176 THE SOUL-WINNER.
way accident, and someone must go round to the sta- tion with a stretcher. The doctor said to my brother, "Will you take one end of the stretcher if I take the other?" "Oh, yes!" was the cheerful reply; and so away went the doctor and the pastor with the stretcher. They brought a sick man back with them. My brother said, "I went often to the hospital during the next week or two, because I felt so much interest in the man w^hom I had helped to carry." I believe he will always take an interest in that man, because he once felt the weight of him. When you know how to carry a man on your heart, and have felt the burden of his case, you will have his name engraven upon your soul. So you that privately talk to people, you are feeling the w^eight of souls; and I believe that this is what many regular preachers need to know more of, and then they will preach better.
When preaching and private talk are not available, you have a tract ready, and this is often an effectual method. Some tracts would not convert a beetle : there is not enough in them to interest a fly. Get good striking tracts, or none at all. But a telling, touching gospel tract may often be the seed of eternal life; there- fore, do not go out without your tracts.
I suppose, beside giving a tract, if you can, you try and find out where a person lives who frequently hears you, that you may give him a call. What a fine thing is a visit from an open-air preacher! *'Why," says the woman, "there is that man come to see you. Bill; that gentleman who preaches at the corner of the street. Shall I tell him to come in?" "Oh, yes!" is the reply; "I have heard him many times; he is a good fellows" Visit as much as you can, for it will be of use to your- selves as wtII as to the people.
HOW TO WIN SOULS FOR CHRIST. 177
What power there is also in a letter to an individual! Some people still have a kind of superstitious rever- ence for a letter; and when they get an earnest epistle from one of you reverend gentlemen, they think a great deal of it; and who knows? — a note by post may hit the man your sermon missed. Young people who are not able to preach might do much good if they would write letters to their young friends about their souls; they could speak very plainly with their pens, though they might be diffident in speaking with their tongues. Let us save men by all the means under heaven; let us prevent men going down to hell. We are not half as earnest as we ought to be. Do you not remember the young man, who, when he was dying, said to his brother, "My brother, how could you have been so indifferent to my soul as you have been?" He answered, "I have not been indifferent to your soul, for I have frequently spoken to you about it." *'Oh, yes!" he said, "you spoke; but somehow, I think, if you had remembered that I was going down to hell, you would have been more earnest wdth me; you would have wept over me, and, as my brother, you would not have allowed me to be lost." Let no one say this of you.
But I hear it observed that most fellows, when they grow earnest, do such odd things, and say such strange things. Let them say strange things, and let them do strange things, if these come out of genuine earnest- ness. We do not want pranks and performances which are the mere sham of earnestness; but real white-heat earnestness is the want of the times, and where you see that J it is a pit}^ to be too critical. You must let a great storm rage in its own way. You must let a living heart speak as it can. If you are zealous, and yet cannot speak, your earnestness will invent its own
178 THE SOUL-WINNER.
method of working out its purpose. As Hannibal is said to have mehed the rocks with vinegar, so earnest- ness will one way or another dissolve the rocky hearts of men. May the Spirit of God rest upon you, one and all, for Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.
THE COST OF BEING A SOUL-WINNER.
AN ADDRESS AT A TABERNACLE PRAYER- MEETING.
THE COST OF BEING A SOUL- WINNER.
I want to say a word to you who are trying to bring souls to Jesus. You long and pray to be useful : do you know what this involves? Are you sure that you do? Prepare yourselves, then, to see and suffer many things with which you would rather be unacquainted. Ex- periences which would be unnecessary to you person- ally will become your portion if the Lord uses you for the salvation of others. An ordinary person may rest in his bed all night, but a surgeon will be called up at all hours; a farming man may take his ease at his fireside, but if he becomes a shepherd he must be out among the lambs, and bear all weathers for them ; even so doth Paul say, "Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." For this cause we shall be made to undergo experiences which will surprise us.
Some years ago, I was the subject of fearful depres- sion of spirit. Certain troublous events had happened to me; I was also unwell, and my heart sank within me. Out of the depths I was forced to cry unto the Lord. Just before I went away to Mentone for rest, I suffered greatly in body, but far more in soul, for my spirit was overwhelmed. Under this pressure, I preached a sermon from the words, *'My God, My God,
182 THE SOUL-WINNER.
why hast Thou forsaken me?" I was as much quaU- fied to preach from that text as ever I expect to be; in- deed, I hope that few of my brethren could have en- tered so deeply into those heart-breaking words. I felt to the full of my measure the horror of a soul for- saken of God. Now, that was not a desirable experi- ence. I tremble at the bare idea of passing again through that eclipse of soul; I pray that I may never suffer in that fashion again unless the same result should hang upon it.
That night, after sermon, there came into the vestry a man who was as nearly insane as he could be to be out of an asylum. His eyes seemed ready to start from his head, and he said that he should utterly have despaired if he had not heard that discourse, which had made him feel that there was one man alive who understood his feeling, and could describe his experi- ence. I talked with him, and tried to encourage him, and asked him to come again on Monday night, when I should have a little more time to talk with him. I saw the brother again, and I told him that I thought he was a hopeful patient, and I was glad that the word had been so suited to his case. Apparently, he put aside the comfort which I presented for his ac- ceptance, and yet I had the consciousness upon me that the precious truth which he had heard was at work upon his mind, and that the storm of his soul would soon subside into a deep calm.
Now hear the sequel. Last night, of all the times in the year, when, strange to say, I was preaching from the words, "The Almighty hath vexed my soul," after the service, in walked this self-same brother who had called on me five years before. This time he looked as dififerent as noonday from midnight, or as life from death. I said to him, "I am glad to see you, for I have
THE COST OF BEING A SOUL-WINNER. 183
often thought about you, and wondered whether you were brought into perfect peace." I told you that I went to Alentone, and my patient also went into the country, so that we had not met for five years. To my enquiries, this brother replied, "Yes, you said I was a hopeful patient, and I am sure you will be glad to know that I have walked in the sunlight from that day till now. Everything is changed and altered with me." Dear friends, as soon as I saw my poor despair- ing patient the first time, I blessed God that my fear- ful experience had prepared me to sympathise with him and guide him; but last night, when I saw him perfectly restored, my heart overflowed with gratitude to God for my former sorrowful feelings. I w^ould go into the deeps a hundred times to cheer a downcast spirit: it is good for me to have been afflicted that I might know how to speak a word in season to one that is weary.
Suppose that, by some painful operation, you could have your right arm made a little longer, I do not suppose you would care to undergo the operation ; but if you foresaw that, by undergoing the pain, you would ' be enabled to reach and save drowning men who else would sink before your eyes, I think you would will- ingly bear the agony, and pay a heavy fee to the sur- geon to be thus qualified for the rescue of your fel- lows. Reckon, then, that to acquire soul-winning power you will have to go through fire and water, through doubt and despair, through mental torment and soul distress. It will not, of course, be the same with you all, nor perhaps with any two of you, but according to the work allotted you, will be your prep- aration. You must go into the fire if you are to pull others out of it, and you will have to dive into the floods if vou are to draw others out of the water. You can-
184 THE SOUL-WINNER.
not work a fire-escape without feeling the scorch of the conflagration, nor man a Hfeboat without being covered with the waves. If Joseph is to preserve his brethren aHve, he must himself go down into Egypt; if Moses is to lead the people through the wilderness, he must first himself spend forty years there with his flock. Payson truly said, "If anyone asks to be made a successful minister, he knows not what he asks; and it becomes him to consider whether he can drink deep- ly of Christ's bitter cup and be baptized with His bap- tism."
I was led to think of this by the prayer which has just been offered by our esteemed brother, Mr. Levin- sohn. He is, as you perceive, of the seed of Abraham, and he owed his conversion to a city missionary of his own nation. If that city missionary had not himself been a Jew, he would not have known the heart of the young stranger, nor have won his ear for the gos- pel message. Men are usually won to Christ by suit- able instruments, and this suitability often lies in the power to sympathize. A key opens a door because it fits the wards of the lock ; an earnest address touches the heart because it meets the state of that heart. You and I have to be made into all sorts of shapes to suit all forms of mind and heart; just as Paul says, ''And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them that are without law, as without law (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ), that I might gain tliem that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak; I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." These processes must be wrought out upon us also.
THE COST OF BEING A SOUL-WINNER. 185
Let us cheerfully bear whatever the Holy Spirit shall work within our spirits that we may thus be the more largely blest to our fellow-men. Come, brethren, arid lay your all on the altar! Give yourselves up, you work- ers, into the Lord's hand. You who have delicacy and refinement, may have to be shocked into the power to benefit the coarse and ignorant. You who are wise and educated may have to be made fools of, that you may win fools to Jesus; for fools need saving, and many of them will not be saved except by means which men of culture cannot admire.
