A ONE-IDEA MAN by Rusticus

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 18, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 11.

A ONE-IDEA MAN.

By Rusticus

"I don't like Mr. Jones. He has no breadth of culture. He's a one-idea man. He is always harping on one string. In every sermon it's just, 'Come to Jesus,' over and over again. Why can't he give us discourses now and then about 'the dignity of true manhood,' or 'the wonders of modern civilization,' like Elder Drawem over the way? Our young folks go there because they want something new. They say that Mr. Jones is an old fogy, and they are tired of the monotony of his sermons."

This was what Hugh Hamer said to me when I was at his shop the other day. Hugh is a machinist. He has invented an excellent separator, and is supplying all the country about here with them. Instead of replying to him, I said: "I have often wondered at you. You are an excellent workman, and yet you make nothing but separators year in and year out. You don't seem to care for anything else. Why don't you get up some fancy buggies or some nobby dog-carts, and so give variety to your business and show that you have good mechanical skill, that you can adapt yourself to the tastes and wants of all classes? In that way you could make your shop a great deal more popular than it is. Now only a few of us farmers come here, but if you should act upon my suggestion you would have all the fast young men in the neighborhood patronizing you."

Hugh flared up at once. "Do you think that I want that kind of custom? No, it is my ambition to make the best separator in the country. That is business enough for one man. And it is a great deal more profitable to do it, and get a reputation for doing it, than to try to compete with carriage makers and other manufacturers. For thirty years I have given all my time and thought to this one kind of machine. I believe that I understand it thoroughly. But if I should go to making a dozen other things I should lose my grip on this. So I stick to my specialty. That is best for me and for my customers."

"Yes, and Mr. Jones is just like you. Preaching the gospel is his specialty. To that he thinks God has called him. In preparing

to do that well he has spent many years of earnest study. We had him installed here as a preacher of the gospel. It is his business, and business enough for any one man. Why should he turn aside from his specialty to deliver lectures on all sorts of subjects any more than you should go to making buggies or dog-carts? I tell you, Hugh, it is the one-idea men that do pretty much all that is done in this world. There was old Noah, the antediluvian. For one hundred and twenty years he thought of nothing and talked about nothing but a coming flood, and an ark that would float on the waters. Everybody thought he was crazy, as he worked at that ark six days in the week, and preached about it on the Sabbath. Perhaps they said to him, 'Noah, since you take so much interest in boat building, why don't you make some pleasure yachts to sail on the Euphrates? You seem to know and care for nothing but that great clumsy ark of yours.' But when the flood came and began to sweep them all away, they learned that Noah was the only wise and successful man of his generation. The Bible says that Noah was a preacher. He is the first man to whom that name is applied. And he is the model for his successors in office. They are to know nothing but the peril of sinners, and the way of salvation. That is their mission in this world. And they have no business to meddle with anything else; and they cannot do it without losing their grip, as you say.

"There was Paul. He had a good education. He no doubt could have gotten up some very interesting lectures, and drawn around him the literary and the novelty-loving multitudes in Corinth. But he was like our Mr. Jones, a one-idea man; and he determined 'to know nothing but Jesus Christ, and him crucified.' And when he went to Rome it was not to study the laws and customs of that wonderful city, or to write philosophical essays upon the elements of her greatness, but to preach the gospel—to tell the old, old story of the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. If Paul had sought temporary popularity as a philosopher or rhetorician, we should never have heard of him. But his one-ideism has given him a name among men, second only to that of his crucified Lord.

"And there was Martin Luther. He might have been eminent as a scholar. He had one of the noblest intellects of his own or any other age. But he saw that the world needed just one thing,—a revival of the Bible idea of religion—a proclamation of the great doctrine of justification by faith. To that one thing he devoted his life; for it he toiled, and prayed, and studied, and made sacrifices. And see what he accomplished. No man since Paul has done more for the world, or has won the admiration and love of so many human hearts as he. Why was it? Because, like yourself and Mr. Jones, he believed in concentration as well as consecration.

"I might mention men in modern times who are worthy successors of Noah, Paul, and Luther in this respect. They are eminently successful in the ministry, because they give themselves wholly to it. You find me a preacher who is trying to build up a literary reputation, or who prepares lectures to people at fifty cents a head, and I will show you that his ministry is barren in spiritual fruitage. No man who makes it his special business to tickle men's ears, can hope to be instrumental in saving their souls. If the Bible is true, all men are sinners and in deadly peril; the gospel is revealed to save them; ministers of the gospel are ambassadors for Christ. It is their business to beseech men to be reconciled to God. They belong to the life-saving service and ought to devote to it all their energies.

"Imagine a wreck. The ship has been driven by a storm upon the sunken rocks of a lee shore. The waves are dashing over her, and she will soon be broken up. The crew are seen clinging to the rigging, but they cannot cling there long. They must be saved speedily, if they are saved at all. What does the captain of the life-boat who sees that wreck do? Does he summon his crew and talk to them about the perils of the sea, and the excellence of the Life-saving Service? Does he shout through his speaking trumpet to the wrecked sailors Tennyson's last poem, or, taking a French horn, send over the waters the sweet strains of 'Home, Sweet Home'? No; he shouts, 'Hold on, we are coming.' He launches his boat and hastens to the rescue. His one idea is to save. He has no time to think even of anything else. Now every sinner is like those sailors on the wreck. If not rescued soon he must be lost forever. It is the minister's business to try to save him—to try to save all that he can. If true to his high and holy calling, he must give himself, body and soul, to this one business. He must 'preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.' If this makes him a one-idea man, he is in excellent company."

—Rusticus, in the Occident.