{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_14716/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_14716","id":"gutenberg_14716","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14716","summary":null,"tags":["Category: How To ...","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Evangelistic work"],"text":"THE\n\nART OF SOUL-WINNING.\n\n\n(SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR PERSONAL WORKERS.)\n\n\nBY\n\nJ.W. MAHOOD, EVANGELIST,\n\nAuthor of \"The Missing Wheel Found,\" and joint-author of \"The Young\nPeople's History of Methodism.\"\n\n\n\"_And he brought him to Jesus._\"\n\n\n\nCINCINNATI: JENNINGS & PYE.\n\nNEW YORK: EATON & MAINS.\n\n1901\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nNever was there such great need for a mighty, Pentecostal revival in all\nour Churches; and the key to such a revival is earnest personal work.\nBut the membership of the Churches are not prepared to enter upon this\nwork. Multitudes know nothing of a personal Pentecost. Many are utterly\nindifferent. They do not realize their opportunity and responsibility\nbefore God. If they did, the revival would come at once.\n\nWith the hope that many professing Christians may be awakened to duty,\nand hear God's call to personal work in soul-winning, this little volume\nis written.\n\nLet the pastor see that a copy is put into every home one month previous\nto the time set for special revival-meetings. Let him secure a pledge\nfrom the people to read the study for each day, commit the memory\nverses, and meditate upon the Scripture suggested.\n\nOnce each week, either at a special meeting appointed for this purpose,\nat the week-night prayer-meeting, or at the young people's devotional\nmeeting Sunday evening, let the studies for the week be reviewed and the\nmemory verses recited. Short talks may also be given on each topic by\npersons previously selected.\n\nWhen the entire Church membership shall begin to think and speak upon\nthese vital themes; when the spirit of grace and supplication shall take\nthe place of formality and worldly desire; when the Holy Ghost of\nPentecost shall come upon the waiting, praying Church, then the times of\nrefreshing will be sure to come from the presence of the Lord, and the\nperishing multitudes will be saved.\n\nSioux City, Iowa.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\nFIRST WEEK--THE SOUL-WINNER'S MOTIVE.\n\n\"THE LOVE OF CHRIST.\"\n\n                                            PAGE\nSTUDY      I  Foreword and Appeal              9\nSTUDY     II  The Lord's Command              12\nSTUDY    III  By Personal Effort              15\nSTUDY     IV  Trophies of Personal Effort     18\nSTUDY      V  The Worth of a Soul             21\nSTUDY     VI  The Death of a Soul             24\nSTUDY    VII  The Supreme Motive              27\n\n\nSECOND WEEK--THE SOUL-WINNER'S LIFE.\n\n\"YIELD YOURSELVES TO GOD.\"\n\nSTUDY   VIII  A Definite Experience           33\nSTUDY     IX  A Complete Surrender            36\nSTUDY      X  The Spirit's Witness            39\nSTUDY     XI  Every Weight                    42\nSTUDY    XII  Prayer                          45\nSTUDY   XIII  Faith                           48\nSTUDY    XIV  Self-Sacrifice                  51\n\n\nTHIRD WEEK--THE SOUL-WINNER'S EQUIPMENT.\n\n\"COMPLETELY FURNISHED.\"\n\n                                            PAGE\nSTUDY     XV  Knowledge of the Scripture      57\nSTUDY    XVI  Tact                            60\nSTUDY   XVII  Earnestness                     63\nSTUDY  XVIII  Perseverance                    66\nSTUDY    XIX  Tenderness                      69\nSTUDY     XX  Burden for Souls                72\nSTUDY    XXI  A Personal Pentecost            75\n\n\nFOURTH WEEK--THE SOUL-WINNER'S METHODS.\n\n\"BY ALL MEANS.\"\n\nSTUDY   XXII  Direct Approach                 81\nSTUDY  XXIII  Correspondence                  85\nSTUDY   XXIV  Tracts and Books                88\nSTUDY    XXV  The Prayer List                 91\nSTUDY   XXVI  Work Among Students             93\nSTUDY  XXVII  Meeting Objections              96\nSTUDY XXVIII  No Effort in Vain              100\n\n\n\n\nTHE SOUL-WINNER'S MOTIVE.\n\n\"FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST.\"\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY I.\n\nFOREWORD AND APPEAL.\n\nMemory Verse: \"And they that are wise shall shine as the brightness of\n    the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars\n    for ever and ever.\"--(Dan. xii, 3.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: Matt. vi, 19-23; Rev. iii, 14-22.\n\n\nFred B---- was a medical student. He was stricken, with that dreaded\nscourge, consumption. The physicians advised a trip to the mountains.\nDuring the first few months among the Rockies he improved rapidly, and\nhope and ambition flamed anew; but it was only a brief respite from\nsuffering before the final collapse. Lying in a Denver hospital, he was\nvisited by some consecrated young people, who sang and prayed with him.\nHe yielded himself to Christ, and the peace of God filled his heart.\n\nThey brought him home to a little Iowa city to die. The day after his\narrival the pastor was summoned to his bedside, when the young man\nrelated the circumstances of his conversion. The pastor said, \"Then you\nare not afraid to die?\" \"No,\" said he, \"_not afraid, but not ready_.\"\n\nWhen asked why he was not ready, he replied: \"I have done nothing for my\nMaster. I have won no souls for him. Could I have six months more to\nlive that I might bring some souls to Jesus, and thus not go into his\npresence empty-handed, I would be satisfied to die. _I am not afraid to\ndie, but not ready._\" Just then the door of the room opened, and the\ndying boy's father, an old, white-haired man who had been absent from\nhome and had not seen his son since his return, came in. The old man was\nnot a Christian. Then occurred a pathetic scene. The young man threw his\narms about his father's neck, and drew him down upon his knees at the\nbedside, urged him to give himself to God, and then, with shortening\nbreath, uttered such a prayer of intercession as is seldom heard. The\nold man sobbed aloud, yielded to Christ, declared his faith, and the\ndying boy had won one soul for his Master. In a few hours he had gone\ninto the presence of the King; _but not empty-handed_.\n\nO ye to whom God has given the strength and vigor of manhood and\nwomanhood, and who have pledged your allegiance to the Christ of\nCalvary, are you winning any souls for your Master? Or are you going\ninto his presence _empty-handed_? What if in the judgment-day it shall\nbe seen that some souls who might have been saved have been lost through\nyour neglect? What if it shall then be seen that the crown of many stars\nwhich you might have won is given to another? And what, if in the great\nday of his appearing you shall be found, having gathered no sheaves and\n_empty-handed_?\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY II.\n\nTHE LORD'S COMMAND.\n\nMemory Verse: \"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every\n    creature.\"--(Mark xvi, 15.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: Ezek. xxxiii, 1-11.\n\n\nBy the Master's final words to his disciples the obligation is laid upon\nevery Christian to be a soul-winner. \"Ye shall be my witnesses,\" is the\nrisen Lord's message to all his followers. No one is excused. \"Follow\nme,\" said Christ, \"and I will make you fishers of men.\" And when his\nface was set toward Calvary, he said to the Father, \"As thou hast sent\nme into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.\" By the\nmouth of the prophet Ezekiel, God distinctly says that, if we neglect\n\"to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his\niniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.\" We are all\n_sent_, and if we shrink or excuse ourselves from our great mission we\nshall come into condemnation.\n\nThe unsaved multitudes know that every Christian should be an ambassador\nfor Christ, and when we fail to do our duty we are condemned in their\neyes as well as before God. A writer in the _Epworth Era_ says:\n\n\"A college professor who was noted among his fellow-teachers for his\nhabit of addressing young men upon their personal relations to Christ,\nwas asked by one of his fellow-professors, 'Do they not resent your\nappeals as an impertinence?' He replied: 'No! Nothing is of such\ninterest to any man as his own soul and its condition. He will never\nresent words of warning or comfort if they are prompted by genuine\nfeeling. When I was a young man, I felt as you do. My wife's cousin, a\nyoung fellow not yet of age, lived in our house for six months. My dread\nof meddling was such that I never asked him to be present at family\nworship, or spoke to him on the subject of religion. He fell into the\ncompany of a wild set, and was rapidly going to the bad. When I reasoned\nwith him I spoke of Christ. \"Do you call yourself a Christian?\" he\nasked, assuming an astonished look. \"I hope so,\" I replied. \"But you are\nnot. If you were, he must be your Best Friend. Yet I have lived in your\nhouse for six months, and you have never once named his name to me; no,\nhe is nothing to you!\" I have never forgotten the rebuke.'\"\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY III.\n\nBY PERSONAL EFFORT.\n\nMemory Verse: \"And he brought him to Jesus.\"--(John i, 42.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: John i, 35-45.\n\n\nHave you ever noticed that much of the work which the Master and his\ndisciples did was \"personal work?