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EVERY 
CREATURE 


BV 
3790 
.L2 
1903 


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


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PRINCETON,  N.  J 


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II  tuiunil  fur  tlif  kineflom,  hallelujah." 


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€i)ery  Creature 

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BY 

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Rev.  m«  C.  DttiD 

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Author  of  "  The  Mormons  and  Their  Bible,"  etc. 

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Preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature 

—New  Testament 

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PHILADELPHIA 

JImcrican  Baptist  Publication  Society 

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1420  Chestnut  Street 

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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. 


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