The Soul-Winner's Life and Work
Charles Spurgeon · The Soul-Winner; or, How to Lead Sinners to the Saviour
'The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that
winneth souls is wise." — Proverbs xi. 30.
THE SOUL-WINNER'S LIFE AND
WORK.
It seems to me that there is a higher joy in looking
at a body of believers than that which arises from mere-
ly regarding them as saved. Not but what there is a
great joy in salvation, a joy worthy to stir the angelic
harps. Think of the Saviour's agony in the ransom
of every one of His redeemed, think of the work of the
Holy Spirit in every renewed heart, think of the love
of the Father as resting upon every one of the regen-
erate: I could not, if I took up my parable for a month,
set forth all the mass of joy that is to be seen in a mul-
titude of believers if we only look at what God has
done for them, and promised to them, and will fulfil
in them. But there is yet a wider field of thought, and
my mind has been traversing it all this day—the thought
of the capacities of service contained in a numerous
band of believers, the possibilities of blessing others
which lie within the bosoms of regenerate persons. We
must not think so much of what we already are as to
forget what the Lord may accomplish by us for others.
Here are the coals of fire, but who shall describe the
conflagration which they may cause?
We ought to regard the Christian Church, not a.^ a
luxurious hostelry where Christian gentlemen may
each one dwell at his ease in his own inn, but as a
barracks in which soldiers are gathered together to be
204 THE SOUL- WINNER.
drilled and trained for war. We should regard the
Christian Church, not as an association for mutual ad-
miration and comfort, but as an army with banners,
marching to the fray, to achieve victories for Christ, to
storm the strongholds of the foe, and to add province
after province to the Redeemer's kingdom. We may
view converted persons gathered into church member-
ship as so much wheat in the granary. God be thanked
that it is there, and that so far the harvest has rewarded
the sower; but far more soul-inspiring is the view when
we regard those believers as each one likely to be made
a living centre for the extension of the kingdom of
Jesus, for then Ave see them sowing the fertile valleys of
our land, and promising ere long to bring forth some
thirty, some forty, some fifty, and some a hundredfold.
The capacities of life are enormous, one becomes a
thousand in a marvellously brief space: Within a
short time a few grains of wheat would suffice to seed
the whole world, and a few true saints might suffice for
the conversion of all nations. Only take that which
comes of one year, store it well, sow it all, again store it
next year, and then sow it all again, and the multiplica-
tion almost exceeds the power of computation. Oh,
that every Christian were thus year by year the Lord's
seed corn! If all the wheat in the world had perished
except a single grain, it w^ould not take many years to
replenish all the earth, and sow her fields and plains;
but in a far shorter time, in the power of the Holy
Spirit, one Paul or one Peter would have evangelised
all lands. View yourselves as grains of wheat predes-
tinated to seed the world. That man lives grandly who
is as earnest as if the very existence of Christianity de-
pended upon himself, and is determined that to all
men within his reach shall be made known the un-
searchable riches of Christ.
THE SOUL-WINNER'S LIFE AND WORK. 205
If we whom Christ is pleased to use as His seed
com were only all scattered and sown as we ought to
be, and were all to sprout and bring forth the green
blade and the corn in the ear, what a harvest there
would be! Again would it be fulfilled, "There shall
be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of th^
mountains" — a very bad position for it — "the fruit
thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city
shall flourish like grass of the earth." May God grant
us to feel some degree of the Holy Spirit's quickening
power while we talk together, not so much about what
God has done for us as about what God may do dy
us, and how far we may put ourselves into a right posi-
tion to be used by Him!
There are two things in the text, and these are found
laid out with much distinctness in its two sentences.
The first is, the life of the believer is, or ought to be,
full of soul-blessing: ''The fruit of the righteous is a
tree of life." In the second place, the pursuit of the
believer ought always to be soul-winning. The second
is much the same as the first, only the first head sets
forth our unconscious influence, and the second our
efforts which we put forth with the avowed object of
winning souls for Christ.