\" Some of our Lord's greatest sermons\nwere preached to one person. The apostles were all won individually.\nTurn to your Bible now, and read the account of the visit of Nicodemus\nto Christ, and of the meeting with the woman of Samaria at the well. If\nyou take the time to follow this theme through the Gospels and through\nthe Acts of the Apostles, you will be sure to see that the work of\nwinning souls for Christ by personal effort is the work of every\nChristian.\n\nAnd a conviction of this is the greatest need of the Church to-day. It\nis the key to the twentieth-century revival. The world would be\nevangelized in this generation did each professing Christian win only\none soul each year for Christ; and the great social and labor problems\nof the day would be speedily solved were the great Christian Church\nactively engaged in leading men and women to Jesus of Nazareth. Mightier\nthan the influence of great sermons and fine music and splendid ritual\nis the influence of a life consecrated to personal effort in seeking the\nlost.\n\nThat remarkable soul-winner, Dr. J.O. Peck, now translated, said: \"So\ngreat is my conviction of the value of personal effort, as the result of\na lifework of winning souls, that I can not emphasize the method too\nstrongly. If it were revealed to me from heaven by the archangel Gabriel\nthat God had given me the certainty of ten years of life, and that as a\ncondition of my eternal salvation I must win a thousand souls to Christ\nin that time; and if it were further conditioned to this, that I might\npreach every day for the ten years, but might not personally appeal to\nthe unconverted outside the pulpit; or that I might not enter the pulpit\nduring these ten years, but might exclusively appeal to individuals, I\nwould not hesitate one moment to make the choice of personal effort as\nthe sole means to be used in securing the conversion of one thousand\nsouls necessary to my own salvation.\"\n\nDr. Theodore Cuyler once said concerning the three thousand souls he had\nreceived into Church fellowship during his ministry, \"I have handled\nevery stone.\"\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY IV.\n\nTROPHIES OF PERSONAL EFFORT.\n\nMemory Verse: \"And he that is wise winneth souls.\"--(Prov. xi, 30, R.V.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: 2 Cor. v, 14-21.\n\n\nIs it not a suggestive fact that nearly all those men who have shone\nbrightly in the galaxy of martyrs, preachers, and reformers in the\nChristian Church through the centuries have been won to Christ by the\npersonal effort of some consecrated life? Think of some in our own age.\n\nDwight L. Moody, when a clerk in a store, was visited by his\nSunday-school teacher, who put his hand upon the young man's shoulder\nand talked to him about Christ; and Mr. Moody says, \"I had not felt I\nhad a soul till then.\"\n\nColonel H.H. Hadley, who has kneeled and prayed with over thirty-five\nthousand drunkards, declares that one of the agencies which led him to\nChrist was a brief interview with Chaplain (now Bishop) McCabe on a\nrailway-train in Ohio just after the Civil War.\n\nLord Shaftesbury, one of the greatest Christian philanthropists of the\nnineteenth century, was won for Christ in early boyhood by the effort of\nMaria Willis, a servant-girl in his father's home.\n\nThe conversion of Diaz, the great Cuban evangelist, was due to the\nfaithfulness of a consecrated young lady of Brooklyn. She found him in a\nhospital at the point of death, procured a Spanish New Testament, read\nto him the words of mercy and invitation, pointed him to Christ; and he\nwent back to his own country, a flaming herald of the gospel.\n\nJ. Wilbur Chapman, one of the most successful pastor-evangelists of this\ngeneration, says that while in a revival-meeting, when a boy, his\nSunday-school teacher touched him on the elbow, and said, \"Do you not\nthink you had better stand?\" and that one touch, as much as anything\nelse, pushed him into the kingdom.\n\nJoseph F. Berry, whose name is a household word in the Methodist\nEpiscopal Church, was led to Christ by two young friends who took the\nyoung printer to his father's barn, and held a prayer-meeting with him,\nwhich resulted in a glorious conversion.\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY V.\n\nTHE WORTH OF A SOUL.\n\nMemory Verse: \"For what is a man profited, if he gain the whole world,\n    and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his\n    soul?\"--(Matt. xvi, 26.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: Luke xv, 1-10.\n\n\nWhat is a life worth? What is your life worth? What is the life of your\nson or daughter or mother or wife worth? What would you take for a life?\nBut if the life of a dear one be worth so much to you, what must be its\nvalue in God's sight, who sees to what depths a soul may plunge and to\nwhat heights it may rise? It may be a small matter to you that in yonder\nsaloon is a man dissipated and drunken. But what if he were your father\nor brother or husband? It may be a very small matter to you that the boy\nwhom you met on the street is puffing a cigarette and wears already\nupon his face the marks of an evil life. But what if he were your boy or\nyour brother? Yet, in God's sight, his life is as valuable as if he were\nyour boy or your brother; and every soul is of infinite worth.\n\nJesus Christ set a high estimate upon human life when he left his\nFather's throne and came into this sin-cursed world to suffer and die\nthat he might redeem us from death.\n\nThe Church of to-day needs a new vision of the worth of a soul. We need\nto stand beside Calvary and see the price that was paid there for human\nlife.\n\nJohn Keble, the poet-preacher of the English Church, said that the\nsalvation of one soul is worth more than the framing of the Magna Charta\nof a thousand worlds.\n\nIt was meditation upon the words of the memory verse of this study that\nfired the souls of Ignatius Loyola and Francis Xavier with a holy\nenthusiasm to rescue the perishing multitudes. Had their successors and\ndisciples been, filled with the same enthusiasm, and kept themselves\nfree from the machinations of politics, they would have long since\nevangelized the world, and Jesuitism would not have been \"the scandal of\nChristianity.\"\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY VI.\n\nTHE DEATH OF A SOUL.\n\nMemory Verse: \"Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from\n    the error of his way shall save a soul from death.\"--(James v, 20.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: Luke xvi, 19-31.\n\n\nWhat is death--the death of a soul? What is it to die eternally? In the\npassage for meditation our Lord gives us a glimpse into the realms of\ndeath. Surely the Son of God is not trifling here; nor does he speak to\nconfuse. For a moment the curtain is drawn, and we see what is actually\ntranspiring in the future world. In these days there is a disposition in\nsome quarters to make light of the future punishment of the wicked. Some\npreachers are dumb upon the awful punishment of sin, or preach only half\na gospel, saying, as Bishop Warren puts it, \"You must repent, as it\nwere; be converted, in a measure; or you will go to hell, so to speak.\"\n\nBut Christ did not speak with any uncertain sound about the future\npunishment of the impenitent. He is authority. Take your Bible and read\nsuch passages as Matt. xxv, 41, 46; Matt. viii, 12; Luke xvi, 23; John\nv, 29.\n\nIn the light of these words, we must see that the death of a soul means\neternal separation from God, from mercy, and from heaven.\n\nAnd yet how indifferent we are concerning the unsaved multitudes all\nabout us who are drifting into a hopeless eternity. The Church needs a\nvision like that of the little lad in Olive Schreiner's \"Story of a\nSouth African Farm,\" who, waking at midnight, sees multitudes drifting\nover the precipice into eternal night, and throws himself on his face on\nthe floor, crying out in the agony of his burdened heart to God to have\nmercy.\n\nSome one tells of a shepherd in the Far West who, on a dark, stormy\nnight, found three sheep missing. Going to the kennel where the\nfaithful shepherd-dog lay with her little family, he bade her go to find\nthe sheep. An hour afterwards she returned with two. When these had been\nput in the fold, he said, \"One sheep is yet missing. Go!\" The faithful\ndog took one mute look of despair at her little family, then was off in\nthe dark and the storm. In two hours she had returned with the lost\nsheep, but was torn and bleeding, and, as she staggered toward the\nkennel, fell dead at the door. But if a poor, dumb brute, with no\nimmortal hope, be obedient, even unto death, what shall we say of men\nand women who know the destiny of the soul, and whom the King of kings\nhas bidden seek the lost, yet are disobedient, indifferent, and\nthoughtless as to the dying multitudes about them?\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY VII.\n\nTHE SUPREME MOTIVE.\n\nMemory Verse: \"For the love of Christ constraineth us.\"--(2 Cor. v, 14.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: 1 Cor. xiii, R.V.\n\n\nBut the supreme motive in all our efforts to win others should be \"the\nglory of God.\" Possessed of an undying love for him who first loved us,\nwe will have an inspiration to seek the lost for whom he gave his life.\nAnd all our efforts shall be, as Paul puts it in his letter to the\nEphesians, \"unto the praise of his glory.\"\n\n    \"The love of Christ doth me constrain\n     To seek the wandering souls of men.