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                       HOW TO BRING MEN TO CHRIST

                                   BY

                              R. A. TORREY

                _Superintendent Chicago Bible Institute_


                                CHICAGO:

               THE BIBLE INSTITUTE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION

                           250 LA SALLE AVE.

                 Eastern Depot:  East Northfield, Mass.

------------------------------------------------------------------------




                 _JUST PUBLISHED. By the same Author._

             =Vest Pocket Companion for Christian Workers.=

    The best texts for personal work. Classified for practical use,
    printed in full, and arranged for ready reference.

    From Mr. Torrey’s preface:

    “There is medicine in the Bible for every sin–sick soul, but
    every soul does not need the same medicine. This book attempts
    to arrange the remedies according to the maladies.”

    120 pages, bound in Russia leather in vest pocket size, price 25
    cents.

               _Fleming H. Revell Company, Publishers_,
            NEW YORK.          CHICAGO.            TORONTO.




         Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1893
                      BY FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
     In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington D. C.




                         _By the same Author._

        =Ten Reasons Why I Believe the Bible is the Word   =.15=
          of God. 16mo., paper=


    “Masterful.”―_Indiana Baptist._

    “Of sterling excellence.”―_Christian at Work._

    “Thoughtful, helpful and timely.”―_Golden Rule._

    “It gives in clear and comprehensive style a cogent argument for
    the complete inspiration and absolute authority of the Bible.
    Because of its terseness and freedom from technical expressions
    it will form a useful compendium of information for Christian
    workers.”―_Messiah’s Herald._

                _Fleming H. Revell Company, Publishers._

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                                PREFACE


This book is written because it seems to be needed. The author has been
repeatedly requested by Ministers, Y. M. C. A. Secretaries, Christian
Workers, and his own students to put into a permanent and convenient
shape the substance of what he has said at Conventions, Summer Schools
and in the class–room on personal work. The time has come to yield to
these requests. Never before in the history of the Church were there so
many who desire to win others to Christ. The good work done by the Young
People’s Society of Christian Endeavor is in no other direction so
evident as in the many thousands of young people in this land who to–day
are on fire with a desire to win souls. But while they desire to do this
work, many do not know how. This little book aims to tell them. There
are several well–known and valuable manuals of texts to be used with
inquirers, but this book is intended not only to point out passages to
be used but to show how to use them, illustrating this use by cases from
actual experience. It is hoped that from a careful study of these pages
any earnest Christian can learn how to do efficient work in bringing
others to the Saviour.

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                               CONTENTS.


                                PREFACE.

 CHAPTER.                                                          PAGE.

    I. THE GENERAL CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS IN BRINGING MEN TO CHRIST     7

   II. HOW TO BEGIN                                                   14

  III. DEALING WITH THE INDIFFERENT OR CARELESS                       20

   IV. DEALING WITH THOSE WHO ARE ANXIOUS TO BE SAVED BUT DO NOT      29
         KNOW HOW

    V. DEALING WITH THOSE WHO ARE ANXIOUS TO BE SAVED AND KNOW        36
         HOW, BUT WHO HAVE DIFFICULTIES

   VI. DEALING WITH THOSE WHO ENTERTAIN FALSE HOPES                   50

  VII. DEALING WITH THOSE WHO LACK ASSURANCE, AND BACK–SLIDERS        57

 VIII. DEALING WITH PROFESSED SKEPTICS AND INFIDELS                   65

   IX. DEALING WITH THE COMPLAINING                                   77

    X. DEALING WITH THOSE WHO WISH TO PUT OFF DECISION UNTIL SOME     83
         OTHER TIME

   XI. DEALING WITH THE WILLFUL AND THE DELUDED                       87

  XII. SOME HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS                                     94

 XIII. THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT                                104

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                       HOW TO BRING MEN TO CHRIST




                               CHAPTER I.

      THE GENERAL CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS IN BRINGING MEN TO CHRIST


There are certain general conditions, the fulfilment of which is
absolutely essential to real success in bringing men to Christ. These
conditions, fortunately, are few and simple and such as any one can
meet.


1. _The one who would have real success in bringing others to Christ
must himself be_ A THOROUGHLY CONVERTED PERSON. Jesus said to Peter,
“When thou art _converted_ strengthen thy brethren.” He was in no
position to help his brethren until he himself, after his cowardly
denial, had turned again to his Lord with his whole heart. If we would
bring others to Christ we must turn away from all sin, and worldliness
and selfishness with our whole heart, yielding to Jesus the absolute
lordship over our thoughts, purposes and actions. If there is any
direction in which we are seeking to have our own way and not letting
Him have His own way in our lives, our power will be crippled and men
lost that we might have saved. The application of this principle to the
numerous questions that come up in the life of every young Christian as
to whether he should do this or that, each individual can settle for
himself if Christ’s honor and not his own pleasure is upper–most in his
mind and if he looks honestly to God to guide him.


