with the moral character of a given man, or that of a community of men. Infinite wisdom and forecast are demanded, and should be submitted to, especially as to the times and seasons; they are best known to the Father.

While we still insist that such praying as is here represented will be heard, and will be effectual, yet the praying soul must wait for the answer in its fullness until God has prepared the way. The Divine One in some instances must have time to break up the family circle, taking some to heaven that the hearts of others may be won: he must likewise often have time to arrest material industries and prosperity, so that men shall be compelled, in the temporary hush of commercial machinery, to stop and think: he must have time and opportunity to make men groan under their losses until the uncertainties of earth are realized, and the certainties of eternity are felt. It is after such providential interpositions that the words of the Master, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth,” receive a startling interpretation. After men have thus been divinely led, through ways they knew not, and for reasons beyond their ken, then may God the more safely answer the prayer and convict the soul of the ungodly.

But notwithstanding these involved conditions and delays, all things conspire to encourage the praying man that there are unused and mighty forces which are obedient to his petition, and which await his bidding. Let him wield them, anon "I come" shall be heard; men will then repent, and the church shall be purified.

VIII. INDIVIDUAL EFFort.

Nothing can be more emphatic, nor theologically more startling, than the New Testament statement that one man may convert another.

“Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him, let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." *

Remarkable, indeed, are the power and the privi lege which are thus vested in human agency. While the recognition of the Spirit's presence and work should always be clear in the mind, yet for beneficent reasons He asks human co-operation; the Lord represents the believer, in his individual capacity, as the light and preserver of the moral world.†

Hence, the bearing of services rendered in this field of individual effort upon religious revivals can scarcely be overestimated. Our Lord's individual work with disciples; his personal contact with people in every place and condition, at the well and by the sea, in the village and among the mountains, as likewise in the synagogue and the temple, are eminently suggestive and instructive.

It has been already noticed that a revival sometimes begins in a single soul, which, as a leaven, extends by natural or supernatural laws and forces to other souls. Upon this principle our Lord ventured to intrust, with

*James, v. 19, 20. It will be wise to compare verses 13-18; also 1 Cor. iii. 9.

† Matt. v. 13, 14.

calm assurancè, the whole mission of his life to the hands of a few followers.

The Apostolic Church likewise achieved its grand conquests largely by what may be termed individual effort; "the going from house to house" was insisted upon. "Occupy till I come," and "Behold, I come quickly," were the words that inspired devout zeal in the hearts of the early disciples. The converts made at Jerusalem during the yearly feasts and national assemblies, then scattered among the nations of the earth, were the missionaries of the times. The salt thus broken and scattered, yielded its preserving properties.

From those early times to the present, individual enterprise and effort have been the constantly and successfully employed factors in the salvation of the world. It was thus in Luther's time, thus with Waldo and Arndt, the Waldenses and the Moravians. The individual efforts of a Scotchman, during a brief residence in Geneva, three-fourths of a century ago, resulted in the conversion of Frederic Monod, Felix Neff, and the historian D'Aubigne; the labors of these distinguished men, who can estimate?

A half century ago, in the city of Hamburg, Germany, a company of seven brethren met in a shoemaker's shop, formed themselves into a praying band, and then into a church. Rev. Mr. Oucken was chosen pastor. Within twenty years that church "multiplied itself into fifty churches! Ten thousand souls had been hopefully converted; fifty millions of persons had heard the true gospel; and eight millions of pages of tracts and four hundred thousand copies of the Scriptures had been put into circulation." The pastor thus

"All our

states the secret of this remarkable success: members were initiated and instructed into a regular system of operations. Every man and woman is re quired to do something for the Lord, and thus the Word of the Lord has been scattered. We have now about seventy brethren in Hamburg, who go out every alternate Sabbath, two by two, preaching the gospel; and by this means the whole of the city has heard the precious name of Christ."

It is a well-known fact that the mission churches in Burmah were established almost exclusively by Zayat preaching, which is little else than conversation upon religion with a single individual, or a small group of individuals, as the case may be.

...

The Wesleyan movement was likewise one of individual effort. An important explanation of marvellous success attending Methodism is, that Wesley from the outset "encouraged the labors of the pious in every direction, and by this means, under the divine blessing, he increased his own usefulness a thousand-fold; and instead of operating individually, . . . he became the director of a vast system, which remained at work in his personal absence, and was continually pouring into the church its contributions of conquest from the world." The statement, from one who is eminently qualified to judge, is doubtless correct, that "they are not the great preachers in the Methodist church, who are the most useful, but rather the faithful, earnest pastors. The revivals of Methodism come more from prayer and private exhortation than from public preaching."*

* Quoted and indorsed by Dr. Tyng, in "Christian Pastor."

The change wrought by Richard Baxter, in that notorious Kidderminster field, was not achieved by preaching alone. "Baxter and the converts already gained, made thorough work in visiting, like Paul, from house to house, and addressing individuals and families upon the subject of their souls' salvation."* It was a favorite remark of Dr. Watts, based upon careful and extended observation, that "the man who has the happy talent for parlor preaching, may often be made the instrument of more good in a few hours, than others can do without that talent in many years.”

We are also told that "Dr. Payson in the pulpit pleaded with men; and if they were not moved, he came down out of the pulpit and pleaded, until the men were moved, yielding to God or spurning him."

But by others than preachers and professional evangelists, and in fields and ways less obvious than those already mentioned, has individual Christian enterprisebeen effective. Many a layman, by being ever alert, through conduct and remark, has been instrumental in awakening serious thought and inspiring religious decision in hearts upon which even the preacher had failed in producing the slightest impression. They were the personal efforts of the father of Richard. Baxter, in pleasant and entreating ways, which awoke the first religious emotions of his son; that father, however, is merely representative of scores who could be mentioned.

Personal service in the field of Sabbath-school work deserves a chapter by itself. Here, as nowhere else, except, perhaps, in the home, are unrivalled oppor* Dr. Fish.