WINNI ‘ G é S01 ULS SLIGH THE LIBRARY OF REVEREND HARRY M. NORTH GRADUATE OF THE CLASS OF 1899 TRUSTEE 1919-1932 DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY DURHAM, N. C. CHRIST’S WAY OF WINNING SOULS BY JOHN CALHOUN SLIGH A Member of the Northwest Texas Conference. NasHVILLE, TENN.; Dawvas, TEx. Purs.isHinc Housg or THE M. E. CuurcH, SOUTH SmiTH & Lamar, AGENTS 1909 Dm Sch. R. PREFATORY NOTE. THE subject of Personal Work appeals at once to every Christian worker. In this book the writer has endeavored to bring out the underly- ing principles governing Christ’s personal deal- ings with the unsaved. The object of this work is to emphasize the supreme importance of the spirit in which personal work is done. If the reading of these pages shall help some few to follow Christ in the winning of souls, the writer will feel that he has written to good pur- pose. Except where otherwise indicated, the Scrip- ture quotations are from the American Revision. JoHN CaLHoun SiIcuH. EASTLAND, Texas, September, 1008. (iii) INTRODUCTION. BY GROSS ALEXANDER. Ir any word that I could say would induce ten thousand people to get and read this beau- tiful book, I should be very happy indeed. As a study of the method and spirit of Jesus, it car- ries a charm that will hold the reader to the end. As a guide to those who really desire to be effective in winning souls and who want to “know how,” it will be the very thing they need. And it will awaken a desire and more—a con- viction—in those fruitless, useless, do-nothing Christians who have never known the joy of bringing a soul to Christ. The book, then, is not for preachers only or chiefly ; though it will be a very present help for some of them. For it will give them a picture of him whom they call Master, and will show them how he did and how they are to do if they are really (and not professionally) his servants. More and more we are coming to see and know that every Christian may be, ought to be, is to be, a preacher. The old, traditional, conventional distinction between the clergy and the laity, be- tween the minister and the members, between the (v) SRA HD SRT O28 vi Introduction. preacher and the people, is giving way to a com- mon-sense view which is also the scriptural view, that every one who knows by experience the say- ing power of Christ is to become a witness of it to others, and a winner of souls. Here there is no distinction. Read Acts i. 8, “Ye shall be my witnesses.” Read also Acts viii. 1 in con- nection with the startling statement of viii. 4. But one should know how; and one who does not know how should be willing to learn. He must know what to say and, what is of almost equal importance, he must know how to say it. It must be done in a way that will arrest atten- tion, win the confidence, and captivate the heart. It is a great art, it is a sublime art, but it is also a delicate art. One must know the secret. Jesus had the secret. Witness his charm as a conversationalist, his overwhelming popularity as a speaker to the multitudes. Well, Mr. Sligh, one of whose teachers I had the privilege of being, brings this out and sets it forth in a way that is simple, unaffected, vital, convincing. Those who want to know may here learn how; those who are so indolent they do not care to know, will find themselves wanting to know, if they will read this book. Nashville, Tenn. CONTENDS. CHAPTER I. Boe CHRIST AS A PERSONAL WORKER........-.ece0cecece I CHAPTER II. MANIFESTATION OF A FRIENDLY SPIRIT............-- 5 CHAPTER III. A Happy Way oF INTRODUCING THE SUBJECT........ 10 CHAPTER IV. IZROBINIG (GHE) CONSCIENCEC p(t. sae ay tL Le 15 CHAPTER V. A Lrperat put UNCOMPROMISING SPIRIT............ 20 CHAPTER VI. Tue Granp OsjectivE Point: To ReveaL Curist TOMTEDEI SUN NER 206 0 i ue SOP Card as sla Umma 23 CHAPTER VII. THe Motive Power: Consuminc EARNESTNESS TO IDG Gros SP AY A001 oh AMA MMR URS OREN LUNI aE eM ih 26 CHAPTER VIII. RESULTS OF SOUL-WINNING—BEYOND THE MEASURE OE UNGANG STANDARDS). (se ei Ree lah eg WO NaN 3I viii Contents. CHAPTER IX. Curist’s MEssAcr To THE MAN OF _ CHAPTER X. Curist’s AppeaL To THE Business MAN... CHAPTER XI. Curist’s CLAIM ON THE ARISTOCRAT..... CHAPTER XII. Tue Curist PRESENCE........cccecceccs CHRIST'S WAY OF WINNING SOULS. CHAPTER™ I: CHRIST AS A PERSONAL WORKER. DurinG the past decade the attention of Christian people has been especially called to the possibilities of personal work—conversa- tional evangelism. As the arm is almost use- less without the hand, preaching is likely to be powerless to save men unless supplemented by personal effort. So widespread has been the conviction as to the importance of this kind of Christian effort that a distinct class of litera- ture has been created. A number of booklets have been issued, classifying the different kinds of sinners, and arranging Scripture quotations to meet all possible objections that the unregen- erate man is prone to make when confronted with the religious question. While much good has doubtless been accom- plished by the apt use of memorized texts, it (1) 2 Christ’s Way of Winning Souls. seems to the writer that the spirit in which we approach the unsaved man, and our manner of dealing with his troubled soul, should be of greater importance. Realizing the extreme delicacy of the human soul and the far-reach- ing issues involved, some conscientious people shrink from the task of conversational evan- gelism, fearing that they will do more harm than good. Others have tried repeatedly, and met with little success. The lack of apparent success should discourage no one. The main thing is to be sure not only that we are in- trinsically right, but that we are doing the work in Christ’s way. Christ’s method was largely conversational. He did not make set speeches. He followed the Socratic way of teaching by questions and answers, as he mingled with all classes of peo- ple. In John’s Gospel we have the best speci- mens of our Lord’s conversational method which have come down to us from the apos- tolic age. John himself makes it plain that they were but specimens preserved from a vast volume of living, spoken truth. Without doubt the most complete example of Christ’s way of dealing with an individual Christ as a Personal Worker. 