\"\n\nLove never faileth. Love knows no impossibility. He who works for wages\nand he who works for love live in two different realms. A lot of men\nwere entombed in a coal-mine, and great crowds gathered to help clear\naway the earth and rescue the miners. An old, gray-headed man came\nrunning up, and, seizing a shovel, began working with the strength of\nten men. Some one asked to relieve the old man. \"Get out of the way,\" he\ncried; \"I have two boys down there.\"\n\nLove will triumph; and he whose heart throbs with love to Christ will\nfind real joy in rescuing from sin those who are the purchase of his\nblood, _that his name may be glorified_.\n\nStudy his life of self-sacrifice. See again his suffering for sinful\nmen. Linger in Gethsemane, and behold the agony of Calvary. Then your\nheart will begin to throb with love to him \"who first loved us.\"\n\nGet a new vision of your crucified, but now risen, Savior, until the\nbeauty of his matchless life charms your heart and you are ready to say:\n\n    \"Come, and possess me whole,\n       Nor hence again remove;\n     But sup with me, and let the feast\n       Be everlasting love.\"\n\nThen you will possess the highest motive that moves human hearts, and\npersonal work in soul-winning will become a real delight.\n\n\n\n\nTHE SOUL-WINNER'S LIFE.\n\n\"YIELD YOURSELVES UNTO GOD.\"\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY VIII.\n\nA DEFINITE EXPERIENCE.\n\nMemory Verse: \"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born\n    again, he can not see the kingdom of God.\"--(John iii, 3.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: John iii, 1-15.\n\n\nIn a prayer-meeting a young lady was asked, \"What is the first thing we\nmust do if we would win others to Christ?\" She replied, \"_We must live\nholy ourselves._\" She was right. Just as the telegraph wire must be\ninsulated, so must the life of him who expects to be the messenger of\nGod be insulated from the old life of sin before he can hope to carry\nthe loving messages of the gospel to other souls.\n\nThis implies a definite experience of conversion. He who would engage in\nthis most fascinating of all work must have nothing short of an inner\nconsciousness of sins forgiven and of the presence of Christ in his\nlife. He must be able to say, like Andrew and like Philip of old, \"I\nhave found him.\" He must know what it is to have \"a new heart\" and to\nhave peace with God.\n\nWilliam Butler, the veteran missionary and soul-winner, now translated,\nwrote the author of these studies a letter, in which he said:\n\n\"First and foremost, I thank God for a true conversion. When I got\nreligion, I got it good and thorough. Christ became everything to me.\nThe law of sin, or temptation to worldly conformity of any kind, was\ncompletely eradicated from my heart; and from that hour to this the law\nof Christ has fully satisfied my soul, and made me gloriously free and\nindependent of the world and its maxims and pleasures. And now, after\nfifty-five years' enjoyment of peace with God and humble devotion to his\nservice, I bless him that I ever gave him my heart and devoted myself to\nhis work. I am happy. The consoling comforts of the grace of God are\nwith me by day and by night, and the blessed future is radiant with the\nhope of being 'numbered with the saints in glory everlasting.'\"\n\nIn these days of compromise and doubt we need to have as definite an\nexperience of salvation as had William Butler. He who would win others\nto a new life must himself possess that life, and know it, being able to\nsay with Paul, \"I know whom I have believed.\"\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY IX.\n\nA COMPLETE SURRENDER.\n\nMemory Verse: \"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,\n    that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable\n    unto God, which is your reasonable service.\"--(Rom. xii, 1.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: Rom. vi, 1-13.\n\n\nJohn Wesley said, \"Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but\nsin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be\nclergymen or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of hell and set up\nthe kingdom of heaven upon the earth.\"\n\nA life surrendered to God will be an invincible life, while the life\nonly partly surrendered will know nothing but defeat. Someone says that,\nin the transfer of property, any reservation implies, also, reserved\nrights. If a man sells a ten-acre lot, and keeps a yard square in the\ncenter for himself, he has a right of way across what he has sold to\nget to his reservation. And if, in our surrender, we keep back anything,\n\"that constitutes the devil's territory, and he will trample over all we\ncall consecrated to get to his own.\" Therefore a complete surrender of\nthe life to God is absolutely necessary.\n\nTo the rich young man who came to him, Jesus said, \"One thing thou\nlackest.\" He demanded an unconditional surrender of every interest of\nhis life. But the young man was not willing to make the surrender, and\nwent away sorrowful. Of every man and woman Jesus asks the same\nsurrender. But many now wander off in the darkness of formality and\ndoubt because they are not willing. Three things are implied in such a\nsurrender: (1) An acknowledgment of the Divine ownership and human\nstewardship in all temporal affairs; (2) A complete submission of the\nwill to God; (3) The supremacy of Jesus Christ in the heart and life, so\nthat the interests of his kingdom are first, always, and everywhere.\n\nThere is an old story of a monk who, having been disobedient to the\nrules of the monastery, was told he must die. They took him out into the\ngraveyard, stood him upright in a grave, filled in the earth about his\nfeet. Then they asked, \"Are you dead yet?\" He said, \"No.\" The earth was\nthen filled in about him to his waist, and the question again asked. He\nreplied, \"No.\" Then they filled in the earth until he was covered, all\nbut his head, and could scarcely breathe. When asked if he would die, he\nreplied, \"Yes, I will give up; I will die.\" So may we die to the old\nlife of self and sin, and live the new life of entire surrender to our\nrisen Lord!\n\n    \"If Christ would live and reign in me,\n       I must die, I must die.\n     Like him I crucified must be,\n       I must die, I must die.\n     So dead that no desire may rise,\n     To pass for good, or great, or wise,\n     To any but my Savior's eyes,--\n       Let me die, let me die.\"\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY X.\n\nTHE SPIRIT'S WITNESS.\n\nMemory Verse: \"The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit that\n    we are children of God.\"--(Rom. viii, 16, R.V.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: 1 John v, 1-15.\n\n\nWhen the life has been wholly surrendered to God, and Christ, the\ncrucified and risen Savior, is enthroned in the heart and confessed\nbefore men, then the blessed assurance of our sonship with God will be\nclear and joyous. No longer shall we say, \"I hope I am a Christian,\" or,\n\"I am trying to be a Christian;\" but, like Paul, we shall exclaim, \"I\nknow whom I have believed.\"\n\nThe witness of the Spirit will give a holy confidence to the\nsoul-winner.\n\n    \"What we have seen and felt,\n      With confidence we tell.\"\n\nMuch of the timidity and reluctance shown by Christians toward personal\nwork may be traced to a refusal or neglect to live the surrendered life\nand have the clear assurance of acceptance with God.\n\nThis direct testimony to our adoption is given only by the Holy Spirit,\nand given only to believers because they are the sons of God. It is\nGod's seal which he places upon his own, and we then no longer receive\nthe spirit of bondage unto fear; but we receive the spirit of adoption\nwhereby we cry, Abba, Father. The voice of God is heard in the soul\nbearing witness to our acceptance, and then the fruit of the Spirit\nspeedily follows in the life to corroborate the inner voice and \"give\nunmistakable confirmation to the testimony which was primary and\ndirect.\"\n\nTo some, this assurance comes like a sudden flash from the sky; to\nothers, like the gentle breathing of the evening zephyr. But it comes,\n_it surely comes_; and no soul should be satisfied until it comes; for\nit is essential to a useful, joyous life. Look up now, and with eager\nexpectancy await the \"blessed assurance.\"\n\n    \"Why should the children of a King\n       Go mourning all their days?\n     Great Comforter, descend and bring\n       The tokens of thy grace.\n\n     Assure my conscience of her part\n       In the Redeemer's blood;\n     And bear thy witness with my heart,\n       That I am born of God.\n\n     Thou art the earnest of His love,\n       The pledge of joys to come;\n     May thy blest wings, celestial Dove,\n       Safely convey me home!\"\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY XI.\n\nEVERY WEIGHT.\n\nMemory Verse: \"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so\n    great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the\n    sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the\n    race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and\n    finisher of our faith.\"--(Heb. xii, 1, 2.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: 1 Cor. viii, 9-13; ix, 24-27.\n\n\nWe hear much about \"personal liberty\" in these days, and, to hear some\ntalk, one would think that personal liberty was a gift to be selfishly\nguarded rather than to be sacrificed for the good of others. But Paul,\nthe apostle, sacrificed his liberty for the sake of others; so did\nOnesimus, the Christian slave. Surely those professing Christians who\nmake \"personal liberty\" their plea for engaging in some form of worldly\namusement (such as dancing, card-playing, or theater-going), and those\nwho are given to some filthy habit (such as the use of tobacco), have\nnot studied the life of Jesus, or of Paul, or of Onesimus.