Tract Distribution
Table of Contents
Story of a Tract
The sun shone very bright one July morning, as a young girl tripped merrily along a country lane on her way to the town. She was full of eager expectation, for she had heard of a lady, going to reside in France, who was wanting a trustworthy nursery maid to go with her. It had long been Ellen's wish to go abroad, and see the countries she had read so much of; and this seemed a likely realization of her desires. Now she was on her way to see the lady, and to make arrangements to go with her.
At a sudden turn in the road, she saw an aged man.
“Good morning, my young friend," said he. "Stop, I have something good to give you," at the same time offering her a tract. She paused, took the tract, and thanking the old man, passed on.
She read a few words of the tract, then with an impatient gesture she thrust it into her pocket. She was in no mood just then to read about Christ or heaven, and her own soul's salvation was giving her no concern. On her arrival at the town, she called on the lady, and, in a little while, all was settled as to her going to France.
Very eager was Ellen to reach home that night, and to tell her friends all about it. Soon her whole mind was engaged making preparations for the journey.
All this time the little tract remained undisturbed in the pocket of her dress. It was only when she arrived at Cannes that the tract was discovered. She then put it in the bottom of her box, to read it sometime.
After being a few months in France, trouble came. She was laid upon a sick bed. Now she had time to think; her past life came vividly before her; she remembered how many times she had heard the gospel preached, and heeded it not. What if this sickness should end in death where would her soul be? This was the question that was present with her now by day and night.
Very lonely she was in that far-off land, and she longed for some kind friend to come and speak to her about Christ, and tell her what she must do to be saved. But, alas! those who were about her, knew not how to answer her question. They were as far from God, and as ignorant of His love, as she was herself.
The family were kind and attentive, but they did not understand Ellen's trouble. In her distress she remembered the little tract given to her by the old man. Quickly she dried her tears, got out of bed, and reached her box. She searched and found the little treasure. With what different feelings did she now open it. How anxiously she read over the pages to find the answer to the question that was filling her soul. Nor was she disappointed. The little book told of the love of Jesus, who left His Father's home of light, came down to this dark world, and died upon the cross for guilty, lost sinners.
“He bore our sins in His own body on the tree." 1 Peter 2:24.
“Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16.
This was just what Ellen's poor thirsty soul was longing to know; and she then and there, as a lost and guilty sinner, trusted Jesus as her Savior; rested her weary heart on Him and the sacrifice He made for her, and she was filled with "joy and peace in believing.”
Now she could praise Him who had done so much for her, and soon was telling those who were around her about the loving Savior, who loved her and gave Himself for her.
It pleased the Lord to restore her to health again. She could not rest till she went home to her friends to testify to the grace of God in saving her soul.
Reader, perhaps like Ellen, you are too busy with the hopes and prospects of the life that now is, to give much heed to the life beyond; too much pressed with pleasure or business to think of eternity. But life has its lonely hours, when people are compelled to face these momentous realities. It will be better to have your soul's salvation settled now. Jesus is willing today. Are you?
Hindrances to Tract Distribution
The tract distributor may look for opposition in the work.
1. Ridicule. Sometimes he will be ridiculed. There is the shake of the head or the scornful look; sometimes even personal abuse, but these things, which are often the expression of deep conviction, will do the tract distributor no harm, but sometimes a world of good.
2. Direct antagonism. An earnest preacher used to tell that forty years ago he narrowly escaped a martyr’s crown in a railway journey.
“I was quietly handing out some gospel tracts in a train when, with a great rage, a man rose and held a revolver to my head, threatening to shoot me there and then unless I desisted. The passengers all seemed greatly alarmed, and a scene occurred, amid which, coward as I too often am, I felt quite undisturbed, but soldiers of the King must sometimes be under fire.”
3. Resentment. The tract distributor has known many a time what it is for persons to resent his approach with the offer of a tract. Murray McCheyne, of Dundee, made tract distribution part of his ministerial life. One day he gave a tract to a fashionable lady, who said to him, “Surely you do not know who I am.”
McCheyne replied: “He hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world, and unless you are trusting Him, you will stand no chance on that day, no matter who you are.”
We should pray for such as we meet them in our work.
4. Legal restrictions. In certain cities tract distribution is forbidden, and care should be exercised by Christian workers to find out the attitude of local authorities before undertaking the work.
Note: Last fall the Supreme Court held unconstitutional the ordinances of three cities which restricted the distribution of pamphlets “on sidewalks and other public places.” The Court said, referring to contentions that the ordinances were necessary to prevent littering the streets:
“Although a municipality may enact regulations in the interest of the public safety, health, welfare or convenience, these may not abridge the individual liberties secured by the Constitution to those who wish to speak, write, print, or circulate information or opinion....The purpose to keep the streets clean and of good appearance is insufficient to justify an ordinance which prohibits a person rightfully on a public street from handing literature to one willing to receive it.”