3 soul is found in the fourth chapter of John’s Gospel. This is a most satisfactory case. The work of Christ is seen at its best in his con- versation with a woman of the common peo- ple, ignorant, degraded, and yet possessing a mind that responded readily to the attractions of Divine truth. It was inevitable that the ministry of Jesus, overlapping the ministry of John the Baptist, should excite the semblance of religious rival- ry. Although John had declared that “he that cometh after me is mightier than I,” it is not surprising that the Pharisees should welcome the news of apparent rivalry when they heard that “Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John.” To avoid the possibility of strife between the two groups of disciples and the unfortunate effect upon outsiders, Jesus withdrew from Judea to return and re- sume his Galilean ministry. Arriving at the rich plain of Samaria, they stopped at Jacob’s well, not far from the village of Sychar. The disciples went away into the village to buy food, while the Lord awaited their return. As he sat thus on the well, in his Jewish attire, an Oriental woman, bearing an earthen waterpot 4 Christ's Way of Winning Souls. on her shoulder, appeared upon the scene. She paid no attention to the stranger, but slowly let the waterpot down into the depths and drew it up again, “‘all dripping with coolness” from the well. As she did so the stranger fixed his eyes upon her and said, “Give me to drink.” The request was so unexpected that the woman, as she tendered the water, was seized with an irrepressible curiosity, and said: “How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, who am a Samaritan woman?” Mindful of the age-long contempt of Jew for Samari- tan, intensified by the fact that in the Samar- itan’s veins ran Jewish blood mingled with Gentile—a mongrel stock, the black sheep of the Jewish family—she had expected to leave the Jewish stranger as she had found him, sit- ting silent at the well. She looked no more for a word from him than from the stones at her feet. When he did speak, with gracious courtesy, asking for the drink of water he so sorely needed, she was astonished. CHAPTER II. MANIFESTATION OF A FRIENDLY SPIRIT. CuRIST’s unexpected request, “Give me to drink,” reveals the first principle of his way of winning souls—the manifestation of a friend- ly spirit. In speaking to the woman Jesus crossed a double barrier, the Oriental barrier of sex and the Jewish barrier of race prejudice. Some speak of Christ as a Jew, but the word is too small for him. His humanity transcended Jewish national barriers and Jewish social cus- toms. He is a citizen of the world, the friend and brother of mankind. A Jew, especially a Pharisee, would have sat at that well and would have died of thirst before stooping to ask a Samaritan woman for a drink of water. If we would save men, as Jesus saved them, we may not limit our mission to an exclusive circle. To cut ourselves off by arbitrary social barriers from saving fellowship with those for whom Christ died, is to forfeit the spirit of (5) 6 Christ's Way of Winning Souls. Christ. No man can come into fellowship with Christ without having his sympathies broad- ened and his narrowness rebuked. A Japanese theological student from Vanderbilt, K. Ashi- da, who attended the General Missionary Con- ference in New Orleans in 1901, said in one of the after-meetings: “Up to this time I have felt that my mission was to Japan; but now I feel that I have a mission to China and to all Asia.” The natural capacity of men for friendship greatly varies. Some will seclude themselves within a narrow circle, knowing and caring nothing about those on the outside. Others will just as naturally form a wide circle of ac- quaintance, and carry on a large correspond- ence with friends in different parts of the coun- try. Whatever natural tastes may be, it is the duty of the Christian worker to make friends for Christ’s sake. The love that includes less than all humanity is not a Christ love. “He made of one (blood) every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth.” All men are included in the saving purpose of God and in the atonement of Jesus Christ. The mani- festation of a friendly disposition is the out- Manifestation of a Friendly Spirit. 