van^elism 
 
 ilMHM 
 
 WILLIAM E.BIEDERWOLF 
 

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 BV 4!j2U .Bw'-i ^j'^^ 
 
 
 Biederwolf, William E. 
 
 1867 
 
 1939. 
 
 
 Evangelism 
 
 
EVANGELISM 
 
WORKS BY 
 
 W. E. BIEDERWOLF 
 
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EVANGELISM: 
 
 ITS JUSTIFICATION, ITS OPERATION 
 AND ITS VALUE 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM E. BIEDERWOLF, D.D. 
 
 Secretary of 
 The National Federated Evangelistic Committee t/ 
 
 New York Chicago 
 
 Fleming H. Revell Company 
 
 London and EpJN?V^G|f 
 
Copyright, 1921, by 
 FLEMING H, REVELL COMPANY 
 
 PRINTED IN THE 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
 
 New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
 Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave. 
 London: 21 Paternoster Square 
 Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 I. Evangelism : Its Meaning and His- 
 
 tory 
 
 11. The Philosophy of Revival and 
 
 ITS Historical Justification . 37 
 
 III. The Preacher and His Message . 59 
 
 -IV. Pastoral Evangelism ... 85 
 
 V. The Union Evangelistic Campaign 109 
 
 VI. Preparation and Operation . - 129 
 
 VII. Individual Evangelism . . • i53 
 
 VIII. The Invitation and After-Meeting 185 
 
 IX. Conservation of Results . • 211 
 
 X. The Great Evangelist-— the Holy 
 
 Spirit ^^^ 
 
A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR 
 
 The contents of this volume have come out of 
 a long and blessed experience in Evangelistic work. 
 The Lectures were prepared more especially for the 
 students of our Theological Seminaries and deliv- 
 ered as a part of the program of the National 
 Federated Evangelistic Committee of which the 
 author was formerly General Secretary. 
 
 They were delivered to the students of Princeton 
 Theological Seminary and later to those of Xenia 
 Theological Seminary and elsewhere, including the 
 students of the Moody Bible Institute, and they are 
 put in this permanent form with very little modifica- 
 tion from the original form and phraseology in 
 which they were delivered at the very urgent peti- 
 tion of the many students who heard them. 
 
 The author is happy in the thought of the inspira- 
 tion seemingly derived from them by the many 
 splendid young men who have devoted their lives 
 to the Gospel ministry, and he trusts, in now 
 committing them to print, that, whatever of value 
 they may perchance possess, they may be likewise 
 helpful to any others to whose attention they may 
 thus be brought. 
 
EVANGELISM 
 
EVANGELISM 
 
 ITS MEANING AND HISTORY 
 
 I. Introductory Remarks. 
 
 1. The object of these lectures briefly defined. 
 
 2. EvangeHsm defined etymologically. 
 
 II. The New Testament usage of the Word. 
 
 I. EvangeHsm the supreme mission of the church. 
 
 2 Evangelism foremost in every minister's life re- 
 gardless of the particular phase of mmistry to 
 which he feels himself called of God. 
 
 (a) In his preparation. 
 
 (b) In his active ministry. 
 
 (c) In his everyday service. 
 
 3. The Office of the Evangelist. 
 
 (a) Does Scripture recognize it? 
 
 (b) Indications of its intended permanency. 
 
 (c) Has history warranted its contmuance? 
 
 (d) Do present-day needs w,arrant its con- 
 
 tinuance ? 
 
 (i) As seen in the world. 
 (2) As seen in the church. 
 
 4. Evangelism to continue in every effective and 
 
 legitimate form. 
 
 III. The History of Evangelism. 
 
 I The Evangelism of the prophets, 1500 B.C.-30 a.d. 
 
 2. The Evangelism of the Apostles and the early 
 
 church, 33 A.D.-350. 
 
 3. Evangelism in modern times. 
 
 (a) The Reformation Period, 1300-1550. 
 
 (b) The Revival of the Seventeenth Century, 
 
 1600-1675. 
 
 (c) The Great Awakening of the Eighteenth 
 
 Century, 1725-1750. 
 
 (d) The Outpouring of the Nineteenth Cen- 
 
 tury, 1 800- 1 850. 
 
 (e) The Revival of 1857. 
 
 (f) Late Modern Revivals, 1860-1920. 
 
I 
 
 EVANGELISM 
 
 ITS MEANING AND HISTORY 
 
 IT is a genuine pleasure to address a body of 
 men in course of preparation for the highest 
 and holiest work God has ever given any of 
 His creatures to undertake. 
 
 Yours is the biggest business in all the universe. 
 If it were given heaven to do, angels would vie with 
 archangels and cherubim with seraphim in their 
 haste to reach the earth to undertake it. 
 
 And yet what is your thought of how the One 
 who gave the Church her Great Commission feels 
 about the way the Church has given herself to her 
 task? When Queen Victoria was asked how long 
 it would take her with the force at her command to 
 get a message to every man, woman and child in 
 the world, she said " eighteen months." But the 
 church, compared with whose force that of Queen 
 Victoria was most insignificant indeed, has been 
 more than two thousand years getting the message 
 of the crucified Christ to the world and as yet not 
 a single town or village has been wholly converted. 
 Thousands have never yet even heard the glad news. 
 Only a hundredth part of the world's people is 
 within the fold of church membership today. 
 
 9 
 
10 EVANGELISM 
 
 We have conventions enough and we organize 
 societies enough; we pass resolutions enough and 
 we appoint committees enough; we print books 
 enough on " How to Do Church Work," and we 
 deliver lectures enough on " How to Reach the 
 Masses," but we don't seem to get down to the 
 business of the church in real blood-earnestnes^ 
 and do the thing which we spend so much of God's 
 time talking about. 
 
 We need a little more of the rugged readiness 
 and insuperable initiative of old Miles, the bridge- 
 builder. We spend too much time *' getting ready 
 to get ready.'' When Stonewall Jackson wanted 
 to get over the Shenandoah River in twenty-four 
 hours he told his old bridge-builder to get the 
 thing done as quickly as he could and said he had 
 ordered his engineer to prepare the plans and hand 
 them over to him at once. About ten hours later 
 he asked old Miles how he was getting along, and 
 the old man said, " General, the bridge is built ; 
 I don't know whether the picture is done yet or 
 not' 
 
 It is the purpose, therefore, of these lectures 
 to bring to you who are preparing for the min- 
 istry an increased sense of the responsibility rest- 
 ing upon us all for the spiritual transformation 
 of the world; to discuss with you one of the prin- 
 cipal means, and in a certain sense the only means, 
 for its accomplishment; to set forth something of 
 how God has set His seal upon this particular 
 
ITS MEANING AND HISTORY 11 
 
 form of the ministry called Evangelism; to put 
 ourselves wise to those things which interfere with 
 its efficiency, and to make clear if possible the best 
 methods for the successful prosecution of that work 
 which God had in mind when He '' gave some to 
 be evangelists," and when He told Paul to tell 
 Timothy, the pastor, to "do the work of an evan- 
 gelist." 
 
 ^ " Evangelism " is a great word. " Evangel " 
 means " good tidings." " Gospel," etymologically, 
 means the " God-story." Therefore, " Evangel " 
 and " Gospel " are in reality one and the same 
 thing. *' Ism " means " doctrine." " Evangel- 
 ism," therefore, means " The d^octrine of the Gos- 
 pel." 
 
 V " Revivalism," strictly speaking, means the ^re- 
 animating of that which is already living, but in 
 a state of declension. It has to do primarily with 
 the Christian; whereas, " EvangeUsm," in our 
 thought of the word, as well as in its derivative 
 sense, refers primarily to the proclamation of the 
 Gospel to the unregenerate. 
 
 THE NEW TESTAMENT USAGE OF THE WORD 
 
 While the Greek word, " uangelisto " (evangel- 
 ist), is mentioned only three times in the New 
 Testament, the Greek verb, " uangeHzo " (to evan- 
 gelize), is mentioned fifty-two times, and the Greek 
 word, "uangelion", (the Gospel), is mentioned 
 seventy-four times. Evangelism, therefore, means 
 
12 EVANGELISM 
 
 preaching the Gospel with special reference to call- 
 ing the attention of the unconverted to the " good 
 news '' it contains. The other phase of the Chris- 
 tian ministry, the establishing of the convert in 
 the faith and Revivalism as defined above, which, 
 of course, must always follow Evangelism, is fully 
 as important, for without it Evangelism is always 
 incomplete and sometimes abortive and worse than 
 useless. When a man becomes a Christian, the 
 next question he ought to have put to him is, 
 " What kind of a Christian are you going to be? " 
 Not one, let it be hoped, like the fellow who got 
 up in a meeting down in Kentucky and said, 
 " Brethren, I've been a Christian now for nine 
 years, and I've been getting honrier and honrier 
 and honrier every year; pray for me that I may 
 hold out faithful." 
 
 We make no mistake, therefore, when we say 
 that evangelism is the first and in a sense the su- 
 preme mission of the church. The French have 
 a phrase they call raison d'etre. They tell us it 
 means the " why " of a thing, the reason for its 
 being. And we all know full well that the church 
 is here as God's great evangelizing agency. I allow 
 no one to go beyond me in emphasizing the duty 
 of the church to present-day social and economic 
 problems. And I know that in other ways the 
 needs are myriad and the demands are multifa- 
 rious, so much so that if the church were that 
 dragon-fly with i,ooo eyes she could not see them 
 
ITS MEANING AND HISTORY 13 
 
 all, and if she were Briareus with his hundred 
 arms she could not meet them all, but yet, after 
 all is said, the first and fundamental duty of the 
 church is evangelistic— the winning of men for 
 Christ. 
 
 Evangelism must, therefore, have Jhe foremost 
 place in every minister's life, regardless of that 
 particular phase of the ministry to which he feels 
 himself called of God. 
 
 When Paul said, "Do the work of an Evan- 
 gelist,'' he was writing to a pastor. And it is a sad 
 thmg when a pastor becomes so obsessed with the 
 idea of the breadth of his message and the com- 
 >l^y of his ministry that his pulpit efforts be- 
 come ^^rt of a "de omnibus rebus et cetera re- 
 bus'' affair, instead of a travail of soul for the 
 unsaved, before whom, by the grace of God, he 
 has been allowed to stand as an evangel in the stead 
 of Christ; and what the church needs, to use the 
 words of A. C. Dixon, is " more pastors who have 
 an evangelistic conscience, preach an evangelistic 
 Gospel, pursue evangelistic methods and magnify 
 evangelistic experiences." 
 
 And so in his preparation, in his active minis- 
 try and in his everyday service, evangelism should 
 be the dominant note of the preacher's life. 
 
 In the preparation of his sermon, the thought 
 of what he has really been called to do should 
 be uppermost in his mind. Many a preacher spends 
 more time on the rhetorical ornamentation of his 
 
U EVANGELISM 
 
 sermon than he does on trying to make Jesus shine 
 out through all he says. And a preacher like that 
 is always concerned more about what people will 
 think of his sermon than he is about what they 
 will think of the Christ he professes himself called 
 to preach. 
 
 This is not so easy to admit, and we are not all 
 of us quite so frank about it as was a certain 
 preacher who came down from his pulpit and a 
 woman said to him, " That was a fine sermon you 
 preached." He replied, " Yes, Madam, the Devil 
 just told me that as I stepped out of the pulpit." 
 
 If a preacher really wants souls converted under 
 the preaching of a sermon, the sermon will be con- 
 structed with that end in view, and then in his 
 public utterance he will preach as though he ex- 
 pected God to honour the message in the rock- 
 rooted conviction and sound conversion of the man 
 who sits before him to hear the word of life while 
 he preaches. 
 
 And such a preacher by the way will not overlook 
 the real meaning of his ministry in his everyday life 
 and service. It is said of a noted American clergy- 
 man that he one tin^e preached in the pulpit of 
 Robert Murray McCheyne. He asked the people 
 to tell him something about the famous Scotch 
 preacher; something about his sermons, the texts he 
 chose and the gestures he made, but Robert Murray 
 McCheyne had been so long dead that no one could 
 be found old enough to remember. At last he 
 
ITS MEANING AND HISTORY 15 
 
 found an old, white-haired man standing on the 
 steps of the church and he asked him to tell him 
 what he wanted to know. The old man replied, 
 that he couldn't recall very much of the information 
 desired, but there was one thing he said which he 
 had never forgotten. Said he, " When I was a mere 
 lad, standing by the road-side one day, Robert 
 Murray McCheyne came along the way and he said 
 to me, * Jamie, my lad, I am just going down to 
 see your sister; she is very sick and we are fearful 
 she will not get well. And, Jamie,' said he, as he 
 put his hand upon my head and the tear glistened in 
 his eye, ' I am very much concerned about your own 
 soul; I pray, Jamie, that you may give yourself to 
 Christ.' " Said the old man, " I have forgotten all 
 about his gestures and all about his texts, but I can 
 never forget the words he spoke to me that day 
 by the road-side and I can see the tear in his eye 
 today and feel the pressure of his trembling hand 
 upon my head as he said to me, * Jamie, I am much 
 concerned about your soul.' " And the placing of 
 that trembling hand upon that Scotch lad's head was 
 a finer gesture, young men, than pulpit ever knew. 
 That the New Testament recognizes the office of 
 the evangelist we have already seen. Of course 
 when Paul told a certain pastor, Timothy, to " do 
 the work of an evangelist," he was not advising 
 him to travel about the land and hold evangelistic 
 meetings. We know this because he told him to do 
 certain other things, which shows clearly that he 
 
16 EVANGELISM 
 
 meant for him to stay at home. It is quite clear, 
 however, from Ephesians 4: 11, that there is an 
 office of the evangelist quite distinct from that of 
 the pastor. And so far as the indications of Scrip- 
 ture are concerned there is every reason to believe 
 that it was meant to be quite as permanent. 
 
 Nor have we ever been able to quite understand 
 why the same reason for scientific specialization 
 should not exist in religious work as in every other 
 field of endeavour. At any rate there has been at 
 least for centuries an evangelism distinct from the 
 work of the regular ministry or pastorate, upon 
 which the seal of divine approval has always been 
 set in such a marvellous measure that the church 
 has been glad to acknowledge its great debt to this 
 particular form of Christian activity. 
 
 Present-day needs not only warrant but impera- 
 tively demand the continuance of evangelistic work. 
 Of this there can be absolutely no question. This is 
 true whether we speak of evangelism from the 
 standpoint of the pastor or of the vocational evan- 
 gelist or of the individual. This may be seen both 
 in the world condition and in the condition of the 
 church. 
 
 I know the human race has improved in a general 
 way, but it*s in a bad fix spiritually. Science has 
 brought us the wireless and the airship, and dis- 
 covery has made us acquainted with radium, and 
 knowledge and general culture have been on the in- 
 crease. But science never made a saint, and all the 
 
ITS MEANING AND HISTORY 17 
 
 libraries that Andrew Carnegie's millions ever built 
 "will never give a man a clean heart. And with all 
 these things, crime, divorce, graft, war and other 
 forms of wickedness do not seem to have greatly 
 decreased. In this land alone of 100,000,000 people 
 two-thirds of them are outside the pale of either the 
 I^rotestant or Roman Catholic church. 
 ■ And then the Church herself needs more red cor- 
 puscle's in heTl)ro6d. The spirit of the world with 
 its lusts has crept into the Church and eaten out a 
 good deal of her heart. The Church has really been 
 an " army of occupation " instead of an " army of 
 conquest.'* Instead of marching out against the 
 enemy " like an army terrible with banners " she has 
 been hiding in church trenches and behind ec- 
 clesiastical embattlements and singing, " Hold the 
 Fort." 
 
 The story is told by Charles Stelzle of a couple of 
 Irishmen travelling toward a certain town and in- 
 quiring at three diflFerent times along the way how 
 far it was to their destination and being told each 
 time that it was about six miles; one of them turned 
 to the other and said, " Well, be^o^rra^ we're holdin' 
 our own, anyhow." 
 
 Do you know that all our churches have been 
 making for the past ten or fifteen or twenty years 
 less than three per cent of a net gain in her member- 
 ship. Now what does this mean from the standpoint 
 of population ? 
 
 Let me draw for you an imaginary chart of 100 
 
18 EVANGELISM 
 
 black squares, each square representing 1,000,000 
 people, and you will have the population of the 
 United States. Now paint 24 of these squares white 
 and form a cross out of them in the middle of the 
 chart and you will have the membership of the 
 Protestant churches of this land. Now paint 15 
 more of the black squares grey and place them at 
 the bottom of the cross and you will have the 
 membership of the Roman Catholic church of this 
 land. This leaves 61 of the squares black and still 
 unevangelized. Now bear in mind that a black 
 square of new material (1,000,000 souls) is being 
 added every year by immigration alone, to say 
 nothing of the increase through birth; at least 
 this has been the story for the last dozen years, and 
 while foreign immigration has fallen off at the 
 present because of the war, it will come, unless re- 
 stricted, in as vigorous a fashion as ever now that 
 the war is over. Then remember that less than 
 500,000 have been won to Christ by our Protestant 
 churches on the average for a large number of years, 
 viz., about one-half of one black square, while an 
 additional 200,000 per year represents the gain made 
 by the Catholic church, and then tell me as a simple 
 problem in mathematics how long at this rate it is 
 going to take us to evangelize the United States. 
 In view of this and many times as much which 
 could be said, I am sure that no man could be 
 charged with extravagance if he were to say that 
 the importance of a thoughtful and thorough 
 
ITS MEANING AND HISTORY 19 
 
 evangelism for this day cannot be overestimated, 
 and that every form of effective and legitimate 
 evangelistic work should be encouraged and have 
 the heartiest approval and co-operation of every 
 Christian and especially of every minister in this 
 land. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF EVANGELISM 
 
 Now with this somewhat apologetic portion at an 
 end, I want now briefly to review the history of 
 evangelism, which may be conveniently grouped 
 under three main heads: the Evangelism of the 
 Prophets, of the Apostles and Early Church and of 
 Modern Times. 
 
 I. The Evangelism of the Prophets. 1500 
 B.C.-30 A.D. 
 
 The history of God's people after all is little more 
 than the story of revival. The revival in the sense 
 of a protracted meeting or an evangelistic campaign 
 is of comparatively recent origin, but all of the 
 special stirrings and epochal events which belong 
 to the history of God's dealing with His people may 
 in a very proper sense be called revivals. 
 
 Israel's whole experience was one of declension 
 and revival. At times their religious life sank so 
 low that hope almost expired. But there was always 
 " a remnant that feared the Lord," and in the times 
 of Joshua and Samuel and David and other leaders 
 and prophets there was a coming back, a return 
 
20 EVANGELISM 
 
 unto the Lord characterized with great religious 
 fervour. 
 
 Perhaps the most conspicuous of these revivals 
 of religion, and the one which more than any other 
 has a touch of modernism about it, was the one 
 held under the leadership of Ezra immediately upon 
 the return of the people from their Assyrian cap- 
 tivity. It was an open-air meeting. The people 
 filled the streets of Jerusalem and Ezra got up in 
 a wooden pulpit and read the law of Moses and 
 preached from morning till the hour of noon. The 
 people were mightily stirred. They repented of 
 their sins and proved their repentance by squaring 
 up with the Lord. 
 
 But Israel was as fickle as a weather-wane. It*s a 
 wonder that God put up with them as long as He 
 did. They played the harlot continually. And 
 from the time of Malachi until John the Baptist 
 there was no warning voice to call them back to 
 God. 
 
 Then came John the Baptist, the wilderness 
 preacher, " with the spirit of Elijah burning in his 
 breast and thundering in his voice." He had back- 
 bone compared with which Ulysses' bow was a wil- 
 low twig. He never trimmed his sails to win the 
 friendship of the crowd that had the money and 
 the influence. If all the preachers whose lips have 
 been padlocked by fear and whose voices have been 
 choked by expediency and a man-pleasing spirit 
 would stand up and make a confession of it, we 
 
ITS MEANING AND HISTORY 21 
 
 would know one of the reasons why the Church has 
 gone off and played the harlot with the world as 
 much as she has. But John the Baptist thundered 
 against sin and cried out, ** Repent! Repent!" and 
 " there went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea 
 and all the region round about Jordan, and were 
 baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins." 
 
 II. The Evangelism of the Apostles and the 
 Early Church, 33 A.D.-350. 
 
 The revival under John the Baptist closed what 
 may properly be called '* Old Testament Evangel- 
 ism '* or the " Evangelism of the Prophets," and 
 with the revival at Pentecost wa» ushered in what 
 may as properly be called New Testament Evangel- 
 ism or the Evangelism of the Apostles and the early 
 Church. 
 
 On the day of Pentecost 3,000 people were added 
 to the church. This was Christianity's Inaugural 
 Day. Peter's sermon furnishes a good model for 
 an evangelistic preacher. 
 
 The era of church history ushered in by Pente- 
 cost was one of great missionary and evangelistic 
 activity. In recording the acts of the Apostles the 
 writer had little more to do than to tell the story 
 of revivals. We read in one place that the number 
 added to the church was 5,000; in another place 
 that a great company of priests were obedient to 
 the faith; again at Berea, that many of the Jews 
 
22 EVANGELISM 
 
 believed and of the honourable women who were 
 Greeks. And everywhere the Gentiles poured into 
 the Kingdom until Demetrius complained that 
 throughout all Asia Paul had evangelized and turned 
 away much people. 
 
 One of the most notable of these revival occasions 
 was that of the work of Philip in thd city' of 
 Samaria. In the twenty-first chapter of Acts Philip 
 is called an " evangelist " and in the eighth chapter 
 of Acts we are told how Philip went down from 
 Jerusalem to the city of Samaria to preach Christ. 
 It seems as though the whole city was profoundly 
 stirred. Not according to modern newspaper report 
 (for it is quite easy to stir a city that way), but 
 according to the Word of God. Newspapers can lie 
 worse than a gas-meter when it comes to reporting 
 a revival. Even a religious journal recently re- 
 ported in black-face capitals " 98,000 conversions " 
 in a single campaign of a few weeks! But Philip 
 must have preached to great crowds, and when the 
 news of the mighty outpouring of God's Spirit 
 reached Jerusalem Peter and John hurried down to 
 render every possible assistance in caring for the 
 tremendous needs of the campaign. 
 
 The evangelistic experience of the early church 
 in the post-Apostolic age was no less remarkable. 
 It was only by a succession of revivals, and this 
 too in the face of direst persecution, that the glorious 
 history we are privileged to write today was made 
 possible. 
 
ITS MEANING AND HISTORY 28 
 
 Then came the days of superstition and sin and 
 the long centuries of spiritual darkness until the 
 sound of Luther's hammer on the Wittenberg 
 cathedral door aroused 'the slumbering Church out 
 of her night of lethargy and her indifference to the 
 corrupt ethics and pagan practices of the day 
 which had eaten out her very vitals while she slept. 
 
 III. Evangelism in Modem Times, 1300- 1920. 
 Here we may conveniently find six sub-divisions, 
 or sub-periods. 
 
 (a) T\he Reformation Period, 1300- 15 50 
 
 These were the days of John Wicliffe and John 
 Huss and Jerome of Prague. Mighty martyrs of 
 whom the world was not worthy! Then came 
 Martin Luther, the giant of the Reformation who 
 " shook the papal throne to its very foundation." 
 Then a little later, as the influence of the movement 
 overspread all the land, came John Calvin and John 
 Knox and John Taussen and John Laski, all within 
 nearly a quarter of a century, and uader their re- 
 markable ministries the church was blessed with 
 continuous revival and the principles of the evan- 
 gelical faith were established in the countries now 
 Protestant. 
 
 If the evangelism of the Reformation period is 
 to be distinguished in any way from that of later 
 periods of evangelistic activity it must be seen in ^ , 
 this^ that the evangelism of the Reformation times 
 
24 EVANGELISM 
 
 i 
 
 was educational rather than what is popularly known 
 as revivalistic. 
 
 However, we must guard against the mistake of 
 considering the Reformation Revival a mere con- 
 troversy of theological opinioTrT)r- only a struggle 
 for the right and liberty of individual conscience. 
 These things it indeed was; but it was more. In 
 fact, the Reformation sprang from ah agonizing 
 desire to know the true way of life and the whole 
 movement was animated and nerved by spiritual 
 experiences of conviction of sin and the joy of con- 
 version; and never, unless it was in the early days 
 of Christendom, had there been a deeper or more 
 wide-spread concern about the soul's personal re- 
 lation to God, and souls were converted by the 
 thousands. It was an educational revival; but it 
 was more. 
 
 (b) The Revival of the Seventeenth Century, 
 1 600- 1 675 
 
 The Reformation Period was followed not long 
 after by a series of remarkable evangelistic visita- 
 tions in Great Britain. These were the days of 
 Baxter and Bunyan and John Livingston. 
 
 In Scotland we read of the great Stewarton re- 
 vival. This the unbelievers sneeringly called, " The 
 Stewarton Sickness.'* Five years later in 1630 oc- 
 curred that remarkable demonstration of divine 
 power in the church of Shotts when young John 
 
ITS MEANING AND HISTORY 25 
 
 Livingston preached and 500 souls were soundly 
 converted. From this meeting many eminent 
 Christians in later years dated the beginning of their 
 religious experience. 
 
 Almost at the same time one of the most remark- 
 able outpourings of the Spirit on record took place 
 in the north of Ireland in the province of Ulster; 
 while in England the work of Baxter in Kidder- 
 minster has been one of the religious wonders of 
 succeeding centuries. 
 
 i 
 (c) The Great Awakening, 172 5- 1750 
 
 The next period is usually known in history as 
 " The Great Awakening," and sometimes as " The 
 Revival of the Eighteenth Century." It sprang up 
 almost simultaneously on both sides of the water. 
 It was the time of the Wesleys, of Jonathan Ed- 
 wards and George Whitefield. 
 
 Another spiritual decline had laid hold on the 
 church, and these intellectual and spiritual giants 
 came at a time when it seemed that religion had 
 almost died out of the hearts of men. This was 
 true not alone of the people in general but the 
 religious knowledge and morals of the Church her- 
 self including the clergy had sunk to the lowest ebb. 
 These were also the days of other giants — infidel 
 giants — like Hobbes, Bolingbroke, Hume, Voltaire 
 and Rousseau, the influence of whose writings 
 swept over England and the Continental nations 
 
/ 
 
 26 EVANGELISM 
 
 " like a sirocco, withering not only the sentiments 
 of religion, but the instincts of humanity, and sub- 
 verting at last in common ruin the altar, the throne, 
 and the moral protections of domestic life." Re- 
 ligion was only mentioned to be laughed at. 
 
 In America it was little if any better. In the 
 words of Samuel Blair, " Religion lay a-dying and 
 ready to expire its last breath of life.'' The pas- 
 sage of the famous Half Way Covenant by the 
 Synod of all the churches of the Massachusetts 
 colonies by which unregenerate men were admitted 
 to the Lord's Supper, and consequently to the minis- 
 try, no doubt largely accounts for the appalling 
 moral and spiritual decay of the times. But with 
 this and other causes on both sides of the ocean the 
 student of religious history is familiar. 
 
 It seemed as if God had forsaken His church 
 everywhere. But the dawning of the morning came 
 and God in great mercy manifested Himself in tre- 
 mendous blessing to His people. The wonderful 
 work of this Great Awakening might be said to have 
 begun under Jonathan Edwards at Northampton, 
 Mass., in 1734, although the ministry of the Ten- 
 nants in New Jersey had been signally blessed with 
 large revival results during the three years prior to 
 this date. 
 
 The Northampton revival spread over all the state 
 of Massachusetts. Then it reached out into Con- 
 necticut and all the surrounding territory. " Souls 
 came," said Jonathan Edwards, " as it were by 
 
ITS MEANING AND HISTORY 27 
 
 flocks to Jesus Christ." The account of this re- 
 vivaTTas written by Jonathan Edwards, reached 
 London and fell into the hands of John Wesley, 
 who read it as he walked from London to 
 Oxford, and he wrote in his Journal, " Surely 
 this is the Lord^s doing and it is marvellous in 
 our eyes." 
 
 But not until the prince of evangelists and mighty 
 pulpit orator, George Whitefield, arrived in Phila- 
 delphia in the latter part of 1739 did the Great 
 Awakening begin to show itself in the fulness of 
 its power. In the early part of this same year 
 Whitefield had inaugurated his field or open-air 
 meetings in England. He was listened to breath- 
 lessly by tens of thousands of people who evidenced 
 their interest and concern by the white gutters made 
 by the tears trickling down their black and un- 
 washed faces fresh from the coal pits. 
 
 When Whitefield departed for this country he was 
 succeeded by John Wesley, and what God wrought 
 under Whitefield in America He wrought with 
 similar demonstrations of power in England under 
 Wesley. Out of Wesley's evangelistic labours came 
 the great Methodist Episcopal church with its 
 splendid history of revival experience. 
 
 The career of Whitefield in America is one of the 
 shining spots in American church history. His fame 
 always spread before him and vast multitudes 
 always hung upon his words. It is said that 30,000 
 people heard him deliver his farewell speech on the 
 
28 EVANGELISM 
 
 Boston Common. He preached on an average 
 nearly three times a day and the scene of his labours 
 reached all the way from Savannah in the South to 
 Boston in the North. Everywhere he went multi- 
 tudes sought and found the Lord. 
 
 The revival fire spread of course to towns where 
 Whitefield could not go. It is safe to say that by 
 the end of 1742 there was scarcely a parish in all 
 the colonies from north to south which had not in 
 some measure been visited by revival grace, and it 
 is estimated that at least 30,000 of the estimated 
 350,000 population of New England were born 
 again by the transforming power of the Spirit of 
 God. 
 
 (d) The Nineteenth Century Revival, 
 1 800- 1 850 
 
 The next revival period furnishes a piece of 
 glorious and memorable history for the American 
 church. Showers of blessing fell across the ocean 
 as well. It was the time of Rowland Hill in Eng- 
 land, of the Haldane brothers in Scotland and of 
 Charles of Bala in Wales. But it was in America 
 that the full downpour of spiritual refreshing came. 
 It was during this period that America wrote some 
 of her most brilliant names on the scroll of church 
 history; names like those of Backus, Nettleton, 
 Lyman Beecher, Finney, Kirk, Baker, Asbury^ 
 Cartwright, Otterbein and Albright. 
 
ITS MEANING AND HISTORY 29 
 
 For almost a half-century this people had been 
 religiously in a truly deplorable condition. It had 
 been a time of great political unrest. The Revolu- 
 tionary War had come and both clergy and people 
 had been absorbed in its issue. Unitarianism had 
 spread to an alarming degree. And to complete our 
 spiritual degradation a wave of French and Ger- 
 man infidelity, as might be expected, had fairly 
 deluged the land. 
 
 But while the enemies of truth were exulting, the 
 Lord in great mercy lifted up a standard against 
 them. Throughout every part of the country re- 
 vivals sprang up almost simultaneously. It was 
 during this period, in 1831, that the Chatham Street 
 Theatre in New York City was purchased and dedi- 
 cated to the service of God and for twenty-seven 
 successive nights Charles Finney preached there to 
 immense audiences. It is useless, however, to men- 
 tion particular incidents or communities. Every- 
 where it was the same story of the triumph of grace 
 and during some years as many as 250,000 were 
 added yearly to the church. 
 
 JThe Revival of 1800 has some peculiarly dis- 
 tinguishing characteristics. 
 
 (a) It repeated itself annually in hundreds of 
 communities and churches for a period of almost 
 twenty-five years. 
 
 (b) It was carried on largely by the pastors with- 
 out the aid of travelling evangelists. 
 
30 EVANGELISM 
 
 (c) It was exceptionally free from abnormal 
 excitement. 
 
 (d) It was marked by an unusual degree of per- 
 manency in results. 
 
 (e) It marked the inauguration of many of our 
 great Missionary and Philanthropic enterprises. 
 
 (f) It was carried on in large part along de- 
 nominational lines. Among the Congregationalists 
 was Finney; among the Presbyterians were Nettle- 
 ton, Kirk and Daniel Baker; among the Baptists, 
 Knapp and Swan; among the Methodists, Asbury, 
 William Taylor, Peter Cartwright, James Caughey 
 and the eccentric Lorenzo Dow; among the United 
 Brethren, Otterbein and Boehme; and among the 
 Evangelical Association, Jacob Albright. 
 
 (e) nihe ^Revival of 1857 
 
 The next period of revival (185 7- 1860) was 
 brief, unique and tremendously powerful. 
 
 Certain conditions had again prevailed which 
 made the situation peculiarly favourable for the 
 great revival that followed. Among these conditions 
 were the intense political excitement consequent 
 upon the agitation of the slavery question; the dis- 
 appointment due to the failure of certain wide- 
 spread prophecies of the Lord's Second Coming, 
 which was productive once more of great spiritual 
 declension; and the deep and wide-spread business 
 depression due to the severe financial panic of 1857 
 
ITS MEANING AND HISTORY 31 
 
 following close upon a prosperity unprecedented in 
 American history. 
 
 At the suggestion of Jeremiah Lanphier, a city 
 missionary of the Fulton Street Reformed Dutch 
 Church in New York City, a small room was 
 thrown open for weekly prayer at the noon hour. 
 This was in the very heart of the business drift of 
 that great city. The first meeting numbered six; 
 the second, twenty and the third forty; then the 
 meeting was made daily and not only that room but 
 two others, the largest in the church, were packed. 
 It was a meeting only for prayer and testimony. 
 Similar meetings multiplied all over the city and 
 spread to other cities until there was scarcely an 
 important town in all the United States that did 
 not have its Business Men*s Daily Prayer Meeting. 
 
 Men and women needed Christ and they were 
 hungry for Him. During the first year of this 
 unusual visitation of divine grace it is estimated 
 that 500,000 souls sought and found peace through 
 the Christ of God. The work spread abroad to 
 many countries in Europe and there is little if any 
 doubt that the great revivals which visited England 
 and Scotland and Wales and Ireland during these 
 eventful years received their impulse from what 
 God was so wonderfully doing in America. 
 
 (f) Late Modem Revivals, 18601920 
 Wc have opportunity only for the mere mention 
 
32 EVANGELISM 
 
 of some of the outstanding figures in the modeni 
 revival movements which have been so numerous 
 in this and other lands. 
 
 Mr. Bennett in a volume entitled, " Great Revival 
 in the Southern Armies," gives us a splendid ac- 
 count of a spiritual awakening among the Con- 
 federate soldiers resulting in the conversion of 
 150,000 during the period of the war. 
 
 It was about i860 that A. B. Earle came into 
 prominence as an evangelist labouring chiefly in 
 union services. The more conspicuous work of 
 E. P. Hammond began about the same time. In 
 1873 Moody and Sankey, comparatively unknown 
 in America, went to Great Britain. After their re- 
 markable success in that land they returned to this 
 country and began that glorious evangelistic minis- 
 try at which the world will never cease to marvel. 
 
 Closely associated with Mr. Moody were B. Fay 
 Mills and J. Wilbur Chapman, who gave to us what 
 became known as the City Simultaneous Evangelis- 
 tic Campaign, in which a city was divided into dis- 
 tricts with an evangelist preaching in each district 
 and in which there was usually a noon-day meeting 
 in the downtown central district for all the city. 
 
 Then came the remarkable work of Reuben A. 
 Torrey, who with Charles Alexander carried the 
 Gospel around the world. Mr. Alexander later 
 joined Dr. Chapman and God wonderfully used 
 these two princes of evangelistic work on this as 
 well as on the other side of the Atlantic. 
 
ITS MEANING AND HISTORY 33 
 
 In the meantime we have had Rodney Smith, the 
 Gipsy, come over to us from England with his 
 persuasive voice and his burning spirit and prac- 
 tically all of the larger cities of the land have been 
 blessed abundantly under his powerful ministry. 
 
 In these days the most conspicuous figure in the 
 evangelistic field is Billy Sunday, whose work in 
 many respects is phenomenal and who has preached 
 nightly for ten weeks in all the larger cities of the 
 United States to audiences ranging from 5,000 to 
 15,000 people. 
 
 Surely with a history like this we have just fin- 
 ished reviewing, no candid or thoughtful student 
 of God's methods for translating this world into 
 the kingdom of His dear Son will ever doubt the 
 wisdom or the worth of the special evangelistic 
 season. 
 
II 
 
 THE PHILOSOPHY OF REVIVAL AND ITS 
 HISTORICAL JUSTIFICATION 
 
THE PHILOSOPHY OF REVIVAL AND ITS 
 HISTORICAL JUSTIFICATION 
 
 I. Introductory Remarks. 
 
 I. The demand for a proper rationale of revival 
 method. 
 
 II. How this Rationale is to be found. 
 
 1. In the law of progress. 
 
 (a) Growth by impulse seen in nature. 
 
 (b) Springtime a revival. 
 
 (c) So all moral, civic and humanitarian 
 
 movements have their ebb and flow. 
 
 2. In the nature of man. 
 
 (a) His unspiritual tendency. 
 
 (b) His susceptibility to environment and the 
 
 appeal of the carnal nature. 
 
 (c) His need of arrested attention and of 
 
 encouragement to definite decision. 
 