\n\nIf there were no other reasons why these things should be renounced,\nthat they injure our influence as soul-winners would be sufficient; for\nwho ever heard of a man or woman who engaged in these forms of\nquestionable amusement becoming illustrious as a soul-winner? To say the\nleast, they are \"weights,\" and must be laid aside.\n\nIn a revival service, a lady rose, and, with tears raining down her\nface, said: \"I have taught a Sunday-school class of sixteen young men\nfor three years, and have not seen one of them converted. I believe I\nknow why, and now confess my sin. Being a teacher in the city schools, I\nthought I must see a Shakespearean play, and went to the theater one\nnight. I saw several of my class there, and they all seemed to be\nlooking at me as if surprised. Next day I met some of them, and they\nconfessed surprise that I was at the theater. I have been conscious\nfrom that time that I had lost my influence to win these young men to\nChrist.\" Within one week after this confession was made this lady had\nwon seven of her class for the Savior.\n\nA young lady, once a society belle and fond of worldly amusements,\nconsecrated her life to the Lord's work. In a rescue mission she was\nasked to speak to a poor wreck of a man who had been a gambler. He\nlooked at her suspiciously as he asked, \"Do you play cards, or dance, or\ngo to the theater?\" \"No, not now,\" she replied. \"Well, then you may talk\nto me; but I won't listen to one word from you fine folks who are doing\non a small scale the very things that brought us poor wretches to where\nwe are.\" And the young lady afterwards said she had found more real joy\nin leading that lost soul to Christ than she had ever found in the\npleasures of the world.\n\n_Lay aside every weight; lay aside every weight, just now._\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY XII.\n\nPRAYER.\n\nMemory Verse: \"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth\n    much.\"--(James v, 16.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: Gen. xxxii, 24-30; Luke xi, 1-13.\n\n\nNothing is more essential to the soul-winner than prayer. Prayer will\ngenerate a spiritual atmosphere in the individual life. The prayers of\nmany will generate a spiritual atmosphere in a community. In answer to\nprayer, the Holy Spirit will do his office, and produce such pungent\nconviction of sin that men will carry out, as on the day of Pentecost,\n\"Men and brethren, what shall we do?\"\n\nIn the Life of Mr. Finney it is related that, during a revival at Rome,\nNew York, the air seemed surcharged with Divine power. A sheriff, who\nhad laughed about the meetings, came over from Utica. He felt this\nstrange influence when he crossed the old canal, a mile west of town.\nWhen he sat in the hotel dining-room, he had to get up and go to the\nwindow two or three times to divert his attention and keep from weeping.\nAfter dinner he hurried away, but was afterwards converted.\n\nSee what spiritual triumphs and great revivals the early Church\nwitnessed; but the secret of it all was that \"they continued steadfastly\nin prayers.\" Why is it that to-day many have so little courage and so\nlittle power to win others to Christ? They neglect prayer. \"They that\nwait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with\nwings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and\nnot faint.\" How little time we spend daily in prayer! Study the life of\nPaul, and Savonarola, and Catherine of Siena, and Martin Luther, and\nJohn Knox, and see how they all gave themselves continually to prayer,\nand so prevailed. All they who have become illustrious as great\nsoul-winners have been, without exception, men and women mighty in\nprayer. They came to understand that God's storehouses of wisdom,\nprayer, and grace are inexhaustible, and with the key of prayer they\nunlocked every door.\n\nPrayer avails for the salvation of others when every other means seems\nto fail. The disciples spent ten days in prayer. Then came Pentecost and\na revival that brought thousands into the kingdom. John Livingstone,\nwith a few friends, spent a whole night in prayer, and the next day five\nhundred persons gave themselves to Christ. Two sisters agreed to spend\nthe night in prayer in behalf of an unconverted brother. That night,\nalthough twenty miles away, the young man tossed on his bed in agony of\nconviction, and next day started for home, and found salvation.\n\nPrayer is omnipotent; and, if we would see the kingdom of Christ come\nspeedily in the world, we must have a great revival of prevailing\nprayer.\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY XIII.\n\nFAITH.\n\nMemory Verse: \"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me,\n    the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these\n    shall he do; because I go unto my Father.\"--(John xiv, 12.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: Heb. xi.\n\n\nNot the mystery of faith, nor the philosophy of faith, does the\nsoul-winner need to study; but the simplicity, the childlikeness of\nfaith. To believe God implicitly is to have victorious faith. \"I can do\nall things through Christ which strengtheneth me,\" said Paul; and\neverywhere in the Bible we find the clear teaching that \"God and one\nmake a majority.\" To realize this in one's own life is to live the\nvictorious life.\n\nBut perhaps we should distinguish between trust and saving faith. Trust\ngives the life to God; faith takes from God that which he has promised\nin his Word. Trust is continuous; faith is a definite act. \"Faith is\nthe giving substance to things hoped for, the evidence of things not\nseen.\" (Heb. xi, 1.)\n\nIt is true that we walk by faith now; but faith has a clear eye. Faith\ncan see the clouds full of chariots and horses. Faith can see legions of\nangels marshaling themselves for our defense. Faith can see that every\npromise of God is steadfast, and will surely be fulfilled, and can claim\nits fulfillment.\n\n    \"Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees,\n       And looks to that alone;\n     Laughs at impossibilities,\n       And cries, 'It shall be done.'\"\n\nOf Barnabas it is said, \"He was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost\nand of faith.\" The fullness of faith will make unbelief and moral\ndarkness impossible in the soul, and will generate a triumphant\nconfidence in God.\n\nTo have faith is to have power; and the little child, as well as the\ngrown man, may possess this power, and exercise it in winning souls for\nJesus. A little girl who had bowed at the altar and given her heart to\nGod, pulled the pastor's coat at the close of the service, and said,\n\"Will you please pray for my mamma?\" \"Certainly,\" said the pastor. And\nthe next evening the little girl brought her mother to the service. When\nthe invitation was given, she took her hand and led her to the altar.\nThat little girl's faith won her mother to Christ.\n\nFaith will give courage for personal work. With a strong, unfaltering\nconfidence which takes God at his word, we shall not hesitate nor fear\nto approach the unsaved and seek to win them to the Savior.\n\nFaith is nourished by the Word. \"Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by\nthe Word of God.\" If we feed our faith upon the Word, and exercise it,\nthen we shall have the faith of those mentioned in the eleventh chapter\nof Hebrews, and we shall prove the promise of the Savior, \"All things\nare possible to him that believeth.\"\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY XIV.\n\nSELF-SACRIFICE.\n\nMemory Verse: \"For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; and\n    whosoever will lose his life for my sake, shall find it.\"--(Matt.\n    xvi, 25.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: Matt. xvi, 24; 2 Cor. iv.\n\n\nThe words of Christ, \"If any man will come after me, let him deny\nhimself, and take up his cross, and follow me,\" can not be mistaken. The\nearthly life of Jesus was a supreme example of self-sacrifice. All the\nway from Bethlehem to Calvary his life was a constant denial of self.\nThe early Church followed their Master. They were ready to sacrifice\nall. Men sold their fields and houses for the work's sake. They counted\nnothing too good for sacrifice, even to life itself; and many went\ngladly to the arena and the fiery stake rather than be untrue to their\nLord. As long as the early Christian Church maintained this spirit, she\nwent from victory to victory. Nothing could withstand her progress. And\nwhen the followers of Jesus Christ in this twentieth century shall again\nput on the beautiful garments of self-sacrifice, the Church will become\ninvincible.\n\nThere is now a great opportunity for men and women to sacrifice, in\npersonal liberty, in popularity, in social standing, and personal\ncomfort, for the sake of the perishing multitudes. None are too poor,\nnone too old, to do something to win souls.\n\nAn aged widow, who had all her money invested in a farm in a\ndrouth-stricken part of the West, found herself almost penniless. She\nwas compelled to find shelter in a Refuge Home. At first she was\ndiscouraged and heart-broken; but God put upon her heart the multitudes\nof perishing women in India. She tried to occupy her mind piecing a\nquilt. This she sold, and the money was sent to India. Then she made\nanother for Africa, then another for Japan, until now, in six years,\nshe has given four hundred dollars to home and foreign missions, and has\nsix people at work as her substitutes in foreign lands. And she says, \"I\nwas surely called of God to teach that no one is too poor to give to\nmissions, or too old to work for God and souls.