How finely some people go to work when the thing needed may not be daintiness, but energ}^! On the other hand, how violent some are when the desired thing is tact and gentleness, and not force! This has to be learned; we must be trained to it as dogs to follow game. Here is one form of experience: The brother is elegant; he wishes to speak earnestly, but he must be elaborate, too. He has written out a nice- ly-prepared address, his notes are carefully arranged. Alas! he has left the priceless document at home! What will he do? He is too gracious to give up: he will try to speak. He begins nicely, and gets through firsdy. "Fair and softly, good sir." What comes next? See, he is gazing aloft for secondly. What should be said? What can be said? The good man flounders about, but he cannot swim; he struggles to land, and as he rises from the flood you can hear him mentally saying, "That's my last attempt." Yet it is not so. He speaks again. He gathers confidence; he grows into an im- pressive speaker. By such humiliations as these the Lord prepares him to do his work efificicntly. In our beginnings we are too fine to be fit, or too great to be good. We must serve an apprenticeship, and thus learn our trade. A blacklead pencil is of no use at all
186 THE SOUL- WINNER.
till it is cut; the fine cedar wood must be cut away; and then the inward metal which marks and writes will have fair play. Brethren, the knife of affliction is sharp, but salutary; you cannot delight in it, but faith may teach you to value it. Are you not willing to pass through every ordeal if by any means you may save some? If this be not your spirit, you had better keep to your farm and to your merchandise, for no man will ever win a soul who is not prepared to suffer everything within the compass of possibility for that soul's sake.
A good deal may have to be suffered through fear, and yet that fear may assist in stirring the soul, and putting it into fit posture for work; at least, it may drive the heart to prayer, and that alone is a great part of the necessary preparation. A good man thus de- scribes one of his early attempts at visiting, with the view of speaking to individuals upon their spiritual condition: '1 was thinking, on the way to the resi- dence of the party, how I would introduce the sub- ject, and all that I would say. And all the while I was trembling and agitated. Reaching the door, it seemed as if I should sink through the stones; my courage was gone, and, lifting my hand to the knocker, it dropped at my side without touching it. I went partly down the steps from sheer fear; a moment's reflection sent me again to the knocker, and I entered the house. The sentences I uttered and the prayer offered were very broken; but thankful, very thankful, I am that my fears and cowardice did not prevail. The 'ice was broken.' " That process of ice-breaking must be gone through, and its result is highly beneficial.
O, poor souls, you that wish to find the Saviour, Jesus has died for you; and now His people live for you! We cannot offer any atoning sacrifice for you;
THE COST OF BEING A SOUL-WINNER. 187
there is no need that we should; but still we would gladly make sacrifices for your soul's sake. Did you not hear what our brother said just now in his prayer: We would do anything, be anything, give anything, and suffer anything if we might but bring you to Christ? I assure you that many of us feel even so. Will you not care for yourselves? Shall we be earnest about your souls, and will you trifle them away? Be wiser, 1 beseech you, and may infinite wisdom at once lead you to our dear Saviour's feet. Amen.
THE SOUL-WINNER'S REWARD,
ADDRESS AT A TABERNACLE PRAYER-MEETING.
THE SOUL-WINNER'S REWARD.
On my way to this meeting- I observed upon the notice-board of the police station a striking placard, offering' a large
REWARD
to anyone who can discover and bring to justice the perpetrators of a great crime. No doubt our legisla- tors know that the hope of a huge reward is the only motive which will have power with the comrades of assassins. The common informer earns so much scorn and hate that few can be induced to stand in his place, even when piles of gold are offered. It is a poor busi- ness at best.
It is far more pleasant to remember that there is a reward for bringing men to mercy, and that it is of a higher order than the premium for bringing men to justice; it is, moreover, much more within our reach, and that is a practical point worthy of our notice. We cannot all hunt down criminals, but we may all rescue the perishing. God be thanked that assassins and bur- glars are comparatively few, but sinners who need to be sought and saved swarm around us in every place. Here is scope for you all ; and none need think himself shut out from the rewards which love bestows on all who do her service.
At the mention of the word REWARD, some will
192 THE SOUL-WINNER.
prick up their ears, and mutter 'legality." Yet the reward we speak of is not of debt, but of grace; and it is enjoyed, not with the proud conceit of merit, but with the grateful delight of humility.
Other friends will whisper, "Is not this a low and mercenary motive?" We reply that it is as mercenary as the spirit of Moses, who "had respect unto the recom- pense of the reward." In this matter, all depends upon what the reward is; and if that happens to be the joy of doing good, the comfort of having glorified God, and the bliss of pleasing the Lord Jesus — then the as- piration to be allowed to endeavour to save our fellow- men from going down into the pit is in itself a grace from the Lord ; and if we did not succeed in it, yet the Lord would say of it, as He did of David's intent to build a temple, "It was well that it was in thine heart." Even if the souls we seek should all persist in unbelief, if they all despise and reject and ridicule us, yet still it will be a divine work to have at least made the at- tempt. If there comes no rain out of the cloud, yet it has screened of¥ the fierce heat of the sun; all is not lost even if the greater design be not accomplished. What if we only learn how to join the Saviour in His tears, and cry, "How often would I have gathered you, but ye would not!" It is sublimity itself to be allowed to stand on the same platform with Jesus, and weep with him. We are the better for such sorrows, if no others are.
But, thank God, our labours are not in vain in the Lord. I believe that the most of you, who have really tried, in the power of the Holy Spirit, by Scriptural teaching and by prayer, to bring others to Jesus, have been successful. I may be speaking to a few who have not succeeded; if so, I would recommend them to look steadily over their motive, their spirit, their work, and
THE SOUL-WINNER'S REWARD. 193
their prayer, and then begin again. Perhaps they may get to work more wisely, more behevingly, more hum- bly, and more in the power of the Holy Spirit. They must act as farmers do who, after a p<:»or harvest, plough again in hope. They ought not to be dispirited, but they ought to be aroused. We should be anxious to find out the reason of failure, if there be any, and we should be ready to learn from all our fellow-labourers; but we must steadfastly set our faces, if by any means we may save some, resolving that whatever happens we will leave no stone unturned to effect the salva- tion of those around us. How can we bear to go out of the world without sheaves to bear with us rejoicing- ly? I believe that the most of us who are now assem- bled to pray have been successful beyond our expecta- tions. God has blessed us, not beyond our desires, but yet beyond our hopes.
I have often been surprised at the mercy of God to myself. Poor sermons of mine, that I could cry over when I get home, have led scores to the cross; and, more wonderful still, words that I have spoken in ordinary conversation, mere chance sentences, as men call them, have nevertheless been as winged arrows from God, and have pierced men's hearts, and laid them wounded at Jesus' feet. I have often lifted up my hands in astonishment, and said, "How can God bless such a feeble instnmientality?" This is the feeling of most who addict themselves to the blessed craft of fishing for men, and the desire of such success furnishes as pure a motive as could move an angel's heart, as pure, indeed, as that which swayed the Saviour when, for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame. "Doth Job serve God for nought?" said Satan. If he could have answered the question in the af^rmative, if it could have
194 THE SOUL-WINNER.
been proved that the perfect and upright man found no reward in his holy Hving, then Satan would have cavilled at the justice- of God, and urged men to renounce a service so unprofitable. Verily there is a reward to the righteous, and in the lofty pursuits of grace there are recompenses of infinite value. When we endeavour to lead men to God, we pursue a business far more profitable than the pearl-fisher's diving or the diamond-hunter's searching. No pursuit of mortal men is to be compared with that of soul-winning. I know what I say when I bid you think of it as men think of entering the cabinet of the nation, or occupying a throne; it is a royal business, and they are true kings who follow it successfully.
The harvest of godly service is not yet: ''we do with patience wait for it;" but we have earnests of our wage, refreshing pledges of that which is laid up in heaven for us. Partly, this reward lies in the work itself. Men go hunting and shooting for mere love of the sport; surely, in an infinitely higher sphere, we may hunt for men's souls for the pleasing indulgence of our benevolence. To some of us, it would be an unendurable misery to see men sink to hell, and to be making no efifort for their salvation. It is a reward to us to have a vent for our inward fires. It is woe and weariness to us to be shut up from those sacred activi- ties which aim at plucking fire-brands from the flame. We are in deep sympathy with our fellows, and feel that, in a measure, their sin is our sin, their peril our peril.
If another lose the way, My feet also go astray; If another downward go. In my heart is also woe.
It IS therefore a relief to set forth the gospel, that we
THE SOUL-WINNER'S REWARD. 195
may save ourselves from that sympathetic misery which echoes in our hearts the crash of soul-ruin.
Soul- winning /s a scn'/cc wliicJi brings great benefit to the indiviiiuat who consecrates himself to it. Tho man who has watched for a soul, prayed for it, laid his plans for it, spoken with much trembling, and en- deavoured to make an impression, has been educating himself by the effort. Having been disappointed, he has cried to God more earnestly, has tried again, has looked up the promise to meet the case of the con- victed one, has turned to that point of the divine char- acter which seems most likely to encourage trembling- faith — he has in every step been benefiting himself. When he has gone over the old, old story of the cross to the weeping penitent, and has at last gripped the hand of one who could say: ''I do believe, I will be- lieve, that Jesus died for me"; I say, he has had a re- ward in the process through which his own mind has gone.
