I said, striking him on the shoulder, 'Jesus came to seek and to +save that which was lost. Jesus has saved that woman. When she comes on +Monday night, Inspector, just look at her and see what Christ has +wrought. I ask you to grant her request.' He shook himself free. 'Wait +a moment, Inspector,' I said, 'I have never given up praying for you. +You have risen to the position of Chief Inspector, but I want you not +to forget Christ.' + +"On the Thursday of the following week he came to my home. When I saw +him there I was glad, for he had kept away from me for a long time. I +said, 'I am glad to see you in my home.' He said, 'You will be more glad +when you know why I have come. In my room the other night I knelt down +and gave myself to Jesus Christ, and asked the Lord to save me.' I would +ask those of you who are working for souls not to get disheartened and +discouraged. When the mission ceases do not give up taking a personal +interest in those for whom you are concerned. + +"Some months ago I was sitting in the Assize Court in your city. I sat +next to our Chief Inspector. The case that was being tried was one of +attempted murder. As I sat there following the case this Chief +Inspector turned to me and said, 'Why didn't they know Him on the road +to Emmaus?' I said, 'I suppose because their eyes were holden.' He +said, 'How did they know Him when they got to the home?' I said, +'Probably in the breaking of the bread.' 'Don't you think,' said he, +'that in the breaking of the bread they saw for the first time the +marks of the wounds in His hands and knew Him by them?' What a +difference Christ had made in the life of that Chief Inspector." + +A man employed in the steel works rose in one of our meetings to say: +"I made my covenant with God last Saturday. The burden was laid heavy +on my heart on behalf of two souls. One of them was my own little girl. +I spoke to her about Jesus, and she told me she would accept Him as her +Saviour. I have been working this week on a shift that ran from ten +o'clock at night to six o'clock in the morning. On Tuesday night I +asked the Lord to pour out His blessing on our workmen. About one +o'clock in the morning I had an opportunity of speaking to a young man. +I asked him if he had accepted Jesus as his Saviour, and he said he had +not. Then I asked him to be honest before God, and I said, 'Will you +accept Him now?' With a smile he looked up at me and said, 'Tom, I will +accept Jesus as my Saviour now.' I have brought some of my mates with +me here to-day and I thank God for what He has done. + +"Down at the works the other day there was a young man who came on duty +at three o'clock in the morning. I knew he was troubled about his soul, +and I spoke to him. I said, 'Are you in trouble about your soul?' He +said, 'Yes, I am.' 'Well,' I said, 'Jesus has died to save you. Will +you accept Him now?' He said to me, 'But, Tom, I have done this and +that,' 'Well,' I said, 'Jesus has died for you, will you accept Him?' +As he looked me straight in the face he said, 'Yes, I will.' + +"I asked these men who had accepted Jesus and one or two others, to +come up to my home at six o'clock when we finished work. As we went +through the yard there was a boy about fifteen years of age standing +there and we got him to come along with us. In my home we had a small +meeting. I asked God to pour down His blessing upon us. I asked one +friend who was drifting, if he had ever accepted Christ, and he said at +one time during a revival. I said, 'Praise God for that. He is willing +to receive you back. Will you come?' and he said, 'At three o'clock +this very morning, I came back to the Lord Jesus.' And then I turned to +the boy of fifteen and said, 'Are you willing to accept the Saviour?' +And he said he didn't think he was ready. I said, 'Well, my boy, if you +don't, what will become of you?' He said, 'I will go to hell, I +suppose.' Not long afterwards he accepted the Saviour.[1] + +[Footnote 1: This man worked at night and slept during the day.] + +"Yesterday I could not sleep. I went home from my work. I was up in the +morning with a burden on my heart because of the poor souls who were +going to eternity without a Saviour. A young woman came to our house +and started to sing 'Lord save Swansea,' and the words kept ringing in +my ears. I went back to bed but could not sleep. I had no peace. I +said, 'Well, Lord, I believe Thou hast surely started the work.' I went +to the works last night. I did not feel very well as I had been up all +day. I asked some of the men if they would come to a prayer meeting for +the mission. We did not have much time before work commenced, but we +went in and I asked one of the young fellows if he would accept Jesus. +He replied, 'I must have time to think of it.' The next night I said to +him, 'Johnnie, have you thought of what we spoke on last night?' and he +said, 'I have been in trouble about my soul.' Before we had tea I asked +him if he would accept Christ now. He said, 'I cannot do it now.' I +said, 'God will give you strength.' We went into a little shop and I +prayed for him. At three o'clock this morning I spoke to him again. +'Johnnie,' I said, 'can you see the way clear?' 'Yes,' he said, 'I can +see the way clear now. I will accept Jesus as my personal Saviour.'" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +_Whosoever Will_ + + +All classes of persons may do personal work if they will. A prominent +business man in a Welsh city began to do this work and one morning +spoke to eighteen people before breakfast. Several, to whom he spoke, +accepted Christ. Making a further report of his work, he said. "An old +man, about seventy years of age, whose face was white and who appeared +to be very ill, was leaning against the wall of a building near where I +have my office. I said to him, 'Have you been to the mission?' 'No,' he +said, 'I have not.' I then asked him if he had accepted Christ. 'Well,' +he said, 'I have been a believer all my life.' I said, 'Are you saved?' +'I cannot say that,' he replied. 