Let us begin at the beginning, because the second
cannot be carried out without the first : without fulness
of life within there cannot be an overflow of life to
others. It is of no use for any of you to try to be
soul-winners if you are not bearing fruit in your own
lives. How^ can you serve the Lord with your lips if you
do not serve Him wdth your lives? How can you preach
His gospel with your tongues, when with hands,
feet and hearts you are preaching the devil's gospel,
and setting up antichrist by your practical unholi-
ness? We must first have life and bear personal fruit
20G THE SOUL-WINNER.
to the divine glory, and then out of our example will
spring the conversion of others. Let us go to the
fountain-head, and see how the believer's own life is es-
sential to his being useful to others.
I. THE LIFE OF THE BELIEVER IS FULL
OF SOUL-BLESSING.
This fact we shall consider by means of a few ob-
servations growing out of the text; and, first, let us
remark that the believer's outward life comes as a
matter of fruit from him. This is prominent to notice.
"The fruit of the righteous" — that is to say, his life —
is not a thing fastened upon him, but it grows out of
him. It is not a garment which he puts off and on, but
it is inseparable from himself. The sincere man's re-
ligion is the man himself, and not a cloak for his con-
cealment. True godliness is the natural outgrowth of
a renewed nature, not the forced growth of pious hot-
house excitement. Is it not natural for a vine to bear
clusters of grapes? natural for a palm tree to bear dates?
Certainly, as natural as it is for the apples of Sodom
to be found on the trees of Sodom, and for noxious
plants to produce poisonous berries. When God gives
a new nature to His people, the life which comes out of
that new nature springs spontaneously from it. The
man Vv^ho has a religion which is not part and parcel of
himself will by-and-by discover that it is worse than
useless to him. The man who wears his piety like a
mask at a carnival, so that, when he gets home, he
changes from a saint to a savage, from an angel to a
devil, from John to Judas, from a benefactor to a bully
— such a man, I say, knows very well what formalism
and hypocrisy can do for him, but he has no vestige
of true religion. Fig trees do not bear figs on certain
THE SOUL-WINNER'S LIFE AND WORK. 207
days, and thorns at other times; but they are true to
their nature at all seasons.
Those who think that godliness is a matter of vest-
ment, and has an intimate relation with blue, and
scarlet, and fine linen, are consistent if they keep their
religion to the proper time for the wearing of their
sacred pomposities; but he who has discovered what
Christianity is knows that it is much more a life than
an act, a form, or a profession. Much as I love the
creed of Christendom, I am ready to say that true Chris-
tianity is far more a life than a creed. It is a creed, and
it has its ceremonies, but it is mainly a life; it is a divine
spark of heaven's own flame which falls into the human
bosom and burns within, consuming much that lies
hidden in the soul, and then at last, as a heavenly life,
flaming forth, so as to be seen and felt by those around.
Under the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, a re-
generate person becomes like that bush in Horeb,
which was all aglow with Deity. The God within him
makes him shine so that the place around him is holy
ground, and those who look at him feel the power of his
hallowed life.
Dear brethren, we must take care that our religion
is more and more a matter of outgrowth from our
souls. Many professors are hedged about with, "You
must not do this, or that," and are driven onward with,
"You must do this, and you must do that." But there
is a doctrine, too often perverted, which is, neverthe-
less, a blessed truth, and ought to dwell in your hearts.
"Ye are not under the law, but under grace;" hence
you do not obey the will of God because you hope to
earn heaven thereby, or dream of escaping from divine
wrath by your own doings, but because there is a life
in you which seeks after that which is holy, pure, right
and true, and cannot endure that which is evil. You are
208 THE SOUL-WINNER.
careful to maintain good works, not from either legal
hopes or legal fears, but because there is a holy thing
within you, born of God, which seeks, according to its
nature, to do that which is pleasing to God. Look to
it more and more that your religion is real, true, nat-
ural, vital — not artificial, constrained, superficial, a
thing of times, days, places, a fungus produced by ex-
citement, a fermentation generated by meetings and
stirred by oratory. We all need a religion which can
live either in a wilderness or in a crowd; a religion
which will show itself in every walk of life, and in
every company. Give me the godliness which is seen
at home, especially around the fireside, for it is never
more beautiful than there; that is seen in the battle and
tussle of ordinary business among scoffers and gain-
sayers as well as among Christian men. Show me the
faith which can defy the lynx eyes of the world, and
walk fearlessly where all scowl with the fierce eyes of
hate, as w^ell as -where there are observers to sympa-
thise, and friends to judge leniently. May you be filled
with the life of the Spirit, and your whole conduct and
conversation be the natural and blessed outgrowth of
that Spirit's indw^elling!