“In the same opinion,” states a city newspaper, “the Court also invalidated a fourth ordinance requiring house-to-house canvassers to obtain permits from the police chief.”
Tracts: Do You Use Them?
Tracts can go everywhere. Tracts know no fear. Tracts never tire. Tracts can be multiplied without end by the press. Tracts can travel at little expense. They run up and down like the angels of God, blessing all, giving to all and asking no gift in return. They can talk to one as well as to a multitude, and to a multitude as well as to one. They require no public room in which to tell their story. They can tell it in the kitchen or the parlor, the factory or the office, on the broad highway or in the footpath through the fields. They take no note of scoffs or jeers or taunts. No one can betray them into hasty or random expressions. Though they will not always answer questions, they will tell their story twice, or thrice, or four times over if you wish. And they can be made to speak on every subject, and on every subject they may be made to speak wisely and well. They can, in short, be made vehicles of all truth, the teachers of all classes, the benefactors of all lands.
After Many Days
"Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.... He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.... In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good." Eccles. 11:1, 4, 6. "Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters" (Isa. 32:20).
These verses of Scripture are pregnant with meaning. They give Christ's servants plain injunction and clear directions to go diligently on with the Lord's work, in the full assurance that seed sown will bring forth fruit, although many days may elapse before the fruit be seen. They are very cheering also, for the assurance that they who sow beside all waters are blessed of God, may well encourage our hearts anew to go on with the Lord's work. The Lord loves to cheer His servants. He is the God of all encouragement, and some of the cheer He has given me lately, I should like to share with fellow laborers.
At the close of an after meeting, succeeding a gospel service, a middle-aged lady came up to me and said, "I can tell you your text of this night thirty-four years ago." "Indeed," I replied, "what was it? Pray tell me." " 'And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark'" (Gen. 7:1).
"You spoke from that text in this town, and that night I was turned to the Lord. I did not find full peace till next day, but my mind was made up; I decided for Jesus that night." "And He has kept you ever since?" "Ever since, and He will to the end."
I remembered the occasion, when it was called to my memory, and also the deeply anxious young woman to whom I spoke in the after-meeting that night; but it was very sweet, after a lapse of four and thirty years to find that the incorruptible seed of God's Word had brought forth such good fruit, as her happy face and manifest delight in the Lord indicated.
One Saturday about two years ago I attended a meeting of Christians where many had gathered together for fellowship and ministry of the Word. Between the afternoon and evening meetings a cup of tea was provided. Among those who were bearing round refreshments I observed a middle-aged woman whose bright happy face quite attracted my notice. Catching my eye, she came up to me and said, "I should greatly like to shake hands with you, Doctor, for I have never seen you since the night I was converted." Shaking hands with her cordially I replied, "And when were you converted?" "It is so long ago that I can scarcely fix the date, but do you remember preaching the gospel in a farmhouse more than a quarter of a century ago?"
"Yes, I remember it perfectly, and the date also. It was twenty-eight years ago. Were you in that meeting?" "Yes, I was then a girl of seventeen, living in a house nearby. I was asked to the meeting; I went, and God spoke to me through your lips that night. I was turned to the Lord. It changed my whole life, and I have been happy in the Lord ever since."
At the time I did not know of anyone who was converted at that meeting, though the farmer's twin girls of twelve years of age became very interested, and found Jesus a night or two after at another meeting. It was a great joy, therefore, to meet this child of the gospel after so many years, and her joy in meeting me was reciprocal.
On the Monday following I was present at some similar meetings, and during the tea interval a weather-beaten man came asking a grip of my hand, saying, "You know I was converted through you." "Indeed," said I, warmly shaking him by the hand, "and where did you hear me preach?" "0, I never heard you preach; it was through one of your little books, but it is twelve years ago. I was then a careless, godless man. One day when I came in to my dinner, I saw my little girl sitting by the fireside twisting and about to tear up a little booklet. My wife at the moment exclaimed, 'Take that book from her; do not let her destroy it.' I took the booklet and read the title, 'God says I am saved.' I said to myself, `That's a queer title; I cannot say that,' and not heeding my dinner I stood and read the little book through. It was very simple, I thought, so simple, only to look to Jesus and be saved, that when I had finished it, I read it through a second time. And then I said to myself, 'If that's all a man has to do, why should I not be saved?' I read it through a third time, and the light burst into my soul; I saw the truth, just as the dying girl did of whom it 'speaks, and like her I could say, 'I am only a poor sinner—Jesus died for me—I believe in Him—God says I am saved, and so I know I am.'
"Turning to my wife I said, `Where did that book come from?' `Oh,' she said, 'a sack of coal came in this morning from the coal merchant, and when I untied it, there on top of the first lump was the little book.'
