^ F. G. Peabody, Mornings in the College. Chafd^ ii. 59.
ST. JOHN I. 40-42 115
Eoman Empire was slowly subdued under the Cross, and Chris- tianity made the ruling faith of the world.^
^ I recently read a story in some newspaper or other about a minister who preached a very elaborate course of lectures in refutation of some form of infidelity, for the special benefit of a man who attended his place of worship. Soon after, the man came and declared himself a Christian. The minister said to him, '* Which of my discourses was it that removed your doubts ? " The reply was, " Oh ! it was not any of your sermons that influenced me. The thing that set me thinking was that a poor woman came out of the chapel beside me, and stumbled on the steps, and I stretched out my hand to help her, and she said, ' Thank you ! ' Then she looked at me and said, ' Do you love Jesus Christ, my blessed Saviour ? ' And I did not, and I went home and thought about it ; and now I can say / love Jesus." ^
(3) Andrew did not wait till he could talk to a crowd; he took the message to one. — Have you ever noticed what stress the Scripture lays upon one soul — as if with a tender regard for the hidden workers who deal with the one at a time ? There is joy among the angels in the presence of God over one sinner that repenteth. It is the one sheep that the Shepherd seeketh, and bringeth home with rejoicing. It is the one piece of money that the woman makes so much of. It is the one son that has all to himself the loveliest parable that earth — or surely heaven either — has ever listened to. " He brought him to Jesus " — do not wait for them.
^ We are told of a minister in Scotland, who was called to task by some of the Church officers because of his want of success. And he had to confess that during the whole year only one young man had joined the Church, so that his heart was sick within him. But that very night the same young man spoke to his pastor of his intention of becoming a missionary. Then the pastor's grief was turned into joy, and he thought that the work would be judged by quality rather than by quantity. The young man was Kobert Moffat, who afterwards became famous by his mission work in the dark continent. The year of his conversion was not barren in the annals of that country parish after all.^
^ In the Introduction to his Lives of Tioelve Good Men, Burgon gives a sketch of two or three others whom he knew and who deserved to be called " good." Among them is Charles Portales
^ J. G. Greenliough. * A. Maclaren. • H. C. Williams,
ii6 PERSONAL SERVICE
Golightly. He says: The Eev. T. Mozley (who is not promis- cuous in his bestowal of praise) "acknowledges the greatest of obligations " to him. " Golightly " (he says) " was the first human being to talk to me, directly and plainly, for my soul's good ; and that is the debt that no time, no distance, no vicissitudes, no differences, can efface ; no, not eternity itself." On which, Dean Goulburn remarks — "But this was what Golightly was always doing ; and, for the sake of doing which, he cultivated the ac- quaintance of all undergraduates who were introduced to him; showed them no end of kindness, walked with them, talked with them, took them with him for a Sunday excursion to his little parish of Toot Baldon." ^
(4) The closer the tie, the more emphatic the testimony.— It is what brother says to brother, husband to wife, parent to child, friend to friend, far more than what preacher says to hearer, that carries with it irresistible, persuasive power. When the truth of the utterance is vouched for by the obvious gladness and purity of the life ; when the finding of the Christ is obviously as real as the finding of a better situation and as satisfying as promotion in life, then conviction will be carried with the announcement.
^ Some who would not hesitate to speak of spiritual things to casual strangers find their tongues tied when they ought to speak for God to a wife, a husband, a brother, or a child. It is perhaps because we have an instinctive feeling that our intimate associates know us too well; they would feel that some incon- sistency, not to say insincerity, in our Christian conversation should make us silent. Let the thought of our duty to those we love drive us to commune with our hearts and discover what it is that ties our tongue and hinders us from giving the word of warning or exhortation that is due.^
3. Consider the success of the service.
Andrew gained his brother. Simon yielded and went, and the first interview must have gladdened Andrew's heart. When Jesus beheld him He said : " Thou art Simon the son of Jona : thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A Stone." We cannot now tell all that Peter did ; how his boldness and open confession of Christ confirmed the hearts of Andrew and his fellow-disciples ; how, though he fell, he received this charge :