Soul-Saving Our One Business
Charles Spurgeon · The Soul-Winner; or, How to Lead Sinners to the Saviour
'I am made all things to all men,, that I might by all means
save some." — I Corinthians ix. 22.
SOUL-SAVING OUR ONE BUS-
INESS.
It is a grand thing to sec a man thoroughly pos-
sessed with one master-passion. Such a man is sure
to be strong, and if the master-principle be excellent,
he is sure to be excellent, too. The man of one object
is a man indeed. Lives with many aims are like watei'
trickling through innumerable streams, none of which
are wide enough or deep enough to float the merest
cockleshell of a boat; but a life with one object is like
a mighty river flowing between its banks, bearing to
the ocean a multitude of ships, and spreading fertility
on either side. Give me a man not only with a great
object in his soul, but thoroughly possessed by it, his
powers all concentrated, and himself on fire with vehe-
ment zeal for his supreme object, and you have put
before me one of the greatest sources of power wliich
the world can produce. Give me a man engrossed with
holy love as to his heart, and filled with some master-
ly celestial thought as to his brain, and such a man
will be known wherever his lot may be cast, and I
venture to prophesy that his name will be remembered
long after the place of his sepulchre shall be forgotten.
Such a man was Paul. I am not about to set him
upon a pedestal, that you may look at him and wonder,
much less that you may kneel down and worship him
as a saint. I mention Paul, because what he was we
ought every one of us to be; and though we cannot
250 THE SOUL- WINNER.
share in his office, not being apostles ; though we can-
not share in his talents or in his inspiration, yet we
ought to be possessed by the same spirit which actu-
ated him, and let me also add we ought to be pos-
sessed by it in the same degree. Do you demur to
that? I ask you what there was in Paul, by the grace
of God, which may not be in you, and what had Jesus
done for Paul more than for you? He was divinely
changed; and so have you been if you have passed
from darkness into marvellous light. He had much
forgiven; and so have you also been freely pardoned.
He was redeemed by the blood of the Son of God; and
so have you been — at least, so you profess to have
been. He was filled with the Spirit of God ; and so are
you, if you are truly such as your Christian profession
makes you out to be. Owing, then, your salvation to
Christ, being debtors to the precious blood of Jesus,
and being quickened by the Holy Spirit, I ask you why
there should not be the same fruit from the same sow-
ing? Why not the same efifect from the same cause?
Do not tell me that the apostle was an exception, and
cannot be set up as a rule or model for commoner folk,
for I shall have to tell you that we must be such as
Paul was if we hope to be where Paul is. Paul did not
think that he had attained, neither that he was already
perfect. Shall we think him to be so — so think him
to be so as to regard him as inimitable, and so be
content to fall short of what he was? Nay, verily, but
let it be our incessant prayer, as believers in Christ,
that we may be followers of him so far as he followed
Christ, and wherein he failed to set his feet in his Lord's
footprints may we even outstrip him, and be more zeal-
ous, more devoted to Christ than even the apostle of
the Gentiles was. Oh, that the Holy Spirit would bring
us to be like our Lord Jesus Himself!
SOUL-SAVING OUR ONE BUSINESS. 251
At this time, I shall have to speak to you upon
VdiuVs great odjcif in life; he tells us it was to *'save
some"; we will then look into Paul's heart and show
you a few of the great reasons which made him think it
so important that some at least should be saved; then,
thirdly, we will indicate certain of the means 7uhich
the apostle used to that end; and all with this view, that
you, my dear hearers, may seek to "save some;" that
you may seek this because of potent reasons which
you cannot withstand, and that you may seek it with
wise methods such as shall in the end succeed.
I. First, then, brethren, WHAT WAS PAUL'S
GREAT OBJECT IN HIS DAILY LIFE AXD
MINISTRY? He says it was, to save some.
There are ministers of Christ present at this hour,
together with City missionaries, Bible-women, Sunday-
school teachers, and other workers in my Master's
vineyard, and I make bold to enquire of each one of
them — Is this your object in all your Christian service?
