«ii^^, r^^ B;, :"ikl

^ ■ ''-tts.- ■''•5e'','''''

^. :^;

««'^> 'iS'' ■'t'

li, m 1

h..^ %f. -.1,

		%		1;	1; 1^
^		%■		:&		b'-''i
	■m		1^		:fc

m

^■■'...^^. ^^^^#;^P

E' ■v|J-"'^j

^^f,. '^-^ ^'v, ^^.

t^...;E

't: I' r- •??^

'■ -*t ■ 'it* ^'^''v ■■^'S-v,. -^-'-L- ^'^ ^-' *•• ■,v^^. #•. #- i^.^ M^. i^ ^.. ir; ^r. Cv ii^-^ ll-,. J. f, i:^

i--. %

•^ i^':.. ^'-^ ^.. ^- Ic- I ■ f.

m

EVERY CREATURE

BV 3790 .L2 1903

BV 3790 .L2 1903 Lamb, M. T. 1838-1912. Every creature

:^<

'^'^

^i i\\t ^¥ologxtui ^

PRINCETON, N. J

"^^

'*

%

II tuiunil fur tlif kineflom, hallelujah."

Page S5.

* *	^^^^^^^^^	* *
<i*		*
4-		^
	€i)ery Creature
^	Z'	►!<
^	,/ BY	*
►!<	Rev. m« C. DttiD	*
•K	Author of " The Mormons and Their Bible," etc.	*
^		•I^
*		»i<
^	Preach the gospel to every creature —New Testament	^
»!<		*
^		•J<
^	^ ^	*
^		^
•i*	PHILADELPHIA JImcrican Baptist Publication Society	>!<
•i<	1420 Chestnut Street	*
►K		*
>b		•i-
^ .ii	,ji,i,^,j^^^^,j<^	•i^ *

Copyright 1Q03 M. T. LAMB

Published August, 1903

Ifrom tbc prcee of tbe Bmertcan JBaptist publication Society

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this book is to awaken in the mind of the reader the consciousness that he is called person- ally to attempt the evangelization of men through his own personal contact and influence. It lays upon the individual himself what he has laid upon the ministry and the church as a whole, the obligation to have the one near him know of Christ. Generalization, and not specific, individual work, duty, obligation, char- acterizes the most of Christian activity. Those who know of that marvelous soul-winner. Uncle John Vassar, and his methods, find in him the exemplifi- cation of the truths herein suggested ; namely, hand to hand, heart to heart, personal interest and prayer and solicitation. He never lost the one in the many.

Compliance with the spirit and suggestions of this book will do three things :

1. Fix individual responsibility.

2. Increase the number of active church-members.

3. Give constant testimony to the power of con- secrated, individual, Christian life.

Beyond question, many in our churches are without joy and a sense of usefulness because of mistaken notions of service. Let them comply with the suggestions of this book, and church life will take on a new meaning, and they will read anew and aright the " Great Commission."

Trenton, N.J. J. K, MANNING.

ill

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE Command 5

II. Reaching Men 13

III. A Mischievous Error 24

iV. A Second Error 39

V. Sent to Save 55

VI. Incentives to action 73

Appendix 87

EVERY CREATURE

THE COMMAND

'* Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark i6 : 15).

ACCORDING to the census of 1890 there were, in round numbers, fourteen million church-members in our country, exclusive of the Roman Catholics, or about one Protestant church-member to every four and one-half of the population. The census of 1900 shows a very gratifying increase, namely, that the membership in the Protestant churches has increased more rap- idly than the population. So that to-day about one to every four is enrolled in Christian churches.

Another gratifying fact is that the Christian ele- ment is becoming more and more the dominating element. That is, it is absorbing more and more the wealthy and educated classes — the two classes that largely control society.

If, however, we carefully investigate the situa- tion regarding the thirty-eight to forty millions — exclusive of the Roman Catholics — who are still

5

6 EVERY CREATURE

outside of the ciuirches and are old enough to be led to Christ, two alarming facts will appear :

1. That the large majority of them are men. Probably three-fourths of the entire number are males, ranging in age from ten years and upward to mature life and old age. It is one of the sad facts that so few of the men are reached. And this is especially true of the young men. We are told that not over five per cent, of the young men in our country are enrolled in our churches or iden- tified in any form with Christian work.

2. The second unfortunate fact is that of these thirty-eight or forty million unsaved persons, but a very small per cent, attend church services, or are brought under any direct religious agencies, not even the special religious awakenings, street preach- ing. Salvation Army work, etc. There must be in the neighborhood of thirty million people who re- main outside and are apparently untouched by all present methods of Christian work. That is to say, present methods of Christian work reach not more than one-fourth of the unconverted people of our country. And this one-fourth is made up largely of the easy cases, if such a term is permissible — persons who are regular attendants upon religious service, of some kind, or who are willing to come on special occasions. The three-fourths who are left out because they do not, and, in most cases, will not come to any religious service, may be termed the hard cases — not hard to overcoming faith or in the plan of God, but apparently hard cases

THE COMMAND 7

because we do not know how to reach them, or if we know, have not been willing to put forth the needed effort.

But we are certainly waking up to the necessity and the vast importance of reaching all these out- lying masses — that is, a few are waking up. In the city of Trenton, N. J., four years ago, there was a very systematic and thorough canvass of the city. Volunteers were found who visited every home, with a card of invitation to the religious services which were being held every night in three different churches, situated so as to be con- venient of access to the outside masses that it was desired to reach. These services were con- tinued for a month. The pastors preached most earnest sermons, and were aided a portion of the time by a wise, consecrated, and successful evan- gelist. Similar efforts were made in a large num- ber of places all over the country, and are repeated year after year, in many places with great persist- ence and expense. But a most unfortunate fact is that the results of these methods are becoming more and more disappointing. The throngs who attend these special services are almost exclusively church-members. The people we want to reach will not come. An earnest invitation to come will not bring them.

The writer was present some time ago at an even- ing service conducted by a very earnest and godly man (an evangelist). There were present probably one hundred and fifty persons. About twenty of

8 EVERY CREATURE

tliese were young converts, young people converted during the previous evenings. The services were very impressive throughout. Earnest appeals were made to the unconverted, appeals that it would seem could hardly be resisted. But when the leader asked the unconverted present to show their interest, there was no response. When a little later he invited all who indulged a hope in Christ to rise, every person in the house arose. There were no unconverted persons present. The good brethren were nonplussed at this unexpected development, and the conclusion finally reached was that should this condition of things continue for two more evenings, they would close the meetings.

Could they, just at this interesting point, have introduced a new preacher of world-wide repute, or an eccentric man who knew how to attract the outsiders ; or could they have had as a drawing card some gifted singer, a few of the great mass of the unsaved in that town might have been at- tracted, and very likely benefited by the warm and earnest services. But not being able to command these extra attractions, they found themselves ap- parently helpless.

And this is no exceptional case by any means. A large majority of the best-planned and best-con- ducted revival efforts to-day close after a few days or weeks without special results, and chiefly be- cause they are not able to attract the unconverted to the services ; while the revival efforts that are accounted successful are usually brought to a pre-

THE COMMAND 9

mature close because they have exhausted the material. The few cases, easy cases, that can be attracted into the meeting, are converted, or appar- ently so, and then the meetings close because no others are willing to come. Over one-half of all the adults in that community — more than three-fourths of these being men — are as yet unreached ; but the meetings must close because the leader and the workers in the church do not seem to know any alternative. At the very point too of largest promise, when the Holy Spirit has begun to move upon the community and the church has reached a measure of consecration that fits its individual members for an aggressive movement upon the largest scale, the meetings close, the harvest ends, and the great multitude remains unsaved.

In our judgment, the most important and practi- cal question of to-day is the question, "How to reach these unreached throngs." Is it God's plan and purpose that only those shall be reached who can be with comparative ease ? Or is the fault in our present methods ? Certainly the command is, "Preach the gospel to every creature"; but by present methods this command is practically impos- sible. If we preach the gospel only to those who will come and hear us, and one-half of the people for various reasons will not come, then either this command of our Lord is a farce, or impracticable, or our present methods of obeying it are at fault ; and if the fault lies at our door, what is it ?

The fact that we are not obeying our Lord's com-

10 EVERY CREATURE

mand, " Preach the gospel to every creature," cer- tainly ought to awaken some anxiety and lead to profound questionings. For really such a religious effort as was made in Trenton and has become the fashion all over the country, is not obeying this last command of our Lord. It is a very important and valuable movement, if not over-estimated. That is, it is getting ready to obey, but it is not obedience.

The farmer who, in cultivating his field of corn, should secure his team of horses and carefully feed and fit them for the summer's work, and make ready his cultivator, sharpen its teeth, etc., then go over his entire field, counting the hills of corn, noting the progress of the weeds, discovering the stumps and large boulders and other difficulties that must be met — and then sit down for the summer, would be counted a fool, and if an employee, would certainly be discharged. All this is simply getting ready for work ; it does not cultivate one hill of corn.

So a thorough canvass of the city, counting the number of unsaved, inviting every one of them as politely and earnestly as we may to attend a relig- ious service and become interested in the subject of religion, is not preaching the gospel to these unsaved ones, it may be getting ready to obey the Great Commission, but is not obedience, and if offered to our great Commander as such, is an insult to his intelligence, as well as to ours ; and is very likely a sufficient reason why he seems to be growing weary of such efforts and fails to crown them with former successes.

THE COMMAND II

In Luke 5 : 4-10 is recorded an exceedingly sug- gestive incident. Those Galilean disciples were skillful fishermen ; fishing had been their life-work and study. They knew the little Sea of Galilee from shore to shore ; knew the haunts of the fish and all the best methods of beguiling them into their nets. And yet this day they had been un- successful. "We have toiled all the night and have taken nothing." No sooner, however, does Jesus get into the boat than the command comes, " Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught." And when they had done this, " They enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their part- ners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships so that they began to sink." The scene closes with the significant words, "Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men."

The scene suggests that this may have been a designed object-lesson on the successful method of catching men. These disciples were unsuccessful all that previous night, apparently for two reasons :

I. They seem to have been fishing all the time in shallow water. At least the sequel showed that there was a great multitude of unreached fish out in the deep water, fish that could not be induced to leave their wonted haunts that night by all the arts and tempting bait of the fishermen ; and if caught at all must be caught right where they were con- gregated.

12 EVERY CREATURE

2. They did not have the Master with them. It is true they had fished all their lives without him ; but now conditions had changed ; they had yielded themselves to a new Master, and he would teach them thoroughly, at the very beginning of their new life with him, "Without me ye can do nothing."

Have we as churches been fishing in the shallow water thus far, content to reach the fish that may be induced to come where we are and failed to hear the explicit command, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught " ? Or have our efforts to reach these multitudes out in the "deep" been made without the Master's presence and direction, trusting to our wisdom of words, or eloquent speech, or power of logic to reach men instead of an indwelling Christ ?

In any event this is an unspeakably important discussion. I firmly believe it lies at the basis of successful Christian work during the twentieth century. Present methods have grown up out of false conceptions of important, central truths. Mis- chievous errors have been playing the mischief. Let us see what we can discover.

REACHING MEN

" For there went virtue out of him and healed them all " (Luke 6 : 19).

FOR years past it has been a fond hope of the author to prepare a small treatise upon the subject, " Our privilege to come to Christ in behalf of others, especially those whom we cannot persuade to come for themselves," the discussion being founded upon the lesson from the miracles. This chapter will contain a few points briefly pre- sented from the above contemplated discussion.

1. Out of nearly forty specific cases of healing recorded in the four Gospels, only six came for them- selves, and were healed because of their own indi- vidual faith. Such were blind Bartimeus, the leper, the woman with the issue of blood, etc.

2. About twenty cases were brought to Christ by others, and were healed, not primarily because of their own faith or their own asking, but because of the faith and the asking of the persons who brought them. To the Syro-Phoenician mother Jesus said : " O woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou wilt." And her daughter was healed in that very hour. To the nobleman from Caper- naum, who came in behalf of his son, Jesus said :

13

14 EVERY CREATURE.

" Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not be- lieve." To the father of the boy with the dumb spirit he said : " if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth," And while it seems evident that the man sick of the palsy had the faith needed to secure his own healing, yet as if on purpose to emphasize Christ's interest in the ministry of others the record says : " And Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy," not the sick man's faith, but the faith of the four men who at so much pains and effort let him down before Jesus through the roof of the house.

3. These twenty cases that were brought by others were hard cases — persons who could not or would not come for themselves. They were per- sons already dead, who could not come for them- selves, or possessed with demons and would not come for themselves, or they had the palsy, or were so crippled, or were so low with disease that they were physically unable to come for themselves.

4. These hard cases were apparently not only just as easily cured, but just as willingly cured as the six persons who appealed to Jesus in their own behalf. That is, whether it was the individual's own faith or the faith of another did not seem to affect the result, if it was real genuine faith. Those who came in behalf of others were as certain of a hearing, and as uniformly successful, as those who came in their own behalf.

