DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM Copyright 1913 by A. J. ROWLAND, Secretary Published February, 1913 FOREWORD Rev. W. F. Newton, the author of this little book, has been for several years one of the most active and successful colporters in the service of the American Baptist Publication Society. His field is in New England, the country districts of which, on account of changes of population during recent years, are in as great need of religious work as the newer States of the far West. The instances related by Mr. Newton are actual occurrences drawn from his own personal experience. They reveal a state of things which certainly calls for more colporters like Mr. Newton, and show the value of the work a real colporter, who loves his fellow man and knows how to approach him, can do for his divine Master. We trust the book may have the widest possible reading. The thanks of the author and publishers are due and are hereby tendered to A. B. Coats, D. D., secretary of the Connecticut Baptist State Conven- tion, for his assistance in revising Mr. Newton's manuscript and in preparing it for publication. November, X912. A. J. Rowland. Door-Step Evangelism Door-step evangelism dates back to the time of our precious Lord, who sought out and called his dis- ciples by ones and twos as he went along the sea- shore and through the country places. My first work for the Connecticut Baptist Con- vention was in March, 1908, when the secretary, A. B. Coats, D. D., said to me : " I want you to go out to Cornwall Hollow in the western part of the State and hold some special meetings." I went, and God blessed the work. In two weeks sixteen ac- cepted Christ. Then Doctor Coats said : " Newton, we want a man for the colportage wagon in cooperation with the Publication Society. Suppose you try it for three months. Take the wagon to Cornwall Hollow and distribute some Bibles and Testaments and other good books of the Society among the people." " Ah ! " I said, " he has caught me." I knew it was a hard life, and felt I was not strong enough for it, but he wanted me to try it, and so I did. I was in New London the day the wagon was dedicated. I did not enjoy looking into it, for I felt sure some 5 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM day I would have to run it. I remembered too, what Uncle Boston said to me once when he had talked to me a few minutes. " Newton," he said, " you ought to be on a chapel car." I knew this work was very much like that. In doing the work for the last four years, strength has been given me and a great love for the work has come into my heart. There is no more blessed work this side of heaven than to lead precious souls to Christ and to get the word of God and other good books into the homes of the people. The first month I was out I sold over sixty dollars' worth of stock; the second month over eighty dollars' worth; and the third month more than ninety dollars' worth. This shows that the peo- ple out in the country are hungry for good reading. Sometimes I am asked: "Mr. Newton, what is your work ? Just what is it you do ? " Well, it is something like this. I go into a town and find a boarding-place. Sometimes it is with the pastor and sometimes with the deacon, and sometimes in any old place. I put my large wagon in the barn. That is my bookstore on wheels. I carry one hun- dred and fifty dollars' worth of stock—Bibles, Tes- taments, and all kinds of religious books. Then I seek out a place for a meeting. Sometimes it is in a schoolhouse or hall, church or cottage, or on the village green or the lawn near the church, or some place where we can go inside for an after-meeting. During the day I drive about the town, visit the 6 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM people, talk and pray with them, supply them with good books at a small price, and invite them to the service. Often I find a soul anxious to have some one lead him to Christ. At a cottage meeting a man said : " I wish you would leave town, but I don't want you to. I know I am not living right, and I hope your coming will be a blessing to all." That man came back to God, and many more accepted Christ. 'At Beanchviixe One of the earliest visits I made after starting out with the wagon was at Branchville. There was no church in the place, and they had neither Sun- day-school nor preaching service. I went to one of the school trustees and asked for the school- house to hold some meetings in. He said he would have to call a meeting of the Board first, but I said : " I can fix that. You tell them that I came along and wanted the building for one service, and you did not have time to get them together and so told me to ' go ahead.' " " All right," he said. And so I drove up and down the street and caused quite a stir among the people as I gave notice of the meeting to be held on Sunday. Sunday morning I asked the old lady where I was staying if she would like to go to church. " Yes," she said, and choked as she told me of her husband's death and how long it had been since she was at a religious service. Well, I got out the 7 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM old carriage and swept out the cobwebs and hay- seed and hitched old Daniel, the faithful horse the Publication Society furnished me, into the shafts, and then we got in and started for church. I thought old Dan would shake the tires off the dry wheels as he pranced down the street showing off the old carriage. We had a service that morning and again in the evening. I rang the bell in the evening, and presently half a dozen old ladies came in, and I said to myself, " This looks like an old ladies' meeting " ; but after a while a crowd of young people came in. I sang the " Smile Song " and " Honey in the Rock " and taught them the choruses. When we got home I said to the old lady, who had been to both services, " Well, let me read and pray before we retire." Her niece, a young girl about fifteen years of age, was there for the night, and as I knelt to pray she dropped on her knees like a flash, and I said, " Father, that girl wants Jesus," and I said I would do the best I could to lead her to him. The next morning I let her take a few books to look over. This was throwing out the bait, so she would not be afraid of me. That eve- ning, before I left the place, I asked her if she would like to be a Christian. " Yes," she said, " I cer- tainly would." " If I can make the way plain, will you accept Christ?" " Yes, I will." I then took out my Testament and opened to John 1:12, and asked her to read it. " What is it God wants you to do ? " " He wants me to receive him." " Yes, 8 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM that is the first step. Now turn to Romans lo: 10. What is it he asks you to do here?" "He wants me to confess him." " Yes, and yet once more look at John 14:21." "He that hath my commandments and keepeth them ... I will love him and manifest myself unto him." " Here we are told to obey him. These are the three steps into the kingdom. Are you willing to take the first step? " She said, " Yes, I am," and we knelt down, and I prayed and she prayed, asking God to for- give her sin and inviting Jesus to come into her heart. Then I said : " Now write to your mother and tell her what you have done. That will be con- fessing him." She said : " I will do better than that. I will go home and throw