The Art of Soul-Winning Part 4

STUDY XVI.

TACT.

Memory Verse: "I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some."--(1 Cor. ix, 22.)

Scripture for Meditation: 1 Cor. ix, 19-27.

The successful business man knows the value of tact, and the Christian worker should know the value of consecrated tact. A special study of the life of Christ to notice his methods of dealing with various people, and to see the aptness with which he used parable and exhortation, would prove very helpful to every soul-winner. The life of Paul might also be studied in the same manner with profit. He knew how to become all things to all men to save some.

Christ's exhortation to his disciples was, "Be ye as wise as serpents,"

but how little wisdom many seem to have in seeking to win the unsaved to Christ! And this, too, when we have the promise, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of G.o.d, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not: and it shall be given him."

"Now if I could tell you," said a pastor to an unsaved business man, who had been relating how much a friend had helped him in business, "how much Christ has helped me, and what he has been to me, I believe I could win you to him."

The value of tact was well ill.u.s.trated in an incident which occurred during Mr. Finney's meetings in New York City. The big cutlery firm of Sheffield, England, had a branch house in New York. The manager was a partner of the firm, and very worldly. One of his clerks, who had been converted in the meetings, invited his employer to attend. One evening he was there, and sat just across the aisle from Mr. Arthur Tappan. He appeared affected during the sermon, and Mr. Tappan kept his eye on him.

After the dismissal, Mr. Tappan stepped quickly across the aisle, introduced himself, and invited him to stay for the after-service. The gentleman tried to excuse himself and get away, but Mr. Tappan caught hold of the b.u.t.ton on his coat and said, "Now, do stay; I know you will enjoy it;" and he was so kind and gentlemanly that the cutlery man could not very well refuse. He staid, and was converted. Afterwards he said, "An ounce of weight upon my coat-b.u.t.ton saved my soul."

To watch for opportunity, and then to know how effectively to make use of the opportunity, is all-important in soul-winning. And there is no better teacher than the Holy Spirit, of whom it is said, "He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance."

STUDY XVII.

EARNESTNESS.

Memory Verse: "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."--(Eccl. ix, 10.)

Scripture for Meditation: Mark ii, 1-12.

The testimony of Charles H. Spurgeon should have weight here. He said: "If a man is to be a soul-winner, there must be in him intensity of emotion as well as sincerity of heart. You may repeat the most affectionate exhortations in such a half-hearted manner that no one will be moved either by love or fear. I believe that for soul-winning there is more in this matter of earnestness than in almost anything else."

When we become as much in earnest to rescue our friends and dear ones from eternal death as we are to save them from physical suffering and death, then we shall see the rapid spread of the kingdom of Christ. A man falls overboard from the deck of a vessel, and his wife screams: "Stop the boat! My G.o.d! My husband is drowning!" But no one criticises the woman for her pa.s.sionate outcry, or bids her keep still. It was so natural for her to cry out for help. And when the Church of Jesus Christ becomes thoroughly awake to the worth of a soul and the awful danger to which all out of Christ are exposed, it will be the most natural thing in the world for them to show an undying earnestness in seeking the lost. Then propriety, and reticence, and restraint, and rules of rhetoric will be thrown to the winds, and a divine pa.s.sion will possess the life. The world may sneer at it as fanaticism, but it is the fanaticism of Pentecost. When the crowd saw the intensity of emotion shown by the newly-anointed disciples, they exclaimed, "These men are full of new wine." Here was shown an enthusiasm that leaps over all difficulties and rises above every discouragement--the enthusiasm of Pentecost; and every soul-winner must have it. Then, like Paul, wishing himself accursed that Israel might be saved, or like John Welch, wrapped in his plaid, kneeling in the snow, unable to sleep, and praying mightily for the souls of men, this holy earnestness will not let us rest until we see the salvation of the lost.

It will tell in look, and tone, and manner. It may lead us to do things that may shock the sense of propriety of the dead, formal Church member, such as being obedient to the Master's command, "Go ye out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in." Jeremiah preached repentance in the streets; and the early Church preached everywhere, on the streets, by the river's bank, in the market-places, and in prisons.

John Livingstone stood on a tombstone, and preached with such power in the midst of a falling rain that mult.i.tudes were born in a day. So did John Wesley. O that the great Church of Jesus Christ might now have the enthusiasm of Pentecost!

STUDY XVIII.

PERSEVERANCE.

