By James Stalker
I.
I HAVE heard that one of the diamond fields of South Africa was discovered on this wise. A traveller one day entered the valley and drew near to a settler's door, at which a boy was amusing himself by throwing stones. One of the stones fell at the stranger's feet, who picked it up and was in the act of laughingly returning it, when something flashed from it which stopped his hand and made his heart beat fast. It was a diamond. The child was playing with it as a common stone; the peasant's foot had spurned it; the cartwheel had crushed it; till the man who knew saw it and recognised its value.
This story comes often to my mind when I am thinking of the soul. Was it not the same careless treatment the soul was receiving when Jesus arrived in the world and discovered it? A harlot's soul sunk in the mud and filth of iniquity! why a Pharisee would not stain his fingers to find it. A child's soul! the scribes used to discuss in their schools whether or not a child had a soul at all.
Even yet there is nothing else of less account in the eyes of the majority than the soul. It is flung about, it is ignored, it is crushed by the care less foot, just as the undiscovered diamond was. A new soul, fresh out of eternity, enters an earthly home; but in most cases the family sin on as if it were not there; they are visited by no compunctions lest it should be corrupted by their example. By-and-bye it goes out into the world and is brought into contact with the multifarious influences of social life; but here there is, if possible, still less sense of its value; there is no fear of misleading it, no reverence for its high origin or its solemn destiny. If it remains undeveloped, or if it is lost and rushes unprepared upon its doom, the majority heed not; its fate is no business of theirs, and they do not even remember that it exists.
Our common language betrays that to the majority the soul is as undiscovered as the diamond was to the settler and his children. When the employes are pouring out of a factory at the meal hour, we say, What a number of hands! Hands! not souls; as if the body and the power of work in it were the whole of the man. Even the Church speaks of the population of the East End as the masses; as if they only counted in the bulk, and were not separable into units, in each of which there is that which touches heaven above and hell beneath. As we watch the multitude pouring along a crowded street, what is it we see? Only so many figures interesting or uninteresting for their looks, their dress and the like; or embodied spirits, that have come from God and are going to God?
If we have the power of seeing the latter, we have learned it from Christ. He lifted the soul up out of the mud and from among the trampling feet, and said, Behold the diamond! " What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? "
Mankind believed, indeed, in the souls of the great - the soul that could distinguish itself by force or wisdom - the soul of Socrates, the soul of Caesar.* But Jesus taught it to believe in the common soul - the soul of a child, of a woman, nay, of a publican or a sinner. This is His immortal discovery. In every child of Adam He perceived the diamond. The rags of the beggar could not hide it from His eyes, nor the black skin of the savage, nor even the crimes of the evil-doer. It was true the soul was lost sunk deep in ignorance and unrighteousness. But this only made it the more interesting; it only stimulated His desire to rescue and cleanse it, and set it where it might shine. To a physician who are interesting? Not they that are whole, but they who are sick; and among all his patients the most absorbing case is that which most needs his help. It haunts him day and night; it runs away with nine-tenths of his thinking; he visits it thrice a day; and, if the disease is overcome, this case is the triumph of his art. So Jesus taught, explaining His own feelings and conduct.
Yet there is a mystery in this estimate of the soul. Is it really true that one soul-that of the thief lying to-day in prison or of harlequin who was grinning last night in the circus-is more precious than the gold of California or the diamonds of Golconda? To multitudes, if they would confess the truth, such an assertion has no meaning. Yet it was made by Him who, while living here below in time, lived also aloft in eternity and could look clearly along the track of the future, seeing all that the soul can become-both the splendid possibilities it may develop and the depths to which it may fall.
This unique estimate of the soul was the secret spring of His work as a soul-winner; and it is this faith, kindling mind and heart, which makes the soul-winner always. A man has no claim to this office under any of its forms if he does not believe in the soul more than in money, or physique, or success, or any earthly thing, and unless the saving of a single soul would be to him a greater prize than all Greek and Roman fame.**
II
Enthusiasm for humanity is a noble passion and sheds a beautiful glow over the first efforts of an unselfish life. But it is hardly stern enough for the uses of the world. There come hours of despair when men seem hardly worth our devotion. They are so base and ungrateful, and our best efforts are able to change them so little, that the temptation is strong to throw up the thankless task. Those for whom we are sacrificing ourselves take all we can do as a matter of course; they pass us by unnoticed, or turn and rend us, as if we were their enemies. Why should we continue to press our gifts on those who do not want them? Worse still is the sickening consciousness that we have but little to give: perhaps we have mistaken our vocation; it is a world out of joint, but were we born to put it right? This is where a sterner motive is needed than love of men; our retreating zeal requires to be rallied by the command of God. It is His work; these souls are His; He has committed them to our care; and at the judgment-seat He will demand an account of them.