 (d) His need of concentrated and continued 
 
 impression. 
 
 3. In the atmosphere created by revival eiforts. 
 
 (a) This atmosphere defined. 
 
 (b) Its value. 
 
 (c) How produced. 
 
 4. In the value of the unusual, 
 
 (a) The wearisomeness of routine. 
 
 (b) The attractiveness of the new and the 
 
 extraordinary. 
 
 (c) How presented by revival methods. 
 
 III. Historical justification of the Revival as seen; 
 
 1. In the unusual number of conversions and addi- 
 
 tions to church membership as a result of re- 
 vival effort. 
 
 2. In the permanency of the work, 
 
 3. In the earnest, active character of such converts. 
 
 4. In the persistence of the Church in calling for this 
 
 particular form of work. 
 
II 
 
 THE PHILOSOPHY OF REVIVAL AND ITS 
 HISTORICAL JUSTIFICATION 
 
 CERTAINLY no history of the Christian 
 Church would be in any sense adequate to 
 explain its unrivalled influence in civilization 
 or even its own survival throughout the centuries 
 which did not take into full account the unique and 
 conspicuous place which the revival has occupied 
 in the economy of God for the redemption of the 
 world. 
 
 The exceptional and the extraordinary have al- 
 ways played a large part in the great movements for 
 the on-swinging betterment of the world. This is 
 especially true of religious movements. 
 
 It was a strange and novel thing in the revival 
 of the thirteenth century under Francis of Assisi 
 to see this holy man and his followers go singing 
 over the hills and through the valleys of sunny 
 Italy. Savonarola certainly did " go after things " 
 in a most unusual fashion in the days of the Floren- 
 tine revival. No wonder church authority, being 
 such as it was, silenced his fearless voice in the 
 flames that licked up his blood in the Square of 
 San Marco close by the palace and the church. 
 
 37 
 
38 EVANGELISM 
 
 The nailing of the ninety-five theses to the 
 Wittenberg church door and the outspoken 
 championship of lay-rights in Luther's day; the 
 open-air preaching and the ordination of lay- 
 preachers by the laying on of Wesley's hands in 
 his day were so novel and astonishing that the 
 Romish church tried to burn Luther and the Angli- 
 can church closed its doors against the Wesleys. 
 For a time the American church treated Whitefield 
 much as the Anglican church treated Wesley, many 
 of whom, as Wesley would say, would rather not 
 see men saved at all than saved outside the 
 " ordinary channels of grace." 
 
 The modern revival while denouncing severely the 
 worldliness and sin of the church, as did the re- 
 vival in the days of Luther and Savonarola and 
 Knox and Wesley and other great reformers, differs 
 very largely from the efforts of earlier centuries 
 in that they are not reformatory movements; that 
 is to say, it does not set itself against the established 
 doctrines and ecclesiastically sanctioned practices of 
 the Church. Thanks to the heroic work of the 
 mighty saints just mentioned and others like them, 
 the modern revival can stand for the church pretty 
 much as it is, except of course for the extreme 
 worldliness that has eaten into its heart and robbed 
 it of so much of its vitality and its power. 
 
 All this being true, together with the fact that 
 revivalism today stands distinctly for one thing, the 
 calling of the individual to salvation through faith 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF REVIVAL 39 
 
 in Jesus Christ, the Church in general has put its 
 stamp of approval upon this particular style of work. 
 It is quite the usual thing in these days for the 
 churches of our towns and cities to unite in a cam- 
 paign of evangelistic effort and call jointly to the 
 leadership of the work some one of the numerous 
 men throughout the country who feel led of God 
 to do this particular kind of work. 
 
 REASONS FOR REVIVAL METHODS 
 
 And yet there are large numbers in all our 
 churches today who are strongly opposed to any 
 participation whatever in the ordinary evangelistic 
 campaign. This is due somewhat to the excessive 
 abuses which the work itself has suffered. It is 
 due more largely perhaps to temperamental reasons, 
 but perhaps most of all to the failure to provide one- 
 self with a proper rationale for revival methods, — 
 the legitimate reasons for the same. 
 
 Such a rationale will go far toward relieving tem- 
 peramental prejudice and toward overbalancing to a 
 very large extent objections, whether founded upon 
 the shortcomings of the work itself or the excep- 
 tional and sometimes novel procedure in such work 
 to which not a few are inclined to be averse. 
 
 I. This Rationale is to he found first of all 
 in the Natural Law of Progress 
 
 All progress is in fact through a revival. No- 
 where is advance ever made through a monotonous 
 
40 EVANGELISM 
 
 and unbroken continuity. Everywhere we find the 
 ebb and the flow of the tide. As one wave spends 
 its strength and recedes another is always ready to 
 rush in with fresh vigour and increased power. 
 
 The whole history of civilization, in the realm of 
 national life, in commerce and in politics, in the 
 sphere of science and learning of every kind, bears 
 witness to this law. Depression is always succeeded 
 by revival. 
 
 The same is true in nature. No life is ever main- 
 tained at the same level. If it were, " then Nature 
 ought to perfect her growth in the scorching of an 
 eternal sun, or in the drenching of an everlasting 
 rain, and flowers ought to stand from age to age 
 as changeless as stone." 
 
 What is springtime but a revival in nature? So 
 too is the revival the springtime of religion. And 
 as in nature the gnarled and twisted oak renews its 
 youth and every hill and valley blushes with new 
 life and power, so the life of the Church in revival 
 times bursts forth into vigorous activity, takes on 
 anew the beauty of His perfection and multiplies 
 her life in the spiritual regeneration of new-born 
 souls. 
 
 " For ourselves,'' says Horace Bushnell, " we are 
 obliged to confess that we strongly suspect that sort 
 of religion which has no time of special flood, no 
 temporary and changing states; for we observe that 
 it is only toward nothing, or about nothing, that we 
 always have the same feeling. There is no reason 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF REVIVAL 41 
 
 to doubt that God, in framing the plan and system 
 of His spiritual agencies, ordained fluctuations, that 
 He might take advantage at intervals of novelty, in 
 arresting and swaying the minds of men. There 
 are the springtimes of His truth. There are times 
 v^hen He arouses the spiritual lethargy of men and 
 communities, sways their will to Himself by the aid 
 of scenes and methods not ordinary or familiar. It 
 is nothing derogatory ito the divine agency that the 
 spiritual spring does not remain perpetual, for there 
 is a progress in God's works, and He goes on 
 through change and many-formed method to ripen 
 His ends.'* 
 
 2. This Rationale is to he found secondly in 
 the Nature of Man 
 
 That a man's natural tendencies and proclivities 
 are unspiritual is universally recognized today. 
 
 An old woman living in the backwoods was 
 asked what she thought of the doctrine of total de- 
 pravity and she replied that she thought it was pretty 
 good doctrine if people would only live up to it. 
 When Washington Gladden was asked if he believed 
 in the doctrine of total depravity, he humorously 
 replied, " Yes, and in some instances considerably 
 more than total." 
 
 We will not tarry for argument here; one thing 
 is certain and that is that something has entered 
 into human nature that has given it a predisposition 
 
42 EVANGELISM 
 
 to ignore God. We are not here to argue this fact 
 but to recognize it. The law of reversion to type 
 about which scientists so much concern themselves 
 is not without a certain application to man himself; 
 the principle,^ the law of degeneration runs through 
 all nature, and as some one has said, " the easiest 
 way in the world for a man to go to the devil is 
 just to let himself go, and he will arrive." 
 
 Henry Drummond put it thus : " It is not 
 so much that man is going to be lost but that he is 
 already lost ; lost in a current that is sure to sweep 
 him on to death unless some power mightier than 
 his own reaches down and lifts him out." 
 
 With a tendency like this that seems to inhere in 
 the very entering of man into human existence, it 
 is not strange that he becomes very largely a 
 creature of his own environment. Contend as he 
 must with the appeal of his carnal nature, sur- 
 rounded with multifarious influences for evil, his in- 
 terest riveted very largely in material things by the 
 very struggle for existence, it ought not to be a 
 thing of any wonder at all that the average man 
 should be in need of having his attention arrested 
 and of being called to decision by a definite act of 
 his own will for a religious life. 
 
 There is a striking expression in the Old Testa- 
 ment, which says : " They meet with darkness in 
 the day time." It is a reference to the atrophy and 
 the decay of the moral and spiritual faculties of the 
 soul through neglect and misuse. It is a truth that 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF REVIVAL 43 
 
 a man may, and many do, give themselves up to 
 the tendencies and forces to which we have referred 
 until an appreciation of the things of God seems 
 almost to have died out within them. I have seen 
 hundreds of people apparently in this condition, 
 upon whom the appeal of the Gospel seemed to 
 make no more impression than the beating of a 
 feather upon an anvil. The light shines but they 
 seem not to know it ; virtue beckons but they see her 
 not; truth knocks but the sound falls upon ears that 
 are dead. 
 
 No wonder there is need of attention being ar- 
 rested in some unusual startling and commanding 
 way. Nor are we to be surprised that often the 
 impression needs to be a repeated one, a continued 
 and concentrated one. Not as a rule does a Port 
 Arthur or a Verdun yield to the first attack. And 
 as a rule the will of the unregenerate man is en- 
 trenched behind embattlements that surrender only 
 to the hammering of repeated and -constant bom- 
 bardment. 
 
 I am able to recall out of my own experience 
 many strong-minded and influential people who con- 
 tinued with considerable regularity their attendance 
 upon the evangelistic meetings with seemingly little 
 interest in the salvation of their souls, but who, as 
 the campaign drew to its close, after repeated im- 
 pressions and constantly renewed awakening, but 
 for which they might have remained forever outside 
 the Kingdom of God, made the supreme and all- 
 
44 EVA>^GELISM 
 
 important decision. The protracted aspect of an 
 evangelistic campaign, it can readily be seen, fur- 
 nishes opportunity for such an appeal and such a 
 continued impression as no other form of religious 
 work could possibly do. 
 
 3. The Third Rationale for Revival Methods is 
 
 found in the Atmosphere which such a 
 
 Work' usually Creates 
 
 A noted preacher, who had paid a visit to such 
 a campaign on a mission of inspection, said, /* At 
 once upon arrival I found myself in the atmosphere 
 of revival, which one who knows it can never mis- 
 take." 
 
 -..What is this atmosphere? It is not easy to 
 define. It might be called spiritual environment. 
 And yet it is not exactly that. It seems more than 
 anything else to be that spiritual influence created 
 by the thoughts and feelings and dispositions of 
 those in attendance upon the service. It is a well- 
 known saying that enthusiasm is contagious, and 
 this is true of every other disposition of the human 
 soul. 
 
 Successful solicitors always recognize this, and 
 they talk much about creating the proper atmos- 
 phere before endeavouring to persuade a man 
 toward a favourable decision. This is just as potent 
 a factor in revival effort as anywhere else. The 
 sermon of course has its part in creating this atmos- 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF REVIVAL 45 
 
 phere, but it is not an indispensable part. In the 
 Welsh revival there was little or no preaching as 
 that term is commonly used today, but everywhere 
 when people gathered for the service there was felt 
 that strange impelling something which subdued the 
 rebellious spirit, intensified conviction ior sin, 
 pressed home the needs of the soul, and con- 
 strained men and women to abandon themselves to 
 Christ. 
 
 This belongs to the psychology of revival of any 
 kind, and the successful evangelist will never fail 
 to appreciate it. There are times when it is easy to / 
 decide for Christ, when the very conditions with 
 which one finds himself surrounded so press upon \ 
 one the concern of the soul that it is indeed hard 
 not so to decide. 
 
 W^e need not spend time in arguing the value of 
 such an atmosphere. When it does not exist the 
 strongest sort of an evangelistic sermon may be 
 preached in the most earnest and convincing way, 
 and the apparent results at least be largely and 
 sometimes altogether inappreciable. 
 
 Many factors of course in varying degree enter 
 into the creation of this atmosphere. A crowded 
 audience room, the influence of sermon and song 
 and prayer; manifestations of personal concern, and 
 perhaps not least of all the very purpose of coming 
 together in such a service — all these have their 
 share; but more than to anything else it is to the 
 spirit of intercessory prayer and the travail of soul 
 
46 EVANGELISM 
 
 for the unsaved that this necessary and helpful 
 atmosphere owes its existence. 
 
 Read the history of revival and wherever the 
 windows of heaven have been opened and the floods 
 of saving grace poured out, you will find the as- 
 semblies of Christian people to have been permeated 
 with an agonizing travail of soul for the lost, and 
 the earnest, heart-absorbing spirit of intercessory ap- 
 peal to God for the salvation of the unsaved. And 
 it is just because the revival campaign is conducive 
 to the creation of such an atmosphere, as is no other 
 method of reaching the lost, that it furnishes one 
 of the most rational grounds for argument on its 
 behalf. 
 
 4. There is yet another rationale for revival 
 ^methods worthy of attention, and that is the 
 value of the umisu<^l. With what supreme wis- 
 dom did tlie Almighty institute change and variety 
 in all His ways and all His works. One can well 
 imagine the monotony of life without this provision. 
 If the sun stood always in the same place; if the 
 tides were always in or always out, and the moon 
 and every star hung fixed in the sky, and there were 
 no recurring seasons to relieve us with their change 
 and the new order of things; if the clouds assumed 
 a uniform shape and hovered over us always in the 
 same spot; if every leaf on every tree were shaped 
 ahke, and every bird was like the other, and all 
 whistled the same song; if the infinite variety of 
 shape and tone and colour and expression which 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF REVIVAL 47 
 
 God has poured into His creation with such lavish 
 hand had been made in every instance to conform to 
 one rigid design the whole universe would have lost 
 the soul of its loveliness, and man would have cried 
 for relief from a prison house like that. 
 
 It is not surprising, therefore, that there should 
 be a special attractiveness to man in the new, the 
 novel, the surprising, the exceptional, the extraor- 
 dinary and the unusual. AlLpeople tire of same- 
 ness. Recognizing this the wise pastor will intro- 
 duce the element of variety into all his services as 
 much as possible. 
 
 Now, it is because the evangelistic meeting pre- 
 sents such unusual opportunity for something dif- 
 ferent, and something unusual that you find in it 
 this further ground for its justification. The evan- 
 gelist comes with a new personality, a new voice, 
 and a new style of approach; he inaugurates new 
 methods, and he can handle the situation in a way 
 not always wise for the pastor to pursue. When 
 the meeting is union in character the large audiences, 
 the large chorus choir, and the many special features 
 made possible by the occasion all furnish the evan- 
 gelist with an opportunity for a style of work which 
 is especially attractive for the reasons already men- 
 tioned. 
 
 THE HISTORICAL JUSTIFICATION OF THE REVIVAL 
 
 This rationalistic deduction concerning the legiti- 
 
48 EVANGELISM 
 
 macy of the revival is substantiated by the historical 
 justification of the revival as evidenced by its 
 results. This is to be seen particularly in four 
 ways. 
 
 I. By the Unusual Number of Conversions and 
 
 Additions to Church Membership as a 
 
 Result of Revival Effort 
 
 That a goodly porttion of the numerical increase 
 of the church across the years that have gone has 
 been brought into it by revival effort any candid 
 investigator will candidly admit. 
 
 Any one who has the slightest inclination to doubt 
 the truth of such a statement can find ample proof 
 of the same by stepping into any congregation of 
 Christian people and putting the test by asking those 
 who made their decision for Christ during some 
 kind of revival effort to rise. The response is 
 always astonishing. It is no exaggeration to say 
 that on an average four-fifths of the congregation 
 will be on its feet. 
 
 Bishop Berry of the Methodist Episcopal church 
 was fair-minded enough a short while ago to credit 
 a very large proportion of an unusually large in- 
 crease in the membership of the churches of a cer- 
 tain section of the country to the work of a single 
 evangelist. 
 
 A careful census made by the writer a few years 
 ago in over fifty of the largest cities of the United 
 States revealed the fact, upon the testimony gath- 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF REVIVAL 49 
 
 ered by the pastors themselves, that by far the 
 largest gains to church membership were made 
 through the efforts of evangelism, and a kind of 
 evangelism, by the way, which more than any other 
 has been under the fire of severest criticism. 
 
 In this study I had occasion to use the chart on 
 the next page. 
 
 These figures prepared by the Boston pastors not 
 only prove conclusively what has been said, but the 
 percentage of increase during the year following Dr. 
 Chapman's evangelistic campaign shows just as con- 
 clusively that his efforts left conditions better for 
 church work than they had been for any ten years 
 prior to his coming. 
 
 I found this very same thing to be true in every 
 city where any campaign of evangelism was con- 
 ducted. Such testimony is tremendous. In the 
 face of it fair-mindedness will never be guilty of un- 
 guarded criticism, and least of all will it seem to 
 enjoy its criticism even when justly and guardedly 
 
 made. , 
 
 Indeed the history of the Church, especially so far 
 as its numerical increase is concerned, is the history 
 of revival. V^ho can read the story of V^hitefield's 
 revival ministry and not be thrilled at the mighty 
 work accomplished as the result of a few years of 
 evangelistic effort about the middle of the eighteenth 
 century? Not less than 50,000 people were hope- 
 fully converted. 150 new Congregational churches 
 were established; while the Baptist denomination 
 
50 
 
 EVANGELISM 
 
 
 -*3 55 
 
 
 9m 
 
 matjmimi^^ 
 
 
 -*7:9?S 
 
 
 /03A 
 
 Montmrn^^mm^ 
 
 
 4S.7^ 
 
 
 SOS 
 
 f903mM 
 
 WMml 
 
 
 
 
 S6.&li 
 
 
 760 
 
 /5^pH 
 
 WMmzz 
 
 
 
 
 ^3..2.^ 
 
 
 390 
 
 tQo.*iW^^^^m 
 
 
 S/.6 
 
 ^ 
 
 /09J 
 
 
 
 66.7 
 
 55 
 
 /^oA 
 
 
 
 S0.2. 
 
 5f 
 
 ^ 
 
 /onuWrni^^^^^^ 
 
 
 /909 H^H^^^^H^H^H^H 
 
 
 76-^^ 
 
 /^zA 
 
 
 Chart showing yearly growth of Boston Protestant 
 
 churches for ten years compared with that 
 
 of 1909, the Chapman year. 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF REVIVAL 61 
 
 rose from a few struggling churches to nearly 400 
 in number with a membership of 30,000. 
 
 There were ten great revival years in the early 
 part of the nineteenth century (1820-1830) when 
 from 40,000 to 50,000 were added almost yearly to 
 the churches. The three years beginning in 1857 
 was a period of remarkable revival activity. In one 
 city alone, Philadelphia, 9,000 members were added 
 to the churches and during the last year of this 
 period, this wave of revival grace which had swept 
 across the ocean brought into the Welsh Cal- 
 vinistic church no less than 25,000 members. And 
 this has been the story on down to the present 
 time. 
 
 Some one has said, " Evangelize or fossilize.'* 
 Atid if you will show me a church where no addi- 
 tions are made upon confession of faith through- 
 out the year (and to our deep regret it must be 
 said that there are some), I will show you a church 
 whose pastor and people either do not believe in 
 evangelistic work or lack the concern or the en- 
 thusiasm to undertake it, and where the songs of 
 revival never peal forth and the joy in heaven over 
 the one sinner that repents is never heard. 
 
 2. In the Permanency of Revival Results 
 
 Some people say, "Revival work doesn't last." 
 Well, it has lasted with me and I was brought to 
 Christ during a revival. The same thing is true 
 
52 EVANGELISM 
 
 with most of you. The pastor of a certain church 
 wrote some time ago, " During the time I have been 
 connected with this church about 550 have been 
 added to its communion, not less than four-fifths 
 of whom are to be regarded as the fruits of re- 
 vivals." It has surely lasted with the members of 
 that church. And it has lasted with the millions 
 who are in the church today, as the evidence just 
 reviewed abundantly proves. 
 
 It is true that many do fall by the wayside, that 
 some men's hearts are like the stony places, and 
 with som^ the Word is choked. We would expect 
 this even if no parable of the sower had ever fallen 
 from the lips of the divine Teacher. It is, however, 
 also true that many fall from grace who come into 
 the church when no influence has pressed itself upon 
 them. It is a question which number is proportion- 
 ately the larger. 
 
 Church membership in either case without real, 
 genuine conversion is likely to prove disastrous, and 
 there is too much joining the church for other 
 seasons than that which springs oiit of a regenerated 
 heart. 
 
 I have often thought that if I had a child of my 
 own I would want that he should never need to 
 experience what we understand by conversion. I 
 would always want that he should love his heavenly 
 Father better than his earthly one. But if the time 
 ever came when he wandered away from God and 
 had his life spoiled with sin, I most certainly would 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF REVIVAL 53 
 
 earnestly pray that he might be converted at some 
 time when the church was in the midst of a revival 
 and the whole community was at an intense spiritual 
 heat, and that he would come smiting upon his 
 troubled breast, crying, " God be merciful to me a 
 sinner," and saying with a broken and a contrite 
 heart : 
 
 "Just as I am without one plea, 
 
 But that Thy blood was shed for me; 
 And that Thou bidst me come to Thee, 
 O Lamb of God, I come, I come ; " 
 
 for I know that if he should come that way God 
 will stamp upon his soul the image of Jesus in such 
 a way that it will never be effaced. 
 
 3. In the Earnest, "Active Character of 
 Revival Converts 
 
 Nearly a hundred years ago a letter was ad- 
 dressed to the Congregational ministers of Con- 
 necticut containing this question,—'' Of those who 
 are now members of your church what proportion 
 may be considered as the fruit of a revival and 
 what is their comparative standing for piety and 
 active benevolent enterprise? " The answers made 
 it very evident that a very large proportion of the 
 members became such as a result of revivals and 
 that the most active and devoted Christians were 
 among those who came into the church in con- 
 sequence of revivals. 
 
54 EVANGELISM 
 
 Dr. Stearns, speaking for the Presbyterian 
 churches of Newark, said, " Almost all the strong 
 men in these societies were the subjects of revivals 
 twenty, thirty, forty and some of them sixty years 
 ago/' Dr. Fish, speaking of the Baptist churches, 
 said, " The revival additions have been the very life 
 blood of the church." 
 
 Such statements will not in the least surprise any 
 one who will really think through on this matter. It 
 is also a significant fact that if you will go to any 
 convention of Christian workers, where naturally 
 the best and most devoted servants of Christ are 
 in attendance, you will find by a test that the per- 
 centage of those converted during a revival is much 
 larger than this same percentage in the membership 
 of an average church congregation. 
 
 4. In the Persistence of the Church in Calling 
 for this Particular Kind of Work 
 
 Every now and then through religious journals 
 and in public gatherings you find some one proph- 
 esying that the day of so-called professional evan- 
 gelism is over. The public or vocational evangelist 
 is of course no more a " professional " evangelist 
 than the pastor is a " professional " pastor. 
 However, this kind of evangelism and revivals are 
 by no means synonymous terms, although in the his- 
 tory of the church they have been very largely and 
 very closely identified, and prophecies like that just 
 referred to come almost exclusively from preachers 
 
PHILOSOPHY OF REVIVAL 65 
 
 or people who know very little, and some of them 
 nothing at all, through experience of revivals under 
 any circumstances, and the prophecy is the thought- 
 less pronouncement of prejudice rather than any 
 intelligent sensing of the actual religious situation 
 and its ever-insistent demand. 
 
 The evangelist and the evangelistic pastor always 
 smile when they hear of such statements being made, 
 for they know it is a prophecy that has fallen from 
 the lips of similarly minded people ever since this 
 kind of work became a part of the history of the 
 church; and they know that there is an exceedingly 
 large number of evangelists today whose services 
 the church is constantly demanding and always has 
 demanded, as well as the services of a whole army 
 of pastors who are possessed especially of evangel- 
 istic ability. 
 
 The church simply has not been able to get along 
 without the evangelistic campaign, and church work 
 is not any easier today than in the century just 
 past. Nor have we any evidence that it is going 
 to be any easier in the years to come. And the 
 persistent demand of the church for this kind of 
 work is, we repeat, one of its strongest historical 
 justifications. Max Muller well said, "The church 
 must be aggressive or cease to exist." The only 
 way the church can be aggressive is to be evangel- 
 istic, and the church that is not evangelistic owes 
 the world as well as God an apology for its 
 existence. 
 
Ill 
 
 THE PREACHER AND HIS MESSAGE 
 
THE PREACHER AND HIS MESSAGE 
 
 I. The Preacher. 
 
 I. His Convictions. 
 
 (a) Must believe that men are lost. 
 
 (b) Must believe that Jesus Christ is the only 
 
 Saviour. 
 
 (c) Must believe himself divinely commis- 
 
 sioned. 
 
 2. His Character. 
 
 (a) Must be consistent in his life. 
 
 (b) Must be a man of prayer, — devout. 
 
 (c) Must be considerate, honouring the 
 
 Church, and holding the ministry in due 
 regard. 
 
 3. His Accoutrement. 
 
 (a) Must be a student. 
 
 (I) Of the Word. (2) Of the Time. 
 (3) Of Method. 
 
 (b) Must keep himself physically and mentally 
 
 fresh. 
 
 (c) Must be baptized with the Holy Spirit. 
 
 II. The Message. 
 
 1. Its content, — The Gospel of Jesus. 
 
 2. Its appeal, — Threefold to the individual, touching, 
 
 (a) His own righteousness. 
 
 (b) His attitude toward God. 
 
 (c) His relation to Society. 
 
 3. Its Construction. 
 
 (a) Flowery rhetoric, involved sentences and 
 
 heavy style to give place to simple, 
 pointed English, 
 
 (b) The sermon not a work of art. 
 
 (c) The power of illustration. > 
 
 (d) The use of the most effective sermon 
 
 even though newer ones at hand. 
 
 4. Its Delivery. 
 
 (a) The voice natural. 
 
 (b) The style conversational. 
 
 (c) The self forgotten. 
 
 (d) The spirit. 
 
Ill 
 
 THE PREACHER AND HIS MESSAGE 
 
 THE evangelistic preacher is the preacher who 
 preaches for a verdict. This is true whether 
 he be in the pastorate or the itinerant form 
 of work. Every preacher preaches, of course, for 
 a verdict, or ought to, but I am speaking now of 
 an open verdict for Jesus Christ, and not a verdict 
 unexpressed and hidden in the sinner's soul. 
 
 In discussing the necessary quahfications of the 
 evangelistic preacher, I do not have in mind that 
 native ability or that peculiar gift which seems to 
 be a union of certain physical and psychical quali- 
 ties which some preachers to a certain degree pos- 
 sess, and of which God seems to make some use. 
 
 One of the most distinguished preachers and 
 successful pastors of this land told me some time 
 ago that during their meetings it was necessary for 
 the evangelist to be absent for a week. He said 
 the pastors preached in turn and gave the invita- 
 tion without response. On one occasion several 
 pastors spoke in the same service, but the people 
 were urged to a decision for Christ apparently with- 
 out effect. Then the evangelist returned ; he said a 
 few things, used a few plain illustrations and when 
 he asked the people if they would accept Christ, si 
 
 59 
 
60 EVANGELISM 
 
 score or more were on their feet to say, " I will." 
 I do not mean to underestimate such capacity, but 
 it is most assuredly an utterly useless thing unless 
 certain other qualifications go with it. 
 
 It is our purpose, therefore, to emphasize those 
 things which every preacher indeed should have and 
 to be without which is to fail and fail utterly in spite 
 of personality, magnetic approach or any other 
 grace that nature may bestow. 
 
 I. There are three things to be said about the 
 preacher's convictions. 
 
 He must believe that men are lost. There is 
 no use throwing a life-line to a man on dry 
 land. 
 
 A house burned down in Albany some time ago. 
 The father and son went down into the basement 
 dining-room to drag out a large piece of valuable 
 furniture. It got wedged in the doorway and they 
 couldn't budge it another inch. The father was 
 pulling, and so he was outside in the hall, but the 
 son was pushing, and so he was penned up in the 
 basement room. The flames broke in and the smoke 
 rolled round about him. The frantic father threw 
 himself against the obstruction, but it was of no 
 use, and realizing the extreme peril and the horror 
 of the situation he ran around to the basement win- 
 dow and grabbed hold of the iron bars held in their 
 place by the masonry, and with superhuman strength 
 
PREACHER AND HIS MESSAGE 61 
 
 he tore them from their fastenings and pulled his 
 boy out of the very jaws of death. 
 
 A friend of mine told this story to illustrate 
 the point I am making, and the Christian people 
 were mightily stirred. I had another friend who 
 heard him do it and he tried it the next Sunday in 
 his own pulpit. He told how that father made a 
 human battering-ram out of himself and nearly tele- 
 scoped himself trying to butt that furniture out of 
 the doorway, and how, like a wild-eyed madman, 
 he ran around the house and took hold of those 
 bars and twisted and pulled to the bursting point of 
 his veins and tore them out and pulled his son out 
 of the very jaws of death. But the audience was 
 not moved and there was no response, and he asked 
 his wife when he got home to tell him what was 
 the matter. He said, " I thought I was doing just 
 fine." " Yes, dear," she said, " you did do it very 
 well, indeed; but you forgot to tell the people the 
 house was on fire." To act like that when there 
 is no fire is the part of a maniac, and when there 
 is no sense of impending peril and no reaHzation 
 that a soul without Christ is in unspeakable danger 
 there will, of course, be little concern about sal- 
 vation. 
 
 There is too much preaching today that sounds 
 like, " Repent, as it were, and be converted in a 
 sense or you will be lost to some extent," but Christ 
 said, " Ex:cept ye repent ye shall all likewise per- 
 ish." I have no desire to argue about the nature 
 
62 EVANGELISM 
 
 and duration of the lost world. It's enough for 
 me to know that Jesus said, '* And these shall go 
 away into eternal punishment*' — kolasin aionion. 
 In the light of that expression what is the use of 
 building up a system of theology on whether 
 *' aionion " means " forever " or a few months less ? 
 
 He must believe that Jesus Christ is the only Sa- 
 znour. One thing is certain; if a man is los,t, he 
 needs a Saviour. 
 
 I said to a Unitarian preacher recently, " Who 
 was Jesus Christ? " 
 
 He said, " He was a good man who lived in 
 Palestine." 
 
 I said, " Then He was not your Saviour." 
 
 He said, " No." 
 
 I said, "Have you got a Saviour?" 
 
 He said, " Yes." 
 
 I said, "Who is he?" 
 
 He said, " I am my own saviour." 
 
 He was painfully consistent at least. If Christ 
 was not divine in a sense that no other man has 
 ever been divine, then He himself nee,ded a Sa- 
 viour. No man, however good or great, can be 
 the saviour of his own soul much less the soul of 
 any other man. 
 
 The man who can't see that the Bible gives to 
 Jesus Christ a peculiar and distinctive divinity all 
 His own, can't see the sun at high noon on a cloud- 
 less day. 
 
 The world wants and needs for its Saviour some 
 
PREACHER AND HIS MESSAGE 63 
 
 one more than Theodore Parker's " Youth with God 
 in his heart." It wants and it needs a God Him- 
 self. 
 
 You might as well try to cure a runaway horse 
 by painting the barn a mild colour as to save a sin- 
 ful man by a beautiful example or a rosy senti- 
 ment. 
 
 He must believe that he is divinely commissioned. 
 It's a great thing to go as the ambassador of some 
 great government to represent its interests and 
 claims to another nation, but that's petty business 
 compared with going as the ambassador of the eter- 
 nal King of the universe and taking with you His 
 authority and power as you represent Him and His 
 claims before the sons and daughters of earth. 
 Commanding an army or sitting on a throne are 
 small affairs when you set them over against the 
 preaching of the Gospel. 
 
 Believe me, it is no small thing to assume this 
 high honour for oneself. Some preachers were not 
 born in the tribe of Levi. Let us be sure that we 
 can say, " Woe is me, if I preach not the Gospel." 
 It is then, and then only, that we have the right 
 to speak with a " Thus saith the Lord." And when 
 we have made sure at this point there will be no 
 uncertainty about what God will do when we do 
 speak. Can you imagine Peter standing up to his 
 mighty task on Pentecost or Philip running and 
 climbing into a heathen officer's chariot had they 
 doubted for one single second their commission 
 
64 EVANGELISM 
 
 from the most high God and had they not beHeved 
 that His authortiy and power would make good 
 what they had to say? 
 
 2. Now, there are three things to be said 
 about the preacher's character. 
 
 He must he consistent in his life. He should 
 *' be an example unto them that believe, in word, 
 in manner of life, in love, in faith and in purity." 
 This is what Paul said to Timothy. The most 
 pathetic thing in the world is to see a man who 
 preaches a Gospel like that and doesn't live it. His 
 life should be irreproachable. 
 
 The evangelist and the minister are subjected to 
 strong and peculiar temptations. And then the eyes 
 of the whole community are upon him and nothing 
 would please the devil more than to have the very 
 appearance of evil magnified into that which is 
 grossly vile to the ruin of the evangelist and the 
 hurt of his work. He should, therefore, " walk 
 circumspectly, not as fools, but wise." Moody 
 never said a greater word than this — that God 
 does not seek for golden vessels, and does not 
 ask for silver ones, but He must have clean 
 ones. 
 
 He must he a man of prayer. Men of power 
 are always men of prayer. Do you remember what 
 was said of the Apostle James, how that, after his 
 death, his knees were found to be callous like a 
 
PREACHER AND HIS MESSAGE 65 
 
 camel's knees from much kneeling? Do you recall 
 that Mary, Queen of Scots, used to say she feared 
 the prayers of John Knox more than all the armies 
 of Europe, and do you remember how John Knox 
 prayed — *' O God, give me Scotland or I die"? 
 Do you remember how Luther used to lay down a 
 promise before God and say, *' Now, Lord, you must 
 keep it or I'll never beheve you again?" And do 
 you recall how it has been said of Richard Baxter 
 that he stained the walls of his study with his pray- 
 ing breath, and how, coming out from that place 
 that was awful with the presence of God, he sent 
 rivers of living water over Kidderminster; how 
 Whitefield used to pray, " O Lord, give me souls or 
 take my own " ? 
 
 It is John Angel James who said, " We are weak 
 in the pulpit because we are weak in the closet." 
 Edward Payson thus writes to a brother minister, 
 "Prayer is the first thing, the second thing and 
 the third thing necessary for a minister, especially 
 if he have revivals. Pray then, my dear brother, 
 pray, pray, pray." Young gentlemen, don't make a 
 mistake at this point. To fail here is to fail alto- 
 gether. 
 
 He must he considerate, honouring the church 
 and holding the ministry in due regard. Never 
 ridicule the Church. She is the Bride of Christ, 
 and therefore the mother of God's children, and 
 you might a thousand times better openly ridicule 
 the one who gave you birth because she is im- 
 
66 EVANGELISM 
 
 perfect than to hold up to public scorn the imper- 
 fection of the Church of God. 
 
 Then remember that God never ordained any 
 evangelist to sit in judgment on a minister. To 
 hold the minister up to ridicule or abuse before the 
 people is not only an unpardonable breach of cour- 
 tesy and an act of gross unkindness, but it displays 
 an infinite amount of conceit, and especially so when 
 the evangelist himself has never been a pastor, or 
 tried to be and failed, and therefore knows litde 
 or nothing of the difficulties and perplexities of a 
 pastoral charge. Don't make the people feel that 
 if their pastor had been different the work of God 
 would have prospered in his hands, but make them 
 feel that if they had been different their pastor 
 would have led a great many souls into the King- 
 dom of God. 
 
 3. Then, there are three things to be said 
 about the preacher's accoutrement. 
 
 He must he a student. 
 
 First — He must be a student of the Word. Of 
 what use is a soldier if he doesn't know how to 
 handle his gun? I have had theological students 
 say to me, " Mr. Biederwolf, if a man should come 
 to me and hand me the Bible and say, ' I want to 
 be saved,' I would be confused and hardly know 
 how to begin." Think of it! 
 
 When Philip, the evangelist, climbed up into the 
 
PREACHER AND HIS MESSAGE 67 
 
 eunuch's chariot and found him puzzled over that 
 marvellous passage in Isaiah, v^hat did he do ? Did 
 he say, " Well, my friend, you certainly have hit 
 upon a very hard passage; there's a good deal of 
 doubt about it, and it's a very serious question in 
 the minds of many as to whether it really belongs 
 in the Bible or not; there are forty -nine different 
 interpretations of the passage which I can give you 
 and you can think them over on your way to Egypt, 
 but I must confess that I do not understand this 
 particular Scripture and cannot therefore help you 
 in your perplexity."? No. But he opened his 
 mouth, and beginning at the same place, he preached 
 unto him Jesus. 
 
 Second — He must be a student of the times. He 
 can preach the old Gospel and yet his message can 
 be abreast of the day. Truth does not change, but 
 the angle of approach is always changing. 
 
 And then, too, it is easier to win people when 
 they come to understand that you have an intelli- 
 gent and sympathetic appreciation of the problems 
 which are theirs because of the times in which they 
 live. 
 
 Besides all this, surely God is speaking to us 
 through His providences as the years roll by, and 
 it's the preacher's place to cause his people to under- 
 stand. 
 