It has reminded him of his own lost estate; it has shown him the struggles that the Spirit had in bring- ing him to repentance; it has reminded him of that precious moment when he first looked to Jesus; and it has strengthened him in his firm confidence that Christ will save men. When we see Jesus save an- other, and see that marvellous transfiguration which passes over the face of the saved one, our own faith is greatly confirmed. Sceptics and modern-thought men have little to do with converts: those who labour for conversions believe in conversions; those who behold the processes of regeneration see a miracle wrought, and are certain that "this is the finger of God." It is the most blessed exercise for a soul, it is the divinest en- nobling of the heart, to spend yourself in seeking to bring: another to the dear Redeemer's feet. If it ended
196 THE SOUL-WINNER.
there, you might thank God that ever He called you to a service so comforting, so strengthening, so elevating, so confirming, as that of converting others from their evil ways.
Another precious recompense is found in the grati- tude and affection of those you bri?ig to Christ. This is a choice boon — the blessedness of joying in another's joy, the bliss of hearing that you have led a soul to Jesus. Measure the sweetness of this recompense by the bitterness of its opposite. Men of God have brought many to Jesus, and all things have gone well in the church till declining years or change of fashions have thrown the good man into the shade, and then the minister's own spiritual children have been eager to turn him out of doors. The unkindest cut of all has come from those who owed their souls to him. His heart was broken while he has sighed, 'T could have borne it, had not the persons that I brought to the Saviour have turned against me." The pang is not unknown to me. I can never forget a certain house- hold, in which the Lord gave me the great joy to bring four employers and several persons engaged by them to Jesus' feet. Snatched from the utmost care- lessness of worldliness, these who had previously known nothing of the grace of God were joyful confessors of the faith. After a while, they imbibed certain opin- ions differing from ours, and from that moment some of them had nothing but hard words for me and my preaching. I had done my best to teach them all the truth I knew, and if they had found out more than I had discovered, they might at least have remembered where they learned the elements of the faith. It is years ago now, and I have never said as much as this before; but I feel the wound much. I only mention these
THE SOUL-WINNER'S REWARD, 11,7
sharp pricks to show how very sweet it is to have those about you whom you have brought to the Saviour.
A mother feels great delight in her children, for an intense love comes with natural relationships; but there is a still deeper love connected with spiritual kinship, a love which lasts through life, and will con- tinue in eternity, for even in heaven each servant of the Lord shall say, "Here am I, and the children whom Thou hast given me." They neither marry nor are given in marriage in the city of our God, but father- hood and brotherhood in Christ shall still survive. Those sweet and blessed bonds which grace has formed continue for ever, and spiritual relationships are rather developed than dissolved by translation to the better land. If you are eager for real joy, such as you may think over and sleep upon, I am persuaded that no joy of growing wealthy, no joy of increasing knowl- edge, no joy of influence over your fellow-creatures, no joy of any other sort, can ever be compared with the rapture of saving a soul from death, and helping to restore our lost brethren to our great Father's house. Talk of ten thousand pounds reward! It is nothing at all, one might easily spend that amount; but one cannot exhaust the unutterable delights which come from the gratitude of souls converted from the error of their ways.
But the richest reward lies in p/easing God, and causing the Redeemer to see of the travail of His soul. That Jesus should have His reward, is worthy of the Eternal Father; but it is marvellous that we should be employed by the Father to give to Christ the pur- chase of His agonies. This is a wonder of wonders! O my soul, this is an honour too great for thee! A bliss too deep for words! Listen, dear friends, and an- swer me. What would you give to cause a thrill of
198 THE SOUL-WINNER.
pleasure in the heart of the Well-beloved? Recollect the grief you cost Him, and the pangs that shot through Him that He might deliver you from your sin and its consequences; do you not long to make Him glad? When you bring others to His feet, you give him joy, and no small joy either. Is not that a wonderful text: 'There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth?" What does that mean? Does it mean that the angels have joy? We generally read it so, but it is not the intent of the verse. It says, ''There is joy in the presence of the angels of God" — that is, joy in the heart of God, around whose throne the angels stand. It is a joy which angels delight to be- hold,— what is it? Is the blessed God capable of greater joy than His own boundless happiness? Wondrous language this! The infinite bliss of God is more emi- nently displayed, if it cannot be increased. Can we be the instruments of this? Can we do anything which will make the Ever-blessed glad? Yes, for we are told that the great Father rejoices above measure when His prodigal son that was dead is alive again, and the lost one is found.
If I could say this as I ought to say it, it would make every Christian cry out, "Then I will labour to bring souls to the Saviour;" and it would make those of us who have brought many to Jesus instant, in season and out of season, to bring more to Him. It is a great pleasure to be doing a kindness to an earthly friend, but to be doing something distinctly for Jesus, something which will be of all things in the world most pleasing to Him, is a great delight! It is a good work to build a meeting house, and give it outright to the cause of God, if it is done with a right and proper motive; but one living stone, built upon the sure foundation by our instrumentality, will give
THE SOUL-WINNERS REWARD. 199
the Alaster mure pleasure than if vvc erected a vast pile of natural stones, whieli might only cumber the ground. Then go, dear friends, and seek to bring your children and your neighbours, your friends and your kinsfolk, to the Saviour's feet, for nothing will give him so much pleasure as to see them turn unto Him and live. By your love to Jesus, I beseech you, become fish- ers of men.
THE SOUL-WINNER'S LIFE AND WORK,
'The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise." — Proverbs xi. 30.
THE SOUL-WINNER'S LIFE AND WORK.
It seems to me that there is a higher joy in looking at a body of believers than that which arises from mere- ly regarding them as saved. Not but what there is a great joy in salvation, a joy worthy to stir the angelic harps. Think of the Saviour's agony in the ransom of every one of His redeemed, think of the work of the Holy Spirit in every renewed heart, think of the love of the Father as resting upon every one of the regen- erate: I could not, if I took up my parable for a month, set forth all the mass of joy that is to be seen in a mul- titude of believers if we only look at what God has done for them, and promised to them, and will fulfil in them. But there is yet a wider field of thought, and my mind has been traversing it all this day—the thought of the capacities of service contained in a numerous band of believers, the possibilities of blessing others which lie within the bosoms of regenerate persons. We must not think so much of what we already are as to forget what the Lord may accomplish by us for others. Here are the coals of fire, but who shall describe the conflagration which they may cause?
We ought to regard the Christian Church, not a.^ a luxurious hostelry where Christian gentlemen may each one dwell at his ease in his own inn, but as a barracks in which soldiers are gathered together to be
204 THE SOUL- WINNER.
drilled and trained for war. We should regard the Christian Church, not as an association for mutual ad- miration and comfort, but as an army with banners, marching to the fray, to achieve victories for Christ, to storm the strongholds of the foe, and to add province after province to the Redeemer's kingdom. We may view converted persons gathered into church member- ship as so much wheat in the granary. God be thanked that it is there, and that so far the harvest has rewarded the sower; but far more soul-inspiring is the view when we regard those believers as each one likely to be made a living centre for the extension of the kingdom of Jesus, for then Ave see them sowing the fertile valleys of our land, and promising ere long to bring forth some thirty, some forty, some fifty, and some a hundredfold. The capacities of life are enormous, one becomes a thousand in a marvellously brief space: Within a short time a few grains of wheat would suffice to seed the whole world, and a few true saints might suffice for the conversion of all nations. Only take that which comes of one year, store it well, sow it all, again store it next year, and then sow it all again, and the multiplica- tion almost exceeds the power of computation. Oh, that every Christian were thus year by year the Lord's seed corn! If all the wheat in the world had perished except a single grain, it w^ould not take many years to replenish all the earth, and sow her fields and plains; but in a far shorter time, in the power of the Holy Spirit, one Paul or one Peter would have evangelised all lands. View yourselves as grains of wheat predes- tinated to seed the world. That man lives grandly who is as earnest as if the very existence of Christianity de- pended upon himself, and is determined that to all men within his reach shall be made known the un- searchable riches of Christ.
THE SOUL-WINNER'S LIFE AND WORK. 205
If we whom Christ is pleased to use as His seed com were only all scattered and sown as we ought to be, and were all to sprout and bring forth the green blade and the corn in the ear, what a harvest there would be! Again would it be fulfilled, "There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of th^ mountains" — a very bad position for it — "the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth." May God grant us to feel some degree of the Holy Spirit's quickening power while we talk together, not so much about what God has done for us as about what God may do dy us, and how far we may put ourselves into a right posi- tion to be used by Him!
There are two things in the text, and these are found laid out with much distinctness in its two sentences. The first is, the life of the believer is, or ought to be, full of soul-blessing: ''The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life." In the second place, the pursuit of the believer ought always to be soul-winning. The second is much the same as the first, only the first head sets forth our unconscious influence, and the second our efforts which we put forth with the avowed object of winning souls for Christ.