All prophets and apostles who have dealt with men for God have been driven on by this impulse, which has recovered them in hours of weakness and enabled them to face the opposition of the world. Most of them have experienced a crisis, in which this call has come and clearly determined their life work. It came to Moses in the wilderness and drove him into public life in spite of strong resistance; and it bore him through the unparalleled trials of his subsequent career. It came to Isaiah in a vision, which coloured all his after history; and it revolutionised St. Paul's life in an hour. Jeremiah felt the divine message like a sword in his bones and like a fire, which consumed him till he cast it forth among the people.*** This was one of the strongest motives of Christ's life also. It gave to it its irresistible momentum; it strengthened Him in the face of opposition; it rescued Him from the dark hour of despair. He was never weary of asserting that the works He did were not His own, but God's; and that so were the words He spoke. His comfort was that every step He took was in fulfillment of the divine will.
But He had no hour at which His life was broken in twain by a moral crisis, and the task of living for others imposed on Him. This vocation was inwoven with the very texture of His being; the love of men was as native to His heart as it is to the nature of God; the salvation of men was the primary passion of His soul; and, though He claimed that His works and words were given Him by God, yet so identified were His own deepest wishes with the purposes of the divine love, that He could say, " I and My Father are one."
III.
The name of Soul-winner, which I have ventured to apply to the Saviour, is a scriptural one; for we read in Scripture that " he that winneth souls is wise" It is a word, which indicates the delicacy and the difficulty of the work of seeking the lost. This work requires tact and skill in him who undertakes it. Souls have to be won; and this requires a winning way - a kind of winsomeness - in those who seek them.
Jesus Himself did not use this word; but He made use of one suggestive of the same truth. When calling His disciples to take part with Him in this work, He said to them, " Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." Every fisher with the rod knows how much knowledge of the weather and the water, how much judgment, keenness of eye and lightness of touch fishing requires. Probably it was of net fishing Christ was thinking; but this requires no less experience, alertness, tact and perseverance.
All these qualities are needed in winning souls. Jesus was the perfect model of this art; and the best guide to its acquisition is to watch His methods.
1. He made use of His miracles as stepping-stones to reach the soul. All the acts of kindness and mercy described in the foregoing chapter were introductions to the development of the higher and more spiritual aims, which were always in His mind. I do not say that this was their only purpose; for His miracles had many meanings. But it was one of them: they often opened the door to spiritual dealing, which could not have taken place without them. For example, in the ninth of St. John we read of a man whom He cured of blindness, without making Himself known to him. The man conceived a passion of gratitude and went about praising and championing his unknown friend; till Jesus, meeting him, made Himself known, when the man at once exclaimed, "Lord, I believe," and worshipped Him. This is a clear case in which the bodily cure was a prelude to the cure of the blindness of the soul. In numberless other instances it must have served the same end; and, if it be remembered that the miracles were often nearly as valuable to the relatives of those who were healed as to themselves, it will be understood how many minds must have been conciliated by this means to a favourable hearing of His divine message.
Philanthropy may serve us also as a stepping-stone to higher work. Kindness opens hearts; and through the open door salvation may be introduced. There lurks danger, indeed, on either hand; for, on the one hand, charity may be robbed of all true human kindliness by the proselytizer's zeal, and, on the other, a hypocritical pretence of piety may be put on by the receiver of temporal advantages, as a payment for the accepted dole. But, whilst these dangers need to be avoided, the principle itself has the highest authority, and in earnest Christian work it is receiving at present many happy applications. Zeal for the soul often awakens consideration for the body also, and produces deeds, which smell as sweetly to the Saviour of men as did the ointment with which Mary anointed Him.