my arms about her neck and tell her I have accepted Christ." " Tell the pastor too," I said, and she promised she would, and I knew he would do the rest. " The next step is to obey Christ, and that will take all the rest of your life." A Jewish Family One day a pastor of a church in the section where I was with the wagon wanted to go out with me. " All right," I said, " come on." " We will go to Hattersville," he said, and so we started for that place. The roads were dim and we soon got side-tracked and he went into a house to inquire the way. While he was gone I slipped a motto into one pocket and a New Testament into the other. When 9 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM he came back I jumped out. " Where are you go- ing?" he asked. "In here," I answered pointing to a hpuse that stood back a little way. " Oh, it's no use to go in there," he said ; " they are all Jews in there." " You wait and see," said I, and started up the path, both hands open and extended. A fat young woman sat in the doorway, and when she saw me coming she shouted, " Ve don't vant noddings." " What are you going to do here ? " I said, looking up at a great summer-house they were building, " take boarders ? " " How does land sell here ? " When you begin to talk buying and selling to a Jew you've got his ears if you haven't got his heart. Just then a boy came to the door, and I pulled the motto out of my pocket and said : " What do you think of that?" "That's fine," he said; " what do you ask for it? " " Well," I said, " the price of it is six cents, but if you want it for five cents you can have it." If you drop a little on the price of anything you are trying to sell to a Jew you interest him at once, and he said, " I think I will buy that," and he gave me a nickel and went into the house to hang up his purchase. When he came out I had the Testament in my hand, and he wanted to know what it was. I told him it was a New Testament, and asked him if he had ever had one, and he told me he had never so much as seen one, but he would like to own one and asked me how much I would take for it. I told him he could have it for five cents. He said he hadn't 10 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM any more money, and I said, " Well, as you are a Jew and I am a Yankee, supposing we swap." He agreed to this, and gave me tlie motto and I gave him the New Testament. " Hold on," I said, " there is one thing more. I want you to promise me that you will read that book." " Sure," he said, " I will read it." " Well, now promise me one thing more. Promise me you will read it aloud to your mother." " I will," the boy said ; " if she will let me, I will read it to her, every word." Just in front of me was a low step. I took ofif my hat and dropped on my knees and prayed and thanked God that the dear boy had the words of Jesus, and asked him to bless his own word in this house of his ancient people. When I finished, that mother bowed herself almost to the floor and thanked me for coming to her house and for pray- ing. When I got back to the wagon the pastor said : " Well, Newton, you've opened my eyes. I did not know you could do that way with the Jews, and look there now." I looked, and the last glimpse we had of them the boy sat in the open window reading aloud the New Testament to his Jewish mother. The Man who Came Out Swearing One day I came to a house and drove into the yard. A man came out, swearing, to know what I wanted. I saw at once he was not in a frame of mind for me to talk to him about his soul, and II DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM so I said, " How are potatoes up this way? " " Are you interested in potatoes ? " he asked. " Yes, sir," said I. And so I was for a few minutes. " Come out into my garden," said he ; " or no — wait here a minute." He went to the bulkhead cellar door and brought out a basket with some fine large pota- toes in it. " There," he said, as he took a big one in his hand, " if we had had rain this summer that potato would have been as big as this basket." " Oh, come ! " I said, " you know better and I know better. You never saw a potato as big as that basket and you never will. Are those your calves out there? " " Yes, sir," he said; " are you interested in calves?" " Yes, sir," I said. "Well, who the d 1 are you? and what the d 1 are you doing?" I jumped out of the wagon, and we went over to the wall of the lot where the calves were lying down. He called to one, " Beauty, come here ! " A little calf came over to the wall and put his little head up and let him stroke it. " Now, this is sweet," I said ; " I like to see this." " Come down in the field," he said, " and see my cows." He had a name for each one of them, " Molly," " Jane," " Sarah," and the " Black Angel." He could do any- thing with them. He picked up their forward feet and their hind feet and threw his arms around their necks, and I guess they would have kissed him if he hadn't had a great roll of tobacco in his mouth. You may say, " What has all this to do with the work you are sent out by the Society to do ? " Oh, 12 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM I was getting ready to put a hook into his jaw. We went back to the barn and looked at his horses, and then we looked at my horse Daniel and talked a little about him, and then I reached over into my basket and took up the book " Black Beauty." " Did you ever read that ? " I asked. " No," he answered, " I've got to go to New York and be fitted with glasses." I dropped my book and took another turn with him. " It seems to me," I said, " that a man who loves his cattle as you do ought to love the God who made him." Then he said, " Don't it say in the Bible that a man must be born again ? " " Yes," I said, as I took out my New Testament, " right here in the third of John, ' Jesus said to Nicodemus, Ye must be born again.' " Then as we talked he asked again, " Is not Christ coming again some time ? " " Yes, right here in First Thessalonians, sixteenth verse of the fourth chapter : ' For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air : and so shall we ever be with the Lord ' ; but you must get ready, you must be born again." I saw my man was getting serious, so I closed my book, took off my hat, put my hand on his, and asked my Father to bless the man who came out swearing. " Yes," I thought as I drove away, " he came out swearing and I go away praying." 