'Why?' I asked; 'God says, "He that +believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. Do you believe that?' He +stood staring me in the face for a few minutes, when he said, 'I never +saw it in that light before.' I said, 'Will you take him at His word +now?' And he replied, 'Yes, I will.' + +"An old woman, an office cleaner, was making her way up the steps of a +building. As I came up I recognised her, and said, 'Mrs Bell, I have +been constrained to ask you if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your +personal Saviour.' She looked at me, then setting down her broom she +said, 'I want to, but no one has ever asked me,' 'Well,' I said, 'I ask +you now. Will you accept Him just here? Will you say, Lord Jesus I +accept Thee as my personal Saviour?' But she could not see the way. +After some conversation I asked her if she would come to the hall and +hear Dr Chapman and Mr Alexander, and she said she would go that +evening. I was unable to go to the service myself that night and did +not see her until the following Saturday morning. She came to my office +and said, 'Since you spoke to me a few days ago I have had no peace. I +am in an awful state, and unless I take Jesus I shall die. I am sure I +shall because I cannot live like this.' And right there in the office +she knelt down and accepted Christ as her Saviour and had the joy that +always comes with this acceptance. + +"This morning, the very first man I met, I was constrained to speak to +about Jesus. I introduced myself by asking him if he had been to the +mission. He said, 'Yes, I was at the Grand Theatre last Sunday +afternoon.' 'Well,' I said, 'did you give your heart to the Lord?' +'No,' he replied, 'I did not.' I said 'Why?' 'Because I missed my +opportunity,' was his answer. I said to Him, 'Will you do it now?' 'Do +it now!' he exclaimed. 'Listen,' I said, 'God says in His Word. As many +as received Him to them gave He power to become the sons of God. Will +you receive Him? It is either one thing or the other--receive or +reject. Your sins have been atoned for by His precious blood. Will you +take Jesus now?' And suddenly, taking me by the hand, he said, 'I +will.' + +"From time to time I have been speaking to a young man belonging to a +respectable family. At one time he was being brought up for the +ministry, but he got into sin and sank very low. I persuaded him to +attend one of the mission meetings. When Dr Chapman requested all those +who wished prayer offered for themselves or for their loved ones, this +poor fellow got up in the balcony and said, 'Pray for me.' Prayer was +offered for him, and there, that night, he experienced the joy of +salvation. He came to me the other day and said that he had definitely +taken Jesus Christ as his Saviour." + +One would not expect a police officer to be a personal worker, but many +of them are, and notably so in Great Britain. Ex-Sergeant Wheeler of +Oldham came to attend one of our meetings, and being asked to speak, he +said: "Though an Ex-Sergeant, I am not an Ex-Christian. There are a +large number of people who look upon a policeman from many standpoints, +but it is very seldom that they see him in the position in which I am +placed to-night. They have an idea that a policeman does not exist to +preach the Gospel or to tell them about Jesus Christ, and it is +Christian people who get that idea sometimes." + +"I know a police sergeant in London who is a particular friend of mine +and a great Christian worker. A lady went to one of our Provincial +Police Conferences in connection with the Police Association and saw +this big man who was so enthusiastic in connection with the work that +the lady doubted his genuineness, and to satisfy her curiosity she +ascertained his private address, travelled by rail from London, visited +his home during his absence, and asked his wife what sort of a man he +was. That is the way to find a man out. But she found that he was even +a better man in the home than he was out of it. If you want to find +what a man's character is, you do not ask about it on special occasions +when he is on his guard, you ask what it is when he is at home, it is +there that he unconsciously reveals it, and this revelation just +because of its unconsciousness, proves invariably correct. + +"When the Lord Jesus brought me out of darkness into the light, when He +broke the fetters and snapped the chains eleven years ago, I went home +and said to my wife, 'I am going to live for Jesus, and we will start +here, at home. We will have family prayers--we were not a large family, +only nine of us, and for the first time in their lives, my children +heard their father pray; and there on my knees in all humility I +pledged myself before God that I would do anything, make any sacrifice, +if by so doing I could help a weaker brother and lift him out of the +gutter. That is the way I started. I am not what I ought to be, I am +not what I hope to be, but, thank God, by His grace and love, I am what +I am and not what I once was. The Lord changed my desires when he put a +new heart within me. When I see a drunken man in the streets I do not +pass him like I used to. My heart goes out to him and I look beyond the +man in the streets to the life in the home he comes from, and see the +misery there; but I thank God that He put the desire in my heart to try +to help that brother. And how often opportunities present themselves. + +"On one occasion at five o'clock on a Sunday morning in the month of +August, a policeman and I were going along the street. There was a man +standing at a gate near the corner. As we approached he said to me, +'Sergeant, can you get me a drink of whisky?' I said, 'That is rather a +strange thing to ask a Sergeant of Police,' 'Well,' he said, 'I have +plenty of bottled ale in my home, but it sticks in my throat.' I said, +'Do you take whisky when you are thirsty?' 'Yes,' he replied. I got into +conversation with him and after a while I said to him, 'Do you ever go +to a place of worship?' 