Do you above all things aim at saving souls? I am
afraid that some have forgotten this grand object;
but, dear friends, anything short of this is unworthy
to be the great end of a Christian's life. I fear there
are some who preach with the view of amusing men;
and as long as people can be gathered in crowds, and
their ears can be tickled, and they can retire pleased
with what they have heard, the orator is content, and
folds his hands and goes back self-satisfied. But Paul
did not lay himself out to please the public, and col-
lect the crowd. If he did not save them, he felt that
it was of no avail to interest them. Unless the truth
had pierced their hearts, affected their lives, and made
new men of them, Paul would have gone home crying,
"Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the
arm of the Lord revealed?"
V
252 THE SOUL-WINNER.
It seems to be the opinion of a large party in the
present day that the object of Christian efifort should
be to educate men. I grant you that education is in
itself an exceedingly valuable thing, so valuable that I
am sure the whole Christian Church rejoices greatly
that at last we have a national system of education,
which only needs to be carefully carried out and every
child in this land will have the keys of knowledge in
his hand. Whatever other price others may set upon
ignorance, we are promoters of knowledge, and the
more it can be spread the better shall we be pleased.
But if the Church of God thinks that it is sent into the
world merely to train the mental faculties, it has made
a very serious mistake, for the object of Christianity
is not to educate men for their secular callings, or even
to train them in the politer arts, or the more elegant
professions, or to enable them to enjoy the beauties of
nature or the charms of poetry. Jesus Christ came
not into the world for any of these things, but He
came to seek and to save that which was lost; and on
the same errand has He sent His Church, and she is
a traitor to the Master who sent her if she is beguiled
by the beauties of taste and art to forget that to preach
Christ and Him crucified is the only object for which
she exists among the sons of men. The business of
the church is salvation. The minister is to use all means
to save some ; he is no minister of Christ if this be not
the one desire of his heart. Missionaries sink far be-
low their level when they are content to civilize ; their
first object is to save. The same is true of the Sunday-
school teacher, and of all other workers among chil-
dren ; if they have merely taught the child to read, to
repeat hymns, and so forth, they have not yet touched
their true vocation. We must have the children saved.
At this nail we must drive, and the hammer must come
SOUL-SAVING OUR ONE BUSINESS. 253
down upon this head always — that we might by all
means save some, for we have done nothing unless
some are saved.
Paul does not even say that he tried to moralize
men. The best promoter of morality is the gospel.
When a man is saved, he becomes moral; he becomes
more, he becomes holy. But to aim first at morality
is altogether to miss the mark ; and if we did attain it —
as we shall not — yet we should not have attained that
for which we were sent into the world. Dr. Chalmers'
experience is a very valuable one to those who think
that the Christian ministry ought to preach up mere
morality, for he says that in his first parish he
preached morality, and saw no good whatever arising
out of his exhortations. But, as soon as he began to
preach Christ crucified, then there was a buzz, and a
stir, and much opposition, but grace prevailed. He
who wishes for perfumes must grow the flowers; he
who desires to promote morality must have men saved.
He who wants motion in a corpse should first seek
life for it, and he who desires to see a rightly-ordered
life should first desire an inward renewal by the Holy
Spirit. We are not to be satisfied when we have taught
men their duties towards their neighbours, or even
their duties towards God ; this would suffice for Moses,
but not for Christ. The law came by Moses, but grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ. We teach men what
they ought to be, but we do far more; by the power
of the gospel, applied by the Holy Ghost, we make
them what they ought to be by the power of God's
Spirit. We put not before the blind the things that
they ought to see, but w^e open their eyes in the name
of Jesus. We tell not the captive how free he ought
to be, but we open the door and take away his
fetters. We are not content to tell men what they
254 THE SOUL- WINNER.
must be, but we show them how this character can be
obtained, and how Jesus Christ freely presents all that
is essential to eternal life to all those who come and put
their trust in Him.
Now observe, brethren, if I, or you, or any of us,
or all of us, shall have spent our lives merely in amus-
ing men, or educating men, or moralizing men, when
we shall come to give in our account at the last great
day, we shall be in a very sorry condition, and we shall
have but a very sorry record to render; for of what
avail will it be to a man to be educated when he comes
to be damned? Of what service will it be to him to
have been amused when the trumpet sounds, and
heaven and earth are shaking, and the pit opens wide
her jaws of fire, and swallows up the soul unsaved?