13 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM " We don't want any books," said a man to me as I walked up to the side door of liis house. I carry my books in a basket when I am in the country. A farmer isn't afraid of a basket, but if you carried a suit-case, likely as not he would set his dog on you. So I dropped the books. " What variety of grapes are those ? " said I, looking at a vine over my head. I went on talking about the grapes until an old lady came out of the house. " Good morning, grand- ma," I said ; " I preached up on Scott Hill Sunday." " Did you ? " she asked. " Come in. Go to the side door." The daughter met me at the door, and opened it much in the spirit of the father. I did not like the atmosphere, and so I asked if they had an organ. They answered that there was one in another room, and so I went in and sat down and began to sing: When things don't go to suit you And the world seems upside down, Don't waste your time in sighing, But drive away that frown; Smile whenever you can, I noticed they were beginning to come in to hear the singing, and changed to the touching song: My mother's hand is on my brow, Her gentle voice is pleading now, Across the years so marred by sin What memories of love steal in. As I looked around they were weeping, and I said, " Let us pray." After the prayer the daughter said : 14 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM " Mother, I am going to buy you a new Bible. You wait a minute, Mr. Newton. I want you to see mother's Bible." It looked like an old lady's cook- book with clippings in it and all worn, thumbed, and soiled. " Yes, grandma, you deserve a new book." " Where are your books ? " I went out and brought in my basket and sold a Bible and one or two songs. When I went away they said : " Well, Mr. Newton, whenever you come this way call and see us. We are so glad you came to-day." The Young Man at the Cpiurch Steps " There's a young man at the door who says he is a sinner and wants to be prayed for," shouted some one in one of the meetings I was holding. I ran to the door, and took him by the hand and pulled him into tlie church. I asked him if he was willing to do anything to be saved ? " Yes," he said, " I am." " Well," said I, " let us tell God so." We knelt, and he tried to pray but could not. We arose from our knees, and while I was finding in my Bible Isaiah 55 : 7 he took a six-shooter out of his pocket and handed it to me. I had him read the verse I had found. " ' Let the wicked forsake his way.' " " Who are the wicked ? " I asked. " I am wicked enough," he answered. " Are you willing to forsake your wicked way ? " " Yes." " Well, read on." " ' And the unrighteous man his thoughts.' " " Oh ! " he cried, " that is the worst of it, I can't get away from 15 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM my thoughts." " Listen," I said, " you can't help the birds flying over your head, but you can keep them from building nests in your hair, can't you ? " " Yes, I can." " Well," I said, " you can fill your mind with other things. Look up to God and say ' God, help me ' as I sing ' Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly.' Will you do that ? " " Yes," and he did. " Now," I said, " go on with the verse." " ' And let him return unto the Lord.' " " Do you return ? " "I do. ' And he will have mercy upon him, and unto our God, for he will abundantly pardon.' " " Do you accept it all ? " I asked. " Yes," he said, " I do." " Well, now come home with me." "Oh, no; you don't know who I am." " Yes, I do," I said, " you are a child of the King." That night when I opened the meeting for testimony he jumped to his feet and said : " I have accepted Christ, and I am determined to live for him." He felt called to the ministry, and went with me, holding meetings, and when afterward I was taken down with a cold he went on with the services, and God gave him some of the leading men in that town. He later went to college and studied for the ministry. That young man was about to take his own life when he came to the church to be saved. The Old Rich Man He lived with his two daughters. When I went into the home he was sitting in the corner. "We 16 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM don't want any books. We have more than we can read now," he said, as he looked into my basket. Right across the street from his house was the church, and I asked him if he ever went to church. " No," he said, " I haven't been to church in a long while." " Well," I said, " how would you like to have a church come to you ? " "I don't know," he answered. I broke out singing, " I have heard of a land on a far-away strand." When I was through he said to one of his daughters : " Hattie, don't you want some of his books ? Look at them." This she did, and bought one or two. Then I sang again, " There's a dear and precious book." When I had finished, he said to the other daughter, " Mary, you had better buy something," and she did. " Well, now," I thought, " I must surely sing again, or he will think I was just singing to get his trade," and so I sang a very touching song entitled " Memories of Mother." As I was singing he began to weep, and when I was through he could not speak. " Wait a minute, father," said one of the daughters, " and then you can tell us all you want to." When he could control himself he said, "We ought to buy some books for the grandchildren." So they bought three Testaments and " The Child's Life of Christ " and " Beautiful Joe." I thoflght surely they would not buy any more books, and so I sang a last time, after which he asked if I had any family Bibles? "Yes, sir," I said, and showed him some fine copies, one of which 17 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM he bought. He then invited me to stop and take a meal with them whenever I was in that part of the country. This I did from time to time, and he finally gave his heart to the Lord. 'A Spiritualist One day I drove up to a house and hitched my horse to a bar-post, for there was no gate or walk in front of the building. An old lady came out, acting very nervous, and asked me what I wanted. " Well," I said, " I don't know as I want anything." And I took my books out of the wagon. " What have you come here for ? " she demanded. " Oh, I thought I would make you a little call," I said. " Well," she replied, " I don't let everybody come into my house." " But you would let a good- natured fellow like me come in, wouldn't you ? " I asked. All this time I had been walking toward the house, and she was backing into the house before me. When we got inside I looked around for a chair, but they were all full, some of old clothes and others with dishes and boxes. She brushed some of the ashes from one of the chairs with her bare hand and I sat down on the corner of it. I asked her if she liked honey, and she said she did, and I said : " Well, here is some right in the middle of a song." I handed her a copy of " Honey in the Rock." She clapped on a pair of glasses, and when I began to sing: i8 'Uhe Spiriiualist DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM O my brother, do you know the Saviour? He is wondrous, kind, and true; He's the rock of your salvation. There's honey in the rock for you — she joined in and sang too. " Well," I said, " you can sing about as well as I can." " Yes," she said, " I can sing like a nightingale or like an Indian." Then she gave an awful war-whoop that would almost make your hair stand on end, and said: " Don't be frightened ; that was my Indian inter- preter telling me there would be no disturbance." " Oh," I said, " it would take more than an Indian war-whoop to scare me, for I was a missionary among the Indians in the West. But what are you ? " said I. " Why," she said, " I am a spiritual- ist and a clairvoyant-doctor." What a combina- tion to run against! What could a colporter do with such a case? I took up a New Testament and said : " Well, I am something of a spiritualist my- self, and here is the book that will tell you all about the Great Spirit." "Will it keep the evil spirits away from me?" she asked. " If you use it as I do, it will," I said. She said she hadn't much money, but she guessed she would buy it, and she went into a side room and brought out the price of the book. She bought the Testament, and gave it to an old soldier who was sitting in one