"Was it not wonderful? But I found Jesus then, and I have been rejoicing in Him ever since, praise His name. Who put the book into the sack I do not know, but God spoke to me through it."
How wondrous are God's ways, and how happy will the person who put that book in the sack be, when he or she finds out it was the means of present and eternal blessing to an immortal soul. This tale should cheer and stimulate tract distributors. If we sow the seed, God will bless it.
Fellow-Christians, le t the foregoing instances of God's grace stimulate us all to go on diligently in the Lord's work. Preachers, tract distributors, and those who perhaps can only invite, or better still, bring with them an unsaved soul to a gospel meeting, have good ground for ceaselessly going on with their work.
"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." 1 Cor. 15:58.
Hearers of the Word
It is the same rain which falls upon the rock, as upon the soil at its base, but the rock remains barren, while the soil becomes fruitful. Is, therefore, the rain in fault, or is the result due to the nature of the soil?
So the Word of God-the same Word falls upon different hearts, and some continue barren and unfruitful, while others yield fruit a hundred fold. The fault lies in the hardness of heart of the hearer.
“Blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it." (Luke 11:28.)
Tract Distribution
“Tract distribution is going too much out of fashion. It is a blessed and heaven-honored agency for doing good. Everyone who has some spare time and a tongue and a little tact can go out with a bundle of tracts." Dr. Cuyler.
Many readers may have heard of the hawker who handed a tract into a little cottage which fell into the hands of Richard Baxter and was the means of his conversion. Baxter wrote thy "Saint's Everlasting Rest," which aroused Doddridge to seek salvation. Doddridge wrote "Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul," by means of which Wilberforce was converted. Wilberforce wrote a book, "Practical Christianity," which fell into the hands of Thomas Chalmers. Surely this is fruit!
Some time ago a poor boy came to a city missionary and holding out a dirty and well-worn bit of paper, said, "Please, sir, father sent me to get a clean paper like that." Opening it out, the missionary found that it was a page leaflet, containing that beautiful hymn beginning "Just as I am, without one plea." The missionary asked where he found it, and why he wanted a clean one. "We found it, sir," he said, "in sister's pocket after she died. She used always to be singing it while she was ill, and she loved it so much that father wanted to get a clean one, and put it in a frame and hang it up. Won't you give us a clean one, sir?" That simple hymn given to a little girl seems to have been, by God's blessing, the means of bringing her to Christ.
Tract Distribution: Twenty Years of Service Lost
On one of the river steamers, a Christian man on his holidays, was giving away tracts. Among others who received one was a gentleman who remarked as he received it, that he feared such efforts did little permanent good.
I am not opposed to such work," he said. In my younger days I did a good deal of it myself, but I cannot say that I ever saw any fruit from it."
The tract distributor was somewhat "damped" by that remark, coming from one who evidently was a Christian of many years' standing. But he instantly remembered that his own conversion was brought about by means of a tract, which he received when a boy of twelve, as he walked along the street one wintry night.
As he passed the door of a Mission Hall, a young man, standing evidently for the purpose of getting passers-by to go in, handed him a tract, and asked him to go inside and hear the Gospel. He did go in, and heard words there that awakened him to think of eternity and his state before God, and he went home in deep soul trouble. In his anxiety, he turned to the tract he had received, read it, and was saved. The tract distributor told this story to the gentleman, who listened with evident interest, and when it was finished, he said, "May I ask where this most interesting event took place?"
The man named the street, the hall, and the very night on which he got the tract, and was invited inside. The gentleman's eyes filled with tears; he grasped the distributor's hand; and said with great emotion-“It was my work for many a night, when a young man newly converted, to stand at that door giving tracts, and inviting passers-by, and I well remember inviting in the bright-eyed lad that wintry night. But I lost heart soon after that, and gave it tip, thinking such work was almost useless. Now after twenty years, God has let me know it was not in vain, and if He spare me to return to the city, I shall by His grace return to the service He gave me long ago, confessing my faithlessness in leaving-it." But the twenty intervening years were lost. How many more golden sheaves might have appeared to that Christian worker's account in the day of Christ, had he continued in the service that the Lord gave him to do.
"Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not." (Gal. 6:9.)
Tract Distribution: Suffering at Home
A young girl lay lonely and depressed on her couch. She was a sufferer from serious and complicated diseases, and, although very upright, very thoughtful, and intelligent, had continued until lately, a stranger to the power of divine grace. A near and dear friend had been the means of pointing her to Christ and she had found peace. Henceforth her life was filled with a new light, brightened by new pleasures; and, with the eager yearning of a newly converted soul, she longed to lead others to Christ. Fain would she have gone to engage in active service on behalf of her Savior, but alas! she was a helpless invalid, and as such, doomed to perpetual inaction. She could sit and work with her fingers, or write, but she could not move from place to place without the aid of others.