\"\n\nA young man, twenty-four years old, working on a farm for twenty dollars\na month and board, has, in nineteen months, sent six substitutes, and\nsays, \"I pray God to make me a Christian drunkard, that I may spend my\ntime and money for him as the drunkard does for the devil.\" And when the\nwhole Church shall begin to show the same spirit of self-sacrifice in\ngiving time and money, and in sacrificing pleasure and comfort and\nsocial standing for the Lord's work, and for dying multitudes about\nthem, then we shall soon see the dawn of the millennial day.\n\n\n\n\nTHE SOUL-WINNER'S EQUIPMENT.\n\n\"COMPLETELY FURNISHED.\"\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY XV.\n\nKNOWLEDGE OF THE SCRIPTURES.\n\nMemory Verse: \"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all\n    wisdom.\"--(Col. iii, 16.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: Heb. iv, 12; 2 Tim. iii, 13-17; Ps. cxix,\n    1-11.\n\n\nA thorough knowledge of the Word of God is essential to success in\nsoul-winning. The Word is \"the sword of the Spirit,\" \"the hammer that\nbreaketh the rock in pieces.\" If we are not skilled in the use of the\nDivine sword and the Divine hammer, then we can not expect that the\nSpirit will use us.\n\nIn an excellent little book on \"How to Obtain the Fullness of Power,\"\nDr. R.A. Torrey says:\n\n\"There can be no fullness of life and service if the Bible is neglected.\nIn much that is now written on power; also in much that is said in\nconventions, this fact is overlooked. The work of the Holy Spirit is\nmagnified; but the instrument through which the Holy Spirit works is\nlargely forgotten. The result is transient enthusiasm and activity, but\nno steady continuance and increase in power and usefulness. We can not\nobtain power, and we can not maintain power, in our own lives and in our\nwork for others, unless there is deep and frequent meditation upon the\nWord of God.... Of course, it is much easier, and therefore much more\nagreeable to our spiritual laziness, to go to a convention or\nrevival-meeting, and claim a 'filling with the Holy Spirit,' than it is\nto peg along, day after day, month after month, year after year, digging\ninto the Word of God. But a 'filling of the Spirit,' that is not\nmaintained by a persistent study of the Word will soon vanish....\nEvidently Paul knew of no filling with the Spirit divorced from deep and\nconstant meditation upon the Word.\"\n\nThe most remarkable movement among young men in this generation is the\nWorld's Christian Student Federation, organized by Mr. John R. Mott.\nThrough this movement multitudes of young men the world over have been\nled to keep what is called \"The Morning Watch,\" by which they rise at\nleast half an hour earlier than usual each morning, and spend the time\nin devotional Bible-study and prayer. What a mighty impetus would be\ngiven to Christian work everywhere if all Christian young people would\nform the habit of keeping \"The Morning Watch!\"\n\nHave a plan for your Bible study, and faithfully follow it. Commit to\nmemory the texts found in Study Twenty-seven, and thus be able to use\nskillfully the Sword of the Spirit.\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY XVI.\n\nTACT.\n\nMemory Verse: \"I am made all things to all men, that I might by all\n    means save some.\"--(1 Cor. ix, 22.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: 1 Cor. ix, 19-27.\n\n\nThe successful business man knows the value of tact, and the Christian\nworker should know the value of consecrated tact. A special study of the\nlife of Christ to notice his methods of dealing with various people, and\nto see the aptness with which he used parable and exhortation, would\nprove very helpful to every soul-winner. The life of Paul might also be\nstudied in the same manner with profit. He knew how to become all things\nto all men to save some.\n\nChrist's exhortation to his disciples was, \"Be ye as wise as serpents,\"\nbut how little wisdom many seem to have in seeking to win the unsaved to\nChrist! And this, too, when we have the promise, \"If any of you lack\nwisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and\nupbraideth not: and it shall be given him.\"\n\n\"Now if I could tell you,\" said a pastor to an unsaved business man, who\nhad been relating how much a friend had helped him in business, \"how\nmuch Christ has helped me, and what he has been to me, I believe I could\nwin you to him.\"\n\nThe value of tact was well illustrated in an incident which occurred\nduring Mr. Finney's meetings in New York City. The big cutlery firm of\nSheffield, England, had a branch house in New York. The manager was a\npartner of the firm, and very worldly. One of his clerks, who had been\nconverted in the meetings, invited his employer to attend. One evening\nhe was there, and sat just across the aisle from Mr. Arthur Tappan. He\nappeared affected during the sermon, and Mr. Tappan kept his eye on him.\nAfter the dismissal, Mr. Tappan stepped quickly across the aisle,\nintroduced himself, and invited him to stay for the after-service. The\ngentleman tried to excuse himself and get away, but Mr. Tappan caught\nhold of the button on his coat and said, \"Now, do stay; I know you will\nenjoy it;\" and he was so kind and gentlemanly that the cutlery man could\nnot very well refuse. He staid, and was converted. Afterwards he said,\n\"An ounce of weight upon my coat-button saved my soul.\"\n\nTo watch for opportunity, and then to know how effectively to make use\nof the opportunity, is all-important in soul-winning. And there is no\nbetter teacher than the Holy Spirit, of whom it is said, \"He shall teach\nyou all things, and bring all things to your remembrance.\"\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY XVII.\n\nEARNESTNESS.\n\nMemory Verse: \"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy\n    might.\"--(Eccl. ix, 10.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: Mark ii, 1-12.\n\n\nThe testimony of Charles H. Spurgeon should have weight here. He said:\n\"If a man is to be a soul-winner, there must be in him intensity of\nemotion as well as sincerity of heart. You may repeat the most\naffectionate exhortations in such a half-hearted manner that no one will\nbe moved either by love or fear. I believe that for soul-winning there\nis more in this matter of earnestness than in almost anything else.\"\n\nWhen we become as much in earnest to rescue our friends and dear ones\nfrom eternal death as we are to save them from physical suffering and\ndeath, then we shall see the rapid spread of the kingdom of Christ. A\nman falls overboard from the deck of a vessel, and his wife screams:\n\"Stop the boat! My God! My husband is drowning!\" But no one criticises\nthe woman for her passionate outcry, or bids her keep still. It was so\nnatural for her to cry out for help. And when the Church of Jesus Christ\nbecomes thoroughly awake to the worth of a soul and the awful danger to\nwhich all out of Christ are exposed, it will be the most natural thing\nin the world for them to show an undying earnestness in seeking the\nlost. Then propriety, and reticence, and restraint, and rules of\nrhetoric will be thrown to the winds, and a divine passion will possess\nthe life. The world may sneer at it as fanaticism, but it is the\nfanaticism of Pentecost. When the crowd saw the intensity of emotion\nshown by the newly-anointed disciples, they exclaimed, \"These men are\nfull of new wine.\" Here was shown an enthusiasm that leaps over all\ndifficulties and rises above every discouragement--the enthusiasm of\nPentecost; and every soul-winner must have it. Then, like Paul, wishing\nhimself accursed that Israel might be saved, or like John Welch, wrapped\nin his plaid, kneeling in the snow, unable to sleep, and praying\nmightily for the souls of men, this holy earnestness will not let us\nrest until we see the salvation of the lost.\n\nIt will tell in look, and tone, and manner. It may lead us to do things\nthat may shock the sense of propriety of the dead, formal Church member,\nsuch as being obedient to the Master's command, \"Go ye out into the\nhighways and hedges, and compel them to come in.\" Jeremiah preached\nrepentance in the streets; and the early Church preached everywhere, on\nthe streets, by the river's bank, in the market-places, and in prisons.\nJohn Livingstone stood on a tombstone, and preached with such power in\nthe midst of a falling rain that multitudes were born in a day. So did\nJohn Wesley. O that the great Church of Jesus Christ might now have the\nenthusiasm of Pentecost!\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY XVIII.\n\nPERSEVERANCE.\n\nMemory Verse: \"Ye that are the Lord's remembrancers, take no\n    rest.\"--(Isa. lxii, 6, R.V.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: Luke xv, 1-10.\n\n\nHow we are willing to persevere to save our friends from physical\nsuffering and death! No night is too long to watch, no sacrifice too\ngreat to make, no burden too heavy to bear, that the life of a loved one\nmay be saved. But should we not be just as persistent in our efforts to\nsave from eternal death those whom we love?\n\nPerhaps we have no more illustrious example of devotion to soul-winning\nthan evidenced in the life of Uncle John Vassar. Two incidents, related\nby the Rev. Walter B. Vassar, illustrate the perseverance with which he\nsought the perishing.