“And He gave―some evangelists.” “HE” gave! Who? ―Himself, the Christ, the Lord, the risen Man, exalted and seated in the heavens at the right hand of God. He, Himself, the “same Jesus” who loved to tell poor sinners of His God and Father, and who welcomed the weary to Himself. Yes! the Friend of sinners, the Savior, the Redeemer, the Crucified, the exalted Christ, gave some evangelists. Mark you, oh! evangelists, He gave you, yourselves, with your brimful hearts of love to perishing souls, with your fervor, your prayers, your tears for men―He gave you, not the sermons you preach merely, not just your ability to speak, but you, your very selves, ―you men, with your hearts of love, and lips of longing entreaty and passionate warning. Christ gave you; and the sermons you preach, if worthy of the name of words, come fresh out of your hearts to men.
How personal is this! The Lord gave men.
Had He given the message merely, angels might have borne it; but He gave some evangelists, and only a human being could be an evangelist to human beings. He gave, in His blessed love, evangelists to tell sinners of Himself, and of His God.
And to whom did He give these men―these evangelists? To men! “For the perfecting of the saints; for the work of the ministry; for the edifying of the body of Christ―” He gave these men to men. Then let us stir up the souls of saints to care for sinners.
Consider wherein the success of an evangelist lies. It is in the soul that pours out of him the fervor which burns within him; and this soul is what Christ has made the evangelist for the sake of men. He will accomplish His great purposes of grace and glory.
Some lines, written in no kindly spirit, give us a view of a mighty evangelist. After speaking of “his wooden palace,” and describing the man in his frenzy for souls, they run:
“Repent, repent, repent!
The mighty Whitfield cries,
Oblique lightning in his eyes.”
Whitfield was a gift of Christ to men, to bring men to repentance. Whitfield was a gift of view of him, we say. We know he was a man. The world may ridicule him, and faint-hearted Christians may do worse―criticize him. But whence the madness― the shouts of this evangelist? He sees into the souls of men―their sins stare him in the face; he feels these sins; they are an awful burden of grief to him. He sees the sinners to whom he preaches going to hell; he agonizes for them―their future is before his very eyes, if not before theirs; his Christ given sympathy for men makes him feel as if he himself suffered hell. Hence his madness―hence his shouts.
Now-a-days, evangelists whisper, “Believe, believe, believe,” but the cry, “Repent, repent, repent!” is needed. “Repent, and believe the gospel,” said our Lord. Yet we will not discuss what should be preached: we are thinking of the preacher. Whitfield’s eyes darted lightning glances up and down the masses to whom he preached―whom he made by the power of God in him to come and hear him. His eye, following his words, flashed into their souls “Thou art the man”; and they heard, and did repent. He moved them to repentance. Yet not he, as if it was his own power, but the Spirit moving him; he moved them as given to them by Christ in heaven to accomplish this end for men. Christ in him by faith poured out of him.
One of the hardest cuts ever given to a timid preacher was this question, put by a hard-headed infidel, “Do you believe what you say?” The timid young man was afraid of telling the truth as he believed it. Alas I how many preach sermons, which, if they believe themselves, they fail to convince their hearers they believe. If we saw a blind man walking straight to the verge of a precipice, had we any love for human life, or rather for the life of the particular blind man we saw on his fatal road, it would be impossible to whisper in complacent tones to him, “One more step, and you perish.”
Let the realities of eternity possess your soul, O evangelist, given by the ascended Son of Man to men. Let the love of Christ in giving you yourself to serve souls fill your spirit, and you shall find, by His grace and through the Spirit’s power, that His love will flow out from you―a vessel chosen by Himself for the H. F. W.