Of what avail even to have moralized a man if still he
is on the left hand of the Judge, and if still, ''Depart,
ye cursed," shall be his portion? Blood-red with the
murder of men's souls will be the skirts of professing
Christians, unless the drift, and end, and aim of all
their work has been to "save some." Oh! I beseech
you, especially you, dear friends, who are working in
Sunday and Ragged Schools, and elsewhere, do not
think that you have done anything unless the chil-
dren's souls are saved. Settle it that this is the top and
bottom of the business, and throw your whole strength
in the name of Christ, and by the power of the Eternal
Spirit, into this object — if by any means you may save
some and bring some to Jesus that they may be deliv-
ered from the wrath to come.
What did Paul mean by saying that he desired to
save some? What is it to be saved? Paul meant by
that nothing less than that some should be born again;
for no man is saved until he is made a new creature in
Christ Jesus. The old nature cannot be saved; it is
SOUL-SAVING OUR ONE BUSINESS. 255
(lead and corrupt; the best thing that can be done with
it is to let it be crucified, and buried in the sepulchre
of Christ. There must be a new nature implanted in us
by the power of the Holy Ghost, or we cannot be saved.
We must be as much new creations as if wt had never
been; we must come a second time as fresh from the
hand of the Eternal God as if we had been to-day
moulded by divine wisdom as Adam was in Paradise.
The great Teacher's words are, 'The wind bloweth
where it listeth. and thou hearest the sound thereof, but
canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it gcjeth:
so is every one that is born of the Spirit." "Except a
man be born again (from above), he cannot see the
kingdom of God." This, then, Paul meant, that men
must be new creatures in Christ Jesus, that we may
never rest till we see such a change wrought upon them.
This must be the object of our teaching, and of our
praying, indeed, the object of our lives, that "some"
may be regenerated.
He meant, beside that, tluit soiiw //lix/it be cleansed
from their past ifiiquity t/irt'itj^/i inc merit of the ato?i-
ing sacrifice of the Son of God. No man can be saved
from his sin except by the atonement. Under the Jew-
ish law it was written, "Cursed is every one that con-
tinueth not in all things that are written in the book
of the law to do them." That curse has never been
reversed, and the only way to escape from it is this:
Jesus Christ was made a curse for us, as it is written.
"Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." Xow,
he who believes in Jesus, who puts his hand upon the
head of Jesus of Nazareth, the Scapegoat of His peo-
ple, has lost his sins. His faith is sure evidence that
his iniquities were of old laid upon the head of the great
Substitute. The Lord Jesus Christ was punished in our
room, and we are no longer obnoxious to the wrath
256 THE SOUL-WINNER.
of God. Behold, the sin-atoning sacrifice is slain, and
ofifered on tlie altar, and the Lord has accepted it, and
is so well pleased that he has declared that whosoever
believeth in Jesus is fully and eternally forgiven. Now,
we long to see men thus forgiven. We pine to bring
the prodigal's head into the Father's bosom, the wan-
dering sheep to the good Shepherd's shoulder, the lost
piece of money into the Owner's hands ; and until this
is done, nothing is done, I mean, brethren, nothing
spiritually, nothing eternally, nothing that is worthy of
the agony of a Christian's life, nothing that can be
looked upon as deserving of an immortal spirit's spend-
ing all its fires upon it. O Lord, our soul yearns to see
Jesus rewarded by the salvation of the blood-bought!
Aid us by Thine efifectual grace to lead souls to Him.
Once more, when the apostle wished that he might
save some, he meant that, being regenerated, and be-
ing pardoned, they might also be purified a?id made
holy, for a man is not saved while he lives in sin. Let
a man say what he will, he cannot be saved from sin
whilst he is the slave of it. How is a drunkard saved
from drunkenness whilst he still riots as before? How
can you say that the swearer is saved from blasphemy
while he is still profane? Words must be used in their
true meaning. Now, the great object of the Christian's
work should be that some might be saved from their
sins, purified, and made white, and made examples of
integrity, chastity, honesty and righteousness, as the
fruit of the Spirit of God; and where this is not the
case, we have laboured in vain, and spent our strength
for nought.