\n\nA young man was noticed to come night after night to revival-meetings,\nbut would slip away before one could grasp his hand. Mr. Vassar felt he\nmust see this soul, and walked five miles to the farm where he lived,\narriving as the family was about to eat an early dinner, of which he was\nurged to partake. After being seated, the face of the young man not\nappearing in the family group, Mr. Vassar excused himself from the\ntable, and hunted through all the farm-buildings where a man might\npossibly be in hiding. At last, when about to confess himself defeated,\nhe walked to the further end of the corn-crib, and there, in an old\nhogshead, he found the fellow lying low. He confessed afterward that he\nhad taken satisfaction in looking through the bunghole of the hogshead,\nin believing Uncle John would not find him there. But this \"winner of\nsouls,\" knowing his opportunity, leaped over by the side of the runaway,\nand then and there turned, as Charles Spurgeon has said, \"the hogshead\ninto a Bethel,\" and won a soul for heaven.\n\nAn Irish woman in a village was told about a strange man calling about\nher place, and affirmed he would not be kindly treated if he knocked at\nher door. Mr. Vassar, not knowing her feelings, came there in his\nvisits, but the moment she saw he was the man--according to the\ndescription of him--she slammed the door in his face. He sat at once\nupon her doorstep and began to sing:\n\n    \"But drops of grief can ne'er repay\n     The debt of love I owe.\"\n\nIn a few weeks she wanted admission into the Protestant Church, and all\nher experience was, \"Those drops of grief, those drops of grief; I could\nnot get over them.\"\n\nSee how men persevere to get rich or to gain political prestige! See how\ninsurance agents, and book agents, and traveling men persevere in their\nefforts to convince men! They seek most favorable times, and then often\ngo again and again. And shall we who win immortal souls be any less\ndiligent?\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY XIX.\n\nTENDERNESS.\n\nMemory Verse: \"I am the good Shepherd; the good Shepherd giveth his life\n    for the sheep.\"--(John x, 12.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: Luke xv, 3-7; John x, 1-18.\n\n\nWhat infinite depths of tenderness are revealed in these sweet parables\nof the Lost Sheep and the Good Shepherd! The tender, loving heart of the\nSavior goes out in eager compassion and pity for the straying. What\nboundless sympathy is revealed in the words, \"He calleth his own sheep\nby name;\" \"He goeth after that which is lost;\" \"When he hath found it,\nhe layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing!\" The seeker after souls must\nbe like his Master. A heart ready to melt at the sight of human\nsuffering and human need is necessary to successful soul-winning. There\nare many whose hearts are hardened by long years of rebellion against\nGod; whose power of will is emasculated by long years of neglect; and\nthey will never be saved until some earnest Christian worker shall find\nthem, whose heart has been touched with the same sorrow that Jesus felt\nwhen he stood on the Mount of Olives weeping over Jerusalem.\n\nJ. Hudson Taylor, of the China Inland Mission, tells that when he was a\ncollege student he had charge of a man with a gangrenous foot. It was\nhis duty to dress the man's foot every day. He soon learned that his\npatient was not a Christian, and had not been in a church for forty\nyears. Such was his hatred of religion that he refused to go inside the\nchurch at his wife's funeral. Young Taylor made up his mind to speak to\nthis man about his soul every time he visited him. The man cursed him,\nand refused to allow him to pray. The student persisted in presenting\nChrist until one day he said to himself, \"It's no use,\" and was leaving\nthe room. When he reached the door, he turned around and saw the man\nlooking after him as if saying, \"Why, you are going away to-day without\nspeaking to me about Christ!\" Then the young man burst into tears, and\nreturning to the bedside, said: \"Whether you wish me to or not, I must\ndeliver my soul. Will you let me pray with you?\" The man assented, began\nto weep, was converted. Mr. Taylor says, \"God broke my heart, that\nthrough me he might break this wicked man's heart.\"\n\nAsk now that the Holy Spirit may give you a tender heart, and make your\neyes a fountain of tears, that, with the sympathy of Christ, you may\nseek the lost and perishing.\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY XX.\n\nBURDEN FOR SOULS.\n\nMemory Verse: \"For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ\n    for my brethren.\"--(Rom. ix, 3.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: Gen. xviii, 16-33.\n\n\nHow the great heart of the Savior was burdened for the lost! See him\nstanding on Olivet and weeping as he said: \"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou\nthat killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee,\nhow often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen\ngathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!\"\n\nWhere there is no real soul-burden for sinners, there will be no\nrevival. The early Church travailed in pain for the souls of dying men.\nOne preacher said, \"As I entered the pulpit, I could scarcely stand\nerect because of my concern for the people and solicitude for souls;\"\nand another said, \"I spent a whole night in prayer, and what I passed\nthrough was inexpressible.\" When we get a glimpse of the worth of a\nsoul, and then of the death of a soul, and begin to realize that we\nstand between lost men and heaven or hell, then we shall have real\nconcern, and the Lord will hear our prayer of intercession.\n\nWhen Mr. Moody first went to London he preached in a Congregational\nChurch, Sunday morning. There was no particular stir. That evening he\nspoke to a large audience of men in the same place, and scores expressed\na desire to become Christians. He went to Dublin next day, but was\nrecalled by a telegram saying that a great revival had broken out. And\nMr. Moody accounts for this wonderful work of grace which followed by\ntelling that, on that Sunday morning, a lady went home and told her\ninvalid sister that Mr. Moody from America had preached. \"I know what\nthat means,\" said the invalid. \"We are going to have a great revival. I\nhave been praying for months that the Lord would send him here.\" She\nwould not eat any dinner, but spent the day in fasting and prayer. The\nrevival began in that invalid's room.\n\nA gentleman waked his wife up at three o'clock in the morning to have\nher join him in prayer in behalf of a neighboring family who were\nunsaved; and at daybreak went to his neighbor's house to entreat them to\nyield to Christ.\n\nWhen such concern for the perishing is manifested by the Church, there\nis sure to be a gracious ingathering.\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY XXI.\n\nA PERSONAL PENTECOST.\n\nMemory Verse: \"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is\n    come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem,\n    and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the\n    earth.\"--(Acts i, 8.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: Acts ii, 1-4; xix, 1-6.\n\n\nBut, above all, the soul-winner must have _a personal Pentecost_. Christ\ndoes not send us alone to seek the lost. In the fifteenth and sixteenth\nchapters of St. John's Gospel, he definitely promises the Comforter. And\nagain, on the day of his ascension, he bids his disciples tarry at\nJerusalem until the Holy Ghost is come. Then as they waited, \"with one\naccord in one place,\" \"a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind\nfilled all the house where they were sitting, ... and they were all\nfilled with the Holy Ghost.\" Since that day the one supreme\nqualification for Christ's witnesses is _the enduement with the Holy\nGhost_. He will give a better knowledge of the Scriptures; he will\nre-enforce tact and earnestness and perseverance; he will give\ntenderness of heart and the burden for souls.\n\nWhat a marvelous change the coming of the Spirit wrought in those\nwaiting disciples! They had forsaken him; they had doubted his word;\nPeter had denied him. But now they all became flaming evangels, and\n\"spake the word of God with boldness.\"\n\nA personal Pentecost will help the soul-winner to overcome timidity,\ngive utterance and a holy boldness, and make effective the words he\nspeaks. It is the supreme need of the Church to-day. God wants men and\nwomen in every vocation of life who are Spirit-filled; and who, by\ndiligent study of the Word of God, by prayer, and by Christian\ntestimony, live a Spirit-filled life that is perennial.\n\nThe personal worker will succeed only when endued and empowered with the\nHoly Ghost. Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman tells of a young Irishman who was a\nmember of his Church, and who had not had the educational advantages\nmany young people have. Dr. Chapman says:\n\n\"With a heart burdened for the men of the city, I called together a few\nof the men of the Church, and laying before them the plan I had in mind,\ntold them first of all that we could do nothing without the 'infilling\nof the Holy Ghost.'\n\n\"When this had been explained, I noticed this man leave the room. He did\nnot return while the meeting was in session. When I sought him I found\nhim in one of the lower rooms of the church, literally on his face\nbefore God. He was in prayer.