Note, next, that the fruit which comes from a Chris-
iian is fruit worthy of his character: *'The fruit of the
righteous is a tree of life." Each tree bears its own
fruit, and is known by it. The righteous man bears
righteous fruit; and do not let us be at all deceived,
brethren, or fall into any error about this, "he that
doeth righteousness is righteous," and "he that doeth
not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth
not his brother. We are prepared, I hope, to die for
the doctrine of justification by faith, and to assert be-
fore all adversaries that salvation is not of works; but
we also confess that we are justified by a faith which
THE SOUL-WINNER'S LIFE AND WORK. 209
produces works, and if any man has a faith which
does not produce g^ood works, it is the faith of devils.
Saving faith appropriates the finished work of the
Lord Jesus, and so saves by itself alone, for we are
justified by faith without works; but the faith which
is without works cannot bring salvation to any man.
We are saved by faith without works, but not by a faith
that is without works, for the real faith that saves the
soul works by love and purifies the character. If you
can cheat across the counter, your hope of heaven is a
cheat, too; though you can pray as prettily as any-
body, and practise acts of outward piety as well as any
other hypocrite, you are deceived if you expect to be
right at last. If as a servant you are lazy, lying and
loitering, or if as a master you are hard, tyrannical and
unchristianlike towards your men, your fruit shows
that you are a tree of Satan's own orchard, and bear
apples which will suit his tooth. If you can practise
tricks of trade, and if you can lie — and how many do
lie every day about their neighbour or about their
goods! — you may talk as you like about being justified
by faith, but all liars will have their portion in the lake
that burneth with fire and brimstone, and amongst the
biggest liars you will be, for you are guilty of the lie of
saying, "I am a Christian," whereas you are not. A
false profession is one of the worst of lies, since it
brings the utmost dishonour upon Christ and His peo-
ple. The fruit of the righteous is righteousness: the
fig tree will not bring forth thorns, neither shall we
gather grapes from thistles. The tree is known by
its fruit, and if we cannot judge men's hearts, and must
not try to do so, we can judge their lives; and I pray
God we may all be ready to judge our own lives, and
see if we are bringing forth righteous fruit, for if not, we
are not risfhteous men.
210 THE SOUL-WINNER.
Let it. however, never be forgotten that the fruit of
the righteous, though it comes from him naturally, for
his new-born nature yields the sweet fruit of obedi-
ence, yet it is always the i-csiilt of grace, and the gift
of God. No truth ought to be remembered more than
this, "From Me is thy fruit found." We can bring
forth no fruit except as we abide in Christ. The right-
eous shall flourish as a branch, and only as a branch.
How does a branch flourish? By its connection with
the stem, and the consequent inflowing of the sap ; and
so, though the righteous man's righteous actions are
his own, yet they are always produced by the grace
which is imparted to him, and he never dares to take
any credit for them, but he sings, "Not unto us, O
Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give praise."
If he fails, he blame? himself; if he succeeds, he glori-
fies God. Imitate his example. Lay every fault, every
weakness, every infirmity at your own door; and if
you fall in any respect short of perfection — and I am
sure you do — take all that to yourself, and do not excuse
yourself; but if there be any virtue, any praise, any true
desire, any real prayer, anything that is good, ascribe it
all to the Spirit of God. Remember, the righteous man
would not be righteous unless God had made him
righteous, and the fruit of righteousness would never
come from him unless the divine sap within him had
produced that acceptable fruit. To God alone be all
honour and glory.
The main lesson of the passage is that this outbur=t
of life from the Christian, this consequence of life with -
in him, this fruit of his soul, hecojnes a blessing to
others. Like a tree, it yields shade and sustenance to
all around. It is a tree of life, an expression which I
cannot fully work out as I would wish, for there is a
world of instruction compressed into the illustration.