2. Preaching was one of the principal means by which Christ sought the lost. As a separate chapter occurs below on Jesus as a Preacher, the subject need not here be dwelt upon. Only let it be noted how attractive His preaching was-how well fitted to win men. He invested the truth with every charm of parable and illustration, thought He well knew that such gay clothing is not truth's native garb. Truth is plain and simple; and those who know it love to have it so. But Jesus had to deal with those to whom in itself it had no attraction; and therefore He administered it to them as they were able to bear it, trusting that, if once it had won them and they had learned its worth, they would welcome it in any garb.
So powerful a means of winning men to God is preaching still, that it is no wonder that the desire to preach is often born at the same time as the desire of saving souls; but perhaps it is a wonder that of those who preach so few exert themselves, as Jesus did, to attract men by presenting their message in beautiful and winsome forms.****
3. Of course only a small proportion of those who burn to save the lost can become preachers; but with His preaching Jesus combined another method, which it is more open to all to imitate-the method of conversation. We have illustrations of His use of this method in His conversation with Nicodemus and His talk at the well with the woman of Samaria, which are models, intended to serve to all time, of this mode of winning souls. If the two cases be compared together, it will be seen with what perfect tact He adapted Himself to the circumstances of His interlocutors, and how naturally, whilst meeting them on their own ground, He led the conversation to the point He aimed at, always descending full upon the conscience.
This is a difficult art; for religious conversation must be natural-it must well up out of a heart full of religion-or it is worse than useless. Yet it is of priceless value, and no trouble is too great to be spent in acquiring it. I am not sure but we are more in need of those who can talk about religion than of those who can preach about it. A sermon is often applied by the hearers to one another, whilst each puts its message away from himself; but conversation goes straight to its mark. If it is supported by an impressive and consistent character, he who can wield it carries a blessing with him wherever he goes; in homes in which he has been a visitor his memory is cherished as that of one who has made religion real; and, though his name may be little heard of on earth, his track through the world is marked by a line of light to the eye of Heaven.
Jesus did not, however, need always to be the aggressor when employing this instrument. In many cases those whom He conversed with about the concerns of the soul introduced the subject themselves. Persons who were anxious about religion sought Him out; for they instinctively felt that He knew the way after which they were groping. The passing of Jesus through the country was like the passing of a magnet over a floor where there are pieces of iron: it drew the souls, which had affinity for the divine life to itself. And in all Christian communities there are some who, in greater or less degree, discharge the same function. They are known to possess the secret of life; those passing through the deepest experiences of the soul are confident that they will understand them; burdened consciences seek their sympathy. Surely this is the most precious privilege of the soul- winner: he is never so effectively seeking the lost as when the lost seek him.
IV.
As our subject in these chapters is the imitation of Christ, we naturally dwell on those aspects of His life and work in which it is possible for us to imitate Him. But ever and anon we need to remember at what a height He is above us. It is only with distant and faltering steps we can follow Him at all; and in many places He passes quite beyond our reach.
It is so at this point. In some respects, such as those just mentioned, we can imitate Him in winning souls; but He went, in this quest, where we cannot go: He came not only to seek but to save the lost. He compared Himself, as a soul-winner, to the shepherd going after the lost sheep and bringing it home on his shoulders rejoicing; and thus far we may venture to compare our own soul-winning to His; but He carried the comparison further: " The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." He followed sinners to their earthly haunts, and so may we; but He followed them further - down to the gates of hell, where He plucked the prey from the hands of the mighty. He entered a supernatural region, where He conquered for us, made atonement for us, opened for us the gates of immortality. Of these transactions we can but dimly know, for they were done in a region, which we have not seen. Only we know that they were greater - more pathetic and solemn - than all our thoughts. The outward sign and symbol of them which we can see is Golgotha - His body broken for us, His blood shed for us. And this is the highest symbol of soul-winning love.
Here we rather bow down and adore than think of imitation. Yet here too there are lessons which all must learn who wish to be expert in this art. No one will have power with men who has not power with God for men; the victory may seem to be won whilst we persuade men, but it has to be previously won in the place of intercession. This place was to Jesus a place of agony and death; and there is no soul winning without pain and sacrifice. St. Paul said that he filled up that which was lacking in the sufferings of Christ for His body's sake, which is the Church; and all who will be partakers of Christ's joy in the redemption of the world must first be partakers in His sufferings.
