By Dwight L. Moody

Chapter 3

A CONVENTION TALK.

Mr. Moody on the Importance of Personal Work — How it Should be Done — Inquirers and How to Meet their Needs — No Two Cases Alike — Backsliders — Without Conviction — Penitent Ones — Questions and Answers.

(The intensely practical character of the talks given at the Northfield Conventions, renders them of far more than transient interest; and hence a general demand has arisen that they be couched in permanent form, and given a larger hearing. That the reader may judge of their value, several are herewith presented. Among the most suggestive was that by Mr. Moody on “Personal Work.”)

PERSONAL dealing is of the most vital importance. No one can tell how many souls have been lost through lack of following up the preaching of the Gospel by personal work. It is deplorable how few church members are qualified to deal with inquirers. And yet that is the very work in which they ought most efficiently to aid the pastor. People are not usually converted under the preaching of the minister. It is in the inquiry meeting that they are most likely to be brought to Christ. Some people can’t see the use of inquiry meetings, and think they are something new, and that we haven’t any authority for them. But they are no innovation. We read about them all through the Bible. When John the Baptist was preaching he was interrupted. It would be a good thing if people would interrupt the minister now and then in the middle of some metaphysical sermon, and ask what he means. The only way to make sure that people understand what he is talking about is to let them ask questions. I don’t know what some men, who have got the whole thing written out, would do if someone should get up and ask: “What must I do to be saved?” Yet such questions would do more good than anything else you could have. They would wake up a spirit of inquiry. Some people say, all you want to do is to make the preaching so plain that plain people will understand it. Well, John the Baptist was a plain preacher, and yet he asked: “Have you understood these things?” He encouraged them to inquire. I think people sometimes would be greatly relieved, when the minister is preaching way above their heads, if he would stop and ask whether they understood it. His very object is to make the Word of God clear. Christ was a plain preacher; but when He preached to Saul, the man was only awakened. Christ could have convicted and converted him; but He honored a human agency, and sent Ananias forth to tell the Word whereby he was to be saved. Philip was sent away into the desert to talk to one man in the chariot. We must have personal work — hand-to-hand work — if we are going to have results.
NO UNIFORM RULE FOR ALL.
I admit you can’t lay down rules in dealing with inquirers. There are no two persons exactly alike. Matthew and Paul were a good ways apart. The people we deal with may be widely different. What would be medicine for one might be rank poison for another. In the 15th of Luke the elder son and the younger son were exactly opposite. What would have been good counsel for one might have been ruin to the other. God never made two persons to look alike. If we had made men, probably we would have made them all alike, even if we had to crush some bones to get them into the mold. But that is not God’s way. In the universe there is infinite variety.
The Philippian jailer required peculiar treatment. Christ dealt with Nicodemus one way, and the woman at the well another way. It is difficult to say just how people are to be saved, yet there are certain portions of Scripture that can be brought to bear on certain classes of inquirers.
I want to say, I think it is a great mistake, in dealing with inquirers, to tell your own experience. Experience may have its place; but I don’t think it has its place when you are dealing with inquirers. For the first thing the man you are talking to will do will be to look for your experience. He doesn’t want your experience. He wants one of his own. No two persons are converted alike. Suppose Bartimeus had gone to Jerusalem to the man that was born blind, and said: “Now just tell us how the Lord cured you.”
The Jerusalem man might have said: “He just spat on the ground, and anointed my eyes with the clay.” “Ho!” says Bartimeus; “I don’t believe you ever got your sight at all. Who ever heard of such a way as that? Why, to fill a man’s eyes with clay is enough to put them out!” Both men were blind, but they were not cured alike. A great many men are kept out of the kingdom of God because they are looking for somebody else’s experience — the experience their grandmother had, or their aunt, or someone in the family. I knew an old man who used to tell people to go down to a certain bridge and get on their knees, and the Lord would meet them there. Some Christians take the ground that sinners are not saved unless they are saved just in their way. Then it is very important to deal with one at a time. A doctor doesn’t give cod liver oil for all complaints. No; he says, “I must see what each one wants.” He wants to look at the tongue, and inquire into the symptoms. One may have ague, another typhoid fever, and another may have consumption. What a man wants is to be able to read his Bible, and to read human nature too.
