‘AND YESHALiL KNOW THE (TRUTH, AND THE TRUTH VCfc.% [ SB 1 j . t M pi i 1 ■ B ■ " Jl / JL -t j (Pftper read at tire Presbyterian Woriers’ Confe Haines Institute, Augusta, Ga., Japuary 3lst to Ft ~' V ' ' By Rev. I. H. Russell, D. D. Mr. Chairman, Father® and Brethren: Hie representatives of all walks and businesses of life must know what they are re ding, Bp they canj^sent iey are offering. The am bassador for the Lord must must know his line and be able to present it in a manner that wiHbe effective and acceptable. One of the' fundamental things in winning souls is, first, to show them that they need a Saviour. To do this, have them to read from the Bible, if pos sible, such Scripture passages a? will appeal to them. The fol lowing pasages are good : (1) * Alt have sinned.'” (2) “Gbd died fof the ungodly.” (3) “Christ died for all.” Plead with them to depend upon God and His word, and do upon self and your wo: in the Qod is more interested _ Stoner's salvation than you are, so look to Him to do the saving. Show them how to make the Saviour their Saviour. Use such Scriptures as these: (1) Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ arid thou shalt be saved.” (2) “Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.” (8) “Whosoever believeth in Him shall receive re mission ofsin.” .ites of Christ, must word in Season and out of season, be prayerful, insr. " J*"‘ Some excuses offered by sin ners are: “Not now,” or “not to day,” “I’m not a sinner,” or “not a very great sinner.” To Offset these arguments quote the fol* lowing: (1) “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” (2) '‘All have sinned.” (3). “1 can’t hold out.” (4) . “Fear thou hot, for I am with thee.” (5). “Be hot dismayed for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee.” (6). “I am persuaded that neither things present, por things to come shall be able to separate us from the love of God.” (7) Believe . .and thou shalt he saved.” U there are hypocrites, what is that to thee? “Follow thou me ” “Prepare to meet thy God.” There cannot be a counterfeit unless the real thing exists. One who stumbles over a hypocrite is stumbling over one that is ahead of him. Jesus says: “I am the way; no man cometh unto the Father but toy me.” You cannot work S-—r way into the Kingdom of yen; if you could, you could there ... without . Jesus and without the price of death being paid for your sins. “The; wages of sin is death.” Its penalty has to be borne by yourself or you can escape the death penalty by receiving Christ for your substitute by faith or trust. You are never too great a (tin ner. “Christ died for the ungod ly” “This is a true saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ : Jesus , came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief.” “Though your jms toe as scarlet they shall be as white as snow.” “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, bujt that the world through him ' might, be saved.”, . To those who deny there is a God quote the following: “The fool hath said in his heart thefe is no God.” , The ones who say God is good, He will not send any one to hell, say this to them: “He that be tteveth not shall be^ damned.” “Be not deceived, God is hot locked, for whatsoever a man • that shall he also reap.” ffj foe says, “I cannot give* up tfoe things of the world,” give' this ;:“What shall it profit a ** foe gains'the #ho!e world lose his soul?’>KjOd is a lov __ wa^ats the child’s cup of joy not oplV^uil; but run ning oyer. God oid^' desires to eliminate those thin® from the life which work hart$t. Gove not the world, neither the things that are in the; world* fqr the ' '* ‘ _ .he world is! the enemy Of God. If you can love God’s ene mies, and can't love God and tpe things of God, you will have to go to hell where all of God’s en emies go. [Other excuses can easily be met and answered from the word of God. “Search the Scriptures,” “show thyself approved unto Gpd.” Analyze the passages you use, .cahihg attention to the principles they teach. After presenting Christ as the Saviour and meeting the ob jections, press for a, decision for Christ. Pray and get the seek er to pray for hfthself. ri Preach the word. God saved you fof His service. One souil is worth more than all the world. Souls are dying without hope and without God. - “Who will go?” “Here am I, send me.” “Work for the night is coming” ... Be a Master Personal Worker, for Jesus* . .y ' J1 “He canie to die, He died to save. He comes to reign. Preach it, teach it, Tell it wherever you go.’ , Now as to the means that are employed to develop a revival in the church: First and foremost I mention preaching; and in or der to do this, much depends oil your own state of mind. I think that almost always a man has in his own heart the prophecy of these things. I have Waked UP in the mornings arid the air has smelt^ differently frdm what it did before.. I have gone out of doors, not thinking that it was spring, but it was brought home to me by the changed aspect of things around. So I have found in my own ministry that when my heart was right for this work of God, I somehow had, it brought to me in a way which inspired courage and Zealand purpose: there was an intensity of feeling that as sured me I was going to suc ceed,—not I, but the grace of God that was in me. I had a courage, a sort of certitude in me, “The time has come!” “The time has come!” and I went down into the work with a feel ing, “I will not be denied! I will have this blessing! Slay me, but give me this!’