Now, I do protest before you all that I have in this
house of prayer never sought anything but the con-
version of souls, and I call heaven and earth to witness,
and your consciences, too, that I have never laboured
SOUL-SAVING OUR ONE BUSINESS. 2r.7
for anything except this, the bringing of you to Christ,
that I might present you at last unto God "accepted
in the Beloved." I have not sought to gratify depraved
appetites either by novelty of doctrine or ceremonial,
but I have kept up the simplicity of the gospel. I have
kept back no part of the price of God's Word from
you, but I have endeavoured to give you the whole
counsel of God. I have sought out no fineries of speech,
but have spoken plainly, and right straight at your
hearts and consciences; and if you be not saved, I
mourn and lament before God that up to this day,
though I have preached hundreds of times to you, yet
I have preached in vain. If you have not closed in with
Christ, if you have not been washed in the fountain
filled with blood, you are waste pieces of soil from
which no harvest has yet come.
You tell me, perhaps, that you have been kept from
a great many sins, that you have learned a great many
truths by coming here. So far, so good; but could I
af¥ord to live for this, merely to teach you certain
truths, or keep you back from open sins? How could
this cont'ent me if I knew all the while that you were
still unsaved, and must, therefore, after death, be cast
into the flames of hell? Nay, beloved, before the Lord,
I count nothing to be worthy of your pastor's life, and
soul, and energy, but the winning of you to Christ.
Nothing but your salvation can ever make me feel that
my heart's desire is granted. I ask every worker here
to see to this, that he never turns aside from shooting at
this target, and at the centre of this target, too, namely,
that he may win souls for Christ, and see them born to
God, and washed in the fountain filled with blood. Let
the workers' hearts ache and yearn, and their voices
cry till their throats are hoarse; but let them judge
that they have accomplished nothing whatever until, at
258 THE SOUL-WINNER.
least, in some cases, men are really saved. As the fish-
erman longs to take the fish in his net, as the hunter
pants to bear home his spoil, as the mother pines to
clasp her lost child to her bosom, so do we faint for
the salvation of souls; and we must have them, or we
are ready to die. Save them, O Lord, save them for
Christ's sake!
But now we must leave that point for another.
II. THE APOSTLE HAD GREAT REASONS
FOR ELECTING SUCH AN OBJECT IN LIFE.
Were he here, I think he would tell you that his
reasons were something of this kind. To save souls!
If they be not saved, hjw is God dishonoured! Did
you ever think over the amount of dishonour that is
done to the Lord our God in London in any one hour
of the day? Take, if you will, this prayer-hour, when
we are gathered here ostensibly to pray. If the
thoughts of this great assembly could all be read, how
many of them would be dishonouring to the Most
High! But outside of every house of prayer, outside
of every place of worship of every kind, think of the
thousands, and tens of thousands, the hundreds of thou-
sands, who have all this day neglected the very sem-
blance of the worship of the God who has made them,
and who keeps them in being! Think of how many
times the door of the gin-palace has swung on its
hinges during this holy hour, how many times God's
name has been blasphemed at the drinking-bar ! There
are worse things than these, if worse can "be, but I shall
not lift the veil. Transfer your thoughts to an hour or
so later, when the veil of darkness has descended.
Shame will not permit us even to think of how God's
name is dishonoured in the persons of those whose first
father was made after the image of God, but who pol*
lute themselves to be the slaves of Satan and the prey
SOUT.-SAVINCi OTTR ONE BUSINESS. 2r>9
of bestial lusts! Alas! alas! for this city, it is full of
abominations, of which the apostle said, "It is a shame
even to speak of those things which are done of Urmu
in secret."
Christian men and women, nothing but the gospel
can sweep away the social evil. Vices are like vipers,
and only the voice of Jesus can drive them out of the
land. The gospel is the great besom with which to
cleanse the filthiness of this city, and nothing else will
avail. Will you not, for God's sake, whose name is
every day profaned, seek to save some? If you will
enlarge your thoughts, and take in all the great cities
of the Continent ; ay, further still, take all the idolaters
of China and Hindostan, the worshippers of the false
prophet and antichrist, what a mass of provocation
have we here! What a smoke in Jehovah's nose must
this false worship be! How He must often put His
hand to the hilt of His sword as though He would
say, "Ah! I will ease Me of Mine adversaries." But
He bears it patiently. Let us not become indifferent
to His long suffering, but day and night let us cry unto
Him, and daily let us labour for Him, if by any means
we may save some for His glory's sake.
