_A General Principle_
I have been amazed in my study of the biographies of men and women who
have been specially used of God, to see how almost universal is the
rule that they have come to Christ, or to an experience of power,
through the personal influence of a friend or acquaintance. Preaching
is not enough, it is sometimes too general; the impressions of a song
may soon be effaced, but the personal touch, the tear in the eye, the
pathos in the voice, the concern which is manifested in the very
expression of one's countenance; these are used with great effect, and
thousands of people are to-day in the Kingdom of God, or in special
service, because of such influences being brought to bear upon their
lives.
John Wesley is a notable illustration of the influence of the personal
touch. Peter Bohler of the Moravian Church, came into his life when he
was in sore need of just such assistance as he seemed able to give. Dr
W. H. Fitchett of Australia, writes:--
"The Moravians of Savannah taught him exactly what Peter Bohler taught
him afterwards in London, but the teaching at the moment left his life
unaffected. Wesley's own explanation is, 'I understood it not; I was
too learned and too wise, so that it seemed foolishness unto me; and I
continued preaching, and following after, and trusting in that
righteousness whereby no flesh can be justified.'
"The truth is that Peter Bohler himself, had he met Wesley in Savannah,
would have taught him in vain. The stubborn Sacramentarian and High
Churchman had to be scourged, by the sharp discipline of failure, out
of that subtlest and deadliest form of pride, the pride that imagines
that the secret of salvation lies, or can lie, within the circle of
purely human effort. Wesley later describes Peter Bohler as 'One whom
God prepared for me.' But God in the toilsome and humiliating
experiences of Georgia, was preparing Wesley for Peter Bohler."
Bohler described Wesley as "a man of good principles, who did not
properly believe on the Saviour, and was willing to be taught." Later
on, in the city of London, where Wesley had been intimately associated
with Peter Bohler and had come directly under his influence, he one
night attended a religious service in Aldersgate Street, where the one
conducting the service was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to
the Romans. The effect of that service upon Wesley is best told in his
own words.
"About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which
God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart
strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for my
salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my
sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death. I began to
pray with all my might for those who had in a more special manner
despitefully used me and persecuted me. I then testified openly to all
there what I now first felt in my heart. But it was not long before the
enemy suggested, 'This cannot be faith; for where is thy joy?' Then was
I taught that peace and victory over sin are essential to faith in the
Captain of our salvation; but that, as to the transports of joy that
usually attend the beginning of it, especially in those who have
mourned deeply, God sometimes giveth, sometimes withholdeth, them
according to the counsels of His own will."
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, in speaking of his own early experiences,
writes thus: "When I was a young child staying with my grandfather,
there came to preach in the village Mr Knill, who had been a
missionary at St Petersburgh, and a mighty preacher of the gospel. He
came to preach for the London Missionary Society, and arrived on the
Saturday at the manse. He was a great soul winner, and he soon spied
out the boy. He said to me, 'where do you sleep? for I want to call you
up in the morning.' I showed him my little room. At six o'clock he
called me up, and we went into the arbour. There, in the sweetest way,
he told me of the love of Jesus and of the blessedness of trusting in
Him and loving Him in our childhood. With many a story he preached
Christ to me, and told me how good God had been to him, and then he
prayed that I might know the Lord and serve Him.
"He knelt down in the arbour and prayed for me with his arms about my
neck. He did not seem content unless I kept with him in the interval
between the services, and he heard my childish talk with patient love.
On Monday morning he did as on the Sabbath, and again on Tuesday. Three
times he taught me and prayed with me, and before he had to leave, my
grandfather had come back from the place where he had gone to preach,
and all the family were gathered to morning prayer. Then, in the
presence of them all, Mr Knill took me on his knee and said, 'This
child will one day preach the gospel, and he will preach it to great
multitudes. I am persuaded that he will preach in the chapel of Rowland
Hill, where (I think he said) I am now the minister.' He spoke very
solemnly, and called upon all present to witness what he said."
D.L. Moody was thus won to Christ. His Sunday School teacher in Boston
was Mr E.D. Kimball. He was not one of the ordinary type of Sunday
School teachers. Mere literal instruction on Sunday did not satisfy his
ideal of the teacher's duty. He knew his boys, and if he knew them, it
was because he studied them, because he became acquainted with their
occupations and aims, visiting them during the week. It was his custom,
moreover, to find opportunity to give to his boys an opportunity to use
his experience in seeking the better things of the Spirit. The day came
when he resolved to speak to young Moody about Christ, and about his
soul.
"I started down to Holton's shoe store," says Mr Kimball. "When I was
nearly there, I began to wonder whether I ought to go just then, during
business hours. And I thought maybe my mission might embarrass the boy,
that when I went away the other clerks might ask who I was, and when
they learned might taunt Moody and ask if I was trying to make a good
boy out of him. While I was pondering over it all, I passed the store
without noticing it. Then when I found I had gone by the door, I
determined to make a dash for it and have it over at once. I found
Moody in the back part of the store wrapping up shoes in paper and
putting them on shelves. I went up to him and put my hand on his
shoulder, and as I leaned over I placed my foot upon a shoe box. Then I
made my plea, and I feel that it was really a very weak one. I don't
know just what words I used, nor could Mr Moody tell. I simply told him
of Christ's love for him and the love Christ wanted in return. That was
all there was of it. I think Mr Moody said afterwards that there were
tears in my eyes. It seemed that the young man was just ready for the
light that then broke upon him, for there at once in the back of that
shoe store in Boston the future great evangelist gave himself and his
life to Christ."
Many years afterward Mr Moody himself told the story of that day. "When
I was in Boston," he said, "I used to attend a Sunday School class, and
one day, I recollect, my teacher came around behind the counter of the
shop I was at work in, and put his hand upon my shoulder, and talked to
me about Christ and my soul. I had not felt that I had a soul till
then. I said to myself. This is a very strange thing. Here is a man who
never saw me till lately, and he is weeping over my sins, and I never
shed a tear about them. But, I understand it now, and know what it is
to have a passion for men's souls and weep over their sins. I don't
remember what he said, but I can feel the power of that man's hand on
my shoulder to-night. It was not long after that I was brought into the
Kingdom of God."
The personal touch is necessary. It is not so much what we say, as the
way we say it, and indeed, it is not so much what we say and the way we
say it, as what we are, that counts in personal work. We cannot delegate
this work to others. God has called the evangelist to a certain mission
in soul winning. He has given ministers the privilege of winning many to
Christ. Mission workers, generally, are charged with the responsibility
for this special work. But this fact cannot relieve the parents, the
children, the husband, the wife, the friends, the business man, the
toiler in the shop, from personal responsibility in the matter of
attempting to win others to the Saviour.