Now, as I read the word, the object of Jesus' life here was to reveal God the Father through the

REACHING MEN I 5

person of his Son. The object of the miracles was to bear witness not only to his power but espe- cially to his great love, his tender sympathy for our race. And as the greater includes the less, we reach the conclusion that all that he was willing to do for the body while he was here in the flesh he is now far more willing to do for the soul, hi fact we cannot conceive him refusing for the spiritual nature what he so readily did for the physical. Do we not all believe and teach without hesitation that Jesus is able and willing to save every one who comes to him and asks for himself with faith ? We point the sinner whose spiritual eyes are blinded to blind Bartimeus. To the one who finds himself full of the leprosy of sin, we preach the gospel of healing with the poor leper as our text. These spiritual lessons from the physical miracles in our Lord's ministry have been drawn by all the lead- ing preachers and teachers of New Testament the- ology from the apostles' day until the present, so far as I am aware.

But if we are justified in saying to the anxious sinner, " Jesus while here on earth never turned one away who came for himself with believing faith, and therefore will not, cannot turn you away," shall we not say with the same assurance to the earnest Christian who becomes anxious for a lost soul :

Jesus is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever ; and as he never turned one away who came to him in behalf of a friend or a neighbor who was sick or crippled or palsied or

l6 EVERY CREATURE

possessed with demons or was dead, so he will not, cannot turn you away, if you with the same confidence and faith come to him in behalf of one whose soul is palsied or pos- sessed with demons or Is dead.

I have taken this position for years past, and taught it in public and private.

The twenty-six cases above noted from the four Gospels we suppose were selected for record simply as specimens of the hundreds and thousands of miracles performed by our Lord during his three and a half years of public ministry. And these are recorded to teach us all the lessons we need as to Jesus' sympathy and love and the conditions and the acceptable methods of approaching him either for ourselves or for others.

Is it therefore an unimportant fact that there were recorded at least three times as many persons who were brought to Christ by others as came in their own' behalf ? For this proportion of three to one, or thereabouts, is evidently not accidental. The careful reader of the Gospel narrative will easily discover that the ministry of others is made the prominent feature in the history of the miracles. Not only were there twenty cases brought by others, as against six who came for themselves, but in every record of wholesale miracle-working, that is, where a multitude is gathered together, and a large number are healed in a single evening or in a day, the statements are so worded as to make prominent only the ministry of others, as for instance Matt. 8 : i6, "And when the even was

REACHING MEN \j

come they brought unto him many that were pos- sessed with devils, and he cast out the spirits with his word and healed all that were sick."

In Matt. 14 : 35, 36, the statement is :

"And when the men of that place had knowl- edge of him they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased :

"And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment ; and as many as touched were made perfectly whole."

In the next chapter we are told that Jesus re- tired into a mountain of Galilee, and when his whereabouts became known :

"Great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet ; and he healed them."

It is quite probable that some of these sick people, as soon as Jesus' presence was announced and ex- plained to them, readily comprehended the situa- tion, and at once appealed to him in their own behalf. All this is possible and even quite probable. Yet the record says nothing of these personal ap- peals, but it does make exceedingly prominent the ministry of others.

So then it cannot be accidental that three times as many cases are recorded of persons healed through the personal efforts and the faith of inter- ested friends or neighbors, as came in their own behalf.

B

l8 EVERY CREATURE

And this proportion of three to one becomes ex- ceedingly suggestive and practical to us to-day in view of the facts stated in Chapter 1., that our efforts and our faith are largely limited to the easy cases, embracing possibly one-fourth of the unsaved persons in our country, while the three-fourths, the harder cases, remain unreached. We spend vast sums of money and make prodigious efforts to per- suade one person to come to our gospel feast, while the three persons who will not be persuaded to come for themselves are counted out, and our consciences are easily relieved of responsibility in their behalf.

If, however, we have rightly read the lesson from the miracles, this great outside throng is within reach of earnest Christian effort, and within the all-embracing compassion of our Lord.

The limits of this treatise will not permit a full discussion of this unspeakably momentous subject, but we will endeavor very briefly to outline what we conceive to be the Bible teaching.

Briefly, then, we believe the Bible teaches :

1. That the word of God, backed up by the divine Spirit, is so " sharp " and so " quick " (life- giving) and so "powerful" that it becomes prac- tically irresistible when properly presented and clearly apprehended.

2. That the divine Spirit is able, and in answer to earnest believing prayer is willing, to take the word of God which we in our helplessness have attempted to present to the hardened sinner, and so clarify it and hold it up so persistently and ex-

REACHING MEN I9

hibit its meaning so unmistakably that tiiis hardened sinner will yield to it.

Two brief incidents will sufficiently explain what we mean to teach :

I. An earnest colporter met an unusually rough and ungodly captain of a canal boat and handed him a gospel tract. To show his contempt of things divine the captain uttered a horrid oath, tore the tract in pieces, and threw it out into the water in the presence of the colporter. A small bit of the tract stuck to one of his dirty fuigers. He hap- pened to glance at it and saw the word "God." He picked it from his finger, and in doing so saw on the other side the word "eternity." He threw it out into the water and went his way full of blasphemy and hatred of everything pertaining to God. But strangely enough those two words, "God," "eternity," kept coming up in his mind. He thought to brush them away with a laugh and a jeer, but for some reason they would not down. All day long they bothered him. Do what he would they kept intruding themselves. At night he imag- ined he could easily close his eyes upon the un- pleasant picture, but for the first time in years he found himself unable to sleep. Those two words, most potent and most portentous, kept staring him in the face and gave him no rest or slumber. They grew more potent and more portentous every hour. The next day matters became still worse, and the final outcome was that tliose two words, " God " and "eternity," were held up before the mind and

20 EVERY CREATURE

thought of that wicked man until he saw their meaning, and saw it so clearly that he was led to yield himself to God and prepare for eternity.

Now our claim is that it was the Holy Spirit who did this. It is his province to take of the "things of Christ" and "show them unto us." It belongs to him, by the use of the word of God as his sharp sword, to "convince men of sin and of righteous- ness and of judgment." And our belief is that the Holy Spirit is willing to do this in any given case in answer to earnest prayer, if such earnest prayer is supplemented by the right kind of effort on our part.

2. A second incident coming under my own ob- servation will bring out into a clearer light the human agency, or the part God's people may play.

While assisting a pastor in a special meeting in

an intelligent lady was converted, who had

been greatly troubled with skepticism. She had a very dear friend, a Mrs. Skinner, equally intelli- gent, but an open and avowed infidel, a skeptic of a very pronounced type. The very first meeting she attended after her own conversion this good lady asked us all to pray for her friend. The next time she came she repeated the request more ear- nestly than before. She persevered in repeating this request until we all became deeply interested in this case and began earnest prayer for her. In a few days Mrs. Skinner consented to come with her friend to one of our meetings, but became so angry at what she heard that she declared she would never come again. Prayer, however, was continued, and

REACHING MEN 21

a week later she came again and was still more angry, asserting with increased decision that she would not darken that church door again. This was repeated for several weeks, as the meetings were continued, with no relaxation of earnest prayer for this troubled woman, for it soon became evi- dent that she was passing through a very severe mental and spiritual conflict. She reached a point where she could not stay away from the meetings but a night or two at a timej and yet every time she came she would profess to be displeased.

I shall never forget the night when the answer came. The church was filled with people. Mrs. Skinner was seated with others on a seat under the window by the side of the pulpit, and when an in- vitation was given for persons in the congregation who desired the prayers of God's people to come forward and occupy the two front seats, instead of stepping out to the seat in front of the pulpit Mrs. Skinner arose and with great deliberation and de- cision said : " Friends, I have decided to be a bur- den on your hearts no longer. Your Jesus I receive as my Jesus."

The next day she came to the afternoon meeting and very promptly offered herself as a candidate for baptism. The pastor, after examining several other candidates, came to her and began by saying : " Sister Skinner, do you think you have found the Saviour ? " She was puzzled for a moment over the form of the question, but presently answered : " Mr. F , I think the Saviour has found me."

22 EVERY CREATURE

Mr. F asked no further questions. Tears of

joy and gratitude came to all our eyes. In a won- derful way God had heard prayer, and in answer a mind poisoned by error, and one of the hardest and most stubborn wills I have ever met, had been sweetly forced to yield to Christ.

hi this case God's three agents are very plainly seen, and their place and specific work given and clearly defined — the word, the Holy Spirit, and God's people. God's people held aloft the word of life, and it being refused and stubbornly resisted, the aid of the mighty Spirit was more and more invoked by persistent prayer. He took this word, the things of Christ, and so showed them to this stubborn soul that at length she yielded to their influence and was saved.

Of course, a thorough discussion of this subject would involve a presentation of several important Bible truths, as, for instance, why is the word of God irresistible when properly presented and at- tended by the divine Spirit 1 our duty and privilege to faithfully present God's word, and the ability and the willingness of the Holy Spirit to make effectual use of the word which we present to such hardened sinners in answer to earnest, believ- ing prayer.

This last would also involve a discussion of the subject of prevailing prayer, what it is, and why the Holy Spirit can do or will do in answer to such praying what he is unwilling to do in the absence of such praying, and also the place that " fasting "

REACHING MEN 23

and " all-night praying " may sometimes occupy as a natural adjunct of very earnest praying.

All these considerations, while exceedingly im- portant and vital to the subject under discussion, yet have to be omitted for brevity's sake, and per- haps may suggest themselves to the earnest reader who shall heartily accept the conclusions and the reasonings found in this brief treatment.

Ill

A MISCHIEVOUS ERROR

" And he gave some . . . pastors and teachers, for the per- fecting of the sanits unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ" (Eph. 4:11, 12).

THERE are certain mischievous errors that have come down to us from the past, and are therefore thoroughly rooted and grounded in the thought and the life of the Christian church to- day, that stand directly in the way of God's plan of reaching the great mass of unsaved ones by persist- ent, informal, individual effort, rather than by the more public and formal presentation of the gospel.

And the first and perhaps most dangerous of these is the prevalent error regarding the work of the ministry ; the pastor's relation to his people and their relation to him.

Many seem to believe that the chief business of the ministry is to preach, and the chief business of the laity to support said preachers. We are called "preachers" by way of distinction.

One of our best thinkers thus plainly states his position :

The Great Commission was given to the apostles primarily, but as trustees. Now 1 think the work of preaching and bap- tizing is, ordinarily, ministerial work, and that the part of the 24

A MISCHIEVOUS ERROR 2$

church at large in that commission is to see that it is done by pastors, missionaries, etc., looldng them out, sending them, praying for and supporting tiiem.

And this is evidently a very generally received view as to the church's relation to the Great Com- mission. That her obligation as to its claims is chiefly, if not entirely canceled when she has sought out from her own ranl<s men divinely called, and has set them apart to the wori< of the ministry, and sent them forth, and supported them with her money and her prayers. That is, that the church's way to reach the masses is chiefly t/irough the clergy, through her own pastor and his assistants, for tlie work at home ; and through missionaries for the work abroad.

The author, however, frankly avows his convic- tion that this view instead of being scriptural, is the offspring of Rome, one of the unfortunate heir- looms of the great apostasy which the Reformation failed to kill, and that has entailed more of disaster and spiritual death upon the church as a body than almost any other heresy, its saddest outcome being that the great body of our laymen have never felt the responsibility of personal effort. They pay their money to secure a man to do this work ; and this, together with the feeling that they are not personally adapted to such work, have not the gifts or ability, as they imagine, to do it successfully, has had the effect to quiet their consciences and throw off any feeling of responsibility. And when the appalling destitution around them and all over

26 EVERY CREATURE

the world is clearly presented, the value of the soul and the superior claims of the future life, and they are aroused to do more than they have been doing, their fust and chief thought is to secure an evangelist, a singer, a lay missionary, or some other attraction, to assist the pastor. It never occurs to them that this is a work they ought to do and must do them- selves ; and that no proxies, however well qualified, can shift the responsibility from their own shoulders, or please God, or successfully accomplish the work.

We ask the reader's attention to a single passage that presents in one sentence the pastor's relation to his people as well as their relation to him and their great mission on earth : "And he gave some to be apostles, and some prophets, and some evan- gelists, and some pastors and teachers. For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of minister- ing, unto the building up of the body of Christ" (Eph.4: II, 12).

The old version is misleading. Those good old bishops in King James' day were evidently so com- pletely saturated with the universal sentiment of their day that the clergy was a specially privileged class, with sacred functions beyond the reach of the "laity," that they were unable to understand this very simple, straightforward statement of the apostle, and so practically garbled the passage by putting in three " fors " where the apostle put in only one. They made it read : " For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ."

A MISCHIEVOUS ERROR 2^

This would seem to say tliat the pastor had three things to do, perfect the saints, do the work of the ministry, and edify the body of Christ. Paul said nothing of the kind. What he did say would work a complete revolution in present-day methods, for he makes the pastor's chief business, his greatest work to be to reach the unsaved through Ids people.

The passage intimates quite as plainly that the business of the church is not mainly to support its pastor and build him an audience room and furnish it with various attractions, but to do the work of ministering ; that is, every form of service that will ** build up " the body of Christ.

But let us focus the light from other passages upon these words of Paul, and see if we can get a still clearer view of their meaning.

There are at least five words descriptive of five well-known occupations in life that are in various places in the Bible used to describe or illustrate the position of the pastor in his relation to his people. They are "husbandman," "shepherd," "watch- man," " captain," and " overseer," and every one of these is squarely against the prevalent heresy we are combating.