Think, dear friends, also, of the extreme misery of
this our hwnati raee. It would be a very dreadful thing
if you could get any idea of the aggregate of the misery
of London at the present moment in the hospitals and
workhouses. Now, I would not say half a word against
poverty, wherever it comes it is a bitter ill; but you
will mark as you notice carefully that, while a few
are poor because of unavoidable circumstances, a very
large mass of the poverty of London is the sheer and
clear result of wastefulness, want of forethought, idle-
ness, and, worst of all, of drunkenness. Ah. that
drunkenness! That is the master-evil. If drink could
260 THE SOUL-WINNER.
but be got rid of, we might be sure of conquering the
very devil himself. The drunkenness created by the
infernal liquor-dens which plague-spot the whole of this
huge city is appalling. No, I did not speak in haste, or
let slip a hasty word: many of the drink-houses are
nothing less than infernal: in some respects they are
worse, for hell has its uses as the divine protest against
sin, but as for the gin-palace, there is nothing to be
said in its favour. The vices of the age cause three-
fourths of all the poverty. If you could look at the
homes — the wretched homes where women will tremble
at the sound of their husband's foot as he comes home,
where little children will crouch down with fear upon
their little heap of straw because the human brute who
calls himself "a man" will come reeling home from the
place where he has been indulging his appetites — if
you could look at such a sight, and remember that it
will be seen ten thousand times over to-night, I think
you would say, "God help us by all means to save
some!'' Since the great axe to lay at the root of the
deadly upas tree is the gospel of Christ, may God help
us to hold that axe there, and to work constantly with
it till the huge trunk of the poison tree begins to rock
to and fro, and we get it down, and London is saved, k
and the world is saved from the wretchedness and the
misery which now drip from every bough!
Again, dear friends, the Christian has other reasons
for seeking to save some; and chiefly because of the
terrible future of impenitent souls. That veil which
hangs before me is not penetrated by every glance; but
he who has his eye touched with heavenly eye-salve
sees through it, and what does he see? Myriads upon
myriads of spirits in dread procession passing from
their bodies, and passing — whither? Unsaved, unre-
generate, unwashed in precious blood, we see them
SOUL-isAVlNG OUR ONE BUSINESS. 201
go up to the solemn bar whence in silence the sentence*
comes forth, and they are banished from the presence
of God, banished to horrors which are not to be de-
scribed nor even to be imagined. This alone is enough
to cause us distress day and night. This decision of
dest'ny has about it a terribly solemnity. But the resur-
rection trumpet sounds. Those spirits come forth from
their prison-house. I see them returning to earth, rising
from the pit to the bodies in which they lived : and now
I see them stand — multitudes, multitudes, multitudes,
multitudes — in the Valley of Decision. And He comes,
sitting on a great white throne, with the crown upon
His head, and the books before Him; and there they
stand as prisoners at the bar. My vision now perceives
them — how they tremble! How^ they quiver, like aspen
leaves in the gale! Whither can they flee? Rocks can-
not hide them, mountains will not open their bowels
to conceal them! What shall become of them? The
dread angel takes the sickle, reaps them as the reaper
cuts up the tares for the oven; and as he gathers
them, he casts them down where despair shall be their
everlasting torment. Woe is me, my heart sinks as
I see their doom, and hear the terrible cries of their
too-late awaking. Save some, O Christians! By all
means, save some. By yonder flames, and outer dark-
ness, and the weeping, and the wailing, and the gnash-
ing of teeth, seek to save some! Let this, as in the case
of the apostle, be your great, your ruling object in life,
that by all means you may save some.
For, oh: if they be saved, observe the eonirast. Their
spirits mount to heaven, and after the resurrection their
bodies ascend also, and there they praise redeeming
love. No fingers more nimble on the harp-strings than
theirs! No notes more sweet than theirs, as they sing,
"Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins
262 THE SOUL-WINNER.
in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests
unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and do-
minion for ever and ever." What bliss to see the once
rebellious brought home to God, and heirs of wrath
made possessors of heaven! All this is involved in sal-
vation. Oh, that myriads may come to this blessed
state! "Save some" — oh! save some, at least. Seek
that some may be there in glory. Behold your Master.
