"Am I my Brother's Keeper."
YES; God has so constituted the human heart and human society, that no man can live unto himself. Whatever may be your position in life, you have an influence over some unpenitent sinner, which, if rightly exerted, might lead him to the Saviour. God commands you to exert that influence. The beginning of your duty is to make your own calling and election sure; but this is not the end of it. You are bound first to take the beam out of your own eye; but you should do so in order that you may see clearly to pluck the mole out of your brother's eye. When you have heard for yourself the gracious invitations of the gospel, you are to invite others to come. God has promised to bless personal efforts for the salvation of souls. He has filled these promises in innumerable instances. When Harlan Page was on his death-bed, though oppressed with a sense of his unworthiness, he could say, "I think that, through the grace of God, I have been instrumental in the conversion of more than one hundred souls." Oh, how many there are who might, like him, even in private life, win many souls for Christ. Be encouraged to sow the good seed of the gospel wherever you can find soil to receive it. It will not be lost. The grain of wheat that was wrapped up for three thousand years in an Egyptian mummy, at last found a congenial soil, and sprang up and bore fruit. And so “The seed that in these few and fleeting hours
Thy hands unsparing and unwearied sow,
Shall deck thy brow with never-fading flowers,
And yield thee fruits divine in heaven's immortal bowers,"
Think of the value of a soul. Who can estimate it? The world and all it contains is as nothing in the comparison. God has shown his estimate by the price he paid for its redemption. The angels show how much they value it by their joy over one sinner that repents. The dominion of the soul is the great subject of strife between the powers of light and of darkness. “Hell moves below to work its death,
Heaven stoops to give it life.”
“Know that he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death and hide a multitude of sins.” A word as to the manner in which we should strive to win souls. Do it with gentleness and humility. Never speak to an impenitent sinner as though it were your office to rebuke and punish him. Never bring a railing accusation against him. Remember, he is your brother. You were once in the same condemnation; and if you are not now under God's wrath no credit is due to you; you are saved by grace. Pray much for those you would lead to Christ. “Effectual, fervent prayer availeth much” in two ways; it calls down God's blessing on those for whom it is offered, and it cultivates the spirit of zeal and brotherly love in those who offer it. When we come down from the mount of communion to speak to our fellow-sinners, our faces will shine, and our words will be as precious ointment poured forth. The Bible the Key to the Heart.
If I had a lock, of very complicated construction, and there was only one key that would unlock it, I should feel very sure that the key was made by one who understood the construction of that lock. So when I find that, notwithstanding all the windings and mysteries of iniquity in the human heart, the Bible, and the Bible only, is adapted to it throughout, and is able to penetrate its most secret recesses, I am constrained to believe that the Bible was made by Him who “alone knoweth the hearts of the children of men.”