Let us begin at the beginning, because the second cannot be carried out without the first : without fulness of life within there cannot be an overflow of life to others. It is of no use for any of you to try to be soul-winners if you are not bearing fruit in your own lives. How^ can you serve the Lord with your lips if you do not serve Him wdth your lives? How can you preach His gospel with your tongues, when with hands, feet and hearts you are preaching the devil's gospel, and setting up antichrist by your practical unholi- ness? We must first have life and bear personal fruit
20G THE SOUL-WINNER.
to the divine glory, and then out of our example will spring the conversion of others. Let us go to the fountain-head, and see how the believer's own life is es- sential to his being useful to others.
I. THE LIFE OF THE BELIEVER IS FULL OF SOUL-BLESSING.
This fact we shall consider by means of a few ob- servations growing out of the text; and, first, let us remark that the believer's outward life comes as a matter of fruit from him. This is prominent to notice. "The fruit of the righteous" — that is to say, his life — is not a thing fastened upon him, but it grows out of him. It is not a garment which he puts off and on, but it is inseparable from himself. The sincere man's re- ligion is the man himself, and not a cloak for his con- cealment. True godliness is the natural outgrowth of a renewed nature, not the forced growth of pious hot- house excitement. Is it not natural for a vine to bear clusters of grapes? natural for a palm tree to bear dates? Certainly, as natural as it is for the apples of Sodom to be found on the trees of Sodom, and for noxious plants to produce poisonous berries. When God gives a new nature to His people, the life which comes out of that new nature springs spontaneously from it. The man Vv^ho has a religion which is not part and parcel of himself will by-and-by discover that it is worse than useless to him. The man who wears his piety like a mask at a carnival, so that, when he gets home, he changes from a saint to a savage, from an angel to a devil, from John to Judas, from a benefactor to a bully — such a man, I say, knows very well what formalism and hypocrisy can do for him, but he has no vestige of true religion. Fig trees do not bear figs on certain
THE SOUL-WINNER'S LIFE AND WORK. 207
days, and thorns at other times; but they are true to their nature at all seasons.
Those who think that godliness is a matter of vest- ment, and has an intimate relation with blue, and scarlet, and fine linen, are consistent if they keep their religion to the proper time for the wearing of their sacred pomposities; but he who has discovered what Christianity is knows that it is much more a life than an act, a form, or a profession. Much as I love the creed of Christendom, I am ready to say that true Chris- tianity is far more a life than a creed. It is a creed, and it has its ceremonies, but it is mainly a life; it is a divine spark of heaven's own flame which falls into the human bosom and burns within, consuming much that lies hidden in the soul, and then at last, as a heavenly life, flaming forth, so as to be seen and felt by those around. Under the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, a re- generate person becomes like that bush in Horeb, which was all aglow with Deity. The God within him makes him shine so that the place around him is holy ground, and those who look at him feel the power of his hallowed life.
Dear brethren, we must take care that our religion is more and more a matter of outgrowth from our souls. Many professors are hedged about with, "You must not do this, or that," and are driven onward with, "You must do this, and you must do that." But there is a doctrine, too often perverted, which is, neverthe- less, a blessed truth, and ought to dwell in your hearts. "Ye are not under the law, but under grace;" hence you do not obey the will of God because you hope to earn heaven thereby, or dream of escaping from divine wrath by your own doings, but because there is a life in you which seeks after that which is holy, pure, right and true, and cannot endure that which is evil. You are
208 THE SOUL-WINNER.
careful to maintain good works, not from either legal hopes or legal fears, but because there is a holy thing within you, born of God, which seeks, according to its nature, to do that which is pleasing to God. Look to it more and more that your religion is real, true, nat- ural, vital — not artificial, constrained, superficial, a thing of times, days, places, a fungus produced by ex- citement, a fermentation generated by meetings and stirred by oratory. We all need a religion which can live either in a wilderness or in a crowd; a religion which will show itself in every walk of life, and in every company. Give me the godliness which is seen at home, especially around the fireside, for it is never more beautiful than there; that is seen in the battle and tussle of ordinary business among scoffers and gain- sayers as well as among Christian men. Show me the faith which can defy the lynx eyes of the world, and walk fearlessly where all scowl with the fierce eyes of hate, as w^ell as -where there are observers to sympa- thise, and friends to judge leniently. May you be filled with the life of the Spirit, and your whole conduct and conversation be the natural and blessed outgrowth of that Spirit's indw^elling!
Note, next, that the fruit which comes from a Chris- iian is fruit worthy of his character: *'The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life." Each tree bears its own fruit, and is known by it. The righteous man bears righteous fruit; and do not let us be at all deceived, brethren, or fall into any error about this, "he that doeth righteousness is righteous," and "he that doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. We are prepared, I hope, to die for the doctrine of justification by faith, and to assert be- fore all adversaries that salvation is not of works; but we also confess that we are justified by a faith which
THE SOUL-WINNER'S LIFE AND WORK. 209
produces works, and if any man has a faith which does not produce g^ood works, it is the faith of devils. Saving faith appropriates the finished work of the Lord Jesus, and so saves by itself alone, for we are justified by faith without works; but the faith which is without works cannot bring salvation to any man. We are saved by faith without works, but not by a faith that is without works, for the real faith that saves the soul works by love and purifies the character. If you can cheat across the counter, your hope of heaven is a cheat, too; though you can pray as prettily as any- body, and practise acts of outward piety as well as any other hypocrite, you are deceived if you expect to be right at last. If as a servant you are lazy, lying and loitering, or if as a master you are hard, tyrannical and unchristianlike towards your men, your fruit shows that you are a tree of Satan's own orchard, and bear apples which will suit his tooth. If you can practise tricks of trade, and if you can lie — and how many do lie every day about their neighbour or about their goods! — you may talk as you like about being justified by faith, but all liars will have their portion in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, and amongst the biggest liars you will be, for you are guilty of the lie of saying, "I am a Christian," whereas you are not. A false profession is one of the worst of lies, since it brings the utmost dishonour upon Christ and His peo- ple. The fruit of the righteous is righteousness: the fig tree will not bring forth thorns, neither shall we gather grapes from thistles. The tree is known by its fruit, and if we cannot judge men's hearts, and must not try to do so, we can judge their lives; and I pray God we may all be ready to judge our own lives, and see if we are bringing forth righteous fruit, for if not, we are not risfhteous men.
210 THE SOUL-WINNER.
Let it. however, never be forgotten that the fruit of the righteous, though it comes from him naturally, for his new-born nature yields the sweet fruit of obedi- ence, yet it is always the i-csiilt of grace, and the gift of God. No truth ought to be remembered more than this, "From Me is thy fruit found." We can bring forth no fruit except as we abide in Christ. The right- eous shall flourish as a branch, and only as a branch. How does a branch flourish? By its connection with the stem, and the consequent inflowing of the sap ; and so, though the righteous man's righteous actions are his own, yet they are always produced by the grace which is imparted to him, and he never dares to take any credit for them, but he sings, "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give praise." If he fails, he blame? himself; if he succeeds, he glori- fies God. Imitate his example. Lay every fault, every weakness, every infirmity at your own door; and if you fall in any respect short of perfection — and I am sure you do — take all that to yourself, and do not excuse yourself; but if there be any virtue, any praise, any true desire, any real prayer, anything that is good, ascribe it all to the Spirit of God. Remember, the righteous man would not be righteous unless God had made him righteous, and the fruit of righteousness would never come from him unless the divine sap within him had produced that acceptable fruit. To God alone be all honour and glory.
The main lesson of the passage is that this outbur=t of life from the Christian, this consequence of life with - in him, this fruit of his soul, hecojnes a blessing to others. Like a tree, it yields shade and sustenance to all around. It is a tree of life, an expression which I cannot fully work out as I would wish, for there is a world of instruction compressed into the illustration.
THE SOUL-WINNER'S LIFE AND WORK. 211
That which to the beUever himself is fruit becomes to others a tree: it is a singular metaphor, but by no means a lame one. From the child ot God there falls the fruit of holy living, even as an acorn drops from the oak; this holy living becomes influential and pro- duces the best results in others, even as the acorn becomes itself an oak and lends its shade to the birds of the air. The Christian's holiness becomes a tree of life. I suppose it means a living tree, a tree calcu- Jated to give life and sustain it in others. A fruit becomes a tree! A tree of life! Wonderful result this! Christ in the Christian produces a character which becomes a tree of life. The outward character is the fruit of the inner life; this outer life itself grows from a fruit into a tree, and as a tree it bears fruit in others to the praise and glory of God. Dear brothers and sisters, I know some of God's saints who live very near to him, and they are evidently a tree of life, for their very shadow is comforting, cooling, and refresh- ing to many weary souls. I have known the young, the tried, the downcast, go to them, sit beneath their shade, and pour out the tale of their troubles, and they have felt it a rich blessing to receive their sympathy, to be told of the faithfulness of the Lord, and to be guided in the way of wisdom. There are a few good men in this world whom to know is to be rich. Such men are libraries of gospel truth; but they are better than books, for the truth in them is written on living pages. Their character is a true and living tree; it is not a mere post of the dead wood of doctrine, bearing an inscription, and rotting while it does so, but it is a vital, organized, fruit-producing thing, a plant of the Lord's right-hand planting.
