Dr. J.E. Carson, of New York City, said to his congregation one Sunday morning, that every saved man was either a channel through which the Spirit of God was reaching the unsaved, or a barrier preventing the Spirit doing his work. One of the trustees of the Church said to himself on the way home, "Am I a channel, or a barrier?" That night he could not sleep, and cried out, "O Lord, make me a channel!" Almost the first thought that came was that there were some men in his employ to whom he had never spoken a word about Jesus Christ. He confessed his fault, and told the Lord that if he would make him a channel he would speak to these men. The first man who entered his office the next morning was his confidential clerk, who had been with him eighteen years. The merchant said, "Edward, haven't I been a good employer to you?" "Yes, sir." "Have not I treated you well?" "Yes, sir." "Why, sir, what have I done," said the clerk, "that you are going to discharge me?" "Edward, I am on my way to heaven, and I want you to go with me." Tears came into the eyes of both men as Edward took the merchant's extended hand and said, "I will, sir." Dr. Carson afterwards received eleven men into his Church because this trustee had consented to be a channel for the Holy Spirit.
Dr. Manley S. Hard talked with a physician about his soul, and, two days after, the doctor entered the revival-meeting just before the benediction, walked straight to the altar, and begged the people to wait and pray for him, saying:
"I know it is late and you are all tired, but I want you to stay a little while and pray for me. This has been an awfully hard day. I have ridden fifty miles and visited more than twenty patients, but I am the sickest man of them all. Two sermons have been preached to me; a faithful one yesterday by my pastor; the other this morning when I had to tell a woman she had better get ready to die, for she could not live. As I drove away I said to myself, 'You have warned another, but you are not ready yourself.'"
To go to a man and speak to him directly and plainly about his responsibility to God, and warn him to flee from "the wrath to come," may take more courage than to preach to a thousand; but it pays, and it must be done if the dying multitudes are ever saved.
STUDY XXIII.
CORRESPONDENCE.
Memory Verse: "Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand."—(Gal. vi, 11.)
Scripture for Meditation: Philemon.