Here, then, was a cross to bear-heavy, indeed. Longing to do good to others, and yet to be doomed to remain inactive-cut off from all opportunities of active work-seemed too great a trial of faith and patience. And as she noticed how some other people-strong, active, and gifted passed by all opportunities of doing good, seeking only their own pleasure, it seemed harder than she could bear. At times she sought to question God's wisdom in thus afflicting her, and would tearfully ask why He had thus dealt with her. It was in such a mood as this that she now lay, tearful and deponding, yearning, O, so vainly, for something to do for the Master.
Just at this juncture, a knock was heard at the door, followed by the entrance of a visitor.
"Ah, Mrs. Williams! I am so glad to see you! I am so lonely!" was Maggie's first exclamation.
"What! tears? What is the meaning of those tears? Are you crying as you count up your mercies, Maggie?"
"No. Mrs. Williams. Mercies! It seems to Me sometimes as if I had far more trials than mercies. I would fain do something for Jesus, but I cannot. See, here I am chained to my couch, while many others, in the full flush of strength and health, care nothing at all about working for the Lord."
" 'Thou didst well that it was in thine heart.' Was not this commendation given to David in response to his desire to build the house of God, a sacred privilege which, however, he was not permitted to enjoy? So, Maggie, God says to you.
Mrs. Williams' soothing words fell like oil upon the troubled waters of Maggie's mind. Yes, truly, God knew that it was in her heart to do good; and knowing this, would He not accept the desire? Still-still- it was hard to sit still, in enforced seclusion and pain, at twenty, the age of exuberant youthfulness, and do nothing!
"Stay," said Mrs. Williams, "the mail bears many missives of love and affection to thousands of homes and hearts. Could you not use this agency for doing good?"
"How?" questioned the invalid, looking up, surprised.
"In this way: You know some to whom a letter, or a leaflet, or a tract, would be a blessing. Send an affectionate, faithful letter to an unsaved friend, giving warning of judgment which lies ahead, and of the way of escape through Christ. Send a tract to a poor, tired child of God. Send a rousing, earnest appeal to one who may be indifferent or careless. And a tract, with directions as to the way of salvation, to any who may be awakened or anxious about their soul. Thus you will work for the Lord as truly, and possibly more successfully, than if you were working in a more prominent way. I earnestly counsel you to adopt this plan."
"Do you really think that I shall succeed in doing anyone good in this way?"
"I do indeed. You are told to 'sow beside all waters,' and the ministry of tracts and letters is so unobtrusive, so secret, and yet so comprehensive and far-reaching, that Christians might do a vast amount of good in this way, if they would only lend their energies to the work. As a special department in Christian work, it is too much neglected. I am sure more souls might be won for Christ, and more wavering, anxious ones led to decide aright, if this way were only made use of to the extent which it might be, and no one can be the instrument of blessing to others, without receiving blessing themselves."
Maggie said no more. To the young girl's soul the advice of her friend came as a direct answer to her yearning for some path of usefulness, and, with "much prayer" for wisdom and guidance, she began her work.
We shall not quote her letters, nor the blessed results which she was allowed to know about, but the coming "day" will reveal how much honor and glory was brought to the Lord through her quiet, faithful labor for Him.
Tract Distribution: What One Tract Did
The importance of having good reading cannot be overestimated. As one goes from place to place the lack of this is felt. Few Christians are without a weekly or daily newspaper, yet again and again one finds not one good helpful Christian paper in such homes, and the prophet's word might be used, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."
It is true the Word of God must have first place in a Christian home. We believe where the Book of Books is valued and studied as it should be by us, anything that helps to further understanding its precious contents will be hailed with great delight.
Eternity alone will fully reveal the loss to many who now heap up riches upon the earth and fail to lay up treasures in heaven. Oh, how many a child of God we have heard bless the Lord for the written ministry. It goes where the voice cannot go, and will speak when we are gone. Many have been brought to God through reading some gospel incident recording the conversion of others. Upon no subject should we be more awake. What a field we have in the home and among our neighbors to serve the Lord Jesus. These fields lay open everywhere. What are we doing in this respect?
What one tract did!
A woman whose name has been forgotten dropped a tract in the way of a very wicked man. He picked up the tract and read it and it was the means of his conversion, and through him multitudes were brought to Christ.
Who can measure the influence of one little tract put into the hands of an unconverted person?
An aged Christian a short time ago came into a tract depot and bought a few dollars' worth of tracts, and said, with tears coursing down his cheeks, that a neighbor living near by for nine years had just died and that he had never so much as given him a tract or paper setting forth the Gospel before him, or warning him of his danger, and now he had died suddenly and he feared he was lost.