Not only do some saints give comfort to others, but they also yield them spiritual nourishment. Well-
213 THE SOUL- WINNER.
trained Christians become nursing fathers and nursmg mothers, strengthening the weak, and binding up the wounds of the broken-hearted. So, too, the strong, bokl, generous deeds of large-hearted Christians are of great service to their fellow-Christians, and tend to raise them to a higher level. You feel refreshed by observing how they act; their patience in sufifering, their courage in danger, their holy faith in God, their happy faces under trial, — all these nerve you for your own conflicts. In a thousand ways, the sanctified believer's example acts in a healing and comforting way to his brethren, and assists in raising them above anxiety and unbelief. Even as the leaves of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations, so the words and deeds of saints are medicine for a thousand maladies.
And then what fruit, sweet to the taste of the godly, instructed believers bear! We can never trust in men as we trust in the Lord, but the Lord can cause the members to bless us in their measure, even as their Head is ever ready to do. Jesus alone is the Tree of Life, but He makes some of his servants to be instru- mentally to us little trees of life, by whom He gives us fruit of the same sort that He bears Himself, for he puts it there, and it is Himself in His saints causing them to bring forth golden apples, with which our souls are gladdened. May we every one of us be made like our Lorcl, and may His fruit be found upon our boughs !
We have put into the tomb many of the saints who have fallen asleep, and among them there were some of whom I will not at this moment speak particularly, whose lives as I look back upon them are still a tree of life to me. I pray God that I may be like them. ]\Iany of you knew them, and if you will only recall
THE SOUL-WINNER'S LIFE AND WORK. 213
their holy, devoted Hvcs, the influence they have left behind will still be a tree of life to you. They beini^ dead yet speak; hear ye their eloquent exhortations! Even in their ashes live their wonted fires; kindle your souls at their warmth. Their noble examples are the endowments of the church, her children are ennobled and enriched as they remember their walk of faith and labour of love. Beloved, may we every one of us be true benedictions to the churches in whose gardens we are planted! "Oh!" says one, "I am afraid I am not much like a tree, for I feel so weak and insignificant." If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you have the commencement of the tree beneath whose branches the birds of the air will yet find a lodging. The very birds that w^ould have eaten the tiny seed come and find lodgment in the tree which grows out of it; and people who despise and mock at you, now that you arc a young beginner, will one of these days, if God blesses you, be glad to borrow comfort from your example and experience.
But one other thought on this point. Remember that the conipIrtc7iess and dcvclopmcjit of the holy life will be seen above. There is a city of which it is written, "In the midst of the street of it, and on eitlier side of the river, was there the tree of life." The tree of life is a heavenly plant, and so the fruit of the Christian is a thing of heaven; though not trans- planted to the glory land, it is getting fit for its final abode. What is holiness but heaven on earth? What is living unto God but the essence of heaven? What arc uprightness, integrity, Christ-likeness? I lave not these even more to do with heaven than harps and palms and streets of purest gold? Holiness, purity, loveliness of character, — these make a heaven within a man's own bosom; and even if there were
214 THE SOUL-WINNER.
no place called heaven, that heart would have a heavenly happiness which is set free from sin, and made like the Lord Jesus. See, then, dear brethren, what an important thing it is for us to be indeed righteous before God, for then the outcome of that righteousness shall be fruit which will be a tree of life to others, and a tree of life in heaven above, world without end. O blessed Spirit, make it so, and Thou shalt have all the praise !
II. This brings us to our second head. THE PURSUIT OF THE BELIEVER SHOULD BE SOUL-WINNING. For "he that winneth souls is wise." The two things are put together — the life first, the efifort next: what God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.
It is implied in our text that tJici'e ai-e souls wJiich need winning. Ah, me! all souls of men are lost by nature. You might walk through the streets of Lon- don, and say, with sighs and tears, of the masses of men you meet upon those crowded pavements, "Lost, lost, lost!" Wherever Christ is not trusted, and the Spirit has not created a new heart, and the soul has not come to the great Father, there is a lost soul. But here is the mercy — these lost souls can be won. They are not hopelessly lost; not yet has God determined that they shall forever abide as they are. It is not yet said, "He that is filthy, let him be filthy still;" but they are in the land of hope where mercy may reach them, for they are spoken of as capable of being won. They may yet be delivered, but the phrase hints that it will need all our efforts: *'He that 7oinncth souls."
What do we mean by that word win? We use it in love-making. We speak of the bridegroom who wins his bride ; and sometimes there is a large expense
THE SOUL-WINNERS LIFE AND WORK. 215
of love, many a pleading word, and many a wooing act, ere yet the valned heart is all the suitor's own. I use this explanation because in some respects it is the very best, for souls will have to be won for Christ in this fashion, that they may be espoused unto Him. We must make love to the sinner for Christ; that is how hearts are to be won for him. Jesus is the Bride- groom, and we must speak for Him, and tell of His beauty, as Abraham's servant, when he went to seek a wife for Isaac, acted as a wooer in his stead. Have you never read the story? Then turn to it v'hcn you get home, and see how he talked about his master, what possessions he had, and how Isaac was to be heir of it all, and so on, and then he finished his address by urging Rebecca to go with him. The question was put home to her, "Wilt thou go with this man?" So the minister's business is to commend his blaster and his Master's riches, and then to say to souls, "Will you be wedded to Christ?" He who can succeed in this very delicate business is a wise man.
We also use the term in a military fashion. We speak of winning a city, a castle, or a battle. We do not win victories by going to sleep. Believe me, castles are not captured by men who are only half awake. To win a battle, needs the best skill, the greatest endurance, and the utmost courage. To storm fortresses, which are regarded as almost im- pregnable, men need to burn the midnight oil, and study well the arts of attack; and, when the time comes for the assault, not a soldier must be a laggard. but all force of artiller\- and manhood must be brought to bear on the point assailed. To carry man's heart by main force of grace, to capture it, to break down the bars of brass and dash the gates of iron in pieces, requires the exercise of a skill which only Christ can
216 THE SOUL-WINNER.
give. To bring up the big battering-rams, and shake every stone in the sinner's conscience, to make his heart rock and reel within him for fear of the wrath to come, — in a word, to assail a soul with all the artillery of the gospel, needs a wise man, and one fully aroused to his work. To hold up the white flag of mercy, and, if that be despised, to use the battering-ram of threatening until a breach is made, and then, with the sword of the Spirit in his hand, to capture the city, to tear down the black flag of sin, and run up the banner of the cross, needs all the force the choicest preacher can command, and a great deal more. Those whose souls are as cold as the Arctic regions, and whose energy is reduced to the vanishing point, are not likely to take the city of Mansoul for Prince Emmanuel. If you think you are going to win souls, you must throw your soul into your work, just as a warrior must throw his soul into a battle, or victory will not be yours.
We use the words "to win'' in reference to making a fortune, and we all know that the man who becomes a millionaire has to rise up early, and sit up late, and eat the bread of carefulness, and it takes a deal of toiling and saving, and I know not what besides, to amass immense wealth. We have to go in for winning souls with the same ardour and concentration of our faculties as old Astor of New York went in to build up that fortune of so many millions which he has now left behind him. It is, indeed, a race, and you knov; that, in a race, nobody wins unless he strains every muscle and sinew. 'They that run in a race run all but one receiveth the prize;" and that one is generally he wlio had more strength than the rest; certainly, v/hether he had more strength or not, he put out all he liad, and we shall not win souls unless we imitate him in this.
THE SOUL-WINNER'S LIFE AND WORK. 21/
Solomon in the text declares that, ''He that winneth souls is wise," and such a declaration is all the more valuable as coming from so wise a man. Let me show you why a soul-winner is wise. First, he viust be taught of God before he will attempt it. The man who does not know that, whereas he was once blind, now he sees, had better think of his own blindness before he attempts to lead his friends in the right way. If not saved yourself, you cannot be the means of sav- ing others. He that winneth souls must be wise unto salvation first for himself.
That being taken for granted, he is a wise man to select such a pursuit. Young man, are you choosing an object worthy to be the great aim of your life? I do hope you will judge wisely, and select a noble ambition. If God has given you great gifts, I hope they will not be wasted on any low, sordid, or selfish design. Suppose I am now addressing one who has " great talents, and has an opportunity of being what he likes, of going into Parliament, and helping to pass great measures, or of going into business, and making himself a man of importance; I hope he will weigh the claims of Jesus and immortal souls as well as other claims. Shall I addict myself to study? Shall I sur- render myself to business? Shall I travel? Shall I spend my time in pleasure? Shall I become the prin- cipal fox-hunter of the county? Shall I lay out my time in promoting political and social reforms? Think them all over; but if you are a Christian man, my dear friend, nothing will equal in enjoyment, in usefulness, in honour, and in lasting recompense the giving your- self up to the winning of souls. Oh, it is grand hunt- ing, I can tell you, and beats all the fox-hunting in the world in excitement and exhilaration! Have I not sometimes gone with a cry over hedge and ditch after
218 THE SOUL- WINNER.
some poor sinner, and kept well up with him in every twist and turn he took, till I have overtaken him by God's grace, and been in at the death, and rejoiced exceedingly when I have seen him captured by my Master? Our Lord Jesus calls His ministers fisher- men, and no other fishermen have such labour, such sorrow, and such delight as we have. What a happy thing it is that you may win souls for Jesus, and may do this though you abide in your secular callings! Some of you would never win souls in pulpits; it would be a great pity if you tried, but you can win souls in the workshop, and in the laundry, in the nursery, and in the drawing-room. Our hunting grounds are everywhere: by the wayside, by the fire- side, in the corner, and in the crowd. Among the common people Jesus is our theme, and among the great ones we have no other. You will be wise, my brother, if for you the one absorbing desire is that you may turn the ungodly from the error of their ways. For you there will be a crown glittering with many stars, which you shall cast at Jesus' feet in the day of His appearing.