'No,' he said, 'I don't, I pay a sovereign for a +sitting.' 'That won't get you to heaven,' I said, and after a little +further talk with him he remarked, 'Sergeant, I am all right financially, +but wrong here, in my heart.' And then he said, 'Will you come to my +home and pray for me?' 'Yes,' I replied, und we went. It was not far +away, a fine home, a palace to mine, I thought, as I walked across the +velvet carpet into the drawing-room. He brought a Bible and said, 'Read +me something out of that.' And he sat down like a little child, to +listen. I turned to Isaiah liii. 6, and read, 'All we like sheep have +gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath +laid on Him the iniquity of us all.' 'Now,' I said, 'it starts with All +and finishes with All, so we are both included.' Then I took him to +John iii. 16, and then to the last chapter in the Book of Revelation, +verse 17: 'And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that +heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst--I stopped at that--and +whosoever ...' 'Now,' I said, 'we will read it again. And after we had +read it again we knelt down, and there in that large home I poured out +my soul to God over that man. I plead for him, and while I prayed he +said, 'Lord, if I am not too bad, save me.' I said, 'Amen.' And the Lord +heard his prayer, and before I left the house he was a changed man. When +I was leaving he came to the door and said, 'I never bargained for this, +this morning, Sergeant.' The man who wanted whisky got Christ. He drank +of something different, he drank of the living water which Christ spoke +about at the well of Samaria when He said, 'Whosoever drinketh of the +water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I +shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into +everlasting life.'" + +"I left him and went back the following day. I rang the bell and he +answered the door himself. I asked him how he was, and he said, 'Grand, +I have had no whisky.' I went back a month later and he told me he was +never so happy in all his life. He said, 'Do you remember me telling +you I paid a sovereign for my sitting in church? Well, I occupy that +pew myself now.' And that day he gave me a donation for the Christian +Police Association and told me to call again at any time. That is what +the Lord does when he changes a man's heart. There are many men to-day +who may be all right financially; they may have a seat in God's House; +they may be members of a Church and yet not be right at heart. I urge +upon you, get right with God and you will have, not the peace of this +world, but the peace that passeth all understanding. + +"Something like seven years ago I went to some services in Manchester +that were being conducted by Dr Torrey and Mr Alexander. At the close +of these services I went to the front and took some Gospel literature +that was there for distribution. When I got home and commenced my +duties I began to give this literature to the policemen. I thought the +policemen stood as much in need of it as anybody else. If he is a +peacemaker, sometimes he is a peacebreaker, and with all due respect to +him he is not always a law-abiding man. + +"There were two booklets in which I was specially interested. One which +was called 'God's Sure Promise,' asked several questions at the close, +and then requested the reader to sign his name. The other was, 'Get +Right with God.' I gave the latter to policemen on their beats, and +asked them to read them carefully. I went on with my praying. One man +received the book with great scorn. About a week after I visited this +particular man, and with a smile upon his face he said, 'You remember +those two booklets you gave me?' 'Yes,' I said. 'Well,' he said, 'the +one called "God's Sure Promise" I tore up and put into the fire, the +other I tore up and threw over the wall, but not before I read them +both. Now, I have never got away from that, and about half an hour ago +I came to the climax. I got down on my knees in the street, and now I +can honestly say that God for Christ's sake has pardoned all my sins.' +I felt overjoyed with his testimony, for he was the most scornful and +bitter man in the division. I was so overjoyed that I walked round his +beat with him, talking with him, and giving him words of encouragement. +I can never forget that night. From ten o'clock until six in the +morning it was one continual downpour of rain. We were soaked through. +As we walked round I said, 'We will have a word of prayer.' We took off +our helmets, knelt down on the pavement and there we had a little +prayer meeting just about two o'clock in the morning. The showers of +rain were nothing compared to the showers of blessing we had. I was so +delighted when we went off duty that morning that I could not sleep. + +"I came to Manchester when Dr Torrey was holding a meeting, and during +the meeting I sent a note up to Dr Torrey saying that a policeman +wanted to say something. However, the opportunity did not present +itself that night. A week after that another policeman came to me and +said, 'Sergeant, do you remember that booklet you gave me, "God's Sure +Promise?"' I said, 'Yes.' 