O, beloved, what are we doing? What a thought for us? One soul gone into eternity-lost forever-whom we knew on earth!
Often there are difficulties in the way of speaking to people about eternal realities, when one gospel tract, of but one or few pages, handed on with a kind word, or silently, or sent through the post, could do the work. It can reach the king's palace, it will enter the jail and prison, the borne of the poor, and stay for weeks, months and years, and turn tip in time and deliver its message true and faithful just the same as it could the day it left the kind and thoughtful hand that passed it on.
Thousands upon thousands can rise up and testify that a tract was the means of their conversion. Thousands will tell us they have been restored from paths of sin and vice to that of peace and righteousness by the truth carried by these silent messengers of God.
Others have been cherished comforted and stimulated in their Christian lives by them; and, again, what light and truth they have carried to people and homes, making the Bible a New Book to them.
Tract Distribution: The Dropped Sack
I went out one afternoon with a companion for the object of giving away some tracts, and we sought guidance that we might be directed aright. We had not gone far when we saw before us a large wagon, with a man walking by the side. I felt a great longing to give him a book, and to speak to him, but he was some distance in front, and we did not see how we could catch up to him. Presently my companion said, "Look! here is a sack lying in the road; that man in front must have dropped it," and at once called out loudly to the man to stop. After the sack had been returned to the man, I spoke a few words to him about the Savior. I found that he was one that indeed needed comfort, for he was in great sorrow, having just lost his wife and two children. I told him of that blessed one who alone could fill the void in his heart, and give him true happiness here and hereafter-even Jesus, who says, "Come unto me, all that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Then I gave him the little book, and asked him to read it carefully at home.
Some weeks after, when inviting the people of the town to come to a special service, several wagons passed by; with one of them, to my astonishment, was the very man I had met three weeks before. He at once said: "I am glad to see you, to tell you how the Lord has used that little tract you gave me, for I know now that Jesus died for me, and that all my sins are forgiven through His death for me, and it has made me so happy. The Lord bless you."
After a little more conversation he went on his way, and I have not seen him since, but he left me with a heart full of praise to Him who had so answered my prayer, and had let me know of it while here on earth.
May this little incident teach us not to be weary in well-doing, ever remembering the gracious words, "Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." (1 Cor. 15:58.)
It Reached Him
Years ago an English soldier lay sleeping, just previous to his departure on that perilous Egyptian campaign. Mr. Blaun, a converted Jew, one of the Christian workers in the 'Sailor's Welcome Home,' laid a tract on his pillow.
The next Sunday, the soldier entered the `Welcome Home,' and little knowing that he was addressing the very man whom the Lord had used to awaken his slumbering soul, asked Mr. Blaun to remember him in prayer, as a tract left on his pillow had described his case as though it had been written for him, and since reading it he had no rest for his soul. He was soon led to the Savior, and with a joy that is not of this earth he departed never to return to the home land.
It was a very simple and easy thing to drop that tract on a soldier's pillow, and yet it saved a soul for the eternal glory. Who that has the will to do it would not do as much? It seems such a little thing to drop a tract here and there, and yet what wonderful results may flow from it.
A tract thrown from a steamboat was picked up and read by a couple of men, who, through it were both converted, and who became the instruments of the conversion of many others.
“In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good." Eccl. 11:6.
Tract Distribution: A Grand Work
The distribution of tracts is a grand work. It is a work in which the young and old, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, can have a part: tracts run up and down like angels of light, blessing all and asking nothing in return. They can travel at little expense. They can tell their story in kitchen or shop, the parlor or closet, in the hotel, omnibus or railway train and stations, in the footpath or in the fields, and can be made to speak on any subject. In short, they can be made the vehicles of truth and the teachers of all classes, the benefactors of all saints.
A lady once traveled nearly two hundred miles to tell the writer personally how a little leaflet that had been given her the year before had led to her conversion. By the use of a similar card a young man was led to accept the Lord Jesus, and through his influence both his father and mother were brought into the Master's service.
The writer being led to speak to an engineer about his soul's welfare, and leaving a little card bearing the gospel message (after personal dealing), received, a short time after, a letter, saying, "Do you remember me? I was lost that night you came and spoke to me on the train, but thank God for sending you to me. I have found peace and joy in the Lord Jesus, and am so happy I feel like shouting all the time. The Bible is a New Book to me now."
A Christian worker in England tells the following incident: I was called to see a dying woman. I found her rejoicing in Christ, and asked her how she found the Lord. “Reading that," she replied, handing me a torn piece of paper. I looked at it and found it to be a part of an American newspaper containing an extract from one of Spurgeon's sermons. "Where did you find this?" I asked. She answered, "It was wrapped around a parcel sent me from Australia." Think of that! A sermon preached in London, conveyed to America, then to Australia, part of it torn off for the parcel, sent to England, and after all its wanderings giving the message of salvation to that woman's soul!