DIFFERENT CLASSES.
Now, it will be a great help to some of us to divide inquirers into classes, and I would like to say a few words about some of these. In the first place, there is a class of people who lack assurance. Of course they are church members, but there are plenty of people inside the church who need inquiry work just as much as those outside. For example, there are a great many church members who are just hobbling about on crutches. They can just make out that they are saved, and imagine that is all that constitutes a Christian in this nineteenth century. As far as helping others is concerned, that never enters their heads. They think if they can get along themselves they are doing amazingly well. They have no idea what the Holy Ghost wants to do through them.
BACKSLIDERS.
I would like to take up the class of backsliders. You always find when Christians are awakened there are a great many returning backsliders, and you want to know how to deal with them. Backsliders are doing a vast amount of injury. One backslider will do more harm than twenty Christian men can do good. Unconverted people say: “Here are some men who have tried this way. If there is as much joy in it as you make out, how is it that so many people are dissatisfied and go back into the world?” It’s a hard argument to overcome. It is very important to get these stumbling blocks out of the way. Now, in dealing with backsliders, I use Jeremiah more than any other book in the Bible. Some use only the New Testament, but I want the Old Testament as well as the New. It seems as if the whole Book of Jeremiah was written for backsliders. See Jeremiah 1:17: “Thou, therefore, gird up thy loins, and arise and speak unto them all that I command thee.” It is God speaking through Jeremiah. In the second chapter and thirteenth verse, He says: “My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” That goes right to the heart of every backslider — that is, every true backslider. A great many people are not true backsliders. As the old chaplain in the army said, they never slid forward. They have been clinging to some minister, some church, some choir; they never were converted at all. But a man that has ever known the Shepherd — ah, he will hear the voice. When you find a real backslider, who has once known the Lord and loved Him, take him to the Word as quick as you can — “My people have hewn out cisterns, broken cisterns.” And then just turn right around to him and say: “Isn’t that your difficulty? Does the world satisfy you? Does the water of this world quench your thirst?” And if he is a true child of God, he will shrink and say: “Don’t! oh don’t!” He can’t bear to hear it. Then in the nineteenth verse of the same chapter: “Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee.” I have known men whose backslidings have been ruin to their families, and their children have grown skeptical. When you read this passage to this kind of backsliders, they will say: “What! does the Bible say that? That is my case. Darkness and sorrow have come into my family.” There is nothing like bringing the word of God to bear upon these people. I remember when I was in St. Louis the last time, there was an old man who had been away off on the mountains of an ungodly life, but in his early manhood he had known Christ. There he was in the inquiry room, literally broken down. About midnight that old man came trembling before God, and was saved. He wiped away his tears, and started home. Next night I saw him in the audience, with a terrible look in his face. As soon as I’d got done preaching, I went to him and said: “My good friend, you haven’t gone back into darkness again?”
Said he: “Oh, Mr. Moody, it has been the most wretched day in my life.” “Why so?” “Well, you know, this morning as soon as I got my breakfast, I started out. I have got a number of children, married, and in this city, and they have got families; and I have spent the day going around and telling them what God has done for me. I told them how I had tasted salvation, with the tears trickling down my face; and, Mr. Moody, I hadn’t a child that didn’t mock me.” That made me think of Lot down in Sodom. It is an awful thing for a man who has been a backslider to have his children mock him. But it is written: “Thy backslidings shall reprove thee; know therefore, and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God.” Then look at the thirty-second verse: “Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet My people have forgotten Me, days without number.” You know very well if you lost an earring you would hunt for days to find it. Yet you may lose your Christian hope, and you won’t hunt for it. If you lost a diamond ring, how you would hunt for it! I have met a great many backsliders in that way. I remember saying to a lady: “Madam, you think more of that earring than you do of the kingdom of God. Don’t you know that?” “Why, no!” “Yes; if you lost it, wouldn’t you hunt for it?” “Yes.” “Have you thought as much of the peace you have lost? You have lost the peace of God, and the joy of your salvation.