THE SOUL-WINNER'S LIFE AND WORK. 211
That which to the beUever himself is fruit becomes to
others a tree: it is a singular metaphor, but by no
means a lame one. From the child ot God there falls
the fruit of holy living, even as an acorn drops from
the oak; this holy living becomes influential and pro-
duces the best results in others, even as the acorn
becomes itself an oak and lends its shade to the birds
of the air. The Christian's holiness becomes a tree
of life. I suppose it means a living tree, a tree calcu-
Jated to give life and sustain it in others. A fruit
becomes a tree! A tree of life! Wonderful result
this! Christ in the Christian produces a character
which becomes a tree of life. The outward character
is the fruit of the inner life; this outer life itself grows
from a fruit into a tree, and as a tree it bears fruit in
others to the praise and glory of God. Dear brothers
and sisters, I know some of God's saints who live very
near to him, and they are evidently a tree of life, for
their very shadow is comforting, cooling, and refresh-
ing to many weary souls. I have known the young,
the tried, the downcast, go to them, sit beneath their
shade, and pour out the tale of their troubles, and they
have felt it a rich blessing to receive their sympathy,
to be told of the faithfulness of the Lord, and to be
guided in the way of wisdom. There are a few good
men in this world whom to know is to be rich. Such
men are libraries of gospel truth; but they are better
than books, for the truth in them is written on living
pages. Their character is a true and living tree; it is
not a mere post of the dead wood of doctrine, bearing
an inscription, and rotting while it does so, but it is a
vital, organized, fruit-producing thing, a plant of the
Lord's right-hand planting.
Not only do some saints give comfort to others, but
they also yield them spiritual nourishment. Well-
213 THE SOUL- WINNER.
trained Christians become nursing fathers and nursmg
mothers, strengthening the weak, and binding up the
wounds of the broken-hearted. So, too, the strong,
bokl, generous deeds of large-hearted Christians are
of great service to their fellow-Christians, and tend to
raise them to a higher level. You feel refreshed by
observing how they act; their patience in sufifering,
their courage in danger, their holy faith in God, their
happy faces under trial, — all these nerve you for your
own conflicts. In a thousand ways, the sanctified
believer's example acts in a healing and comforting
way to his brethren, and assists in raising them above
anxiety and unbelief. Even as the leaves of the tree
of life are for the healing of the nations, so the words
and deeds of saints are medicine for a thousand
maladies.
And then what fruit, sweet to the taste of the godly,
instructed believers bear! We can never trust in men
as we trust in the Lord, but the Lord can cause the
members to bless us in their measure, even as their
Head is ever ready to do. Jesus alone is the Tree of
Life, but He makes some of his servants to be instru-
mentally to us little trees of life, by whom He gives
us fruit of the same sort that He bears Himself, for he
puts it there, and it is Himself in His saints causing
them to bring forth golden apples, with which our
souls are gladdened. May we every one of us be made
like our Lorcl, and may His fruit be found upon our
boughs !
We have put into the tomb many of the saints who
have fallen asleep, and among them there were some
of whom I will not at this moment speak particularly,
whose lives as I look back upon them are still a tree
of life to me. I pray God that I may be like them.
]\Iany of you knew them, and if you will only recall
THE SOUL-WINNER'S LIFE AND WORK. 213
their holy, devoted Hvcs, the influence they have left
behind will still be a tree of life to you. They beini^
dead yet speak; hear ye their eloquent exhortations!
Even in their ashes live their wonted fires; kindle
your souls at their warmth. Their noble examples
are the endowments of the church, her children are
ennobled and enriched as they remember their walk
of faith and labour of love. Beloved, may we every
one of us be true benedictions to the churches in
whose gardens we are planted! "Oh!" says one, "I
am afraid I am not much like a tree, for I feel so
weak and insignificant." If you have faith as a grain
of mustard seed, you have the commencement of the
tree beneath whose branches the birds of the air will
yet find a lodging. The very birds that w^ould have
eaten the tiny seed come and find lodgment in the
tree which grows out of it; and people who despise
and mock at you, now that you arc a young beginner,
will one of these days, if God blesses you, be glad to
borrow comfort from your example and experience.
But one other thought on this point. Remember
that the conipIrtc7iess and dcvclopmcjit of the holy life
will be seen above. There is a city of which it is
written, "In the midst of the street of it, and on eitlier
side of the river, was there the tree of life." The tree
of life is a heavenly plant, and so the fruit of the
Christian is a thing of heaven; though not trans-
planted to the glory land, it is getting fit for its final
abode. What is holiness but heaven on earth?
