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are to w itness to all, bu t for individual soul-winning our ears are to be acutely a tte n t to the Sp irit’s command, “Join thyself to th is chariot.” The next chariot would, in all probability, have held a soul for whom th e machinery of heaven would have been perfectly motionless. H erein lies th e keystone of Mr. Hog- ben’s arch— in my judgm ent, a m aster piece of method-—th a t we must first ob tain from God the natme of the soul to be won, before we lay siege to th a t soul itself. The wise worker finds out where God is working, and works th ere. This saves us from discouragement, and even despair, over souls who never yield, and from a consequent throw ing up of all soul-winning effort in disgust; it de livers us from selfishness in seeking souls we w ant saved, ra th e r than souls God-given; it prevents our sharp criti cism of evangelists, m in isters,-Sunday School teachers, or friends for not con verting th e souls we brought to them , bu t God did no t; and it cuts out all waste in tim e and streng th by putting us in plumb-line w ith w hat God is doing. So Philip finds th e Spirit already in the chariot. F o r who p u t th e Bible into the eunuch’s hands? Who brought him praying from th e Temple? Who opened the Book a t th e passage of a slaughtered Messiah? The divine machinery works a t both ends; and so th e prepared soul falls like a ripe pear a t the lightest touch of God’s messenger, for it is the God-chosen, God-sought, and God-re vealed souls whom alone we shall ever win. More wonderful still is th e th ird act in th e dram a: th e long-laid tra in for the w inning of a single soul now emerges from the unseen into the visible. “And Philip ra n to him ”— shot, like a bolt of God, straigh t to th e soul God would call. Philip is sent seventy miles for th is one soul: a few m inutes afte r he is ra p t away th irty miles to Azotus. God could w ith ease have evangelized America centuries be
fore Columbus was born. W hat incon ceivable honour God puts on a man or a woman! The angel directs the journey; the Spirit singles out th e soul; but both now disappear into th e back ground, and God pushes a m an into th e forefront of the saving of th e lost-—but not any man! When God has some thing especially difficult to do, He whis pers it into th e ear of th e m an who is ready. When th e T itanic, “th e unsink- able ship,” listed a t an ugly angle of fifteen degrees, w ith a big hole torn in her side, the band played rag tim e and the whisky was passed around. Throb bing and th rilling into th e n igh t th e C. Q. D. (Come Quick, D anger!) signal left the little cabin above. The next phase was an uglier angle of twenty- .five degrees; bu t still the rag-time played, and th e whisky went round. The Marconigram now flashed out w ith long electric, beseeching fingers, th e S. O. S., the signal th a t never fails to send a shudder down us. Two vessels, th e Cali fo rn ia and the C arpathia, were w ithin wireless range. The Carpathia caught up the sobbing sounds, and flashed back the answer, “Hold on, I am com ing!” and, rushing in a t top speed, saved eight hundred souls. The California, though th e n earer of th e two, never moved. At the inquiry held in London, Signor Marconi was asked why. “Be cause,” he answered, “ she had got packed away in ice, and so her fires were banked and her engines stopped.” Our influence over o th e r souls entirely de pends on th e sta te of o u r own. Most wonderful of all is th e final act in the drama. Philip had utilized to the full th e few hours before rap tu re,— hardly more th an th e few m inutes,— into which was Compressed the m ighty co-operation of heaven and earth for the salvation of a single soul. E ighteen years ago I. landed a t Avonmouth from the West Indies. Feeling tired, I sought a d istan t carriage in which to be alone. But a stranger, th e chief engineer of the
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