I. " Husbandman." God's people are his vine- yard and the pastor is the keeper of the vineyard, the husbandman. But the husbandman produces no fruit. All the fruit is gathered from the vine- yard. To-day the pastor is expected to do the pro- ducing, while God's vineyard, the church, care- fully nourishes and encourages him.

28 EVERY CREATURE

2. The pastor is a "shepherd " ; his people are the flock of sheep. His business is to feed and care for the flock. But all the outcome of his toil must come from the flock. The shepherd produces no fleece ; he brings forth no lambs. His study and care is not how he himself may produce, but how he can so feed and care for his flock that they may produce the largest results.

3. "Watchman." When a watchman sees an enemy coming it is not his business to get down from his watch-tower, buckle on his armor, and chase the enemy away. His duty is simply to arouse the garrison of soldiers stationed within. It is their business to buckle on the armor and re- pulse the enemy.

4. The word " captain " is frequently used in the Old Testament to designate the business of the leaders of God's hosts. A captain never says to his men in the presence of an advancing foe : " Boys, do you see the enemy yonder ? Now, you be good fellows ; you shout and encourage, and support, and pray for me, and I'll march there among them and fight and disperse them," The very statement of such a conception destroys it. But evidently this is the conception of many in our churches to-day, who suppose that their main duty is performed when they stand by, holding up the hands of the pastor, and support him, while he marches into the thickest of the fight, and does his best as a champion soldier. The successful captain is not the man who can do the best fighting by

A MISCHIEVOUS ERROR 29

himself, or who has the most powerful and the most dextrous right arm ; but the man who can make the best soldiers out of his hundred men. For each of his men has a right arm that may be made as strong and as skillful as his own.

5. The word "overseer" is, however, the com- pletest word, and most frequently used in the New Testament to describe the work of the pastor. " Over whom the Holy Ghost hath made you over- seers " (Acts 20 : 28). What is the business of an overseer in a shop where a hundred men are employed ?

Manifestly not to do the work of that shop. The hundred men are employed for that purpose. Man- ifestly too, his business is not to call his hundred men together once a week and deliver to them a carefully prepared address upon their duties to their employers, etc., and then dismiss them to their homes until he can prepare another address. Nor is it the business of those employees to get out once or twice a week to hear their overseer's elo- quent address, pat him on the shoulder and say, " That was a very encouraging and helpful ad- dress," and then make a contribution toward his salary and the expense of lighting and warming the shop. No, no, each one of these hundred men is employed to do an honest day's work every day in the week, and this overseer is put there to see that he does it. He is to find a place for each one, and look after his work, to help the new beginners, and so have general charge of the work of that shop.

30 EVERY CREATURE

And his success as an overseer will be determined, not at all by his own ability to turn off a large amount of work, but by his ability to get the largest amount of work and the best work from each one of his hundred men.

How plain and simple, then, these words of the apostle become. God gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors (overseers), and teachers, a large array of helpers, all for one grand purpose, " for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ; till we all come," apostles, prophets, evangelists, overseers, teachers, and people together, "in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Every individual member grown into manhood. In this way only will there be developed skilled workmen enough to do easily and well all the work required in bringing a revolted world back to Jesus Christ.

The writer desires to relate how his eyes were first opened to a clear understanding of the meaning of the Great Commission in its relation to the neg- lected ones immediately around us.

Over thirty years ago he was pastor of a small Baptist church in the city of Valparaiso, hid. The membership was about one hundred. The Meth- odist and Presbyterian churches were much stronger, each having two hundred and fifty or over, both also sustaining a flourishing academy that brought into their congregations a large number of young

A MISCHIEVOUS ERROR 31

people. These three and a little Christian church, with a score of members, constituted the religious furnishings of the city and the adjacent country, containing, all told, a population of about four thousand. The Baptist church was in very great need of a revival ; there had been no conversions for years, the spiritual state was low, the Sunday- school small, congregations meagre, and scarcely any unconverted at either Sabbath service. The pastor had frequently prepared sermons for the un- converted, and had been obliged to preach them to professing Christians only. By some careful figur- ing he had ascertained that there were at least fifteen hundred people old enough to be Christians, who never went inside of a church door. He had also come into possession of two other facts that began to trouble him. The first was that the Methodist and Presbyterian churches were not likely to look after those fifteen hundred people. Having a large number of unconverted already in their con- gregations, they found plenty of material to work upon without seeking new. If, therefore, these fifteen hundred were to be looked after, the Bap- tists must do it.

But a second fact, still more perplexing, was that neither the Baptist pastor, nor the membership, nor the choir, nor the church edifice was sufficiently attractive to draw any one of these fifteen hundred people. How to reach them was therefore a most perplexing problem.

They thought they had a solution. Good Brother

32 EVERY CREATURE

Ash, pastor at Laporte, twenty-five miles east, was very popular in Valparaiso. Whenever he came a full house greeted him ; and he had given encour- agement that he would help when needed. So after the week of prayer, special meetings were begun, and Brother Ash was invited. But for some reason lie would not come. Two deacons were sent, but failed to bring him ; then the pastor went, but he would not come. We felt indignant, for there seemed no good reason ; but the Lord had shut him up, and he just would not come.

Meanwhile the meetings were continued without a particle of interest, only a growing anxiety on the part of a few members to have a revival. The pas- tor could not preach extemporaneously, and had used up all his old preparations before the meeting began, and of course could not prepare a written sermon every day that had any drawing power in it. When he had a whole week for preparation he was unable to draw the unconverted on the Sabbath, much less on a week night. He felt the humiliation of his position very keenly, but not a bit more so than his good brethren did. But what could be done ? A little handful of anxious ones meeting every night, praying for a revival, and yet completely beaten when Brother Ash obstinately said " no."

As a next best thing the pastor wrote to every Baptist minister within reach of Valparaiso, but was unsuccessful everywhere.

Three weeks thus passed, when as a last resort

A MISCHIEVOUS ERROR 33

he went to Chicago to secure Brother Hunt, then a ' very successful Sunday-school man, a lay worker, and a warm personal friend. Brother Hunt " wanted to come very much, but was so situated," etc. He fmally said: "Go and get Brother Brace." Brother Brace was a young man, a convert of only three years, without education, a foreigner, with a brogue that almost made it difficult to understand him at first acquaintance, uncouth in his appearance, and witho-ut a particle of polish in his manners, but a warm-hearted, genial young Christian, full of love for Jesus, and willing to do all he could for him. He was a mason by trade, with a mother and two sisters depending upon him for their support. How- ever, by our becoming personally responsible for his wages as a mason, Brother Brace was secured. He brought with him a satchel full of tracts and papers, and proposed to visit every family in the city, and speak an earnest word to every individual in each family ; but he wanted somebody to go with him. "Two by two," he said, "was the gospel plan." It was with considerable difficulty that a partner was secured. Several of our best brethren and sisters had nothing specially important on hand just then ; but the very idea of doing such a work almost took their breath away. Finally good Brother Wallace consented to go with Brother Brace, on condition that he " shouldn't be expected to take any part during the day ! " They began in the morning, starting en the street next to the church. They stopped at every house, Methodists, Presby-

C

34 EVERY CREATURE

terians, everybody. Brother Brace was very per- sistent, yet without offense, in seeing every person in the house — the hired girl, the man sawing wood out in the back shed, every child, large and small. A few, earnest, tender words, a prayer where found desirable, and a warm invitation to attend the meeting at night, these were the means used.

The very first night we had some new faces in our congregation and a new interest. In fact, Brother Wallace had found his heart and his mouth opened long before the evening service ! Within a week the house was full, and nearly a dozen had asked for prayer. The Methodists who had been conducting a meeting during all these weeks with indifferent interest, began to wake up, and very soon their house was full. We sent for the Pres- byterian pastor who was helping somewhere in a meeting ; he came home, opened his church, and it was soon crowded. And thus for weeks, the work developed more and more power, until salva- tion almost literally "ran down our streets like a river." It was by far the most extended and powerful work of grace Valparaiso had ever en- joyed. I do not know the number of professed conversions, several hundred, but I know that every person in Valparaiso had the message of sal- vation earnestly presented to him two or three times, at least, before that meeting closed. For Brother Brace and partner had been at work but three or four days, when several other parties were ready to fall into line, and ere the meetings closed

A MISCHIEVOUS ERROR 35

a large number of the converts had also undertaken the same good work.

This was my first real lesson on the Great Com- mission. It proved a most effectual commentary, es- pecially in two directions : it gave a new and a very real meaning to the one word " every creature," and it quite unsettled me as to the exalted position and the exclusive heritage of the clergy.

Will the pastors who read these pages suffer this word of exhortation, that you attempt as rapidly as possible to get into the position of "overseers " ? I mean by this that you come to regard the work of developing the individual members of your church into soul winners as your first work, rather than the preparation and delivery of sermons. And further, that you convince yourself thoroughly that the true way, in fact the only effectual way, of doing this is not primarily through sermons and prayer meeting talks, but by actually doing it. That is, taking one and another and another of your members right out into the field, the "highways and hedges " and showing them how to do personal work, just as an "overseer" would initiate a beginner in the shop. If you have not been doing this in the past, your work, from an overseer's standpoint, has largely been a failure, has it not ? You have had one hundred, two hundred, five hun- dred of the Lord's employees under your charge for the past five, ten, twenty, or possibly thirty years, and how many of these employees have become skilled workmen under your direction ^ The num-

36 EVERY CREATURE

ber of developed soul winners in your church must be the test of your success as an overseer.

The ordinary overseer whose men were as "raw " after five or ten years of his oversight as when they began work under him, v^%uld certainly be counted a complete failure. Should he reply, "Nay, but I have delivered the most earnest ad- dresses to these workmen. 1 have reasoned with them and pleaded with them as earnestly as I am capable, and they have responded in the most hearty 'amens,' have said, oh, so many times, ' What a splendid address,' ' How practical,' ' How plain,' * How inspiring,' * Bound to do good.' Cer- tainly I have had every evidence of my men's appreciation."

Our answer would have to be : " All this may be true, but you were employed in that shop to set those men to work and keep them at work, sliow- ing them how, etc. Instead of this, you have been addressing them, talking eloquently to tliem, and finding gratification in their clieers and their hearty appreciation of your ability as a speaker, your many manly qualities, etc., while the real work of that shop and the great interests of your employer have been sacrificed. As a matter of fact, under your manipulation, or at least by your tacit con- sent as their overseer, those employees have reached the conclusion that they can stay at home six days in tlie week and run business of their own and yet expect wages as employees."

Of course the illustration of a shop and its over-

A MISCHIEVOUS ERROR 37

seer cannot be pushed in all directions. God is not running a shop for the pay he can get out of it ; nor will he go into bankruptcy if his employees re- fuse or fail to do their work. And yet, as we have already learned, more than one-half of the adults in our favored land, and ninety-eight out of every one hundred, taking all the rest of the world to- gether, are as yet untouched by the saving influ- ences of the gospel. And though God himself can- not become bankrupt, or ultimately fail of accom- plishing his great purposes of grace and love, yet more than a thousand million souls are to-day going into eternal bankruptcy because God's people have failed to hear his trumpet call, " Go ye into all the world and preacii the gospel to every creature." God is not willing that any one of these thousand millions should perish ; but, as we have found, is depending upon his people as his body to go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in. And beloved brethren, because God thought he could trust you with so important a mission, he has put you into the ministry, and given you the charge of his workmen. Did he make a mistake in the selection of his leaders ^

If Paul told the truth as to the object, the great business of the Christian ministry (Eph. 4 : 12), to develop the saints until they shall be able to do all kinds of service and to build up the body of Christ, then I fear that the large proportion of us have been pitiable failures ! Ten years, perhaps twenty or thirty years of oversight and drilling, and the most

38 EVERY CREATURE

of our men not a whit better than when we began ! No more skillful as workmen, no larger as Chris- tians, almost as completely babes as the day they were born ! Many of them, in fact, smaller and weaker than on the day of their birth ! A very good proof this that our methods must be at fault.

Rev. Doctor Manning, in his hitroduction, speaks of Uncle John Vassar, who is known and revered by thousands of souls whom he was permitted to lead to Christ, and is loved and admired by a great host of God's people who were helped and inspired by his thorough consecration to God and his great love for lost men. Only a humble lay- man, with little education and no large brain cali- ber ; yet what a wondrous power for good ! Every- where he went he was "a burning and a shining light," waking up sleeping Christians and setting whole communities on fire ! My brother pastor, are you sure there are not a score of Uncle John Vassars among the men and women of your church, only awaiting your molding hand, and subject to your call ?

IV

A SECOND ERROR " Without me ye can do nothing " (John 15:5).

THERE is a second mischievous error, closely related to the one just considered, quite as prevalent, and quite as unfortunate in its ability to paralyze effort. It is the very common error as to the kind of effort required in winning a soul to Christ. The very general conception seems to be that it is largely a mental struggle, a sharp contest between mind and mind, the weaker finally yielding to the superior logic, the impassioned ap- peal, the irresistible eloquence, or the hypnotic in- fluences of the stronger.

The following excuses will suggest the prevalent drift of thought :

" I can't talk with people so as to make any impression upon them."

" That neighbor over there can talk all around me, there is not a particle of use of my visiting there."

" 1 am not sufficiently posted on the evidences to reply to

Mr. H 's objections to the Bible, so what is the use of my

calling upon him? "

" If I had the learning, or the knowledge of human nature, or such ability to get at people as my pastor possesses, I would not hesitate a moment."