What is living unto God but the essence of heaven?
What arc uprightness, integrity, Christ-likeness?
I lave not these even more to do with heaven than
harps and palms and streets of purest gold? Holiness,
purity, loveliness of character, — these make a heaven
within a man's own bosom; and even if there were
214 THE SOUL-WINNER.
no place called heaven, that heart would have a
heavenly happiness which is set free from sin, and
made like the Lord Jesus. See, then, dear brethren,
what an important thing it is for us to be indeed
righteous before God, for then the outcome of that
righteousness shall be fruit which will be a tree of life
to others, and a tree of life in heaven above, world
without end. O blessed Spirit, make it so, and Thou
shalt have all the praise !
II. This brings us to our second head. THE
PURSUIT OF THE BELIEVER SHOULD BE
SOUL-WINNING. For "he that winneth souls is
wise." The two things are put together — the life first,
the efifort next: what God hath joined together, let no
man put asunder.
It is implied in our text that tJici'e ai-e souls wJiich
need winning. Ah, me! all souls of men are lost by
nature. You might walk through the streets of Lon-
don, and say, with sighs and tears, of the masses of
men you meet upon those crowded pavements, "Lost,
lost, lost!" Wherever Christ is not trusted, and the
Spirit has not created a new heart, and the soul has
not come to the great Father, there is a lost soul. But
here is the mercy — these lost souls can be won. They
are not hopelessly lost; not yet has God determined
that they shall forever abide as they are. It is not
yet said, "He that is filthy, let him be filthy still;"
but they are in the land of hope where mercy may
reach them, for they are spoken of as capable of being
won. They may yet be delivered, but the phrase hints
that it will need all our efforts: *'He that 7oinncth
souls."
What do we mean by that word win? We use it
in love-making. We speak of the bridegroom who
wins his bride ; and sometimes there is a large expense
THE SOUL-WINNERS LIFE AND WORK. 215
of love, many a pleading word, and many a wooing
act, ere yet the valned heart is all the suitor's own. I
use this explanation because in some respects it is the
very best, for souls will have to be won for Christ in
this fashion, that they may be espoused unto Him.
We must make love to the sinner for Christ; that is
how hearts are to be won for him. Jesus is the Bride-
groom, and we must speak for Him, and tell of His
beauty, as Abraham's servant, when he went to seek a
wife for Isaac, acted as a wooer in his stead. Have
you never read the story? Then turn to it v'hcn you
get home, and see how he talked about his master, what
possessions he had, and how Isaac was to be heir of
it all, and so on, and then he finished his address by
urging Rebecca to go with him. The question was
put home to her, "Wilt thou go with this man?" So
the minister's business is to commend his blaster and
his Master's riches, and then to say to souls, "Will you
be wedded to Christ?" He who can succeed in this
very delicate business is a wise man.
We also use the term in a military fashion. We
speak of winning a city, a castle, or a battle. We do
not win victories by going to sleep. Believe me,
castles are not captured by men who are only half
awake. To win a battle, needs the best skill, the
greatest endurance, and the utmost courage. To
storm fortresses, which are regarded as almost im-
pregnable, men need to burn the midnight oil, and
study well the arts of attack; and, when the time
comes for the assault, not a soldier must be a laggard.
but all force of artiller\- and manhood must be brought
to bear on the point assailed. To carry man's heart
by main force of grace, to capture it, to break down
the bars of brass and dash the gates of iron in pieces,
requires the exercise of a skill which only Christ can
216 THE SOUL-WINNER.
give. To bring up the big battering-rams, and shake
every stone in the sinner's conscience, to make his heart
rock and reel within him for fear of the wrath to come,
— in a word, to assail a soul with all the artillery of the
gospel, needs a wise man, and one fully aroused to his
work. To hold up the white flag of mercy, and, if that
be despised, to use the battering-ram of threatening
until a breach is made, and then, with the sword of the
Spirit in his hand, to capture the city, to tear down
the black flag of sin, and run up the banner of the
cross, needs all the force the choicest preacher can
command, and a great deal more. Those whose souls
are as cold as the Arctic regions, and whose energy
is reduced to the vanishing point, are not likely to
take the city of Mansoul for Prince Emmanuel. If
you think you are going to win souls, you must throw
your soul into your work, just as a warrior must throw
his soul into a battle, or victory will not be yours.