corner of the room, and told him to put it in his pocket and it would keep the evil spirits away from him. " Not unless you use it the way I do," said I. 19 DOOR-STEP EV ANGELISM " Now," I said, " you have given away your Testa- ment, and I think you ought to have a Bible for yourself," and I picked one out of the basket. " I've got a Bible," she replied. " You have," said I. "Where did you get a Bible?" " My mother gave it to me." " Who was your mother ? " " My mother was a Baptist." "Well," I said, "I am something of a Baptist myself." "You are?" "Yes." The old darky down South said: "You need to be wise as sarpents and harmless as doves, and about four sarpents to one dove." I was trying it on and it worked well. " You don't read that old Bible with board covers and the leaves all brown and spotted and all the s's made like f's," said I. " Come, buy yourself a new Bible, light and handy to take up and read." " But," she said, " I haven't any more money." "Don't tell me that," I said. " You go right through that door and you will find some more money." "Well," she said, " you are a kind of spiritualist, sure enough." So she went and got the money and bought the Bible, and there was the Testament in the hands of the old soldier and a Bible in her own hands. Then I prayed that God would bless them both. How do you suppose that woman was dressed? She had on a man's black shirt for a waist and an overcoat pinned on with safety-pins for a skirt. The next Sunday morning I drove by the house, and the old soldier came out and put up his hand on the cushion of the carriage and said, " You are 20 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM going somewhere to preach and I want to go with you." These words and the anxious look on the man's face pulled on my heart-strings, for I had to tell him I was going to Voluntown to preach, and then away off on the hills to hold an open-air meeting and would not come back that way. The old man was sad as he turned and went back into the house. Later I called there and prayed with them again. As I was praying I heard a noise and opened my eyes, for I did not know just what a spiritualist might do, and there was the woman get- ting down on her knees too, and when I had finished praying for her, she in turn prayed for me. The New Testament in a Bandbox When out calling one day, I said to the lady, " Let me take your Bible and I will read and pray." She answered that she had loaned her Bible. " Well, let me take a Testament then," said I. She went to a cupboard and stepped on to a chair and then on to a low shelf and reached up to the top shelf and took down a bandbox with a paper tied over the top. Untying the paper, she took out of the box a small Testament and blew off the dust and handed it to me. This showed how much the Bible was read in that home. I read from the book and of- fered prayer. May God help people to have the word of God where they can pick it up at any moment ! 21 D O O R - S TEP EVANGELISM K Door-step Prayer 'As I walked up to the door of a house one day a lady informed me that she did not want any- thing. I asked her how far it was to the next town, and if she didn't get lonesome living so far away. "Yes," she said, "it is lonely since my father died," and she began to weep as she told me the sad story of his death. I stood on the steps and prayed for her, and she was strengthened and blessed and thanked me for calling. Meetings at Eagleville I held an open-air meeting in the little village of Eagleville. I tried to get the use of the schoolhouse for services, but they would not let me have it. I went to a boarding-house for my breakfast. I discovered a piano in a side room, and asked the housekeeper if I might play and sing a song. " Why, yes," she said. I said to the boarders : " Now you keep time to the music with your knives and forks and I will sing you a song." As the house stood close alongside the railroad track, I sang: Life is like a mountain railroad With an engineer that's brave. We must make the run successful, From the cradle to the grave. When I went to lunch in the afternoon the lady said to me, " Have you found a place for your meet- 22 Jl T>oor-step Prayer DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM ings?" and I answered, "No." "Well," she said, " you can hold them right here in the dining-room if you want to." " Why," I said, " do you think you could manage it? " I wanted her to say " Yes," for it was just the place I had wished for all the time. " Oh, yes," she said ; " we can shove the table right against the wall and put chairs all through the room." " That's all right," I said; " I will bring in my little organ, and you put a small stand for my books, and we will have a good time." In the next few days ten accepted Christ. I went after a neighboring pastor, and he promised to come over and preach for them, and has now been doing so for more than two years. He has baptized a number of them, and some of them are sweet, active Christians to-day. Mr. Toothacher I have had some of my most striking experiences away out in the country. I stopped one day at a house and hitched my horse and took my books with me to the door. A lady came and invited me in. After talking awhile I showed her and the family some of my books. How eager the chil- dren were to see them! Just then a great husky fellow, weighing over two hundred, came in boil- ing mad and looked me over. I said I had come in to show them some of my books. "Well," he blustered, " I don't think much of your old Bibles, 23 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM you old hypocrite. Get out of here. Who asked you to come in here anyway? Get out of here, I tell you." But I sat still and looked him over. Then he began again, calling me everything he could think of that was mean. I saw that the bile was in him, and that he was boiling over with rage, and that it wouldn't do to touch him just then. He could cer- tainly never go to heaven with that in him, and he might as well get it out of him first as last. He called all church-members liars and hypocrites, and went on at a great rate. He had an old pipe in his mouth and kept burning matches without number to get it going. He would give one or two pulls and then the pipe would turn over and the fire would spill out, and he would strike another match and try it again, talking all the time as fast as he could. And how he watched me ! He wanted to get me angry, and if I had once lost my temper he would have thrown me out of the door, for you could see he was just aching to get hold of me. When he had simmered down a little, I said, " Well, sir; I agree with pretty near everything you have said." He had to laugh at that, to think that after he had mopped the floor with me and called me every hard name he could think of, I should, say that I partly agreed with him. " There was a devil among the twelve disciples," said I, " and I shouldn't wonder if there was a devil among every twelve Christians to-day." " Twelve out of twelve," he declared, " and I will put you in with them, you old 24 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM hypocrite. I told yoti once to get out of here." But I still sat and took his abuse. I knew it would do him good to unload, and that after he had boiled down it would be my turn. When he had quieted down a little I talked with him some, and then taking out my watch