39

40 EVERY CREATURE

" There is Mrs. S , she is not especially gifted in speech

but she is wealthy, her husband is the mayor of the city, or a senator. People respect her, and will listen attentively to whatever she says. My husband is not so fortunate ; no one cares particularly for me ; so what is the use?"

" Oh, 1 suppose if 1 were thoroughly consecrated, like Sister

E , if my heart were brimming full of love for the Master

and of tender interest for souls, so that whenever 1 spoke to them the tears would come unbidden, and 1 could just over- whelm them by my emotion — why, then I might accomplish something. But somehow 1 never could get hold of people."

And thus in one way and another there is con- stantly cropping out the mischievous idea that to be a successful soul-winner I must in some way have the ability to overmaster the one whom I would reach, either by my superior conversational powers, my acute logic, my learning, my position in society, my impassioned earnestness, my mas- tery of the emotions, or ability to control other natural forces or elements of power. And because the rank and file of our members do not possess these desirable qualifications in so large a measure as they suppose needful, they consider themselves quite excusable, and may leave the work to the preachers, or to a possible few in the church who are favored with the requisite qualifications.

Now, it would be a sufficient answer to all this to quote the plain, unequivocal language of the Master himself, "Without me ye can do nothing." Or the positive side of the same truth as uttered by the apostle, " I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me." Or put in still more defi-

A SECOND ERROR 41

nite terms, " He that abideth in me and I in liim, the same bringeth forth much fruit." This tells us absolutely that the qualifications for large useful- ness or fruit-bearing are not dependent upon the natural elements of power or influence over men, but rather upon our close relations with the Lord Jesus Christ.

The true source of power over men is most con- clusively revealed in Gen. 32 : 28. After an all- night wrestling, God said to Jacob : " Thy name shall no more be called Jacob but Israel (/. e., prince of God), for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed."

Jacob had not as yet met his brother, but God says, "thou hast prevailed." The wicked Esau is conquered. How conquered } By logic ? Elo- quent speech ? An appeal to the emotions ? The skillful manipulation of magnetic forces ? No, no, none of these. Jacob had met God and prevailed with him ; he had taken hold of omnipotent forces, had moved the arm that moves the world.

And as God's true people have ever since borne this wonderful name, " Israel," "princes of God," so it has ever been true that they have had power and influence over men, not at all in proportion to their natural resources, but in proportion to their close relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, for he said : " If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you." And th's, whether you can talk fast or slow, reason logically or otherwise, have magnetic

42 EVERY CREATURE

powers at your command, have the influence which the possession of wealth or position in society brings or belong to the poorest and the most obscure. As a matter of fact, God reveals a reason why not many "wise men after the flesh," not many "mighty," not many "noble" should be put forward in his kingdom.

" But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty ; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are ; that no flesh should glory in his presence " (i Cor. i : 26-29).

And it is not difficult to understand why an en- throned Christ rather than an eloquent tongue should be most successful in reaching lost men.

I. What does that lost soul need in order to obtain salvation .-' He needs to become acquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ. "And this is life eternal that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent " (John 17 : 3).

To know Christ is to trust him ; to know him is to be captured by him. " When it pleased God . . . to reveal his Son in me immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood " (Gal. i : 16). At once cap- tured when the Son was revealed to him ! The reason men do not love the Lord Jesus Christ and trust all their interests for time and eternity to him, is simply because they do not know him.

A SECOND ERROR 43

2. But there is no way of imparting tiiis infor- mation, and introducing a soul to the Lord Jesus Christ so directly and effectively as by bringing that soul into personal contact with Jesus as he lives enthroned in the person of a consecrated Christian. Actions always speak louder than words. A " living epistle" will be "known and read of all men" where words are empty and lifeless.

Many of my readers are perhaps familiar with Rev. A. B. Earles' account of a skeptical judge near Boston, who was first made a skeptic and afterward converted, by a philosophical study of his own wife. He had listened to eloquent, clear, powerful preaching all his life without avail. His wife was a noble specimen of a woman, all that could be desired as a wife, and a prominent mem- ber of a fashionable church, a gifted leader in church society. But the most careful scrutiny on the part of the husband revealed no divine element in her life. Her noble womanly qualities came to her not through her religion, but through a ricii natural inheritance. So far as he could see, her religion was doing nothing for her beyond what a well-endowed nature furnished. And so he became skeptical, concluding there was nothing in religion except an outward form, since his wife was ac- counted more than an average specimen.

But there came a time of refreshing in that com- munity, and this good wife experienced a wonder- ful spiritual uplift that brought her close to the Saviour, and so filled her with his gracious presence

44 EVERY CREATURE

that her entire outward Hfe was changed. Her very face became radiant with a new-found joy and peace. Her whole conduct revealed the pres- ence of a new-found Friend, dearer than life, and yet whose presence sweetened every part of life, made her husband dearer to her, and gave an added charm and interest to everything about her.

A few days of this new life in Christ furnished the evidence that thirty years of nominal church- membership and thousands of eloquent sermons had failed to do. The judge was converted. An enthroned Christ proved a stronger appeal than eloquence, or logic, or magnetic currents, or Chris- tian atmospheres !

We are told of two brothers, alike educated, keen of intellect, powerful in speech — the one a promi- nent minister of the gospel, the other equally prominent as an expounder of the law, but a con- firmed skeptic. The lawyer sent word that he would visit his brother, remain over Sabbath, and hear him preach. The brother considered this the providential opportunity of his life, and so for three weeks the midnight oil was burned and his library ransacked in the earnest effort to prepare a sermon whose logic should be invincible and whose reason- ing exhaustive. The lawyer came, listened to the able sermon and returned home. A few weeks later he asked his brother's prayers, and told of skepticism vanished.

With inexpressible delight the brother replied, giving suitable counsel and help, and closed his let-

A SECOND ERROR 45

ter with the inquiry, " What particular thought in the sermon was made such a blessing to you, my brotiier ? It might be of value to the cause of truth if put into tract form, or otherwise given to a wider public."

The brother replied that the sermon, though very able, had no special effect upon him. He had an- swered satisfactorily to himself each different argu- ment as it had been presented. But after the sermon, when that old colored brother got up and in a stammering way told of his love for Jesus, there was something in his manner, in his glowing face, in his moistened eyes, that said to that practical lawyer so used to reading men — "Real," "gen- uine," and somehow furnished an argument that he did not know how to answer.

But incidents of this kind are familiar to us all, and yet how slow to learn the important truth, that it is "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit." That an enthroned Christ is the real power. " He that abideth in me and 1 in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit." Not a little fruit, but much fruit, much ! much ! ! much I 1 !

It is the omnipotence behind the arrow and not the character or quality of the arrow itself,' that deter-

1 I presume it is hardly necessary for me to explain, that I am not foolish enough to believe or teach that natural gifts or special mental training makes no difference, and is no aid in winning a man to Christ. While the omnipotence behind the arrow is the most important, the essential factor, yet even an omnipotent hand can use a straight, well-shaped., smooth, and toughened arrow with far more effectiveness than a crooked, unwieldy, ill- shaped, and brittle affair.

When David would slay the giant Goliath with stones from his sling, he selected smooth, round stones from a brook, stones that would go straight to the mark when slung from his sling, instead of rough or flat or three-cornered stones that might easily be deflected from their course.

46 EVERY CREATURE

mines chiefly how far it shall be projected, and with what irresistible effect (see Zech. 9 : 14), and it is a living Christ enthroned in the heart and life, actually living in a human body, looking through human eyes, adding an expressible charm to the counte- nance, making the heart larger and the mouth wiser and the feet more beautiful ; an every-day presence, filling the heart with gladness and the lips with laughter and praise, making unpleasant duties a pleasure and sacrifices a joy, that preaches the loudest sermon and the best.

A remarkably suggestive scene is that recorded in 2 Kings 4 : 34-36, the restoration of the dead boy to life. The prophet went alone into the room where the dead child lay, and after shutting the door and praying, " He went up and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands : and he stretched himself upon the child, and the flesh of the child waxed warm."

And this process was repeated until " the child opened his eyes " and life was restored. Whether a designed type or not, there is in this strange scene a beautiful suggestion of God's method of bringing dead souls to life, by having a live soul, one full of the Christ life, come into such close and persistent contact with a dead soul, as that the warmth and heat of the one shall become contagious, and by and by impart itself to the other. Or to express it in another way — this man whom I wish to reach and save has ears, but he does not hear God's

A SECOND ERROR 47

warnings or his gracious promises, and so 1 put my ears into his ears' place ; 1 hear for him. He has eyes, but they do not see the dangers that beset him, or the glorious things that are offered him ; but 1 see these things clearly, and so I become eyes to him. He has a mouth, but it has never been opened in prayer to God, and so I talk to God in his behalf, as he ought to talk for himself. His heart is cold and dead, and so I put my heart in his heart's place and attempt to feel for him the burden of soul and the agony of interest that he ought to feel for himself.

And thus I put my soul in that soul's place so closely, so persistently, that he cannot help but catch my fire and become warm from my heat.

is not this the central thought in the command " Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come hi " ? No man can be forced to be a Christian. And yet, if 1 lay siege to my neighbor, get close to him, and hold on tenaciously and per- sistently, will not be shaken off or turned aside by any consideration of self-interest or ease — naturally enough, my great interest in him will by and by awaken interest in himself.

The word leaven is a very expressive word. As a Bible type, it represents sin. But it has a won- derful power of assimilation ; it is able to get close to and take hold of every particle of meal with which it comes in contact, and hold on until it has diffused itself, imparted its own nature to those particles. In this particular, it becomes a remark-

48 EVERY CREATURE

ably practical illustration of what Christ's people ought to be and may be as they come in contact with those around them — an active, vigorous, re- generating force,

1. Leaven or yeast is of no value or force so long as it is kept apart from the meal. In cakes covered with tin-foil, it is utterly useless. It is only when dissolved in water and mixed through the entire mass of meal so thoroughly that its particles come in con- tact, close and direct, with every separate particle of the meal, and remain in such close contact until time enough has elapsed for a chemical change to take place, that it can accomplish its work.

2. But with these conditions, the results follow with mathematical certainty. It always accom- plishes its mission, if the yeast is good.

Many a church is like a gross of yeast cakes cov- ered with tin-foil, boxed up, and packed away on ice. Good yeast it may be, but in cold cakes yet. If we would see the power of God displayed, and the entire community permeated with the truth, let those yeast cakes be melted up somehow, get them warm until fermentation begins, then start them out into the streets and lanes of the city, out into the highways and hedges, out into the slums, the " deeps " of sin and depravity, and we will discover that the old gospel has lost none of its power.

"Ye are the salt of the earth" (Matt. 5 : 13). This is a boy's definition of salt : " Salt is that kind of stuff that makes your potatoes taste bad when you don't put it in."

A SECOND ERROR 49

We can readily imagine a thousand barrels of tlie best and purest salt crowded into a warehouse, and the warehouse surrounded by great piles of meat and fish and vegetables of various kinds souring and spoiling and rotting until the very atmosphere becomes polluted and death-dealing. What is the matter ? Only this : The salt has been kept in those barrels instead of being distributed all through that outlying mass.

The Christian world to-day presents the strange phenomenon of a vast amount of apparently good salt "barreled up" in our churches. At least, all around these churches and living next door per- haps, to its individual members are multitudes of people who are spoiling and filling the moral at- mosphere with malarial poisons, becoming worse and worse ; for drunkenness, lewdness, debauch- ery, anarchism, thieving, robbing, murder,' all are said to be on the increase in our country, breath- ing out pestilence and death. What is the matter ? The salt has not been put in. It is barreled up in our churches, brought out for exhibition on the Lord's Day, or displayed at the week evening prayer meeting, but is not brought into close living contact with this reeking, seething mass that crowds the saloons and gambling hells and brothels every night, and fills our jails.

Do you note how that farmer occupies his field of corn ? He begins at one corner of the field and runs his cultivator alongside of each separate row of corn, touching every hill as he passes, and then

D

50 EVERY CREATURE

back on the other side of the same row touching every hill on that side. And then, if the corn is planted in rows both ways, he turns about and runs his cultivator crosswise over the entire field ; so that when the field is completed, he has touched each separate hill of corn on all four sides. He has not simply touched these separate hills ; he has pressed his cultivator right down into the soil and thoroughly stirred it clear to the very roots of these hills, and all around them on all four sides; so that the entire soil has been moved and made mellow. And frequently he has had to stop his team and reach down and with his own hand pluck out from between the stocks of corn some wild vine that has secured a foothold there, and which, if unmolested would ruin the entire hill.

Thus each hill in that field receives his careful attention according to its needs. And he does this, not once or twice, but he keeps at it all summer. Over and over again he stirs the soil around these hills, and removes the obstructions to their growth, until every separate stock in each hill has devel- oped all its strength, and is ready to produce a golden harvest.