 Third — He must be a student of method. When 
 the sermon is finished it is much easier to pro- 
 nounce the benediction and go home than it is to 
 
68 EVANGELISM 
 
 give the invitation and conduct an after-service. 
 And it is at this last point that all too many preach- 
 ers are nonplussed altogether, and many a time it 
 has been tried and done pretty much like the 
 preacher who had never harnessed a horse. The 
 time came when he had to do it and he threw the 
 harness on the floor and tried to drive the horse 
 into it ! 
 
 What can a man do and do well if he doesn't 
 know how? There are a hundred methods of 
 church work that would multiply a pastor's effi- 
 ciency a hundred-fold if he would only find them 
 out and make them a part of his ministry. The 
 same thing is true of the evangelist. There are 
 methods of securing results and ways of best in- 
 fluencing men to make the all-important decision, 
 and it is the business of the evangelist and of the 
 evangelistic pastor to know what they are and how 
 to use them. 
 
 He must keep himself physically and mentally 
 fresh. He should know the limitation of his physi- 
 cal strength and should take care of himself and 
 take such exercise as may be necessary, so that he 
 may minister in the pulpit and out of it with as 
 sound and fresh a body as it is possible for him to 
 have. It's a tremendous calling — that of the minis- 
 try — and both God and the people expect the min- 
 ister to be at his best. 
 
 And then mentally; it is possible to go into the 
 pulpit so tired in mind as to make the people tired 
 
PREACHER AND HIS MESSAGE 69 
 
 to look at you. There's one thing you may as well 
 understand; if you are ever very successful it is 
 going to take a tremendous amount of hard work. 
 
 A minister once said that he fooled his people. 
 They always thought he was hard at his pastoral 
 work because he put on his silk hat and walked very 
 hurriedly, but he said, " I only went to the golf 
 course and put on my cap and played golf all day." 
 But you can't get away with a thing like that very 
 long. Today that man is selling real estate. 
 
 Very few of you if any will ever win by flashes 
 of genius. In fact, no one ever achieves great suc- 
 cess by that alone. 
 
 " The heights by great men reached and kept, 
 Were not attained by sudden flight; 
 But they, while their companions slept, 
 Were toiling upward in the night." 
 
 You must use your mind and use it vigorously. 
 There is no other way to keep it fresh so far as 
 what you keep in it goes. But it too must rest and 
 each one will know best how to prepare himself 
 to minister with vigour and vitality in the holy place 
 where God has allowed him to stand. 
 
 He must he baptised mith the Holy 'Ghost. 
 There is no use to undertake this work without the 
 divine unction. 
 
 The promise was, " Ye shall receive power after 
 that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." That 
 word power comes from the Greek word, *' duna- 
 mis," and you know what that means; and the 
 
70 EVANGELISM 
 
 promise says, upon receiving power, "ye shall be 
 my witnesses," and when a man preaches or a child 
 of God witnesses in the power of the Spirit he 
 will, as sainted McGregor says, " Make men listen 
 and make men think and make men act." 
 
 If it were my privilege, young gentlemen, to ut- 
 ter but one prayer for you, it would be that this 
 unction of the Holy Ghost might become to you 
 the most real thing in all the universe, because I 
 would know then what your ministry would mean. 
 
 THE preacher's MESSAGE 
 
 I. As to its content. It should be, of course, 
 the Gospel of Jesus. 
 
 A sermon ought to contain what Rowland Hill 
 called the three R's: Ruin by the Fall; Redemp- 
 tion through Christ; Regeneration through the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 If you preach this you will have power and a 
 message the people will accept. And it is this mes- 
 sage in its simplicity that the crowded churches 
 are hearing today. If you want to preach to empty 
 pews, leave the Cross and the blood out of your 
 message. You won't need the sign that was seen 
 on a certain church some time ago, " Five dollars 
 fine for any one caught breaking into this church." 
 
 There is a field of legitimate criticism, but not 
 one preacher in ten thousand is ever called into 
 it, Samson, backed by the power of God, slew 
 
PREACHER AND HIS MESSAGE 71 
 
 a thousand of his enemies in one day with the 
 jaw-bone of an ass, and some one has said that the 
 higher-critic preacher is today, without that back- 
 ing, trying to do the same thing, and with the same 
 kind of a weapon. 
 
 Some day consecrated scholarship will give us 
 its final conclusions, but whatever they may be, you 
 may be sure they will not in any way undermine 
 our faith in Jesus Christ as God manifest in the 
 flesh; and if the time ever comes when I cannot 
 bring myself to beheve in what I am convinced 
 the Word of God declares to be true, then I hon- 
 estly hope for the courage of my convictions and 
 the fairness with my fellowmen to leave the pulpit 
 rather than to remain and preach from a book in 
 the inspiration of which I have no explicit faith. 
 
 2, As to its appeal. This should be always to 
 the individual as touching one or the other of the 
 following three things. 
 
 (a) His own righteousness. This is, of course, an 
 appeal to the Christian. We need orthopraxy as 
 well as orthodoxy. The spirit of the world has 
 crept into the Church to an alarming degree. She 
 is suffering from spiritual locomotor ataxia and she 
 can't stand erect and be the power in the world she 
 ought to be. 
 
 We think of the evangelist as one set apart pri- 
 marily to call the unsaved to Christ, but he has 
 an important ministry to the church as well. In- 
 
72 EVANGELISM 
 
 deed, Mr. Moody in the latter years of his life said 
 he felt himself called more and more to preach to 
 God's people, and he was engaged in a ministry 
 primarily to the church when the summons came 
 that called him into the presence of God. 
 
 (b) His attitude toward God. This is, of course, 
 the appeal to the unsaved. This is the peculiar 
 glory of the evangelist's ministry. When Paul con- 
 verted the Philippian jailer he did a greater work 
 than Christ did when He raised Lazarus from the 
 grave. If the Church does not increase numerically 
 she will dwindle and die. And, young gentlemen, 
 wherever your ministry may lie, I covet for you 
 the supreme joy of being a soul-winner, and I pity 
 the preacher with all my heart who can be satis- 
 fied to minister without it. 
 
 (c) His relation to society. This is the appeal 
 for social service. Henry van Dyke was not wrong 
 when he said, " He who seeks for heaven alone to 
 save his soul may keep the path, but will not reach 
 the goal." Social service means serving society, 
 and if a man is not saved for that he is not saved 
 at all. The call of God to the human soul is not, 
 "Come and take it easy"; it is not, "Come and 
 be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease," 
 but it is " Come and serve," " Come and suffer " ; 
 not only, " Come and be saved," but " Come and 
 be a saviour," and Social Service and Evangelism 
 are not in any sense, indeed cannot be, antagonistic. 
 
PREACHER AND HIS MESSAGE 73 
 
 3. As to its construction. 
 
 I wish at this point only to emphasize a few- 
 things which I have found most helpful in my own 
 experience. 
 
 The first is simplicity. The evangelist must re- 
 member that, preaching nightly as he does, his au- 
 diences are filled with two kinds of people — some 
 who can't think very profoundly because they 
 haven't got the grey matter to do it with, and 
 some who have been on their feet all day at hard 
 work and are too tired to think that Vv^ay. The 
 first is true of your Sunday morning audience as 
 well. Bear this in mind and remember that in try- 
 ing to preach to please two or three wiseacres you'll 
 likely let the biggest part of your congregation go 
 starving. 
 
 Don't parade around in the pulpit on stilts. Get 
 down on the earth and put the Bread of Life where 
 the common people can get it. That's what Jesus 
 did, and they heard Him gladly. Don't put the 
 fodder too high. Jesus didn't say, " Feed my gi 
 raffes." He said, " Feed my sheep." 
 
 Don't try to be a rhetorical skyscraper. A lit- 
 tle aeroplaning now and then may be permissible, 
 but don't stay up too long. Your crowd will miss 
 you. Give the go-by to the lengthy and involved 
 sentences and heavy style and tell the people what 
 you want them to know in plain, simple, direct 
 Anglo-Saxon. In doing so you will find that you 
 
 ■] 
 
74 EVANGELISM 
 
 will compel attention. And the preacher who does 
 not compel attention ought to stop preaching and 
 going to mending umbrellas. 
 
 The second thing is that the sermon should be 
 made for a purpose and not for its own sake. It 
 should not be primarily a work of art. It could 
 be icily regular and splendidly null and still be all 
 that. The question is, Does it do the business? 
 Does it make Felix tremble? Does it make men 
 and women sit up and take notice? If it doesn't 
 do this, it is fit only to be cast out and trodden 
 under foot or to be broken to pieces and made 
 over. 
 
 If I expect to give an invitation or want to 
 leave especially some certain impression I close with 
 that part of the sermon best calculated to do it 
 even if I have to yank it out of its homiletical and 
 logical place. Remember you are not preaching for 
 bouquets, but to glorify God and to win souls. A 
 woman said to me at the close of a sermon, " That 
 was such a beautiful sermon you preached." 
 " Well," I said, " if that's all it was and God will 
 forgive me, I'll never preach it again.'* 
 
 I don't know who said this, but there is a good 
 deal of truth in it : " Evangelism means that ser- 
 mons don't matter comparatively, and souls do. 
 Shall I be accused of hopeless bigotry if I say that 
 to me and some men I have known the ambition 
 to preach good sermons of a certain type — I will 
 say conventional type — is the biggest temptation we 
 
PREACHER AND HIS MESSAGE 75 
 
 ever get from the devil? I heartily believe that to 
 appeal positively and directly to the conscience and 
 let form, literary and other, go to the winds 
 is the most effective way not only of winning 
 souls, but incidentally of preaching good ser- 
 mons." 
 
 The third thing is the power of illustration. 
 Don't be afraid of illustrations. The most intel- 
 lectual member youVe got will wake up and pay 
 attention whenever you use one. And you'll not be 
 so apt to find yourself in the predicament of that 
 preacher who shouted out one Sunday morning: 
 *' You boys up in the gallery, be quiet ; you'll wake 
 up these people on the lower floor." 
 
 I remember the disdain with which I first looked 
 upon an illustration. At last there was to appear 
 an evangelist who would be no mere story-teller. 
 My appeal was to be wholly to the court of reason. 
 I soon, however, discovered two things. 
 
 First — That I was succeeding admirably in put- 
 ting my audience in about twenty minutes into the 
 arms of nature's sweet restorer. 
 
 Second — That it takes far more genius and in- 
 telligence to use an illustration that illustrates and 
 use it rightly than it does to ramble right along 
 with general remarks. 
 
 I then knocked my sermons full of holes and 
 in each hole put a pane of the clearest glass I could 
 find. For I remembered then what I had heard 
 before— the words of dear old Moody, that **A 
 
76 EVANGELISM 
 
 sermon without illustrations is like a house without 
 J windows." 
 
 The fourth thing is that the most effective sermon 
 should always be used even though newer ones are 
 in hand. In conducting an evangelistic campaign I 
 pick out always the sermons God has honoured most 
 highly in this sort of work. I have some sermons 
 I have preached 200 times and I expect to preach 
 them so long as my ministry lasts. I make that ser- 
 mon a part of myself every time I preach it, and 
 the older it grows the longer I delight in its de- 
 livery, just as God continues to put His seal upon 
 its use. 
 
 It is folly to throw away a Damascus blade and 
 attempt to accomplish results with an untried in- 
 strument merely for the sake of ministering to one's 
 intellectual pride. 
 
 4. As to its delivery. 
 
 Here is a field for a dozen lectures and I must 
 content myself with only a few remarks. 
 
 " How is it," said a preacher to a baseball 
 pitcher, " that you make $7,000 a year doing that, 
 and I get only $1,000 preaching the Gospel?" 
 ** Oh," said the pitcher, " the difference is in the 
 delivery." There are four things I will say and 
 finish. 
 
 The voice should he natural. It's a strange thing 
 that so many preachers think they must have one 
 tone of voice in the pulpit and another tone outside 
 
PREACHER AND HIS MESSAGE 77 
 
 of it. You know ithere is such a thing as a preacher's 
 tone, and many a preacher seems to think it is one 
 of the main essentials of success, but a thing of 
 that kind is about as much use to a preacher as a 
 pair of stork's legs is to a sitting hen. 
 
 If a preacher went into a store and asked for 
 a gallon of coal-oil in the same tone of voice that 
 he lines out a hymn or reads the Scripture they 
 would think he needed an operation above his eyes. 
 What's the use of announcing with a hark-from- 
 the-tomb-a-doleful-sound sort of voice that the 
 Ladies' Home Missionary Society will meet next 
 Thursday afternoon at the home of Mrs. Jonathan 
 Snyder? And where's the sense of the pious whine 
 we so often hear, if the preacher expects the people 
 to pay any attention to what he is saying? Preach 
 with the voice nature gave you. 
 
 The style should be conversational. An old 
 preacher once said, " When I first began preaching 
 I thought it was the thunder that killed, and so I 
 tried to make all the noise I could in my preaching, 
 but after a while I found out ,that it was the light- 
 ning that did the business, and since that time I've 
 tried to thunder less and lighten more." 
 
 Noise is no evidence of effectiveness. It's no sign 
 of profundity. Deep waters are silent. To roar 
 like a Bashan bull is no sign you are delivering the 
 goods. A lawyer talks to his jury and tells them 
 what he wants them to know; a teacher does the 
 same to his students. But some preachers preach 
 
78 EVANGELISM 
 
 as though the particular purpose of their appear- 
 ance in the pulpit is to paralyze the ear-drum. If 
 there is the slightest occasion or even excuse for 
 italics they will stand on their toes, get red in the 
 face, swell up in the neck, pull in their diaphragm 
 and push out their chest and yell as if they were 
 trying to reach the island of Madagascar by a wire- 
 less telephone that was out of order. 
 
 Cultivate the conversational tone. This was the 
 charm and the power of Finney and of Spurgeon, 
 and indeed of all great and effective preachers. 
 
 Oneself should be forgotten. There are two 
 kinds of self-consciousness that all too frequently 
 obtain in the ministry. One is a disposition and 
 the other is an inclination, and there is only one 
 remedy for both. 
 
 There is the preacher who is everlastingly and 
 with deliberation projecting himself into the fore- 
 ground in all he does and says. He carries his 
 self -consciousness about him like an atmosphere and 
 all the people are affected by it. They can see that 
 he knows he is doing remarkably well, if he thinks 
 he is. He steps in front of the cross and the peo- 
 ple see that he*s thinking of himself rather than his 
 Lord and they pity him, although he doesn't seem 
 to know it. 
 
 He is the fellow who preaches Henry Smith dig- 
 nified instead of Jesus Christ crucified. As a gen- 
 eral thing he's all front door; open the door and 
 you're in the back yard. As a class he is usually 
 
PREACHER AND HIS MESSAGE 79 
 
 represented by the young minister who walked into 
 the church and down the aisle and into the pulpit 
 with a lordly air as if something of unusual im- 
 portance was about to occur. He failed miserably 
 and went out with hanging head. Outside an old 
 minister met him at the exit and said, "Young 
 man, if you had come in as you went out, you would 
 have gone out as you came in.'* 
 
 The other form of self -consciousness is that 
 which comes in spite of oneself. It's a very sub- 
 tle thing with which you will all have to deal. When 
 you are doing well there will be some evil influence 
 ready to grab your hand and make it pat your own 
 back. If you find yourself failing and the sermon 
 doesn't grip, instead of remembering why you are 
 preaching, you may find yourself inclined to be- 
 come conscious about yourself and the reputation 
 you are making, and you'll begin to perspire and 
 colour up and lose control of yourself in an effort 
 to redeem what you seem to think is a lost situa- 
 tion. 
 
 There is but one way to overcome — perhaps a 
 rather long way for some of us. It is the way of 
 Communion and prayer that shall lead us at last » 
 to lose ourselves so entirely in Him that we shall 
 be willing even to fail for His sake, counting our 
 own reputation as nothing if only both congregation 
 and preacher shall " see no man save Jesus only." 
 
 The last thing to which I would refer is the spirit 
 of delivery. 
 
80 EVANGELISM 
 
 First — It should be earnest. The man in earnest 
 always " gets there." Put him in a log cabin and 
 he'll split rails to the White House. Put him in 
 jail and he'll write '' Pilgrim's Progress." Put 
 out his eyes and he'll produce " Paradise Lost." 
 
 When it comes to preaching you might as well 
 try to run a locomotive without steam as to think 
 of making a sermon go without earnestness. The 
 papers told sometime ago of a man who was run 
 over by a hearse. Let us hope he was not a preach- 
 er. I have a friend who used to say that a preacher 
 who has no more animation than a punctured tire 
 is as disappointing as a painted fire in zero weather, 
 and that a sermon without animation in its deliv- 
 ery is as dead as an Egyptian mummy. Richard 
 Sheridan said he often went to hear Rowland Hill 
 preach because his words flowed hissing hot from 
 his heart. Chalmers' main forte as a preacher and 
 a college professor, it is said, was his "blood- 
 earnestness." " What we want," remarked a Chi- 
 nese convert once, " is men with hot hearts to tell 
 us of the love of Christ." " Be earnest," some one 
 has said, " and the fire of your own soul will kin- 
 dle a flame in the souls of others. Recall what 
 Garrick said to the preacher in explaining the dif- 
 ference in the size of their audience. Said he to 
 the preacher, " I act fiction as though it were truth; 
 you preach truth as though it were fiction." 
 
 Don't be too much frightened by that word sen- 
 sationalism. Sensation, when the last word has been 
 
PREACHER AND HIS MESSAGE 81 
 
 said, means life, and where there is no sensation 
 you are sure to find death. There is a sensational- 
 ism in the pulpit which no sensible person would 
 endorse for a moment. But on the other hand, 
 the church has had to tolerate an extreme conser- 
 vatism and a chilling conventionality which have 
 brought paralysis with them, and between the two, 
 I don't know but what the excitement of the for- 
 mer is quite as tolerable as the mildew and the dry 
 rot of the latter. The people of Wotton used to 
 call Rowland Hill a madman, but if the preaching 
 of Rowland Hill made a madman out of him, then 
 God hasten the day when our pulpits will be filled 
 with maniacs. 
 
 Second — And then the delivery, of course, should 
 be in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power. 
 What we said before we say again, and shall 
 repeat it — the preacher needs the tongue of 
 fire. 
 
 No wonder Finney could preach. Sometimes long 
 after the hour for service had come and Finney 
 was missing they would find him somewhere out in 
 the woods lying on his face and telling God that 
 he would not go into the service until he was sure 
 the Holy Spirit was going with him. Ask Him, 
 my young friends, to go with you into the pulpit 
 and He will do it; and He will fill you and use 
 you. 
 
 I want to say to you, my young friends, in 
 closing, that I have not said anything nor 
 
82 EVANGELISM 
 
 laid down a precept of any kind but that it has 
 come back to me with something of a rebuke. 
 I wish I could stand again at the beginning of my 
 ministry. I believe I could do better work. But I 
 want to commend these things to you and you to 
 Him, and if when this short ministry among you 
 is over we should not meet again until we meet in 
 His presence, let us remember that we have met 
 here this morning and talked together about the 
 greatest work a man can do and I congratulate you 
 upon being called to do it. 
 
IV 
 PASTORAL EVANGELISM 
 
PASTORAL EVANGELISM 
 
 I. Its Importance. 
 
 The church must increase numerically. 
 
 (a) To perpetuate itself. 
 
 (b) To be a power for righteousness in the 
 
 community. 
 
 II. Its Aim — Every part and department of the local church 
 work used to win the unsaved for Christ. 
 
 III. Its Requirements. 
 
 1. A knozvledge of how to do evangelistic work. No 
 
 imported messenger can ever take the pastor's 
 place as a soul winner. 
 
 2. A knowledge of productive methods. 
 
 3. A knowledge of the local situation. 
 
 IV. Its Workable Plans. 
 
 1. The Evangelistic Sunday School. 
 
 (a) The Opportunity. 
 
 (i) Nine-tenths of Christians con- 
 verted before twenty. 
 
 (2) Sunday School the nesting place 
 for most of them. 
 
 (b) Sensing the situation. Has the emphasis 
 on Christian culture weakened the evan- 
 gelistic appeal ? 
 
 (c) The Responsibility. 
 
 (i) Chief duty of teachers to lead 
 scholars to Christ. 
 
 (d) The Special Effort on Decision Day. 
 
 2. The Sunday Evening Service. 
 
 (a) The service made evangelistic. 
 
 (b) The meeting advertised, 
 
 (c) The music specialized. 
 
 (d) The stranger welcomed. 
 
 (e) The invitation given. 
 
 (f) The after-meeting held. 
 
 3. The Special Revival Effort or Mission. 
 
 (a) The church must recognize the psychology 
 
 of revival and give to it its proper place 
 in the church program. 
 
 (b) Selecting the preacher for the revival min- 
 
 istry. 
 ,/ (c) The church must prepare thoroughly for 
 the revival. 
 (d) The church must guarantee its success by 
 using methods best adapted to the situa- 
 tion. 
 
IV 
 PASTORAL EVANGELISM 
 
 RELIGIOUS service is something more thari 
 worship. It is something more than listen- 
 ing to song and sermon. And Christian 
 work is something more than church attendance 
 and the operation of bazaars, and rummage sales 
 and strawberry socials. It is the business of the 
 church to save souls just as it is the business of 
 a fisherman to catch fish or of an automobile fac- 
 tory to turn out automobiles. 
 
 The church that is not evangelistic ceases to be 
 evangelical. The ideal of every church ought to 
 be inspired by the experience of the Apostles after 
 Pentecost, when they " added to the church daily 
 such as were being saved.'* I do not mean to say, 
 however, that the real work of the church is to 
 be conceived of in terms of numerical increase any 
 more than it is to be found in the upbuilding of 
 the spiritual life of its members. It is to be found 
 in both. 
 
 But the church must increase numerically. We 
 may build our magnificent temples of worship and 
 number with pride our renowned preachers ; we may 
 confess to an intelligence and an equipment such 
 as no other age has ever known; we may meet in 
 
 85 
 
86 EVANGELISM 
 
 our mammoth conventions, appoint new commit- 
 tees and organize new societies and congratulate 
 ourselves upon our increasing influence in other 
 ways, but we must not blind ourselves to the plain, 
 blunt truth that the church can do all this and yet 
 if it does not increase numerically the days of its 
 usefulness and power as well as of its own exist- 
 ence will soon be at an end. 
 
 It was when the death-rate of France began to 
 exceed her birth-rate that she fell an easy prey in 
 the Franco-Prussian war to her more productive 
 and powerful German neighbour and enemy. And 
 so we repeat that if the church is to perpetuate her- 
 self, and become the power for righteousness in 
 the community she ought to be, she must be evan- 
 gelistic. 
 
 THE AIM OF PASTORAL EVANGELISM 
 
 This leads very naturally to the discussion of 
 what the aim of an evangelistic church ought to 
 be. To be an evangelistic pastor does not mean 
 necessarily to preach evangelistic sermons. Such 
 a pastor will do this very largely. But if pastoral 
 evangelism is to find its proper expression, every 
 church activity should be made, to a considerable 
 degree at least, an evangelistic agency and every 
 part and department of the local church work should 
 be used to win the unsaved for Christ. We can, 
 therefore, see how greatly important then is this 
 subject of Pastoral Evangelism and why it should 
 
PASTORAL EVANGELISM 87 
 
 be made the subject of close and discriminating 
 study. 
 
 When Christ would win the world to Himself 
 and extend his Kingdom to the uttermost parts 
 of the earth, He established the church as the one 
 divine agent to bring it about. Whatever is ac- 
 complished and in whatever way it is accomplished, 
 it depends very largely, if not altogether, upon the 
 church to give it direction and organization and to 
 marshal the forces for the largest possible achieve- 
 ment, as well as to maintain and conserve the re- 
 sults when they are achieved. What a position of 
 responsibility, then, is that of the pastorate of a 
 church, for upon the pastor after all depends very 
 largely the kind of a church that his church is 
 to be. 
 
 THE REQUIREMENTS 
 
 Let US see, then, what are some of the require- 
 ments of successful pastoral evangelism. There 
 are three things, as I view the matter, that the 
 pastor of such a church ought to know. 
 
 I. He ought to know how to do evangelistic 
 work himself. No imported messenger can ever 
 take the pastor's place as a soul- winner. But if 
 one is to be an evangelistic pastor he must cer- 
 tainly keep in mind this thought, that, as Dr. Chap- 
 man once said, " Ordinary preaching will not do 
 the work. I do not mean ordinary as to ability, 
 but ordinary as to plan." 
 
88 EVANGELISM 
 
 A prevailing defect in much of the preaching 
 of our day is that it is not aimed at the conver- 
 sion of men. Of course there are other ends, but 
 this should be made one of the chief ones. How 
 great is that multitude of preachers who scarcely, 
 if ever, distinctly concentrate all the parts of any 
 single service to the one point of causing men to 
 decide for Christ. 
 
 It is related of two preachers that one had great 
 success in bringing men to Christ, and the other 
 never saw any converted. The latter inquired of 
 the former what was the reason of this difference. 
 "Why/' repHed the other, "the reason is that I 
 aim at a different end from you in preaching. My 
 object is to convert sinners, but you aim at nothing 
 of the kind ; and then you lay it to the sovereignty 
 of God that you do not produce the same effect. 
 Take one of my sermons and preach it to your 
 people and see what the effect will be." The man 
 did so, and preached the sermon, and it did have 
 an effect, and they tell us the man became almost 
 frightened when he saw people concerned about 
 their souls. 
 
 We must not get the idea that the travelling 
 evangelist has a monopoly on the evangelistic gift. 
 Indeed, his large sphere of usefulness has largely 
 been made possible, as Dr. Olin Green says, "by 
 the dereliction of pastors to exercise and improve 
 their own evangelistic gifts and the evangelistic 
 spirit in the churches." Paul wrote to the young 
 
PASTORAL EVANGELISM 89 
 
 pastor at Ephesus and told him to " stir up the 
 gift that is within thee '* and to "do the work of 
 an evangelist." Many pastors do not realize the 
 latent evangelistic ability which they possess, and 
 failing to realize it they fail to cultivate it, and 
 consequently this talent lies dormant while a dis- 
 proportionate amount of time is spent on the ser- 
 mon from a homiletical and rhetorical standpoint, 
 and as a result nothing is left to do when the ser- 
 mon is finished but to announce the last hymn and 
 pronounce the benediction. 
 
 Then, it is a lamentable fact that there are many 
 pastors in the church who, if they felt impressed 
 at the close of a sermon that the invitation ought 
 to be given, would be utterly nonplussed as to how 
 to do it. A prominent business man of New York 
 City said, after hearing a noted preacher preach 
 a sermon, " If he had given an invitation I should 
 have gone forward, taken his hand and accepted 
 Christ. I was never more moved in my life. I 
 question if I shall ever be so moved again." 
 
 May I lend testimony that what little success I 
 have had in leading men to the place of decision 
 for Christ has not, so far as the human element 
 enters in, been due to any peculiar genius or 
 native ability which has been mine, but rather to 
 hard, earnest and persistent study of the best 
 possible plans and methods for this kind of work. 
 And while I wish for you each one an avoidance 
 of any unreasoning prejudice against the trained 
 
90 EVANGELISM 
 
 evangelist, I do covet for you such a consecrated 
 interest in and attention to this particular phase of 
 the ministry as will make it possible very largely 
 for each one of you as a pastor to be your own 
 evangelist; for this after all is as it should be. This 
 is the ideal. 
 
 2. He ought to know such methods of church 
 work as are most productive of evangelistic 
 results. There are two ways especially by which 
 such knowledge may be secured. 
 
 First — By reading the best books on the subject. 
 Most of the successful methods of work have been 
 put into print and no one but a fool or a consum- 
 mate egotist would ignore in a work of any kind 
 what others have learned before him. You might 
 as well step out into the starry night and expect 
 to write an accurate treatise on astronomy and ig- 
 nore all the findings and deductions of Galileo and 
 Kepler and Herschel and scores of others who have 
 given decades of tireless study to God's handiwork 
 in the skies. 
 
 There are numberless good books on Method, 
 such as " Pastoral Evangelism," by Charles L. 
 Goodell; "How to Promote and Conduct a Suc- 
 cessful Revival," by R. A. Torrey; " Modern Meth- 
 ods of Church Work," by Meade, and " Present 
 Day Evangelism," by J. Wilbur Chapman. 
 
 Second — By personal investigation of the church 
 work of such pastors as have been notably success- 
 ful along this line. 
 
PASTORAL EVANGELISM 91 
 
 In my own younger days I sought opportunity 
 to sit at the feet of every successful evangelist in 
 the United States, and I am convinced that it would 
 be a wise thing for every student for the minis- 
 try and for every young pastor to sit for a while 
 at the feet of some of the older pastors who have 
 a reputation for being notably successful along 
 evangelistic lines. 
 
 There are many such churches in this country, 
 among which we might mention the following: 
 
 The First Presbyterian Church, Seattle, Wash- 
 ington, Rev. M. A'. Mathews, Pastor. 
 
 The Bethany Temple, Philadelphia, Rev. Asa J. 
 Ferry, Pastor. 
 
 The Lindenwood Presbyterian Church, Kansas 
 City, Mo., Rev. Harry C. Rogers, Pastor. 
 
 The First Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas, Rev. 
 George W. Truett, Pastor. 
 
 The White Temple, Pordand, Ore., Rev. Waldo, 
 Pastor. 
 
 The First Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minn., 
 Rev. W. B. Riley, Pastor. 
 
 The First Methodist Church, Cleveland, Ohio, 
 Rev. E. L. Waldorf, Pastor. 
 
 3. He ought to know the local situation. He 
 should know his field — the population and its char- 
 acter, the number of unchurched people, the amuse- 
 ment centres, the social and economic conditions, 
 etc. Full information concerning the making of a 
 survey of this kind may be secured at headquarters, 
 
92 EVANGELISM 
 
 WORKABLE PLANS 
 
 When we come to speak of the workable plans 
 for Pastoral Evangelism we must bear in mind what 
 was said about making every kind of church activity 
 to some degree an evangelistic agency, but the more 
 important aspects of this work may very properly 
 be classified under the threefold heading of the 
 Evangelistic Sunday School, the Sunday Evening 
 Service and the Special Revival Effort or Mission. 
 
 I. The Evangelistic Sunday School. We 
 usually think of the Sunday School as a part of the 
 church, but the fact of the matter is the two are 
 component parts of one whole and the business of 
 the one is exactly the business of the other — to win 
 souls for Christ and to build them up in Christian 
 character. It would be a sad thing if there were 
 any dispute about this. But there is none. And yet 
 there is many a Sunday School teacher who seems 
 to lack an appreciation altogether of the first and 
 fundamental part of this business. 
 
 I do not want to become sponsor for the thought 
 that conversion as we seem to have always under- 
 stood it is a necessary experience in the Hfe of 
 every child. There are earnest Christian people in 
 the Kingdom today who will tell you that, so far 
 as they know, there was no one time of definite 
 decision for Christ, but that from the day of their 
 earliest recollection they always loved their Saviour 
 and meant to do His will. And yet for most people 
 
PASTORAL EVANGELISM 93 
 
 the coming into the Kingdom has been through 
 a definite crisal experience and the vast majority 
 of these experiences took place in the days of child- 
 hood and youth. 
 
 The Sunday School, therefore, presents the rarest 
 possible opportunity for soul-winning. It is a well- 
 known fact that four-fifths of all who are ever 
 saved are brought into the Kingdom during the 
 period of life that more nearly represents the Sun- 
 day School age. In fact, nine-tenths of all Chris- 
 tian people were converted before they were twenty 
 and practically all of them were nurtured in the 
 Sunday School. Somewhere in the early adoles- 
 cence is the normal age for coming into a healthy 
 religious consciousness and entering upon deliber- 
 ate devotion to one's Lord and Master. 
 
 Among five hundred and twelve officers of the 
 Young Men's Christian Association the average age 
 of the first deep religious impression was between 
 thirteen and fourteen years. 
 
 Little did John Wesley know how well he was 
 prophesying when 150 years ago, seeing what Rob- 
 ert Raikes was doing, he said, " Perhaps God may 
 find a deeper end in the Sunday School than men 
 are aware of; who knows but some of these schools 
 may be nurseries for Christians ? " 
 
 More and more, I think, we are coming to see 
 that the future of the church depends upon Christ's 
 influence with the children. If this be true, how 
 fatal then the mistake not to take advantage of 
 
94 EVANGELISM 
 
 the tremendous opportunity presented by the Sun- 
 day School to bring them into definite allegiance 
 with Him. 
 
 Sometimes I am asked how old a child ought 
 to be before it can decide definitely and intelligently 
 for Jesus Christ. I don't know. That's a hard 
 question to answer. In fact, it can't be answered. 
 I sometimes think one can be too old to become 
 a Christian, but I wonder if one can be too 
 young. 
 
 A Sunday School teacher on a certain Decision 
 Day asked her scholars to give themselves to Christ. 
 They were eleven years old. Four of them said, 
 "I will," and three of them said, "I won't." 
 " Now," she said to the pastor, *' do you think 
 those four who said * I will ' knew what they were 
 doing?" *' Well," said the pastor, "do you think 
 those three who said * I won't ' knew what they 
 were doing ? " The idea that a child would know 
 enough to say " No " and not know enough to say 
 "Yes"! 
 
 I one time found a little girl of twelve crying 
 because her mother would not let her come forward 
 and say she would become a Christian. The mother 
 said the child did not know what it meant. I ques- 
 tioned both the mother and the child and decided 
 that of the two the child was the only one that 
 knew anything about it at all. 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon lent the remarkable testknony that 
 of the more than 2,000 children he took into the 
 
PASTORAL EVANGELISM 95 
 
 church he never knew of one case of later dis- 
 cipline among them all. 
 
 We must, therefore, he on our guard against any 
 tendency in the Sunday School to so place the em- 
 phasis upon mere culture of any kind, even though 
 it he Christian, as to weaken the evangelistic ap- 
 peal hy the elimination altogether of the definite 
 crisal conversion. Furthermore, it should be 
 frankly and constantly avowed by pastor, superin- 
 tendent and teacher that the first and fundamental 
 objective of the Sunday School is to bring the chil- 
 dren into a personal experience of religion. 
 
 To this end the Sunday School must be on guard 
 against some of the lesson helps and other litera- 
 ture which the advocates of an " ethical culture 
 gospel " are striving to introduce into this sphere 
 of Christian work where such eternal issues are 
 at stake. Some people talk as though it is a new 
 set of grandparents that a sinner needs instead of 
 the grace of God. When an advocate of this sort 
 of sociology comes to me and tries to make me 
 believe that you can regenerate the individual and 
 the race by getting the bad blood out of their veins 
 and the sewer gas out of their nostrils and a dose 
 of ethical culture into their heads, I tell him that 
 he is thinking a species of sublimated inconcinnity 
 which healthy minds have long ago relegated to 
 the limbo of exploded foolishness. 
 
 Again, if opportunity has anything to do with 
 the measure of responsibility, then the responsp- 
 
96 EVANGELISM 
 
 bility of the Sunday School teacher is so great that 
 one can well afford to stagger at the thought of 
 it. There are alas! too many teachers who seem 
 to think that Sunday School teaching consists in 
 telling the scholars all about the miracles of Christ 
 and all about His parables and all about the land 
 of His birth and ministry — in fact, all about the 
 Christ — instead of leading them to the Christ Him- 
 self. 
 
 Because of this many a one who has borne no 
 little reputation as a successful teacher from every 
 other standpoint has found his or her scholars at a 
 certain very critical period slipping through their 
 hands and out into the world from whence they 
 will doubtless never return. 
 
 How truly did Mrs. Lamoreaux speak in her 
 splendid little volume which she has called " The 
 Unfolding Life" when, with reference to the 
 words, " While thy servant was busy here and there 
 he was gone," she said, "Who was gone? A soul 
 in its crisis, making eternal choices, easily influ- 
 enced by a word, a look or a touch, in the grip of 
 fierce temptations, but catching sight of Divine pos- 
 sibilities, needing help as at no time before or later; 
 this is the soul that slipped away, in all probability, 
 not to be brought back. You let it slip. How will 
 you go up to the Father and the lad be not with 
 you?" 
 
 It is possible indeed, I say, to be successful in 
 other ways. That teacher may be a good talker;- 
 
PASTORAL EVANGELISM 97 
 
 she may have a warm heart and an attractive per- 
 sonality; she may emphasize the social features 
 of the work and completely win the scholars to 
 herself, and so have perhaps the banner class for 
 attendance, but if she is not winning, or at least 
 trying to win, her scholars to Jesus Christ, she is 
 one of the poorest and most unsuccessful teachers 
 of them all. 
 
 The teacher, therefore, should be trained to ex- 
 pect decisions for Christ. There should, therefore, 
 be organized the Teachers' Training Class, without 
 which no Sunday School can ever do its best work, 
 and a part of its time should be devoted to the 
 study of the best ways of deahng with young peo- 
 ple about this all-important matter. 
 
 And then it should be understood that requests 
 for frank and quiet interviews concerning the Chris- 
 tian life with the pastor or teacher are always wel- 
 come, and a public statement to that effect may 
 wisely be made from time to time. It is a wise 
 thing to have, so far as possible, a set time when 
 it is known the pastor will be glad for conference 
 with interested ones. 
 