Memory Verse: "Ye that are the Lord's remembrancers, take no rest."--(Isa. lxii, 6, R.V.)

Scripture for Meditation: Luke xv, 1-10.

How we are willing to persevere to save our friends from physical suffering and death! No night is too long to watch, no sacrifice too great to make, no burden too heavy to bear, that the life of a loved one may be saved. But should we not be just as persistent in our efforts to save from eternal death those whom we love?

Perhaps we have no more ill.u.s.trious example of devotion to soul-winning than evidenced in the life of Uncle John Va.s.sar. Two incidents, related by the Rev. Walter B. Va.s.sar, ill.u.s.trate the perseverance with which he sought the perishing.

A young man was noticed to come night after night to revival-meetings, but would slip away before one could grasp his hand. Mr. Va.s.sar felt he must see this soul, and walked five miles to the farm where he lived, arriving as the family was about to eat an early dinner, of which he was urged to partake. After being seated, the face of the young man not appearing in the family group, Mr. Va.s.sar excused himself from the table, and hunted through all the farm-buildings where a man might possibly be in hiding. At last, when about to confess himself defeated, he walked to the further end of the corn-crib, and there, in an old hogshead, he found the fellow lying low. He confessed afterward that he had taken satisfaction in looking through the bunghole of the hogshead, in believing Uncle John would not find him there. But this "winner of souls," knowing his opportunity, leaped over by the side of the runaway, and then and there turned, as Charles Spurgeon has said, "the hogshead into a Bethel," and won a soul for heaven.

An Irish woman in a village was told about a strange man calling about her place, and affirmed he would not be kindly treated if he knocked at her door. Mr. Va.s.sar, not knowing her feelings, came there in his visits, but the moment she saw he was the man--according to the description of him--she slammed the door in his face. He sat at once upon her doorstep and began to sing:

"But drops of grief can ne'er repay The debt of love I owe."

In a few weeks she wanted admission into the Protestant Church, and all her experience was, "Those drops of grief, those drops of grief; I could not get over them."

See how men persevere to get rich or to gain political prestige! See how insurance agents, and book agents, and traveling men persevere in their efforts to convince men! They seek most favorable times, and then often go again and again. And shall we who win immortal souls be any less diligent?

STUDY XIX.

TENDERNESS.

Memory Verse: "I am the good Shepherd; the good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep."--(John x, 12.)

Scripture for Meditation: Luke xv, 3-7; John x, 1-18.

What infinite depths of tenderness are revealed in these sweet parables of the Lost Sheep and the Good Shepherd! The tender, loving heart of the Savior goes out in eager compa.s.sion and pity for the straying. What boundless sympathy is revealed in the words, "He calleth his own sheep by name;" "He goeth after that which is lost;" "When he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing!" The seeker after souls must be like his Master. A heart ready to melt at the sight of human suffering and human need is necessary to successful soul-winning. There are many whose hearts are hardened by long years of rebellion against G.o.d; whose power of will is emasculated by long years of neglect; and they will never be saved until some earnest Christian worker shall find them, whose heart has been touched with the same sorrow that Jesus felt when he stood on the Mount of Olives weeping over Jerusalem.

J. Hudson Taylor, of the China Inland Mission, tells that when he was a college student he had charge of a man with a gangrenous foot. It was his duty to dress the man's foot every day. He soon learned that his patient was not a Christian, and had not been in a church for forty years. Such was his hatred of religion that he refused to go inside the church at his wife's funeral. Young Taylor made up his mind to speak to this man about his soul every time he visited him. The man cursed him, and refused to allow him to pray. The student persisted in presenting Christ until one day he said to himself, "It's no use," and was leaving the room. When he reached the door, he turned around and saw the man looking after him as if saying, "Why, you are going away to-day without speaking to me about Christ!" Then the young man burst into tears, and returning to the bedside, said: "Whether you wish me to or not, I must deliver my soul. Will you let me pray with you?" The man a.s.sented, began to weep, was converted. Mr. Taylor says, "G.o.d broke my heart, that through me he might break this wicked man's heart."

Ask now that the Holy Spirit may give you a tender heart, and make your eyes a fountain of tears, that, with the sympathy of Christ, you may seek the lost and perishing.

STUDY XX.

BURDEN FOR SOULS.

Memory Verse: "For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren."--(Rom. ix, 3.)

Scripture for Meditation: Gen. xviii, 16-33.