God's hills are all souls, precious souls of incon- ceivable value, each separate soul of inconceivable value, and God wants each one saved. He wants this particular neighbor saved who lives in the same block with me and upon whom I have never yet called. God has called upon that neighbor ten thousand times and been deeply, intensely inter-

A SECOND ERROR 51

ested in his salvation. He has spared his life all these years, restored him from grievous sicknesses, averted dangers, thrown around him a thousand kindly providences. In fact, he has done all that God himself can do except to force me as his co- laborer to do my part, not willing that any should perish. But he is crippled in this instance and handicapped by my unbelief or want of consecra- tion or of clear views of duty and responsibility. For how can that neighbor "hear without a preacher" ? And the preacher who lives nearest to him, I myself, has never yet called upon him. The main reason, therefore, so far as I may know, why that neighbor is not yet saved is simply my- self. Possibly I have imagined the reason to be because that neighbor is so depraved that he will not come to our attractive meeting-house and listen to our able pastor or the delightful music which we have so liberally helped to procure. Perhaps so, and yet it remains true that God loves that soul so intensely that he had him directly in mind when he said to me, "Occupy this field for me." And when he found that this neighbor would not be attracted by the fine music or the eloquent preach- ing, then he said to me still more directly and posi- tively, " Go over there and compel him to come in," or, keeping in thought the figure of the corn- field and this neighbor as one of the hills, God asks me to go over there and get right down by the side of this particular hill and dig all around it, stirring the soil of his heart to its very depths with God's

52 EVERY CREATURE

plowshare, his irresistible word, and keep doing this persistently, if need be, with tears, giving him no rest nor God rest until by the aid of the Holy Spirit, who always accompanies such effort, this hill has been won for Christ and transformed into a fruit-producing plant.

This sort of individual, personal work has some- how never seemed to enter into the thought of the great body of our Christian laymen as a personal obligation. But suppose we put the matter squarely and earnestly in this way :

(i) If present methods have so far failed to reach that neighbor ; (2) if present methods crowded to their utmost tension would probably be equally unsuccessful in reaching this particular case ; (3) but if a personal effort made by myself after the fashion just suggested would probably be success- ful— then the conclusion seems absolutely un- avoidable, God wants me to make that effort. The interests of that precious soul are specially com- mitted to me, in such a sense too, fearful thought ! that if I fail and that soul perishes his blood will be required at my hands.

As a matter of fact, if the great revivals of mod- ern times, the really deep, powerful ones, could be carefully investigated, the personal element would be seen to be the predominating feature. The author's experience while doing the work of an evangelist has been uniformly this. If he succeeded in arous- ing the church-members so that they became deeply interested and anxious for a revival, that interest

A SECOND ERROR 53

would invariably manifest itself in the individual members of the church singling out specific cases for prayer. A wife will become intensely anxious for her husband and ask the church to pray for him. And she herself will hold right on, becoming every day more and more anxious, pleading with constantly increasing intensity for the church's aid, and combining such appeals to the church with her own individual efforts to interest her husband. A parent will in the same way become interested in a child, a Sunday-school teacher for her class or for individuals in her class, another one for some hardened sinner.

I shall never forget how a pastor once singled out the three leading men of the place, all rough, swearing, ungodly men. He asked us all to pray for them ; did not mention their names, only said, " those three men," and kept on saying it at every meeting for prayer until every member of the church became interested in "those three men," and prayer ascended to God every day and almost continually for over six weeks until the trio were one after the other converted.

My conviction is that no real deep work of grace is possible that does not develop this element of individual work for individual souls. No matter how powerful the preaching or how noted the evan- gelist, that preaching is the most powerful and se- cures largest results which first reaches and arouses God's people to personal effort and to mighty wres- tling prayer for individual sinners.

54 EVERY CREATURE

When Elder Jacob Knapp was in his prime as an evangelist he went to Utica, New York, and spent eleven weeks there. Beginning in a small Baptist church, his congregations rapidly grew. Larger churches were offered him and still larger until the largest room in the city was occupied and packed to the doors day after day.

For nine weeks this eccentric man of God preached to professing Christians only, not a ser- mon to the unconverted. But at the end of the nine weeks the whole Christian population of the city apparently were upon their knees in bitter re- pentance for their sins, especially the sin of neglect- ing their neighbors' souls. And they started out two by two to visit every unsaved person in the city. They met their unconverted neighbors, the ungodly business men of the city, as well as their own husbands and wives and brothers and sons with tears and pleaded for forgiveness for years of neglect, and then with great tenderness and intense earnestness besought them to be reconciled to God.

This was going out into the "deep." It was real obedience to the Great Commission, an earnest attempt to " preach the gospel to every creature." And the results were simply marvelous. In two weeks eleven hundred persons were converted.

Many imagine such old-fashioned revivals are things of the past and cannot be expected in these days. 'But try this method and see.

SENT TO SAVE

" As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world" (John 17 : 18).

THE picture forming the frontispiece presents a robust-looking man out on a wide, deep sea, leisurely rowing along in a large lifeboat, looking skyward, and singing lustily as he rows, "I'm bound for the kingdom, glory, hallelujah," while all around him are hundreds of drowning men and women struggling vainly for life amid the angry billows. But in his selfish joy he moves leisurely on, singing his psalms, and shouting his hallelujahs, apparently unmoved by the fearful catastrophes that are almost momentarily taking place around him—the look of despair, the piteous cry for help, the sinking to rise no more, of one and another and another— but on he rows, and on he sings, and the lifeboat remains empty !

Now, this man in the lifeboat is designed to represent many a professing Christian who sup- poses he has a good hope and can " read his title clear. to mansions in the skies," but can look on with apparent indifference at the awful peril of the great mass of people about him, and make no effort to rescue them. The picture, however, is an un-

55

56 EVERY CREATURE

natural caricature. In the first place, these drown- ing men and women know that they are drowning, and make frantic efforts to save themselves, crying piteously for aid ; whereas the lost men around the average Christian are doing nothing of the kind ; are neither appealing piteously for help, nor even embracing the multitude of opportunities that are offered them for rescue, if the average Christian to-day were confronted with such a scene as is described in the picture, he would undoubtedly at once interest himself in the rescue of such anxious ones. The problem we have to face is a very dif- ferent one. Men have become the enemies of God, are poisoned by sin, deceived by the arch-enemy, until sin has become "a sweet morsel," and they do not want to part company with it. They are drowning, it is true, but are enjoying their drown- ing as a pleasant pastime ! They will not be per- suaded to get into the lifeboat, even though it stops at their side and offers rescue.

Nevertheless, the picture is full of suggestiveness to the average Christian ; for the very fact that the great mass of the unsaved are deceived and blinded and poisoned so that they do not want to be saved, only adds to the terribleness of the situation. Be- cause a man is determined to be lost is a reason why heaven and earth should be moved to rescue him, if there is any possibility of rescue.

Not long since a woman threw herself from a ferryboat, while crossing the Delaware River be- tween Philadelphia and Camden. She was suffer-

SENT TO SAVE 57

ing from mental derangement and had previously made several attempts to destroy herself, but that fact made no difference. Immediately the engine was reversed, and passengers and crew made every effort possible to rescue her. She fought with her rescuers and was determined to die, but they finally succeeded in saving her ; and no passenger on board that boat was cold-blooded enough to find fault be- cause of the delay !

If God's word points out the effectual method of making those unwilling ones willing, in the day of God's power, and these multitudes around me who are so joined to their idols that they do not want to be saved, and who often resent my earnest efforts in this direction — if these may still be rescued, and I, after knowing this fact, remain indifferent, then this picture should be my sharp rebuke. If there is a possibility of rescue, then such rescue becomes the great business of my life.

HUMAN SYMPATHIES DEMAND IT

Human sympathies would require just this kind of earnest personal effort for the perishing around us, were there no such command as the " Great Commission " in the Bible.

Human sympathies are very strong. When thoroughly aroused they master us completely. Sordid, selfish men forget their selfishness, and in the presence of helplessness or danger will risk their lives. A whole community will become ex-

58 EVERY CREATURE

cited to a white heat over a single child lost. Busy men will forget their business and by the hundreds spend days and nights in the most careful search, until the lost one is found.

I shall never forget a sad incident connected with a large fire in the city of Amboy, 111., in 1871. The north side of Main Street caught fire in the middle of the night, and nearly the entire business portion of the city was burned to the ground. An old one- story brick building, on the south side of the street, with walls thick, strong and old-fashioned, was used as a lock-up, our local jail. Late in the evening the sheriff had locked up in it a poor drunken man, and had the key in his pocket. The old building was usually empty. No one outside of the sheriff knew anything of the occurrence. The fire which started two or three hours later was on the north side, and everybody thought could be easily con- fined there. But when the north side had become one vast sheet of flame, the heat became so intense that suddenly fire broke out in half a dozen places on the south side, and in an incredibly short time our old jail was surrounded by devouring flames. The poor prisoner, awakened by the heat from his drunken slumber, suddenly filled the air with frantic screams — the first intimation we had that the old jail was occupied. And instantly faces were blanched ; the terrible news quickly spread ; the burning houses were forgotten in the fearful con- sciousness that a man was exposed to a cruel fate. A thousand were ready to help ; but alas ! we were

SENT TO SAVE 59

all helpless, the door was locked. The sheriff was valiantly fighting the fire away in the rear of the burning buildings on the north side, and knew nothing of the situation at the jail until it was too late ! A large log was found and a score or more of strong men picked it up and rushed around in the rear of the building, and though dangerously exposed to the terrible heat, made a battering-ram of the log, and worked like tigers to break a hole into the wall. But in vain ! The poor man per- ished, and the whole community felt the humilia- tion of a sad blunder. And though the sheriff was not at fault, save as forgetfulness was fault, yet he found it expedient to leave the city and did not venture to return for several months.

All this intense interest, an agony of interest, over one poor, worthless life ! And is a precious soul, lost in the mazes of sin, of less interest than a child that has wandered into yonder wild wood ? or an eternal death less horrible than a temporal one ?

Jesus could weep over Jerusalem, and Paul could have "a great heaviness and continual sorrow of heart" over the blindness of his own people, and could be "pressed beyond measure" so as to be called " beside himself," and feel such a weight of responsibility that he counted himself a "debtor" to all men, and wherever he went, as for three years at Ephesus, " ceased not to warn every man night and day with tears." But not so the most of us to-day. A mother will bend with intense inter- est over the cradle of her darling little one brought

6o EVERY CREATURE

to death's door by a dangerous illness. How she watches every variation of its beating pulse ! In her agony she forgets to eat, forgets to sleep. She would almost give her own life to save that precious one. Such is a mother's love. But that little one lives, grows into manhood, a sinner. The devil gets the advantage of him, wraps his chains around him, and rapidly is fitting that child for the unspeak- able sorrows of an endless night ; but does that fond mother in her agony of interest over the lost soul forget to eat or forget to sleep ?

If I were standing near a high bridge, and should see a blind man approach with a view of passing over, and should happen to know that some work- men had just gone to their dinner, leaving a dan- gerous gap in the center of the bridge uncovered, but say nothing at all to my blind neighbor, simply look on while he merrily presses forward, reaches the fatal gap, steps over, and is dashed in pieces one hundred feet below, am I guilty of his blood ? The law of Moses says " Yes " ; the common sense of manhood the world over would say "Yes." Providence had made me just then a watchman for that blind man. I saw the danger but raised no cry of alarm. His blood would be required at my hands.

And so the very relations we sustain as Chris- tians to the blinded souls all around us, and the blinded ones everywhere ; our ability to see, our knowledge of their danger and of God's wondrous provision for their escape, providentially constitute us watchmen ; and we cannot shirk the respon-

SENT TO SAVE 6 1

sibility. So the people of Gennesaret evidently reasoned :

" And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased ;

" And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment : and as many as touched were made perfectly whole " (Matt. 14 : 35, 36).

Two important facts put together, aroused all their natural sympathies, and led them to organize a systematic effort to reach every needy one in their country — first, the knowledge that there were diseased ones all around them ; and second, that now Jesus had come into their country who was both able and willing to heal every one who could be brought to him. They reasoned at once, " Now is our opportunity ; here is a man able and willing to heal every person we can bring to him. It would be a burning shame under such circum- stances, to allow any suffering one in our neighbor- hood to be deprived of so marvelous a favor." And so they quit their business for the time being. Every sick person, or blind, or lame, or palsied, or leprous is visited and by some means induced to go with the committee, or allow the committee to carry them to Jesus, and every one of them is healed. It did not require any special command from the lips of Jesus to induce the strong, healthy men and women of Gennesaret to engage in such a humane mission. Had one poor unfortunate anywhere in that country been left out, shame would have cov-

62 EVERY CREATURE

eied the face of every healthy person. They could never have forgiven themselves for such an inhuman oversight, especially if said unfortunate had remained for years a sufferer.

And so if any soul plunges headlong into eternal night, within our reach, unwarned by us who know the two great facts, his danger and God's remedy, he will perish in his sins, but his blood will be re- quired at our hands. (See Ezek, 33 : 8, 9.) So long, then, as so great a proportion of the earth's popula- tion are still perishing in their sins in total igno- rance of Jesus Christ as the world's Saviour ; and so long as it remains true, as it is true now, that the Christian people of the world have the time and the men and the money in abundance to reach speedily every one of earth's teeming millions with the gospel message — so long the blood of every per- ishing one wiH be required at our hands. And therefore, until this obligation has been fully met, the Great Commission is and must be our life's business, whether Jesus has said so or not.

Common human sympathies, the natural relations we sustain to each other, make the Great Commis- sion obligatory.