Further, it is not only wise to make this your aim, but you will have to be very wise if yon succeed in it, because the souls to be won are so different in their constitutions, feelings, and conditions, and you will have to adapt yourselves to them all. The trappers of North America have to find out the habits of the animals they wish to catch, and so you will have to learn how to deal with each class of cases. Some are very depressed, you will have to comfort them. Per- haps you will comfort them too much, and make them unbelieving; and, therefore, possibly, instead of com- forting them, you will need sometimes to administer a sharp word to cure the sulkiness into which they have
THE SOUL-WINNERS LIFE AND WORK. 2UJ
fallen. Another person may be frivolous, and if you put on a serious face you will frighten your bird away ; you will have to be cheerful, and drop a word of admoni- tion as if by accident. Some people, again, will not let you speak to them, but will talk to you; you must know^ the art of putting a w'ord in edgeways. You will have to be very wise, and become all things to all men, and your success will prove your wisdom. Theories of dealing wath souls may look very wise, but they often prove to be useless when actually tried: he who by God's grace accomplishes the work is a wise man, though perhaps he knows no theory whatever. This work will need all your wdt, and far more, and you will have to cry to the great Winner of souls above to give you of His Holy Spirit.
But, mark you, he that wdns souls is wise, because he is engaged in a business which makes men wiser as they proceed with it. You will bungle at first, and very likely drive sinners off from Christ by your attempts to draw them to Him. I have tried to move some souls with all my might with a certain passage of Scripture, but they have taken it in an opposite light to what it was intended, and have started off in the wrong direction. It is very dif^cult to know how to act with bewildered enquirers. If you want some people to go forward, you must pull them back- wards. If you want them to go to the right, you must insist upon their going to the left, and then they go to the right directly. You must be ready for these follies of poor human nature. I knew a poor aged Christian woman who had been a child of God fifty years, but she was in a state of melan- choly and distress, from which nobody could arouse her. I called several times, and endeavoured to cheer her up, but generall}' when I left she was
220 THE SOUL-WINNER.
worse than before. So, the next time I called to see her, I did not say anything to her about Christ or religion. She soon introduced those topics herself, and then I remarked that I was not going to talk to her about such holy things, for she did not know any- thing about them, for she was not a believer in Christ, and had been, no doubt, a hypocrite for many years. She could not stand that, and asserted, in self-defense, that the Lord above knew her better than I did, and He was her witness that she did love the Lord Jesus Christ. She scarcely forgave herself afterwards for that admission, but she could never talk to me quite so despairingl}^ any more. True lovers of men's souls learn the art of dealing with them, and the Holy Spirit makes them expert soul-surgeons for Jesus. It is not because a man has more abilities, nor altogether because he has more grace, but the Lord makes him to love the souls of men intensely, and this imparts a secret skill, since, for the most part, the way to get sinners to Christ is to love them to Christ.
Beloved brethren, I will say, once more, he who I'eally wins souls for Jestts, however he wins them, is a tvise man. Some of you are slow to admit this. You say, — "Well, So-and-so, I daresay, has been very useful, but he is very rough." What does his rough- ness matter if he wins souls? "Ah!" says another, "but I am not built up under him." Why do you go to hear him to get built up? If the Lord has sent him to pull down, let him pull down, and do you go elsewhere for edification; but do not grumble at a man who does one work because he cannot do an- other. We are also too apt to pit one minister against another, and say, "You should hear my minister." Perhaps we should, but it would be better for you to hear the man who edifies you, and let others go where
THE SOUL-WINNER'S LIFE AND WORK. 221
they also are instructed. *'He that winneth souls is wise." I do not ask you how he did it. He sang the gospel, and you did not like it; but if he won souls, he was wise. Soul-winners have all their own ways; and if they do but win souls, they are wise. I will tell you what is not wise, and will not be thought so at the last, namely, to go about the churches, doing nothing yourself, and railing at all the Lord's useful servants.
Here is a dear brother on his dying bed, he has the sweet thought that the Lord enabled him to bring many souls to Jesus, and the expectation when he comes to the gates that many spirits will come to meet h-m. They will throng the ascent to the New Jerusa- lem, and welcome the man who brought them to Jesus. They are immortal monuments to his labours. He is wise. Here is another who has spent all his time in interpreting the prophecies, so that everything he read of in the newspapers he could see in Daniel or the Revelation. He is wise, so some say, but I had rather spend my time in winning souls. I would sooner bring one sinner to Jesus Christ than unpick all the mysteries of the divine Word, for salvation is the thing we are to live for. I would to God that I understood all mysteries, yet chief of all would I proclaim the mystery of soul-saving by faith in the blood of the Lamb. It is comparatively a small matter for a min- ister to have been a staunch upholder of orthodoxy all his days, and to have spent himself in keeping u]) the hedges of his church; soul-winning is the main concern. It is a very good thing to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints; but I do not think I should like to say in my last account, "Lord, I have lived to fight the Romanists and the State Church, and to put down the various erroneous sects.
222 - THE SOUL-WINNER.
but I never led a sinner to the cross." No, we will fight the good fight of faith, but the winning of souls is the greater matter, and he who attends to it is wise. Another brother has preached the truth, but he did so polish up his sermons that the gospel was hidden. Never a sermon was fit to preach, he thought, until he had written it out a dozen times to see whether every sentence would be according to the canons of Cicero and Quintillian, and then he went and delivered the gospel as a grand oration. Is that wise? Well, it takes a wise man to be a thorough orator; but it is better not to be an orator if fine speech prevents your being understood. Let eloquence be flung to the dogs rather than souls be lost. What we want is to win souls, and they are not to be won by flowery speeches. We must have the winning of souls at heart, and be red hot with zeal for their salvation; and then, however much we blunder, according to the critics, we shall be numbered among those whom the Lord calls wise.
Now, Christian men and women, I want you to take this matter up practically, and to determine that you will try this very night to win a soul. Try the one next to you in the seat if you cannot think of anybody else. Try on the way home; try with your own chil- dren. Have I not told you of what happened one Sunday evening? In my sermon I said, "Now, you mothers, have you ever prayed with each of your children, one by one, and urged them to lay hold on Christ? Perhaps dear Jane is now in bed, and you have never yet pleaded with her about eternal things. Go hom.e to-night, wake her up, and say, ']a.ne, I am sorry I have never told you about the Saviour person- ally, and prayed with you, but I mean to do it now.' Wake her up, and put your arms round her neck, and pour out your heart to God with her." Well, there
THE SOUL- WINNER'S LIFE AND WOTRK. 223
was a good sister here who had a daughter named fane. What do you think? She came on ?^Ionday to bring her daughter Jane to see me in tlie vestry, for when she woke her up, and began, "I have not spoken to you about Jesus," or something to that effect, "Oh, dear mother!" said Jane, "I have loved the Saviour these six months, and wondered you had not spoken to me about Him;" and then there was great kissing and rejoicing. Perhaps you may find that to be the case with a dear child at home ; and, if you do not, so much the more reason why you should begin at once to speak. Did you never win a soul for Jesus "i* You shall have a crown in heaven, but no jewels in it. You will go to heaven childless; and you know how it was in the old times, how the women dreaded lest they should be childless. Let it be so with Christian people ; let them dread being spiritually childless. We must hear the cries of those wliom God has given to be bom unto himself by our means. We must hear them or else cry out in anguish, "Give me converts, or I die." Young men and old men, and sisters of all ages, if you love the Lord, get a passion for souls. Do you not see them? They arc going down to hell by thou- sands; as often as the hand upon the dial completes its circuit, hell devours multitudes, some of them igno- rant of Christ and others wilfully rejecting Him. The world lies in darkness: this great city still pines for the light: your own friends and kinsfolk are unsaved, and they may be dead ere this week is over. Oh, if you have any humanity, let alone Christianity, if you have found the remedy, tell the diseased about it! If you have found life, proclaim it to the dead; if you have found liberty, publish it to the captives; if you have found Christ, tell of Him to others. ^ly brethren in the College, let this be your choice work while study-
224 THE SOUL-WINNER.
ing, and let it be the one object of your lives when you go forth from us. Do not be content when you gGt a congregation, but labour to win souls; and as you do this, God will bless you. As for us, we hope during the rest of our lives to follow Him who is T/ie Soul-Winner, and to put ourselves in His hands who maketh us soul-winners, so that our life may not be a long folly, but may be proved by results to have been directed by wisdom.