He is your pattern. He left heaven to save some. He
went to the cross, to the grave, to "save some;" this
was the great object of His life, to lay down His life
for His sheep. He loved His Church, and gave Him-
self for her, that He might redeem her unto Himself.
Imitate your Master. Learn His self-denial and His
blessed consecration, if by any means you may save
some.
Aly soul yearneth that I personally may ''save some,"
but broader is my desire than that. I would have e'z-^/^
one of you, my beloved friends, associated here in
church fellowship, to become spiritual parents of chil-
dren for God. Oh, that every one of you might "save
some!" Yes, my venerable Brethren, you are not too
old for service. Yes, my young friends, ye young men
and maidens, ye are not too young to be recruits in
the King's service. If the kingdom is ever to come to
our Lord — and come it will — it never will come through
a few ministers, missionaries, or evangelists preaching
the gospel. It must come through every one of you
preaching it — in the shop and by the fireside, when
walking abroad and when sitting in the chamber. You
must all of you be always endeavouring to "save some."
I would enlist you all afresh to-night, and bind anew
the Kings' colours upon you. I would that you would
fall in love with my Master over anew, and enter a sec-
SOUL-SAVINC; OUR ONE BUSINESS. 263
Olid time upon the love of your espousals. There is a
hymn of Cowper's which we sometimes sing:
"Oh, for a closer walk with God!"
May we get to have a closer walk with Him; and if
we do so, we shall also feel a more vehement desire to
magnify Christ in the salvation of sinners.
I would like to press the enquiry upon you who are
saved — How many others have you brought to Christ?
You cannot do it by yourself, I know; but I mean,
how many has the Spirit of God brought by you?
How many, did I say? Is it quite certain that you
have led any to Jesus? Can you not recollect one?
I pity you, then! The Lord said to Jeremiah, con-
cerning Coniah, "Write ye this man childless." That
was considered to be a fearful curse. Shall I write
you childless, my beloved friends? Your children are
not saved, your wife is not saved, and you are spirit-
ually childless. Can you bear this thought? I pray
you, wake from your slumbering, and ask the Master
to make you useful. "I wish the saints cared for us
sinners," said a young man. "They do care for you,"
answered one, "they care very much for you." "Why
don't they show it, then?" said he, "I have often wished
to have a talk about good things, but my friend, who
is a member of the church, never broaches the subject,
and seems to study how to keep clear of it when I am
with him." Do not let them say so. Do tell them about
Christ and things divine and make this your resolve,
every one of you, that if men perish they shall not perish
for want of your prayers, nor for want of your earnest
and loving instructions. God give you grace, each one
of you, to resolve by all means to save some, and then
to carrv out vour resolution!
264 THE SOUL-WINNER.
III. But my time is almost gone, and therefore I
have to mention, in the last place, THE GREAT
METHODS WHICH THE APOSTLE USED.
How did he who so longed to "save some" set
about it? Why, first of all, by simply preaching the
gospel of Christ. He did not attempt to create a sen-
sation by startling statements, neither did he preach
erroneous doctrine in order to obtain the assent of
the multitude. I fear that some evangelists preach
what in their own minds they must know to be un-
true. They keep back certain doctrines, not because
they are untrue, but because they do not give scope
enough for their ravings, and they make loose state-
ments because they hope to reach more minds. How-
ever earnest a man may be for the salvation of sin-
ners, I do not believe that he has the right to make any
statement which his sober judgment will not justify.
I think I have heard of things said and done at revival
meetings which were not according to sound doctrine,
but which were always excused by "the excitement of
the occasion." I hold that I have no right to state
false doctrine, even if I knew it would save a soul. The
supposition is, of course, absurd; but it makes you
see what I mean. My business is to bring to bear upon
men, not falsehood, but truth; and I shall not be
excused if, under any pretence, I palm a lie upon the
people. Rest assured that, to keep back any part of
the gospel, is not the right, nor the true method for
paving men. Tell the sinner all the doctrines. If you
liold Calvinistic doctrine, as I hope you do, do not
stutter about it, nor stammer over it, but speak it out.