 Perhaps no feature of the evangelistic Sunday 
 School is productive of finer results than what is 
 known as Decision Day. This is a day when the 
 Sunday School hour is devoted especially to stress- 
 ing the importance and the necessity of a definite 
 commitment of the life to Jesus Christ. One or 
 more such outstanding days should be planned for 
 
98 EVANGELISM 
 
 each year. Careful preparation should be made for 
 this day and among other things a meeting should 
 be arranged for all the Christian scholars of the 
 school with a view to an organized campaign of 
 individual effort prior to and in preparation for 
 these important events. 
 
 Suggested programs for such a day, as well as 
 some splendid plans for conserving the results of 
 such an effort, may be secured at the headquar- 
 ters of the International Sunday School Associa- 
 tion. 
 
 2. The Sunday evening service. This service 
 should be made very largely evangelistic. There 
 is no good reason why this should not be quite 
 often true of the Sunday morning service. But 
 as a rule the Sunday morning congregation is com- 
 posed more largely of Christians, especially mem- 
 bers of the particular church under consideration, 
 while the non-church-going element is more apt to 
 be out in the evening, and with some special adver- 
 tising can often be brought out in goodly numbers; 
 and the pastor who is really after souls will not 
 fail to take advantage of the opportunity thus of- 
 fered him to press home the claims of Christ upon 
 the human soul. 
 
 I think it is safe to say that you will find that 
 where church life is the most vigorous and the roll 
 of membership increasing that the pastors of such 
 churches are preaching with the evangelistic appeal 
 at the Sunday evening service. 
 
PASTORAL EVANGELISM 99 
 
 Will you pardon just this once a reference to 
 my own experience? When I began my ministry 
 it was with a church that was known to be some- 
 what fashionable— in fact, so fashionable that for 
 a goodly number of years they had dispensed al- 
 together with the Sunday night service for the lack 
 of any one to attend it. This service was imme- 
 diately resumed and the church was always on 
 Sunday night filled to the doors simply by making 
 the service a somewhat popular one, and devoting 
 it almost exclusively to sermons of an evangelistic 
 nature. 
 
 The meetings were advertised in as unique and 
 thorough a way as possible. The dignity of the 
 work was never lowered and while popular themes 
 were advertised, no subject was ever chosen not 
 backed up by a Scripture text, and in which there 
 was not the fullest opportunity for preaching Jesus 
 Christ as the only hope of a lost world. Good busi- 
 ness enterprise sanctified by the Holy Spirit will 
 teach the church how to advertise without being 
 sensational and how to use, and use properly, the 
 various agencies given us of God to do His work. 
 
 The music was specialized. The devil is always 
 afraid of good music in the church. Maybe that's 
 the reason so many of our church quarrels start 
 in the choir loft — somebody has called it the War 
 Department. But it always gives the devil " sink- 
 ing spells " to hear the people praising God with 
 good music whether they do it with a ten-stringed 
 
100 EVANGELISM 
 
 instrument or with the hundred dehcate muscles of 
 the human throat. 
 
 You say, " What kind of music ? " Every kind 
 — sacred of course. Do not make the mistake of 
 paying some one to do it for the congregation. 
 Above every other kind of music stress congrega- 
 tional singing and have a good precentor to see 
 that it is done. 
 
 Strangers were made to feel at home. A special 
 committee always stood at the door both at the 
 beginning and at the close of the service and the 
 stranger when willing or desirous was always 
 brought to the front for personal greeting from the 
 pastor. The audience room was divided into sec- 
 tions with a warm-hearted member in each section. 
 It's a wonder people go to some churches at all. 
 And what many churches need, and all of them to 
 some degree doubtless, is to have their frozen for- 
 mality and their false respectability and their frigid 
 conventionality smitten that in place of these things 
 may come some of the warm outgoing concern and 
 friendliness that draws its inspiration from the 
 heart of Jesus Christ. 
 
 ' The sermon was prepared, as a rule, with a view 
 to giving the invitation and the holding of an after- 
 meeting, and I honour Him in whose name the work 
 was done when I say that He graciously put the 
 blessing of His seal upon it. 
 
 Too often the church is nothing more than a mere 
 club, a sort of religious club for the entertainment 
 
PASTORAL EVANGELISM 101 
 
 and enjoyment of its members. What does such a 
 church care whether its doors are closed Sunday- 
 evening or not? What does such a church care 
 whether the poor wanderer or the tired labouring 
 man seeking a little rest from the week's strenuous 
 toil or the youth looking for recreation are brought 
 in and saved or not ? 
 
 And so they pass along the street. They find the 
 church with its doors barred, and perhaps, as one 
 church had the words, " The Gateway to Heaven," 
 chiselled over the door, with a sign below reading 
 " Closed for the Sumimer." They find another with 
 a seating capacity of i,8oo and perhaps thirty or 
 forty present and the preacher announcing for the 
 first hymn *' What means this eager anxious 
 throng ! " Into the first they cannot go if they 
 will and into the second they will not go if they 
 can. They want to be where people are ; they want 
 to feel the warm touch and the sympathetic throb of 
 life and if they do not find it in one place they will 
 find it in another to the hurt of their own souls 
 though they do not seem to know it. 
 
 It would seem from all this to be true that of all 
 the functions of the church the Sunday night service 
 to have the largest possible measure of success must 
 be loyal to the real end for which it is supposed 
 to exist, — the winning of men with the Gospel of 
 Christ, and the church th^t goes to sleep over its 
 Sunday night service will find on waking up, if it 
 ever does, that it has been robbing itself of many 
 
102 EVANGELISM 
 
 of the stars which God meant should one day adorn 
 its crown of rejoicing. 
 
 3. The special revival effort or mission — 
 the Evangelistic Campaign. 
 
 The evangelistic pastor will always recognize the 
 psychology of the revival and give to it its rightful 
 and necessary place in the program of his church 
 work. Every preacher should by all means read 
 " The Spiritual Economy of Revivals of Religion," 
 written years ago by Dr. Horace Bushnell. It is 
 one of the very strongest presentations of this truth 
 ever put into print. He calls attention, as another 
 has said, to the fact that, " there are waves in the 
 spiritual world, waves of special power, as there are 
 waves and periods everywhere. Life and all the 
 surroundings of life are subject to the laws of the 
 tides. It is day and night, sleeping and waking, 
 work and rest, smiles and tears, companionship and 
 sohtude, business and worship. The law of the 
 tides is not a shame to religion but it is natural and 
 just what we would expect. If the progress of the 
 cause of religion by periods is wrong, what shall be 
 thought of the seasons, the intervals of drought and 
 rain and all the revolving circles of outward 
 change ? " 
 
 There are four ways so far as the preaching is 
 concerned in which this phase of the ministry can 
 be carried on. 
 
 (a) The church can unite in a city- wide or 
 neighbourhood campaign with other churches and 
 
PASTORAL EVANGELISM 103 
 
 jointly call some evangelist to assist in this part of 
 the work. 
 
 (b) Or, it may call the evangelist to a ministry 
 among its own people. The evangelist is not sup- 
 posed to come, as some one has said, " as a crutch 
 propping up the church recreant but as a sword in 
 the hand of the church militant/* A. B. Earle, an 
 evangelist of blessed memory, used to say he came 
 as a whiffle horse^ — a third horse, you know, that is 
 used alongside of the others to help pull a heavy 
 load. 
 
 (c) Or, the pastor may call some brother minister 
 to assist in this respect. 
 
 (d) Or, what is in many respects better still, he 
 can do it himself. This last way, as we said a while 
 ago, iS/the ideal. 
 
 As a rule there are too many random preachers 
 in revival campaigns; too much aimless effort like 
 that of the crazy man who was found out in the 
 woods shooting off a gun. When some one ap- 
 proached him and asked him why he was doing so 
 much shooting, he said, " For three reasons. It 
 keeps me company, it scares off the devil; and then 
 I may hit a stray coon." This is avoided of course 
 when the pastor does his own preaching. There are 
 other things in the pastor's favour, but whether it be 
 done one way or another he will always make room 
 for it in the planning of his work and pray ear- 
 nestly that God will give him great wisdom in 
 doing it. 
 
104 EVANGELISM 
 
 He will endeavour to thoroughly prepare his 
 people by appropriate sermons, by special prayer 
 services in the church and in the homes; by 
 literature, by training of personal workers and by 
 publicity of every legitimate sort. 
 
 And then when the revival period has come, the 
 pastor who is wise will guarantee very largely its 
 success by using such methods as are best adapted 
 to the situation, bearing in mind always the genius 
 and temperament of the people among whom and 
 for whom he is working. Some people are always 
 crying, " Back to old methods." But whether the 
 methods are old or new they must have regard for 
 intellect and culture and social and economic con- 
 ditions as well. I can imagine that some methods 
 will work better in the slums than perhaps they 
 would in an Episcopal church. 
 
 But after all, methods are secondary; results are 
 primary. An evangelist once asked men and women 
 to show their acceptance of Christ by rising and 
 coming forward. After the meeting a young theo- 
 logical student said to him, " I was glad to see 
 people converted tonight, but I don't just like the 
 way you asked them to rise and come forward." 
 " Neither do I," replied the evangelist, " How do 
 you do it?" The young man hesitated and then 
 answered, " Well, I don't know that I do it at all." 
 " Then," replied the evangelist, " I like the way I 
 do it better than the way you do it." 
 
 Young men, resolve to do it — that is, to be an 
 
PASTORAL EVANGELISM 105 
 
 evangelistic pastor, a proselyter of men; skilled if 
 you please in sermon-making, in the nicety of meta- 
 physical distinction and theological definition, but 
 skilled above all else in the holy art of winning 
 souls. I could wish for you no greater honour than 
 this. 
 
 And when we preachers learn something more of 
 what it means to have a passion something like that 
 of Brainerd, who said, " I care not where or how 
 I live or what hardships I went through, so I could 
 but gain souls to Christ " ; of the sainted Brown of 
 Haddington, of Whitefield and Baxter, aye, of Paul 
 who said, " I could wish that myself were accursed 
 from Christ for my brethren's sake," we shall see 
 this country of ours begin to be swept with a mighty 
 tidal wave of revival grace, and the church of Jesus 
 Christ shall cease to be what Bishop Berry has called 
 an '* army of occupation," and shall become as he 
 has said, *' an army of conquest"; and instead of 
 doing but two or three per cent more than holding 
 our own within our ecclesiastical trenches, we shall 
 be found out in the open field, a mighty marching, 
 conquering host for Christ. 
 
 Thus marching on, never resting, never tiring, 
 spending and being spent, we shall carry the banners 
 of our God on and on, until the eyes of those who 
 remain unto that day and shall not prevent those of 
 us who may be asleep, if God shall so determine, 
 shall see in the clouds the signs of their returning 
 Lord, and their ears shall catch the sound and their 
 
106 EVANGELISM 
 
 voices shall join in the song of the apocalyptic 
 vision, when the kingdoms of this world shall be- 
 come the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, 
 and He whose right it is to rule shall reign for ever 
 and ever. 
 
V 
 THE UNION EVANGELISTIC CAMPAIGN 
 
THE UNION EVANGELISTIC CAMPAIGN 
 
 I. Its JustiRcation as seen in, 
 
 1. God's seal upon such work in the past. 
 
 (a) The great evangelistic movements of 
 Whitefield, Wesley, Knapp, Swann, Net- 
 tleton, Baker, Finney, Moody, et al. 
 
 2. The ever-continuing need and adaptation of evan- 
 
 gelistic means to the end desired. 
 
 3. The comparative results of this kind of work. 
 
 (a) Carefully compiled statistics. 
 
 (b) Testimonies of pastors and reliable citi- 
 
 zens. 
 
 4. The spirit of fellowship promoted and manifested 
 
 among the denominations, — ^Christian Unity, 
 
 5. The moral and spiritual impress upon the entire 
 
 community. 
 
 II. Reasons for its study. 
 
 1. It is a component part of church history. 
 
 2. The majority of ministers must and do deal with it. 
 
 III. Different Types of it. 
 
 1. Simultaneous. 
 
 (a) City-wide. 
 
 (b) County-wide. 
 
 2. Centralized City Campaign. 
 
 IV. The Place of Meeting. 
 
 I. Comparative advantages of 
 
 (a) Church building. 
 
 (b) Public Auditorium. 
 
 (c) Tabernacle and Tent. 
 
 V. The Length of the Campaign. 
 
 I. The advantage of a lengthy series of meetings. 
 
 VI. The Organization of the Campaign. 
 
 1. The Place of it. 
 
 Must not be emphasized at cost of dependence 
 upon the Holy Spirit. 
 
 2. The Necessity of it. Seen in 
 
 (a) The multifarious aspects of the work. 
 
 (b) The need of enlisting the largest number 
 
 possible in the work. 
 
 3. The Method of it. 
 
 (a) The Executive Committee. 
 
 (b) The various Departmental Committees. 
 
 (c) Their duties defined. 
 
THE UNION EVANGELISTIC CAMPAIGN 
 
 EVERYBODY believes in Evangelism, but I 
 am to speak to you today of a form of 
 evangelistic work which has always been 
 under the fire of the severest criticism. I refer to 
 Vocational or so-called Professional Evangelism, 
 especially as it operates in union revival services 
 where all or the majority of the churches of a given 
 community unite in a general evangelistic campaign, 
 such churches becoming subservient for the time 
 being to the best interests of the general movement 
 and subordinating each one its own meetings to 
 those in which it has become associated. 
 
 The criticism mentioned has not been altogether 
 unmerited. But it would be interesting to make a 
 study of the adverse conditions under which such 
 evangelism has been compelled to operate, and 
 which in themselves are largely responsible for the 
 incompetencies and sometimes indiscretions which 
 have so often brought evangelism into ill-repute, and 
 this is true only because of the failure of the church 
 to throw about this particular form of religious 
 activity its arms of ecclesiastical restraint and super- 
 vision. Such evangelism, however, deserves much 
 credit even as the case stands, for not a little of it 
 has been remarkably sane and thorough and efficient 
 
 109 
 
110 EVANGELISM 
 
 and has brought to the church, as any candid inves- 
 tigator will cheerfully admit, a goodly portion of her 
 numerical increase across the years that have gone. 
 
 The justification of the united effort is seen in 
 five things. 
 
 ( 1 ) In that God has set His seal upon such work 
 in a marvellous way throughout all the history of the 
 church. Who could ever recall or read of the great 
 evangelistic movements under George Whitefield 
 with their astounding increase in church member- 
 ship and to which some of our religious denomina- 
 tions owe their continued existence; or the work of 
 Finney, preaching for instance in Rochester in the 
 thirties when the Chief Justice of the Court of 
 A'ppeals walked down the aisle for Christ, and on 
 which day there was started that remarkable revival 
 that converted every lawyer in the community and 
 started a wave of religious influence over that state 
 and others that swept I50,(X)0 souls into the King- 
 dom of Christ; or of Nettleton and Knapp and 
 Moody and hosts of others and not say, as Wesley 
 said when he heard of the revival at Northampton, 
 " Surely this is the Lord's doing and it is marvellous 
 in our eyes."? 
 
 (2) In the ever-continuing need of concentrated 
 and united effort along this line, and the adaptation 
 of evangelistic means to the end desired. 
 
 That religious life should need revival is not 
 strange. Permanent growth and advance of every 
 
UNION EVANGELISTIC CAMPAIGN 111 
 
 kind is after all, as we have seen, a thing of season, 
 and that there is in the religious revival something 
 of a divinely appointed periodical nature is some- 
 thing that no thoughtful individual can for a mo- 
 ment doubt. Some things moreover are accom- 
 plished by the special united effort that could per- 
 haps never be accomplished in any other way. 
 
 Each age has presented its own particular cause 
 for the spiritual decline which characterized it and 
 as a consequence of which the winning of man to 
 Christ by the work of the regular pastorate was 
 hard. Nor is the age in which we live the most 
 conducive to such results. 
 
 We are in the midst of a seething social unrest 
 and of industrial exigencies such as ten decades ago 
 were never dreamed of. The tide of immigration 
 still flows in upon us and not without its menace. 
 The daring corruption of politics amazes one. Vice 
 is exploited by machinery well organized and pow- 
 erful and the world, the flesh and the devil seem 
 to be intrenched in the very house of God itself. 
 
 The task of the minister, however, is under no 
 circumstances an easy one. He works tremen- 
 dously hard and the results, the numerical results at 
 least, are meagre and ofttimes discouraging, and 
 at times both the ministers and the most active 
 members of the church feel that the situation is such 
 that nothing short of the unusual and extraordinary 
 can meet it. And nothing at times seems quite so 
 well adapted to quicken the laggard spirit of the 
 
112 EVANGELISM 
 
 believer, to arouse the self-satisfied and the wicked 
 unbeliever to a converting sense of his need of 
 Christ, to impress the whole community with the 
 importance of the things of God and to rout the 
 forces of evil in general as the uniting of the 
 Christian forces in a well organized and carefully 
 executed campaign of evangelistic work. 
 
 But this has been proven repeatedly by experience 
 throughout the long past and therefore needs no 
 further elucidation at this time. 
 
 (3) In the comparative results of this kind of 
 work. 
 
 In connection with one of the prominent religious 
 movements of our country it was my privilege to 
 have access to a careful census made by the pastors 
 of over fifty of the largest cities of the land and 
 the fact was revealed that the largest gains to church 
 membership in every instance were made through the 
 efforts of evangelism such as we are now discussing. 
 . Let me take for instance the city of Boston, where 
 in 1909 Dr. Chapman had conducted a union simul- 
 taneous campaign of evangelistic work. A chart 
 was prepared showing the accessions to church mem- 
 bership for ten years including the year after the 
 campaign mentioned was conducted. This was in- 
 dicated each year by a black line crossing the chart 
 horizontally. The chart was about two feet wide. 
 The first year the line went halfway across; 
 the next year it went a trifle farther; the third year 
 it went back to about nine inches, the fourth year 
 
UNION EVANGELISTIC CAMPAIGN 113 
 
 still farther back, and then out to about nine; the 
 next year it was at twelve, and so on, but the ninth 
 year, the year of the Chapman campaign it went 
 clear across the chart and off on the other side ; and 
 an interesting thing about it is that the very next 
 year, the line, although of course it fell back a bit, 
 went farther across the chart than during any of 
 the eight years prior to Dr. Chapman's work. We 
 have already made reference to this on page 50 
 where we discussed the results of the union simul- 
 taneous campaign of evangcHstic work under the 
 direction of Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman in Boston, to 
 the account of which the reader is referred. A 
 most interesting thing about the work, as already 
 shown by the chart used on page 50, was that Dr. 
 Chapman's efforts left conditions better for church 
 work the year following than they had been for the 
 eight and no doubt many more of the previous 
 years. I found this to be so universally the case that 
 I grew bold enough to challenge the ministers at 
 this point before even the charts were produced. 
 
 (4) In that nothing else so manifests and pro- 
 motes the spirit of fellowship among the denomina- 
 tions and at the same time reveals to the world the 
 unity of the body of Jesus Christ. 
 
 The world refuses to be conquered by a divided 
 Church. And how could there be anything more 
 conducive to spiritual unity, anything more calcu- 
 lated to remove jealousy and suspicion and that 
 pugnacity that tries to strengthen its own position by 
 
114 EVANGELISM 
 
 decrying that of another, anything more likely to 
 magnify the one great purpose of the church and to 
 show us how far after all from vital are some of 
 the differences which separate us, than working to- 
 gether in earnest effort to bring the lost to Jesus 
 Christ? Ministers as a rule tabulate this as one of 
 the blessed results of united revival effort. 
 
 (5) In the impression made upon the entire 
 community. 
 
 When a single church revival is going on the town 
 hardly knows it, but when all the churches unite 
 and the entire Christian force is enlisted, the very 
 size of the undertaking and the increased press 
 publicity made possible only in this way, simply com- 
 pels the city to sit up and take notice. Matters of 
 public import can the more effectively be encouraged 
 or rebuked as the situation may warrant. Towns 
 and cities literally by the hundreds voted *' dry " 
 as a result of public sentiment aroused in this \vay. 
 The fountains of public life have been purified and 
 whole communities have been made over in social 
 and civil betterment. 
 
 Recently a resolution signed by practically every 
 officer in the city was read from the platform of 
 a meeting such as we are now discussing. After 
 speaking of the thousands of citizens who were for- 
 saking evil of their ways, it said among other things, 
 " Proud we have ever been of the community in 
 whose behalf we have been called to serve; and de- 
 sirous all of discharging the duties of our respective 
 
UNION EVANGELISTIC CAMPAIGN 115 
 
 offices as ably and straightforwardly as any of our 
 citizens could desire, we therefore conceive it to 
 be but just and right at this time to acknowledge 
 without reserve our sense of obligation to such a 
 work as this, which has not only enabled us to see 
 and realize most keenly, both as citizens and office- 
 holders, the duties which we owe to ourselves and 
 to the public, but at the same time has imbued that 
 same public with ardent zeal to perform their ap- 
 pointed tasks as militant and God-fearing men and 
 women/* 
 
 Nothing but a union evangelistic campaign could 
 produce a testimony like that. 
 
 These five things in themselves should be reason 
 enough for a careful study of this form of Christian 
 work, but there are two things especially that weigh 
 very heavily just at this point; two very special 
 reasons for its study. 
 
 The first is that this kind of work is a component 
 part of church history. And the minister who is to 
 be in any sense at all a student of the life of the 
 institution he professes himself called to serve, must 
 give attention to this particular and important aspect 
 of it. 
 
 But in the next place the majority of ministers 
 must and do deal with it in their own ministry. 
 There will come a time in the spiritual life of the 
 community in which you serve when the consensus 
 of opinion will be that nothing else will quite so 
 meet the needs of the community and serve the best 
 
116 EVANGELISM 
 
 interests of the church as a union campaign of evan- 
 gelistic work. 
 
 Nor is it altogether beyond the stretch of pos- 
 sibility that you yourself may under God be called 
 upon to lead in such an undertaking. It is all- 
 important therefore from either standpoint that you 
 should be as thoroughly acquainted as possible with 
 the different forms of this kind of work and the 
 best means of bringing it to a successful issue. 
 
 TYPES OF UNION EVANGELISTIC WORK 
 
 There are two different types of union evangelis- 
 tic work. First, there is the Simultaneous Cam- 
 paign. This may be either city-wide or county- 
 wide. 
 
 This in the case of a city consists in districting 
 the city and securing an evangelist, with such special 
 workers as may be needed, for each district. For 
 several reasons a too great multiplicity of districts 
 is not wise. If the districts, however, are large 
 enough to furnish a population of sufficient size, if 
 the series of meetings is sufficiently protracted and 
 the strongest possible men secured to lead in the 
 work, this plan is a most admirable one. In a 
 County Campaign the various cities and towns are 
 used as centres. Literature on these methods may 
 be secured. 
 
 The second type of this kind of work is the 
 Centralized City Campaign in which one central 
 meeting is held for the entire city in either some 
 
UNION EVANGELISTIC CAMPAIGN 117 
 
 large church building or public auditorium or tent 
 or specially constructed tabernacle. 
 
 THE PLACE OF MEETING 
 
 I have personally always felt that it would be a 
 splendid thing if all such work could be conducted 
 within the church buildings themselves. Not for 
 the reason that this would eliminate an item of ex- 
 pense, because there is absolutely no financial prob- 
 lem connected with a successful campaign of this 
 kind. The money comes easily. But a meeting in 
 the church centres the interest where it ought to be 
 and leaves a hallowed memory about the church, all 
 of which is not without its sentimental value for 
 other days. 
 
 But two objections always militate against the 
 church building for such work. 
 
 It is never large enough for a meeting of any 
 considerable size. 
 
 Say what you will, certain elements of a city's 
 population will not go so readily into a church as 
 into some other kind of a building. 
 
 A public auditorium built for other purposes is 
 the poorest of all places for evangelistic work. 
 
 Such buildings usually have a gallery which be- 
 comes a " catch all " for just the people you want to 
 reach and it is exceedingly difficult to get them to 
 " come down " in any sense of the word. 
 
 Such a building is usually seated with opera chairs 
 
118 EVANGELISM 
 
 which are very noisy, especially at the time of the 
 after-meeting when the principal part of the audi- 
 ence rises to go out, and at which time quiet is 
 especially needed. 
 
 Such buildings are very noisy by reason of having 
 a floor, and likewise for the same reason are hard 
 to be kept in cleanly condition. 
 
 Such buildings having been used for entertain- 
 ments, public lectures, etc., the people attending in 
 a revival service are apt to use their accustomed 
 freedom in passing out at any time they choose. 
 This is especially noticeable in the closing part of the 
 evening when the utmost quiet and attention ought 
 to reign. 
 
 Such a building usually has memories clustering 
 about it which are not always conducive to spiritual 
 results. 
 
 A tent is good but is always hard to speak in. It 
 is subject also to collapse from storm and lacks 
 the privacy which at times it is desirable to have in 
 connection with such work. 
 
 Perhaps all things considered the temporary 
 wooden tabernacle is best suited for a great meeting 
 of this character. 
 
 They are inexpensive. Such a building seating 
 3,000 people can be built, by renting the lumber or 
 buying at wholesale and reselling, for a sum ranging 
 from $800.00 to $1,500,00 depending altogether 
 upon local conditions. 
 
 They are commodius; the acoustic properties are 
 always good; they can be seated to every needed 
 
UNION EVANGELISTIC CAMPAIGN 119 
 
 advantage; they are quiet by reason of shaving floors 
 and are exceptionally cleanly for the same reason, 
 and can be built in a way best adapted for the needs 
 at hand. 
 
 The very building of such a structure, the sight 
 of it, the novelty of it, the size of it all furnishes an 
 advertising item of tremendous value. 
 
 In regard to the length of such a series of meet- 
 ings, this of course must be governed very largely 
 by the interest taken in them. As long as the 
 interest is well sustained the meetings should 
 continue. 
 
 It is never wise to plan for a campaign of less 
 than three weeks. It takes at least this long for the 
 church herself to be reasonably revived and for a 
 fair effort to bring the unsaved to a decision in 
 reasonably satisfactory numbers. 
 
 Nor is it any sign that it is best to stop even if 
 by such a time there are no apparent results of this 
 latter kind. Then too, one must remember the ac- 
 cumulative aspect of such work. Every one hun- 
 dred decisions makes it just that much easier for 
 the next one hundred to decide. Eight weeks will 
 often accomplish four times as much as would have 
 been accomplished in four weeks. 
 
 ORGANIZATION OF THE CAMPAIGN 
 
 In studying a campaign of evangelism of the kind 
 under consideration three phases of the work must 
 be given attention : Organization, Preparation and "^ 
 Operation; the first of which ought to be studied 
 
120 EVANGELISM 
 
 from the standpoint of its place, necessity and 
 method. 
 
 THE PLACE OF ORGANIZATION 
 
 Organization must not of course be emphasized 
 at the cost of dependence upon the Holy Spirit. To 
 work without Him and to work through Him — or 
 rather to have Him work through us — is all the 
 difference between trying to run a big machine by 
 hand and attaching it to the dynamics of a powerful 
 electric motor. The results of a revival effort that 
 is wholly man-made cannot prove otherwise than 
 pitifully disappointing. 
 
 Nevertheless to magnify the Holy Spirit's part 
 gives no warrant for minimizing man's part. I 
 grow a bit weary of hearing people say that all a 
 preacher needs is to depend upon the Holy Spirit, 
 to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and his church will 
 be filled with people. This is not true. There are 
 thousands of devoted and godly ministers all over 
 the land who are just as Spirit-filled as Whitefield 
 or Moody or Campbell Morgan ever were, and these 
 results do not attend their ministry. 
 
 The human equation dare not be eliminated and 
 even in the economy of grace results are not to be 
 expected without the employment of means. There 
 are those to whom such language as " How to Pro- 
 mote a Revival " is offensive, as if man were by 
 his own devices presuming to dictate and guide the 
 operations of the Spirit of God. But that is a 
 
UNION EVANGELISTIC CAMPAIGN 121 
 
 thoughtless and reckless judgment. If we work as 
 though the revival were entirely our own and pray 
 as if it were entirely God's there will be no doubt 
 as to what God will do. 
 
 THE NECESSITY OF ORGANIZATION 
 
 This is to be seen first, in the multifarious aspects 
 of the work. There are few undertakings of any 
 kind either in the religious or secular world in which 
 there are so many phases of the work demanding 
 attention and so many details connected with the 
 proper conduct of the same. And to attempt to 
 care for an undertaking of this kind without the 
 most systematic and thorough organization is like a 
 general saying to his soldiers, *' Come on, boys," and 
 going out to war in any old way. It is like a con- 
 tractor trying to throw up a modern skyscraper 
 without any plans in his head or a blue-print in his 
 hand. It is like a pugilist trying to strike a blow 
 with his fingers spread instead of organizing them 
 into a fist and doing the thing in the proper way. 
 It is like a hunter who pulls the trigger before he 
 knows in what township the bullet is likely to strike. 
 There are preachers who preach like that; like the 
 young tourist — 
 
 " Who saw a deer ; blazed at it hot ; 
 The hasty charge went wide. 
 But though he failed to guide the shot; 
 By Jove, he shot the _guide ! " 
 
122 EVANGELISM 
 
 The necessity of organization is seen next in the 
 need of enlisting the largest number possible in the 
 work. 
 
 Mr. Moody used to say that he never did any- 
 thing himself that he could get any body else to do. 
 Such a policy is good for the people and it*s good 
 for the work. 
 
 Some ladies went one day to their preacher and 
 asked him for something to do, and he replied that 
 he really didn't know of anything to be done. Now, 
 a real preacher would never be guilty of a thing 
 like that. 
 
 One secret of success in an evangelistic campaign 
 is getting as many Christian people at work as pos- 
 sible, and with all the possible and necessary divi- 
 sions of such an undertaking and the various details 
 connected with them calling for attention, the evan- 
 gelistic campaign that does not make use of all the 
 force at its command cannot hope for any large 
 measure of success. 
 
 THE METHOD OF ORGANIZATION 
 
 The best method, as I take it, is something as 
 follows : 
 
 Let each church in the movement be represented 
 by its pastor and one or two laymen on a General 
 Committee, which committee after it has appointed 
 the Executive Committee will be dissolved. 
 
 The Executive Committee should consist of a 
 
UNION EVANGELISTIC CAMPAIGN 123 
 
 number of pastors and laymen large enough to be 
 representative but not unwieldly. This committee, 
 which of course at all times will be in chief control, 
 will select the best possible representatives for the 
 following special committees: 
 
 The Finance Committee which will give attention 
 to securing the monies for the current expense of 
 the meeting and whose treasurer will pay only such 
 bills as are properly endorsed by the chairman of 
 the Executive Committee. The best method for 
 this committee to pursue is to have the expense 
 underwritten by guarantors in amounts ranging 
 from one dollar up and then liquidated by offerings 
 in the meetings. 
 
 The Publicity Committee which shall see that 
 ample reports appear in the daily newspapers, that 
 proper announcements of all meetings are made 
 through the same and other mediums and that the 
 general meeting as well as all special meetings are 
 brought to public attention in the most advantageous 
 ways possible. 
 
 Among other splendid means of such advertising 
 are: (a) a large streamer across the street; (b) a 
 painted sign before or on each church in the move- 
 ment; (c) "A" boards on the street corners; (d) 
 placards in store and residence windows; (e) printed 
 folders carried into the homes; (f) chalk-writing 
 on sidewalks; (g) stereopticon work on side-walks 
 and against buildings; (h) door knob hangers; (i) 
 signs in and on street cars; (j) tickets and dodgers 
 
124 EA^ANGELISM 
 
 in grocery, meat and laundry packages; (k) delivery 
 wagons and automobiles; (1) street wagon with 
 megaphone, phonograpli or stereopticon and appro- 
 priate printed signs. 
 
 The Devotional Committee which shall arrange 
 for places and leaders for all cottage prayer meetings 
 and other devotional services and also take in charge 
 the organizing of the Prayer Circle work. 
 
 The Music Committee, consisting usually of two 
 from each church, which shall give attention to or- 
 ganizing a large union choir of as many voices as 
 it is possible to secure. 
 
 The Usher Committee whose particular work it 
 will be to select all those who are to serve in the 
 capacity of ushers or personal workers. This com- 
 mittee should be composed of pastors. 
 
 The Building Committee which shall have a 
 proper place for the meeting selected and made 
 ready. This committee is needed only in case of 
 the Simultaneous Campaign or when an especially 
 constructed building is used for the meetings. 
 
 The Canvassing Committee which shall district 
 the city and secure workers to go as friendly visitors 
 into every home with a neatly printed invitation to 
 the meetings as an introduction, and secure on can- 
 vassing slips all necessary information concerning 
 the number in the family not Christians, their 
 church preference and other such information as 
 will be helpful to pastors in their visitation and 
 effort to enlist their interest in the meetings. 
 
UNION EVANGELISTIC CAMPAIGN 125 
 
 The Offering Committee to give whatever atten- 
 tion may be necessary to the remuneration of the 
 evangehst. • 
 
 There may be other committees from time to 
 time throughout the campaign to care for some of 
 its special features, but these are those necessary for 
 the major aspects of the work. These committees, 
 except perhaps the last one, should be appointed and 
 become operative, some of them many months, be- 
 fore the campaign opens. 
 
 In closing it will not be out of place to reiterate 
 and to emphasize what was said a while ago, viz., 
 that the importance of organization cannot be over- 
 estimated. As noted a moment ago there is a tend- 
 ency on the part of some to decry organization. 
 They tell us to depend upon the power of the Holy 
 Spirit. As if the Holy Spirit appreciates incoher- 
 ency and confusion more than He does unity and 
 co-operation ! 
 
 Organization is so important that wherever pos- 
 sible it is advisable to have an advance man on the 
 field to give his personal attention to it. It can 
 however, when personal supervision is impossible, 
 be attended to by correspondence. But when this 
 is done there are two pieces of counsel that are like 
 " apples of gold in pictures of silver." 
 
 The first is that the party in charge of such 
 correspondence should begin early and keep ever- 
 lastingly at it. 
 
 The second is that the pastors before calling an 
 
126 EVANGELISM 
 
 evangelist should satisfy themselves as to his ex- 
 perience and ability and then devote themselves with 
 unquestioning loyalty to his suggestions and plans 
 for the organization as v^ell as every other part 
 of the work. 
 
 But to attempt an evangelistic campaign without 
 organization is like bombarding the Dardanelles with 
 buckshot instead of 1 6-inch Krupp or a 42-centi- 
 metre howitzer. 
 
 Whether you serve in the pastorate or in the 
 special evangelistic field it is a work mighty and 
 honourable, but it is also a work so delicate and so 
 big with eternal issues that angels, I think, while 
 they would covet the privilege and the glory of 
 doing it, would tread the way with trembling steps. 
 And just as a general would not rush out on the 
 field of battle without a well-organized force at his 
 side, so in this holy undertaking beware, lest by 
 rushing in single-handed and alone, or in the " any 
 old way " sort of spirit, you lose much of the victory 
 which God always gives to the workman who 
 studies to show himself approved unto God, not 
 alone in rightly dividing the word of truth but in 
 calling into service the otherwise unused capacities 
 and powers of his people and rightly dividing the 
 labour of the organization among them. 
 
VI 
 PREPARATION AND OPERATION 
 
PREPARATION AND OPERATION 
 
 I. Oganization. 
 
 1. The Place of it. 
 
 Must not be emphasized at cost of dependence 
 upon the Holy Spirit. 
 
 2. The Necessity of it. Seen in, 
 
 (a) The multifarious aspects of the work. 
 
 (b) The need of enlisting the largest number 
 
 possible in the work. 
 
 3. The method of it. 
 
 (a) The Executive Committee. 
 
 (b) The various Departmental Committees. 
 
 (c) Their duties defined. 
 
 II. Preparation. — Must invest to get returns. 
 
 1. Prayer. 
 
 (a) The value of Prayer 
 
 (b) How modern prayer theories have af- 
 
 fected us. 
 
 (c) Prayer and the great spiritual awaken- 
 
 ings of the past. 
 
 (d) The Prayer Circle. 
 
 (e) The Cottage Prayer meetings. 
 
 2. Preparatory Preaching. 
 
 (a) Its particular character. 
 
 3. Personal Work. 
 
 (a) Workers' Training Class. 
 
 (b) Systematic effort at soul winning with 
 
 reports, counsel and prayer. 
 
 4. Publicity. 
 
 (a) lis Legitimacy. 
 
 (b) Its Importance. 
 
 (c) I*^s various Phases, 
 
VI 
 
 PREPARATION AND OPERATION 
 
 THE man who does not invest must not expect 
 any return. If we would have God stir the 
 community with mighty revival power it is 
 both worth our while and altogether necessary to 
 stop and ask ourselves what we are willing to do to 
 bring it about. There is no use expecting great 
 things from God without attempting great things 
 for God. 
 
