under consideration. The Apostle goes on to say that if there are
bitter feelings and jealousy in the heart this wisdom is 710^ a
wisdom that comes from above, but is earthly and animal. " But
the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle,
easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without
variance, without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is
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270 THE WINNING OF SOULS
sown in peace by them that make peace " (Jas. iii. 13-18). Here we are brought back to our starting-point in Proverbs, " the fruit of the righteous ! " The " good life," the daily walk in meekness of wisdom — it is this that is full of good fruit and becomes a tru of life. The fruit scattered brings forth fruit in other lives, and souls are attracted by its beauty. A tree of life must impart nourishment and health and joy to all who come into contact with it. In the Apocalypse we read of the tree of life whose " leaves were for the healing of the nations " (Eev. xxii. 2). If our lives were thus fragrant, shedding peace and love around, should we not prove in our experience the truth of the saying, " He that is wise winneth souls " ?
I.
The Value of the Soul.
1. The value of a thing depends upon its intrinsic worth : upon what it costs of time, labour, sacrifice, and means to secure it. For gold man leaves home, loved ones, and native land, sails over seas, crosses continents, overleaps yawning chasms, climbs dizzy mountains, digs and delves in storm, heat, and cold, faces perils, famine, and sword to reach the El Dorado of his fond hopes. For the precious diamond he passes through the same rough experience, satisfied only when he snatches from the depths of a Golconda the Koh-i-noor which in time flashes from the jewelled hand of a princess, or the golden crown of a king. But gold and diamonds and political preferment and professional glory are not all there is in this world : they are only the things of a day that perish with the using. Put all material things, known and unknown, in the one scale, and the immortal soul of man in the other, and what is the result ? The spiritual outweighs the material !
^ During the World's Fair in Chicago there was one place in the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building — in the Tiffany exhibit — that one could never approach, day or night, when the building was open because of the great crowd gathered around it. I was there time and time and time again, but never could I get at the place ; I always had to stand on tiptoe and look over the
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heads of the crowd. What were they looking at ? Nothing but a cone of purple velvet revolving upon an axis, and toward the apex of the cone a large, beautiful diamond of almost priceless worth. It was well worth looking at. But I have never recalled that scene but the thought has come to me that the single soul of the raggedest pauper on the streets, of the most degraded woman, of the most ignorant boy or girl on the street is of infinitely more value in God's sight than ten thousand gems like that.^
2. But there is another and truer method by which to determine the soul's value — God's estimate. The real worth of anything depends on what the one knowing its value is willing to pay for it. He who created the soul knew its worth, and so in exchange gave His only begotten Son. The redemptive price paid, " not with corruptible things as silver and gold," was " the precious blood of Christ," the highest gift and the brightest glory that Heaven could afford. To win souls, then, should be the animating principle underlying the work of the Christian in pulpit or pew. Soul- winning should be the ruling passion of our lives, and the highest ideal of the most ambitious religious zealot. Indeed, it is the sum total of all wisdom. "He that is wise winneth souls."
^ Some years ago in Salt Eapids, Minnesota, two farmer brothers were digging a well. The one was down in the well with a bucket, and the other at the top with the windlass. The man who was digging down in the well struck a quicksand, and the sand commenced to pour into it. Fortunately there was a good broad plank down in the well, and the man at the bottom got underneath that plank, but the sand silted in from every side. His brother at the top could hear his voice, and knew that he was living. He sent word out for help, and from all over the township the townspeople gathered at the mouth of the well to try and dic^ the man out. They dug on throughout the day, and at night torches were brought, and in relays through the long night all the men in the township worked on and on, digging out the sand as it kept pouring in, and before dawn they succeeded in getting the man out. I afterwards saw him alive and well. A whole town- ship working all night to dig out one man, to save one life ! Was it worth while ? I say it was. And Christ dug very deep to save our souls.^