U If we are to become all things to all men that we may by all means save some, we are to become cultured to the cultured, refined to the refined. But we often work on a principle diametric- ally opposite to that of the Apostle. As a rule, much more pains is taken to adapt the Gospel to the uneducated than to the educated, and a severe unchristian shibboleth is set up as a test which serves only as a barrier. It is difficult to see why it should be right to respect the tastes of one class and wrong to respect the tastes of another.2
(4) There is urgent need for adaptation in the methods of our work among children. How many people who give Sunday- school addresses ever try to become children while they are speaking ? How many make the least effort to drop all their philosophy and look at things with the simple directness of a child ? How many remember that children become bored by a long and dull speech ? How many think of saying a word about the peculiar difficulties of school life, the moral problems that arise even in the earliest years out of every day's work and play ?
K The angel of the Lord — i.e. God in self-manifestation— said to Abraham, " Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me " (Gen. xxii. 12). This is one of the many instances in which God is represented as speaking in a human fashion, as if He were not omniscient. When the cry of Sodom came up to heaven, the Lord said, " I will go down and see . . . and / will know." To Abraham He said, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous men, I will spare it." The Infinite voluntarily approximates the ways and thoughts of finite beings. He is above all limitations, and to Him nothing is ever unknown. " I am God," He said, " and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning." But if He were to speak to men in terms of His foreknowledge absolute, they
1 Life and Letters of Dean Church, 227. * H. W. Horwill.
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would u find no end, in wandering mazes lost." The All-wise in His intercourse with men is represented as like a human father conversing with his children. He speaks very simply, that He may be understood. Every teacher knows that he must sym- pathize with his pupils' ignorance, else they will never under- stand his knowledge. He must condescend to their condition, place himself alongside of them, study their limitations, take into account their inexperience. He has to bridge over the gulf that separates his mind from theirs. Unless he can express his ideas, not in his own language, but in theirs, their ears might as well be closed, and all his wisdom will be lost upon them. That is the principle on which the Divine Teacher of the human race acted in His revelation. He made His meaning intelligible by translating His great thoughts into simple forms of speech. He spake to men in the language of earth, that they might learn the laws of Heaven.1
(5) This principle must guide us in our attempts to reach those among the working classes who at present are never seen inside a place of worship. If elaborate sermons repel them, elaborate sermons must go. If pew-rents keep them away, pew-rents must go. We must learn their habits of thought, their opinions, even their prejudices, and use this knowledge for the extension of Christ's Kingdom.
TJ A certain shoemaker, radical and infidel, was among the number of those under Irving's special care ; a home- workman of course, always present, silent, with his back turned upon the visitors, and refusing any communication except a sullen humph of implied criticism, while his trembling wife made her depre- cating curtsy in the foreground. The way in which this intract- able individual was finally won over is attributed by some tellers of the story to a sudden happy inspiration on Irving's part ; but, by others, to plot and intention. Approaching the bench one day, the visitor took up a piece of patent leather, then a recent invention, and remarked upon it in somewhat skilled terms. The shoemaker went on with redoubled industry at his work ; but at last, roused and exasperated by the speech and pretence of know- ledge, demanded, in great contempt, but without raising his eyes, " What do ye ken about leather ? " This was just the opportunity his assailant wanted ; for Irving, though a minister and a scholar, was a tanner's son, and could discourse learnedly upon that material. Gradually interested and mollified, the cobbler
1 J. Strachan, Hebrew Ideals, i. 171.
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slackened work, and listened while his visitor described some process of making shoes by machinery, which he had carefully got up for the purpose. At last the shoemaker so far forgot his caution as to suspend his work altogether, and lift his eyes to the great figure stooping over his bench. The conversation went on with increased vigour after this, till finally the recusant threw down his arms : — " Od, you're a decent kind o' fellow ! — do you preach ? " said the vanquished, curious to know more of his victor. The advantage was discreetly, but not too hotly pursued ; and on the following Sunday the rebel made a defiant, shy appearance at church. Next day Irving encountered him in the savoury Gallowgate, and hailed him as a friend. Walking beside him in natural talk, the tall probationer laid his hand upon the shirt- sleeve of the shrunken sedentary workman, and marched by his side along the well-frequented street. By the time they had reached the end of their mutual way not a spark of resistance was left in the shoemaker. His children henceforward went to school; his deprecating wife went to the kirk in peace. He himself acquired that suit of Sunday " blacks " so dear to the heart of the poor Scotchman, and became a churchgoer and respectable member of society ; while his acknowledgment of his conqueror was conveyed with characteristic reticence, and concealment of all deeper feeling, in the self-excusing pretence — " He's a sensible man, yon ; he kens about leather ! " 1