We use the words "to win'' in reference to making
a fortune, and we all know that the man who becomes
a millionaire has to rise up early, and sit up late, and
eat the bread of carefulness, and it takes a deal of
toiling and saving, and I know not what besides, to
amass immense wealth. We have to go in for winning
souls with the same ardour and concentration of our
faculties as old Astor of New York went in to build
up that fortune of so many millions which he has now
left behind him. It is, indeed, a race, and you knov;
that, in a race, nobody wins unless he strains every
muscle and sinew. 'They that run in a race run all
but one receiveth the prize;" and that one is generally
he wlio had more strength than the rest; certainly,
v/hether he had more strength or not, he put out all he
liad, and we shall not win souls unless we imitate him
in this.
THE SOUL-WINNER'S LIFE AND WORK. 21/
Solomon in the text declares that, ''He that winneth
souls is wise," and such a declaration is all the more
valuable as coming from so wise a man. Let me show
you why a soul-winner is wise. First, he viust be
taught of God before he will attempt it. The man
who does not know that, whereas he was once blind,
now he sees, had better think of his own blindness
before he attempts to lead his friends in the right way.
If not saved yourself, you cannot be the means of sav-
ing others. He that winneth souls must be wise unto
salvation first for himself.
That being taken for granted, he is a wise man to
select such a pursuit. Young man, are you choosing
an object worthy to be the great aim of your life? I
do hope you will judge wisely, and select a noble
ambition. If God has given you great gifts, I hope
they will not be wasted on any low, sordid, or selfish
design. Suppose I am now addressing one who has "
great talents, and has an opportunity of being what he
likes, of going into Parliament, and helping to pass
great measures, or of going into business, and making
himself a man of importance; I hope he will weigh
the claims of Jesus and immortal souls as well as other
claims. Shall I addict myself to study? Shall I sur-
render myself to business? Shall I travel? Shall I
spend my time in pleasure? Shall I become the prin-
cipal fox-hunter of the county? Shall I lay out my
time in promoting political and social reforms? Think
them all over; but if you are a Christian man, my dear
friend, nothing will equal in enjoyment, in usefulness,
in honour, and in lasting recompense the giving your-
self up to the winning of souls. Oh, it is grand hunt-
ing, I can tell you, and beats all the fox-hunting in the
world in excitement and exhilaration! Have I not
sometimes gone with a cry over hedge and ditch after
218 THE SOUL- WINNER.
some poor sinner, and kept well up with him in every
twist and turn he took, till I have overtaken him by
God's grace, and been in at the death, and rejoiced
exceedingly when I have seen him captured by my
Master? Our Lord Jesus calls His ministers fisher-
men, and no other fishermen have such labour, such
sorrow, and such delight as we have. What a happy
thing it is that you may win souls for Jesus, and may
do this though you abide in your secular callings!
Some of you would never win souls in pulpits; it
would be a great pity if you tried, but you can win
souls in the workshop, and in the laundry, in the
nursery, and in the drawing-room. Our hunting
grounds are everywhere: by the wayside, by the fire-
side, in the corner, and in the crowd. Among the
common people Jesus is our theme, and among the
great ones we have no other. You will be wise, my
brother, if for you the one absorbing desire is that you
may turn the ungodly from the error of their ways.
For you there will be a crown glittering with many
stars, which you shall cast at Jesus' feet in the day of
His appearing.
Further, it is not only wise to make this your aim,
but you will have to be very wise if yon succeed in it,
because the souls to be won are so different in their
constitutions, feelings, and conditions, and you will
have to adapt yourselves to them all. The trappers
of North America have to find out the habits of the
animals they wish to catch, and so you will have to
learn how to deal with each class of cases. Some are
very depressed, you will have to comfort them. Per-
haps you will comfort them too much, and make them
unbelieving; and, therefore, possibly, instead of com-
forting them, you will need sometimes to administer
a sharp word to cure the sulkiness into which they have
THE SOUL-WINNERS LIFE AND WORK. 2UJ
fallen. Another person may be frivolous, and if you put
on a serious face you will frighten your bird away ; you
will have to be cheerful, and drop a word of admoni-
tion as if by accident. Some people, again, will not
let you speak to them, but will talk to you; you must
know^ the art of putting a w'ord in edgeways. You will
have to be very wise, and become all things to all men,
and your success will prove your wisdom. Theories
of dealing wath souls may look very wise, but they
often prove to be useless when actually tried: he who
by God's grace accomplishes the work is a wise man,
though perhaps he knows no theory whatever. This
work will need all your wdt, and far more, and you will
have to cry to the great Winner of souls above to give
you of His Holy Spirit.