O you souls not won to Jesus, remember that faith in Christ saves you! Trust in Him. May you be led to trust in Him, for His name's sake! Amen.
SOUL WINNING EXPLAINED.
'He that winneth souls is wise."— Proverbs xi. 30.
SOUL-WINNING EXPLAINED.
The text does not say, "He that winneth sovereigns is wise," though no doubt he thinks himself wise, and perhaps, in a certain grovelHng- sense, in these days of competition, he must be so; but such wisdom is of the earth, and ends with the earth; and there is an- other world where the currencies of Europe will not be accepted, nor their past possession be any sign of wealth or wisdom. Solomon, in the text before us, awards no crown for wisdom to crafty statesmen, or even to the ablest of rulers; he issues no diplomas even to philosophers, poets or men of wit; he crowns with laurel only those who win souls. He does not declare that he who preaches is necessarily wise; and alas! there are multitudes who preach, and gain much ap- plause and eminence, who win no souls, and who shall find it go hard with them at the last, because in all probability they have nm and the Master has never sent them. Solomon does not say that he who talks about winning souls is wise, since to lay down rules for others is a very simple thing, but to carry them out one's self is far more difificult. He w^ho actually, really and truly turns men from the error of their ways to God, and so is made the means of saving them from going down to hell, is a wise man ; and that is true of him whatever his style of soul-winning may be: He may be a Paul, deeply logical, profound in doctrine, able to conmiand all candid judgments; and if he thus
228 THE SOUL-WINNER.
wins souls, he is wise. He may be an Apollos, grand- ly rhetorical, whose lofty genius soars into the very heaven of eloquence ; and if he wins souls in that way he is wise, but not otherwise. Or he may be a Cephas, rough and rugged, using uncouth metaphor and stern declamation; but, if he wins souls, he is no less wise than his polished brother or his argumentative friend, but not else. The great wisdom of soul-winners, ac- cording to the text, is proven only by their actual suc- cess in really winning souls. To their own Master they are accountable for the ways in which they go to work, not to us. Do not let us be comparing and contrasting this minister and that. Who art thou that judges an- other man's servants? Wisdom is justified in all her children. Only children wrangle about incidental methods: men look at sublime results. Do these work- ers of many sorts and divers manners win souls? Then they are wise ; and you who criticise them, being your- selves unfruitful, cannot be wise, even though you afifect to be their judges. God proclaims soul-winners to be wise, dispute it who dare. This degree from the College of Heaven may surely stand them in good stead, let their fellow-mortals say what they will of them.
*'He that winneth souls is wise," and this can be seen very clearly. He must be a wise man in even ordinary respects who can by grace achieve so divine a marvel. Great soul-winners never have been fools. A man whom God qualifies to win souls could prob- ably do anything else which providence might allot him. Take Martin Luther, for instance. Why, sirs, the man was not only fit to work a Reformation, but he could have ruled a nation or have commanded an army! Think of Whiteiield, and remember that the thundering eloquence which stirred all England was
SOUL-WINNING EXPLAINED. 229
not associated with a weak judgment, or an absence of brain-power; the man was a master-orator, and if he had addicted himself to commerce, would have taken a chief place amongst the merchants, or had he been a politician, amid admiring- senates would have commanded the listening ear. He that winneth souls is usually a man who could have done anything else if God had called him to it. I know the Lord uses wdiat means He wills, but He always uses means suitable to the end; and if you tell me that David slew Goliath with a sling, I answer — it was the best w^eapon in the world to reach so tall a giant, and the very fittest weapon that David could have used, for he had been skilled in it from his youth up. There is always an adaptation in the instruments which God uses to pro- duce the ordained result; and though the glory is not to them, nor the excellence in them, but all is to be ascribed to God, yet is there a fitness and preparedness which God seeth, even if we do not. It is assuredly true that soul-winners are by no means idiots or sim- pletons, but such as God maketh wise for Himself, though vain-glorious wise-acres may dub them fools. "He that winneth souls is wise," because he has select- ed a wise object. I think it was Michael Angelo who once carved certain magnificent statues in snow. They are gone; the material readily compacted by the frost as readily melted in the heat. Far wiser was he when he fashioned the enduring marble, and produced works which will last all down the ages. But even marble it- self is consumed and fretted by the tooth of time ; and he is wise who selects for his raw material immortal souls, w^hose existence shall outlast the stars. If God shall bless us to the winning of souls, our w^ork shall re- main when the wood, and hay, and stubble of earth's art and science shall have gone to the dust from which
230 THE SOUL- WINNER.
they sprang. In heaven itself, the soul-winner, blessed of God, shall have memorials of his work preserved for ever in the galleries of the skies. He has selected a w'ise object, for w^hat can be wiser than to glorify God, and what, next to that, can be wiser than in the highest sense to bless our fellowmen; to snatch a soul from the gulf that yawns, to lift it up to the heaven that glorifies ; to deliver an immortal from the thraldom of Satan, and to bring him into the liberty of Christ? What more excellent than this? I say, that such an aim would commend itself to all right minds, and that angels themselves may envy us poor sons of men that we are permitted to make this our life-object, to win souls for Jesus Christ. Wisdom herself assents to the excellence of the design.
To accomplish such a work, a man must be wise, for to win a soul requires infinite wdsdoni. God Him- self wins not souls without wisdom, for the eternal plan of salvation was dictated by an infallible judg- ment, and in every line of it infinite skill is apparent. Christ, God's great Soul-Winner, is "the wisdom of God" as well as "the power of God." There is as much wasdom to be seen in the new creation as in the old. In a sinner saved, there is as much of God to be beheld as in a universe rising out of nothing; and we, then, w-ho are to be workers together with God, pro- ceeding side by side with Him to the great work of soul-winning, must be wise, too. It is a work which filled the Saviour's heart, a work which moved the mind of the Eternal Jehovah or ever the earth was. It is no child's play, nor a thing to be achieved while we are half asleep, nor to be attempted without deep consid- eration, nor to be carried on without gracious help from the only-wise God, our Saviour. The pursuit is wise.
Mark ye well, my brethren, that he who is success-
SOUL-WlNNlNG EXPLAINED. 231
fill ill soul-winning, will prove to have been a wise man in the judgment of those who see the end as well as the beginning. Even if 1 were utterly selfish, and had no care for anything l)ut my own happiness, I would choose, if I might, under God, to be a soul-winner, for never did 1 know perfect, overflow^ing, unutter- able happiness of the purest and most ennobling order till I first heard of one who had sought and found a Saviour through my means. I recollect the thrill of joy whicii went through me! No young mother ever rejoiced so much over her first-born child, no warrior was so exultant over a hard-won victory. Oh! the joy of knowing that a sinner once at enmity has been recon- ciled to God by the Holy Spirit, through the words spoken by our feeble lips. Since then, by grace given to me, the thought of which prostrates me in self- abasement, I have seen and heard of, not hundreds only, but even thousands of sinners turned from the error of their ways by the testimony of God in me. Let alTflictions come, let trials be multiplied as God willeth, still this joy preponderates above all others, the joy that we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ in every place, and that as often as we preach the Word, hearts are unlocked, bosoms heave with a new life, eyes weep for sin, and their tears are wiped aw^ay as they see the great Substitute for sin, and live.
Beyond all controversy, it is a joy worth worlds to win souls, and, thank God, it is a joy that does not cease with this mortal life. It must be no small bliss to hear, as one wings his flight up to the eternal throne, the wings of others fluttering at one's side towards the same glory, and turning round and questioning them, to hear them say, "We are entering with you through the gates of pearl, you brought us to the Saviour," and to be w^elcomed to the skies bv those who call us
232 THE SOUL-WINNER.
father in God — father in better bonds than those of earth, father through grace and sire for immortaUty. it will be bliss beyond compare, to meet in yon eternal seats with those begotton of us in Christ Jesus, for whom we travailed in birth, till Christ was formed in them the hope of glory. This is to have many heavens — a heaven in every one won for Christ, according to the Master's promise, "they that turn many to right- eousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever."
I have said enough, brethren, I trust, to make some of you desire to occupy the position of soul-winners; but before I further address myself to my text, I should like to remind you that the honour does not belong to ministers only; they may take their full share of it, but it belongs to every one of you who have devoted yourselves to Christ: such honour have all the saints. Every man here, every women here, every child here, whose heart is right with God, may be a soul-winner. There is no man placed by God's providence where he cannot do some good. There is not a glow-worm under a hedge but gives a needed light; and there is not a labouring man, a suffering woman, a servant- girl, a chimney-sweeper, or a crossing-sweeper, but has some opportunities for serving God; and what I have said of soul-winners, belongs not to the learned doctor of divinity, or to the eloquent preacher alone, but to you all who are in Christ Jesus. You can each of you, if grace enables you, be thus wise, and win the happiness of turning souls to Christ through the Holy Spirit.
I am about to dwell upon my text in this way — *'He that winneth souls is wise;" I shall, first, make that fact stand out a little clearer by explaini?ig the metaphor used ift the text — winning souls; and then, secondly; by giving you some lessons in the matter of
SOUL-WINNING EXPLAINED. 233
sou/-7ainning, through which I trust the conviction will be forced upon each believing mind that the work needs the highest wisdom.