! and where a man has even the smallest beginning of this feeling, he is pretty sure to impart it. ^ Now, how shall a man come at it, if he hasn’t it?.I might say to a pastor, “Art thou a master in Israel, and knowest not these things?” You have not had a charge, and so I don’t blame you. In what way shall a man who who has the cUre of souls and is waiting, for souls; who believes in God mid immortality, in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the dying and necessitous condition of men—in what way shall he come into active sympathy with them? Suppose a surgeon should say to nie as he goes down to a great Military Hospital, I am going down to a great work, and I don’t know but what my zeal anq courage will flag. How would you advise me to prepare to take an interest in this thing and sympathize with' these poor wounded soldiers? If he needed ( I ■ ' ' ' - ■ ■ tilling he would not be fit to be aj surgeon. The circumstances themselves should be all the in citement heneeds. When a man Idoks over his congregation, and thinks of them, feels for them. prays for them, carries them in h:s heart! when they are really dear to Him,—in part because they are 'dear to Christ, who is dearer to him than life itself,— it! seems to me he needs very, little instruction on this natter. •Only this: if yod have fears that are frightening and har raissing you, lay them aside. If you have worldly business or anything of that kind, that is absorbing your time and prevent ing the kindling in you of an en thusiastic devotion to your work, pi^j&at aside, no matter what , it may cost you. If you find ydur own spiritual feelings have been scattered, take those means which you recommend to your people,—your Bible, your clos et, Humble yourself before God. But I beseech you to avoid that kind of crawling, that prostra tion that takes the very man hood out of a mas, I don’t think God wants a man to crawl before Rim like a worm, I don’t thjink He is any more pleased to see that than you would be to see y»ur children act so, If I had a child that acted so toward me, I should not esteem him as much as I would "a manly child. Now a child does not know any bet ter, but a man ought to. ’ Now, I have seen men w^> seemed to think that if they emptied themselves before God and made themselves mean, and said all manner of self'abating things, it would fit ■ them for work. No; manliness! No doubt enough to: to Him as though they were, his sons, I am a son of God, uncrowned, dishonored by imperfection, by manifold transgressions, but my Father’s blood is in me. I am a son of God! I will confess my sins, but I will stand before Him as His son still. I am willing to be chastized, but I am not will ing to crawl in the dust, as if [ were not an immortal creature. It is not necessary to weaken yourself so, But pour out your heart with strong desires before add. Love Work! men! Love God! JMOW, »S 800X1 <*B a into that state, if he is going to be successful, his preaching will be intensely earnest, it will be exceedingly clear, it will be per sonal. So much for the mind of the minister preparatory to preaching. At other times you are giving general instruction, but now you converge the knowledge that men are supposed to have. You are bringing it to a definite pur pose. When a man is stating law in the lecture-room, he pursues one course; but when he stands be fore a jury to win a case, all that he ever knew is concentrat ed for a definite purpose. He thinks of their verdict. We preach a great many sermons, and properly, which are to pro mote meditation, which are to bring forth their fruit gradually in the family and in the com munity at large. That is well enough; but when revivals have set in, our preaching is for im mediate results in the hearts and souls and consciences of our fellow-men. . So that while every sermon is an instruction, it is also a plea. Every sermon is to have in it a grasp, an intensity of hold upon men, that shall from day to day and from week to week have its influence. You shall feel in your self that every time you preach a sermon you have drawn some man. That is ideal; that is the aim. . . . - * lit preaching m revivals of re ’ ligion the great things you wish t to secure are the reason, the moral sense and the imagination of men. Men work more by tion than we suppose; le form in which it is as with poetry, but With ton that brings invisible to sight,'which enlarges nb of existence,—in short 'rings the eternal future ar men. * - V( SeMyions mast bring out those truths^ of God’s word that are sunr$ have effect. They mast bnrigpot those truths which satisfw-the judgment, the com mon j£nse of men; which also frpqainlly arraign and satisfy the conscience; and which # do these pangs in the light of the higherfrelations which men must sustahk to the future and the gqvermnent of God. I ail this because many peo ple suljpose that in revivals of relighmithe only thing to do is to! addfess the feelings, to- sing to exhort men along, to; carr^them along they scarce ly know how. Thes is a place for sihging and f^podal exercises in sub ordina# meetings; but a miri ister (g*ht never preach so well, so st*j|§Jy, so clearly, and so coini^lpf, never with such ap peal; J||a man’s deepest nature and thipugh his imagination to hi? whwpiheing,,*& in the. initial state of|a revival of religion, t»i the Morning. “I meytod in the mbrning, • ' Whjyjffe day was at its best; Afn