But, mark you, he that wdns souls is wise, because
he is engaged in a business which makes men wiser
as they proceed with it. You will bungle at first, and
very likely drive sinners off from Christ by your
attempts to draw them to Him. I have tried to
move some souls with all my might with a certain
passage of Scripture, but they have taken it in an
opposite light to what it was intended, and have started
off in the wrong direction. It is very dif^cult to know
how to act with bewildered enquirers. If you want
some people to go forward, you must pull them back-
wards. If you want them to go to the right, you must
insist upon their going to the left, and then they go
to the right directly. You must be ready for these
follies of poor human nature. I knew a poor aged
Christian woman who had been a child of God
fifty years, but she was in a state of melan-
choly and distress, from which nobody could arouse
her. I called several times, and endeavoured to
cheer her up, but generall}' when I left she was
220 THE SOUL-WINNER.
worse than before. So, the next time I called to see
her, I did not say anything to her about Christ or
religion. She soon introduced those topics herself,
and then I remarked that I was not going to talk to
her about such holy things, for she did not know any-
thing about them, for she was not a believer in Christ,
and had been, no doubt, a hypocrite for many years.
She could not stand that, and asserted, in self-defense,
that the Lord above knew her better than I did, and He
was her witness that she did love the Lord Jesus
Christ. She scarcely forgave herself afterwards for
that admission, but she could never talk to me quite
so despairingl}^ any more. True lovers of men's souls
learn the art of dealing with them, and the Holy Spirit
makes them expert soul-surgeons for Jesus. It is not
because a man has more abilities, nor altogether
because he has more grace, but the Lord makes him
to love the souls of men intensely, and this imparts
a secret skill, since, for the most part, the way to get
sinners to Christ is to love them to Christ.
Beloved brethren, I will say, once more, he who
I'eally wins souls for Jestts, however he wins them, is a
tvise man. Some of you are slow to admit this. You
say, — "Well, So-and-so, I daresay, has been very
useful, but he is very rough." What does his rough-
ness matter if he wins souls? "Ah!" says another,
"but I am not built up under him." Why do you go
to hear him to get built up? If the Lord has sent
him to pull down, let him pull down, and do you go
elsewhere for edification; but do not grumble at a
man who does one work because he cannot do an-
other. We are also too apt to pit one minister against
another, and say, "You should hear my minister."
Perhaps we should, but it would be better for you to
hear the man who edifies you, and let others go where
THE SOUL-WINNER'S LIFE AND WORK. 221
they also are instructed. *'He that winneth souls is
wise." I do not ask you how he did it. He sang the
gospel, and you did not like it; but if he won souls,
he was wise. Soul-winners have all their own ways;
and if they do but win souls, they are wise. I will tell
you what is not wise, and will not be thought so at
the last, namely, to go about the churches, doing
nothing yourself, and railing at all the Lord's useful
servants.
Here is a dear brother on his dying bed, he has the
sweet thought that the Lord enabled him to bring
many souls to Jesus, and the expectation when he
comes to the gates that many spirits will come to meet
h-m. They will throng the ascent to the New Jerusa-
lem, and welcome the man who brought them to Jesus.
They are immortal monuments to his labours. He is
wise. Here is another who has spent all his time in
interpreting the prophecies, so that everything he read
of in the newspapers he could see in Daniel or the
Revelation. He is wise, so some say, but I had rather
spend my time in winning souls. I would sooner
bring one sinner to Jesus Christ than unpick all the
mysteries of the divine Word, for salvation is the thing
we are to live for. I would to God that I understood
all mysteries, yet chief of all would I proclaim the
mystery of soul-saving by faith in the blood of the
Lamb. It is comparatively a small matter for a min-
ister to have been a staunch upholder of orthodoxy
all his days, and to have spent himself in keeping u])
the hedges of his church; soul-winning is the main
concern. It is a very good thing to contend earnestly
for the faith once delivered to the saints; but I do not
think I should like to say in my last account, "Lord,
I have lived to fight the Romanists and the State
Church, and to put down the various erroneous sects.