I. First, LET US CONSIDER THE META- PHOR USED IX THE TEXT: "He that winneth souls is wise."
We use the word "win" in many ways. It is some- times found in very bad company, in those games of chance, juggling tricks and sleight-of-hand, or thimble- rigging (to use a plain word), by which sharpers are so fond of winning. I am sorry to say that much of legerdemain and trickery are to be met with in the religious world. Why, there are those who pretend to save souls by curious tricks, intricate manoeuvres, and dexterous posture-making! A basin of water, half-a- dozen drops, certain syllables — heigh, presto! — the in- fant is made a child of God, a member of Christ, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven ! This aqueous regeneration surpasses my belief; it is a trick which I do not understand: the initiated only can perform the beautiful piece of magic, which excels anything ever attempted by the Wizard of the North. There is a way, too, of winning souls by laying hands upon heads, only the elbows of the aforesaid hands must be en- cased in lawn, and then the machinery acts, and there is grace conferred by blessed fingers! I must confess I do not understand the occult science, but at this I need not wonder, for the profession of saving souls by such juggling can only be carried out by certain favoured persons who have received apostolical suc- cession direct from Judas Iscariot. This episcopal confirmation, when men pretend that it confers grace, is an infamous piece of juggling. The whole thing is
234 THE SOUL-WINNER.
an abomination. Only to think that, in this nineteenth century, there should be men who preach up salva- tion by sacraments, and salvation by themselves, for- sooth! Why, sirs, it is surely too late in the day to come to us with this drivel! Priestcraft, let us hope, is an anachronism, and the sacramental theory out of date. These things might have done for those who could not read, and in the days when books were scarce ; but ever since the day when the glorious Luther was helped by God to proclaim with thunder-claps the emancipating truth, *'By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God," there has been too much light for these Popish owls. Let them go back to their ivy-mantled towers, and complain to the moon of those who spoiled of old their kingdom of darkness. Let shaven crowns go to Bedlam and scarlet hats to the scarlet harlot, but let not Englishmen yield them respect, ^lodern Tractar- ianism is a bastard Poper};, too mean, too shifty, too double-dealing to delude men of honest minds. If we win souls, it shall be by other arts than Jesuits and shavelings can teach us. Trust not in any man who pretends to priesthood. Priests are liars by trade, and deceivers by profession. \\'e cannot save souls in their theatrical way. and do not want to do so, for we know that with such juggler}^ as that Satan will hold the best hand, and laugh at priests as he turns the cards against them at the last.
How do we win souls, then? Why, the word '*win" has a better meaning far. It is used in warfare. War- riors win cities and provinces. Now, to win a soul is a much more difficult thing than to win a city. Ob- ser\^e the earnest soul-winner at his work; how cau- tiously he seeks his great Captain's directions to know when to hang^ out the white flag to invite the heart to
SOUL-WlNNlNG EXPLAINED. 235
surrender to the sweet love of a dying Saviour; when, at the proper time, to hang out the black flag of threat- ening, showing that, if grace be not received, judg- ment will surely follow; and when to unfurl, with dread reluctance, the red flag of the terrors of God against stubborn, impenitent souls. The soul-winner has to sit down before a soul as a great captain before a walled town; to draw his lines of circumvallation, to cast up his entrenchments, and fix his batteries. He must not advance too fast, or he may overdo the fighting; he must not move too slowly, or he may seem not to be in earnest, and may do mischief. Then he must know which gate to attack — how to plant his guns at Ear- gate, and how to discharge them; how, sometimes, to keep the batteries going day and night with red-hot shot, if perhaps he may make a breach in the walls; at other times, to lie by and cease firing, and then, on a sudden, to open all the batteries with terrific violence, if peradventure he may take the soul by surprise, or cast in a truth when it was not expected, to burst like a shell in the soul, and do damage to the dominions of sin. The Christian soldier must know how to advance by little and little — to sap that prejudice, to undermine that old enmity, to blow into the air that lust, and at the last, to storm the citadel. It is his to throw the scal- ing ladder up,, and to have his ears gladdened as he hears a clicking on the wall of the heart, telling that the scaling ladder has grasped and has gained firm hold: and then, with his sabre between his teeth, to climb up, spring on the man. slay his unbelief in the name of God, capture the city, run up the blood-red flag of the cross of Christ, and say, "The heart is won, won for Christ at last." This needs a warrior well-trained, a master in his art. After many days' attack, man\ weeks of waiting, many an hour of storming by pray-
236 THE SOUL-WINNER.
er and battering by entreaty, to carry the Malakoff of depravity, this is the work, this is the difficulty. It takes no fool to do this. God's grace must make a man wise thus to capture Mansoul, to lead its captivity, captive, and open wide the heart's gates that the Prince Immanuel may come in. This is winning a soul.
The word "win" was commonly used among the ancients, to signify winning in the wrestling ?naich. When the Greek sought to win the laurel, or the ivy crown, he was compelled a long time before to put himself through a course of training; and when he came forth at last stripped for the encounter, he had no sooner exercised himself in the first few efforts than you saw how every muscle and every nerve had been developed in him. He had a stern opponent, and he knew it, and therefore left none of his energy un- used. While the wrestling was going on, you could see the man's eye, how he watched every motion, every feint of his antagonist, and how his hand, his foot, and his whole body were thrown into the encounter. He feared to meet with a fall: he hoped to give one to his foe. Now, a true soul-winner has often to come to close quarters with the devil within men. He has to struggle with their prejudice, with their love of sin, with their unbelief, with their pride, and then again, all of a sudden, to grapple with their despair; at one moment he strives with their self-righteousness, at the next moment with their unbelief in God. Ten thou- sand arts are used to prevent the soul-winner from be- ing conqueror in the encounter; but if God has sent him, he will never renounce his hold of the soul he seeks till he has given a throw to the power of sin, and won another soul for Christ.
Besides that, there is another meaning to the word "win" upon which I cannot expatiate here. We use
SOUL-WINNING EXPLAINED. 237
the word, you know, in a softer sense than these which have been mentioned, when we come to deal with hearts. There are secret and mysterious ways by which those who love win the object of their affection, whicli are wise in their fitness to the purpose. I cannot tell you how the lover wins his fond one, but experience has probably taught you. The weapon of this warfare is not always the same, yet where that victory is won the wisdom of the means becomes clear to every eye. The weapon of love is sometimes a look, or a soft word whispered and eagerly listened to; sometimes it is a tear; but this I know, that we have, most of us in our turn, cast around another heart a chain which that other would not care to break, and which has linked us twain in a blessed captivity which has cheered our life. Yes, and that is very nearly the way in which we have to save souls. That illustration is nearer the mark than any of the others. Love is the true way of soul-winning, for when I spoke of storming the walls, and when I spoke of wrestling, those were but metaphors, but this is near the tact. We win by love. We win hearts for Jesus by love, by sympathy with their sorrow, by anxiety lest they should perish, by plead- ing with God for them with all our hearts that they should not be left to die unsaved, by pleading with them for God that, for tlieir own sake, they would seek mercy and find grace. Yes, sirs, there is a spiritual wooing and wining of hearts for the Lord Jesus; and if you would learn the way, you must ask God to give you a tender heart and sympathising soul. I believe that much of the secret of soul-winning lies in having bowels of compassion, in having spirits that can be touched with the feeling of human infirmities. Carve a preacher out of granite, and even if you give him an angel's tongue, he will convert nobody. Put him
238 THE SOUL-WINNER.
into the most fashionable pulpit, make his elocution faultless, and his matter profoundly orthodox, but so long as he bears within his bosom a hard heart he can never win a soul. Soul-saving requires a heart that beats hard against the ribs. It requires a soul full of the miik of human kindness; this is the sine ijua 71071 of success. This is the chief natural qualification for a soul-winner, which, under God, and blessed of Him, will accomplish wonders.
I have not looked at the Hebrew of the text, but I find — and you who have marginal references to your Bibles will find — that it is, "He that /^^^M souls is wise," which word refers to fishing, or to bird-catching. Every Sunday, when I leave my house, as I come along, I cannot help seeing men, with their cages and their captive birds, tr^-ing all around the common, and in the fields, to catch poor little warblers. They under- stand the method of alluring and entrapping their vic- tims. Soul-winners might learn much from them. We must have our lures for souls, adapted to attract, to fas- cinate, to grasp. We must go forth with our bird-lime, our decoys, our nets, our baits, so that we may but catch the souls of men. Their enemy is a fowler pos- sessed of the basest and most astounding cunning; we must outwit him with the guile of honesty, the craft of grace. But the art is to be learned only by divine teaching, and herein we must be wise and willing to learn.
The man who takes fish must also have some art in him. Washington Irving, I think it is, tells us of some three gentlemen who had read in Izaak Walton all about the delights of fishing. So they must needs enter upon the same amusement, and accordingly they became disciples of the gentle art. They went into New York and bought the best rods and lines that could be
SOUL-WINNING EXPLAINED. 239