 The reason Germany, when the recent great war 
 first started, made the world stand aghast at her 
 mighty military achievements is because the declara- 
 tion of war found her in a state of practically per- 
 fect preparedness. And you might as well expect 
 to make a street car go uphill by blowing your 
 breath against the near window pane as to expect 
 to capture a community for Christ without training 
 your soldiers and studying the method of attack and 
 making every possible preparation for the achieve- 
 ment of a speedy and splendid victory. 
 
 And so the value of the preparatory work of an 
 evangelistic campaign cannot be overestimated. The 
 pity of it is that it is usually underestimated. In 
 the very thought of such a work we need to hear a 
 
 129 
 
130 EVANGELISM 
 
 voice ringing down from the skies, " Prepare ye the 
 way of the Lord." 
 
 In the proper preparation for a campaign of this 
 kind four elements always enter, Prayer, Preaching, 
 Personal Work and Publicity. 
 
 PRAYER 
 
 The first essential element for such a campaign 
 is Prayer. 
 
 The greatest power in the world is prayer power. 
 What has it not done! It has shut the mouth of 
 lions and opened the gates of prison. But some one 
 has said, " It is the forgotten secret of the church 
 today." The reason a church sometimes has an 
 unsuccessful pastor is because the pastor has a 
 prayerless church. 
 
 What might not God do for His people if they 
 really believed in prayer and practised it? I say, 
 " really believed " in it. There was a time when 
 some people believed in it mightily and wrought 
 wonders by its power. Times like those of John 
 Knox whose prayers Mary, Queen of Scots> used to 
 say she feared more then all the armies of Europe. 
 Times like those of Luther who spent a night in a 
 hotel and the spy hired to watch him told his em- 
 ployer the next morning that Luther had prayed 
 all night and that he might as well abandon the hope 
 of conquering a man who prayed like that. Times 
 like those of Baxter who stained his study walls 
 with his praying breath; like those of Whitefield 
 
PREPARATION AND OPERATION 131 
 
 who said, " O, Lord, give me souls or take my 
 soul " ; like those of President Backus who died on 
 his knees praying for the conversion of his fellow- 
 men. 
 
 And these days too are not altogether without 
 their giants — giants of prayer who know how to 
 tarry at the footstool of grace until the assurance 
 comes that the thing shall be done. 
 
 But the prayer-life in general is far from vigor- 
 ous today, and it would not seem to take an exceed- 
 ingly critical analysis to ascertain that our modern 
 prayer theories have not been altogether without 
 effect upon faith in this regard. It is so much easier 
 to doubt in the presence of mystery than to believe. 
 For the most of us it is perhaps for this reason that 
 we have an emasculated rather than an impervious 
 faith in this respect. 
 
 It is easier, especially for the unthinking indi- 
 vidual, to believe in prayer as a spiritual gymnastic 
 affecting no one but the performer himself than to 
 believe in it as anything that could possibly in- 
 fluence the will of God. And with our pulpits all 
 too well supplied with the disciples of doubt, hiding 
 behind that euphonious but sometimes treacherous 
 thing called, *' Modern Scholarship," enlisted as they 
 perhaps have never been before in an ubiquitous and 
 insinuating campaign in the name of " scientific im- 
 possibility," it is not strange that the prayer-life 
 of the church has not been at times untouched 
 by it. 
 
132 EVANGELISM 
 
 But the careful thinker and the devout beHever 
 is not disturbed. He knows the voice of science, 
 and he knows the Word of God. Perhaps some 
 exponents of the impossibiHty of any direct com- 
 munication with God could learn something from 
 the experience of George John Romanes, that great 
 scientist of tremendous intellect, who hadn't prayed 
 for twenty-five years because his mind wouldn't let 
 him, but who fought his way at last to the reason- 
 ableness of prayer by a process of pure reason. 
 
 At any rate I like a faith like that of the great 
 scholar and statesman of Holland, Abraham 
 Kuyper. Listen to him. He says: 
 
 " If then, after all legitimate examination and 
 explanation, there still remain in the text seeming 
 inexplicables, cnices inter pre turn, before which, not 
 I — 'for that implies nothing, but all confessing theo- 
 logians stand, even then I do not hesitate a moment 
 to say in the hearing of the whole scientific world, 
 that facing the choice between leaving this question 
 unanswered, and with the simple-minded people of 
 God confessing my ignorance, or with the learned 
 ethical brethren from scientific logicalness rejecting 
 the infallibility of Scripture, I firmly choose the first 
 and with my whole soul shrink back from the 
 last." 
 
 It was a faith like that that underlay the powerful 
 and prevailing prayer that has made possible the 
 history of the world's great revivals. 
 
 Reference has already been made to the revival 
 
PREPARATION AND OPERATION 183 
 
 in Shotts, Scotland, in 1630. People had come from 
 every quarter and several days had been spent in 
 prayer and the evening before young Livingston 
 preached that memorable sermon, instead of retiring 
 for rest they broke up into praying bands and spent 
 the whole night in agonizing supplication. Living- 
 ston too had prayed all the night through and al- 
 though he so quailed at the thought of himself, a 
 youth, addressing so many aged and experienced 
 saints that he v^ould fain have run away, he en- 
 gaged in his holy task and the world knows the 
 result, how, while he preached, more than five hun- 
 dred cried out, " What must I do to be saved ? " and 
 found peace in believing on Jesus Chirst. 
 
 It was a masterpiece that Edwards preached at 
 Enfield, yet it was not the character of the sermon 
 but the fact that it was prefaced by a night of 
 agonizing travail on the part of God's people that 
 has made the occasion the memorable one that 
 it is. They had become alarmed lest while God was 
 blessing other places He should in anger pass them 
 by, and so they met and prayed all the night through 
 agonizing in their deep concern for the unsaved of 
 their community. 
 
 The secret of the wonderful revivals that oc- 
 curred so frequently in Mt. Holyoke Seminary was 
 never understood until it became known that Mary 
 Lyon, who founded the institution on faith, had 
 preceded every one of them by a prolonged season 
 of agonizing, persevering intercessory prayer. 
 
134. EVANGELISM 
 
 The great revival of 1857 originated in prayer 
 and the principal feature of its whole glorious prog- 
 ress was prayer. They met, not to hear the burning 
 appeal of a sermon, but to pray and to unitedly 
 intercede with God that He would visit the people 
 with His saving grace. 
 
 This is the history of revival. It originates and 
 progresses in prayer. The Church is the bride of 
 Christ and the mother of God's children and it 
 would seem that no soul is ever converted except 
 as some one has gone through deep travail for it. 
 And where in any community God's people in large 
 numbers simultaneously plead with God in deep con- 
 cern for the lost there you will hear that hundreds 
 have turned to Christ. 
 
 You might as well expect rain without clouds as 
 to expect a revival without prayer. And if prayer 
 is such a power and at the same time a privilege 
 vouchsafed to us for the bringing of the world to 
 Christ what an awful responsibilit}; is ours and how 
 awful our guilt if we neglect it. 
 
 On of the best means of stimulating and pro- 
 moting prayer in connection with an evangelistic 
 campaign is the Cottage Prayer-Meeting; a meet- 
 ing held in some home to which the neighbours 
 are invited and where from thirty minutes to an 
 hour of time is spent in earnest prayer for the 
 neighbourhood and for the meetings. 
 
 There is no fast rule as to the number of such 
 meetings. At least one for every 500 to 1,000 of 
 
PREPARATION AND OPERATION 135 
 
 the population according to its character is perhaps 
 a safe guide in view of the limited number who are 
 able or disposed to attend. 
 
 The best time for the holding of these meetings 
 is in the forenoon about 9:30 or 10:00 o'clock. 
 
 The length of the meeting, 30, 40 or 60 minutes, 
 must be governed by the number of other meetings 
 held throughout the day, but they should always 
 begin and end promptly. 
 
 They should be meetings for prayer, and no one, 
 not even the leader, should be allowed to make any 
 extended talk whatever. 
 
 This work should be under the immediate charge 
 of the Devotional Committee 
 
 'Another capital plan is the Prayer Circle 
 
 Prayer Circle cards should be distributed at least 
 three months before the campaign opens and each 
 church should make the most earnest effort through 
 its various organizations or departments to enlist as 
 many of its members in the Prayer Circle as pos- 
 sible. Each member of such a circle will choose 
 and make record on their Prayer Circle card of 
 those friends and individuals for whom they are 
 especially anxious and whom they shall make the 
 chief object of prayer and endeavour that they may 
 be brought to Christ before or during the meetings. 
 Supplies of such Prayer Circle cards may be secured. 
 It is a splendid thing for this Prayer Circle to meet 
 
136 EVANGELISM 
 
 for twenty minutes after the regular week night 
 prayer service. This way of praying definitely and 
 expecting definite results God always honours. 
 
 PREACHING 
 
 The second element in preparing for a cam- 
 paign of this kind is Preparatory preaching. 
 
 Perhaps with the pulpit more than any other one 
 place the responsibility lies for getting properly 
 ready for an approaching series of evangelistic meet- 
 ings. A minister's people always know just how 
 much sympathy he has for a work of this kind. 
 He does not need to criticise, but simply to leave it 
 severely alone. But it is a sad thing to see a minister 
 at such a time, when the whole community is pre- 
 paring itself for its own spiritual quickening and 
 for the winning of multitudes to Christ, utterly in- 
 different to the tremendous issues of what is about 
 to be undertaken. 
 
 The character of this preparatory preaching may 
 be readily surmised. 
 
 First, there are prejudices to he removed. No_ 
 form of Christian work has received such unjust 
 and uncalled-for strictures as this. Consequently 
 there are those in the church who are grossly preju- 
 diced against the very word, " evangelist,'* and 
 many who are ignorant of the fact that there is any 
 acceptable form of this particular kind of Christian 
 work; and as a rule the pastor has a r^ither large 
 
PREPARATION AND OPERATION 137 
 
 job on his hands in making such Christian people 
 not only tolerant but enthusiastic about it. 
 
 Second, there is the heart searching so necessary 
 in~prep'afati'onfdr''a time like that. The heart must 
 be right. People ask why it is that the world does 
 not come and join the Church. Perhaps it is be- 
 cause the Church has gone and joined the world just 
 a little bit too much. Let the Church become right ; 
 let her become pure and clean and stay so and the 
 world I verily beheve will come and batter down 
 her doors to get on the inside. 
 
 Third, there is the concern for the unsaved. 
 Without this there will be no agonizing prayer and 
 no heart-earnest effort to help the unsaved on their 
 way to God. And in all this period of preparation 
 the wise and interested pastor will know how to 
 preach. He will know what texts to choose and 
 what truths to emphasize. 
 
 To a certain extent this kind of preaching ought 
 to prevail throughout the entire year, but at least 
 three months should be devoted to it just prior to 
 an evangelistic campaign. 
 
 PERSONAL WORK 
 
 The third element in preparing for a cam- 
 paign of this kind is Personal work. 
 
 We read, " The Spirit and the Bride say come,'* 
 but we also read in the same place, " And let him 
 that heareth say come." **One of the two who 
 
138 EVANGELISM 
 
 heard John speak was Andrew. He first findeth 
 Tiis own brofher^ Simon and he brought him to 
 Jesus.'* The day following Jesus said unto Philip, 
 " Follow me." Philip found Nathaniel and said 
 unto him, " We have found Jesus of Naz^eth." 
 And Nathaniel said, " Can any good thing come out 
 of Nazareth?'* Philip said, "Come and see." 
 
 I know of one man at the head of a great com- 
 mercial enterprise who over the table at luncheon 
 in the hotel led another man of equal standing in 
 the commercial world to Christ, and this latter man 
 when I last conversed with him had been used of 
 God to bring 117 others to a saving knowledge of 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 Any one who knows the history of all great re- 
 vival movements, mediaeval and especially modern, 
 knows that the most effective way of winning people 
 for Christ is by personal work. 
 
 The pastor of one of the largest churches in this 
 land, where 2,000 new members were received in 
 eight years and thousands more converted in the 
 church joined other churches, said the fact that 
 ^his church was in a continuous state of revival was 
 due to two things very largely : First, the spirit of 
 prayer that was constantly fostered throughout the 
 church; Second, a trained body of personal workers 
 who were constantly at the work of leading others 
 to Christ in the church and out of it. 
 
 Notice, he said, " Trained workers." The ig- 
 norance of God's people about God's Word is la- 
 
PREPARATION AND OPERATION 139 
 
 mentable. We need trained workers and not ad- 
 venturers who confuse and irritate and repel. 
 
 To this end a Personal Workers' Training Class 
 should be organized either in every church or one 
 for a number of churches combined. The pastor 
 or some other competent person should be the leader 
 of such a class and a regular course of study 
 should be taken up concerning the conditions of suc- 
 cessful personal work. 
 
 Both the theoretical and the practical side of this 
 work should have the most careful attention given 
 to them. 
 
 By the theoretical side is meant the method, i.e. 
 how to select those with whom the personal worker 
 shall deal, how to approach them and the proper 
 Scriptures to use. By the practical side is meant 
 the study of the individual case. Systematic effort 
 at soul-winning should be insisted upon and part 
 of the time of each class should be devoted to re- 
 ports of such effort, to counsel and to prayer. No 
 one needs to be told how much a preparation of 
 this kind, if it is to any degree extensive and thor- 
 ough, will mean toward the successful issue of an 
 evangelistic campaign. 
 
 PUBLICITY 
 
 The fourth element in preparing for a cam- 
 paign of this kind is Publicity. 
 
 In regard to the question of the legitimacy of 
 advertising I do not believe there is any call for 
 
140 EVANGELISM 
 
 discussion. You say, " Preach the Gospel and the 
 people will come." That is not true. Thousands of 
 devoted, holy men of God are doing that and the 
 bigger part of the pews are empty. There is no 
 place where people ought so much to crowd as in 
 the church and the preacher who scorns any proper 
 method of getting them there is most assuredly not 
 making full proof of his ministry. 
 
 The importance of legitimate advertising is far 
 from being appreciated as it ought. Most minis- 
 ters do not know what advertising is really for. Is 
 it to let people know there is a meeting going on? 
 Not at all. Why does the National Biscuit Com- 
 pany spend $600,000 a year for advertising? To 
 let people know it is in the biscuit business? 
 Not at all. It is to convince people that what they 
 really need is a biscuit and as a consequence of their 
 pohcy about 100,000,000 people have come to 
 the conclusion that they need a biscuit and the 
 National Biscuit Company has grown rich. Do 
 you see? 
 
 The devil knows how to advertise. He comes 
 along with something the natural man already wants 
 but he paints the town red to let them know he is 
 coming. The evangelist comes along with some- 
 thing the natural man doesn't want, and yet thou- 
 sands of ministers think that if you put it in the 
 newspaper and announce it from the pulpit it is 
 sufficiently well aired. 
 
 So important has this phase of the Christian min- 
 
PREPARATION AND OPERATION 141 
 
 istry been deemed that an organization has been 
 formed, with Christian Riesner, that prince of 
 church advertisers, at its head, the sole purpose of 
 which is to study and promote the best methods of 
 getting the ears of the multitudes for the message 
 of the Gospel. Christian Reisner and Charles Stelzle 
 have written each a book full of valuable informa- 
 tion along this line and it would pay every minister 
 and evangelist to read the same most carefully. 
 
 As to the various phases of publicity we must 
 here content ourselves with the mere mention of 
 some of the more important and telling methods. 
 
 The newspaper is perhaps the first and foremost 
 agency to be employed. Among others mention 
 should be made of large posters in two colours put 
 up in conspicuous places; attractive banners 
 stretched high up across the principal streets; 
 streamers on street cars, jitney buses, delivery 
 wagons and other vehicles; A-shaped boards on the 
 principal street corners; chalk-writing on the side- 
 walk; window cards in the stores and homes of the 
 city; hangers for the door knobs; tickets and an- 
 nouncements delivered with the groceries and laun- 
 dry packages. 
 
 These are only a few of the countless methods 
 of getting the work before the mind of the public 
 and as one of the foremost agencies in preparing 
 for the same its value cannot be overstated. 
 
142 EVANGELISM 
 
 OPERATION OF AN EVANGELISTIC CAMPAIGN 
 
 We now come to the Campaign itself to study 
 for a few moments its progress and method of 
 operation. 
 
 The problem which is always uppermost In every 
 evangelist's mind is the one of reaching the various 
 classes of people in any community where he may 
 be labouring. 
 
 First. The church people themselves must be 
 reached. Some of them alas, are unreachable. 
 But among the special features for interesting 
 church people in general the following may be 
 mentioned. 
 
 The Cottage Prayer-meetings. During the cam- 
 paign these are usually held four mornings of each 
 week usually for forty minutes and at nine thirty 
 o'clock in the morning. 
 
 The Forward Step Card, (See opposite page.) 
 
 Meetings for ministers. These are usually held 
 on Monday forenoons and the ministers of the sur- 
 rounding neighbourhood are invited. A meeting, at 
 least one, for ministers' wives is also a splendid 
 thing. 
 
 Meetings for church officers. The best time to 
 hold such meetings is on Sunday evening for thirty 
 minutes before the public service begins. (The in- 
 terested officers should see that those officers of their 
 own church who are not so interested are invited 
 
PREPARATION AND OPERATION 143 
 
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144! EVANGELISM 
 
 and brought to this meeting.) This oftentimes de- 
 velops into a meeting of great power. 
 
 The Sunrise Prayer meeting. This is held usually 
 on Sunday morning and proves a great blessing to 
 many. 
 
 Church Day, This is a day somewhere mid-week 
 when each minister meets his own people and is 
 sometimes followed by a union prayer meeting. The 
 afternoon of this day is usually given up to a 
 special campaign of personal work. 
 
 Church Night. This is a night when the various 
 churches gather in different parts of the building 
 and consider each one how to interest their own un- 
 interested members and how to reach the unsaved 
 who, if reached, would naturally affiliate with their 
 particular church. 
 
 Second. The business people must be reached. 
 
 A special Merchants' Day, when perhaps the 
 stores are asked to close for a couple of hours in 
 the afternoon for a public service, is a feature of 
 much worth. 
 
 Noon-day meetings in some opera house or cen- 
 tral building of some kind have proven effective. 
 
 A Business Men's lunch as well as a Business 
 Women's lunch has great value. 
 
 A combination Social-Bible and Personal Work 
 class for the business women is worth con- 
 sidering. 
 
 A Noon Christian business and professional men's 
 
PREPARATION AND OPERATION 145 
 
 meeting for confidential conference on personal 
 work for the unsaved men of these classes is most 
 effective. 
 
 Third. The labouring classes must be reached. 
 
 For this purpose meetings in the factories should 
 be held every day at the noon hour. So important 
 is this part of the work that it is often advisable 
 to have in the evangelistic party a man especially 
 adapted for it. 
 
 The employees and the employers as well of each 
 factory should be encouraged to attend the meeting 
 in a delegation on any night most convenient for 
 them. 
 
 A' special factory night for all factories should be 
 held during the meetings when seats will be reserved 
 for employees of this kind. On one night in Law- 
 rence, Mass., more than 5,000 factory employees at- 
 tended the meeting in this way. 
 
 Fourth. The young people must be reached. 
 
 Among other ways the following will prove 
 helpful. 
 
 A Sunday afternoon meeting with an age limit, 
 admission into which should be made by ticket. 
 
 A meeting usually held some week-day afternoon 
 immediately at tha close of school for those in 
 their teens. 
 
 A night when seats are reserved in the public serv- 
 ice for high-school students when the building is 
 decorated with their colours. 
 
 Luncheon^ for high-school students. 
 
146 EVANGELISM 
 
 DECISION CARD 
 
 I am not now a member of the Church. 
 I accept Christ as my personal Saviour/and 
 intend henceforth to lead a Christian life. 
 
 Name | | 
 
 (If under 12 years, place X in square) 
 
 Street 
 
 Church Preferred 
 
 I am a member of the Church elsewhere. 
 It is my purpose to unite with the Church 
 in this city. 
 
 Name 
 
 Street 
 
 Church Preferred 
 
 I am a member of the Church, but wish 
 to reconsecrate myself to a higher Chris- 
 tian experience, and to make a new start 
 in the Christian life. 
 
 Name 
 
 Street 
 
 Church Preferred 
 
PREPARATION AND OPERATION 147 
 
 Bible and Personal workers' bands organized 
 both for high-school boys and for high-school girls. 
 These classes often become permanent features of 
 the religious life of the school. All these things 
 serve in a capital way to interest and reach the 
 young people of the community for Christ. 
 
 Fifth. The children must be reached. It 
 is advisable when possible to have a special workers 
 for boys and girls. One of the strongest evangelists 
 of this country, Rev. E. P. Hammond, devoted his 
 ministry almost entirely to winning for the Christ 
 the little folks and there are thousands who have 
 risen up in after years to say they owed their con- 
 version to his efforts. 
 
 Among the features to interest them the follow- 
 ing may be mentioned: 
 
 A children's meeting held each afternoon at the 
 close of the schools. 
 
 A Sunday School rally in the tabernacle or 
 auditorium where the meetings are in progress. 
 This ought to be held on some Sunday at the 
 regular time for Sunday School and ought 
 to take the place of the Sunday School for that 
 day. 
 
 Decision Day in the Sunday School. Special pro- 
 grams for this service may be secured. 
 
 A boys* and girls' parade on Saturday afternoon 
 ending with a meeting in the auditorium. 
 
 A Sunbeam Chorus is often organized with good 
 effect. This interests both the children and their 
 
148 EVANGELISM 
 
 parents. This chorus usually sings at the large 
 meeting either on Monday or Saturday nights. 
 
 Sixth. The Rural communities must be 
 reached. Perhaps there is no better way for 
 doing this than by the Automobile Preaching Trip. 
 Sometimes the preaching is omitted and announce- 
 ments merely are made concerning the meetings. I 
 quote from a friend who says, " We secure as many 
 autos as possible for a given day, preferably late in 
 the first week of the meetings. These are decorated 
 with appropriate banners, the choir and a brass 
 band are loaded in and we begin a tour of the 
 town first; then making a circle through the country 
 take in as many neighbouring towns as possible be- 
 fore dark, stopping long enough for a selection from 
 the band, a song by the choir and a short announce- 
 ment of the meeting by one of the pastors. In 
 Rochester, Ind., recently, a town of less than 4,000 
 people, we started out with 41 cars and 253 people, 
 making a ninety-mile circle and visiting ten villages. 
 Two of these sent in a delegation which filled 75 
 cars a few nights later. 
 
 Some day to be known as '' Farmers' Day " or 
 "Neighbourhood Day" or, possibly better still, 
 " Community Day " can be set aside to great ad- 
 vantage for reaching the outlying people. Perhaps 
 no better day than Saturday could be chosen for 
 this occasion and a special program should be pre- 
 pared which will last throughout the entire day. 
 Villages and towns should be encouraged to come 
 
PREPARATION AND OPERATION 149 
 
 into the city where the meetings are being held, in 
 delegations, and seats should be reserved for them 
 so that each delegation may sit together. 
 
 This leads me to say that one of the very best 
 ways of reaching the community in general, as well 
 as special classes of people, is by the delegation 
 method. Organizations of every kind and all the 
 various bodies of men and women should be invited 
 and urged to attend the meeting in delegation as 
 the special guests of the evening. This will bring 
 many hundreds who might otherwise never attend. 
 If the meeting proves interesting and helpful, and 
 it will if properly conducted, many of those induced 
 to come in the delegations will come back and bring 
 their families with them and so may be reached for 
 Christ. There should be committees appointed 
 whose special business it is to arrange for these 
 delegations both from outside the community and 
 from within it. 
 
 There are of course other ways of reaching the 
 people. Time fails us to make more than mention 
 of Mothers' Day, Temperance Day, Forgiveness 
 Day, Day of Prayer and Fasting, Good-cheer Night, 
 Patriotic Night, Converts' Night, Old Folks' Tea, 
 Meetings for Men Only and also for Women Only' 
 Street Preaching, and other special features, to all 
 of which the wise and thoughtful evangelist will 
 give careful attention if he is bent on capturing the 
 community for Christ. 
 
 This after all is the motive of the whole propa- 
 
160 EVANGELISM 
 
 ganda, and it is in just this that the evangelistic cam- 
 paign contrasts sharply with the public lecture, the 
 Chautauqua and the concert course. Entertainment 
 may figure largely as the major reason for these 
 others, but no matter how large the crowds nor how 
 much of entertainment may have been received in 
 an evangelistic campaign, if this motive, which so 
 specially belongs to it, is not most jealously guarded 
 throughout every proceeding it must acknowledge 
 itself of all failures to be the most disappointing and 
 dismal. 
 
VII 
 INDIVIDUAL EVANGELISM 
 
INDIVIDUAL EVANGELISM 
 
 I. Its Place and Value. 
 
 1. Its importance cannot be overestimated. 
 
 2. Possibility connected with it. 
 
 3. Ought to be given scientific, persistent and prayer- 
 
 ful study. 
 
 4. The revival effort superficial and inadequate with- 
 
 out it. 
 
 II. Personal Prerequisites. 
 
 I. A Christian experience and surrender. 2. A prayer- 
 ful spirit. 3. The right motive. 4. Courage. 
 5. Tact. 6. Perseverance. 
 
 III. Notable examples of soul-winners. 
 
 1. Jesus. Andrew. 
 
 2. Uncle John Vassar, Trumbull, Moody, et al. 
 
 IV. Enlistment. 
 
 1. Pastor must enlist. Not only preach it but prac- 
 
 tise it. 
 
 2. Entire membership to be enlisted. Not easy to do. 
 
 (a) Eyes must be opened to see real definition 
 
 and significance of the Christian life. 
 
 (b) Must be made to see the nobility of service. 
 
 (c) Must be made to see responsibility for 
 
 others. 
 
 (d) Must be made to see facility of work. 
 
 V. Equipment — Training. 
 
 1. Why needed. 
 
 (a) Work delicate and far-reaching. 
 
 2. The Workers' Training Class. 
 
 (a) Textbooks. 
 
 (b) How to select your man. 
 
 (c) How to approach your man. 
 
 VI. Organized action. 
 
 1. General failure on the part of the ministry to 
 
 outline definite program of work for members. 
 
 2. Methods. 
 
 (a) The Invitation Method. 
 
 (b) The Group Method. 
 
 (c) The Two-by-Two Method. 
 
 (d) Simultaneous Campaign of Individual 
 
 Evangelism. 
 
VII 
 INDIVIDUAL EVANGELISM 
 
 HENRY WARD BEECHER said, "The 
 longer I live the more confidence I have in 
 those sermons preached where one man is 
 the minister and one man is the congregation." 
 
 This, by the way, is the kind of ministry to 
 which every follower of Christ is called, a min- 
 istry in which he can serve with a surprising ac- 
 ceptability and a ministry in which he must serve 
 if the Church is ever to fulfil the mission which be- 
 came hers when Christ first set her in the world 
 and told her to go and make disciples of all the 
 people in it. 
 
 Not every Christian can be a great preacher and 
 preach to a great congregation, but every Chris- 
 tian can become a personal worker, an individual 
 evangelist, and perform a mighty ministry for 
 Christ in a personal way if indeed his heart is 
 set on so doing. 
 
 It is said of Dr. Lyman Beecher that when he 
 was carrying on his great work in Boston and con- 
 verts in large numbers were coming into the church 
 he was asked by a brother in the ministry how 
 it was that he was able to do so much. He replied, 
 
 153 
 
154 EVANGELISM 
 
 "Oh, it is not I that do it; it is my church. I 
 preach on the Sabbath as hard as I can and then 
 I have four hundred church members who go out 
 and preach every day in the week. They are preach- 
 ing all the time, and that is the way with God's 
 blessing that we get along so well." 
 
 If there is any one need greater than another in 
 the Church today it is a practice of just that kind — 
 the practice of the individual winning others to 
 Jesus Christ. And it is just in the lack of this 
 that we discover the self-evident secret of our past 
 failure to extend the Kingdom of Christ numeri- 
 cally in any degree commensurate with what we 
 must acknowledge God could have reasonably ex- 
 pected of us. 
 
 Public evangelism operates by spurts. This is 
 the genius of its method. But while we need it 
 none the less, it is the spirit of evangelism rather 
 than the spurt we need the more. Splendid as the 
 results of public evangelism have been, efficient as 
 such a method of ministry is, if is utterly impotent 
 to accomplish the thought in God's mind when He 
 ordained evangelism as the means of bringing the 
 world to its knees in the presence of His Son. 
 
 Normal evangelism is individual. It was so in 
 the New Testament day. It is so today. The 
 numerical status of the church in our time fur- 
 nishes no conclusive evidence that past methods will 
 ever bring the world to Christ. The fact is, we are 
 not discipling this land at a rate sufficiently rapid 
 
INDIVIDUAL EVANGELISM 155 
 
 to guarantee a Christian nation to future genera- 
 tions. 
 
 We do not forget that there is a qualitative as- 
 pect to the work the church is expected to do, but 
 we must not overlook the fact that if the church 
 shall ever cease to grow numerically, it will give 
 evidence, by that very fact, of having lost the one 
 thing which gives quality to its life and without 
 which its spirit will shrivel and die. Some one 
 has said that if a church is existing only by letters 
 of transfer, it is time the doors were closed and 
 ** Ichabod, the glory of the Lord has departed," 
 was inscribed across them. " Let the Church cease 
 to evangelize and it will be smitten with death." 
 This is not an hallucination of short-sighted pessi- 
 mism. It is a calm deduction from facts and fig- 
 ures in the candid recognition of which lies one 
 of the greatest hopes of amelioration. 
 
 Let us fairly face the situation and see if the 
 smug self-satisfaction which has been our curse until 
 now will not give way to a new, mighty and endur- 
 ing Pentecost which will give to Jesus Christ His 
 rightful place in the life of this nation and of the 
 world. 
 
 What shall we say when the 25,000,000 of Pro- 
 testant church members made a net loss in 1919 of 
 more than 100,000 souls while our population in- 
 creased more than a milHon? What shall we say 
 when all our Protestant churches are practically at 
 a standstill, even though th^ WPrid tragedjr may in 
 
166 EVANGELISM 
 
 large measure account for this abnormal condition. 
 This or very little better has been the story for the 
 past two decades and more. It is this that caused 
 me to say that our past methods seem sadly insuffi- 
 cient. But it does look as though the accomplish- 
 ment of the desired result would be a compara- 
 tively easy thing if every adherent to the faith of 
 Christ would feel a sense of responsibility for bring- 
 ing into the Kingdom the one who walks by his 
 side along the way. 
 
 Take a church of 250 members and let us sup- 
 pose that 200 of them do nothing, but that the 
 other fifty make each one effort a week to bring 
 some one to Christ, and let us suppose that nine 
 out of every ten efforts thus made completely fail, do 
 you know that in one year there would be added 
 to that church 260 souls and her membership more 
 than doubled. 
 
 Do you know that if the Methodist ministers 
 of this land would bring each one, just one, soul 
 per month to Christ 460,000 souls would be added 
 to the church of Christ in just one year. If the 
 Baptist ministers would do the same thing there 
 would be 426,000 more, and if all the Protestant 
 ministers performed this small service for Christ 
 the membership of our churches would have been 
 increased in a single year to the magnificent number 
 of 1,792,644 souls. 
 
 Do you know that we could save every individual 
 in this land for Christ in two years' time if each 
 
INDIVIDUAL EVANGELISM 167 
 
 Christian would win but one a year? Oh, what a 
 mighty change would take place and what a glor- 
 ious age it would be if every Christian would only 
 " do his bit " and show to the world that he really 
 believes in the religion which he professes to have 
 saved his own soul. We would find the tides rising 
 higher and higher until the church would become 
 *' bright as the sun, fair as the moon and as terrible 
 as an army with banners," and we would cease to 
 wonder why the Kingdom of our Lord and His 
 Christ did not hasten on to its glorious consumma- 
 tion. 
 
 May the Spirit of the mighty God stir us to a 
 sense of our responsibility, and touching us anew 
 with the enduement of His own mighty power, send 
 us out to the task which the church must either 
 accomplish or leave to God's unfailing sufficiency 
 to compass in some other way. 
 
 The importance of individual evangelism, there- 
 fore, cannot be too strongly stressed, and it ought 
 to be given prayerful, persistent and scientific study. 
 Any revival effort will prove to be superficial and 
 inadequate without it. Says Dr. Lyon, " I have 
 heard most powerful sermons that seemed abso- 
 lutely barren of results, but never have I seen earn- 
 est, faithful endeavour on the part of consecrated 
 personal workers night after night, no matter how 
 ordinary the sermon, but that most gratifying re- 
 sults followed." And what has been his experience 
 has been the experience of every evangelist whose 
 
158 EVANGELISM 
 
 work has been at all successful. And the same 
 thing so far as soul- winning is concerned is true 
 of the pastor and his church. 
 
 PERSONAL PREREQUISITES 
 
 Now if all this is true it will pay us to study- 
 something of the personal prerequisites of the suc- 
 cessful soul-winner, the Christian who may be called 
 with a very certain propriety the individual evan- 
 gelist.. 
 
 The first of the personal prerequisites for suc- 
 cessful soul-winning is a Christian experience and 
 a personal surrender to Jesv^s Christ. A man to do 
 this kind of work must, of course, be right in his 
 own heart. The life must be radiant with victory. 
 
 One reason why Charles Dickens never became 
 a spiritualist was because he once attended a seance 
 and asked the medium to call up his friend, Alex- 
 ander Murray, a man who was a great scholar and 
 highly intelligent. When the supposed spirit came 
 Dickens asked him if he were really Alexander 
 Murray and the spirit replied, " I are." " You are 
 a liar," said Dickens, " because if you were Alex- 
 ander Murray you would use good grammar." 
 People have no use for a miserable old sham. 
 
 If what a man is speaks so loud people can't hear 
 what he says, then he had better not touch this 
 work at all with his unholy hands. You might as 
 well expect hell to rise up and sing the doxology 
 
INDIVIDUAL EVANGELISM 159 
 
 as to expect people to have any confidence in you 
 if they know you are inconsistent in your own 
 life. Anyhow, the Holy Spirit refuses to partner- 
 ship with the man whose heart is not right in the 
 sight of God. 
 
 The second prerequisite is a prayerful spirit. 
 Soul-winning is not an altogether easy thing to do 
 and the one who thinks himself quite self-sufficient 
 for a task like this is the one who is most likely 
 to fail. Think of the mighty issue involved, of 
 how big with eternity the undertaking is to be, and 
 of the wisdom and unusual power needed and of 
 the work that God's Spirit must do in convicting 
 and quickening that unregenerate soul and how 
 could one ever think of going to such a task except 
 as he goes from his knees. 
 
 The third prerequisite is to have the right mo- 
 tive. Sometimes people will rise in a meeting and 
 say, " Pray for me that I may be used." But the 
 desire to be used may be an accursed ambition. 
 Why should I desire to be used except it be for 
 the glory of God? But sometimes, alas, the tap 
 root of a prayer like that is found to consist in a 
 selfish desire for one's own praise and notoriety; 
 what some one has called a " pious egotism," to be 
 known as a great worker and gifted in winning 
 others. 
 
 But men have never been used mightily for God 
 unless they have had a passion for souls that brought 
 to them utter self -forget fulness in their abandon- 
 
160 EVANGELISM 
 
 ment to the holy task of winning these souls for 
 Christ. This is what caused John Knox to cry, 
 "O God, give me Scotland, or I die." This is 
 the thing that burned in the soul of Moses, when 
 pleading for Israel, he said, " O God, if Thou 
 wilt forgive ," and that sentence was never fin- 
 ished. If you will look in your Bible you will find 
 a dash there. The thought that God might not for- 
 give was more than he could bear. And then he 
 brings himself up once more and cries, " But if 
 not, I pray Thee blot me out of the book which 
 Thou hast written." Young gentlemen, it is not 
 ability we need; it is the right motive, and God 
 will make completely over again, if necessary, that 
 man who is willing and wanting to win souls for 
 Christ. 
 
 The fourth prerequisite for successful soul-win- 
 ning is courage. We finished saying but a moment 
 ago that this is not an altogether easy work to do. 
 There will be times even for an experienced worker 
 when he would give almost anything he has rather 
 than ring the door bell at some home on a mission 
 like this or enter the business man's ofifice and look- 
 ing him squarely in the face tell him of his personal 
 relation to Jesus Christ. 
 
 I one time heard Bishop Hughes say, " If a man 
 is out in the Kingdom of God looking for a task 
 that will lay upon his life an immense pressure, let 
 him begin to be an everyday evangelist, a private 
 talker with men regarding the things of God, and 
 
INDIVIDUAL EVANGELISM 161 
 
 he will find the very largest task, and in many cases 
 the severest task, he has ever undertaken." 
 
 Mr. Kimball has told us how he hesitated out- 
 side that shoe store in Boston when every voice 
 of opportunity and every sense of duty said, " Go 
 in and speak to that young shoe clerk behind the 
 counter." And what if he had not done it! V^e 
 tremble to think that we might have had no Moody. 
 One thing that makes it hard is the fear of being 
 rebuffed. But we magnify this danger. For every 
 one who does so receive you, 999 will thank you 
 for coming. 
 
