work. It can never be done by any class. It has got to be recognized as the individual duty of believers. " I f thou shalt believe with thine heart and confess with thy mouth thou shalt be saved." And, further on. in Roman X, we read that men, by hearing, come to believe. Here then are the Three Factors in God's Apostolic Suc- sion— a heart that believes, a mouth that wit- nesses, and an ear that hears, and that is all that is needful; because, if the heart that believes causes the mouth to speak, the speaking mouth will find a listening ear; and the hearing ear will prepare the way for another heart to believe and another mouth to witness; and that is God's apostolic succession. In London I used to go almost habit- ually on Thursdays to Sir George Wil- liams' office, and take dinner in the room where the first Y. M. C. A. of the world was organized. When George Williams was a young man of eighteen in a mercantile house, »he turned to the clerk next him one day and said, " Do you love Jesús Christ?" "We l l ," he replied, " I am glad you spoke to me. I should like to know Jesus Christ as a personal saviour." He said, "You come up to my room," and he got a Bible and they began the study of the Word of God together. And then they each spoke to some one else, and they got a little company of four, then five, then six, then eight, then ten others; and so they formed a little association among themselves; and other mercan- tile houses began to emulate their ex- ample, and by and by, in June, 1844, fourteen different such societies, formed in different mercantile houses, met to form a Young Men's Christian Associa- tion, the first in the world, the germ of the associations now spread over the wnole world. All this stupendous move- ment began by one may saying to an- other, "Do you love JesusT" When Sir George Williams was no longer nec- essary in his mercantile house for the actual conduct of affairs, and was in feeble health, he used to go down to his office about ten in the morning and sit there until three or four in the af- ternoon, simply to see young men who came to apply for a situation in busi- ness. He had in many cases no place for them, but it gave him an oppor- tunity to see them, one by one, and ask each young man a personal question about his soul. I noticed one day, there, a large pile of books, on each side of his desk, and among them were
500 of my own little book, "Ma ny infallible Proofs," that was written to help doubters, and I commented on his having so many books there. " Y e s , " he said, " I have got these books to help young men to (Jhrist; to a young man troubled with scepticism I give yours, and for other difficulties I give others" and every day for ten or fifteen years, when he was in Lon- don, except on the Lord's day, he sat there in his office, just to have some such word of conversation with young men who might come to him, and to direct them to the Lord Jesus Christ, and only eternity will show what he did by this simple, unselfish method. What we need in this world is A Four-fold Passion, and that is the only thing that will compass the needs of. humanity; a pas- sion for the will of God, for the gospel message, for the person of Christ, and for the souls of men. If you have this , four-fold passion you can not be re- ( strkliie(f from working; you are bound I to be active for Christ. You will work in your own way, which is the only way for you, but nothing can restrain you from working in some Way if you have this four-fold passion. But if you do not believe your Bible, shut your mouth; if you do not believe in the miraculous incarnation, resurrection and ascension of Christ to the right hand of God, shut your mouth; for you have no saving Gospel to preach. If you do not believe the facts, if you have doubts, keep your doubt to your- self. As Goethe, the skeptic said, "Give your convictions, if you have any, but keep your doubts; we have enough of our own"; or, as Spurgeon said, " I t may be a great thing to doubt, but it is a greater thing to hold your tongue till you have rid of your doubts." I have had had my doubts. I am a skeptic by natural tendency, but I have always waited, till I have found something certain, and then I have spoken; and if there has been any pow^ er in my ministry it has been in the fact that I have never once given ut- terance to a doubt, but always to a con- viction. And let me say, if you do not love men, as men, there is little use in your attempting to work for Christ. If you have the caste spirit, get rid of it; a kid glove is a non-conductor. Learn the gospel of the handshake. Learn to love a soul as a soul. Look at your Master, the greatest Man that ever lived, the only perfect gentleman, the only highly cultured man that ever
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