"Depend upon it, many revivals have been evanescent
because a full-orbed gospel was not proclaimed. Give
the people every truth, every truth baptized in holy
S0UL-i3AVlNG OUR ONE BUSINESS. 265
tire, and each truth will have its own useful effect upon
the mind.
But the great truth is the cross, the truth that "God
so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not per-
ish, but have everlasting life." Brother, keep to that.
That is the bell for you to ring. Ring it, man! Ring
it! Keep on ringing it. Sound forth that note upon
your silver trumpet, or if you are only a ram's horn,
sound it forth, and the walls of Jericho will come down.
Alas, for the fineries of our "cultured" modern divines !
I hear them crying out, and denouncing my old-
fashioned advice. This talking about Christ crucified
is said to be archaic, conventional, and antique, and
not at all suitable to the refinement of this wonderful
age. It is astonishing how learned we have all grown
lately. We are getting so very wise, I am afraid we
shall ripen into fools before long, even if we have not
arrived at it already. People want ^HJiinking'^ nowa-
days, so it is said ; and the working-men will go where
science is deified, and profound "thought" is enshrined.
I have noticed that, as a general rule, wdierever the new
"thinking" drives out the old gospel, there are more
spiders than people, but where there is the simple
preaching of Jesus Christ, the place is crow^ded to the
doors. Nothing else will crowd a meeting-house, after
all, for any length of time, but the preaching of Christ
crucified. But as to this matter, whether it be popular
or unpopular, our mind is made up, and our foot is
put down. Question we have none as to our own
course. If it be foolish to preach up atonement by
blood, we will be fools; and if it be madness to stick
to the old truth, just as Paul delivered it, in all its
simplicity, without any refinement, or improvement,
we mean to stick to it, even if we be pilloried as being
266 THE SOUL-WINNER.
incapable of progressing with the age, for we are per-
suaded that this "fooHshness of preaching" is a divine
ordinance, and that the cross of Christ, which stum-
bles so many, and is ridiculed by so many more, is still
the power of God and the wisdom of God. Yes, just
the old-fashioned truth — if thou believest, thou shalt
be saved, — that will we stick to, and may God send
His blessing upon it according to His own eternal
purpose! We do not expect this preaching to be pop-
ular, but we know that God will justify it ere long.
Meanwhile, we are not staggered because —
As childish dotage, and delirious dreams;
The truths we love a sightless world blasphemes
The danger they discern not they deny;
Laugh at their only remedy, and die."
Next to this, Paul used much prayer. The gospel
alone will not be blessed; we must pray over ouc
preaching. A great painter was asked what he mixed
his colours with, and he replied that he mixed them
with brains. Twas well for a painter, but if anyone
should ask a preacher what he mixes truth with, he
ought to be able to answer — v/ith prayer, much prayer.
When a poor man was breaking granite by the road-
side, he was down on his knees while he gave his blows,
and a minister passing by said, ''Ah, my friend, here
you are at your hard work; your work is just like mine;
you have to break stones, and so do I." "Yes," said the
man, "and if you manage to break stony hearts, you
will have to do it as I do, down on your knees." The
man was right, no one can use the gospel hammer well
except he is much on his knees, but the gospel hammer
soon splits flinty hearts when a man knows how to
pray. Prevail with God, and you will prevail with men.
Straight from the closet to the pulpit let us come, with
SOUL-SAVING OUR ONE BUSINESS. 207
the anointing oil of God's Spirit fresh upon us. What
we receive in secrecy we are cheerfully to dispense in
public. Let us never venture to speak for God to men,
until we have spoken for men to God. Yes, dear hear-
ers, if you want a blessing- on your Sunday-school
teaching, or any other form of Christian labour, mix
it up with fervent intercession.
And then observe one other thing. Paul went to
his work aliuays with an intense sympatJiy for those he
dealt with, a sympatiiy zcJiich made hi/n atiapt tiiiiisrlf
to each case. If he talked to a Jew, he did not begin
at once blurting out that he was the apostle of the
Gentiles, but he said he was a Jew, as Jew he was. He
raised no questions about nationalities or ceremonies.