2. _The one who would have real success in bringing others to Christ
must have a_ LOVE FOR SOULS, _i. e._ _a longing for the salvation of the
lost_. If we have no love for souls, our efforts will be mechanical and
powerless. We may know how to approach men and what to say to them, but
there will be no power in what we say and it will not touch the heart.
But if like Paul we have “great heaviness and unceasing pain in our
hearts” for the unsaved, there will be an earnestness in our tone and
manner that will impress the most careless. Furthermore if we have a
love for souls we will be on the constant watch for opportunities to
speak with the unsaved and will find opportunities on the street, in the
store, in the home, on the cars and everywhere that would otherwise have
entirely escaped our notice.

But how is one to get a love for souls? This question is easily
answered. First of all, a love for souls like every other grace of
Christian character, is the work of the Holy Spirit. If then we are
conscious that we do not have that love for souls that we should have,
the first thing to do is to go to God and humbly confess this lack in
our lives and ask Him by His Holy Spirit to supply that which we so
sorely need, and expect Him to do it (1 Jno. v. 14, 15; Phil. iv. 19).
In the second place Jesus Christ had an intense love for souls (Matt.
xxiii. 37; Luke xix. 10), and intimate and constant companionship with
Him will impart to our lives this grace which was so prominent in His.
In the third place feelings are the outcome of thoughts. If we desire
any given feeling in our lives we should dwell upon the thoughts which
are adapted to produce that feeling. If any saved person will dwell long
enough upon the peril and wretchedness of any man out of Christ and the
worth of his soul in God’s sight as seen in the death of God’s Son to
save him, a feeling of intense desire for that man’s salvation is almost
certain to follow. In the fourth place, reflection upon our own ruined
and unhappy condition without Christ and the great sacrifice that Christ
made to save us, is sure to fill our hearts with a desire to bring
others to the Saviour we have found.


3. _The one who would have real success in bringing men to Christ must
have a_ WORKING KNOWLEDGE OF THE BIBLE. The Word of God is the sword of
the Spirit (Eph. vi. 17). It is the instrument God uses to convict of
sin, to reveal Christ and to regenerate men. If we would work together
with God, the Bible is the instrument upon which we must rely and which
we must use in bringing men to Christ. We must know how to use the Bible
so as (1) to show men their need of a Saviour, (2) to show them Jesus as
the Saviour they need, (3) to show them how to make this Saviour their
own Saviour, (4) to meet the difficulties that stand in the way of their
accepting Christ. A large part of the following pages will be devoted to
imparting this knowledge.


4. _The one who would have real success in bringing men to Christ must_
PRAY MUCH. Solid work in soul winning must be accompanied by prayer at
every step. (1). We must pray God to lead us to the right persons to
approach. God does not intend that we speak to every one we meet. If we
try to do it, we will waste much valuable time in speaking to those whom
we cannot help, that we might have used in speaking to those to whom we
could have done much good. God alone knows the one to whom He intends us
to speak, and we must ask Him to point him out to us, and, expect Him to
do it. (Acts viii. 29). (2). We must pray God to show us just what to
say to those to whom He leads us. After all our study of the passages to
be used in dealing with the various classes of men, we shall need God’s
guidance in each specific case. Every experienced worker will testify to
the many instances in which God has led them to use some text of
Scripture that they would not otherwise have used but which proved to be
just the one needed. (3). We must pray God to give power to that which
He has given us to say. We need not only a message from God but power
from God to send the message home. Most workers have to learn this
lesson by humiliating experiences. They sit down beside an unsaved man
and reason and plead and bring forth texts from the word of God, but the
man does not accept Christ. At last it dawns upon them that they are
trying to convert the man in their own strength and then they lift an
humble and earnest prayer to God for his strength, and God hears and in
a short time this “very difficult case” has settled the matter and is
rejoicing in Christ. (4). We must pray God to carry on the work after
our work has come to an end. After having done that which seems to have
been our whole duty in any given instance, whatever may have been the
apparent issue of our work, whether successful or unsuccessful, we
should definitely commit the case to God in prayer. If there is anything
the average worker in this hurrying age needs to have impressed upon
him, it is the necessity of more prayer. By praying more we will not
work any less and we will accomplish vastly more.


5. _The one who would have real success in bringing men to Christ must
be_ “BAPTIZED WITH THE HOLY GHOST.” “Ye shall receive power after that
the Holy Ghost, is come upon you,” said Jesus to his disciples after
having given them the great commission to go out and bring men to
Himself. The supreme condition of soul winning power is the same to–day:
“after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” A later chapter will be
given to a study of what “the Baptism of the Holy Ghost” is and how any
Christian can obtain it.