Have you sought it?” In that way you are likely to bring them back. Take Jeremiah 3:12-14: “Return, thou backsliding Israel,.... for I am merciful.”
Then the nineteenth verse: “How shall I put thee among the children?....
Thou shalt call Me, My Father; and shalt not turn away from Me.” Then read Hosea 14:1,2,3,4,5, and a great many others. There is one peculiarity about backsliders. They have got to get out the way they got in. “Repent, and do the first works.” “Turn from your backslidings.” “Turn from your sin.” Take the same road that took you away from Christ to bring you back. I once remember once talking with a backslider, and I said: “If you would treat Christ as you would treat any earthly friend, you would never go away from Him.” “How is that?” “Did you ever know a backslider to go in his closet, get down on his knees, tell the Lord he was tired of His service, and bid him good-bye, and then go back into the world? When you are leaving a friend you bid him good-bye, don’t you? Then you treat Christ as you would not treat an earthly friend.”
Q. What would you say to a backslider who wanted to get back his old experience?
A. He doesn’t want his old experience; he wants a new one. God doesn’t repeat Himself. That is the very pit a great many tumble into — they want the same experience. But God will give them a fresh experience, and perhaps a better one. You remember how God used Peter after He restored him. I don’t believe David was used before he fell as much as he was used afterward. Look at that <195101> 51st Psalm. What a help it has been to multitudes — written by a restored backslider! If you have fallen and come back, God may use you far more in the future than He ever did before.
Q. What would you do with a man who thinks he has backslidden so far there is no hope for him?
A. The devil tells him that. He says: “There is no chance of your being renewed,” etc. Why, there’s no one but has backslidden. I have backslidden many times. Thank God, I never lost my hope. But I have gone away from the Lord. There isn’t a Christian on the face of the earth that hasn’t backslidden.
Q. Would you advise men who have backslidden, and been restored, to go into Christian work again?
A. Yes; by all means. Sometimes they make the best workers. They are apt to go very softly and carefully.
Q. Is it wise to have them go forth as Christian preachers and teachers?
A. Well; David taught, I think, a great deal better after he was restored than before. Peter taught. His great sermon at Pentecost was after he had been restored. Someone might have said to him: “Didn’t I hear you denying Christ and swearing the other night?” “Oh, yes; but God has forgiven me.” Peter spoke out of a full heart, because he had been forgiven.
When God forgives a man; that is the end of it. He is forgiven — justified.
Q. Would you discriminate in the matter of testimony after a man has fallen?
A. Well, let me tell you about confession. Every man ought to make a public confession if his sin has been public. Suppose, now, I have done this man a wrong, and no one knows it but us two. Then the confession ought to be between us two alone. I don’t believe in making confession of such a thing publicly — it isn’t called for. Suppose I had a difficulty with my family. It ought to be settled with my family. It needn’t go forth to the world. But suppose I have been a public blasphemer — have been seen reeling in the streets of Northfield a drunkard — it is known by all the people here — I ought to make my confession so that the whole town will hear it, and the chances are they will receive my testimony.
PERSONS NOT CONVICTED.