\n\n\"I shall never forget his petition: 'O God, I plead with thee for this\nblessing!' then, as if God were showing him what was in the way, he\nsaid, 'My Father, I will give up every known sin, only I plead with thee\nfor power;' and then, as if his individual sins were passing before him,\nhe said again and again, 'I will give them up; I will give them up.'\nThen, without any emotion, he rose from his knees, turned his face\nheavenward, and simply said, 'And now I claim the blessing.'\n\n\"For the first time he became sensible of my presence, and with a\nshining countenance he reached out his hands to clasp mine. You could\nfeel the very presence of the Spirit as he said, 'I have received him; I\nhave received him!' And I believe he had, for in the next few months he\nled more than sixty men into the kingdom of God. His whole life had been\ntransformed.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE SOUL-WINNER'S METHODS.\n\n\"THAT I MAY, BY ALL MEANS, SAVE SOME.\"\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY XXII.\n\nDIRECT APPROACH.\n\nMemory Verse: \"Jesus ... saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and\n    tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee.\"--(Mark v,\n    19.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: John iv, 1-42.\n\n\nJohn Vassar, than whom there has been no more successful soul-winner for\na hundred years, accomplished his work through personal conversation,\nand declared that the best method of dealing with souls is to strike\nhome at once with the most direct and searching question possible.\nWithout a word of introduction he would say, \"Have you experienced that\ngreat change called the new birth?\" That question could not be easily\nevaded.\n\nStudy the methods of Christ in dealing with such as Nicodemus, the\nSamaritan woman, and the rich young man. How eagerly he used every\nopportunity! How his questions search the life! Without any apology,\nhow he thrusts home warning and entreaty!\n\nHow easily we may lose opportunity to speak directly to men of their\ndanger! While the great Dr. Chalmers was a guest at the home of his\nfriend, a Highland country gentleman, his friend died suddenly. Dr.\nChalmers had never spoken to him about his soul. He was much distressed,\nand said, \"If I had only known that he was going to be taken from earth\nso soon, how earnestly I would have pleaded with him about his soul!\"\n\nDr. J.E. Carson, of New York City, said to his congregation one Sunday\nmorning, that every saved man was either a channel through which the\nSpirit of God was reaching the unsaved, or a barrier preventing the\nSpirit doing his work. One of the trustees of the Church said to himself\non the way home, \"Am I a channel, or a barrier?\" That night he could not\nsleep, and cried out, \"O Lord, make me a channel!\" Almost the first\nthought that came was that there were some men in his employ to whom he\nhad never spoken a word about Jesus Christ. He confessed his fault, and\ntold the Lord that if he would make him a channel he would speak to\nthese men. The first man who entered his office the next morning was his\nconfidential clerk, who had been with him eighteen years. The merchant\nsaid, \"Edward, haven't I been a good employer to you?\" \"Yes, sir.\" \"Have\nnot I treated you well?\" \"Yes, sir.\" \"Why, sir, what have I done,\" said\nthe clerk, \"that you are going to discharge me?\" \"Edward, I am on my way\nto heaven, and I want you to go with me.\" Tears came into the eyes of\nboth men as Edward took the merchant's extended hand and said, \"I will,\nsir.\" Dr. Carson afterwards received eleven men into his Church because\nthis trustee had consented to be a channel for the Holy Spirit.\n\nDr. Manley S. Hard talked with a physician about his soul, and, two days\nafter, the doctor entered the revival-meeting just before the\nbenediction, walked straight to the altar, and begged the people to\nwait and pray for him, saying:\n\n\"I know it is late and you are all tired, but I want you to stay a\nlittle while and pray for me. This has been an awfully hard day. I have\nridden fifty miles and visited more than twenty patients, but I am the\nsickest man of them all. Two sermons have been preached to me; a\nfaithful one yesterday by my pastor; the other this morning when I had\nto tell a woman she had better get ready to die, for she could not live.\nAs I drove away I said to myself, 'You have warned another, but you are\nnot ready yourself.'\"\n\nTo go to a man and speak to him directly and plainly about his\nresponsibility to God, and warn him to flee from \"the wrath to come,\"\nmay take more courage than to preach to a thousand; but it pays, and it\nmust be done if the dying multitudes are ever saved.\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY XXIII.\n\nCORRESPONDENCE.\n\nMemory Verse: \"Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with\n    mine own hand.\"--(Gal. vi, 11.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: Philemon.\n\n\nWhat a beautiful letter is that which Paul wrote to Philemon! How it\nbreathes affection, and sympathy, and tender entreaty! And it was\nwritten _by his own hand_. Study this letter, and have your heart\nsaturated with its spirit. You will then know how to write \"words that\ntouch\" to your unsaved friends.\n\nThere are special occasions [Transcriber's note: original reads\n'ocasions'], such as the time of bereavement, of sickness, of trial, or\nof success, when this method may be employed to advantage. Many a soul\nhas been won for Christ, and many a lonely life cheered by a\nsympathetic, wisely-worded letter, winged by prayer.\n\nSitting in a public park, a young man was seen poring over a letter\nwhile the tears rained down his face, and he almost sobbed aloud. \"It is\nfrom my mother,\" he said. \"She wrote it herself, and though I ran away\nfrom home and broke her heart, yet she says that she still loves me, and\nis praying for me, and wants me to come home.\"\n\nDr. T.L. Cuyler went to make his first call on a rich merchant. It was a\ncold winter evening, and as the door was opened when the minister was\nleaving, a cold, piercing gale swept in. Dr. Cuyler said, \"What an awful\nnight for the poor!\" The merchant went back and brought a roll of\nbank-bills, saying, \"Give these to the poorest people you know.\" Some\ndays after, Dr. Cuyler wrote him, telling him how his bounty had\nrelieved many poor, and then added, \"How is it that a man so kind to his\nfellow-creatures has always been so unkind to his Savior as to refuse\nhim his heart?\" That sentence touched him. He sent for the minister to\ntalk to him, was converted, and told Dr. Cuyler that he was the first\nperson in twenty years who had spoken to him about his soul.\n\nDo not allow letter-writing to excuse you from direct personal work; but\nwatch for opportunity to write, as well as speak, that \"by all means you\nmay save some.\"\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY XXIV.\n\nTRACTS AND BOOKS.\n\nMemory Verse: \"And when I looked, behold, a hand was sent unto me; and,\n    lo, a roll of a book was therein.\"--(Ezek. ii, 9.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: Eccl. xi, 1; 1 Tim. iv, 7-16.\n\n\nThe influence of a tract or of a good book can not be estimated. Rev. J.\nHudson Taylor, of the China Inland Mission, was converted in boyhood\nthrough reading a gospel tract which he found in his father's library.\n\"He had been frequently troubled about his soul, and had again and again\ntried to become a Christian, but had failed so often that he had\nconcluded that there was no use in trying any more.\"\n\nAn agent of the American Tract Society relates the following:\n\n\"A man on a canal-boat received a tract, but to show his contempt for\nthe tract and its giver, took out his penknife and cut it up into\nfantastic shapes. Then he held it up to the derision of the company.\n\n\"In tearing it apart, one of the pieces clung to his knee. His eyes were\nattracted by the only word on it--'eternity.' He turned it over, and\nthere was the word 'God.'\n\n\"These ideas remained in his mind. He tried to laugh them off; then to\ndrink, to play cards in order to banish them. But they still clung to\nhim, and plagued him till he sought God and preparation for eternity.\"\n\nThere is an old true story about a tract, that should be told over and\nover again:\n\nA Puritan minister named Sibbs wrote a tract called \"The Bruised Reed.\"\nA copy of this was given by a humble layman to a little boy at whose\nfather's house he had been entertained over night. That boy was Richard\nBaxter, and the book was the means of his conversion. Baxter wrote his\n\"Call to the Unconverted,\" and among the multitude led to Christ by it\nwas Philip Doddridge. Doddridge wrote \"The Rise and Progress of Religion\nin the Soul,\" and \"the time would fail to tell\" its blessed influence.\nBy it Wilberforce was converted, and of his life and labors volumes\ncould be written. Wilberforce wrote his \"Practical View of\nChristianity,\" and this led not only Dr. Chalmers into the truth, but\nLegh Richmond to Christ. Richmond wrote \"The Dairyman's Daughter,\" which\nhas been published in a hundred languages, and many million copies have\nbeen sold.\n\nBut he who would make the best use of good literature must be wise. How\nlittle tact some workers have! In a hospital a tract-distributor handed\na leaflet on dancing to a poor fellow who had lost both limbs. Another\nzealous young man gave a tract on \"The Tobacco Habit\" to a beautiful\ncultured lady, the wife of a minister. A good supply of common sense is\njust as necessary to success in the use of this method as in any other.