I wish to tell a little incident of our Western college life. The Northwestern University, situated at Evanston, twelve miles north of Chicago, has organized among its students a volunteer life-saving crew, which has become famous for its services. Some years ago in the early morning, there came the word that a steamer was in distress. The students hurried down to the shore. There they saw the " Lady Elgin," not only in distress, but going to pieces, and men and women in

SENT TO SAVE 63

Imminent peril of being lost. Among the students were two brothers from Iowa. One of these brothers stripped off ail surplus trappings and swam out and brouglit one to the shore, and another, and another, and another, and another, until he had, what seems incredible, some eight or nine rescued on the shore of Lake Michigan. They had built a fire of logs and he was blue with cold. As he stood there trembling before the fire, and looked out over the lake again, he saw another man in peril. He said, " 1 must go again." They gathered around him and said, " It does not mean rescue for him for you to go ; it means death to you." He broke from the crowd and plunged out, and he brought a tenth, an eleventh and twelfth, and again he stood, strength apparently all gone. And as they looked at him there, so blue and chilled, they thought that death had put its finger upon him. He looked out and again he saw others in peril, and again he struck out through the storm, and he brought the thirteenth, and four- teenth, and fifteenth to the shore. And now he stood there by the fire once more. Again he looked out and saw a beam drifting In, and clinging to that beam a man. And as he looked again he saw the man's wife, apparently, and the man was making almost superhuman efforts to save his wife, and as he looked he saw that beam was drifting around a point of land that meant death. He broke out from the crowd again. He plunged into the water, grasped hold of that beam. He swung it round the perilous corners of that lake, and brought man and wife safely to land.

That afternoon as he stood in his room with his room-mate, shivering and white and exhausted, he said, " Did I do my best? Did I do my very best? Oh, I am afraid I did not do my best." And that night they say he tossed in delirium all night, and they tried to calm him, and his brother sat beside his bed as he tossed through the night. The only thing he thought of were those that were lost. His brother said, " Why, you saved seventeen." " Oh," he said, " If I could only have saved one more! "

Gentlemen, look out to-day. Don't you see the storm- tossed sea? Don't you see the people in your home? Don't

64 EVERY CREATURE

you see the millions of heathen going down? Oh, in the strength of God, men, in the strength of God to-day let us plunge in again and again and again, until every last ounce of strength is gone, and when at last utterly exhausted in the service of Jesus Christ, we sink upon the sand, in the inten- sity of our longing to save some, let us cry, " Oh, if 1 could only have saved just one more ! " ^

THE VALUE OF THE SOUL DEMANDS IT

The unspeakable value of the soul requires just such a mission for life from every individual.

This thought has of course been taken for granted, as it lies at the basis of the previous argu- ment. But 1 wish to make the thought prominent by bringing it directly to the surface. If every soul on earth is of unspeakable value, then no possible press of business, or any considerations of an eal'thly character can constitute a sufficient excuse for neglecting any one of them. Let me present clearly and sharply two thoughts.

I. I have sometimes allowed my imagination to run somewhat after this fasliion. Suppose we had no souls, no future existence. Fifteen hundred millions of people on the earth's surface to-day, each living his allotted time, taking his share of joy and sorrow, and then passing out of existence to be no more. The average of human life, taking the world together, is estimated at about thirty-three years. And so if we could add all the lives upon earth together, there would be a grand total of fifty billions of years. A monster aggregate ! What

^ Rev. R. A. Torrey, in "The Evangel and Sabbath Outlook."

SENT TO SAVE 65

an inconceivable amount of joy and of sorrow, of pleasure and of pain, of developing character, and of besotted beastliness is crowded into that fifty billions of years, the sum total of all the lives of this generation !

But now suppose that somewhere in our own country, or possibly in China, or in the wilds of Africa, one person should be found who had a soul, and was surely destined to an eternal existence. There would instantly gather about that one indi- vidual, more of interest and of value, than about all the balance of the world's population put together. For that one soul will live longer than all the lives of all the rest of earth's inhabitants added one to another. In fact, after that one soul has been in ex- istence fifty billions of years, eternity will only have begun : he will have just as long to live after that as he had at the beginning. If he is happy, the sum total of his happiness will infinitely outmeasure the sum total of all the happiness to be enjoyed by all the balance of earth's inhabitants during their brief existence here. Or if he is miserable for eternity, the sum total of his misery will be immeasurably more than all the miseries and all the sorrows, and all the heartaches, and heartburns of earth added one to another. To secure that one soul's happi- ness for eternity, or to leave it in a hopeless and eternal night, must therefore be an unspeakably greater work than all the other interests in this world combined.

If I had it in my power, by earnest effort and E

66 EVERY CREATURE

large sacrifice to make one million men happy, real happy, continuously happy, each for thirty years, my name would be handed down through all the coming generations as one of earth's noblest bene- factors. But if I should refuse to make the sacrifice, and leave a million men to untold hardships and sufferings, each for the thirty years, I would rightly be branded as a fiend and a traitor to humanity, and all the coming generations would unite in cursing me. And yet to rescue one single soul from the outer darkness, and secure for it the unending bliss of the saved, is a work ten thousand times more valuable, and its neglect unspeakably more terrible. And hence all other merely earthly interests must in- stantly yield whenever they come in conflict, even remotely, with this one all-absorbing interest.

2. The second thought will therefore be immedi- ately accepted, with no possible chance of avoiding the conclusions reached.

Suppose two courses or paths in life are offered to each one of us. The one is a very pleasant and in every way a desirable course, filled with beauty and joy, with the best of companionships, all that heart could wish ; accompanied too, with the con- stant consciousness of accomplishing a grand work for the world, for God, and for eternity — for suppose the results of so desirable a life's work could be the salvation of one hundred souls. Magnificent results of a delightful pathway, strewn all the way with fragrant flowers.

The other course is the very opposite. It leads

SENT TO SAVE (yj

through a path filled only with briars and thorns ; no deUcioLis flowers, no delightful companionships, a hard, rough road full of self-denials and crosses and hot furnaces all the way through. But this hard, undesirable, cross-bearing life finally results in the salvation of one hundred and one souls, one soul more than the other course.

Now, which of these two courses would we choose ? Which would you choose, my brother 1 Which one shall I choose ? Let us take our souls to task over this question, for it cuts to the quick, does it not ? And yet to choose the easy, pleasant, self-indul- gent path which every one of us is prone to do, and very likely would do with very few exceptions, would be to place one life of pleasure here against a soul's happiness forever. It would say, " I am unwilling to suffer a few brief years here in the flesh to save one soul from suffering during the eter- nal ages. I am unwilling to deny myself a few brief years of pleasure and joy that a soul may be lifted up to the unspeakable joys and glories of heaven forever." The rankest, meanest selfishness this ! The very opposite of the spirit of my Master who chose to sacrifice everything that 1 might enjoy the bliss and glory of heaven !

Surely the unspeakable value of the soul would require just such a mission for life.

THE UNCONVERTED WORLD DEMANDS IT

The way indicated is the only possible way of proving to the unconverted world the supreme im-

68 EVERY CREATURE

portaiice of religion, and the exceeding value of the soul. When the Christian people in any community become so thoroughly in earnest for souls that they are impelled to go right out after them in earnest, personal conversation, neglecting their business to do it, making sometimes great personal sacrifices to do it, it does not take long for the unconverted to get the thought that the soul must be of value and religion a personal matter to them.

On the contrary, when Christians of any com- munity club together and employ a man to do their preaching and their house-to-house visiting for them, while they go on about their worldly business, the impression is unavoidable that, while religion may be of great importance, it is not quite so important as our regular business, and should never interfere with it. Human nature is such that we do not do things in that way ; we cannot when we become in- tensely interested in any matter.

A little child is lost in a neighboring wood. You do not employ a skillful scout at good wages to hunt up the child — yes, you might do that, but you would not wait on him alone. Everybody turns out and the woods are thoroughly scoured, until the little one is found. Before one man could get over all that ground the little one might perish.

If your friend has fallen into the water and is drowning you will hardly wait to circulate a sub- scription and send abroad for a skillful swimmer. The first man at the water's edge who can swim at all would be implored to hasten to the rescue.

SENT TO SAVE 69

A loved one has taken poison. You will of course hasten to the nearest physician. But he may be absent or a long way off. You will not wait a moment, even for him, if you know what to do yourself or if any of your neighbors can tell you. And when the physician comes you will not then coolly go about your business, not if you care very much about the outcome ; you will undoubtedly stay right by, till the crisis is over at least, business or no business.

So if I believe that my neighbor's soul is worth inconceivably more than any possible earthly thing, and that it is in immediate danger of eternal loss, how can 1 go quietly about my worldly business and leave that soul's eternal destiny to the uncer- tainties of a proxy, who has so much work thrust upon him that he may never reach that neighbor of mine until it is too late ? And especially if I know that all the proxies that have been employed for years past in my community have so far failed to reach even the one-half of the perishing ones im- mediately around me }

1 believe the soul vastly more valuable than any- thing else on earth. And yet I have left over one- half of my own neighbors and friends without a persistent effort to rescue them. Surely there must be some mistake about my conception of the soul's value. My whole past life would indicate that there are many things of more value in my eye than the souls of my neighbors.

But if there are serious questions as to my ortho-

70 EVERY CREATURE

doxy, how about those neighbors of mine who have so far been neglected ? How can they find by any- thing they have ever seen that the soul has any special value ? If they carefully study my past life, for instance, to find out the soul's value, will they not conclude that a good horse or a comfort- able home or possibly a new suit of clothes has occupied more of my thoughts and of my heart than the interests of their lost souls ?

I may reply that " I pay twenty-five, fifty, or one hundred dollars a year to support the gospel and help save my neighbors, that I have five hun- dred dollars invested in the church building, that I attend every night, and sometimes twice a day for a month, or even two months, during the protracted meeting, and almost always take part while there. Is not all this proof enough of deep interest ?

Yes, proof enough of deep interest in something. But suppose I subject myself to a little sharp cross- questioning for a moment. How much, for instance, have I put into tobacco during the past year ? Or into fancy horses, or into my summer outing, or into that additional eighty acres that I purchased in the spring, or into that palatial residence recently built, or into the furnishing of some of its rooms, or into a more stylish wardrobe, or the enlarging of my business ? If the money I have put into the cause of Christ, and the time given to it are offered in evidence of a deep heart interest, I must not wince when the light is turned on or when my heart is probed to the bottom. As a matter of fact the

SENT TO SAVE 7 1

time that I put into that protracted meeting was not very valuable time. 1 did not sacrifice business interests or crowd my farm work very much. The meeting was held at a season of the year and at an hour of the day when I was not specially crowded. And the amount of money I have put into the Lord's cause, all told, is perhaps one-twentieth or possibly scarcely one-fiftieth part as much as 1 have invested in worldly interests ; and so if contribu- tions of time and money are the gauge of real in- terest, they will prove me about one-twentieth or one-fiftieth as much interested in souls and in heav- enly treasures as in the body and in earthly things.

Perhaps, however, this sort of probing is too sharp ; it may not be applicable to the case in hand. Suppose, on the contrary, that 1 am a thoroughly earnest and devoted Christian, and have given my money and time from the purest love to God and the most earnest desire to save souls ; that in fact this is the uppermost desire of my heart. Yet 1 ought to know that, however thoroughly I have proved to myself and to the church and to a por- tion of the unconverted around me a deep interest in souls, yet my money and my efforts have failed to touch in any efficient way that vast number around me, that unfortunate one-half of our popu- lation whom existing methods have not reached. So that all my gifts and efforts have failed to fur- nish clear evidence to these persons that I have a special care for souls.

They look on and say, " Yes, that man is evi-

72 EVERY CREATURE

dently interested in something. He spends a good deal of time and money in religious matters. Prob- ably that is his way of getting enjoyment out of life. As to his interest in souls, well, we don't know about that. He has worked hard to get his relations into the church and a few of his neighbors. Perhaps he thinks them saved from a deal of misery in the next world. But he evidently cares very little for us. Been living right here for thirty, fifty years past, and had a thousand chances to talk his religion to us. But never a word. His love for particular, favorite souls may be strong, but his love for average souls like ours isn't very much, to say the least."

Dear brethren in Christ, this is a fearfully serious charge, that it is impossible to teach the uncon- verted world the superlative value of the soul by our present methods of church work or by any proxy attempts to reach them while the principals in the case, the employers, that is, the great body of professing Christians, are pressing every energy in the acquisition of wealth or other worldly treas- ures and for worldly ends.

Intense personal effort pressed incessantly "night and day with tears," disclosing a great burden, a deep heart current that is deeper and stronger than any other heart longing — oh, this is the great need of the hour. And such as this can only be born, and, after it is born, only developed by direct obe- dience to this Great Commission, a personal at- tempt, so far as in us lies, to " preach the gospel to every creature."

VI INCENTIVES rO ACTION

" Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame" (Heb. 12 : 2).

" He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satis- fied" (Isa. 53 : II).

A CLEAR view of the future life such as the Bible unfolds would affect us as it affected Jesus and so constrain us to make his life's mission ours.

Jesus saw something ahead that satisfied him, some picture of the future that so completely cap- tured him that it lifted him over the cross and made him willing to despise the shame.