Truly "God's Word shall not return unto Him void."
I am convinced that Christian workers could greatly increase their influence by more liberal use of printer's ink in this direction.
The methods of using tracts are innumerable. Let us be encouraged to keep on hand a choice selection to enclose in letters and to give to those by the way with whom we are called to deal, or leave in the pathway of others.
N. B.-Make yourself familiar with the tracts you distribute in order that you may bestow them wisely; also study your field-the world-and remember if you trust Him the Lord will guide you and direct you in every detail of this work.
May our God mightily stir His people everywhere to action. Time is flying, souls are dying, tell of Jesus' love. "Today may be your last chance" to speak for Christ.
Satan's hosts are exceedingly busy filling the land with that which leads souls down to hell. Beloved, think of the tens of thousands of tracts, silent messengers which speak for Him many times, in many places and to many hearts. which you may have fellowship in sending forth, and know assuredly that in the day of manifestation a host shall come before Him, saved through such instrumentalities, besides the many saints that have been refreshed by the way through the written ministry.
Oh, beloved, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."
Perchance in heaven, one day, to me
Some blessed saint will come and say,
All hail, beloved, but for thee
My soul to death had fallen prey!
And oh, what rapture in the thought
One soul to glory to have brought.
"Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days."
"We reap what we sow."
Tract Distribution: Is There No Hell?
One of old said, "One man might sow sand, another weeds, and another good wheat, but it was the value of the crop that gave value to the work." Today there is much sowing that is not only valueless, but, like the tares in the parable, is producing an evil crop, to be bound up hereafter in bundles and burned. But the sowing of the good seed-the Word of God-is producing wheat that will be gathered into the garner before the tares are burnt up with the unquenchable fire. Blessed are they that sow this seed beside all waters! God gives the increase.
The following letter received by the printer of a tract, should be an encouragement to those who distribute, as showing how God may use a little tract to save a soul from death, and add to the number of the redeemed ones.
"Dear sir, I received a tract on Saturday evening while in the street car, and it says on it, copies may be had free from you. Now, I would like to tell you that I am saved. I was convicted through that tract, and last night, through reading another, I saw my ruined state, and accepted my Jesus as my Savior. Now I have peace within, and the knowledge of sins forgiven. Praise God! I would like to tell all my friends, and would be glad if I could have a few tracts to help. (The name of the tract was "Saved or Lost.")
My Dear Sirs:-While walking through Central Park over a week ago, I chanced to see a small piece of white paper laying on the ground. I passed over, but something within me seemed to tell me to go back and pick it up. Well, it was nothing other than one of your leaflets, entitled "Is There No Hell?"
Now, sirs, what I wish to tell you is this: My belief is the same as yours, in this respect, and, although I have gone to hear Pastor Russel preach, and I must admit that, although he preaches very logically, there is something in the way he speaks that he cannot believe everything he preaches.
I have a gentleman friend who is a private in the United States Army, and is what I call "God-fearing,” and I have come to the conclusion that if he had a few of these pamphlets, he could do a "world of good" by placing them in the hands of his comrades, who, he tells me, jeer anyone who professes a belief in God or even hell.
I am sending below his full name and address, so you may send the leaflets direct to him. I will notify him in the meantime, explaining it all to him, so that he will know where they come from.
Trusting that you will do me that favor, thereby favoring and perhaps being the means of enlightening dozens, I remain, Yours for the true Light. (_____ _____)
Would you kindly send me just the amount of tracts of this type that I am enclosing with the fifty cents. I also enclose a few other kinds as well that will attract those that are unsaved. The one I am sending for a sample seems to me just the right kind; it seems to hold people's attention. It seemed to hold me, as I am only just come into the light. I was lost and now I am found. As I was leading a most sinful life before and I feel it is my duty to my Savior and my Lord and Master to try and help others unto salvation for what He has done for me. Excuse my writing so much, but I feel I must do something and this seems my best way, as I can give the money I used to spend on pleasure and drinking for this work, which is the greatest work there is. Hoping to see a few of your other tracts, then I can pick a few out for any other time. Trusting you will kindly oblige yours in Christ Jesus, (_____ _____)
Tract Distribution: Love for the Perishing
A very large portion of the people in our own land are utterly ignorant of the way of salvation. This statement applies to the country as well as cities. In every place there are many who are never under the preaching of the gospel. They live and die without thought of God, or of their immortal souls.
What are you doing, young Christian, in the work of carrying the precious truth of God's love and grace through the Lord Jesus Christ to the perishing souls of your immediate neighborhood? Close by your doors are those who, practically speaking, have as vague an idea of divine pardon, and as little desire, after the true God, as the heathen at the ends of the earth.