Now, let me speak about another class — those that have not been convicted of sin. When we preach the Word it falls upon all kinds of ground; and we must preach right along, no matter what the soil is. Some men cultivate rich soil, but some of us have to do what we can in stony ground among these old hills of New England. We must not sit in judgment upon men that we think are hard to impress, and say: “These men are not worth offering the Gospel to.” Our business is to offer the Gospel to everyone. We are to sow beside all waters. But in dealing with these men in the inquiry room, it is a great mistake to give certain passages to a man who has not been convicted of sin that were never meant for him. The law is what the man wants. It is no use talking peaceful words when he doesn’t know there is war; no use offering medicine when he doesn’t know he is sick. The Pharisee on the housetop was just as far from God as he could possibly go. The publican was just at the threshold of the kingdom before he went in. Look at those two men. They are types of two classes in the inquiry meeting. Give one the law, nothing but the law. Don’t give comforting passages. I wouldn’t say: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden.” He isn’t heavy laden. He has got his head so high that he is likely to tumble over backward — full of his own conceit, his own righteousness. That man needs the law. Give him Galatians 3; and Romans 3:10: “There is none righteous; no, not one”; and the <235301> 53rd chapter of Isaiah: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray.” Read to him descriptions of his own heart, and let him see himself as God sees him.
But remember that it is the work of the Holy Ghost to produce conviction. I am simply to present the truth, and let the Holy Spirit do His work. It isn’t my fault, if I have preached faithfully, and the man isn’t convicted. “When He comes, He will convince the world of sin.” I don’t believe there is any power on earth that can convince a man of sin without the Holy Ghost.
INVITATIONS TO THE PENITENT.
There is another class of inquirers, and that is, those who are deeply convicted of sin. For those I would take, first, the <401101> 11th chapter of Matthew: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly of heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” This comes with great tenderness and great power when a man is awakened. Then use texts that say: “Come.” The word “come” occurs 1,900 times in the Bible. It begins away back in Genesis, and runs right through to the last chapter of Revelation — “Come,” “Come.” In talking to an unconverted person, make it as plain as you can. Sometimes I talk this way: “‘Come’ is the first thing a mother says to her little child. When she wants it to learn to walk, she places it beside a chair, goes off a little distance, and then says ‘come,’ and the little thing lets go of the chair and runs to its mother. That is what coming means. If you can’t come as a saint, come as a sinner. If you feel that your heart is so hard you are not fit to come, God wants you just as you are.
He can soften your hard heart. If you are weary and heavy laden, come, and the Lord will bless you.” I remember a man in the north of England, a few years ago, the last time Mr. Sankey and I were there. He fell into the hands of a good worker — a Scotchman. He said he felt he was bound by a chain so that he could not go to God. “Eh, mon,” said the Scotchman, “why don’t you go, chain and all?” “Why, I never thought of that!” And he went. One text you can make great use of is John 5:24: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Him that sent Me hath everlasting life,” etc. Another is John 6:37: “Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out.” I remember laboring with a man in Chicago. It was past midnight before he got down on his knees, but down he went, and was converted. I said: “Now, don’t think you are going to get out of the devil’s territory without trouble. The devil will come to you tomorrow morning and say it was all feeling; that you only imagined you were accepted by God. When he does, don’t fight him with your own opinions, but fight him with John 6:37. Let that be the ‘sword of the Spirit.’” The struggle came sooner than I thought. When he was on his way home the devil assailed him. He used this text, but the devil put this thought into his mind: “How do you know Christ ever said that, after all? Perhaps the translators made a mistake.” Into darkness he went again. He was in trouble till about two in the morning. At last he came to this conclusion.
Said he: “I will believe it anyway; and when I get to heaven, if it isn’t true, I will just tell the Lord I didn’t make the mistake — the translators made it.” So he trusted in Him who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.
Q. Is it right for a man to mourn over his non-success in preaching if he fails?
A. If a man doesn’t have any fruit in his ministry, he may well mourn. “Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.” But then, if a man delivers the message faithfully, and doesn’t see any fruit after one sermon, he isn’t to lash himself because he hasn’t got power. If I am right with God there will be fruit to my labor.