222 - THE SOUL-WINNER.
but I never led a sinner to the cross." No, we will
fight the good fight of faith, but the winning of souls
is the greater matter, and he who attends to it is wise.
Another brother has preached the truth, but he did so
polish up his sermons that the gospel was hidden.
Never a sermon was fit to preach, he thought, until
he had written it out a dozen times to see whether every
sentence would be according to the canons of Cicero
and Quintillian, and then he went and delivered the
gospel as a grand oration. Is that wise? Well, it
takes a wise man to be a thorough orator; but it is
better not to be an orator if fine speech prevents your
being understood. Let eloquence be flung to the dogs
rather than souls be lost. What we want is to win
souls, and they are not to be won by flowery speeches.
We must have the winning of souls at heart, and be red
hot with zeal for their salvation; and then, however
much we blunder, according to the critics, we shall be
numbered among those whom the Lord calls wise.
Now, Christian men and women, I want you to take
this matter up practically, and to determine that you
will try this very night to win a soul. Try the one
next to you in the seat if you cannot think of anybody
else. Try on the way home; try with your own chil-
dren. Have I not told you of what happened one
Sunday evening? In my sermon I said, "Now, you
mothers, have you ever prayed with each of your
children, one by one, and urged them to lay hold on
Christ? Perhaps dear Jane is now in bed, and you
have never yet pleaded with her about eternal things.
Go hom.e to-night, wake her up, and say, ']a.ne, I am
sorry I have never told you about the Saviour person-
ally, and prayed with you, but I mean to do it now.'
Wake her up, and put your arms round her neck, and
pour out your heart to God with her." Well, there
THE SOUL- WINNER'S LIFE AND WOTRK. 223
was a good sister here who had a daughter named
fane. What do you think? She came on ?^Ionday to
bring her daughter Jane to see me in tlie vestry, for
when she woke her up, and began, "I have not spoken
to you about Jesus," or something to that effect, "Oh,
dear mother!" said Jane, "I have loved the Saviour
these six months, and wondered you had not spoken to
me about Him;" and then there was great kissing and
rejoicing. Perhaps you may find that to be the case
with a dear child at home ; and, if you do not, so much
the more reason why you should begin at once to
speak. Did you never win a soul for Jesus "i* You
shall have a crown in heaven, but no jewels in it. You
will go to heaven childless; and you know how it was
in the old times, how the women dreaded lest they
should be childless. Let it be so with Christian people ;
let them dread being spiritually childless. We must
hear the cries of those wliom God has given to be bom
unto himself by our means. We must hear them
or else cry out in anguish, "Give me converts, or I die."
Young men and old men, and sisters of all ages, if
you love the Lord, get a passion for souls. Do you
not see them? They arc going down to hell by thou-
sands; as often as the hand upon the dial completes
its circuit, hell devours multitudes, some of them igno-
rant of Christ and others wilfully rejecting Him. The
world lies in darkness: this great city still pines for
the light: your own friends and kinsfolk are unsaved,
and they may be dead ere this week is over. Oh, if you
have any humanity, let alone Christianity, if you have
found the remedy, tell the diseased about it! If you
have found life, proclaim it to the dead; if you have
found liberty, publish it to the captives; if you have
found Christ, tell of Him to others. ^ly brethren in
the College, let this be your choice work while study-
224 THE SOUL-WINNER.
ing, and let it be the one object of your lives when
you go forth from us. Do not be content when you
gGt a congregation, but labour to win souls; and as
you do this, God will bless you. As for us, we hope
during the rest of our lives to follow Him who is T/ie
Soul-Winner, and to put ourselves in His hands who
maketh us soul-winners, so that our life may not be
a long folly, but may be proved by results to have been
directed by wisdom.
O you souls not won to Jesus, remember that faith
in Christ saves you! Trust in Him. May you be led
to trust in Him, for His name's sake! Amen.