 The fifth prerequisite is Tact. Tact, in this con- 
 nection, means sanctified common sense. It's no 
 easy art to say the right word at the right time, 
 in the right way and to the right man. A young 
 fellow approached a lawyer in one of Lcn Brough- 
 ton's meetings and said, " Do you want to go to 
 heaven? " The lawyer said, " I don't know that I 
 do." The young fellow said, "Well then, go to 
 hell," and passed on. This worker was to be ex- 
 cused because he was only half-witted. The strange 
 thing, however, and the fine thing about it was that 
 that lawyer called on Len Broughton the next morn- 
 ing, after a miserable night, all broken up, and told 
 him what had happened and said he wanted to be a 
 'Christian. 
 
 Now if a half-witted man could do that well, 
 there is little excuse for most of us not making 
 at least an effort, although the young gentleman's 
 
162 EVANGELISM 
 
 method is recommended with considerable reserve. 
 
 Sometimes a man's zeal runs away with him, as 
 was much the case with the barber who desired 
 to impress upon his customer, who had just reclined 
 in the chair, the claims of eternity, and he com- 
 menced by saying, as he vigorously stropped his 
 razor, *' Prepare to meet thy God/' 
 
 It is not always best to bluntly tell a man that 
 you want him to come to Jesus. How rich and 
 rare was the tact of Jesus Himself in this matter. 
 When He talked with Nicodemus He went straight 
 to the point because Nicodemus had come to see 
 Him and Jesus knev/ His man. But when He talked 
 to Zacchaeus, He said, " Come on down, Zacchaeus; 
 today I must abide at thy house." That is the 
 way He started and by the result we know how 
 He proceeded and ended. 
 
 The sixth personal prerequisite for successful 
 soul-ivinning is persevercmce. Perseverance is pa- 
 tience on the job. It means keeping everlastingly 
 at it and helping God to answer your prayer. 
 
 Unanswered yet? Nay, do not say Ungranted^ 
 Perhaps your part is not yet wholly done. 
 
 The work began when first your prayer was uttered : 
 And God will finish what He hath begun." 
 
 A personal worker once said, " I'm about dis- 
 couraged; I've tried for a long time to win my 
 friend for Christ and I can't stir him." 
 
INDIVIDUAL EVANGELISM 163 
 
 "How long have you worked with him?'' some 
 one said. 
 
 "About two weeks." 
 
 " And how long after you were first spoken to was 
 it before you became a Christian?" 
 
 " Well, it must have been about five years." 
 
 " Then," said the other, " youVe got four years, 
 eleven months and two weeks in which to stick 
 to your friend before he has as good a chance as 
 you had." 
 
 NOTABLE EXAMPLES OF SOUL-WINNERS. 
 
 One of the greatest sources of inspiration for a 
 ministry of this kind — a; ministry of individual 
 evangelism, is to be found in the notable examples 
 of successful soul-winners with which the history of 
 Christian experience abounds. 
 
 Christ Himself showed His preference for this 
 method of evangelism. Although He preached to 
 the multitude, He was ever found turning aside to 
 deal with the individual. I find no record of a dis- 
 tinct, stirring revival as we understand that word 
 in all the public ministry of Jesus, but He made 
 the hearts of men "burn within them" as He 
 talked with them on the roadway; He stopped at 
 the well-side to deal with a fallen woman, and 
 went here and there preaching to congregations 
 often composed of a single individual. 
 
 We have already recited the experience of An- 
 drew. The story of Philip is well known; how 
 
164* EVANGELISM 
 
 he left the crowd; how the whisper of God's Spirit 
 turned him away from the great revival in Samaria 
 and made him an evangelist to a solitary stranger 
 out on a desert road. 
 
 If you have never read the life-story of Uncle 
 John Vassar, you must not fail to do it. It will 
 fill you with a keen humiliation and fire you with 
 a mighty inspiration. He was consumed with a 
 mighty passion and controlled by an irresistible im- 
 pulse. He had to win souls for Christ. He would 
 call on a pastor and say, " Let's go out and see 
 if there are any lost souls in your parish." He 
 passes a blacksmith's shop and simply must go in, 
 and the sound of a ringing anvil is changed into 
 the cry of a penitent sinner. He climbs the fence 
 and stops a man at his plough. He becomes a col- 
 porteur in the Civil War and when captured by 
 the Confederates he so pleads with the officers to 
 surrender to Jesus Christ that, convinced of his 
 sincerity and innocence, they let him go because 
 the Major told the Colonel if he didn't he would 
 " have a prayer meeting on his hands all the way 
 to Richmond." When a woman shut the front door 
 in his face he sat down on the doorstep and sang, 
 
 " But drops of grief can ne'er repay, 
 The debt of love I owe; 
 Here, Lord, I give myself away, 
 'Tis all that I can do." 
 
 and when the woman a little later came to Christ 
 she said, " It was those drops of grief." 
 
INDIVIDUAL EVANGELISM 165 
 
 And then you should not fail to become ac- 
 quainted with the experience of Henry Clay Trum- 
 bull. Perhaps no man has more mightily been 
 used of God in individual evangelism than he. 
 Read especially the chapter entitled, " A Life Re- 
 solve," in his book, " Individual Work for Individ- 
 uals." His was a busy life, but he led uncounted 
 hundreds to Jesus Christ one by one. 
 
 It would be interesting to continue at this point, 
 but we must content ourselves with the mere men- 
 tion of the names of Finney and Moody and Tor- 
 rey and Sayford and McBurney, and a host of other 
 apostles of soul-winning whose success in this holy 
 ministry certainly presents us with a rich picture 
 of what the whole church could do if we would 
 but individually set ourselves to the task to which 
 every member has been definitely called. 
 
 There are, therefore, three words that need em- 
 phasis just here. They are Enlistment, Equipment 
 and Action. 
 
 ENLISTMENT 
 
 First — The pastor and the evangelist must enlist 
 themselves. They must not only preach this thing, 
 but practise it. It is one thing to stand up in the 
 pulpit and urge the people to it. It is another thing 
 to come down out of the pulpit and meet the in- 
 dividual soul face to face in an effort to do it 
 yourself. 
 
 I wonder how far from the truth we would be 
 
166 EVANGELISM 
 
 if we were to say that the ministers themselves are 
 not winning souls to Christ ? If, as has already been 
 stated, every Protestant preacher in the United 
 States had won for Christ only one soul a month last 
 year there would have been exactly 1,792,644 mem- 
 bers added to our churches, whereas we had to 
 content ourselves, as noted a while ago, with the 
 humiliatingly small number of about 600,000. 
 
 It is said that a professed infidel once said to 
 Rev. D. O. Philip of Scotland, " Why, sir, did I 
 believe as you profess to, and did I act as you act 
 I should feel ashamed. You profess to beheve that 
 the world is lost and is going to final perdition and 
 that you have a remedy that can save it. Why do 
 you not go forth and plead with your perishing 
 fellowmen with all the earnestness such a case de- 
 mands? If your creed were mine I could not rest 
 until I had warned of their condition and entreated 
 them to flee from the wrath to come." It may be 
 that this was prompted only because of his own 
 hostility to the Gospel and as an excuse for his own 
 infidelity, but this does not do away with the fact 
 that it is because of our own indifference and un- 
 concern about this matter that unbelievers are apt 
 to be confirmed in their unbelief and impenitent 
 condition. 
 
 Then the membership of the church must he en- 
 listed. I know this is a hard thing to do. If you 
 have ever seen a boy trying to drag a cat back- 
 wards by the tail across the carpet you will know 
 
INDIVIDUAL EVANGELISM 167 
 
 something of the difficulty you will experience in 
 getting some members to do any church work at 
 all. They like to live in the twenty-third Psalm, 
 where it says, " Lord, make me to lie down." They 
 wear out a dozen pair of holdbacks to one pair of 
 tugs. 
 
 It would be mightily worth while and no doubt 
 a bit surprising to carefully diagnose the situation 
 in any church with a view to finding out just why 
 the members are so indifferent to this all-important 
 duty. And until the pastor has made at least some 
 real serious effort along this line he cannot escape 
 a certain amount of self-rebuke if he is at all alive 
 to the purpose for which God made him an over- 
 seer and shepherd of the flock. There are some 
 things he can do. 
 
 In the first place, he can remove the misconcep- 
 tion which so many have as to the meaning of the 
 Christian life. A man must be given to see that 
 seeking for heaven solely for the purpose of saving 
 his own soul is to be possessed of a selfishness which 
 by its very nature must forever exclude him. The 
 average church member has failed to grasp the 
 true meaning of the Christian life, and this fact 
 consequently carries with it a divine summons to 
 the ministry to continually and emphatically stress 
 the sacrifice of self as the pathway to character, 
 and service as the purpose of redemption and in 
 the ultimate as the only evidence of it. 
 
 It appears that to the great majority of church 
 
168 EVANGELISM 
 
 members the divine invitation seems to say, " Come 
 and be saved." And they are quite content to 
 pilgrimage their way with complaisant soul through 
 this dreary waste of mundane existence singing 
 songs about their heavenly inheritance. But they 
 have misunderstood the invitation. It does not 
 say, *' Come and be saved," except as it says, " Come 
 and be a saviour." 
 
 Examples of noble Christ-like followers of the 
 cross have not been wanting. But for the multi- 
 tude the seeking of God seems to be for the seek- 
 ing of self through Him. And if Christianity is to 
 become the virile, self -propagating, world-conquer- 
 ing force its Author meant it to be, it becomes a 
 matter of great necessity that the great majority 
 of its adherents evidence in their lives something 
 more of that spirit which made possible its estab- 
 lishment in the first place, when the Son of God 
 in self -forgetful abasement showed to the world 
 the one and only path which leads to the goal of 
 its own redemption. More and more the ministry 
 must hold forth and emphasize this ideal, and this 
 one and only true concept of the Christian religion. 
 
 Then the preacher must help the Christian to see 
 the nobility of a life of service and sacrifice as com- 
 pared with a continual seeking for one's own self- 
 interest. All that is noble and all that is useful and 
 all that is good in this world has come by the same 
 road over which the Son of God travelled when 
 for our sakes He became poor, though He was rich 
 
INDIVIDUAL EVANGELISM 169 
 
 exceedingly, that we, through His poverty, might 
 become rich. 
 
 The preacher niKst also help them to see and 
 understand their responsibility for the salvation of 
 another man's soul. He ought under the power of 
 the Spirit to give his people no rest from the burn- 
 ing words of Isaiah, " So thou, O son of man, I have 
 set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. 
 When I say to the wicked, ' Oh, wicked man, thou 
 shalt surely die,' if thou dost not speak to warn the 
 wicked of his way, that wicked man shall die in his 
 iniquity, but his blood will I require at thy hand." 
 
 Oh, if only in some way God could help the 
 Christian to realize that he is his brother's keeper 
 and so save us from the crushing condemnation of 
 that hour when God shall be compelled to put a 
 question to a good many of us that shall make us 
 ashamed to look into His face. 
 
 Then the preacher must make the Christian see 
 how easy this kind of zvork really is. I do not 
 mean easy to undertake. It is not. God forbid 
 that it ever should be. " For nearly half a cen- 
 tury," said a prominent Christian worker, " as I 
 have had opportunity day by day, I can say that 
 I have spoken with thousands and thousands on 
 the subject of their spiritual welfare. Yet so far 
 as becoming accustomed to this matter, so that I 
 can take hold of it as a matter of course, I find it 
 as difficult to speak about it at the end of these 
 years as at the beginning." 
 
170 EVANGELISM 
 
 What I mean is that success in doing it is not 
 nearly so difficult to achieve as most people im- 
 agine. George was afraid that Tom would resent 
 it if he tried to lead him to Christ. But the sense 
 of condemnation because of his long neglected duty 
 drove him to it, and one day he said, " Tom, I 
 wish you were a Christian." Tom said, " George, 
 I have been wondering for the past three years 
 why you haven't spoken to me about my soul." 
 
 The letter that led Henry Clay Trumbull to 
 Christ contained this sentence : "I am trying to 
 acquit myself of a duty too long neglected, but do 
 not think it is an easy one. It is one I could not 
 avoid and although I have delayed it, I determined 
 to delay it no longer." And said Mr. Trumbull, 
 " Before I had read the last of this letter I was 
 on my knees asking forgiveness of God and com- 
 mitting myself to a long slighted Saviour." 
 
 EQUIPMENT 
 
 The second word is Equipment. The individual 
 evangelist needs training, and this too the pastor 
 can see that he has. While it is true that the weak- 
 est can be used of God in this most important of 
 all work, it is also true that the one willing to do 
 it can do it all the better if he has just that train- 
 ing which prepares him to do it in the best possible 
 way. 
 
 Margaret Slattery tells us of a young girl brought 
 
INDIVIDUAL EVANGELISM 171 
 
 in from a swimming accident apparently dead, and 
 she said, " We the helpless, useless crowd stood 
 there. We could do nothing. We knew neither 
 what nor how. Suddenly the crowd parted at the 
 command of a young woman who had been rushed 
 to the scene in an automobile. She was a trained 
 nurse. Calm, quiet, determined, she knew just what 
 to do and did it. In twenty minutes the physician 
 came and in a few moments the girl breathed once, 
 then again and again, and once more she lived. 
 The physician shook the nurse's hand and said, 
 * You saved her.' " And said Miss Slattery, " I 
 could not get over the marvel of it as a few days 
 later I saw that girl alive, walking about, restored 
 to all who loved her because some one * knew how.' " 
 And she said that as she thought of this friend and 
 that one out of Christ and of this young man and 
 that one who used to be in Sunday School, but 
 now stood on the street smoking cigarettes, she 
 determined to make an earnest effort to " know 
 how.'* 
 
 It is important to know how. The work of 
 bringing men to Christ is so delicate and so far- 
 reaching in its results that the importance of the 
 Personal Workers' Training Class it is impossible 
 to overstate. We strongly recommend such an or- 
 ganization for every church in the land. If the 
 /hope of winning the world to Christ lies in in- 
 dividual evangelism, and it does, then it becomes 
 evident th^t such a training class would not only 
 
172 EVANGELISM 
 
 furnish the much-needed equipment for the doing 
 of this work wisely and with effect, but it would 
 prove as well a mighty incentive to the thing of 
 the work itself. 
 
 Let any group of God's people who honestly 
 desire to do His will give any degree of prayerful 
 consideration to the best methods and means for 
 this most important of all forms of Christian ser- 
 vice, studiously contemplating the fact of their 
 brother's lost condition, their obligation to him and 
 their responsibility to God for him, and that they 
 could then remain indifferent and inactive is well- 
 nigh unthinkable. 
 
 There is on record now in one city in particular 
 a system of training for individual evangelism that 
 ought to find a duplicate in every city in the coun- 
 try. Forty classes for prayer and study in personal 
 work of a soul-winning kind meet each week in 
 as many different churches. The leaders of the 
 groups meet also for special training in directing 
 the work of the classes. They are all engaged in 
 the study of a common textbook and of their 
 own experience in soul-winning during the week. 
 
 This leads me to say a few words about such 
 a class. 
 
 Among the text-books the Bible must, of course, 
 take first place. When Philip found the Ethiopian 
 puzzled over a certain passage " he began at the 
 same place and preached unto him Jesus." The 
 individual evangelist must know his Bible. In it 
 
INDIVIDUAL EVANGELISM 173 
 
 is all the truth he needs in dealing with men. It 
 is not dispute and argument that is needed, but 
 such a knowledge of the Word of God that we can 
 tell dying men and women what God has to say 
 about sin and salvation. Then there are the many 
 modern helps, such as : 
 
 " Taking Men Alive," by Trumbull. 
 " How to Bring Men to Christ," by Torrey. 
 " Introducing Men to Christ," by Weatherford. 
 " Second Timothy Two Fifteen," by Sayles. 
 " Individual Work for Individuals," by Trum- 
 bull. 
 
 " Recruiting for Christ," by Stone. 
 
 " Studies for Personal Workers," by Johnston. 
 
 " Personal Work," by Sayford. 
 
 " Winning Men to Christ," by Evans. 
 
 " The King's Greatest Business," by Gilbert. 
 
 In all of these are to be found extremely helpful 
 courses of study. The class should not be large. 
 Six members are sufficient and such a number is 
 far better than six times that number. The class 
 should be composed exclusively of men or exclu- 
 sively of women. 
 
 There are always two sides to such a course of 
 training, the theoretical side and the practical 
 side. 
 
 The theoretical side deals with how to select and 
 approach your man. Quite often the Holy Spirit 
 will make your selection for you. At the most un- 
 
174 EVANGELISM 
 
 expected time and in the most unexpected way you 
 will find yourself fairly driven on by a wellnigh 
 irresistible impulse to speak to some certain man 
 about his soul. Henry Ostrom enters a street car 
 and something says, '* Speak to the conductor ; 
 speak to the conductor ! " 
 
 A one-time prominent evangelist, now deceased, 
 goes downstairs into the hotel lobby to mail a 
 letter. The clerk was not there, but a policeman 
 said, " I will mail them for you." Something said, 
 " Speak to the policeman; speak to the policeman! " 
 But he started upstairs. A voice said, " Why did 
 you not speak to that policeman about Christ?" 
 He said, " It was because it would not do any 
 good." " How do you know ? " The evangelist 
 kept going up all the time. The voice said, " Are 
 you going to preach to others and then be a cast- 
 away yourself?" He said, "No, Lord, I will go 
 back and speak to him." But when he came back 
 to the office the policeman had gone. 
 
 A great Christian worker entered a store and 
 something said, " Speak to the clerk ; speak to the 
 clerk! " He did not do it, but went out. But the 
 voice kept speaking for an hour and at last he went 
 back and asked where the clerk was and the pro- 
 prietor said, " We had an awful tragedy here a 
 few moments ago. Immediately after you went out 
 the clerk that waited on you went into the back 
 room and shot a bullet through his brain. He is 
 back there now, if you wish to see him." 
 
INDIVIDUAL EVANGELISM 176 
 
 It was this way with Philip and the Eunuch. 
 And when the Holy Spirit says, " Run; speak/* 
 if we have not feet and lips to obey we should 
 ask God to give them to us at once, for sometimes 
 when opportunity is gone the wings of the morning 
 cannot bring it back. 
 
 But in the study of this subject there are, of 
 course, certain things in the remembrance of which 
 you will find great profit. In deciding upon those 
 with whom to deal it is well to select those near- 
 est you — members of your own family, of course, 
 and friends; then those of the same age and of the 
 same sex; perhaps those of the same occupation, 
 and especially those to whom you are congenial. 
 If a man has a prejudice against another, war- 
 ranted or otherwise, this second man is the last 
 man in the world to do any personal work with 
 the first one. 
 
 Then comes the question of how to approach 
 your man. 
 
 One way is by prayer. Heaven is full of re- 
 deemed spirits because people have prayed. Pray 
 definitely for God to regenerate that soul and live 
 expecting Him to do it, and if you die, die believ- 
 mg it shall be done. 
 
 Another way is by literature. This is one of 
 the most effective methods and one that everybody 
 can employ. It is said that Richard Baxter was 
 converted by a tract brought to his father's door 
 in the pack of a pious peddler. Baxter wrote " The 
 
176 EVANGELISM 
 
 Saint's Rest/* and that converted Philip Doddridge. 
 Doddridge wrote " The Rise and Progress," and 
 that converted William Wilberforce. William Wil- 
 berforce wrote " The Practical View," and that con- 
 verted Thomas Chalmers. 
 
 Another way is by letter. It was a letter, as we 
 have seen, that brought Henry Clay Trumbull to 
 Christ, and thousands have been won in this way. 
 And if the Christian workers of this country 
 would dedicate their pens to what Bishop Hughes 
 has called " Postal Evangelism," God would 
 surprise this world with a mighty work for 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 Then perhaps most important of all is the per- 
 sonal interview. This should always be when the 
 man is alone. Argument should be avoided as far 
 as possible; the utmost patience should be exer- 
 cised. Some one has said, " More men are won 
 by siege than by attack." 
 
 The practical side of such a training class has 
 to do with the reports of the work actually done. 
 One might as well seek for gold for the mere sake 
 of having it as to seek an equipment for this kind 
 of work for the mere sake of knowing how to do 
 it. One would be quite as wrong as the other. 
 The workers should bring to the class their ex- 
 periences of the week; they should tell the diffi- 
 culties with which they have met and helpful sug- 
 gestions should be given them for the further prose- 
 cution of their work and prayer, for the case under 
 
INDIVIDUAL EVANGELISM 177 
 
 consideration should be made as well as for the 
 workers as they go out to their holy tasks for an- 
 other week. 
 
 ORGANIZED ACTION 
 
 There is yet a third and last thing to be said, 
 and this is concerning Action; and by this we 
 have had in mind from the beginning organized 
 action. 
 
 There is, I am sure, all too much general fail- 
 ure on the part of the ministry to outline definite 
 programs of action for the members of the 
 church, I think there are more members than we 
 have dared to suspect who are willing, but who 
 are waiting for leadership and for such organiza- 
 tion as will help to make operative to the best 
 possible advantage whatever ability they may have 
 for any particular work which ought to be under- 
 taken. 
 
 We have time only for the merest mention of 
 some of the methods which have been signally used 
 of God, and to which the pastor or evangelist will 
 find little if any difficulty in persuading a goodly 
 portion of his people to give themselves. 
 
 The Invitation Plan consists of a select number 
 of men confidentially banded together for personal 
 visitation, pledged to make a certain number of 
 calls each week, and meeting regularly, usually 
 downtown at luncheon, to report results and assign 
 new work. 
 
178 EVANGELISM 
 
 Similar to the Invitation Plan is what is known 
 as the Group Method, where a given number of 
 men select a given number of cases and report at 
 a weekly meeting throughout the year, the number 
 in the group and the number for whom the group 
 is working always remaining the same, and as fast 
 as one individual is brought to Christ another is 
 added to the list. 
 
 The Two-by-Two Method consists of two in- 
 dividuals setting apart one night in the week and 
 calling together on those in whom they are inter- 
 ested. 
 
 Many churches and communities have used with 
 remarkable success the plan known as the Simul- 
 taneous Campaign of Individual Evangelism. This, 
 in a word, is the organization in the church, or in 
 all the churches of a given city or community, of 
 a league of individual evangelists, each member of 
 which avows his purpose to lead some other per- 
 son to Christ within a given period of time. 
 
 Something like this, though involving a more 
 detailed program, is the " One to Win One " 
 method. The "Win One More Fellowship" is 
 also similar, but the work is not confined to any 
 definite period of time. Booklets setting forth 
 these plans in full detail may be secured from 
 headquarters. 
 
 If but a small portion of the present member- 
 ship of our Protestant churches could be enlisted 
 in the work of individual evangelism, and if some 
 
INDIVIDUAL EVANGELISM 179 
 
 such plans as these just suggested were thought- 
 fully and earnestly put into operation even for a 
 single year, the humiliating record of the net gain 
 to our churches, which we have been compelled to 
 face for the past ten years, would give place to 
 abundant cause for thanksgiving throughout all 
 Christendom. 
 
 And after all, is it not well to make this a per- 
 sonal matter? Are you enlisted yourself in this 
 holy work? Can you recall now any one single in- 
 dividual who has been brought to Christ through 
 any personal effort of your own? 
 
 In one of Mr. Mills' books is the story of Uncle 
 John Vassar. He was not a minister, he never 
 preached in the pulpits, but he was a man that had 
 to win souls for Jesus Christ. He was converted 
 when he was about twenty-five years of age when 
 he was at work in his uncle's brewery at Pough- 
 keepsie. In those days the people thought a man 
 could make beer and still be a Christian. After 
 he was converted, John made a little rack above 
 the vat where he was working on which he kept 
 his Bible. He wanted to have his Bible there so 
 he could study it. But soon there came an explo- 
 sion. There will always be an explosion when you 
 get the Word of God too close to the whiskey 
 business. This one blew John clear out of the 
 ' brewery and he never went back. He was always 
 winning some one for Jesus. The people saw 
 that the Spirit of God was upon him. He was 
 
180 EVANGELISM 
 
 full of Him all the time. He went into a high- 
 class hotel in Boston looking for a friend and in 
 the parlour there was a fashionably dressed lady and 
 John went right up to her and said, " Excuse me, 
 Madame, but are you a Christian ? '* She snapped 
 out, " Of course I am." He said, " Excuse me, 
 I didn't mean that kind of a Christian; have you 
 ever been born again ? " " Why, no," she said, 
 " we've gotten all over being born again in Bos- 
 ton, we do not believe in it any more." " Well," 
 said Uncle John, as he pulled out his little Bible, 
 " have you gotten all over the Bible in Boston, or 
 do you believe that some more?" "Oh, yes, we 
 beheve the Bible, of course." ** Well," he said, 
 '* will you let me read it to you ? " And he took 
 his Bible and began to pour the Word of God into 
 her heart until her soul burned within her and the 
 tears came into her eyes. His friend came in and 
 he had to go, but he said, " Before I go, may I 
 pray with you ? " She answered, " I wish you 
 would." He knelt down by the side of that proud 
 woman and asked God to save her then and there. 
 Her husband came in afterwards and seeing tears 
 in her eyes he asked, " What is the matter ? " She 
 said, *' There has been a strange little man here. 
 He came up and asked me if I was a Christian — 
 if I had been born again, and then he preached 
 to me and read the Bible, and, husband, I never 
 felt in my life as I feel now." He said, "Why 
 didn't you tell him to attend to his own business ? " 
 
INDIVIDUAL EVANGELISM 181 
 
 She said, " Dear, if you had been here, you would 
 have thought it was his business." O beloved, 
 would any one think of you that it was your busi- 
 ness to preach Jesus? Is it your business? Will 
 you let it be your business? 
 
VIII 
 
 THE INVITATION AND THE AFTER- 
 MEETING 
 
THE INVITATION AND THE AFTER-MEETING 
 
 I. Introductory Remarks. 
 
 1. The genius of the evangelistic sermon necessitates 
 
 appeal for decision of some kind. 
 
 2. The benefit of public decision and confession. 
 
 3. Danger and seriousness of slighting the work at 
 
 this point. 
 
 4. The temptation to slight the work at this point 
 
 due to 
 
 (a) Fallacy; that this part of the work be- 
 
 longs wholly to the Holy Spirit and man 
 must leave it alone. 
 
 (b) Fatigue; the work so exhausting. 
 
 (c) Fear; of failure to secure results. 
 
 5. Importance of thoroughness. 
 
 II. The Invitation. 
 
 1. The respect due the audience for temperamental 
 
 reasons and the consequent avoidance of em- 
 barrassing propositions and unwise methods. 
 
 2. The necessity of final definiteness in the appeal. 
 
 3. Various methods of invitation. 
 
 4. The comparative advantages of using the inquiry 
 
 room, and of doing the work before the larger 
 audience retires. 
 
 III. The After-meeting. 
 
 1. Various ways of conducting it. 
 
 (a) The Inquiry Room. 
 
 (b) The Altar Service. 
 
 2. Instructions to Converts. 
 
 3. Caution in counting results. 
 
 IV. The Wisdom and method of this work in connection 
 with the regular services of the church. 
 
VIII 
 THE INVITATION AND AFTER-MEETING 
 
 THERE is no more difficult piece of work 
 in the ministry of the Kingdom than bring- 
 ing men to a decision for Christ. Certainly 
 there is none more important. To fail here spells 
 defeat in toto. 
 
 The subject, therefore, of the Invitation and the 
 After-meeting is and ought to be one of all-absorb- 
 ing interest. It is a subject that deals with eter- 
 nal destinies and the hosts of heaven and hell are 
 contending for the issue. It is at this point that 
 many a ministry otherwise strong is lamentably 
 weak. It is souls, not sermons, that count. 
 
 I am deeply conscious of the delicacy of the par- 
 ticular phase of the work I am now to discuss. 
 We must have method, but I confess to a hesitancy 
 about recommendation in this regard, lest we em- 
 phasize form at the expense of spirit and so hear 
 the rattle of the machinery of man instead of not- 
 ing the operation of the Spirit of God. 
 
 Yet if there are methods, and ways of doing this 
 work which have been generally owned of God in 
 rich production of results, then the preacher who 
 is supposed to be wise in winning souls is guilty 
 
 185 
 
186 EVANGELISM 
 
 of an indifference which is both pathetic and inex- 
 cusable if he neglects an acquaintance with them 
 such as will help him to make full proof of his min- 
 istry at this particular and all-important point. 
 
 We begin this discussion, therefore, by saying 
 that the very genius of the evangelistic sermon 
 necessitates appeal for decision of some kind. It 
 is the favourable verdict, however expressed, the 
 evangelist is seeking by his message. It is with 
 this in view that the whole of his message has been 
 prepared. Not to give opportunity for expression 
 of some kind and in some way may mean for some 
 soul that delay of decision which if it does not 
 prove fatal to that soul's eternal interest will at 
 least rob some of its life of that richness of mean- 
 ing which can only be found in Jesus Christ. 
 
 Popilius, by order of the Roman senate, de- 
 manded of Antiochus that he withdraw his army 
 from the King of Egypt. Antiochus desired time 
 to deliberate, but the haughty Roman drew a circle 
 about him on the sand and said, ** In hoc stans de- 
 libera" — "In this standing-place deliberate!" i.e., 
 " Answer before you move." And so must the 
 evangelist press men to an immediate surrender to 
 the demands of Almighty God. 
 
 The benefit of public decision and confession it 
 would hardly seem necessary to argue. A man 
 owes it not only to Christ and his neighbour, but 
 to himself. 
 
 He owes it to Christ. Christ hung on the cross 
 
INVITATION AND AFTER-MEETING 18T 
 
 in public for him and he can well afford to stand 
 up in public for Christ. 
 
 He owes it to his neighbour. His example is 
 worth more than he estimates. And he can well 
 afford to stop and consider whether he is going 
 to meet in this life his obligation or meet one day 
 at the bar of God his responsibility for neglect- 
 ing it. 
 
 He owes it to himself. It puts him on record 
 in a way that calls out the best that is in him. 
 It is a continual reminder to him of what he has 
 done and a help to make good the profession he 
 has made. He knows that all his friends, and in 
 some instances the whole city, will know what he 
 has done and expect him, as some one put it, " to 
 deliver the goods,** and he will not find it quite so 
 easy to play fast and loose with the Lord in the 
 days that are to follow. It brings to a man a sat- 
 isfaction and a self-respect he can find in no other 
 way. It strengthens his faith and gives him a 
 spiritual nerve tonic as nothing else will do. 
 
 I remember one time in Oil City, Pa., a fine- 
 looking business man came down the aisle and when 
 I took his hand he said, " Biederwolf , I've had a 
 very unsatisfactory time of it.'* I said, " What's 
 the matter? ** He said, " I joined church two weeks 
 ago and I have been miserable ever since.** " Well," 
 I said, "that's a queer fix to get into for joining 
 church; what's the cause of it? " " Well," he said, 
 "I declared I never would walk down this aisle; 
 
188 EVANGELISM 
 
 I didn't see the necessity of it. It was a bit too 
 public for me. I said, ' It don't make any differ- 
 ence anyhow; I'll be a Christian, and I'll join 
 church,' and so I joined the church two weeks ago 
 and I've felt like a despicable coward ever since; 
 I couldn't seem to get anywhere and I have been 
 just as miserable as I could be, but thank God, I 
 have walked this aisle tonight; and say, Biederwolf, 
 it does make a difference." Of course, it does. 
 
 Before discussing the nature of the invitation 
 and the conduct of the after-meeting we simply 
 must pause to emphasize the seriousness and the 
 danger of slighting the work at this point as well 
 as the absolute necessity of thoroughness in prose- 
 cuting it. 
 
 The temptation to abbreviate this part of one's 
 evangelistic ministry finds its source in three 
 causes : Fallacy, Fatigue and Fear. 
 
 By fallacy, I mean misconception or ziDrong judg- 
 ment. I have had an acquaintance with a few really 
 great preachers who preached powerful sermons of 
 an evangelistic sort, but who never gave an invita- 
 tion because they thought such a procedure to be 
 interfering with the work of the Holy Spirit. Such 
 preachers have been satisfied to close the meeting 
 with a solemn prayer or perhaps putting a tract 
 in the hands of any desiring it. 
 
 I have understood the reasoning of these men 
 
INVITATION AND AFTER-MEETING 189 
 
 thoroughly, but confess never to have found any- 
 real wisdom in it. It is true that the Holy Spirit 
 can and often does work altogether independently 
 of human instrumentality. But it is just as true 
 that He can, more often does and always is ready, 
 to co-operate with sane and sanctified human effort, 
 and for aught we know may often be wholly de- 
 pendent upon it. As if the Holy Spirit stood aloof 
 from the workings of natural law! We believe 
 such men are entirely deceived. 
 
 Fatigue is another reason. There is no work 
 quite so hard as evangelistic work. Preaching every 
 night and every day and preaching as one must 
 preach in an evangelistic ministry is in itself ex- 
 hausting enough. To quote an English writer: 
 " Sometimes men talk about the evangelist's lack 
 of work before he goes into the pulpit. Well, every 
 evangelist must answer for that himself; but when 
 he is there he must work. Wrestling with souls is 
 infinitely the hardest work the present writer 
 knows anything about. Half an hour of it means 
 more exhaustion, nervously, than half a week of 
 sermon study." 
 
 The evangelist also knows that as he enters the 
 invitation period and the work of the after-service 
 he is about to undertake another thirty minutes 
 or more of pleading and praying and agonizing 
 which is even more exhausting than was the preach- 
 ing of the sermon he has just finished. I have many 
 times said, and every evangelist who does really 
 
190 EVANGELISM 
 
 thorough work will bear me out, that so far as 
 fatigue is concerned, so far as the expenditure of 
 sympathy and life, of nervous force and vitality 
 in general is concerned, I would rather preach three 
 sermons and pronounce the benediction than to 
 preach one and give myself conscientiously to the 
 afterwork of which we are speaking. 
 
 This fact is not without its temptation. We be- 
 lieve we know a few men of no little prominence, 
 the results of whose work have not been alto- 
 gether comforting because of this fact, but who, 
 if they worked during the period under considera- 
 tion as hard as they preach, would multiply their 
 usefulness many fold in the ministry to which they 
 have been called. 
 
 The other reason is fear. Sometimes, especially 
 with less experienced men, it is difficult to know 
 just what to do or how to do it. Even the most 
 experienced men have been at times in the place 
 where they not only faced perplexity, but where it 
 seemed as if the invitation if given would meet 
 with no response, and fearful of meeting defeat 
 they are tempted to leave it ungiven. I have al- 
 ways said that a preacher who could preach with- 
 out sweating has missed his calHng; but a pastor 
 said to me the other day, " If I never perspire 
 when I am preaching I always do when I am just 
 about to give the invitation.'* 
 
 It is well just here to be reminded that one ought 
 always to go well prepared to undertake the work 
 
INVITATION AND AFTER-MEETING 191 
 
 that immediately follows the sermon. He should 
 have thought out some method of invitation and 
 some plan for the after-meeting which seemed to 
 him to best fit the message he was to deliver. If 
 any one should say, " This is too mechanical and 
 leaves no place for the Holy Spirit," I would reply 
 that it is making the very best possible provision 
 for ithe Holy Spirit and His leading. 
 
 When a man is confused and embarrassed; when 
 he is nervous and excited and his faculties all un- 
 steady, th^ Holy Spirit, who works on and through 
 these faculties, will find it hard to whisper His 
 leading to a man in a condition like that. But 
 when a man, simply because he knows he is in some 
 measure ready, finds himself composed and steady, 
 better able to think, better able to discern, better 
 able to sense the atmosphere, he is in just that con- 
 dition where the Holy Spirit can best prompt him 
 to do and say just what He, the Holy Spirit, more 
 than any man, knows should be done, and very 
 often the things the man thought he would do 
 before going to the service are just the things 
 he did not do, simply because he was in a condi- 
 tion to be led to something better and more ef- 
 fective. 
 
 But whatever the reason for neglect or hurried 
 work at this part of the service, it is apparent with- 
 out comment how destructive and fatal it may be. 
 With the eternal destiny of immortal souls hanging 
 in the balance this is no time to play and no time 
 
192 EVANGELISM 
 
 to hurry. When a soul unsaved has come under 
 the influence of an evangehstic message, has heard 
 the summons of high heaven to repent and believe, 
 has been powerfully moved by the persuasive woo- 
 ings of the Holy Spirit and then goes away un- 
 decided, God alone knows whether he will ever 
 come quite so close to the Kingdom again. 
 
 There is one song I cannot get away |from, 
 if I would, and I never preach to the unsaved with- 
 out it ringing in my ears: 
 
 "Almost persuaded now to believe; 
 Almost persuaded Christ to receive." 
 
 [Then another part of it : 
 
 " Almost cannot avail ; ; 
 Almost is but to fail. 
 Sad, sad, that bitter wail, 
 Almost! but lost!" 
 
 J 
 THE NATURE OF THE INVITATION 
 
 In discussing the nature of the invitation, atten- 
 tion ought 'first to be called to the respect due the 
 audience for temperamental reasons and the conse- 
 quent avoidance of embarrassing propositions and 
 unwise methods. 
 
 Human nature is no more uniform in its make- 
 up than any other. Its temperaments and its tastes 
 are as various as its prejudices are sometimes 
 strong; and what would be wise and acceptable in 
 
INVITATION AND AFTER-MEETING 193 
 
 one place would be altogether out of place in an- 
 other. 
 