'Well,' he said, 'here it is signed.' Seven +years have passed away since that time, and those two policeman and I +have stood together on the platform many and many a time telling the +story of Jesus and His love. We have had some meetings together and I +have seen them speaking to hundreds of men and the Lord has blessed +them both. If the Lord Jesus Christ can save a policeman, He can save +anybody. + +"I found that we existed for something more than locking up +people. I wanted to arrest people in their sin, and going along the +street one night in company with another constable we were called into +a little house. The kind people there had taken in a woman off the +street. She was lying on the floor in a very drunken condition, +unconscious of everything around her. I knew this woman, she was about +twenty-seven years of age. I made her acquaintance when I used to be on +night duty. Every Saturday night or in the early hours of Sunday +morning I used to find her door open--her home was in a little side +street, that kind of people generally live in a side street. It was +about three o'clock on Sunday morning when I walked in and saw the man +lying on the floor and the wife who was also drunk, lying on a sofa. +The next time I was on night duty I found the same door open, and this +time the wife was lying on the floor and the man on the sofa, and both +were drunk. + +"These kind people that I spoke of, consented to keep the woman there +while I went to see the husband. I got to the house but found that he +had removed to a little room in a little back street. There he was +lying on a bit of a shake-down. I roused him up and told him where he +would find his wife. He said, 'What time is it?' I said, 'Three o'clock +in the afternoon.' He had one shilling left and he took a cab and went +and brought his wife home. + +"A few days afterwards I got them both to sign the pledge. The man was +about the same age as his wife. He told me he did not know the taste of +tea and coffee, he drank nothing but beer. He only had the clothes he +stood up in. Four months passed after he signed the pledge. I met him +one night and he had on a black suit of clothes and a watch and guard +in his pocket. I was delighted to see him. Some time after that I went +to address a very large temperance meeting. The hall was packed, and +when I went on to the platform who should be there but this young +fellow occupying the chair. What a sight it was to me! He pointed out +to me his wife in the audience. There she sat, all smiling and well +dressed. Time went on and I was the means not only of keeping them to +the pledge but of bringing them to Christ; the Christ of the Gospel; +the Christ that has bridged the gulf between God and the gutter; +between the saint and the sot; between the pew and the slum. + +"Oh, what a pleasure it has been to see how that man works for Jesus. I +went to his house some time after that. It was not in the back streets, +although he worked there and got some people to sign the pledge. But he +came out into the front street, and there was a knocker on his door. +When I knocked, his wife admitted me into the sitting room. She told me +that Sunday morning that her husband was out visiting the sick. I know +that he brought many men to the Sunday morning Bible Class. He told me +this story. 'Do you know,' he said, 'When I used to spend all my money +in the public house, oftentimes on the holidays I would take the +landlord's luggage to the station for the price of a pint of beer. Not +long ago we had our holiday, and instead of taking the landlord's +luggage to the station I had a man to carry mine, and as we were going +up the street with this man walking in front of us we passed one of the +public houses where I had often spent my wages. The landlord was +standing at the door. When he saw me passing he said, 'What does this +mean?' I said, 'It means that I am going to Ireland instead of thee.' +That man is being used to-day in God's service. The blood of Jesus +Christ cannot only save but it can keep." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +_Conversion Is a Miracle_ + + +When one turns from sin to Christ and thus becomes a new creature, it +is entirely the work of God. He must feel a sense of his need and +appreciate the power of the Saviour, but it is the power of the Holy +Spirit of God that transforms him. The stories of men and women who +have been brought to Christ are always thrilling. + +Every Christian ought to be a soul winner, and however many other +obligations may rest upon him, the obligation of introducing others to +Jesus Christ is of the first importance. If our lives are right; if we +are wholly submitted to Him; if we are quick to do His bidding; if we +have a familiarity with the Scriptures; if we have a confidence in the +willingness of God to save; then we are emboldened to seek the lost and +turn to those who are furthest away from Christ. + +To know that others have been won to Him is always an inspiration. +Recently in one of our meetings in New York, the Salvation Army forces +came to assist us, and they brought with them some men and women whose +stories of conversion were truly remarkable. In quick succession they +appeared before an audience of several thousand. + +The first speaker modestly began by saying: "What I am this afternoon, +I am by the grace of God. For years and years I had been nothing but an +every-day drunkard. Not far from where the Salvation Army held their +open air meetings was an old lamp post. One Sunday afternoon I heard +their music and their singing, and I made my way to this lamp post. If +it had not been there I believe I would never have been saved, for I +was so intoxicated I could not stand. + +"After the meeting was over one of the sisters came to me and said, 'My +brother, wont you come along to the meeting? You need salvation.' 'Yes,' +I said, 'I need something better than what I have got.' At the same time +I did not go--I finished up the day in the saloon. I came out into the +open air again and the devil said, 'You cannot mix with these people +they are too far above you.' By and by there came a man who said he had +been every bit as bad as I was, and he told me how his life had been +changed. And my eyes were opened then and there, and I kept going to the +meetings and I got some decent clothes, and a home of my own--though I +had been working every day I had not a home to go to--but when I was +converted all became changed. And now I am perfectly happy. My life is +completely made over. I never think of drink and have no desire for it. +I have a happy home and a "little lump of glory" for a wife. + +"When I first became a Christian the devil said to me, 'You cannot stay +there with those people, there is a whisky bill you have not yet paid. +Suppose you are out in one of those open air meetings and the saloon +keeper should see you and say, 'Why, he owes me six dollars,' what +could you say then?' I went to that saloon keeper and said to him, 'How +much do I owe you?' And he said, 'Six dollars.' 