I said: " Why, it is almost noon. I guess I had better stay and take dinner with you." He hemmed and hawed awhile, and then said : " Well, if you can eat my grub you can stay." "Oh," I said, "that is all right. What you have every day I guess I can get along with for one meal. But," I said, " there is my horse. He ought to have something too." " Yes," he said, " he is a fine horse. Who does he belong to ? " " He belongs," I answered, " to the American Baptist Publication Society." " Well," he said, " he is a fine animal. Let us put him in the barn. What do you feed him?" "Oh," I said, " I don't ask you to feed him. I've got oats that I carry along with me." This man could swear with- out notes, and he didn't care who heard him. It would take more than a preacher to frighten him, and he broke out: " I don't care a tut-tut-tut-tut if you have got oats. So have I got oats." " All right," I said ; " feed him four quarts." Then we went in and brushed up for dinner. If I had known what was before me I do not know that I would have stayed. But I had put my foot in it and it was too late to draw back, so I sat down with him at the table. He shoved the food over 25 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM toward me and said, " Help yourself." But I did not. I sat back in my chair and waited, for I wanted him to ask me to ask a blessing. I knew the time had come for me to do my duty, and I knew he knew what that was. I was almost afraid he would show me the door yet, and I did want some of that dinner, but I waited for my chance. At last I said : " I am not in the habit of eating my food until I have asked God's blessing upon it." He looked at me for a minute, and then said : " Well, go ahead and pray all you want to. I don't care how much you pray." This was my chance to do as I had a mind to, and I prayed for the wife and the dear children, who never heard the name of God except when it was taken in vain. And I prayed for the man who was willing that I should sit at his table and enjoy the food which God's bounty had provided. Then he shoved the food over to me, and I did as I had a mind to some time longer. He set a good table. We had lamb, white potatoes, sweet potatoes, and all the paraphernalia that goes along with a good dinner. When we were through dinner I did as Jesus did with his disciples — " made as if he would go farther, but the dis- ciples constrained him " to tarry. " Hold on," said he ; " wait until I get my- men to work." After he had given them a damning we went out into the field to look at his crops and hogs. " Who are you?" he asked as we walked back to the house. " Oh," I said, " I am the State colporter, visiting 26 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM the people and holding meetings with them, and sell- ing Bibles and other good books." " Well," he said, " you are a different kind of a fellow than I thought you were. I intended when I went into the house to take you by the nape of the neck and throw you out." " Well, I didn't just like your introduction," I told him, " but you didn't jar me in the least." " I see I didn't," he answered. " I have been down in New York City and I have got very rough." " I used to be night missionary in New York," I said, " and was out in my work on the streets all night." " Were you? " he asked, and I said, " Yes." God let me get ahead of this man every move he made. Then he said, " I was out West twice with the cowboys and that made me rough." " Yes," I said, " I've been West three times, and the last time I went clear through to the Pacific Coast." " Well, you are a different fellow from what I thought you were." Then he asked, " What could I get a good Bible for ? " I told him I had them at all prices from twenty-five cents up to twenty-five dol- lars. " Well, I want one," he said, " with the family records and all that in it." See how he came down off his high horse. I knew it would do him good. Then he put his hand in his pocket and took out a quarter and said : " Here, take that and give some boy or girl along the road a Bible or Testament." I knew he would like to tell how he had fed my horse and given me my dinner and given me a quar- ter to pay for a Bible for some one, and so I 27 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM reached over and took out one of my books that I saw his little girl looking at and said, " Here, give this book to your dear little girl." He took the book, and so you see I had actually made a sale to the man who had ordered me to get out of his house " with my old Bibles." As we parted I asked him who he was, and he said, " I am Mr. Tooth- acher." "Mr. Toothacher?" I asked, astonished. " Yes, Mr. Toothacher, and if you ever come this way again stop and see me." " Well, Mr. Tooth- acher," I said, " I shall never forget you. I have had so much of that myself." And he looked at me as if he wasn't quite certain just what I meant. The Water-boy As he came through the train crying out, " Water," I reached out my hand and took the glass, which he poured full of water. As I was drinking it I put my hand in my pocket and took out a " Gospel Check," which had printed on it in large letters, "A Free Drink." As I slipped the glass into its place on his can I handed him the check. An old man who sat in the seat with me asked, " What was that ; a twenty ? " " Better than that," I repHed. " Will you give me one? " said he; I gave him a check also. It said on the other side : " Jesus said, ' Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.' " When he had read it, I asked him if he had ever taken that drink, and he 28 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM answered that he guessed not. " Don't you feel the need of it ? " I asked. " Yes," he said ; " if any one ever needed it, I do. I have just come from the funeral of my only daughter," and he choked as he said these words. I moved over close to him and prayed for him, and he said, " I will accept Christ." As the train rolled on the water-boy came back, and wanted to know what that free drink meant. I gladly told him of that day when Jesus stood in the streets of Jerusalem at the great feast and cried: " If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." The boy sat on the arm of the seat across the aisle and listened, as if I were telling him some fairy tale. Oh, the hungry souls everywhere wait- ing to hear the story of the gospel ! How THE Devil Overreached Himself There was an old Baptist church at Shailerville that had been closed for years. I went down there hoping to find a chance to hold some meetings. I stopped at several houses along the way without much encouragement. It was a hot day in June. At one of the houses near the church was a man lying in a hammock and a young woman trying to quiet a baby by wheeling him in a carriage. I asked her how long it had been since any one had preached in the old church and who used to preach there and who had the charge of the building. She answered in a very mean and hateful way, and 29 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM finally snapped out, " There is a lady sick in the house, and you are disturbing her." " I beg your pardon," I said ; " I am very sorry. I do not want to disturb any one, but to be a blessing and comfort to all." I turned and walked slowly to the wagon and drove away saying to myself : " That is the first sign of life I have