\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY XXV.\n\nTHE PRAYER LIST.\n\nMemory Verse: \"I will pray for you unto the Lord.\"--(1 Sam. vii, 5.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: Luke xviii, 1-8.\n\n\nOne of the highest privileges of the Christian life is the privilege of\nintercession for the unsaved. Every Christian may be an intercessor, and\nbear to the mercy-seat, in the arms of prayer, some unsaved friend every\nday. Have a prayer list. In a little memorandum-book write the names of\nthose whom you are anxious to see saved. Spread these names before the\nLord daily until your prayers are answered.\n\nOne of the greatest Christian movements of modern times started with a\nprayer-list carried in the vest-pocket of a commercial traveler, Mr.\nE.R. Graves, traveling for a paper-house in New York City. He secured\npermission from a merchant to allow his name to be entered on his\nprayer-list. The merchant wrote his name in the traveler's book, and\nthen proceeded to inform Mr. Graves that he had determined not to be a\nChristian, and that he had taken too big a contract if he expected to\npray him into the kingdom. But the traveler simply said, \"I confidently\nexpect my prayer to be answered.\" When they met again the merchant had\nbeen converted, and, amid tears of rejoicing, another name was checked\noff the list. The merchant's name was Samuel M. Sayford. Mr. Sayford\nbecame a secretary in the Young Men's Christian Association, and shortly\nafter met C.K. Ober, then a student at Williams College, and pushed him\nout into Association work. Mr. Ober, in turn, found John E. Mott in\nCornell University, persuaded him to enter Association work among\nstudents; and Mr. Mott, in the course of time, started on his journey\naround the world, organizing the World's Christian Student Federation.\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY XXVI.\n\nWORK AMONG STUDENTS.\n\nMemory Verse: \"Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did\n    beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled\n    to God.\"--(2 Cor. v, 20.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: 1 Cor. ii.\n\n\nNo more fruitful and important field for personal work can be found than\nin our educational institutions, and Christian students who make\nsoul-winning a habit of life may win many rich trophies for the Master.\nBishop H.W. Warren, when a Freshman in college, was led to an open\nconfession of Christ through a Saturday morning walk with a Junior, who\ntalked to him about his soul.\n\nDr. J.W. Bashford, in _The Christian Student_, tells about \"a Senior in\nthe Ohio Wesleyan University who was smitten with conviction because he\nhad neglected personal work for the Master. He intended to be a\nminister, but had been indifferent to the spiritual welfare of his\nstudent friends. He offered himself to Christ in full consecration, and\nmade a list of sixteen friends for whom he felt personal responsibility.\nHe engaged in systematic personal work with these friends, and had the\nsatisfaction before the year was completed of seeing every one of them\nbegin the Christian life. Six of his sixteen friends entered the\nministry, and some of them are even more talented and successful than\nthe student friend who led them to Christ.\"\n\nAs a rule, young people during their college years are thoughtful and\neasily reached; but if not saved before they leave the college halls and\nbegin the active work of life, they are almost certainly lost to the\nkingdom. How often, because of timidity or carelessness, Christian\nstudents and teachers allow this precious harvest time to go by, and\nlose the opportunity to win a soul for Christ!\n\nA man, who is now an eminent and widely-known minister, says that he\nroomed with a young man at college for two years, and never said a word\nto him about his soul. When he was about to leave for home, his\nroom-mate said, \"Why have you not spoken to me about my soul?\" Said the\nChristian student, \"I thought you did not care for me to do so.\" The\nyoung man replied, \"Why, that is the very reason I roomed with you, and\nthere has never been a day for these two years that you could not have\ndone so.\"\n\nLet Christian students set out to win some trophies among their friends\nand room-mates for Christ. The results of faithful personal work may not\nbe immediate or apparent, but the blessed Spirit of God will water the\nseed. For thirteen months a college student prayed for and urged a\nfellow-student to surrender to Christ, and died without seeing any\nresult of his efforts. But the seed was faithfully sown, and the young\nman was afterwards converted, and became Bishop Hannington, the martyr\nbishop of Africa.\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY XXVII.\n\nMEETING OBJECTIONS.\n\nMemory Verse: \"For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your\n    adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.\"--(Luke xxi,\n    15.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: John ix, 1-41.\n\n\nThe zealous personal worker will be met by objections; but it must be\nremembered that these objections are often given for the sake of\nargument, and often for the sake of something to say. They should be\nsquarely met, however, and answered; and the best way to answer such is\nby Scripture. There is not an objection advanced by the unconverted that\ncan not be met and overcome by some passage of Scripture. Just as Jesus\nin the wilderness met the tempter's arguments with \"It is written,\" so\nwe may meet every argument of the objector with the Word.\n\nA faithful study of Christ's conversations with seeking souls, such as\nNicodemus and the rich young man, will also be helpful.\n\nBelow are some of the objections usually given, with the Scripture\nreferences that may be used to meet them. This arrangement of texts is\ntaken from \"Personal Work,\" by S.M. Sayford, by consent of the\npublishers:\n\n\"I am good enough.\" (Gen. vi, 5; Ps. li, 5-7; Luke xviii, 19.)\n\n\"I am as good as most Christians.\" (Rom. xiv, 10-12; 2 Cor. v, 10; Rev.\nxx, 11; xii, 15.)\n\n\"I have never done anything really bad.\" (Luke xvi, 15; James ii, 10.)\n\n\"I can not give up my pleasures.\" (Eccl. ii, 1; xi, 9; Ps. xvi, 11.)\n\n\"I know I shall fail.\" (John vi, 37; 2 Tim. i, 12; iv, 18.)\n\n\"I can not now, but will some time.\" (Luke xiv, 17; Acts xxiv, 25; James\niv, 13, 14; Luke xii, 19, 20.)\n\n\"I am too great a sinner.\" (Luke v, 32; xix, 10; 1 Tim. i, 15.)\n\n\"My day of grace has past.\" (Ex. xxxiv, 5-7; 2 Chron. xxx, 9; Isa. lv,\n7.)\n\n\"I do not feel concerned.\" (Rom. xiii, 11; Eph. v, 14; Heb. ii, 3.)\n\n\"I can not know that these things are true.\" (Acts xvii, 11; John v, 39;\nvii, 17.)\n\n\"It will cost me my living.\" (Matt. vi, 33; Ps. lxxxiv, 11; Rom. xiv,\n8.)\n\n\"It will prevent my becoming rich.\" (1 Tim. vi, 9, 10; Mark viii, 36,\n37; Rev. iii, 17, 18.)\n\n\"I can not hold my friends.\" (Matt. x, 37; xxii, 37; Phil. iii, 8.)\n\n\"How may I know that Christ is the Son of God?\" (John xx, 30, 31; x,\n23-25; 1 John v, 13, 20; Mark iv, 11.)\n\n\"How may I know that the Bible is true?\" (John vii, 17.)\n\n\"Will not God save me if I do my best?\" (Eph. ii, 9; Titus iii, 5-8.)\n\n\"Why must a man believe in Christ to be saved?\" (John xiv, 6; Acts iv,\n12; Gal. ii, 16; Rom. iii, 23, 26.)\n\n\"How may I know I am forgiven?\" (Ps. xxxii, 5; Prov. xxviii, 13; 1 John\ni, 7-9.)\n\n\n\n\nSTUDY XXVIII.\n\nNO EFFORT IN VAIN.\n\nMemory Verse: \"So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it\n    shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I\n    please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.\"--(Isa.\n    lv, 11.)\n\nScripture for Meditation: John iv, 36; 1 Cor. xv, 58.\n\n\n\"Some day I hope you will preach the gospel,\" said an aged minister to a\nlittle boy in England. That boy became Charles H. Spurgeon. That great\nsoul-winner, Mark Guy Pearse, says that when he was a boy his father\ntook him to see a saintly old lady, who laid her hand upon his head,\nsaying, \"God bless the boy, and make him a minister.\" Mr. Pearse says\nthat, through this aged woman, God called him to the ministry.\n\nIn a college chapel in Pennsylvania a Christian layman sat down beside a\nboy and talked to him about Christ. That boy became Alfred Cookman,\nwhose name will be held in everlasting remembrance.\n\nAn eminent lawyer of Minneapolis, converted a short time since, declares\nthat the earnest question, \"Have you found Jesus?\" spoken by a young\nlady to his friend who sat by his side in a revival-meeting, and her\nstartled look, when she was answered roughly, followed him for fifteen\nyears until he was finally converted.\n\nNo sincere effort for Christ can fail. To human eyes there may be little\nencouragement, but his Word shall prevail. Every invitation and entreaty\nshall in the end be, to those who reject it, the \"savor of death unto\ndeath,\" but to those who accept it, \"the savor of life unto life.\" We\nmay go forth now, weeping, bearing precious seed; but some blessed day\nwe shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing our sheaves with\nus.\n\nPerhaps we are too anxious to see results now. We do like to number the\nconverts, and add to the Church roll. Far better do our best for Christ\nand souls, then leave the results to God. He will see that the seed,\nfaithfully planted, is watered, and that _no effort is in vain_.","title":"The Art of Soul-Winning","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":13030}