7 ward and visible means of approaching a deathless spirit. It is the first overture of an invitation to immortality. Before we can manifest a friendly spirit, we must actually have a friendly spirit. If there is within us any vestige of bad feeling, it is an impediment to the course of Christian love. If we are selfishly absorbed in ambitious schemes, or business pursuits, or personal pleasures, the springs of human affection will dry up. A deep and never-failing love for men is the sure mark of the Christ spirit. If we actually have such a love, we can convince the world of our friendship. Such a love can be realized only by close contact with the Son of Man, who is the Master Lover. If we know Christ, we will love men as he loved them. After we have caught a measure of Christ’s friendship, it is sure to find a way to manifest itself. At the same time knowledge of men and social usages will help every Christian worker. Dr. Van Dyke says that there is one way in which people are alike—it is that they are all different. Planting our friendship for men on the broad basis of the solidarity of the race, we find an infinite variety of types 8 Christ's Way of Winning Souls. and individuals. If we love men, we will study human nature. But after all, nothing appeals to men like supreme naturalness. David Livingstone could walk right into the camp of an African chief who was surrounded by his warriors and armed to the teeth, and could go right up to him and extend the hand of greeting with the same easy gait and pleasant smile with which he would approach an old and trusted friend. And thus, at an early stage, Livingstone learned to rule the hearts of the Africans. That man who loves men and believes in them, who has sought and found the keynote that vibrates in all hearts—that man can make his appeal anywhere and find a response; for that which is common to the race is stronger than individual or national peculiarities. When Christ asked the woman, “Give me to drink,” he spoke not as Jew to Samaritan, or as Ori- ental man to Oriental woman, but as one hu- man being to another; and the response was instant and sure. “How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, who am a Samaritan woman?” Jesus did not answer the question directly. He Manifestation of a Friendly Spirit. 9 seldom did. His next words only served to intensify her interest and curiosity: “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given _ thee living water.” The woman replied: “Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank thereof himself, and his sons, | and his cattle?” The next words of Jesus roused the woman’s curiosity to the highest pitch: “Every one that drinketh of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up into eternal life.’’ The practical mind of the woman caught at the possibilities of such water as a labor-saver in domestic economy. Water, one drink of which would satisfy thirst for all eternity! She wanted it at once. “Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come all the way hith- er to draw.” CHAPTER III. A Happy Way oF INTRODUCING THE SUBJECT. No writer on pedagogics could suggest a more skillful way of establishing the mental point of contact. Reasoning from the com- monplace fact of a drink of water Jesus di- rected the woman’s thoughts to the living water, of which if a man drink he shall never thirst. By placing a familiar object in a most unfamiliar light, he caught and held her atten- tion. She was interested, and wanted the wa- ter he was talking about. First impressions are strongest. If a man is — repelled by the first approaches of the Chris- tian worker, success is endangered. We find people preoccupied with the things of this pres- ent world, their thoughts not on spiritual things, and it is often matter of difficulty to break into the well-connected chain of every- day interests. The woman’s mind just then was on the drawing of a pitcher of water, (10) Introducing the Subject. II Notice with what master-skill Jesus glides into the great theme. The words “gift of God— living water—shall never thirst to all eter- nity,” were as the first rosy glimmer of spir- -itual dawn to the woman’s mind. When Nico- demus came to Jesus by night, Jesus at the first word shot a shaft of white light into Nico- demus’s soul. “Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” What this self-complacent master in Israel needed was to be blinded by the blaze of full-orbed spir- itual truth and startled out of his own intel- lectual orbit. Not so with this peasant woman. The hammer-and-tongs method of approach- ing a sensitive human soul, without divine skill or wisdom, is of no avail. The writer well re- members an experience in light housekeeping at the old Dryades Street parsonage in New Orleans. After moving in our trunks and be- longings and scraping up some of the dust from the floors, I sallied forth to get oysters for supper. The girl at the little shop asked me if I wanted them opened. I said, “No— shells and all.” Returning to our rooms, I undertook to prize the shells open. First, I tried to insinuate a screw-driver in between the 12 Christ's Way of Winning Souls. shells. I never realized before that an oyster could have such tenacity of purpose. I tried again by setting the oyster on edge and ham- mering on it as on a blacksmith’s anvil. After nearly an hour’s hard work, we succeeded in dislodging a dozen or more of the outraged mollusks ; but they were unfit to eat, and made us sick. I never bought oysters again without having them opened at the shop. Afterwards I saw some experts shucking oysters. They would pick them up, toss the shells aside, and throw the oysters into a tub, as fast as hands could move. It was all a matter of knowing how to approach the oyster. The man who would win souls for Christ must know the avenues of approach to the common mind as well as the means of access to the cultured classes. There is a road into every man’s thoughts, or at least a pathway, however twisted and tangled it may be. How to find the road, or to follow the trail that leads "into the circle of a fellow-being’s supreme in- terests—this is the task before the personal worker. To miss the trail is to accomplish nothing, or worse than nothing. For this reason, Christ was always talking Introducing the Subject. 