'Well,' I said, 'I want +to pay it.' I did pay it then and there, and glory to God He has kept +me from then to this day." + +The next testimony was that of a former anarchist. Before he was +converted he did not have a shirt to his back. He is now a business man +in New York City, and prosperous. + +"It was about eighteen years ago that I was with a group of men in a +back street attending a meeting of anarchists, when the police came +along and broke up the meeting. I made off as fast as I could, but I +did not get away fast enough, for the police officer caught me by the +arm and took me away to prison. While I was there the Salvation Army +came to preach to us. Thank God for that night! It was the first time I +had heard salvation preached, for I come from the stock of Abraham, +Isaac, and Jacob. When I got out of goal I went to the Salvation Army. +There stood on the platform that night two girls. They told me about +Jesus. They spoke of salvation for the drunkard, but that did not +appeal to me; they spoke of salvation for the unbeliever, but that did +not appeal to me; and when they spoke of salvation for the thief, +neither did that appeal to me. Then one night they said salvation is +for the Jew. I said to myself, 'That means me.' I came forward that +night and got rid of my wretchedness and my misery; I came for +salvation, and the Jew got salvation.' + +"I moved away from the Bowery, for that was where I spent most of my +time. I have walked down the Bowery many a night with not a place to +lie down in, with not fifteen cents to pay for a bed, and not a shirt +to my back. Thank God, I moved away from the Bowery. I started in +business myself. To-day I have a splendid business connected with +twenty houses on Broadway. Hallelujah! Godlessness, sin, vice, takes a +man off Broadway and puts him on the Bowery; salvation takes a man from +the Bowery and puts him on Broadway." + +In the year 1880, the second convert in the Salvation Army in the +United States was made, and after years of testing he came before us to +speak as follows: "I started to drink when about thirteen years of age, +and I kept drinking till the Salvation Army came to New York in 1880. I +read in the papers about seven sisters coming over to open up the +forces in the United States. There used to be an old lady who came to +our house to see my mother. She was a Methodist, and my mother was also +a Methodist. She used to come there like an old grandmother and darn +stockings. One day she said she would like to go to the Salvation Army, +and asked me to take her. I was leading such a dissipated and drunken +life, that I had no money to pay the car fare, but she slipped ten +cents into my hand and we went to the Salvation Army that night. She +was very deaf and got me away up to the front. The Spirit of God took +hold of me, and the Salvation Army people, in the way they have, got +after me. One of the officers came up and said, 'Are you saved?' I +said, 'No, I could not be saved.' I managed to get out of the meeting +that night without giving my heart to God. But all the time there was +something taking hold of me. I tried to drown it in drink. On Sunday +night with the old lady I was back at the Army again. On Monday night I +was drunk again. On Tuesday night I knelt down and gave my heart to +Jesus, and a Salvationist said, 'Now brother, if you want the Lord to +do anything, you just tell Him.' + +"Before that time I had served two terms in the penitentiary. Sometimes +twice a week I would be brought into the Police Court for drunkenness. +Every time I went out and got drunk I would get arrested. I tried to +get away from this life and went out West. I thought if I got out there +and got into new surroundings things would be different. I got as far +as Hornsville, New York, and got arrested there. I got a little further +West and was arrested again. But I never got rid of the kind of life I +used to live until I came to the Lord Jesus Christ. That was thirty +years ago. The Lord is not only able to save a man but, thank God, He +is able to keep him." + +This is the story of an English baronet. He went wrong in England, came +to America as a cow boy, was wild and reckless, but was soundly +converted. He said: "I will not say much about myself. Perhaps you +already know something about me. You may have seen my picture in the +papers, telling of my past life, but I want to try to tell you, to the +glory of God, how I was born again. + +"When I succeeded my father to one of the oldest titles in England, in +the year 1907, I was wild and reckless. I came over to America. To +escape from a wild scrape I beat the sheriff in Colorado into Utah. +Then I went home to England in 1908 and took over the title of the +estate, and I made the occasion simply one drunken spree. I was out for +all the devilment I could get into. I hated the Church. I hated +religion. I hated anything good. When I went down to the old church +which is in the grounds of the estate, they said to me, 'What will you +do about the minister?' I said, 'I would kick the fool out, but the law +would make me put in another.' If anybody mentioned the Salvation Army +to me, I would refer to them as thieves and liars. + +"I came back to America and immediately got involved in some more +sprees, such as driving horses into saloons, and other devilment. Then +I crossed again to London and started a wild-west show of my own in the +London Hippodrome. I came back to America deeper in sin than ever. One +day I was sitting in a saloon planning a fresh escapade when a +Salvation Army sister came in with her tambourine and some 'War Cries.' +She looked at me and said, 'Are you a Christian?' I said, 'No.' She +gave me the address of the Headquarters and asked me to come up. The +bar-tender turned round and said, 'Go up and rope somebody.' I said, 'I +will go up.' There was something different about me. I