"Is your father at home?" asked a gentleman of a doctor"s child.
"No," he said, "he"s away."
"Where can I find him?"
"Well," he said, "you"ve got to look for him in some place where people are sick or hurt, or something like that. I don"t know where he is, but he"s helping somewhere."
That ought to be the spirit animating every follower of Him who went about doing good.
LAYING DOWN RULES.
I admit one can"t lay down positive rules in dealing with individuals about their religious condition. Tin soldiers are exactly alike, but not so men. Matthew and Paul were a good way apart. The people we deal with may be widely different. What would be medicine for one might be rank poison for another. In the 15th of Luke, the elder son and the younger son were exactly opposite. What would have been good counsel for one might have been ruin to the other. G.o.d never made two persons to look alike. If we had made men, probably we would have made them all alike, even if we had to crush some bones to get them into the mould. But that is not G.o.d"s way. In the universe there is infinite variety. The Philippian jailer required peculiar treatment. Christ dealt with Nicodemus one way, and the woman at the well another way.
YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE.
It is a great mistake, in dealing with inquirers, to tell your conversion experience. Experience may have its place, but I don"t think it has its place when we are dealing with inquirers; for the first thing the man you are talking to will do will be to look for your experience. He doesn"t want your experience. He wants one of his own.
Suppose Bartimeus had gone to Jerusalem to the man that was born blind, and said:
"Now, just tell us how the Lord cured you."
The Jerusalem man might have said: "He just spat on the ground, and anointed my eyes with the clay."
"Ho!" says Bartimeus, "I don"t believe you ever got your sight at all.
Who ever heard of such a way as that? Why, to fill a man"s eyes with clay is enough to put them out!"
Both men were blind, but they were not cured alike. A great many men are kept out of the kingdom of G.o.d because they are looking for somebody else"s experience--the experience their grandmother had, their aunt, or some one in the family.
ONE INQUIRER AT A TIME.
Then it is very important to deal with one at a time. A doctor doesn"t give cod-liver oil for all complaints. "No," he says, "I must seek what each one wants." He looks at the tongue, and inquires into the symptoms.
One may have ague, another typhoid fever, and another may have consumption. What a man wants is to be able to read his Bible, and to read human nature, too.
Those do best who do not run from one person in an inquiry-meeting to another, offering words of encouragement everywhere. They would do better by going to but one or two of an afternoon or evening. We are building for eternity, and can take time. The work will not then be superficial.
Try first to win the person"s confidence, and then your words will have more weight. Use great tact in approaching the subject.
It will be a great help to divide persons into cla.s.ses as much as possible, and bring certain pa.s.sages of Scripture to bear upon these cla.s.ses. It is unwise, however, to use verses that you have seen in books until you are perfectly clear in your own mind of their meaning and application. Avail yourself by all means of suggestions from outside sources, but as David could not fight in Saul"s armor, so you possibly may not be able to make good use of texts and pa.s.sages which have proved powerful in the hands of another. The best way is to make your own cla.s.sification, and select suitable texts, which experience will lead you to adopt or change, according to circ.u.mstances. Make yourself familiar with a few pa.s.sages, rather than have a hazy and incomplete idea of a large number.
The following cla.s.sification may be found helpful:--
1. Believers who lack a.s.surance; who are in darkness because they have sinned; who neglect prayer, Bible study, and other means of grace; who are in darkness because of an unforgiving spirit; who are timid or ashamed to confess Christ openly; who are not engaged in active work for the Master; who lack strength to resist temptation and to stand fast in time of trial; who are not growing in grace.
2. Believers who have backslidden.
3. Those who are deeply convicted of sin, and are seeking salvation.
4. Those who have difficulties of various kinds. Many believe that they are so sinful that G.o.d will not accept them, that they have sinned away their opportunities and now it is too late, that the gospel was never intended for them. Others are kept back by honest doubts regarding the divinity of Christ, the genuineness of the Bible. Others again are troubled by the mysteries of the Bible, the doctrines of election, instant conversion, etc., or they say they have sought Christ in vain, that they have tried and failed, they are afraid they could not hold out. A large cla.s.s is in great trouble about feelings.
