To watch for opportunity, and then to know how effectively to make use of the opportunity, is all-important in soul-winning. And there is no better teacher than the Holy Spirit, of whom it is said, "He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance."
STUDY XVII.
EARNESTNESS.
Memory Verse: "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."—(Eccl. ix, 10.)
Scripture for Meditation: Mark ii, 1-12.
The testimony of Charles H. Spurgeon should have weight here. He said: "If a man is to be a soul-winner, there must be in him intensity of emotion as well as sincerity of heart. You may repeat the most affectionate exhortations in such a half-hearted manner that no one will be moved either by love or fear. I believe that for soul-winning there is more in this matter of earnestness than in almost anything else."
When we become as much in earnest to rescue our friends and dear ones from eternal death as we are to save them from physical suffering and death, then we shall see the rapid spread of the kingdom of Christ. A man falls overboard from the deck of a vessel, and his wife screams: "Stop the boat! My God! My husband is drowning!" But no one criticises the woman for her passionate outcry, or bids her keep still. It was so natural for her to cry out for help. And when the Church of Jesus Christ becomes thoroughly awake to the worth of a soul and the awful danger to which all out of Christ are exposed, it will be the most natural thing in the world for them to show an undying earnestness in seeking the lost. Then propriety, and reticence, and restraint, and rules of rhetoric will be thrown to the winds, and a divine passion will possess the life. The world may sneer at it as fanaticism, but it is the fanaticism of Pentecost. When the crowd saw the intensity of emotion shown by the newly-anointed disciples, they exclaimed, "These men are full of new wine." Here was shown an enthusiasm that leaps over all difficulties and rises above every discouragement—the enthusiasm of Pentecost; and every soul-winner must have it. Then, like Paul, wishing himself accursed that Israel might be saved, or like John Welch, wrapped in his plaid, kneeling in the snow, unable to sleep, and praying mightily for the souls of men, this holy earnestness will not let us rest until we see the salvation of the lost.
It will tell in look, and tone, and manner. It may lead us to do things that may shock the sense of propriety of the dead, formal Church member, such as being obedient to the Master's command, "Go ye out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in." Jeremiah preached repentance in the streets; and the early Church preached everywhere, on the streets, by the river's bank, in the market-places, and in prisons. John Livingstone stood on a tombstone, and preached with such power in the midst of a falling rain that multitudes were born in a day. So did John Wesley. O that the great Church of Jesus Christ might now have the enthusiasm of Pentecost!