did not know +what was wrong with myself I went up to the open-air meeting and was as +quiet as a mouse. For five or six days I could not keep away from the +Headquarters. I did not know what was wrong. I went out to see some +moving pictures to see if I could see myself amongst them; then I went +and had another drink; but back to the Salvation Army Headquarters I +had to go. I was getting almost crazy. I reached the point when I had +either to give in or kill myself. + +"I locked the door of my room and then got down on my knees and asked +God to forgive me. Do you know, it seemed as if hell was turned loose +around me. Everything said, 'You have gone too far; you are too big a +sinner,' I said, 'But Jesus died for me.' I prayed and prayed, and I +heard that voice come and say, 'Go and sin no more,' It was just as if +a finger had touched my soul. My prayer turned from one of supplication +to one of thankfulness for what God had done for me. I was born again. +I rose up with the old life gone, and my two greatest blessings are +that all that old life is blotted out for ever, and that I have the +knowledge that the Spirit of Jesus my Saviour is in me, and I dwell in +Him. The union between us is perfect. I thank God for that." + +The following story was told by a man who had been a successful lawyer. +He had gone down into the depths of sin and by the power of God's grace +had been redeemed. He began by saying:-- + + Must Jesus bear the Cross alone, + And all the world go free? + No, there's a cross for you to bear, + And there's a cross for me. + +"It is a cross for me to come here and relate my experience, but I am +glad to be here inasmuch as something I say may gladden someone who is +discouraged. I was brought up in a Christian home. My mother was a good +woman and my father was a clergyman. I went through college and the +lower school before I took a single drop of strong drink. But when I +took my first drink--I remember it well--it seemed to be something I +had been looking for all my life and had never found before. From that +time on I drank periodically. I had a lovely family and an honoured +name, but I dragged it and my family into the dust. I struggled through +my own strength to redeem myself, but I could not, nor can any man. I +took cures, but they availed me not. I was in the hospital fourteen +times, struggling up all the time, but falling down again. I seemed too +hopeless. The light seemed to be fading for ever from the horizon, and +darkness was coming over me. I was without hope. I would rather have +fallen asleep in death, away from my companions, away from my loved +ones, and never have been seen again, than to have lived the way I was. +But through the providence of God, and through a kind wife and sister, +I am able to stand here to-day. God bless the wives of the drunkards +and drinking men, for if any will have a crown in heaven, it will be +the wife of the drunkard who stands by him through thick and thin and +who never gives him up. + +"I went away to a certain town and while there I noticed the title of a +book called 'Twice Born Men.' It aroused my curiosity, and I picked it +up and commenced to read it. I came to the story of the puncher, a man +who was formerly a prize fighter, and who had descended to the lowest +scale of humanity. He had become a drunkard of the worst type and had +gone one night into a saloon with murder in his heart. He was going +home to kill his wife, when there flashed in upon him some strange +influence, some mighty influence, some compelling influence--the power +of the Almighty--and drove him into the Salvation Army barracks, and +there he knelt at the Penitent form and God took the load from his +back. When he rose up there was a new light in his eyes, a new heart in +his breast, and he arose a new born man. He began to work for Christ. + +"As I read that story I said, 'If there is hope for the puncher, there +is hope for me.' I had been brought up a Christian, and during my +drinking days I had attended church, and I had fought as every poor +drunkard fights to redeem himself. But through my own strength I +failed, and I want to say to you here, there is no man who suffers +pangs of bitter conscience or from a broken heart more than a poor +drunkard who cannot tear the chains from himself. Have pity on him. And +I read about this man going out to save those who were lost, and then I +read on further about Danny, a drunkard, who while in prison was +visited by the puncher, who sought him out, and said, 'There is a +better life for you.' He took him to his home, and it was a new and +happy home he took him to, with a happy wife and children, and he +laboured with them. Danny the thief; Danny the drunkard; Danny the +murderer. When the day had passed Danny went back to prison. But the +power of God came over Danny in prison, and he said to himself, 'If God +can save the puncher, God can save me.' And then there came into his +heart a light; and I said, 'If God can save the puncher; if God can +save Danny--He can save me.' And He did save me, and He has kept me, +and from that day to this I have never desired a drop of alcohol. + +"I have gone through physical sufferings that are attendant upon it, +but thanks be unto God through the Lord Jesus Christ, He gave me the +victory, and I stand here to-day an example of the keeping power of +God. Oh, my friends, what a new life it opened up for me. I thought I +was a Christian once; but until I was thrown down, until I was +crucified twice over, not until then could I be convinced that God +could save me from this terrible curse. And I want to say that no +Christian man ever came to me and told me that God could save me from +wrong. Oh, what a duty rests upon Christians to speak to the drinking +men! When God took me by the hand I had a new life and I wanted to go +out and save drunkards, and I have been trying to save them since. I +went to the Salvation Army Barracks in Jersey City, and if it was not +for the Salvation Army, I do not know whether I could have