"In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good (Eccl. 11:6).
Tracts: Do You Use Them?
Tracts can go everywhere. Tracts know no fear. Tracts never tire. Tracts can be multiplied without end by the press. Tracts can travel at little expense. They run up and down like the angels of God, blessing all, giving to all and asking no gift in return. They can talk to one as well as to a multitude, and to a multitude as well as to one. They require no public room in which to tell their story. They can tell it in the kitchen or the shop, the parlor or the closet, the cottage or the mansion, on the broad highway or in the footpath through the fields. They take no note of scoffs, or jeers, or taunts. No one can betray them into hasty or random expressions. Though they will not always answer questions, they will tell their story twice, or thrice, or four times over if you wish. And they can be made to speak on every subject, and on every subject they may be made to speak wisely and well. They can, in short, be made vehicles of all truth, the teachers of all classes, the benefactors of all lands.
The Advantages of Tract Distribution
1. It affords work for young converts.
“There is no simpler method with which young converts may begin to engage in Christian work.”
Before ever, the young Christian finds himself able for any other method of public testimony, he will, find here an outlet for his energies.
2. The aged and infirm may engage in it. It need never be departed from, no matter how old or infirm one may become...
“It is a work in which an old convert may end his service for his Lord.”
3. It may be used to open the way for personal dealing. Many Christians would like to do personal work if they knew how to begin. Here, then, is a method. After one has given a tract, it becomes comparatively easy to enter into conversation.
To summarize advantages of tract work we quote the following: "Tracts can go everywhere. Tracts know no fear. Tracts never tire. Tracts can be multiplied without end by the press. Tracts can travel at little expense. They run up and down like the angels of God, blessing all, giving to all, asking no gift in return. They can talk to one as well as to a multitude, and to a multitude as well as to one. They require no public room to tell their story in. They can tell it in the kitchen or the shop, the parlor or the closet, in the railway coach or in the omnibus, or the broad highway or in the footpath through the fields. They take no note of scoffs, or jeers, or taunts. No one can betray them into hasty or random expressions. Though they will not always answer questions, they will tell their stories twice or thrice or four times if you wish them. And they can be made to speak on every subject, and on every subject they may be made to speak wisely and well. They can, in short, be made the vehicles of truth, the teachers of all classes, the benefactors of all saints.”
“Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days" Eccl. 11:1.
Tract Distributing in South China
I think I may say that during the last few months tract distributing has become one of the features of the Gospel work in Yeung Kong and its neighborhood. Some tens of thousands of simple Gospel tracts fur adults and children having been printed. We have been endeavoring to scatter the good seed, through their means, in many directions. The colporteurs and preachers have carried them into the country places, and some of the boys from the school have lent willing hands to distribute them in and around the city.
We have also had a variety of wall texts written in large Chinese characters on red, yellow and green papers, and these are gladly received. Incidentally, I may explain that by having them written, a very worthy lad is enabled to continue his attendance at the school, and the written character is more appreciated by the Chinese, than in foreign looking, printed text. Some of these have been put up at the gate of the city, and one, if not more, has been displayed on the gate-post of a temple, with the permission of the person in charge.
It would be hard for those in America to picture to themselves the beaming faces with which these tracts are received, or the joy and eagerness of the children, and also of the women, and even of the men, when a picture card is produced. Walking over the hills a few days ago, we had the pleasure of distributing some of these colored cards to several children. How gladly they were received, as were the tracts by their elders. I remember one tall, intelligent looking man, leading a very small cow, who continued reading his tract as long as he was in sight.
Descending to the road, which led us home, we were attracted by shouts from the hill-top, and saw a number of ragged urchins hastening after us. If it had been in the home-land, one might have thought they were crying, "Stop, sir, stop 1" but I am more inclined to think, being in China, it was "Kung chai, kung chai!" ("a picture card, a picture card!") It was a great disappointment to the laddies and also to ourselves, to find the cards had come to an end; and very evident tears appeared in the eyes of the last comer, a small boy of perhaps eight years, who came panting up, some distance behind the older ones.
Another day we found four way on to one of the main roads, leading between Yeung " Kong and Naa Shue. You would hardly believe the numbers of people we met-women carrying heavy baskets of earth; men with bags over their shoulders; scholars in their long, blue robes; mothers with babies on their backs, and other little ones trotting by their side. Only one or two of the men refused the tracts; as a rule they were received with a broad smile, and occasionally with a bow or word of thanks, while the weary looking women became quite animated over the gift of a card.