seen in this town. The devil has overreached himself this time, and we will have that soul in the kingdom before we leave here." I could find no place to stay for the night, for every door was closed to me, and so I left the big col- portage wagon, which weighs one thousand five hundred pounds, and drove in my light wagon to Chester, three miles away, where I found enter- tainment in the home of a brother minister. The next day I went back to make another effort to get into the old church and hold some meetings. I finally found a boarding-place in a family of deaf- and-dumb people, and got permission to hold a meeting in a schoolhouse near at hand. I notified the people by driving from house to house, and a handful came out to the service. I learned that the young lady who had been hateful to me was a good musician, so I ventured to go to the house to see her. I knocked, but no one came to the door. The next day I went again, and made my third at- tempt to get into that house. This time I went around to the back door and knocked and, while waiting in vain for an answer, I turned and saw an old lady out in the garden with a hoe and keep- 30 jln Old Lady Out in the Garden With a Hoe DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM ing very still until I should go away. I sprang down the steps and went and took the hoe out of her hands and began to hoe out the corn, and tell- ing her at the same time that I would hold services in the old church the next day, and that on Monday I would come and hoe out the garden. " I don't ask you to hoe my garden," she said. " No," I replied, " I know you don't, but I want to do it for you. I don't like to see a woman as old as you doing hard work. Don't you try to do any more of it. I will have it all done before breakfast Monday morning." I felt as if I had made some progress toward reaching the daughter, although I hadn't seen her. After much persuasion and prayer the keys of the old church had finally been placed in my hands, and I went in and swept and dusted and washed the seats, having as helpers one man and a boy who had become interested. I sent the boy to the house where the young lady lived to get some hot water, so as to open a possible way for me to get into the house too. She had seen us cleaning the church and knew there was something doing. I had also taken some song-books down to the church, hoping I could get into her good graces through her love for music. After I was through at the church I went to the house, and the old lady came to the door and in- vited me in. I knew I was all right now, and accepted the invitation gladly. I saw in one corner of the room a little melodion, and asked if I might 31 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM sing her a song. She expressed her willingness, and I sang my favorite song, " Honey in the Rock," which God has blessed to thousands of souls. While I was singing I heard some one come in and drop down in one corner of the room. I turned on the stool and talked to the mother, but did not notice the daughter until the mother arose and came to me and said, " This is my daughter." I arose and stretched out my hand, and we shook hands while the girl said, " Yes, we have met before." I laughed and said : " Never mind that. Let it all go. Say, do you know this book, ' Alexander's Songs ' ? " She said she did not, but we looked at two or three, and then she sat down to the instrument and began to make her fingers fly over the keyboard. After looking over several selections which I wanted to sing on the morrow I said : " Now let me talk with you a little while. I am going to preach in the church to-morrow, and I want you to come and play these pieces which we have practised." " But," she said, " you have no organ." " Oh, yes I have," I replied. " I always carry my baby organ with me." She finally promised she would come and play, and did in the morning, but would not come to the evening service. Monday morning I arose early and hoed out the garden according to my promise, but saw no one about. The next day I went to Chester, and the pastor came back with me to see the church and to visit around among the people. 32 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM Among others we called upon this young lady and her mother, but did not then say anything on the great subject. Later she said to me : "I made up my mind if you did not care about the matter, neither did I." The next day we called again, and sang and talked, and when we were out on the steps ready to depart I said to her : " I be- lieve you want to be a Christian." " What makes you think so ? " she asked. " I have my reasons," I replied. " Now, if I will make it all clear to you, will you accept Christ?" She partly agreed that she would, and I pointed out the way until she said : " You have made it all clear. But why do you care ? iWhy do you talk to me in this way? I have done nothing to make you feel such an interest in my soul." We knelt down and prayed — ^the pastor and I — and I tried to get her to pray, but she would not surrender. I said : " I fear and tremble for you. You said if the way was made clear you would yield. My dear friend, for you it is now God or the devil. Which shall it be?" "Well," she said,. " I certainly don't want anything to do with the devil." After a little while she said, " I will accept Christ now," and she did. " Come to the service to-night and tell us about it," said I. She came, and was one of the first to testify that she had accepted Christ and that she did not see why any one should hesitate to confess him. One day, some time after- ward, she said to me, " Do you know when it was you won me to Christ? It was that Monday 33 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM morning when my mother called me early and told me you were hoeing out our garden. I wouldn't believe it until I got up and looked through the cur- tains and saw you myself." The Hardest Case in Town I was holding meetings in East Poultney, Vt. One morning as I wakened God said to me : " Hold an open-air service on the lawn in front of the church." That same night I took my baby organ out on the lawn and started a meeting. With me was my good wife who played the organ, a maiden lady, and a little child. Just across the street was a crowd of scoffers, sitting on the steps of the post- ofifice. Night by night the audiences increased, until I had a hundred people all about me. They came from miles around and sat in their carriages and listened to the gospel. One man with a broken leg was brought to the meeting, and an old invalid lady in her wheel-chair. A farmer who came first to the evening meeting became so interested he would do his chores at three o'clock and come and stay until nine o'clock at night, when the services closed. There was one man in town who was known as " the hardest customer of them all." " If God can convert that man," said one lady, " he can do any- thing." I answered her : " God can convert that man as easily as you can turn your hand over." "Well," she sighed, "I wish I could believe it." 34 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM Right there I prayed that that man might be con- verted. A few nights later I saw him upon the side hill " bushing in " grain, for it was sowing-time. I had a four-foot megaphone in my hand, and I turned it toward him and sang : I shall know Him, I shall