A skillful artist will select a rough piece of mar- ble and discover an angel in it, and upon this dis- covery will proceed to expend upon that uncouth piece of marble an immense amount of labor and patience and skill. For days and weeks and montiis and even years, if he be working for immortality, he chisels and measures and scrapes and rubs and polishes until he has brought the angel out. Now it is very evident that the artist had the angel in his mind and upon his heart during this whole period of hard, persistent labor. The vision of the angel furnished him the motive and gave him the

73

74 EVERY CREATURE

inspiration all the time. It lifted him over all the hard places, furnishing him the balm alike for weary brain and aching muscles. He could not have been induced to put in all this toil and thought and artistic effort, in fact, would never have begun the work at all had he not discovered the angel at the very beginning.

I sometimes say, when presenting the work of the Children's Home Society, that if it could be proven that one of the bright little boys we fre- quently have for placement in a Christian family would certainly become a president of the United States almost every second family in the country would be willing to take that boy. Though many of them had boys of their own, they would want this boy, and simply because they had discovered a president in him. This important discovery would tone and color all their relations to that boy, their method of discipline and training, the kind of work both physical and mental. Everything they did for that boy or required him to do would be done because they had discovered a president.

Very much depends upon what we discover as the outcome of our labor and sacrifices. We need to see an angel or a president or some large result if we persist in well-doing in the midst of great sac- rifices or severe afflictions.

God understands perfectly this peculiarity of our nature, for it is just like his own, and hence has placed before us as inducement to a life of constant sacrifice and persevering toil in the one direction

INCENTIVES TO ACTION 75

the largest possible promises and the most glorious anticipations.

In a little book entitled " The Value of a Child " this astounding proposition is made and we think clearly proven :

"Among all created beings in the universe God has chosen to lift redeemed man up to the very highest place."

This statement is wild and exaggerated beyond conception if not true. But if it is true or any- where near the truth every intelligent person on earth ought to know it well.

After showing briefly that the scheme of human redemption seems to be central in God's plans for the entire universe, the author then points out defi- nitely and clearly that in at least seven important particulars the redeemed from this world will ap- parently have the advantage of the highest angels or archangels.

1. They are to be the bride, the recognized wife of the great King (Isa. 54 : 5 ; Rev. 19 : 7, 9 ; 21 : 9).

2. They are counted as brothers and sisters and therefore on a social equality with Jesus (John 15 : 15 ; Mark 3 : 35 ; Heb. 2:11; Rom. 8 : 29).

3. They are to have bodies like his glorious body (Phil. 3 : 21 ; i Cor. 15 : 47, 49).

4. They will bear his image and appear like him in every respect (2 Peter 1:4;! John 5:1; 3:2).

5. They will share with him all his infinite wealth as to material possessions (Rev. 21:7; Gal. 4:1,7; I Cor. 3 : 21, 22 ; Rom. 8 : 17).

76 EVERY CREATURE

6. They will share with him his royal preroga- tives, sit with him upon his throne, reign with him, etc. (Rev. 3 : 21 ; i : 6 ; 22 : 5).

7. They will forever enjoy the distinction of priests, men who stand nearest to God and become his represeotatives to the people, teachers, God's ambassadors, ministers plenipotentiary, in a certain sense revealers of God (i Peter 2 : 5, 9 ; Rev. 20 : 6; 1:6).

In connection with this carefully study the mean- ing of the two following statements :

"And his name shall be in their foreheads" (Rev. 22 : 4) ; " his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all" (Eph. i : 23).

Do these passages intimate that Christ's people through the ages of eternity are to be his body and so divinely furnished that through them he can reveal himself in all his infinite fullness to all the intelligent beings in the universe ? Can this be the thought of this wonderful passage ? Surely,

Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God.

And it is at least safe to affirm that not one of all these royal prerogatives is enjoyed by the angels. They do not have material bodies like unto his glo- rious body. They were not begotten in his image, hence they are not reckoned as children, for " he took not upon him the nature of angels." They do not belong to the private family of the great King — high lords, mighty princes they may be, but

INCENTIVES TO ACTION 'j'j

not blood relatives, members of the royal family. Neither do they sit with the King upon the throne, they stand around the throne as waiting servants. They do not wear crowns, nor reign as kings, nor perform the office of priests ; nor are they counted as the bride of the great King, heaven's queen ; neither are they heirs of the material universe, nor counted as sharing with the Lord of lords and King of kings his honor and glory and an equal place with him in the tender love of the Father.

Well, now our thought is that we ought as Chris- tian workers to have clear views upon this subject, the future of the saved — not simply or chiefly my future, but the future of the one I am permitted to rescue ; or otherwise I can have neither the right nor a sufficient motive and inspiration to effort. Evidently Jesus gladly endured the cross. One of our poets says :

He saw, and O amazing love ! \\t flew to our relief.

Down from the shining courts above, with joyful haste he sped.

And it was all because he loved ! And he loved because he saw two things, our present condition as lost, and what we might become if saved. " For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross." A glowing, glorious picture of the future — that great company of redeemed ones, as happy as they can be, and constantly growing happier ; the noblest beings in the universe, all patterned after the great King himself, and constantly becoming more like him ; the most useful beings in the uni-

78 EVERY CREATURE

verse, because most resembling their Lord, and therefore best qualified to do good, and growing more and more valuable as the ages of eternity pass on.

Oh, what a picture ! How inspiring to a lofty soul that has forgotten self and finds supremest joy and pleasure in the joy and in the advancing glory of others. And to think that all this company of magnificent ones, so supremely happy and so in- calculably valuable to the whole universe, have been rescued from a horrible pit, were slaves of sin, hopelessly poisoned and wrecked by it, led captive by the devil at his will, and were snatched out of their fearful destiny and lifted up into such exceed- ing joy and glory by reason of his own sacrifices and supreme self-surrender !

Was not such a picture enough to satisfy Jesus ? And ought not and would not such a picture satisfy us, and make us willing to endure any cross, or de- spise any shame ? Can I look over into that neigh- bor's house, the fourth door from mine, and see that soul under the power of sin and Satan, rapidly getting ripe for the "outer darkness," and then look forward into the future and see a face " shining as the sun," see a "king and a priest unto God " — yea, not one such only, but the children of this saved one, and his children's children, and all the others, perhaps a mighty throng of redeemed ones who have been led to Christ by this neighbor of mine, or by his children, or by his children's chil- dren— can I or can any one see these two pictures

INCENTIVES TO ACTION 79

plainly and then hesitate for one moment to hasten to the rescue ? And will not the few hours or the days of effort required in reaching such a soul, if the Holy Spirit guides and the Master is with me, be the sweetest hours of my life ?

Suppose it does prove a very difficult case to reach and may require "some deed of kindness done " to win a place and open the heart for the re- ception of the truth, or require valuable time from my business, or the emptying of my pocket-book, or even the still harder cross, a frank and open confession of years of sinful neglect, is there any cross of sacrifice or burden that I will find myself unwilling to bear or endure if only so wondrous a prize can be secured ?

The Lord Jesus Christ said of one of earth's honored ones, " Among them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater prophet than John the Baptist " ; but added with wondrous em- phasis : " Notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." That little child in your care, now such a " trouble- somie comfort," as one mother puts it, such a per- plexing problem, if received in his dear name, and trained for him, will become a greater than John the Baptist. That neighbor over there at the fourth door, if captured for Jesus will become a greater than John the Baptist. Yonder miserable outcast in the slums or in that gutter, if rescued and saved will become a greater than John the Baptist. How so ?

8o EVERY CREATURE

John the Baptist was the "forerunner" of the world's Messiah, this rescued one will become an owfi brother! John the Baptist was a "prophet" of the Highest, this one will become not only a "prophet," but a " priest " and " king " as well. John the Baptist enjoyed a brief ministry of a few months, a brilliant meteor flashing for a day and then going out, but this one whom you have rescued will shine as a star forever and ever; not exerting a brief influence in one small nation, but sitting by the side of the great King upon his throne of universal dominion. With face shining as the sun, he shall become known to every intelligent being in God's universe, and every world that rolls in space shall sometime during the countless ages of eternity feel the inspiration of his presence and receive some blessing from his existence.

John the Baptist was highly honored in that the angel Gabriel appeared to his father and announced his birth, but this rescued one has more than one angel ("angels") for his own personal bodyguard from his birth to his death. (See Matt. i8 : lo ; Heb. 1:14; Ps. 91 : 10-12, etc.) It is true, we are not permitted, as Zacharias was, to see any of these angels or hear their voices, or have any of their words recorded in God's written Book where all the generations of men are permitted to read them. But we should not forget there is another Bible be- ing written now, the book of God's Providences, the History of Redemption, God's central plan for the entire universe — and in this larger book that

INCENTIVES TO ACTION 8l

will be read in the ages to come by every intelligent being in the universe, will probably be found an intensely interesting record of the birth of this out- cast one whom you have rescued, the delegation of angels that attended his birth, the announcement of the important event in heaven, the selection and designation of his bodyguard, the history of their ministries to him, his chequered history during childhood and youth, how he was abandoned, it may be by his parents, or at least neglected by them and by all the Christian neighbors around him while in his youth and when easily reached, because they knew nothing of his value ; how God discovered a priceless jewel in him, and laid his rescue upon your heart, as a great burden — honored you instead of the angel Gabriel with a message to him ; how with hesitation and trembling you finally delivered the message ; how your message was at first rejected, but with patience and love and the girdings of the Holy Spirit you persisted in your efforts, asking others to help you, until at last the soul was won !

All this is being recorded in God's great book ; and as well his after history as a child of God, his feeble beginnings, his gradual unfolding, his increas- ing influence upon other lives about him until in the "harvest home" he shall appear with his bundle of sheaves, saying to the Master: "Here am I and the children whom thou hast given me." And then will come your meeting with that re- deemed soul and his retinue of saved ones, and

F

82 EVERY CREATURE

your discovery of all the golden fruitage that has developed out of your little sacrifice and effort. And then ! Oh, then an eternity of blessedness, and of unceasing praise and thanksgiving that God gave you the grace while here to resist the mighty current of worldliness that is sweeping all before it, and the temptation of the world and the flesh and the devil to keep away from that fourth door neigh- bor until he perished ; and that you were unwilling to quiet your conscience with the plea, " I pay my money for the pastor and his assistants and the Sunday-school teachers, let them do this work ; I will hold on to my worldly pleasures and attend to my business, even though I enter upon the eternal ages a — blank !

We will close this discussion with two suggestive incidents :

Over thirty years ago the giving of only one dollar and fifty cents to a very poor family, at a tune of severe trial, bought their hearts, as it were, gave me the freedom of their home, made them interested in me, and willing to attend our church services. First the prayer meeting where the mother was converted and baptized. Then the fatlier, a very rough, swearing man followed. Six children were brought into the Sunday-school. A second and a third family, poor outcasts like themselves, who never attended church, and whom pov- erty and cheap clothing had kept out of church society, were, through their efforts brought to our services, and after a while to Christ! And all this the outcome of a small money con- tribution, which proved, not, of course, the immediate means of conversion, but an entering wedge, opening the heart, so that the truth could be dropped into it. It was a time of finan- cial stringency with myself, in fact all 1 had, and no pledge,

INCENTIVES TO ACTION 83

except the word of God, that I should have anything in the future. On this account perhaps, did the dear Lord so sweetly and gloriously turn my little brass into gold. For the end is not yet. I expect to meet that man and his wife in yon har- vest land, followed perhaps, by their children, and their chil- dren's children, and who can tell how many others in their train? And I have a sort of presentiment somehow, that the very first greeting they will give me will be a hearty thanks- giving to God for that one dollar and fifty cents. And so dur- ing all the ages of eternity, as I behold their happiness, and share in their bliss, and watch their developing characters into loftier and still grander proportions, will not every penny in that one dollar and fifty cents become a pearl ? And shall I ever cease to thank God for the golden opportunity of putting that little bit of money into his treasury.?

In how many ways I might have used it upon myself ! It might have gone into smoke in a few cigars. It might have furnished a momentary pleasure at a theatre or dancing party. It might have added a pleasant ornament or a richer fibre to my wearing apparel ; or furnished my palate with additional dainties for a day or week ; and then the curtain would have dropped and the scene ended.

A sad consciousness comes to me now, however, and a humiliating confession ; that after such an experience of the Lord's strange chemistry, I have failed to embrace a hundred golden opportunities since afforded. Opportunities of saving by sacrificing, of accumulating treasure up there by self-de- nial here, of investing in souls by crucifying the flesh ; and while writing this, there comes over me a feeling of regret that no words can describe ; for if one dollar and fifty cents invested for God has given me so much of joy already, and was made the means by which several precious souls were won to Christ, who will welcome me in heaven and be " my joy and crown of rejo'cing," how many such glad welcomes I have lost ! Heaven is poorer, and I shall be poorer forever for my selfish folly here ! ^

1 Selected.

84 EVERY CREATURE

But sometimes it costs more than a small money contribution.

Two slum sisters crept up a rickety and dirty stairway five or six stories high to an attic, and there, in a desolate room fit for a pigsty, they found an old man crippled by rheumatism and asthma until entirely helpless. He was sitting in an old chair, the only article of furniture in the room. He could not stand up ; he could not lie down ; he could not even bend down and reach his feet. There he sat night and day alone, save that twice a day a miserable drunken daughter, who lived in the story below, brought him something to eat.