V.
If the art of the soul-winner is difficult and accompanied with much pain, its reward is correspondingly great. I have known an eminent portrait-painter, who, when the crisis of his picture came at which it was to be determined whether or not he had produced a likeness of the features only, or a picture of the soul and character of his subject, used to fall into perfect paroxysms of excitement, weeping, wringing his hands and grovelling on the ground; but, when it: was over and the true likeness stood embodied on the canvas, gave way to equally extravagant exultation. And it must be a strange sensation to see an image of beauty, out of nothing so to speak, gradually developing itself on the canvas and living there. But what is this compared with seeing a soul emerging from death into life-its wings freeing themselves from the hard, ugly chrysalis of its natural condition, to flutter forth into the sunshine of eternity?
Of the effect of this sight on Jesus we have an authentic glimpse in the wonderful parables of the fifteenth of St. Luke-the shepherd calling his friends together and saying, " Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost," and the father of the prodigal crying, " Let us eat and drink and be merry." He has told us Himself what this rejoicing means: " Verily I say unto you, There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." And that joy in the faces of the angels is only a reflection of the joy of the Lord of angels, on whose face they are ever gazing.
In His earthly life we see very clearly on at least one occasion this holy excitement in His heart.***** When He had won the wicked woman of Samaria to God and holiness, His disciples, arriving where He was with provisions which they brought from the town, prayed Him, saying, " Master, eat." But He could not eat; He was too delighted and absorbed; and He answered, " I have meat to eat that ye know not of." Then, looking towards the city, whither the woman had gone to bring more souls to Him to be won, He continued in the same enraptured strain, " Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you. Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." It was the same deep passion in another phase, when He beheld the city, which He had in vain attempted to win and in which so many souls were perishing, and wept over it.
In these sacred emotions all soul-winners partake in their degree; and there are no higher emotions in this world. They are the signature and patient of a nobility derived directly from Heaven; for the humblest Christian worker, who is really pained with the sin of men and rejoices in their salvation, is feeling, in his degree, the very passion which bore the Saviour of the world through His sufferings, and which has throbbed from eternity in the heart of God.
* "Contempt of men is a ground-feature of heathenism, which goes side by side with the deification of men, and we can trace this twofold extreme down to the heathenism of our own days."-MARTENSEN, Christian Ethics. ** "There is one power which lies at the bottom of all success in preaching; its influence is essential everywhere; without its presence we cannot imagine a man as making a minister of the Gospel in the largest sense. Under its compulsion a man becomes a preacher, and every sermon lie preaches is more or less shaped by its presence. That power is the value of the human soul felt by the preacher, furnishing the motive and inspiration of all his work . . . . The other motives for the minister's work seem to me to stand around this great central motive as the staff-officers stand about the general. They need him, they execute his will but he is not dependent on them as they are on him. Any one of them might fall away, and he could fight the battle out without him - Pleasure of work, delight in the exercise of power; love of God's truth; the love of study; gratification in feeling our life touch other lives; the perception of order; love of regular movement; insight into the lives and ways of men; and, lastly, the pleasure of seeing right ideas replace wrong ideas - these are the noble members of the staff of the great general. But how the motive, which they serve, towers above them all! " From a noble lecture on the value of the soul, with which Dr. Phillips Brooks closes his Yale Lectures on Preaching. The locus classicus, however, on this subject is Baxter's Reformed Pastor, through which the thought of the danger and the preciousness of the soul sounds like the bell of eternity.
*** The difficult question of what constitutes a call to the ministry is discussed with great good sense in Blaikie's For the Work of the Ministry, and with racy wisdom in Spurgeon's Lectures to My Students.
**** "Man irrt sich erstaunlich, wenn man meint, dass, was gerade so klingt, wie das Volk in den Arbeitsstunden selbst redet, von diesem am liebsten gehort werde, Sie haben den Sonntagsrock angezogen, als sie in die Kirche gegangen sind; so thut es ihnen auch wohl, an der Predigt, die sie vernehmen, das festliche Kleid zu gewahren." From the Preface to Tholuck's Predigten, where will be found some of the most remarkable pages on Preaching ever written.
***** I have heard the late Brownlow North say that though on one side of His nature Jesus was the Man of Sorrows, on another He was the happiest of all the children of men.
