278 THE WINNING OF SOULS
to myself. There can be no true soul-winner who is not a pupil at the feet of Jesus.^
4. The successful winner of souls must rely less on his own wisdom and more on the wisdom of God. One of the principal qualifications of a great artist's brush must be its yielding itself up to him so that he can do what he likes with it. A harpist will love to play on one particular harp because he knows the instrument, and the instrument almost appears to know him. So, when God puts His hand upon the very strings of our being, and every power within us seems to respond to the movements of His hand, we are instruments that He can use. It is not easy to keep in that condition, to be in such a sensitive state that we receive the impression that the Holy Spirit desires to convey, and are influenced by Him at once.
^ If there is a great ship out at sea, and there comes a tiny ripple on the waters, it is not moved by it in the least. Here comes a moderate wave, the vessel does not feel it. But look over the bulwarks ; see those corks down there, if only a fly drops into the water, they feel the motion, and dance upon the tiny wave. May you be as mobile beneath the power of God as the cork is on the surface of the sea ! For this self-surrender is one of the essential qualifications for one who is to be a winner of souls.^
My soul. is drawn out to the hungry soul, But what have I to give, of wine or bread, Who hunger, thirst, myself, and scarce am fed.
So small my portion, and so scant my dole ?
Is it enough that I should hold my cup To starving lips, and, with a touch divine, Wilt Thou transmute its water into wine,
To heavenly food the crumbs I offer up?
Oh Thou, compassionate, who on the rood
Thyself, our mystic Bread and Wine didst spend, I and my brother low before Thee bend.
Fill Thou his soul — my hungry soul — with good.'
* A. Smellie, In the Secret Place, 9.
' G. H. Spurgeon, The SotU- fVinner, 66.
* M. Blaikie, Songs by the Way, 47,
The Sovereignty of Providence.
*f9
Literature.
Jerdan (C), Manna for Young Pilgrims, 107.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions : Esther, etc., 204.
Shepherd (A.), Men in the Making, 57.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Morning by Morning, 354.
Tholuck (A.), Hours of Christian Devotion, 141.
Warschauer (J.), The Way of Understanding, 320.
Christian World Pulpit, Ixiv. 138 (T. Templeton) ; Ixix. 249 (A.
Shepherd). Church of England Magazine, Ixviii. 56 (C. Jenkyns).
a9o
The Sovereignty of Providence.
The lot is cast into the lap ;
But the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.— Prov. xvi. 33.
Sometimes lots are cast to refer the decision of a matter to what we call chance. When Jesus was crucified, the soldiers who were left on the ground to guard the cross divided His garments among themselves ; and they seem actually to have gambled for His coat while He was hanging above them on the cross, dying for the sin of the world. They decided by a cast of the dice-box whose property it should become.
Devout men in ancient times also used the lot on occasions of special importance ; but they did so in the fear of God, and as an act of worship. The practice was an appeal to the Divine judgment. The cast of the lot showed the Divine will. Thus on the great Day of Atonement in Israel the choice of the scapegoat was made by lot. The Twelve Tribes had their territories in the land of Canaan apportioned by lot. Saul was chosen by this method to be the first king of Israel. In this way Jonah was found out to be the cause of the storm upon the Great Sea. Matthias was selected by lot to fill the vacancy in the company of the Twelve Apostles. These are a few examples from the Bible of the solemn use of the lot on important occasions.
^ In casting lots the Jews probably used stones which differed from one another in shape or colour. These were thrown together into the " lap," or loose fold, of a man's garment ; and then they were shaken about so that there should be a perfect mixing of them, to prevent all preference of one stone over another on the part of the person who was to draw the lot.^
There are two thoughts in this old Hebrew proverb :
I. The Incalculableness of Life. II. The Eeliable Providence of God.
* C. Jerdan,
282 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE
I.
The Lot.
" The lot is cast into the lap."
1. The drawing or casting of lots looks like an appeal to chance, for the result of the operation seems to depend upon chance. And our life in the world, to the outward view, often appears as if it were a lottery. People speak of being fortunate or unfortunate, lucky or unlucky. One says, "I had the good fortune to find him at home." Another says, " As ill luck would have it, he was not at home." The Koman general called to the pilot in the storm, " Fear not, you carry Caesar and his fortune." Among the Eomans, Fortuna was the goddess of luck, fate, or fortune. It used to be said of Oliver Cromwell -that he had his lucky days. And how few are there who do not recognize chances in life, events of great moment which seem to come upon them quite fortuitously ?