His person and clothes were filthy beyond description. His naked feet had in some way become covered with sores ; and some charitable person, weeks before, had come in and kindly bound them with lint saturated with ointment, but had for- gotten to return and replace the bandages ; and the lint had imbedded itself into the flesh until both feet were a mass of corruption, covered by dirt and vermin more terrible than I can describe to you to-night.

What did those two slum sisters, God's noble women, do? First of all they secured a pail of warm water and got down on their hands and knees and scrubbed that filthy floor until they had made it clean. Then with another pail of water they got down in front of that old man, put his feet into it, and tenderly bathed and soaked them until the old bandages and the corruption were removed. Then they dressed them over again with clean lint and ointment, and did not forget to return the next day, and the next, and so every day for weeks they washed those feet and dressed them until they healed.

Meanwhile, those sisters began to tell him the story of the cross. His mind was as dark as a heathen's. He swore at them when they first intruded into his den. But such un- heard-of love and tenderness conquered him. It could not have been otherwise. He was sweetly forced to listen to the truth ; they compelled him. And so, by the time his feet were healed, his soul had been healed. And now it was their turn

INCENTIVES TO ACTION 85

to be blessed ; for he became so happy in Christ that every time tliey visited him they received an inspiration and uplift. A few months passed, and the time came that the old man must die. The sisters came in, and he says to them : " O sis- ters, I have been a big, black, vile sinner, and I hated yer when yer first came ; but when yer touched my feet 1 won- dered at the love that could make yer do that. And I thought there must be something in it, and I listened to yer, and my hard old heart was melted by the love of God as yer told me the story, and 1 found salvation. Now, I am dying, I am going straight to heaven, 1 am going to Jesus, and I'm going to tell him what yer did fer me, how yer washed my feet. And I'm going to watch for yer when ye come, and I'm going to meet yer at the gate and lead yer through heaven and take yer straight to Jesus, and say, ' Lord, here are the sisters that washed my feet.' " '

A hard, unpleasant service, do you say ? But oil, the compensation ! A priceless sou! saved ! A source of satisfaction and joy here and a very crown of rejoicing during an endless eternity !

1 From an address by Captain Blanche B. Cox, of the Salvation Army.

APPENDIX THE SECRET OF BUILDING UP A CHURCH

BY JAMES CHALMERS

ON Sunday, March 3, Dr. James Chalmers re- ceived one hundred and thirty-six new members into his church at Elgin, 111. At the previous communion, which was his first in Elgin, he received seventy-seven new members. His record last year at the Second Church, of To- ledo, O., was as follows for the five communion periods, not counting the summer vacation : first, forty-one ; second, fifty-four ; third, fifty-eight ; fourth, sixty-four ; fifth, eighty-four, making over three hundred new members in one year. He ac- cepted a call to Elgin, beginning work there last December, and has already received two hundred and thirteen new members into the Elgin church.

Such an unusual record as this is an evidence of God's favor and guidance. It denotes not alone aggressiveness and adaptability, but a gift of com- mon sense and organization such as few possess. " The Advance " wrote to Doctor Chalmers to learn the secret of his success for the benefit of other pastors in the denomination. His reply is so full of valuable suggestions to every Christian man, woman, and child that we are gratified to be per- mitted to publisii it for the benefit of readers of "The Ram's Horn " : ^

1 This article, which found its way into the " Ram's Horn " of April 20, as explained above, is so complete an illustration of the teaching of this book- let that the author takes great pleasure in transcribing it entire.

87

88 APPENDIX

There is nothing in my method of church work but that may be easily applied, with perhaps slight modifications, to any field. In the first place, I try to simplify the matter of church organization ; and in the second place, I try to set every one to work.

Most churches are over-organized. There are too many societies, too many meetings, too many different things to be attended to, too much effort spent in trying to keep life in the skeletons of a dozen different church societies, too much energy wasted in trying to drum people out to all the dif- ferent meetings of all these different church organ- izations. Consequently there is too little time and energy left to be expended in the real, legitimate work of the church, namely, the conversion of men and women and the salvation of souls. Just as in these days, every little town has its score of lodges and societies of every different name and plan, until the people are taxed to their utmost to sustain them all, just so the modern church finds itself bur- dened with a dozen or a score of different subor- dinate organizations which are multiplied in number as time goes on, until all of the church energy is expended in an effort to keep up interest and main- tain life in all of these church societies, and none is left for the legitimate work of the church — the evangelization of the community.

Thoroughly believing this, I try to simplify the church organizations, eliminating some societies entirely, and merging others together until there should be but two general church organizations :

APPENDIX 89

a " woman's union " (or " guild ") and a " men's club " (or " league "). Every male member of the church is, by virtue of that fact, a member of the men's league, and every female member of the church is a member of the woman's guild.

Then we divide the entire territory of the parish into ten or a dozen sections or neighborhoods, thus grouping the membership of both the men's league and the woman's guild into about a dozen different neighborhood sections, with a chairman and secre- tary for each section. These neighborhood sec- tions of the general societies look after the neigh- borhood sick and poor, conduct cottage prayer meet- ings, visit strangers and new-comers and invite them to church, make a canvass of the neighborhood, and look after those who have no church home, and perform a score, of useful services.

Moreover, with such a skeleton organization as this, covering the entire membership of the church, the pastor can put his hand at any time upon any part of the organization in any corner of the parish and have things done — the thought all along being that the organization is a mere outline or skeleton, that no time is to be wasted upon it, but that the energies of all are to be expended in charities, in evangelism, in increasing the membership of the church, and in other legitimate church work.

This is undoubtedly the great desideratum — the very acme of church success. What is wanted everywhere is a working church — a church where the entire membership is at work. This activity of

QO APPENDIX

the entire membership of a church moves the com- munity miglitily, the results are simply marvelous. And this activity is likewise transforming upon the Christian life and character of the members who do the work.

Now it is not so hard to set a church to work as many imagine. Most people are willing to do a reasonable amount of church work, or at least a very small amount of church work each. I tell them that I do not want so-called " working bands," but that I want the whole church to be a working band. I show them by blackboard demonstration, as of a mathematical problem, how that four hun- dred members, each working two hours a week for the eight weeks between one communion and an- other, would do an amount of work equal to that which would be done by a public school teacher in the regular school hours of five years. I get each member to devote two hours a week (i) to increas- ing the church attendance and (2) to increasing the church-membership. They do not consider this an unreasonable request ; they are willing to respond to such a moderate requirement, and the results upon the life and activities of the church are tremendous.

1 tell them that 1 do not want so-called " leading members " and " officers and pastor " to do the work of the church ; that 1 want each member to do a part of the work — not all, not much, but a little. That it is to be a church " of the people, by the people, and for the people," and that each member is a

APPENDIX 91

necessary part of the plan of the work and cannot be spared.

As an illustration of what I mean I ask them to go with me (in imagination) to the Elgin Watch Factory near-by, where nearly three thousand operatives are working. We go together into one workroom after another and find most of the opera- tives asleep. We arouse them only to hear them say, "Oh, the manager of this factory is busy, and some leading workers over in that other room are active, they will attend to the work of the establishment." It is readily seen that every op- erative must be awake and at work, each doing his part, no one making a whole watch, but each making his little portion which is necessary to the perfect whole.

So I try to show them that each member of a live church must be awake and at work, no " lead- ing members " doing it all, but each doing his own little part so necessary to the whole. And I actu- ally demonstrate to each that his individual portion of work is essential, and that to him, be his posi- tion never so humble and modest, is due the credit for the marvelous results.

And this is the truth and no flattery. I liken it to the nomination of my friend, the Methodist min- ister, who is serving at the present time as Con- gressman from Michigan. He required one hun- dred and forty-one votes to secure his nomination in his party convention. By tremendous effort we secured the bare one hundred and forty-one votes.

92 APPENDIX

and we could not have controlled another vote by possible effort. Had we fallen one vote short of the one hundred and forty-one a combination would have been made that would have defeated my friend. After the convention adjourned ojie of the one hun- hundred and forty-one came to me and said, "It was my vote that nominated your friend." " Yes," 1 said, "you did it." Then a second crowded up to me and whispered, " I gave him the majority vote." "Yes," I replied, "yours is the credit and the glory for the good work done this day." A third man came to me and said, " I did not have a vote to-day, but I controlled one, and if I had not secured that vote for your friend he would have fallen short." " Yes, sir," 1 answered, '* you were the only man that could have won that vote, and without that vote the day was lost. To you be- longs the credit of this victory." And so on around. Did I prevaricate ? Did I flatter ? By no means. It was the gospel truth.

And so 1 show each of my people that his one little vote, his modest work, his quiet influence, is not only important, but that it is absolutely essen- tial ; that the great work cannot be done without him, and that to him belongs the credit and the glory of the noble results. And the beauty of it is that this is all true. They see that it is true, that it is perfectly logical and thoroughly sound, and they proceed to act upon it with confidence.

Nor is this a mere experiment. I had tested it in other work before applying it to the church.

APPENDIX 93

Years ago, wliile principal of a village high school in Michigan, which had never previously graduated more than four students at any one commence- ment, I applied this principle of personal work by every student, until the fourth and last year that I was principal we graduated a class of twenty- seven. Later, when I was at the head of the de- partment of English literature in the Ohio State University, by similar methods we increased the number of students in the literature department from two hundred and sixteen to six hundred and eighty-three in five years. Still later, while I was the president of the Wisconsin State Normal School, by similar methods we increased the attendance of students from two hundred and seventy-six to six hundred and twelve in three years. I always be- lieved that the same practical, organized effort of united individual work that wins so certainly else- where will win in the church work also, and now I am sure of it.

In answering your request I have spoken in the first person, using the personal pronoun freely. If I had actually done this work myself, perhaps mod- esty would forbid this free use of the first person. But I feel like one who has been a spectator, stand- ing near-by as the work has gone on. Others have done the actual work, to them belongs the credit, and I am recording for you the results. It reminds me of a barn-raising which I witnessed in the coun- try when a boy. The great framework of the barn having been previously mortised and fitted, was to

94 APPENDIX

be put up in a day by a "barn-raising bee.'' It required some seventy-five men of the neighbor- hood far and near, with pike and peavey and pole and handspike to lift the huge framework into place. 1 observed that this was not accomplished by one man stepping forward and giving a lift to a piece of timber, and then another lifting, and then another, but that all took hold together, all prepared to work in harmony — to lift in unison. One of the number stood aside and said, " All ready men — Yo-hee ! " By every man helping and all lifting together, foot by foot the huge framework went up until it stood erect with every timber in its place.

There was no great credit to the man who said, "Yo-hee." Any other man could have said it as well — but it was necessary that some one should say it. So I have not done this work. The church has actually done it. The members have been doing the real lifting. Mine has been the modest task of standing by and saying, " Yo-hee." Some one else can say it just as well, but in the raising of the great spiritual framework of a com- munity it is necessary that some one stand by and say, "All together now, ready, * Yo-hee.' "

Perhaps I ought to add that all our work is done quietly, reverently, and with constant prayer to God for guidance and inspiration, and to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is ascribed all praise and all glory for whatever may be accomplished in Jesus' name.

Princeton Theological Seminary Libraries

1 1012 01246 8841

Il

M 0' X

mi ■ •

,^..'« kT"

^m •# >

■^f ::t:

■^. ..M m.

^' ^ '^ — ^

:€ .if

'--.^.m ^-t:

M m

.t:-.i\.f.:^;^--#

%-^-

% m % 1" 1^ W' 1 ^.. m:./i^. ^^:.. M^. w.. Myn\t.r"

■ •'ri '1; *, i^, m.. ■£■-,, t'^ w^ t-, t- , te' E- *,. 1-.. ^.1 ^.. .^-. *^L i^'.- 4^.^ -p,^ ir; K .., in-.^ r

,• & 1>. Iv'

& • ^IB?* ■ 1?!^: ■ 1

*«?■: .,«;• ;**■• ■>, -'1 J^. ' -

m: B. m: iCfcr*'-

^^ '^^^ '1^ l^> f^ .f;; '

1^ .»*.'t; .-JS?*/ . *>.■•*» r^'>S. r£*.;, ;

	v.*		;»■
'■??		V'
f, ^'^	^,		i;'*
	r		w
"l		i.
\ "	%..	; .	"1^
y.		r	T'
''l"		''

w. .m

:^..>-.i

>:: .i;;. m.. :iv: ^

'■w^i *5,*^ <p ■- '

X.: B. 1^;. 1 , ''■■ K«" >^- i^' ''^'

^ '%

a m -

i w. r m w r~

•> ^^^^ '^^'^ ^"•■- ^'^-

i<:;, t< fi. I:: •..

V ■ f ■ f., ^^ .^'

% 'l^- -T- ''

V. t-.^^:. 111,. :l-<^ I-,.

^^' ■ »% f;'' t;\ ii;'..- !:■ j

'f'::W'--

■*:#

.•1 .--^

« .4

:^.:€

,1 ;,«;•? '^ "a", -f m -t T

I: ..$ ..# .>J- .^^1

^■^••«,-^ ^.^.^*-^- ^.■■^ ,,.^v.i ::^ .X ifl. ;1^ ,:^ .^3 -i- ^

% _# ja-. .«■ j5' ■# "«

'^ .{i jif •» ■ ■■'

.*■ ^ S „'* .:W .:1K. •■$ ^i at- -IE IS ■'S" •IT