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September 1929
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front of a store. He was a perfect beauty. Dr. Beecher could not resist the desire to stroke his nose and run his hands over his back and legs. As he was walking about him, the owner, filled with pride, stepped out and said: “What do you think of that horse, Dr. Beecher ?” “I don’t think I ever saw a more perfect animal,” replied the preacher. “Well,” the owner went on, “the best of it is, that horse will do anything in the world that you could expect a horse to do. You can ride him. He will go double or single. In fact, there is nothing a horse can do that he is not willing to do.” “Oh,” said Dr. Beecher with a sigh, “I wonder if there is any chance of having him join my church?” The doctor could appreciate men and women who are willing to do anything, however small, for the cause of Jesus Christ. O ne S upreme O bjective These Four Hundred men were dominated by an all- absorbing purpose. They were of one heart to make David king. This was their passion and to reach their goal they were ready to do or to die. David must be king! Long before he was recognized as ruler of all the land, these men had given him the throne room of their hearts. You and I are not going to get very far in crowning Christ King in the world until He is Sovereign in our own lives. This is our privilege, and this is His right. We sing of a time beyond the grave when with a sacred throng we shall crown Him Lord of all. But it is now that we should own Him, not only as Saviour but as Lord.
appeal to them and it makes an impression upon them, but they never make an imprint on the world/ “Add to your faith courage. Be strong and of good courage.” There is a warfare to accomplish. No man ever attempted to stand for God that did not meet with opposition. In deed, in Christian service I have come to look upon opposition as the badge of God’s approval. A ll T h ings T o A ll M en They were “all around” men. They could use both their right hands and their left. (Some folk can’t use either! It is a great thing when one can use both.) In a recent stereopticon lecture a missionary showed a picture of a school in Africa that he had built with his own hands. We saw him making the bricks and teaching those black men to build. “I know of no other place in the world,” he said, “that calls out all the talents a man has as does the mission field.” There, it is more than preaching and singing that is required. One must stand upon the common level with the people and work with them. It seems to me that conditions in Chicago are loudly calling for the same adaptability. Do you know what is the matter with many of us? Why, we are too dignified! We have too much prestige to take care of. We are too concerned about our own glory and not enough about God’s. An amusing story, but not without point, is told of Dr. Henry Ward Beecher. He was a great lover of horses. One morning while walking down the street in Brooklyn, his attention, was attracted to a horse tied in f EW Testament evangelism is the life principle of the Church. Its presence is the springtime of life. Its absence means spiritual death. Nothing can take the place of evangelism in the Church. It is its supreme business. Chris tian education is the complement of New Testament evangelism. Both are inseparably connected. Their relative value from the standpoint of importance in the Christian ministry is somewhat difficult to determine. They mutually excel each other. It is positively criminal to bring a human life into existence, and fail to nourish and cultivate that life. Chris tian education is the nourishing and building process of the new-born soul. The New Testament usage of certain words is suggestive in this relation: “milk o f the word,” “strong meat,” “grow in grace,” and “the nurture and admonition o f the Lord.” Christian education is a process operating on the whole personality and touching every department of life. Evangelism is the life principle. With out it there is nothing to build up or nourish. Christian education is a pruning of the branches, a tending of the fruit. Evangelism is the life-producing agency. There can be no flowers nor fruit without life. It is obviously the height of folly to prune the branches, and tend the fruits at the expense of the life principle. Yet is there
ate ate ate
The Soul of Evange lism B y A lbert G. J ohnson , D.D. (In the “Watchman Examiner”)
not a danger of this very thing? Logically therefore we conclude -that evangelism must take precedence. Evan gelism in its initial place calls us to the root of the matter in the Christian system. Amid the silent mystery of human life, in the presence of the mystery of the life of God in the soul, standing with Nicodemus, Israel’s master of old, we say, “How can these things be?” To hear anew the words of Jesus, “Marvel not”; “The wind blow- eth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth; so is every one that is born o f the S p i r i t It is not my pur pose in this message to discuss types or methods of evan gelism. Rather I purpose to set forth briefly what I might call “the soul of evangelism,” a consideration of certain essential principles that in themselves constitute an environment or spiritual atmosphere fundamental to New Testament evangelism. The first of these is confi dence in a Book. A n U n shak en B ible The history of evangelism is the history of the study of the Bible. One of the surest ways of producing a wholesome evangelism in our churches is to make much of the Bible in the home, the pulpit and Bible school. The Bible is the message of the evangel. Mr. Wells, in his
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