5. Those who make excuses. There is a wide difference between a person who has a _reason_ and one who had an _excuse_ to offer.
The commonest excuses are that there are so many inconsistent Christians, hypocrites in the church; that it would cost too much to become Christians, that they could not continue in their present occupation, etc.; that they expect to become Christians some day; that their companions hold them back, or would cast them off if they were converted.
6. Those who are not convicted of sin. Some are deliberately sinful; they want to "see life," to "sow their wild oats;" others are thoughtless; others again are simply ignorant of Jesus Christ and His work. A large number do not feet their need of a Savior because they are self-righteous, trusting to their own morality and good works.
7. Those who hold hostile creeds, embracing sectarians, cranks, Jews, spiritualists, infidels, atheists, agnostics, etc.
Always use your Bible in personal dealing. Do not trust to memory, but make the person read the verse for himself. Do not use printed slips or books. Hence, if convenient, always carry a Bible or New Testament with you.
It is a good thing to get a man on his knees (if convenient), but don"t get him there before he is ready. You may have to talk with him two hours before you can get him that far along. But when you think he is about ready, say, "Shall we not ask G.o.d to give us light on this point?"
Sometimes a few minutes in prayer have done more for a man than two hours in talk. When the spirit of G.o.d has led him so far that he is willing to have you pray with him, he is not very far from the kingdom.
Ask him to pray for himself. If he doesn"t want to pray, let him use a Bible prayer; get him to repeat it; for example: "Lord help me!" Tell the man: "If the Lord helped that poor woman, He will help you if you make the same prayer. He will give you a new heart if you pray from the heart." Don"t send a man home to pray. Of course he should pray at home, but I would rather get his lips open at once. It is a good thing for a man to hear his own voice in prayer. It is a good thing for him to cry out: "G.o.d be merciful to me a sinner!"
Urge an immediate decision, but never tell a man he is converted. Never tell him he is saved. Let the Holy Spirit reveal that to him. You can shoot a man and see that he is dead, but you can not see when a man receives eternal life. You can"t afford to deceive one about this great question. But you can help his faith and trust, and lead him aright.
Always be prepared to do personal work. When war was declared between France and Germany, Count von Moltke, the German general, was prepared for it. Word brought to him late at night, after he had gone to bed.
"Very well," he said to the messenger, "the third portfolio on the left"; and he went to sleep again.
Do the work boldly. Don"t take those in a position in life above your own, but as a rule, take those on the same footing. Don"t deal with a person of opposite s.e.x, if it can be otherwise arranged. Bend all your endeavors to answer for poor, struggling souls that question of all importance to them. "What must I do to be saved?"
CHAPTER XVI.
SUMMARY OF SUGGESTIONS.
1. Have for constant use a portable reference Bible, a Cruden"s Concordance, and a Topical Text Book.
2. Always carry a Bible or Testament in your pocket and do not be ashamed of people seeing you read it on trains, etc.
3. Do not be afraid of marking it, or of making marginal notes. Mark texts that contain promises, exhortations, warnings to sinners and to Christians, gospel invitations to the unconverted, and so on.
4. Set apart at least fifteen minutes a day for study and meditation.
This little will have great results and will never be regretted.
5. Prepare your heart to know the law of the Lord, and _to do it_.
Ezra 7:10.
6. Always ask G.o.d to open the eyes of your understanding that you may see the truth; and expect that He will answer your prayer.
7. Cast every burden of doubt upon the Lord. "He will never suffer the righteous to be moved." Do not be afraid to look for a reason for the hope that is in you.
8. Believe in the Bible as G.o.d"s revelation to you, and act accordingly.
Do not reject any portion because it contains the supernatural, or because you can not understand it. Reverence all Scripture. Remember G.o.d"s own estimate of it: "Thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy Name."
9. Learn at least one verse of Scripture each day. Verses committed to memory will be wonderfully useful in your daily life and walk. "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee." Some Christians can quote Shakespeare and Longfellow better than the Bible.