He wanted to tell the Jew of Him of whom Isaiah
said, **He is despised and rejected of men, a i\Ian of
sorrows, and acquainted with grief," in order that he
might believe in Jesus and so be saved. If he met a
Gentile, the apostle of the Gentiles never showed any
of the squeamishness which might have been expected
to cling to him on account of his Jewish education.
He ate as the Gentile ate, and drank as he did, sat
with him, and talked with him; was, as it were, a Gen-
tile with him; never raising any question about cir-
cumcision or uncircumcision, but solely wishing to tell
him of Christ, who came into the world to save both
Jew and Gentile, and to make them one. If Paul met
with a Scythian, he spoke to him in the Barbarian
tongue, and not in classic Greek. If he met a Greek,
he spoke to him as he did at the Areopagus, with
language that was fitted for the polished Athenian.
He was all things to all men, that he might by all
means save some.
So let it be with you. Christian people: your one
business in life is to lead men to believe in Jesus Christ
268 THE SOUL-WINNER.
by the power of the Holy Spirit, and every other thing
should be made subservient to this one object; if you
can but get them saved, everything else will come right
in due time. jMr. Hudson Taylor, a dear man of God,
who has laboured much in Inland China, finds it help-
ful to dress as a Chinaman, and wear a pigtail. He
always mingles with the people, and as far as possible
lives as they do. This seems to me to be a truly wise
policy. I can understand that we shall win upon a
congregation of Chinese by becoming as Chinese as
possible; and if this be the case, we are bound to be
Chinese to the Chinese to save the Chinese. It would
not be amiss to become a Zulu to save the Zulus,
though we must mind that we do it in another sense
than Colenso did. If we can put ourselves on a level
with those whose good we seek, we shall be more likely
to effect our purpose than if we remain aliens and for-
eigners, and then talk of love and unity. To sink my-
self to save others is the idea of the apostle. To throw
overboard all peculiarities, and yield a thousand in-
different points, in order to bring men to Jesus, is our
wisdom if we would extend our Master's kingdom.
Never may any whim or conventionality of ours keep
a soul from considering the gospel — that were horrible
indeed. Better far to be personally inconvenienced by
compliance with things indifferen^t, than to retard a
sinner's coming by quarrelling about trifles.
If Jesus Christ were here to-day, 'I am sure he would
not put on any of those gaudy rags in which the
Puseyite delights himself. I cannot imagine our Lord
Jesus Christ dressed out In that style. Why, the apos-
tle tells our women that they are to dress themselves
modestly, and I do not think Christ would have His
ministers set an example of tomfoolery: but yet even
in dress something may be done on the principle of
SOUL-SAVING OUR ONE BUSINESS. 2G9
our text. When Jesus Christ was here, what did He
wear? To put it in plain Enghsh, He wore a smock
frock. He wore the common dress of the country-
men, a garment woven from the top throughout, with-
out seam; and I think he would have His ministers
wear that costume which is most like the dress which
their hearers wear in common, and so even in dress
associate with their hearers, and be one among them.
He would have you teachers, if you want to save your
children, talk to them like children, and make your-
selves children if you can. You who want to get at
young peoples' hearts must try to be young. You who
wish to visit the sick must sympathise w'ith them in their
sickness. Get to speak as you would like to be spoken
to if you were sick. Come down to those who can-
not come up to you. You cannot pull people out of
the water without stooping down and getting hold of
them. If you have to deal with l^ad characters, you must
come down to them, not in their sin, but in their rough-
ness and in their style of language, so as to get a hold
of them. I pray God that we may learn the sacred art
of soul-winning by adaptation. They called Mr. White-
field's chapel at Moorfields 'The Soul-Trap." White-
field was delighted, and said he hoped it would always
he a soul-trap. Oh, that all our places of worship were
soul-traps, and every Christian a fisher of men. each one
doing his best, as the fisherman does, by every art and
artifice, to catch those he fishes for! Well may we
use all means to win so great a prize as a spirit destined
for eternal weal or woe. The diver plunges deep to
find pearls, and we may accept any labour or hazard
to win a soul. Rouse yourselves, my brethren, for this
God-like work, and mav the Lord bless you in it!