know him. And redeemed by his side I shall stand ; I shall know him, I shall know him. By the print of the nails in his hand. He at once left the field and drove his team to the house, and in a few moments I saw my man standing on the outskirts of the crowd. When I had done speaking I went to him and asked him if he would help me carry the settees into the church. He assented, and we set to work. When they were all in I said to him : " Would you be ashamed to kneel right here on the lawn and let me pray for you that you may be a Christian ? " " No, sir," he said, and down he knelt and I beside him, and while I prayed he accepted Christ. His wife fol- lowed him, and they both united with the church and lived consistent godly lives until they went to be with their Lord. Comfort for a Stricken Heart I stopped one day at a country store to inquire where I could find entertainment for a few days while I worked in that community. Some said one place and some another, until finally one said : "Mr. 35 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM L 's would be a good place, but you would not have any comfort there." " Well," said I, " maybe then I could give them a little comfort." " They need it bad enough," was the response. I drove up to the door and Mrs. L herself came out. "How do you do?" I said. "I am Mr. Newton, the State colporter, and would like to stay with you a few days if I may. I won't make you a bit of trouble. I can make my own bed. I don't drink tea or coffee. Just put on a plate and knife and fork and one extra potato in the kettle. Just try me a day or two." " I don't know," she said, " just what Mr. L will say to it." " Well," I said, " if he is willing you will be ? " She did not fully answer. I went for my team and drove up to the barn door. Mr. L was there, and I introduced myself and proffered my request for entertainment for a few days. He thought it over and then said, "If my wife is willing you may." "All right," I said, and I jumped out and began to unhitch the horse. " Hold on," he said; " I said if my wife is willing." " Oh, that's all right. I've seen her," I replied. At that he helped me put the horse in the barn and began at once to tell me of his daughter, who had recently been killed or had committed suicide. " My poor wife is in a dreadful condi- tion," he said. We went into the house, and he said to his wife : " Wife, this man tells me he is not afraid to play the piano," and he took me into another room where 36 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM the piano was, and I played and sang, " My Mother's Bible." While I sang Mrs. L went sobbing from the room. Every day I talked with each of them, until I began to notice a change in their spirit. Mrs. L was a member of the church, but her husband was not. He was bitter, with murder in his heart. I said to him : " Mr. L , you are not looking at this thing in the right way. ' Vengeance is mine, I will repay,' saith the Lord. God can make the past plain, and God knows everything. Give your heart to God and he will make everything right." They showed me the picture of the daugh- ter. She had a strong, bright, intelligent face, and the neighbors all spoke of her as a beautiful girl and a fine school-teacher. The day I was to go away I said again : " Mr. L , you ought to give your heart to God. We have had a good many intimate talks together, and now let me tell you just how to take the Lord." As well as I could I pointed the way, and we knelt down there in the dining-room and he accepted Jesus Christ. His wife came into the room, and I said to him, " Tell your wife what you have done." And he said to her, " Wife, I have taken Christ for my friend." She threw her arms about his neck and kissed him and said : " John, did God have to take May in order to save you ? " "I guess he did," he said, as they both wiped away the tears. The scene touched the heart of a young niece who was visiting them, and I turned and said, "Don't 37 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM you also want to be a Christian?" She said she did, and we knelt again, and she too accepted Christ as her Saviour. A week later I went back to hold some services in the neighborhood, and saw Mr. L and said to him, " Well, Mr. L , how are you getting on? " He answered : " I have set up the family altar, and I ask the blessing of God on every meal." This man was seventy-four years old when God came into his life and took away his sorrow and made him a happy man. The devil has no happy old men. At " The World in Boston " I was told by the American Baptist Publication Society in 191 1 to ship my wagon and organ to Bos- ton and store it, and be on the ground ready for work when the pageant opened on April 20 of that year. I was to exemplify there the colportage work in the rural sections, and explain to the people the manner of getting into the homes and selling and distributing Bibles and New Testaments and other good books. I would do my stunt something in this fashion: I would mount a drygoods-box made ready for me, open my baby organ, and sing, " Honey in the Rock," until I had gathered my crowd, and then I would say : " Let me tell you a story. One day as I drove up to a house you ought to have seen the children gather around the wagon, asking all 38 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM kinds of questions. How their eyes sparkled as they looked at the handsome books ! The mother was as pleased as they were. As I talked with her I dis- covered that she was not a Christian, although she wanted them to be. ' But,' I said, ' what about your- self ? You ought to be a Christian yourself if you are to lead them aright. Don't you wish you were a Christian? ' She began to cry, and confessed she did. I showed her the way of life as found in the good Book, and knelt and prayed with her, and then and there she gave herself to Christ. She dried her tears and bought a ' Child's Story of the Bible.' " Singing on the Door-step As I stood at the door of another home a lady came out on the steps. I took up a song-book and, asking her if she had ever heard the song, started singing. She soon joined me, and we stood on the steps and sang a duet together with the thick forest in front of us as an audience. She warned me not to come into the house, for she said the people would not be civil to me. "Go around to the front door," she said, " and I will come out that way with my money for one of these books." I did so, and she spent every cent she had. She bought a song-book and two or three other books, and then she said : " I have just eight cents left, what will you sell me for that?" I let her have "The Way to God," by Dwight L. Moody. Oh, it rejoiced my 39 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM heart to see how glad that dear hungry soul had been made, living as she did away back on the hills miles away from the church and society. Services by the Wayside Sometimes I would take my organ into the house where the sick and the " shut-ins " were and sing to them, or in a convenient grove, where I would preach to the people who came to see or hear some new thing. At one place I found them so hungry for this kind of food that they said to me : " We are all coming to the house where you are staying to have you sing and talk to us." More than a dozen came for the seed by the wayside, and became so much in earnest in