13 ? about common things in an uncommon way. Cee When he found Simon and Andrew, James : and John, by the Sea of Galilee, with their nets and their fishing, he appealed to their fisher- man’s instinct. ‘Come ye after me, and I will -make you fishers of men.’ For the farmer, he had the parable of the Sower; for the mer- chant, he had the parable of the Merchant Seeking Goodly Pearls; for the financier, he had the parable of the Talents; for the shep- herd, he had the parable of the Good Shep- herd, and that of the Sheep and the Goats, at the last judgment; and for all humanity, he had the parable of the Prodigal Son. And yet, the same Saviour who could touch the minds of the common people at so many points could so enthrall the mind of the cul- tured and scholarly Saul of Tarsus that he ex- claims: “What things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ! Yea, verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excel- lency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” The successful personal worker must be full of his subject. It is foolish to suppose that by memorizing a few isolated Scripture texts 14 Christ's Way of Winning Souls. a man can equip himself to charm men out of their sins into the love of Christ. He may not be a scholar, he may not have a profound or brilliant intellect, but his mind must be imbued, permeated, with the spirit of the Gospels. He must know Christ, and the gospel of Christ. In him he must live and move and have his being. He must know the Old Testament as it looks forward to Christ, and the Acts and Epistles as they cast an afterglow of light upon our Lord. He may not be an expert at quoting proof-texts; but the spirit of these things he must have in his heart, and that to overflow- ing. And when the opportunity comes to sow the seed, he is justified in claiming the promise: “But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraid- eth not; and it shall be given him.” Nothing but practice and the wisdom of God can teach us how to let the first spark of light into a human soul. But remember, there is always a road to every man’s mind. Christ knows that road. If we abide in him, he will teach us. There may be failures, even ludi- crous mistakes; but the end will reward us with divine skiil and divine success. CHAPTER IV. PROBING THE CONSCIENCE. WHEN the woman made the request that Christ give her some of this remarkable water, he turned and said: “Go, call thy husband and come hither.” Considerably abashed, the woman replied: “T have no husband.” Straight the Saviour looked her in the face, as he said: “Thou saidst well, I have no hus- band; for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: this thou hast said truly.” The next principle of Christ’s way of win- ning souls is that his words probed the con- Science and suited themselves to the moral con- dition of the hearer. A harsh rebuke is like a disagreeable medicine: it is hard to get the patient to take the treatment. But if you can softly turn the light of a man’s conscience on his own sin, so that he will rebuke himself, lasting good will be accomplished. Jesus nev- (15) 16 Christ's Way of Winning Souls. er needlessly wounded the self-love of people. His prophetic eye read the whole inner history of the woman. She had tampered with the marriage tie, like a thing to be put on and off as a garment, until finally she had reached the point of dispensing with the marriage cere- mony altogether—the logical end of all such. No lasting good can be accomplished by per- sonal work unless we probe the conscience. We may not have the prophetic insight of Jesus; but if, by the spirit of Christ, we can wake up the conscience, we can locate the in- fected spot. In actual experience, sin is not an abstract something, but very tangible, exceed- ingly real and personal. While all sin springs from one generic root, a man must be led to repent of that particular sin of which he has been guilty. I like best Luke’s account of John’s message of repentance, because it is positive and specific: “And the multitudes asked him, saying, What then must we do? And he answered and said unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath food, let him do likewise. And there came also publicans to be baptized, and they Probing the Conscience. 17 said unto him, Teacher, what must we do? And he said unto them, Extort no more than that which is appointed you. And the soldiers also asked him, saying, And we, what must we do? And he said unto them, Extort from no man by violence, neither accuse any one wrong- fully ; and be content with your wages.” John did not hesitate, in the spirit of candor and kindness, to address himself to the specific sins of which his hearers were guilty. This is the realm of spiritual therapeutics ; it may be of spiritual surgery. A great deal of the success of the modern physician is due to his skill in disguising disagreeable remedies in capsules; and in surgery, to the use of an- esthetics. Jesus Christ was always merciful to the consciences of men. He did not try to torment or afflict the guilty soul. If the guilt was recognized and acknowledged, that was enough. The most effective preaching is where a man’s own conscience speaks to him. Paul in the second chapter of Romans says: “They show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith, and their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing them.”