                              CHAPTER II.

                              HOW TO BEGIN


When God has led us to think that He wishes us to make an effort to lead
some given individual to Christ, the first question that confronts us
is, “How shall I begin?” If the person has gone into an inquiry room, or
remained to an after–meeting, or even if they are merely present at
prayer–meeting, Sunday–school or other ordinary service of the church,
it is comparatively easy. You can then ask him if he is a Christian, or
if he would not like to be a Christian, or why he is not a Christian or
some other direct and simple question that will lead inevitably to a
conversation along this line. But if the person is one in whom you have
become interested outside the religious meeting and who is perhaps an
entire stranger, it does not at first sight appear so simple, and yet it
is not so very difficult. The person can be engaged in conversation on
some general topic or on something suggested by passing events, and soon
brought around to the great subject. Christ’s conversation with the
woman of Samaria in the 4th chapter of John is a very instructive
illustration of this. Oftentimes even in dealing with entire strangers
it is well to broach the subject at once and ask them if they are
Christians or if they are saved or some similar question. If this is
done courteously and earnestly it will frequently set even careless
people to thinking and result in their conversion. It is astonishing how
often one who undertakes this work in humble dependence upon God and
under His direction, finds the way prepared and how seldom he receives
any rebuff. One day the writer met a man on one of the most crowded
streets of Chicago. As I passed him the impulse came to speak to him
about the Saviour. Stopping a moment and asking God to show me if the
impulse was from Him, I turned around and followed the man. I overtook
him in the middle of the street, laid my hand upon his shoulder and
said: “My friend, are you a Christian?” He started and said: “That’s a
strange question to ask a man.” I said, “I know it, and I do not ask
that question of every stranger, but God put it into my heart to ask it
of you.” He then told me that his cousin was a minister and had been
urging this very matter upon him, that he himself was a graduate of
Amherst college, but had been ruined by drink. After further
conversation we separated but later the man accepted Christ as his
Saviour.

It is often best to win a person’s confidence and affection before
broaching the subject. It is well to select some one and then lay your
plans to win him to Christ. Cultivate his acquaintance, show him many
attentions and perform many acts of kindness great and small and at last
when the fitting moment arrives take up the great question. An old and
thorough going infidel in Chicago was in this way won to Christ by a
young woman, who found him sick and alone. She called day after day and
showed him many kindnesses and as the consumption fastened itself more
firmly upon him she spoke to him of the Saviour and had the joy of
seeing him accept Christ.

A wisely chosen tract placed in the hand of the one with whom you wish
to speak will often lead easily and naturally to the subject. One day I
was riding on a train and praying that God would use me to lead some one
to His Son. A young lady, daughter of a minister, with whom I had had
some conversation on this subject came in with a friend and took the
seat immediately in front of me. I took out a little bundle of tracts
and selected one that seemed adapted for the purpose and handed it to
her and asked her to read it. As she read, I prayed. When she had
finished, I leaned over and asked her what she thought about it. She was
deeply moved and I asked her if she would not accept Christ right there.
Her difficulties were soon met and answered and she accepted Christ. As
she left the train she thanked me very heartily for what I had done for
her.

You will often meet some one whose face tells the story of unhappiness
or discontent: in such a case it is easy to ask the person if he is
happy and when he answers “no” you can say, “I can tell you of one who
will make you happy if you will only take Him.” Skill in beginning a
conversation will come with practice. One may be rather awkward about it
at first but as we go on we will acquire facility.

When the subject is once opened the first thing to find out is where the
person with whom you are dealing stands; then you will know how to
wisely treat his case. In the chapters immediately following this all
the classes of men one is likely to meet will be given, and the first
point to be ascertained is to which class any given individual belongs.
But how can we find out to which class any person belongs? First. By
asking him questions. Such questions as “Are you a Christian?” “Are you
saved?” “Do you know that your sins are forgiven?” “Have you eternal
life?” “Are you confessing Christ openly before the world?” “Are you a
friend of Jesus?” “Have you been born again?” One may answer these
questions untruthfully, either through ignorance or a desire to mislead
you. Nevertheless, their answers and the manner of them will show you a
great deal about their real state. Second. By watching his face. A man’s
face will often reveal that which his words try to conceal. Any one who
cultivates the study of the faces of those with whom he deals will soon
be able to tell in many instances the exact state of those with whom
they are dealing irrespective of anything they may say. Third. By the
Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit if we only look to Him to do it will often
flash into our minds a view of the man’s position, and just the
scripture he needs.

When we have learned where the person with whom we are dealing stands,
the next thing to do is to lead him as directly as we