 The wise man, the man who really becomes mas- 
 ter of the situation, will study the people with whom 
 he has to deal and govern himself somewhat by 
 the conditions as he finds them. That was a piece 
 of choice delicacy of expression when the Master 
 said, " I will make you fishers of men." It takes 
 a harpoon for a whale, but it takes the delicate, 
 coquettish fly for a mountain trout. Thomas Chap- 
 ness once said, " A' fisher is very careful about his 
 bait. If I want to catch a codfish I fling them out 
 a bait as big as a clock weight and they swallow 
 it. But if I am going for salmon I have a fly and 
 whip the stream with delicacy and art." 
 
 We are facing the fact that there are those in 
 the church, as well as out of it, who have abso- 
 lutely no use for public evangelistic work. Many 
 elements which we need not discuss enter into the 
 creation of such sentiment. But he certainly is a 
 blundering workman who repels and sometimes dis- 
 gusts by thrusting crude, blunt methods and em- 
 barrassing propositions upon an audience of this 
 nature when a reasonable amount of thought and 
 tact and patience may remove its prejudice and 
 mould its opinion and make possible what other- 
 wise would be out of the question and suicidal if 
 attempted. 
 
 Another word ought to be said about the neces- 
 sity of definiteness in the appeal. The appeal should 
 
194 EVANGELISM 
 
 be made in terms, the meaning of which no one can 
 fail to clearly understand, and that meaning should 
 be in its final address a definite acceptance of and 
 committal to Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. 
 Asking people to rise who have a desire to live a 
 better life or merely requesting those who desire 
 prayer to lift their hand or soliciting signatures 
 of those desiring to be Christians is a sorry sub- 
 stitute for what genuine evangelistic work ought 
 to be. These forms of invitation may be all right 
 enough — that is, they are good as far as they go, 
 but they don't go far enough. 
 
 These gentler forms of invitation, these part- 
 way approaches may very properly be given with 
 a view to making it easy for a man to come, but 
 if he comes no farther than this, when he does 
 come he in reality arrives nowhere at all. It is 
 well enough and often wise to have them first com- 
 mit themselves thus far; to make the first step, as 
 it were, an easy one; but to stop here is to stop 
 short and to stamp the whole transaction with the 
 mark of pitiable insufficiency. 
 
 By all means, before the work is done set clearly 
 before the mind the things to be believed and let 
 the anxious sinner hear a clear-cut call to their 
 definite acceptance and you will find that call ap- 
 preciated and men will come and when they do 
 so come it will be with an abandonment that will 
 fill heaven with the glad songs of rejoicing angels. 
 
INVITATION AND AFTER-MEETING 195 
 
 METHODS OF INVITATION 
 
 Bearing in mind what has just been said, it will 
 not be amiss to consider some of the various meth- 
 ods of invitation. There are three general forms. 
 
 The simplest and easiest way to close the prin- 
 cipal service is by merely asking those who are 
 interested to remain for an after-service or retire 
 to an inquiry-room. This was the method used 
 altogether by Dr. Nettleton, one of the most noted 
 evangelists America has ever produced. He never 
 asked people to lift their hand or rise to their feet, 
 or come to the "anxious seat" or "mourners* 
 bench," as it was known with some in those days. 
 This was also one of the favourite methods of 
 Dwight L. Moody. 
 
 A second method is to ask those interested to i 
 lift their hand or stand as an indication of their 
 desire or their concern and then distribute cards for 
 their signature, and then ask them to remain for 
 an after-meeting or to retire to the inquiry-room. 
 
 The usual first invitation given for the purpose 
 of finding out who are interested is, as a rule, given 
 by asking such persons to lift their hand or rise 
 to their feet. In a very large audience the latter is 
 preferable. This invitation is usually given by ask- 
 ing in substance, " How many of you who are con- 
 cerned about your soul will lift your hand (or rise 
 to your feet) and say by that sign, * Pray for me ' " ? 
 Of course it may be variously worded. For brev- 
 
196 EVANGELISM 
 
 ity's sake we will therefore understand in what 
 follows that by " the usual first invitation *' refer- 
 ence is always had to this initial request calling for 
 the lifted hand or the rising to one^s feet. 
 
 The cards used are variously worded but usually 
 expressive of the desire for prayer and a deter- 
 mination to undertake the Christian life. This 
 method was used largely by B. Fay Mills. A cut 
 of the Decision Card used by the workers of the 
 National Federated Evangelistic Committee will be 
 seen on page 144. 
 
 A third method is to ask them to come forward 
 for prayer or as expressing their determination to 
 live a Christian life. The approach to this invita- 
 tion may be made in numberless ways. To recount 
 them all would fill a volume. We here give a few 
 of what we believe to be the superior sort. Re- 
 member, please, we are now dealing with the third 
 method of invitation. 
 
 (a) At the close of the sermon with the audience 
 standing, ask without any preliminary approach 
 those willing to accept Christ to come forward. Of 
 course the exact wording of the invitation will de- 
 pend somewhat upon the sermon. This method is 
 followed almost exclusively by Mr. Sunday and 
 many other strong evangelists. 
 
 (b) Give the usual first invitation and then after 
 the signing of the inquirer's card (or without so 
 doing) ask them to come forward. 
 
 (c) After the usual first invitation, request those 
 
INVITATION AND AFTER-MEETING 197 
 
 who have friends for whom they desire prayer to 
 lift the hand for them and then ask them to rise and 
 put their request in two words : " My son/* " My 
 brother," etc.; then ask this same class to lead 
 the way in coming forward to pray for their 
 friends and request those who manifested interest 
 in themselves, or are now interested, to come 
 with them. 
 
 (d) Give the usual first invitation; then ask those 
 who are praying for some one in the audience to 
 rise. Then ask this class to lead the way in coming 
 forward to pray for their friends and request those 
 who manifested interest in themselves, or are now 
 interested to come with them. 
 
 (e) Another invitation somewhat similar to the 
 last two mentioned is, after giving the usual first 
 invitation, to ask those who have already been for- 
 ward during the meetings, to designate it by rising; 
 then ask them to come again with those who have 
 that night responded to the first invitation. This is 
 helpful to them and it encourages those coming for 
 the first time. 
 
 (f) After the usual first invitation is given to 
 those interested, ask all especially concerned for 
 friends to rise ; then ask all Christians not satisfied 
 to rise; and then ask either of these two latter 
 classes or both of them, but especially the latter, to 
 lead the way and ask those to whom the first in- 
 vitation was given to come with them. 
 
 (g) After the usual first invitation to lift the 
 hand (or rise) is given, ask all who came to Christ 
 
198 EVANGELISM 
 
 after fifty years of age to rise ; then ask in turn those 
 who came after 40, 30, 20 and 10 to rise. Then 
 ask those to whom the first invitation was given 
 (and any others now concerned about themselves) 
 to rise and join those already standing and then urge 
 this latter group to come forward. By way of en- 
 couragement it might be well to ask, let us say, those 
 who had been converted after they were 30 to come 
 also. Just how many of these helps to the inquiring 
 ones are used ought to depend upon the atmosphere 
 and the spirit of the meeting. If needed at all they 
 will be needed less and less as the meetings deepen 
 in interest. 
 
 (h) Give the usual first invitation: Then ask: 
 
 (i) all who have served Christ fifty years and 
 have found Him always faithful to rise and remain 
 standing, (2) all whose homes have been visited by 
 death and who have found Christ precious then to 
 rise and stand, (3) all who have experienced some 
 great temptation and found strength through 
 Christ to overcome to rise and stand. 
 
 Comment a moment on this remarkable testimony 
 and ask those to whom the first invitation was given 
 and any others now concerned to rise and join those 
 standing; then ask them to come forward them- 
 selves. One of the three classes just mentioned may 
 be asked to lead the way if it is thought best. 
 
 (i) That species of invitation which grows im- 
 mediately out of the sermon is always to be com- 
 mended. One of the best I have seen was after a 
 
INVITATION AND AFTER-MEETING 199 
 
 sermon on " Prepare to meet thy God." The in- 
 vitation was given in this way; 
 
 (i) How many of you are prepared to meet God 
 at any time, not because of your own righteousness 
 but because of your faith in Jesus Christ as your 
 Lord and Saviour, will you rise and help me to pray 
 for the unsaved tonight? 
 
 (2) How many who are still sitting are ready 
 now to say that if God should call you tonight you 
 would like to be prepared and to know that God 
 would be pleased with you when you meet Him, will 
 you rise and join these now standing and say by 
 that act, " I would; pray for me." 
 
 (3) Then the preacher prayed and with out say- 
 ing, " Amen," paused and said, " How many of you 
 who have just risen will now say, * I will here 
 and now accept by faith the eternal salvation of my 
 soul. I will acknowledge God as my Father and 
 His Son Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour, and 
 I want before the prayer is closed that you should 
 pray for me especially,' will you lift up your hand 
 and say, * I will and I do.' " After this the preacher 
 said, " We will now finish the prayer and we will 
 come together here in front to do it." He then 
 requested those who had requested prayer and those 
 who had made the vow to come forward. 
 
 Of course some of these invitations sound, as we 
 read them in print, rather blunt, but they must be 
 phrased by the evangelist as the occasion demands 
 and interspersed with such remarks as will make 
 
200 EVANGELISM 
 
 everything seem to be and really be altogether nat- 
 ural. 
 
 While those interested are being urged by the 
 evangelist to come forward the personal workers 
 are dealing with them individually, trying to show 
 them why they should thus yield themselves to 
 Christ, encouraging them to do what the evangelist 
 has requested and offering to go with them if they 
 so wish. This is on the whole a wise method of 
 procedure. Indeed if there be any real travail of 
 soul Christian people cannot but speak to the un- 
 saved and without this travail little if any results 
 need be expected. 
 
 Three things should be said just here. 
 
 Workers should so far as possible be selected and 
 trained for this particular duty ; trained to be tactful 
 and courteous and especially to never over-urge any 
 one. 
 
 They should be systematically stationed through- 
 out the entire building. This does not mean that 
 Christians in general should not be urged to assist 
 in this work. They should be. 
 
 As the meeting deepens in interest it is wise at 
 least at times to give the invitation without any 
 personal work being done. I have made it a rule 
 more or less in my own meetings, when the interest 
 seemed to warrant it, to publicly request that no 
 personal work be done but that those who want to 
 come and are brave enough to do it to come without 
 any one asking them. And they come. There are 
 
INVITATION AND AFTER-MEETING 201 
 
 always some and sometimes many who dislike to 
 be personally approached and are just waiting for 
 an invitation of the above nature to publicly do the 
 thing they know they ought to do. 
 
 The only objection to personal work among the 
 audience arises from the lack of tact and sometimes 
 the questioned life of an occasional worker. But 
 it is better now and then for one to take umbrage 
 than for the hundreds to miss the word or sign of 
 interest that may encourage them in yielding al- 
 legiance to God. 
 
 The principal advantage in calling those interested 
 and under conviction to come forward lies in what 
 may be termed the accumulative effect of this kind 
 of an invitation. When 12 have come, it is by so 
 much easier for the next 12 to come; and when 24 
 have come, the next 24 are more likely to be on 
 their way; and when 48 have come, the next 48 find 
 it that much harder to stay away; until under the 
 accumulative influence and pressure of the occasion 
 I have seen literally hundreds gather down about 
 the place of prayer. 
 
 This advantage is largely lost by the invitation 
 merely to retire to an inquiry-room. But the in- 
 vitation to the inquiry-room on the other hand has 
 its advantages as well. 
 
 It frees the meeting of the merely curious and of 
 every one who may be out of sympathy with what 
 is going on. 
 
 It commits those who attend as being at least 
 
202 EVANGELISM 
 
 interested enough to do so and consequently as 
 somewhat willing to be approached. 
 
 It gathers its audience close together, which is not 
 without its psychological effect, and this together 
 with the facts just noted makes it easier for those 
 seeking Christ to publicly express themselves. 
 
 THE AFTER-MEETING 
 
 But whatever the form of invitation, when it has 
 Y been given and met with a response, the work is by 
 no means at an end. We have seen them coming 
 forward or going into an inquiry-room; but what 
 then? The reply to this question is, The After- 
 meeting. 
 
 The after-meeting ought to be pretty much the 
 same whether conducted in an inquiry-room or in 
 the main service room, before the larger audience or 
 after those of the larger audience, who may wish 
 to do so, have retired. Here is the place where 
 deep, definite, durable work must be done. 
 
 Before any definite dealing with the inquirers 
 takes place it is often well to make out of the after- 
 meeting opportunity for another invitation. This 
 too may be done in numerous ways. Some of the 
 methods used in the larger service may be repeated 
 and among others not already mentioned the follow- 
 ing are very helpful. 
 
 I. Will those who are Christians tell us how long 
 you have been a Christian and give us one reason 
 why it pays to be a Christian. 
 
INVITATION AND AFTER-MEETING 20a 
 
 2. Will those of you who found in coming to 
 Christ some difficulty in the way, some obstacle or 
 something that made it hard for you to decide, make 
 it known by lifting the hand. Will you rise one 
 after the other and tell us what it was and how you 
 overcame it. 
 
 3. Will those in whose experience there was some 
 one thing especially that influenced you and helped 
 you perhaps more than any other to make the de- 
 cision please lift the hand. Will you rise and tell 
 us what it was. 
 
 4. How many of you believe that God answers 
 prayer for the unsaved? How many of you can 
 say that your prayer for some unsaved one has been 
 answered? Will you rise and tell us about it. 
 
 5. How many of you were won to Christ by per- 
 sonal work on the part of somebody else? Will you 
 rise and tell us about it. 
 
 In any one of these ways something will be said 
 that will help somebody else and always something 
 that the evangelist can catch and use as the basis of 
 another invitation. 
 
 But now that the last invitation has been given 
 the time has come for final, definite decision and 
 public confession. I am personally very partial at 
 this time to what used to be termed and is by many 
 yet termed the " Altar-service." The old-fashioned 
 inquiry-room, introduced perhaps by Nettleton and 
 followed so largely by Moody and Gipsy Smith, did 
 not as a rule have such a service but was devoted 
 
204 EVANGELISM 
 
 chiefly to the evangelist, the pastor and the personal 
 workers moving about among the inquirers and 
 seeking to give them such advice as might be needed 
 to help them through to Christ. I believe, however, 
 that room should be made for the altar-service 
 whether the after-meeting be held in the inquiry- 
 room or at the close of the service in the larger 
 audience room. 
 
 t Personal dealing with inquirers may take place 
 both before and after the altar-service or both, but 
 the altar-service should in either case by all means be 
 held. By an altar-service is meant a dealing with 
 the inquirers, ensemble, — together. If for any 
 reason, there is prejudice against the expression, 
 some other phraseology may be used with equal pro- 
 priety and effectiveness. 
 
 Here as before remarked the work must be very 
 thorough. The evangelists who are equally thor- 
 ough at this point have pretty much the same 
 method of procedure. 
 
 My own procedure is to have those who have 
 come forward rise. I then explain to them what I 
 hope they have signified by their action and set forth 
 as thoroughly as possible what it means to be a 
 Christian, and then ask them if they are ready to 
 say they will so accept Jesus Christ as their Lord 
 and Saviour, and if so, to lift their hand and say 
 audibly, " I will." Then comes a kneeling together 
 in the space reserved for this purpose right down 
 in front of the pulpit. 
 
INVITATION AND AFTER-MEETING 206 
 
 Some may regard the posture as a matter of very 
 little consequence. But it is much every way. It 
 brings down stiff knees that perhaps have never 
 knelt before; begets a sacred awe and reverence 
 which pertains to no other posture; and no other 
 posture should be encouraged at such a meeting 
 where there is room to kneel. 
 
 A verse of some appropriate hymn is then sung, 
 such as, "I am coming, Lord; coming now to 
 Thee," " Just as I am," " I am coming to the Cross." 
 Then some one who really knows how to pray sends 
 up a petition to God covering the intentions and 
 the needs of those kneeling in His presence. Then 
 because it is impossible for each to utter a separate 
 audible prayer, they are led in a concert prayer sen- 
 tence after sentence. I use a very simple compre- 
 hensive prayer and never change it throughout the 
 entire series of meetings. 
 
 After this prayer and before they have risen to 
 their feet a brief exhortation to ^assurance on the 
 ground of God's written Word is given and then 
 they are asked to rise. A few words of congratula- 
 tion are then given and they are asked to express 
 publicly their intention of continuing faithful in the 
 way they have started, by saying, " I do." Some 
 words of advice and counsel as to the future are 
 then given. Then while a song is being sung, their 
 names and church preference are secured on the de- 
 cision card (see page 144), a leaflet containing in- 
 formation as to the meaning of the Christian life 
 
206 EVANGELISM 
 
 and how to succeed in it is given to them. Any who 
 are not satisfied are asked to remain for further 
 prayer and help if desired, and the meeting is over. 
 
 A few words of caution are needed about record- 
 ing the results of the meetings from day to day, 
 not only because of the criticism engendered by 
 reason of abuse at this point, and the consequent 
 hurt to the cause of evangelism in general, but be- 
 cause of the assistance and satisfaction rendered to 
 the pastors in the movement when the matter is 
 handled in both a careful and conscientious way. 
 
 The evangelist is much at fault himself at this 
 point, especially in this day, and upon him much of 
 the responsibility rests for making misrepresenta- 
 tion possible by the kind of invitation he gives. 
 
 To preach a temperance sermon and ask all who 
 will take a stand against the liquor business to come ; 
 to preach a patriotic sermon and ask all who will 
 stand for God and native land to come; to preach 
 against the dance and ask all who will renounce it 
 and all who do not dance and never will to come; 
 to preach on consecration and ask all who want to 
 live closer to God to come; to preach to thousands 
 of little children and ask all who want to become 
 Christians to come; to work up a concerted move 
 on the part of some lodge and ask them to come, 
 and when they have come and have shaken the 
 evangelist's hand, to usher them into the front seats 
 and secure their names and count them as "trail- 
 hitters** or as so many "decisions** — ^this is a 
 
INVITATION AND AFTER-MEETING 207 
 
 pitiable travesty on what evangelistic work ought to 
 be. 
 
 We are not criticising the invitation but any evan- 
 gelist who uses such figures to swell his total of con- 
 versions in the columns of the press, or permits 
 them to be so used, is utterly unworthy of a place 
 in the sacred work to which he professes to have 
 been called. The whole church knows there is 
 absolutely no excuse for this sort of thing and the 
 world looks on and smiles a knowing sort of smile. 
 Some critics have been charitable enough to call it 
 " faulty arithmetic," but it can hardly be described 
 in such gentle phraseology as that. 
 
 We do not deprecate the publishing of figures. 
 It is helpful. But the figures should not be falsified, 
 and if they are reported at all should make it very 
 plain as to how many of them were reconsecrations 
 on the part of Christians and how many of them 
 were professed conversions and how many of them 
 also were little children. 
 
 Just how far the methods we have discussed can 
 be used in the work of any particular church de- 
 pends upon the character and temperament of its 
 members. Church members may be educated to an 
 appreciation of such work if it is done wisely and 
 with caution. In a church unaccustomed to and 
 prejudiced against evangelistic methods in general 
 I would advise for many weeks the inquiry-room 
 with the simplest form of after meeting. 
 
 It is ours to make revival results far more glorious 
 
208 EVANGELISM 
 
 than they often are if we will only give ourselves 
 to it. Let us seek the Lord until He comes and rains 
 righteousness upon us. Let us be quick to improve 
 every opportunity and every wise suggestion that 
 we may make full proof of our ministry. Let us 
 hunger and thirst for any power that will make us 
 wise in bringing men home to God and let us re- 
 joice in every other man's power to do the self-same 
 thing. Thus going out into the whitened fields, 
 spending and being spent, becoming all things to all 
 men, if by all means we might save some, so indeed 
 shall the harvest come when, " He that soweth and 
 he that reapeth shall rejoice together." 
 
IX 
 CONSERVATION OF RESULTS 
 
CONSERVATION OF RESULTS 
 I. Necessity of fidelity at this Point. 
 
 II. Conservation and the Evangelist. 
 
 1. Nature of the preaching. 
 
 2. Thoroughness in deahng with inquirers. 
 
 III. Conservation and the Pastor. 
 
 1. The need of 
 
 (a) A pastoral heart. 
 
 (b) A definite plan. 
 
 2. The means. 
 
 (a) Early reception into church membership. 
 
 (b) Enlisting interest of the church in pros- 
 
 pective members. 
 
 (c) Special character of the Sunday morning 
 
 services. 
 
 (d) The use of literature. 
 
 (e) The social phase of the work. 
 
 (f) Enlisting converts at once. 
 
 (i) In Bible study. 
 (2) In some definite form of Chris- 
 tian work. 
 
 (a) Personal work. Cam- 
 
 paign of Organized In- 
 dividual Evangelism. 
 
 (b) Social. Service. 
 
IX 
 
 CONSERVATION OF RESULTS 
 
 IT is at the point to which we have now come, 
 the point of Conservation, perhaps, beyond all 
 others that the work of evangelism needs to 
 be safeguarded. 
 
 In a ministers' meeting in a certain city, one of 
 the pastors said that he did not believe in evangel- 
 ists nor in evangelistic meetings because out of 103 
 inquirers whose names had been sent to him when 
 Dwight L. Moody was in that city some years ago, 
 only two were in the active membership of his 
 church. Another pastor remarked, " That is very 
 peculiar, for I received precisely the same number of 
 names, and in looking over my church roll the 
 other day I found that all of them except two are 
 now consistent members of my church." In view 
 of such experiences we may well be careful not to 
 draw too hasty conclusions. 
 
 Conservation is a great word. If the witness of 
 science is reliable, then science through all the ages 
 has been administering a silent and yet powerful 
 rebuke to our extravagance and carelessness in gen- 
 eral in the law known as the Conservation of 
 Energy, which would have us believe that energy 
 or any force once communicated to a body or 
 
 211 
 
212 EVANGELISM 
 
 system of bodies is never lost. It may be dis- 
 tributed but it always exists as potential energy. 
 
 Conservation merely means the preservation from 
 loss or waste or injury. We are hearing much 
 about it in these times. It has been made im- 
 perative by the multiplied demands consequent upon 
 the awful tragedy of world war through which we 
 have just passed. But shall we be less careful in 
 the spiritual kingdom where such tremendous issues 
 are involved? 
 
 When the Men and Religion Forward Movement 
 came to its close after a year of revival work of 
 various kinds in hundreds of cities and towns all 
 over the United States, the leaders of the work felt 
 so much the need and realized so much the wisdom 
 of conservation that a Conservation Congress was 
 called at New York City where nearly 2,000 dele- 
 gates met from thirty-seven different states to em- 
 phasize this fact and to study together the best 
 means of making it effective. 
 
 Nowhere so much as at the close of an evangel- 
 istic campaign is the need for careful and thorough 
 methods of conservation so imperative. It is just 
 at this time that the real duty and opportunity of 
 the church begins. Let the work during the re- 
 vival period be ever so thorough, if the work im- 
 mediately following it is not just as thorough much 
 of that which might have been accomplished will be 
 lost. 
 
 It is needless to say that the permanency of the 
 
CONSERVATION OF RESULTS 213 
 
 work depends much, very much, upon the fideHty of 
 the pastor just at this point. It is sad to think of 
 the many who have taken the first step toward 
 Christ who will slip back again into the old life 
 and be lost to Christ, it may be forever, if some one 
 does not care for them and carefully direct them in 
 the way they should go and in the things they should 
 know. 
 
 I have had people say to me, " Just wait and you 
 will see that they won't hold out.'* I think a speech 
 like that is almost criminal. I am sure the spirit 
 that prompts it never inspires one word of encour- 
 agement for those who are trying to hold out. Sup- 
 pose that all members of the church had a spirit 
 like that! You might as well expect a new-born 
 babe to sustain its life by tugging at the cold and 
 unresponsive breast of a lifeless mother as to put 
 one just born into the Kingdom into the fellowship 
 of a church like that and expect it to hold out. The 
 Church is the bride of Christ and the mother of 
 God's children, and would you think her a wise and 
 considerate mother who would wait to see if her 
 baby just born would hold out and live and at the 
 same time fail to protect it from the cold and to 
 provide it with properly prepared food! But the 
 spiritual life is even more delicate than the physical, 
 and because of such treatment many a one has been 
 chilled and starved in the very house of God. It is 
 the business of the church to see that the converts 
 do hold out. 
 
214. EVANGELISM 
 
 Conservation is of course the work of the pastor 
 and his people and the evangelist as a rule does not 
 share in it except in so far as he is careful to give 
 to his own work such a character as will make the 
 work of conservation all the easier for those who 
 must remain after he has passed on to other fields 
 of labour. But this after all is no small factor 
 among the forces and the influences that ensure 
 permanency to the work accomplished. 
 
 There are just two points at which the evan- 
 gelist can render yeoman service to this cause; 
 first, in the nature of his preaching, and second, 
 in the thoroughness with which he deals widi 
 inquirers. 
 
 The nature of his preaching. There are entirely 
 too many evangelists, and this is quite often true of 
 the pastors, whose sermons are little else than a 
 string of stories — just tellers of anecdotes. No one 
 believes in the anecdote, the story, the illustration 
 more than I. It has its place in the most proper 
 sermon. But the crying need of the day in the 
 evangelistic world is for preaching that gives evi- 
 dence both of a little more study and hard work 
 on the part of the preacher, and hews a little closer 
 to Paul's injunction to Timothy, when he told him 
 to " Preach the Word." 
 
 I am especially concerned about this latter. I 
 have gone from section to section of this country, 
 
CONSERVATION OF RESULTS 215 
 
 and have sat in the presence of white-haired minis- 
 ters and Hstened while they told me of the times 
 of refreshing they used to have; how the labourers 
 would tear their aprons from them and come run- 
 ning from the factory to the house of God; how 
 men who had not bent the knee for fifty years would 
 ask the privilege to pray; and young and old would 
 tremble for their sins and cry out in deep concern, 
 " What must we do ? " And I have wondered if 
 one of the reasons why it is not so today is not to 
 be found in the marked contrast between the preach- 
 ing of then and now. I do not mean in style, for 
 this must change; but in the substance of the mes- 
 sage. And perhaps if there is any one point at 
 which we have failed in modern times, it is in not 
 giving to the trenchant and fundamental doctrines 
 of the Word the emphasis God expected when He 
 first gave us the call to be a preacher of the Gospel 
 of His glorious Son. 
 
 Believe me, this is the thing that people want. 
 Let a man get firmly established on the great doc- 
 trines of the Word and he feels and knows that he 
 has got granite under his feet cut from the ever- 
 lasting hills of truth. 
 
 There is the doctrine of sin. Men must be made 
 to see that sin is something more than a microbe. 
 The curse of modern evangelism is the shallowness 
 of conviction. People are accepting the Gospel in- 
 vitation pretty much as if it were a personal favour 
 ^to God to have them do so. 
 
216 EVANGELISM 
 
 There is the doctrine of sin's deserts. What is 
 the use of crying " Flee from the wrath to come," 
 if there is no coming wrath from which to flee? 
 
 There's the doctrine of sin's atonement. These 
 are days of fulcrum salvation. But a religion that 
 begins underneath a man has the wrong working 
 principle. The religion of the cross is the almighty 
 hand of God reaching down. 
 
 There is the doctrine of the new birth. What 
 a man needs is a new heart; not a new suit of 
 clothes. And there is Repentance and Forgiveness 
 and Justification by faith. And if we would give 
 up some of our tear-fetching stories and root our 
 mind and our conscience and our soul deep down in 
 the fundamental truths of God's Word we would 
 find again the rock-rooted conviction and sound 
 conversion of earlier days, and when a soul comes 
 under such circumstances it will come with an ex- 
 perience out of which it will not so easily be en- 
 ticed again by the beggarly elements of the world. 
 
 The other thing the evangelist can do is to deal 
 thoroughly zvith his inquirers. Much of modern 
 evangelism is lamentably weak just here. If there 
 is ever a time of soul crisis it is during the invita- 
 tion and after-meeting of a revival service, when 
 a soul under deep conviction for sin is anxiously 
 seeking to know Him whom to know aright is life 
 eternal. How when an invalid in the critical period 
 hangs balancing between life and death does the 
 physician watch every symptom and anxiously count 
 
CONSERVATION OF RESULTS 217 
 
 the pulse beats in a minute ! And how much greater 
 than that ought to be the concern of the spiritual 
 adviser when he realizes of what tremendous con- 
 sequences an item of advice, a right or wrong direc- 
 tion may be ! 
 
 God pity us if we are to be careless and hurried 
 at a time Hke that! And yet I have gone into the 
 meetings of some evangelists and the work, or 
 rather the lack of it, at the close of the sermon was 
 pathetic and heart-breaking. 
 
 They used to talk in other times about " ex- 
 periencing religion." The coinage of a better ex- 
 pression is difficult to conceive. A professed con- 
 version in which there has been no real experience 
 of a changed heart is no conversion at all. But 
 we have improved upon the expression so much in 
 this day that we now talk of "hitting the trail." 
 In some way the idea has prevailed with many that 
 walking the aisle and taking the evangelist's hand 
 is all that is needed and as a consequence many of 
 our evangelistic campaigns have degenerated very 
 largely into a general proposition of hand-shaking 
 and card-signing or name-getting. But this is a 
 sorry spectacle for a time like that when an eternal 
 destiny is hanging in the balance. 
 
 As a result of this hurried and superficial dealing 
 with inquirers we find quite often when the revival 
 is over that the results are not at all commensurate 
 with what we had hoped and what we had a reason- 
 able right to expect. In some of our more recent 
 
218 EVANGELISM 
 
 evangelistic campaigns, and campaigns too of excep- 
 tionally large proportions, it has been discovered 
 that not more than one-tenth, and sometimes even 
 less than one -tenth, of the people who " hit the 
 trail," so to speak, furnished evidence of their con- 
 version by later reception into church membership. 
 When anything like this is true, it is a sad commen- 
 tary on what genuine evangelistic work ought to be. 
 
 As the result of a series of meetings one pastor 
 was given 246 decision cards and of the people rep- 
 resented by them 209 became members of his church 
 and of these 200 answered roll-call one year later. 
 It is needless to say that thorough and conscientious 
 work must have been done by both evangelist and 
 pastor in an instance like that. 
 
 Evangelists are wont to say that when they go 
 they leave the responsibility for the permanence of 
 the results behind; the responsibility then becomes 
 the pastor's. But this is far from the truth and 
 it is anything but fair to shift the responsibility for 
 poor results of a revival effort upon the pastor if 
 the evangelist has trifled with the work at the very 
 point where permanence or impermanence is largely 
 and in a sense altogether determined. 
 
 CONSERVATION AND THE PASTOR 
 
 But we must now come back to what was said 
 a moment ago. The evangelist may have been ever 
 so thorough, but if the pastor is not just as thorough 
 in the follow-up work much that might have been 
 
CONSERVATION OF RESULTS 219 
 
 conserved will be lost. Conservation is therefore 
 chiefly the work of the pastor and his people. 
 
 The pastor must of course have a pastoral 
 heart. If a man has the least touch of that di- 
 vine compassion that stirred the heart of the Son of 
 Man when He saw the multitude like sheep without 
 a shepherd; if he has any genuine concern at all for 
 the spiritual welfare of the souls which God has 
 made it possible for him to reach, he will not fail 
 at least in consecrated, earnest effort to reach and 
 hold and build them up in the fear of God and in 
 the doctrines of the Gospel. And if he does not 
 have this compassion and this concern, though he 
 be a minister of the Gospel or a professor in a 
 Theological Seminary, and call himself a Christian, 
 he has not yet come into possession of the Spirit 
 of the great Christ whose concern for him and for 
 you and me and the multitude was outpoured in 
 the blood that poured from His wounded, broken 
 heart on Calvary. 
 
 Shortly after the close of a series of meetings, 
 which it was my privilege to conduct and where 
 God had richly honoured the preaching of His 
 (Word, a paper was sent to me in which a minister, 
 who had not co-operated in the meeting because of 
 lack of sympathy, as he said, with the method, had 
 aired his sentiments in regard to the work through 
 which the churches of the city had just gone. He 
 said it remained to be seen whether the work had 
 
220 EVANGELISM 
 
 any thoroughness in it and at the same time ex- 
 pressed himself quite freely on the fact, as he would 
 have it, that many of those professing conversion 
 would not hold out. He then said that he had re- 
 ceived nearly 300 cards representing people who 
 had professed conversion and stated a preference 
 for his church. He said of course it was the 
 duty of the church to welcome these people if they 
 wished to come. Then he threw out, as it were, a 
 challenge, almost it seemed in a spirit of a wager 
 that it would not be accepted, that if they wished 
 to make good they should come to the prayer meet- 
 ing and make it known or hunt up his church offi- 
 cials or himself and show by their fruits the sin- 
 cerity of their profession. How could it be expected 
 that the results of a revival effort could be con- 
 served through the ministry of a man with a spirit 
 like that. It hadn't seemed to dawn upon him that 
 it was his business to go out and encourage them 
 to come in. 
 
 The pastor must also have some definite plan 
 for this particular part of the work and then con- 
 scientiously work the plan. No pastor can have 
 have any reasonable hope for the best results in 
 Conservation without this. It is worth the best 
 thought and finest energy of any pastor's brain 
 and hand. 
 
 The thoughtful pastor, the pastor deeply con- 
 cerned about revival results, will find plenty of 
 
CONSERVATION OF RESULTS 221 
 
 things to do as he applies himself to the task of 
 Conservation, but among other things the following 
 six ought to be done. 
 
 An early reception into church membership. 
 Don't wait. Gather those who give evidence of 
 genuine conversion into the church at once. Make 
 as uncomfortable as possible that professing 
 Christian in your congregation who says he can be 
 a Christian and stay out of church membership. If 
 it is right for one to stay out, it is right for two; 
 and if it is right for two, it is right for two thou- 
 sand; and if everybody did like that one man does, 
 it would be a sorry condition of affairs. 
 
 But these converts need the church much more 
 than the church needs them. While the impressions 
 are still fresh upon them, while they are ductile and 
 in the shapable period, they should be encouraged 
 and helped in every possible way. Above every- 
 thing else they should be made to see their great 
 need of just the kind of help the church can bring 
 to them and be induced to realize that their al- 
 legiance to the Lord Jesus Christ involves a re- 
 sponsibility to the institution that Christ established 
 to propagate His faith throughout the world. To 
 delay at this point may be to lose some of the con- 
 verts altogether. 
 
 The enlistment of church members with a iMew 
 to assisting the pastor in this work. It is impossible 
 for any one pastor to do this work alone especially 
 if the revival results shall have been at all large. 
 
222 EVANGELISM 
 
 There is a lot of unutilized energy in every church. 
 Steam was waiting to run locomotives long before 
 Watt saw the kettle-lid rise. Electric waves had 
 been running waste from the dawn of time until 
 Marconi learned how to direct them. It is so with 
 the energy of the church. And a wise and vigilant 
 leadership will not fail to find within the boundaries 
 of the church some task for every member to do, 
 and rounding up of the converts of a revival cam- 
 paign for church membership is a work in which 
 every member can have a part if the assignment of 
 such work be carefully made. 
 
 You will find as a rule that it is best to assign 
 each convert to perhaps two of the members. This 
 may often mean that each member may have a share 
 in looking after several converts. This service 
 should not cease with the convert's reception into 
 church membership, but should continue in other 
 forms for some months after until that convert is 
 thoroughly introduced into the life and work of 
 the church. 
 
 In the city of Syracuse, New York, Rev. T. F. 
 Keeney, the pastor of one of the largest Methodist 
 churches there, followed out this plan at the close 
 of a revival campaign and he says that he gathered 
 into his church nearly all the professed converts 
 who had stated a preference for it, and that all 
 who did come in were held and gave 37 per cent 
 of the church benevolence during the first year 
 of their Christian life. 
 
CONSERVATION OF RESULTS 223 
 
 The special character of the Sunday morning 
 service. This service for several weeks should be 
 devoted to such themes as are fundamental to a 
 true and an earnest Christian life. Getting con- 
 verts is one thing; keeping them is quite another; 
 and to be kept they must be trained and established 
 in the faith. 
 
 It is not merely members that the church needs. 
 The Lord told Gideon that the people that were 
 with him were too many. What wiser thing could 
 a pastor therefore do than to plan out for his 
 Sunday morning services a systematic course of 
 instruction for the converts, dealing with the evi- 
 dences of Christianity, the fundamental doctrines 
 of the faith, the meaning of the church ordinances 
 and the covenant engagement entered into by join- 
 ing the church. 
 
 Certainly this is a duty every pastor owes to those 
 uniting with his church, and there is no time so 
 opportune for doing it as at the Sunday morning 
 service when they are most likely in attendance. 
 And if he will do it, he will find himself surrounded 
 by a church membership not only rooted and 
 grounded in the faith, but one upon which he can 
 depend to help him put forward the concerns of 
 the Kingdom when the call for service comes, in- 
 stead of a church full of people who do not know 
 when they were converted or what they were con- 
 verted for, or whether or no they were converted 
 at all. 
 