held out or +not, but when I felt distressed those brothers prayed and stood round +me, and if there is anyone here who is discouraged, and who is away +from God, and who goes round the corner to see his little children +going to school because he cannot go home, if there is anyone who has +left a broken-hearted mother or wife at home; get up and go home to +them and give your heart to the Lord." + +The last story told at the meeting has to do with the complete +transformation of a woman's life. It is a modern miracle. The one who +tells the story is growing old and feeble, but all are thrilled as they +listen to her. + +This woman was educated in a young ladies' seminary, and had a fairly +good start in life among some of the leading people in Western New +York. She married a man who became an habitual drunkard. She was sorely +disappointed in him, and, little by little, she started to drink, till +there came the time when she and her husband were possibly two of the +worst drunkards the State had ever known. She had been in prison two +hundred or more times. But now, up in the little town of Canandaigua +where she lives, she is treasurer of the Salvation Army, and has been +for fifteen years. She is respected by all who know her. Not only the +people in the army, but the well-to-do people of the town all love and +respect Mary Law. + +Her husband was not converted until recently. She had been praying +fifteen years for him, and one night she prayed specially for him, the +last half hour of the meeting passed, the last twenty minutes, and then +Charlie came. + +"I thank God for what He did for me," she said. "Before the Salvation +Army got hold of me, I was one of the worst drunkards in the state of +New York. The first night they came I wanted to know what the Salvation +Army was like. Just like any other old drunken sot, I wanted to know +what the Salvation Army was going to be. So I walked out as far as the +Police Station, and I said, 'Where is the Salvation Army going to be +to-night?' 'Well,' said the police officer, 'it is going to be up at +the Presbyterian Church, but I want to tell you one thing. If you go up +there you will get run in,' I thought to myself for a moment, if I stay +out I will get run in, so I might just as well go up there and get run +in. I went up, and I suppose I was a terrible-looking object. I got +into a corner near the door, so that if anything turned up I could get +out. I had just one quarter in my purse when they came to take up the +collection, and I put that quarter in. I believe if I had been outside +I would have been run in. When I got outside I wanted that quarter for +a bottle of whisky. I then went up to the Police Station. When the +Police Justice saw me coming in he said, 'Where have you been +to-night?' I said, 'Up to the Salvation Army meeting.' 'Well,' he said, +'let me give you a little bit of advice. Keep right on going.' + +"The first night they had their meeting in the hall I went to the +penitent form, and the next night I got saved. That was over fifteen +years ago. I have neither tasted nor handled one drop of intoxicating +liquor from that day to this. I did not have a home fit for a dog to +live in. I hardly ever knew what it was to be without a black eye. I +have been pounded until I did not know where I was; until I was dazed. +And when I came to, and saw where I was, I was lying on the floor and +Charlie was lying on the bed with his dirty old clothes on, and if +anybody has gone through hell, it is I. But I thank God to-day I have +got just as good a husband as there is in the state of New York. I have +just as comfortable a home as anybody could wish, and every dollar of +it is paid for. Before that the saloons got the money, but I thank God +to-day the saloons don't get any of my money. + +"Charlie would get arrested, and when I saw him locked up, I would do +something that would get me locked up too. We went in together and we +came out together, We would not be out for long when back we would go +again. If one went to the lock-up, the other went, and that is the way +we carried on through life. + +"An election campaign was being held many years ago, and Charlie went +up the street to vote. He came home drunk. I suppose it was election +whisky, but he brought some home, and we had a drink together. We went +to bed on Tuesday night, and woke up intending to go to work the next +day. I asked one of the neighbours what time it was, and she said it is +almost night now, but where have you been for the last two or three +days? We had gone to sleep on Tuesday night and did not wake up till +Thursday night. I went back, and we took another drink that night, and +did not wake up till Saturday night. If my life, sixteen years ago, was +not hell upon earth, I do not know what you call hell. + +"Just about the time when I first started out to serve God in +Canandaigua, I was an outcast. Nobody cared for me. Nobody would notice +me. When they saw me they would go out of their way to avoid me. Nobody +wanted to come near me. But when I was drunk I thought I was about as +good as they were, and sometimes I gave them a little of my mind, and +that was the way I often got arrested. But to-day those very folks, who +were my very worst enemies, who tried to hurt me and who did everything +they could to injure me, are my very best friends. I have friends among +the rich, and friends among the poor. They do not shun my home, they +come and see me, and if I am sick some of the wealthy people come to +see how I am getting along, and if I have everything I want. For all +this I have to thank God and the Salvation Army. + +"I have been kicked and knocked and pounded until I have been almost +dead. Charlie did the kicking and the pounding, but I was as much to +blame as he was. I was drunk and so was he, but I was never the one to +go to the police officer and get a warrant out for my husband. If he +pounded me until I could hardly breathe, and he happened to get +arrested for it, I managed to get arrested too. I cannot tell