Q. Is the aid of the Spirit ever arbitrarily withheld?
A. What do you mean?
Q. Cannot a man preach faithfully for a long time and still see no fruit?
A. Ah! but don’t you know there is sometimes something that is obstructing the work of the Spirit — like a row in a church choir? The Holy Spirit can’t do anything in a church that has got a row on hand. The difficulty with a great many churches in this land is that there are so many old stumps in the way of the plough. There are family feuds — church members who won’t speak to one another. How is the Spirit of God going to work there? The minister blames himself; but he needn’t, except for one thing: He ought to get up and get out. I wouldn’t waste my life preaching to a church like that. I’d rather go into a city and organize a church of my own — get men off the streets.
Q. A preacher may give a sermon and see no results at the time; but afterwards he may go into families and find conviction there — isn’t that true?
A. Yes; there has got to be personal work. Sometimes I have preached and asked people to raise their hands. Not a soul. Then I have gone down into the audience and said to some man, “Don’t you want to become a Christian?” — and found a great many ready to be talked to. Sometimes a splendid work can be done among people who don’t like to express themselves before the whole audience. You can’t always tell. But there are times when you feel as if you were preaching against a brick wall. There doesn’t seem to be any power in your words. They come back in your face. The people are not in a condition to receive the Word.
Q. What would you do with persons who go into the inquiry room to work, and yet their record is not clean?
A. I wouldn’t have them there. Some of the inquirers would be likely to say, “Physician, heal thyself” — “Take the beam out of your own eye before you try to take out mine.” I haven’t a doubt in my mind, if we are to have earnest, faithful, honest dealing with souls, we must keep these men away from inquirers. I know it is a difficult thing to do, but I’ve done it many a time. If there is a man who isn’t right, just go to him and say that he must straighten out a few things in his life before you want him there. If he gets angry, that settles it — shows he is not right. But if it breaks him down, then it is different. “Faithful are the wounds of a friend.” The best friend will tell you your faults. If I haven’t got grace enough to be told my faults, the less I say about the Lord Jesus Christ the better. Christ was always telling His disciples their faults.
Q. How far would you carry your instruction from the Bible, aiming at conviction?
A. A man ought to be able to handle his Bible, and give as many passages as he thinks are needed.
Q. How are you going to know where to turn the scale?
A. If a man acknowledges himself lost, then I go on another line. But there must be a breaking first. We must give enough of the law to take away all self-righteousness. I pity the man who preaches only one side of the truth — always the Gospel and never the law.
Q. Is it right to tell an inquirer just to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved, and leave out conviction?
A. I don’t tell a man to feel that he is a sinner before God. We don’t feel we are sinners really till afterward. The question is: “Do you believe you are lost — alienated from God — and that your only hope is in Another?”
Q. Is a man convicted of the sin of drunkenness, for example, by any other means than the Holy Ghost?
A. No. He may know he is a great sinner, but yet the Holy Ghost must give him a conviction of the exceeding sinfulness of sin.
Q. Is it possible for a man who has been convinced by the Holy Spirit to keep some sins?
A. If he doesn’t know they are sins, yes. But the next thing will be, the Holy Spirit will show him that they are sins. His conscience will become quickened, and he will get light. I did a great many things twenty years ago that I wouldn’t do now any more than I would stick my hand into the fire.
I got light. Most of my repentance came after I knew Christ. I never saw sin in its exceeding sinfulness till I knew Christ. The first thing the Spirit of God does is to let a man know that he is a sinner. If the Spirit has taken up His abode in his heart, he sees what an awful thing sin is — loathes it, hates it. Then he is ready to preach the Gospel of Christ who came to put away sin.
Q. What would you say is the greatest sin?
A. Unbelief. That is the mother of all sin. There wouldn’t be a drunkard, or a harlot, or a thief, or a murderer, if it wasn’t for unbelief. It brought forth all the misery in this world. Only the Holy Ghost can convince a man of that sin.