224. EVANGELISM 
 
 The iise of literature. The church has yet to 
 learn the power of the Gospel in literature. A table 
 of carefully selected literature should always be 
 kept, the literature sold at cost or at a small profit 
 in the interest of some part of the church work. 
 
 On this table the pastor should see that there 
 are some leaflets and books especially adapted to 
 the needs of those having just entered the Christian 
 life. Tracts may very properly and with great 
 benefit be mailed to such people and in various ways 
 be used to the strengthening and making secure the 
 young Christian in his new-found faith. There is 
 no way to calculate how great may be the influence 
 of the right kind of reading on a human life at such 
 a time as this, while it is certain that much of the 
 help so received would never touch his life in any 
 other way. 
 
 The social phase of the work. No finer nor more 
 Christian thing could be done than for a reception 
 to be given by the members to those just coming 
 in. It is not only true that the convert has broken, 
 and wisely, with much of his former companion- 
 ship and is therefore lonely and quite naturally 
 hungering for new and higher fellowship; but if he 
 is ever to receive the spiritual help which he so much 
 needs and which the church alone can furnish he 
 must be made to feel that the church is his spiritual 
 home and that here friendships are to be formed 
 that are to be both helpful and eternal. 
 
 The church ought to be a social centre for its 
 
CONSERVATION OF RESULTS 225 
 
 members and their friends — not an institution sup- 
 ported by oyster suppers and festivals, but a place 
 where people can find in the name of Christ such 
 high social enjoyments and spiritual fellowship as 
 will help them to realize that they are members of 
 the same family in the Lord. That would be a 
 strange family whose members were not well enough 
 acquainted to recognize each other on the street, and 
 yet this is altogether too much true of most church 
 families. Let there at least then be this reception 
 given to the new members by the old. 
 
 In one city for several months after the revival 
 a union fellowship meeting was held every Monday 
 night to which the converts were invited and whose 
 attendance upon which was most encouraging. The 
 committee in charge of the conservation work of 
 the campaign reported that 95 per cent of all the 
 professed conversions proved to be satisfactory. 
 
 The enlistments of the converts at once in Bible 
 s^ttfdy and in some definite form, of Christian serv- 
 ice. 
 
 It goes without saying that the convert must study 
 his Bible. There can be no Virile or enduring 
 Christian growth or experience without sinking the 
 roots of one's faith deep down in the rich soil and 
 the fresh springs of God's Word. Its sincere milk 
 and unadulterated meat is as certainly indispensable 
 for the new-born babe of the Kingdom as the proper 
 food in the physical world is for the development of 
 any sort of vigorous life in that sphere. Such a 
 
226 EVANGELISM 
 
 Bible Class therefore should be organized as will 
 afford the new convert opportunity for that study 
 of the Word which is best suited for his need in 
 that earliest experience of his Christian life. 
 
 But Bible study alone is not enough. The editor 
 of one of the leading Australian religious journals 
 has said, " The churches are in peril today of dying, 
 not of hardship but of idleness. They perish not 
 because their faith is wrecked by external storms, 
 but because they are eaten within by the moth and 
 the canker worm of sloth. The converts, the new 
 members, come expecting courageous and sympa- 
 thetic leadership, a leadership that shall find fitting 
 tasks for them, a leadership that has in it both the 
 seriousness of duty and the fire of enthusiasm, and 
 this is what every church needs if the work of an 
 evangelistic campaign is to permanently enrich the 
 community." Standing water always stagnates and 
 so does a standing Christian. A Christian is sup- 
 posed to be a servant, and this he will be if he has 
 the spirit of the One who said, " I am among you 
 as one that serveth." 
 
 There are many things that a vigilant leader- 
 ship will find for the convert to do, but there are 
 two phases of work to which he must especially 
 be led to give himself ; one is Personal Work and 
 the other is Social Service. 
 
 Personal work is something that every Christian 
 can do. They saved a man from a wreck some time 
 
CONSERVATION OF RESULTS 227 
 
 ago and when they got him out he was unconscious, 
 and when they brought him back the first thing he 
 said was, " There's another man." Saved himself, 
 his first concern was for somebody else. And that 
 is the spirit of the Gospel. It is for such a purpose 
 as this the Christian is saved. 
 
 A profession of religion, as some one has said, 
 is no sinecure, and if the convert says, as he should 
 say, upon entering the Christian life, " Lord, what 
 wilt Thou have me to do?", he will experience no 
 difficulty in understanding the voice that repHes tell- 
 ing him, as it told Andrew, to first find his own 
 brother and bring him to Christ. 
 
 There is nothing that so encourages and so 
 strengthens the new convert in his own Christian ^ 
 life as to be used in helping some one else into a 
 saving knowledge with Jesus Christ and he will 
 never know the joy of real Christian experience 
 until he is so used. 
 
 No one needs to hesitate about this work because 
 of the lack of opportunity to do it. Opportunities 
 are crowding thick all around about us and if we 
 do not use them they will, we are given to under- 
 stand, rise up in eternity to speak against us. 
 
 When Jerry McAuley was in penitentiary as he 
 walked lock-step with the other prisoners to their 
 meals and to their work he would lean forward and 
 talk to the man in front of him about Christ. A 
 man can always find opportunity for this kind of 
 work if he is really looking for it. 
 
228 EVANGELISM 
 
 A young woman had been reading the life of 
 Frances Willard and came to Dr. Torrey asking if 
 he could not advise her how to do something. She 
 wanted to make her life count like that perhaps 
 of Miss Willard. But Dr. Torrey said " How 
 about the members of your own family? Are they 
 all Christians?" And when she gave a negative 
 reply, he said, " Why not, then, begin right at 
 home? " She saw it and Dr. Torrey later lent tes- 
 timony that as he watched that young woman she 
 led every member of her large family to Christ, 
 and then was working hard with the same purpose 
 among her many relatives. 
 
 Because, then, of the fundamental importance of 
 this work and of the abounding opportunity to 
 undertake it, and because of God's will and specific 
 command concerning it, as well as the possibilities 
 connected with it in spreading the Gospel and en- 
 riching the life of the Christian worker, the pastor 
 should by every means possible encourage the con- 
 verts in making it a part of their own Christian 
 experience. 
 
 There should be a Personal Workers* Training 
 Class for this particular purpose. The best books 
 on the subject (and there are many of them) should 
 be brought to the attention of the converts who are 
 anxious to do this personal service for others. They 
 should be made acquainted with the Word of God as 
 it bears on the subject and with all the best methods 
 for doing this blessed and all-important work. 
 
CONSERVATION OF RESULTS 229 
 
 methods for doing this blessed and all-important 
 work. 
 
 Just here will be seen an added reason why a 
 carefully prepared and well-thought-out campaign 
 of Individual evangelism should be undertaken im- 
 mediately at the close of the series of public evan- 
 gelistic meetings. The pastor who puts the matter 
 fairly before his people, especially at the close of an 
 evangelistic campaign, will be delightfully surprised 
 at the number of his people who will covenant for 
 this particular form of work under his leadership, 
 and he will be especially delighted at the large per- 
 centage of new converts whom he will find not only 
 ready but anxious to have a share in it. Such a 
 campaign of individual or personal evangelism at 
 such a time should under no circumstances whatever 
 be neglected. 
 
 Then scarcely less important, if any, than this 
 is what in this day zve call Social Service. Of the 
 two terms this is really the more comprehensive and 
 might very properly be taken as inclusive of per- 
 sonal work and all other forms of Christian service. 
 Social Service means serving society, and this, just 
 this, in the ultimate is each and every form of 
 Christian service. 
 
 Henry Sloane Coffin says, "Social Service is 
 everything that men plan and do to accomplish the 
 purpose of God in Jesus Christ for any man, woman 
 or child — for any group of persons — for the whole 
 \vorld. It includes evangelism, for the saving of 
 
230 EVANGELISM 
 
 a man is the chief social service that can be rendered 
 him." 
 
 Indeed all the reforms that have really blest the 
 world have all followed in the wake of revivals of 
 grace. Dr. Dale has said that George Whitefield and 
 John Wesley did more for the social redemption of 
 England than all the politicians of this century or 
 the last. 
 
 In speaking therefore of social service we are not 
 making reference to that system of proposed amelio- 
 ration that waives evangelism off the scene and 
 substitutes a " soap and soup salvation " for the 
 grace of God in Christ, and proposes to regenerate 
 the individual by getting the bad blood out of his 
 veins, the sewer gas out of his nostrils and a dose 
 of ethical culture into his head or perhaps by secur- 
 ing for him a new set of grandparents. 
 
 But we refer to social service in its truer and 
 better sense, the social service growing out of the 
 constraining grace of God in Christ and finding 
 after all in that grace the ground of its real worth. 
 And here, whether it be carrying the Gospel to the 
 sick and aged, to those in prison or those in the 
 slums, taking part in the charitable side of the 
 church work, the social reforms of the community 
 or any of the many other forms of such service — 
 here is a field into which energies of the convert may 
 be directed with resultant benefit of large measure 
 not only to the community but in the helpful re- 
 actionary influence upon the convert himself. 
 
CONSERVATION OF RESULTS 231 
 
 The pastor who is aUve to the needs of the 
 situation will not fail to realize this and will not 
 only help the convert to opportunities for such serv- 
 ice but will stress the importance of it as one of 
 the chief ends of the Christian Hfe. 
 
 I cannot refrain in closing this lecture from 
 taking one moment for a personal application of 
 this great truth, and for asking, each one his own 
 self, if we have been thoughtful and earnest about 
 this side of the Christian life as we should have 
 
 been. 
 
 The story is told of a Russian peasant driving 
 
 home one time through a fierce winter night and 
 
 passing the barracks he saw a sentinel standing at 
 
 his post and shivering in the bitter cold. He took 
 
 off his heavy fur overcoat and wrapped it about the 
 
 suffering man and then drove on for hours until 
 
 he reached his home. But the ordeal was too much 
 
 for him and pneumonia took hold of him and in a 
 
 few weeks brought him to his death. He had a 
 
 dream before he died and he said he dreamed of his 
 
 death and when he entered into the other world 
 
 he found himself in heaven before the throne and 
 
 the strange thing was, he said, that Jesus seemed 
 
 to know him; and said the dying man, "As He 
 
 stepped down from His throne to greet me He had 
 
 on my old grey overcoat." I believe He did. " In 
 
 as much as ye have done it unto the least of one of 
 
 these ye have done it unto me." And if we had a 
 
 church with a membership ready always to be as 
 
232 EVANGELISM 
 
 Jesus in His outgoing compassion for the broken- 
 hearted and the stricken there would be such a lift- 
 ing up of this world's life to God as would cause it 
 to shine with the glorious light of the millennial 
 dawn. 
 
 These are only a few of the suggestions that 
 might profitably be made concerning the conserva- 
 tion of results of a revival campaign to which, with 
 others, if the pastor will give himself with studied 
 earnestness he will not be found chagrined and dis- 
 appointed over the unstable and dissipated results 
 of what he had prayed and hoped would be a cam- 
 paign of large and permanent fruitage for his own 
 church and for the Kingdom of God for which his 
 church exists. 
 
THE GREAT EVANGELIST— THE HOLY 
 SPIRIT 
 
THE GREAT EVANGELIST— THE HOLY SPIRIT 
 I. The place of the Holy Spirit in the Economy of God. 
 II. His Personality. 
 
 III. His Indwelling. 
 
 IV. His Infilling or Baptism. 
 
 (i) What it is. 
 
 (2) What it does for us. 
 
 (a) As to character. 
 
 (b) As to knowledge. 
 
 (c) As to power. 
 
 (3) Do we need it? 
 
 (4) How may it be secured? 
 
 (5) What it involves. 
 
 V. We may have Him in His fulness now. 
 
THE GREAT EVANGELIST— THE HOLY 
 SPIRIT 
 
 THE world is continually bearing silent but 
 mighty testimony to the unique and im- 
 portant personage of Jesus Christ by dating 
 its chronology from His advent. And just as the 
 chronology of the world is dated from Christ*s ad- 
 vent, so the chronology of the Church should be and 
 is dated from the advent of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 But the promise of Jesus was that the Holy Spirit 
 would abide. He was to be the administrator of the 
 affairs of the Kingdom. His ministry therefore did 
 not come to an end with the establishment of the 
 Church. He is here today and as sorely needed now 
 as then. 
 
 The Holy Spirit is mentioned 90 times in the-Old 
 Testament and 264 times in the New Testament 
 and He surely must play a very important part in 
 the economy of God to be given a place of so much 
 prominence in the divine revelation to us. The 
 minister of the Gospel as well as the members of his 
 church are far away from appreciating this fact as 
 they ought. 
 
 A noted doctor once said that if the average 
 285 
 
236 EVANGELISM 
 
 physician didn^t know any more about Materia 
 Medica than the average church member knows 
 about the Bible and God's plan of redemption he 
 would give up his profession as a self-confessed 
 failure. This thing can be said especially as to the 
 Person and work of the Holy Spirit. It is not 
 merely for the sake of the knowledge itself — the 
 knowledge of who He is and what He has done and 
 what He is able to do today, but for the sake of 
 what a personal appropriation of His offer to work 
 in us and through us will mean both for ourselves 
 and for the world that we should be intelligent along 
 this line. 
 
 Many of us are like Al Hafed. We are losing 
 our inheritance because we don^t know what it is. 
 There came from the press some time ago the story 
 of a man who lived through a trance to a period 
 one hundred years after the trance came upon him. 
 I mean, " Looking Backward,'' by Edward Bellamy. 
 In fact we have found that Mr. Bellamy was not so 
 crazy after all. Society according to this book had 
 made marvellous advances and everywhere the man 
 turned he was met with new revelations of grandeur 
 and glory. The wonders of science and the marvels 
 of invention were so many that he could scarcely 
 comprehend them and at times he simply felt com- 
 pelled to sit down and contemplate and wonder at 
 the marvellous things to which he had fallen heir. 
 It is exactly so with the study of the Holy Spirit. 
 At every step you take you find some new treasure, 
 
THE GREAT EVANGELIST 237 
 
 some richer experience, some closer fellowship, some 
 additional increment of power until you are simply 
 compelled to sit back and wonder at the marvellous 
 grace that brought it all about. 
 
 You will notice that we have used the personal 
 pronoun in speaking about the Holy Spirit. So does 
 the Word everywhere. I have had people say that 
 it is hard to think of Him as a person. But there is 
 no reason why it should be. The thing that makes 
 a person of you is not the colour of your eyes nor 
 the sound of your voice nor the shape of your body. 
 It is that about you that thinks, wills, loves and ap- 
 preciates moral distinctions, and if the Holy Spirit 
 can do these things then He is a person just as 
 much as you are or I am. 
 
 When you once begin to appreciate the fact that 
 the Holy Spirit is a person, it is painful to hear Him 
 spoken of as an " it ". You wouldn't appreciate 
 being called an " it " yourself. I often hear people 
 who ought to know better ask God in praying for 
 the Holy Spirit to send " it " upon them. 
 
 In fact, in a very certain sense it is hardly proper 
 to pray at all that God would send the Holy Spirit 
 to us. The Holy Spirit has already been sent. He 
 is here. If there is any verse the Christian ought 
 to memorize and appreciate, it is I Corinthians 
 3 : 1 6, — " Know ye not that ye are the temples 
 of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in 
 you?" 
 
 We are amazed at the unmeasured condescension 
 
238 EVANGELISM 
 
 that brought the Spirit of God as a permanent resi- 
 dent to these unhallowed bodies of ours and caused 
 them to become, as Paul says in another place, the 
 hallowed temples of the Holy Ghost. But just this 
 is God's Word to us. The Christian therefore is 
 already in possession of the indwelling of the Holy 
 Spirit. Every man at his regeneration receives the 
 Holy Spirit, and " li any man has not the Spirit 
 of Christ he is none of His." 
 
 It is not therefore the coming of the Holy Spirit 
 that we need, nor for which we should pray. We 
 need rather to have the already indwelling Spirit of 
 God work out His unhindered will in our soul. 
 Sometimes somebody will say, " How much of the 
 Holy Spirit may I have?" But we need to have 
 a care just here. The Holy Spirit is a person and 
 when He comes He comes in His entirety. It is 
 not after all a question of how much of the Holy 
 Spirit you may have. It is a question of how much 
 of yourself you are ready to make over to the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 No one will ever know what it really means to 
 be a Christian; what really is the thought of God 
 for His child until He has in glad self -surrender 
 to the will of God allowed the Holy Spirit to enter 
 the throne room of his soul and rule his life in un- 
 disputed sway. You will remember that Paul prayed 
 a marvellous prayer for us — ^that we " might be 
 filled with all the fulness of God.'* That is prayer in- 
 deed, as William Arthur said, at which we falter. 
 
THE GREAT EVANGELIST 239 
 
 I know it seems like a sublime flight after the im- 
 possible, but we must not forget that the God of our 
 fathers is our God today. 
 
 People are asking what the Baptism of the Holy- 
 Spirit means. I like rather to speak of it as Paul 
 did when he said, " Be filled with the Holy Spirit." 
 And if I were to attempt an answer to that question 
 of what this means I would say, It means just that 
 to which we have already referred. It is God Him- 
 self, pouring His fulness, so to speak, into the empty 
 reservoir of a believer^s soul; God Himself, in the 
 person of His Holy Spirit, working out His un- 
 hindered will in a man's soul for the perfection of 
 his life, the enlightenment of his mind and his 
 equipment for service, causing him to be and to know 
 and to do all that is possible in this way for the soul 
 and the life of that man to experience. 
 
 To be — that means Character. To know — that 
 mean Knowledge. To do — that means Power. 
 
 Character! I do not believe that in passing 
 from the seventh to the eighth chapter of Romans 
 Paul ever for one moment meant to imply that he 
 had left the old nature and its antagonisms forever 
 behind. But I do believe in victory over sin and 
 that the second verse of the eighth chapter of 
 Romans is its law. " For the law of the Spirit of 
 life in Christ Jesus," says Paul, "hath made me 
 free from the law of sin and death." 
 
 I have known weak and faltering Christians to be 
 so transformed by the filling of God's Spirit that 
 
240 EVANGELISM 
 
 they became utter strangers to their former selves. 
 But you and I shall stand helpless and abashed in 
 the presence of our temptations and our sin until 
 we learn out of a rich experience that the Spirit of 
 God can flow through the soul like a mighty tide of 
 conquering power overcoming and driving out and 
 drowning out the old self life until our lives shall 
 be touched with something of the very beauty of 
 the character of the Son of God. 
 
 Knowledge! And this is threefold 
 
 First, — " The Spirit beareth witness with our 
 spirits that we are the Children of God." That's 
 knowledge of sonship; assurance of salvation. The 
 Christian who is simply a hoping Christian is a 
 " hopping " Christian after all. It's a lame religion 
 that doesn't know its Lord. 
 
 It is possible to have such a deep witness of God's 
 Spirit with your own, that God will become so real 
 to you, through the revelation of His Son, that all 
 things else in the universe will seem unreal in com- 
 parison with Him, and if your life has been count- 
 ing but little for God and bringing but little satis- 
 faction to your own soul you will find one of the 
 reasons for this in that you have lacked this knowl- 
 edge, this assurance of sonship, that comes from the 
 filling of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 Second, — " As many as are led by the Spirit of 
 God, they are the sons of God." That's knowledge 
 
THE GREAT EVANGELIST 241 
 
 of the will of God concerning the question of duty. 
 It is ours, He has told us, " to be able to prove and 
 to know what is the perfect and acceptable will of 
 God." 
 
 As clearly as the children of God in other days 
 were guided by the shining cloud and the bright fire, 
 so does the voice of His Spirit whisper today to 
 the soul that has the listening ear. And if we are 
 not quick to discern between right and wrong; if 
 we do not know where to go or what to do, the fault 
 is ours. And the truth is that if we are not walking 
 in clear paths shining brighter and brighter unto the 
 perfect day it is because we are not filled with the 
 Holy Spirit of God. 
 
 Third, — "The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, 
 the deep things of God." That's knowledge of 
 God's truth, and when the Spirit of God becomes 
 your interpreter you will find the pages of His 
 blessed Book flowing with light and throbbing with 
 the manifestation of truth as it is in Christ Jesus. 
 The deepest teachings of the Word are almost 
 meaningless for most members of the church. Paul 
 says, " these things are spiritually discerned." And 
 to be " filled with the Spirit " will be to read with 
 an ever-increasing clearness of spiritual perception 
 the things of God which are as yet written in mys- 
 tery for the ordinary child of God. For these 
 things, says Paul, " are revealed unto us by His 
 Spirit." 
 
 If this book which I hold in my hand is the Word 
 
242 EVANGELISM 
 
 of God it is a mighty important thing to know what 
 it says. 
 
 But what does the Word of God say? Inter- 
 preted by cold logic and acute learning alone we 
 have one answer in the dark heresies of the pulpit 
 and the barren theological treatises of so-called re- 
 ligious scholars. But the promise of Christ was that 
 when the Holy Spirit came He would " guide us 
 into all truth," and a mind illumined by the Spirit, 
 a scholar or a child "filled with the Spirit" can 
 no more doubt, as he studies the Word, the divinity 
 of Christ, the need and worth of His atonement 
 or the inspiration of the Book than he can doubt the 
 fact of his own existence in the universe round about 
 him. 
 
 Power! "Ye shall receive power," said 
 Christ to the disciples, " after that the Holy Spirit 
 is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto 
 me." That's power for service. 
 
 You can't define power. But you can appreciate 
 it. There is power in fire, and mighty buildings of 
 brick and stone and iron are melted at its touch. 
 There is power in wind and mighty ships are driven 
 across the sea, deep-rooted forests are torn from the 
 earth and whole cities are swept into splintered ruin. 
 There is power in water. Think of the irresistible 
 power of a flood. And yet if these could speak 
 they could not tell you what power is. But in the 
 Word of God, fire, wind and water are all used as 
 emblems of the Holy Spirit. 
 
THE GREAT EVANGELIST 243 
 
 What is power ? " God hath spoken once, yea, 
 twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto 
 God." And it can't be divorced from God. And 
 no man can obtain it save as God Himself comes 
 with it. 
 
 And this is what the Church of God needs today. 
 Do not say the early disciples needed it but that we 
 do not. They did need it. The task they were to 
 accomplish was next to impossible — yes, it was im- 
 possible. But they knew that the touch of the Spirit 
 of God was to make the impossible possible. And 
 when He came it was to fill them with a power like 
 the very might of God Himself and which sent 
 them put from their room of waiting to stand with 
 their simple eloquence and indisputable facts before 
 the world's prejudice and hate and change it as if 
 by magic into love and holy enthusiasm for the 
 Christ of God. 
 
 And if the men chosen of Christ, whose three 
 years of seminary were three years at this marvellous 
 Teacher's feet, who saw His miracles and witnessed 
 His resurrection, were not allowed to stir one step in 
 the way of active service until they were filled with 
 the Holy Spirit, is it not the most dangerous pre- 
 sumption, the most sinful self-confidence as well as 
 the greatest folly to expect that we shall accomplish 
 anything for God unless we too have been filled with 
 His Spirit? 
 
 From the earliest day even to the present time the 
 men who have brought things to pass in any large 
 
244* EVANGELISM 
 
 or remarkable way have been men who never dared 
 to stir until they knew they were going forth 
 anointed with the power of the Most High God. 
 This is the secret of their glorious success. 
 
 I do not know how polished Peter was as an 
 orator, but I do know that he was a great preacher. 
 Paul said, you know, " I was with you in weakness, 
 but my preaching was in power." And when a man 
 preaches or a child of God witnesses in the power 
 of the Spirit, as the sainted MacGregor says, " he 
 will make men listen and make men think and make 
 men act.'' 
 
 So it must be with you and me unless we are to 
 be satisfied with a barren ministry — which may God 
 forbid. But it need not be so. God says, " I will 
 pour my Spirit upon him that is thirsty/* and we 
 can have Him in His fulness now if we really 
 long for this measure of blessing with a proper 
 longing. 
 
 I say, " with a proper longing." The desire must 
 be unselfish. It is no part of the Spirit's work to 
 glorify you or me. A man will sometimes stand 
 up and say, " Pray for me ; I want to be used." 
 But the desire to be used may be an accursed am- 
 bition. We are not to expect this blessing for our 
 own sake but for His sake. 
 
 It does not necessarily mean that you shall be 
 carried into a place of great prominence. It may 
 mean the opposite. But it does mean that your min- 
 istry shall be a ministry of power, and wherever it 
 
THE GREAT EVANGELIST 245 
 
 takes you, better be there with Him than anywhere 
 else without Him. 
 
 A'nd so I say again, we may have the fulness of 
 His Spirit if we long for it with an unselfish longing. 
 It is only a question of our willingness to pay the 
 price. A'nd so I come to you with the question, 
 Are you willing? Willing to pay the price? And 
 what is that price? It is a whole-hearted, absolute, 
 irrevocable surrender of oneself to the will of God. 
 It means to say, " Lord, I do now, this minute, give 
 myself to Thee. Speak, for thy servant heareth, and 
 when Thou hast spoken, I will not pause to consider 
 whether I shall run or tarry, but the word that Thou 
 dost speak unto me, that will I perform." 
 
 Do not say, " Make known Thy will unto me, O 
 God, and I will think about it." But make your 
 surrender first and then say, " Show me Thy will, 
 O God, and by Thy grace I will do it." This is 
 the stepping-stone upon which and over which one 
 must go — the stepping-stone of one's own dead self ; 
 — this is the doorway through which one must pass 
 into the larger life of illimitable blessing where God 
 would have us come, — the way of self -surrender. 
 
 Now it would not be fair if I did not say that in 
 such a surrender two things are involved. 
 
 First — A complete renuftciation of sin, A vessel 
 can be filled only as it is emptied. And how can 
 we expect our lives to become beautiful and strong 
 if we continue to " make provision for the flesh to 
 
246 EVANGELISM 
 
 fulfil the lusts thereof," and to fight against what 
 the mighty indwelling Spirit of God would do for 
 us, because of our love for some sin which we would 
 rather indulge than to be what God by His grace 
 would have us to be and what by His power He 
 could make us to be? 
 
 And there must be no compromise. When passion 
 takes hold on the life, God expects a man to shrink 
 not only from the unholy deed itself but from the 
 unholy imagination concerning it. "As a man 
 thinketh in his heart, so is he." Then here is a man 
 who despises debauchery but loses out and goes 
 astray in the realm of finer distinctions. 
 
 It is also at such a time as this that one meets the 
 problem of the questionable as at no other time. I 
 am not going to say that you cannot do certain 
 things and be a Christian, but I am going to say 
 that whatever nourishes the carnal nature hinders 
 your spiritual development and you cannot give 
 yourself to a thing like that and know the fulness 
 of the blessing that comes from the filling of the 
 Holy Spirit. And if you have not been true to the 
 leading of God's Spirit in this respect you have not 
 yet been in the place to which I trust you may come 
 today. 
 
 When God sent Saul against the Amalekites He 
 told him to " slay utterly." But Saul spared Agag 
 and the best of the flocks under the pretence that he 
 needed them to sacrifice unto the Lord. But Samuel, 
 the prophet, said, " Saul, do you think that God has 
 
THE GREAT EVANGELIST 247 
 
 as great delight in burnt offerings as He does in 
 obeying His voice? Behold, to obey is better than 
 to sacrifice; and now, because thou hast rejected the 
 word of the Lord, He also hath rejected thee from 
 being King.'* So too must you and I in dealing with 
 sin " slay utterly " and " spare none," and to be dis- 
 obedient here means to become " the servant of sin " 
 and to lose the mastery which is ours through a 
 Christ who is not only able to save but mighty to 
 keep. 
 
 Again the question comes. Are you willing? 
 Willing to die to sin? Willing to die to the carnal 
 nature with its unholy ambitions and all that makes 
 for poverty and dearth of spiritual life and power? 
 
 " If Christ would live and reign in me, 
 
 I must die. 
 Like Him I crucified must be, 
 
 I must die. 
 So dead that no desire may rise, 
 To pass for good, or great, or wise, 
 In any but my Saviour's eyes. 
 
 I must die. I must die." 
 
 The Jews, the night before the Passover, were 
 commanded to put away all leaven out of the house. 
 And when this was done the faithful Jew would 
 say, " And now if there be any leaven in this house, 
 it is here against my will." My brother, have you 
 been discouraged about this matter? I wonder if 
 today, if just now, some of us would yield our 
 whole life entirely up to the Spirit of God and say 
 of our sin what the faithful Jew said of his leaven, 
 
248 EVANGELISM 
 
 if there would not come into your life and mine an 
 experience such as we have never yet known and 
 with it such a passing away of old things as would 
 cause us to marvel at our former selves. Are you 
 willing ? 
 
 Second — ^An unconditional dedication to the serv- 
 ice of Christ wherever and whatever it may he. 
 
 Never mind about the conspicuous place and the 
 great congregation. A man might have all this and 
 yet not bring one soul to a saving knowledge of 
 Jesus Christ. While on the other hand the perform- 
 ing of such a service for an untutored shoe-clerk 
 in a Boston store proved itself under God to be 
 the source of leading more than a hundred thousand 
 people into the light of God. 
 
 The thing of biggest concern to you, my brother, 
 is to be where God wants you and whether it be 
 in one place or another, only as you have found your 
 way there in obedience to the word you believe your 
 Lord to have spoken can the power of God be 
 manifested through you to the world that needs and 
 awaits your message. 
 
 I one time heard B. Fay Mills tell of a young 
 graduate of the theological seminary who became 
 the pastor of a church and preached to great crowds 
 but no one was converted. He went back to the 
 seminary for a post graduate course of one year 
 and then became the pastor again with the same 
 result. He thought he needed more theology and 
 homiletics, more Hebrew and Greek and so he went 
 
THE GREAT EVANGELIST 249 
 
 back to the seminary for a second year of post- 
 graduate work. He then took another church but 
 while great throngs came to hear him preach, no 
 one ever came to Christ. And one day he was 
 sitting in a meeting when God commenced to talk 
 to him. God said, " Have you ever given yourself 
 to Me? " And the young man thought of the litde 
 village church that had called him to be its pastor 
 but which call he had declined because he wanted 
 to preach in the city. Then he thought of the little 
 mission church over in Brooklyn that wanted him 
 to come and undertake its work and God had seemed 
 to say, '' Go ! " But he had said, " I don't want to 
 be the pastor of a mission church." And he had 
 declined the call. And as he thought it all over he 
 said, " No, Lord, I have never given myself to Thee, 
 but I will go back to my room where I am staying 
 and I will give myself to Thee and do thy will." 
 And then the blessed Holy Spirit who always whis- 
 pers the right thing at the right time said to him, 
 "Why not do it now?" and he bowed himself on 
 the seat before him and said, " Yes, Lord, I do 
 here and now give myself to Thee," and as he went 
 out of the church he met at the church door an old 
 man, a saint of God, whom he knew and he said to 
 him, " I will do anything and go anywhere for God 
 now," and God gave him a ministry of mighty 
 power in after-years. 
 
 And now the question comes again. Are you 
 willing? Willing to make the formula of your life 
 
250 EVANGELISM 
 
 from this hour on, " Anything, an)rwhere, any 
 time " ? That, just that, is what self -surrender 
 means. 
 
 Mr. Meyer tells of a young woman anxious about 
 the filling of the Holy Spirit but who was in great 
 distress of mind concerning certain things which 
 she felt eager to keep under her own control. She 
 was not without experience but she longed for some- 
 thing better than she had ever known. She had 
 gone as if it were to the altar many a time but she 
 would not lay the sacrifice upon it. Until one day 
 in a moment of heroic decision she fell upon her 
 knees, took a large piece of blank paper, signed it 
 at the bottom and then laid it before God and told 
 Him to fill it out as He pleased and by His grace 
 she would do it. 
 
 I wonder how many of us are ready for a thing 
 like that just now. Then to as many as are ready 
 let me say these last two things. Make it defi- 
 nite and count it done. 
 
 First — Make it definite. The question is often 
 asked as to whether the life of complete consecra- 
 tion is an act or an experience; whether it is in- 
 stantaneous or gradual. I think it is both. It is a 
 life that is definitely commenced and definitely lived. 
 
 It was only when Abraham took God at His word 
 and went out not knowing whither that God led him 
 into the place of unlimited blessing. It will be so 
 
THE GREAT EVANGELIST ^51 
 
 with you. God will be calling you to other consecra- 
 tions, each one a doorway into a larger place, but 
 never until it is distinctly settled in your own mind 
 and made a reality by a definite act of your own 
 will that once for all and forever you are God's as 
 far as all that you do not know is concerned as well 
 as all things that you do kfiow and that by His grace 
 you will never become your own again. 
 
 When the Israelite came and placed his offering 
 on the altar in other days he never dreamed of 
 coming again the next day and asking it back. So 
 must the offering of yourself be made to God as a 
 sacrifice that passes completely and forever from 
 your control just as if you were an offering literally 
 slain and offered in death upon an altar. 
 
 I think of the man who said in making his sur- 
 render to God, " I felt as though I walked out to 
 the end of the ridgepole in the darkness and jumped 
 off and Jesus caught me." And again the question 
 comes, Are you willing? Then do it now. Down 
 in the deep place of your own soul tell God you do 
 now take the hands forever off yourself, and that 
 so far as you know your own heart you do now 
 consciously, deliberately and definitely give it to 
 Him and that henceforth you will have no wish of 
 your own or no will of your own save to wish 
 what God wishes and to will what God wills, and 
 let God prove Himself to you as He has proved 
 Himself to multitudes of others. 
 
 Second — Count it done, I mean by that to accept 
 
252 EVANGELISM 
 
 it as a matter of faith and act upon it as an accom- 
 plished thing in your life. 
 
 It will take more than a moment of time to reveal 
 unto us the largeness of the place into which God 
 wants to lead us and will, but there never was and 
 there never will be any other way to find that place 
 and to walk in the fulness of peace and purity and 
 power than by faith — faith, not only that God can 
 but that God does fulfil His will in us. 
 
 Never mind about any strange emotional ex- 
 perience. Never mind about the waves of electricity 
 that Finney said seemed to fan him like immense 
 wings. God never fails to take into consideration 
 a man's own temperament. But such things are not 
 the indispensable accompaniments of the filling of 
 the Holy Spirit. 
 
 When Mr. F. B. Meyer went up to the Keswick 
 Convention he listened to the noise and all the out- 
 ward expression of those who were more demonstra- 
 tive than himself and he went out on the hillside in 
 the night and simply said, " O God, I am tired in 
 body and mind and cannot bring myself into tune 
 with all this; is there not some other way for me? " 
 And God said, " Yes, my child, give yourself to 
 me and receive the blessing by faith just as you 
 did the gift of the crucified Christ." And said Mr. 
 Meyer, " Then and there I did give myself to God 
 as I had never given myself before and I arose from 
 my knees confidently believing the blessing was 
 mine." Will you do this? Will you so give 
 
THE GREAT EVANGELIST 253 
 
 yourself to God and let Him prove Himself 
 to you? 
 
 I think of the student in Phillips Academy who 
 couldn't pass his examinations but who had a pas- 
 sion to preach and exerted a powerful influence for 
 Christ in the school. The professors decided to put 
 a parenthesis around his college course and send 
 him into the Theological Seminary across the road. 
 But the poor fellow didn't make any better progress 
 there, but he was known as the most consecrated 
 man in the institution. Toward vacation time a 
 call came from a small town up in New Hampshire 
 where the party writing said they had no Sabbath, 
 no Bible and no church and where this party was the 
 only one who believed in Christ. This was the kind 
 of a call most of the students didn't seem to care 
 much about, but this young fellow said he thought 
 it was just the place where God wanted him to go. 
 But another difficulty arose. He couldn't pass 
 enough examination to get a license. Finally the 
 professors decided that he couldn't do much harm in 
 six months anyhow and so they gave him a six 
 months' license and let him go. He was there but a 
 few years until he died, but I give it to you on good 
 authority; before he died he had won every man, 
 woman and child in that village to Jesus Christ but 
 one man who moved away shortly after the young 
 minister came. 
 
 Oh, my brother, hear me, " The eyes of the Lord 
 are running to and fro throughout the whole earth 
 
254. EVANGELISM 
 
 to show Himself strong in behalf of them whose 
 heart is right toward Him," and He is still using the 
 foolish things of this world to confound the things 
 that are wise and the weak things to confound the 
 things that are mighty and the things that are not 
 to bring to naught the things that are; and what 
 you need is not more native ability, not more aca- 
 demic equipment — these things are good — ^but God 
 is waiting, waiting for you to give yourself, to 
 really give yourself to God that God might give 
 Himself to you, and so cause you to be all that 
 man can be and to do all that man can do, and then 
 indeed all things shall be yours and the Kingdom of 
 God shall indeed be within you and in the power 
 of the Holy Spirit of the mighty God you shall go 
 forth as did one of old, '* to be set over kingdoms, 
 to root out, to pull down, to destroy, to overthrow 
 and to build and to plant." 
 
 THE END 
 
Princeton Theological Seminary Libraries 
 
 1 1012 01232 2006 
 
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