seeking the truth that they got together a big load and drove many miles to attend one of my meetings. At one place where I stopped overnight, a young woman asked me where God came from. " Why, he didn't come from anywhere," I told her. " He always existed. John i : i : 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.' " I had a time with her, but won out at last. After I had prayed with her the people came in, and rejoiced with her in the step she had taken. Some time later I was passing that way and was told she wanted to see me. I called, and she 40 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM said : " I want one of these Testaments which show what Jesus said." " Oh, yes ; you want a red- lettered Testament, where all the words of Jesus are printed in red." Her very face was shining with happiness because she had found the Lord. As I drove up to a farmhouse one day I saw the lady of the house cutting her boy's hair. She was making hard work of it and I said to her, " I guess you have a new kind of work on hand. " Yes," she said ; " it is the first time I ever tried to do such a thing. My father generally does it, but he has let it go so long I thought I would try my hand at it." " Well," I said, " let me help you out." " Why," she asked, " can you cut hair? " " You let me take the shears and comb and I will show you," I said. She handed the clumsy tools to me and stood back to watch results. I soon smoothed out the steps and ridges she had made on the boy's head. She saw I was on to my job, and when I had finished she said: " I thank you a thousand times, for I don't see how I could ever have gotten out of the scrape I had gotten into." She invited me into the house and bought a copy of " The Story of the Bible," and I had prayer with her and drove on. Two other stories which I told to the gathered thousands at the World in Boston were those of " The Cross, Busy, Old Woman " and the " Hard, Gruff, Old Man." As I went around to the back door of a house an old woman opened a little crack in the door about 41 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM two inches wide and, peeking out at me, said, " I am very busy." " Yes," I said, " we are all busy people, and I am glad we are." I told her that her niece, whom' I had met, had asked me to call. "Well, come in," she said, very impatiently. " No," I replied, " I don't think I had better. It will make it hard for you and annoy you, and I don't want to do that." The tone of her voice changed, and she said as graciously as a sweet sixteen-year-older, " Oh, come in." I went in and laid aside my over- coat just as the men were coming in to dinner, and they invited me to draw up with them. " No," I said, " I didn't come in to get my dinner, but to bring you a blessing." Then I broke out singing, "Are the signals all right?" This pleased them. Then I opened up my treasures, and another old lady who was there bought a Testament. I prayed with them before starting on, and then the first old lady bought two more books. They all seemed to be glad I had called, and told me to be sure and stop whenever I came that way. As I entered a house one day there sat a hard, gruff, old man. I could not get much out of him as I tried to cheer him in his lonely state. He saw my books and growled out, " I don't want any of your old books." I asked him if I might pray with him, and he said, " I don't care whether you do or not." Well, that was consent enough for me, and I prayed with him and for him. When I arose from my knees I took up a book and said : " Here is 42 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM a book on the second coming of Christ, which I think might interest you." " How much is it ? " he asked. " Only ten cents," I replied. He finally bought it, and after I had chatted a little longer I drove on, glad in my heart that by the grace of God I had kept sweet and that I had awakened enough interest in the old man's heart to induce him to buy the book, and I prayed it might be a blessing to his soul. Arrows at a Venture On the fair-ground a man came up and asked, " What time is it ? " I took out my watch and told him very politely. Then I said : " My friend, now is the accepted time ; now is the day of salvation." He was ruffled, and replied, " I did not ask you about salvation." " No, you didn't, but I am asking you about that. It's a much more important question than the one you asked me." " Well, I don't care anything about salvation." And away he went into the crowd as mad as a setting hen, and I lost sight of him, but he had the message. Telling the Way Often some one asks me to direct them to some place. I do so, and then I say to them : " K you had asked me the way to heaven I could tell you that too, for Jesus said : ' I am the way, the truth, and 43 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.' " The Helpful Match While waiting for trains and on other occasions I am very often asked, " Got a match ? " or, " Give me a light? " But I reply: " I would if I had one, but I don't smoke and so don't carry them, but I know some one who has a light. Jesus says, ' I am the Light of the world.' Have you got him ? " A Swearing Old Man- As I was walking through the street I heard an old man swearing. I handed him a " Gibbud Arrow." This was a card which said on one side, " There! you've broken it. Broken what? (See the other side.)" Turning it over he read the third commandment: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." I prayed while he read it. He felt rebuked, took a piece of paper from his pocket, began to wrap it around the card, and said : " I know it is wicked to swear. If I am wicked, I want to keep this clean." I gave him a few more arrows and passed on. At the Great West Indies' Fair at Charleston, S. C. We interested a man, who had been the biggest gambler of the city, in Christian work. We loaded 44 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM him up with tracts, and he went out and led a soul to Christ. Then he came back and wanted to know more about such work. He got a taste of the joy of saving souls, and opened a mission in the old abandoned Star Theater. God has wrought won- ders through this brother. He has been superin- tendent of this work for over eight years. It is now the Star Gospel Mission. Two Ladies Playing Cards As our train pulled out of Buffalo for the West, two young ladies got out their cards. I said to my wife: "The devil is showing his colors, and I am going to show mine." I got out my solo-book and began to sing, " Cling to the Bible, my boy." I changed it for the occasion. As you journey through life and the grave you pursue, There is one thing in earnest I wish you to do. Oh, listen, my girls, while I say this to you, Oh, cling to the Bible, my girls ! Oh, cling to the Bible, my girls ! Oh, cling to the Bible, my girls ! While living as dying, all else letting go, Oh, cling to the Bible, my girls 1 They put up their cards ; an old man in the rear of the car came up the aisle weeping, and said: "God bless you, brother; I don't know who you are, nor where you are going ; but I know that that 45 DOOR-STEP EVANGELISM song came from your heart, for it has reached mine." I said, " Sit down here, brother.. Let me talk awhile." That song squelched the card-playing and opened a door for me to go to the First Bap- tist Church in Little Rock to hold a revival meeting. 46