you how +many times we have been in jail in the little village of Elgin, and in +the penitentiary too. But I would rather go back to the penitentiary +to-day and spend my days there than to live again the life that I lived +before I was converted. I thank God and the Salvation Army to-night +that I do not have to carry black eyes, and that I can go home in +peace. + +"I have a nice comfortable home, and it is all paid for, and if it had +not been for the Salvation Army coming to Canandaigua, I would have +been in a drunkard's hell to-day. When the Army first came there, I was +like a great many others. I wanted to see what the Salvation Army was +like, and out of curiosity I went to a meeting. But I was too drunk to +understand anything about it. The next night I went there quite sober, +and I gave my heart to the Lord. That was seventeen years ago, and I +thank God that since then I have tried to do my utmost to serve Him to +the best of my ability. And it is my determination, as long as He gives +me breath, to do for Him all I can, to spread His Kingdom on earth." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +_A Final Word_ + + +As has been suggested, it is necessary, if one is to be a successful +personal worker, to know well the Scriptures. The incorruptible seed, +which is the Word of God, when it is received into the human heart as +good and honest ground, will, without question, produce a satisfactory +harvest. If you should attempt to win one to Christ, who insists that +he is out of the Kingdom because of his doubts, tell him to come with +his doubts, and Christ will set him free. "My doubts are round about me +like a chain," said one in the audience, with whom one of our personal +workers was labouring, and the worker said quickly, "Come, chains and +all." The doubter hesitated a second, then said, "I will," and as he +rose to move forward, he testified that the chains were snapped, and he +was free. + +If the one you are seeking to introduce to Christ says that he is such +a great sinner, and because of this he cannot come, then tell him to +come with his sins. He wants him just as he is, and stands ready to set +him free from the sins that have enslaved him and blinded his eyes so +that he could not see Christ as he stood waiting to save him. + +It is a good thing to start by giving the assurance to the unsaved that +God is Love, and that His love is boundless. This may be easily proved +by the Scriptures. Tell him also that Christ is not only able, but +ready and willing to save. There are abundant evidences of this in the +New Testament. Tell him that no one is too sinful; none too far from +God; none too depraved by sin to be saved. There are evidences on every +side of us of many such seeking and finding pardon. + +It is well to start with such a declaration as is found in John i. 12, +"But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons +of God, even to them that believe on His name." Insist upon it that +Christ has laid down the conditions, and that if we are to be saved, we +must honestly and sincerely, with all our doubts and sins, receive Him +as a personal Saviour. + +Make it very plain to the one with whom you are dealing that when one +comes into the Kingdom he is born into it. There is no other way than +this, for Jesus said, John iii. 3, "Except a man be born again he cannot +see the Kingdom of God." If the joy of regeneration is to be experienced, +it is necessary that the acceptance of Jesus as a Saviour should be +definite, and that there should be sufficient confidence in God's Word +to lead us to believe that when we have fulfilled our part +of the contract the Saviour will keep His. + +If we are born into the Kingdom then we start as babes in Christ. We +are expected to grow. If we are to grow, we must have proper food; this +is found in the Word of God. We must be faithful in prayer. We must +have proper light and air; this is found by walking in fellowship with +Christ, and learning His will as we study the Scripture, we seek with +joy to do it. We may stumble as little children do, but He will help +us, and if at times we seem to fail, He will hold us fast. + +As little babes in Christ it will not be strange that at times we grow +discouraged and faint-hearted, but if we press on to know the Lord we +shall find our strength increasing and our temptations decreasing until +at last we may enter into a continuous and joyous Christian experience. + +Tell the one with whom you are dealing that the assurance of salvation +is possible. Jesus said, "He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him +that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, +but is passed from death unto life" (John v. 24). And the Apostle John +wrote, "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name +of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life and that +ye may believe on the name of the Son of God" (1 John v. 13). + +State very plainly the fact that we are saved by faith and not by +feeling, and being thus saved we are kept by Divine Power. + +When we have passed through the darkness of doubt into the light of our +conscious acceptance of Christ, and when on the authority of God's Word +we have the assurance of salvation, then let it ever be remembered that +we must seek to bring others to Him. And as we labour day by day our own +faith will grow stronger, our hope will be brighter, and our consciousness +of the presence of Christ will be more marked. Day by day we may walk +with Him and talk with Him until at last we shall see Him as He is and +then we may hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant ... enter +thou into the joy of thy Lord." + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE PERSONAL TOUCH *** + +This file should be named prsnt10.txt or prsnt10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, prsnt11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, prsnt10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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