Leaving the high road, we came into a lane, bordered, as these lanes often are, with wild pineapple. Even here we met some very bright looking lads, who were rejoiced to get, not only tracts, but a small Gospel of John. This pretty, winding lane led us to a beautiful pond, peopled with ducks and geese. Crossing a small bridge at the end of the pond, we found ourselves in a densely populated village. Children swarmed around us on every side, men came running and holding out eager hands for tracts. Near the center of the village we encountered a very patriarchal looking old man, with a long white beard, rather an uncommon feature in this country. A wall text on red paper seemed a suitable present for him, and was greatly admired by all onlookers. A place to paste it up, on the outside wall of a house, was soon pointed out. One man ran to fetch a bowl of paste and a piece of cocoanut fiber in lieu of a brush, and the work was soon done. Long may that verse of Scripture remain in its conspicuous position in that large heathen village.
To give a third instance, we might speak of a walk several ladies took one afternoon, accompanied by their children and a Chinese lad, Cheang Faat, who is working his way through the school. He soon became possessor of a package of tracts, and gave them to one and another in a pleasant and tactful manner. All were received with smiles and thanks.
Arriving, at last, at a picturesque teahouse, the party sat down to rest, and one lady began to sketch the house. I might remark here that she not only drew a picture, but drew a crowd also. But the boy was equal to the occasion, and soon disposed of all the remaining tracts, and, as the men and boys gathered around, he took the opportunity to preach the gospel to them. A man, beating a gong, appeared at this moment, warning people to make way for a second man carrying a tray of idols, and with a Third man holding an umbrella over them. This our young preacher took for his text, and spoke long, and I am sure, faithfully, to the crowd. How quietly and earnestly they all listened-over fifty men and boys, some old, some young, some in rags, others well dressed. It was a sight never to be forgotten-the boy preacher, with bare head and feet, telling out of a full heart the story of a true God, and a loving Savior.
What Is a Tract?
A tract is a silent messenger from God. It is a bearer of good news concerning the great things of life and eternity.
Tracts often go where men on missions of mercy do not go. They find their way into the homes of the rich and the poor, the high and the low; they steal quietly into offices, homes, railway stations, factories, hospitals, places of pleasure and houses of shame-taking as they go God's message of love.
The lives of many men and women have been changed as the result of the reading of a tract. Thousands sick in hospitals or confined by illness to their homes have been helped by these little messengers of mercy. Scores with heavy burdens upon their hearts have felt these burdens grow lighter because of the comforting words of the silent little preachers.
The printed word is still powerful. If it be a simple word concerning life's great issues and problems, it is powerful to bless, to encourage, to inspire.
He who sends forth good tracts is truly a servant of God and humanity. The work of distributing tracts is surely a worthy work.
“In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not which shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good." Eccl. 11:6.
“My Word... shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Isa. 55:11.
The Advantages of Tract Distribution
1. It affords work for young converts.
“There is no simpler method with which young converts may begin to engage in Christian work.”
Before ever the young Christian finds himself able for any other method of public testimony, he will find here an outlet for his energies.
2. The aged and infirm may engage in it. It need never be departed from, no matter how old or infirm one may become.
“It is a work in which an old convert may end his service for his Lord.”
3. It may be used to open the way for personal dealing. Many Christians would like to do personal work if they knew how to begin. Here, then, is a method. After one has given a tract it becomes comparatively easy to enter into conversation.
To summarize advantages of tract work we quote the following:
“Tracts can go everywhere. Tracts know no fear. Tracts never tire. Tracts can be multiplied without end by the press. Tracts can travel at little expense. They run up and down like the angels of God, blessing all, giving to all, asking no gift in return. They can talk to one as well as to a multitude, and to a multitude as well as to one. They require no pubic room to tell their story in. They can tell it in the shop, the home or the closet, in the railway coach, or in the bus, on the broad highway or in the footpath through the fields. They take no note of scoffs, or jeers, or taunts. No one can betray them into hasty or random expressions. Though they will not always answer questions, they will tell their stories twice or thrice or four times if you wish them. And they can be made to speak on every subject, and on every subject they may be made to speak wisely and well. They can, in short, be made the vehicles of truth, the teachers of all classes, the benefactors of all saints.”
“Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days." Eccl. 11:1.
Tract Distribution: What One Tract Did
The importance of having good reading cannot be overestimated. As one goes from place to place the lack of this is felt. Few Christians are without a weekly or daily newspaper, yet again and again one finds not one good helpful Christian paper in such homes, and the prophet's word might be used,
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." Hos. 4:6.
It is true, the Word of God must have first place in a Christian home. We believe where the Book of Books is valued and studied as it should be by us, anything that helps to further understanding its precious contents will be hailed with great delight.
Eternity alone will fully reveal the loss to many who now heap up riches upon the earth and fail to lay up treasures in heaven. O, how many a child of God we have heard bless the Lord for the written ministry. It goes where the voice cannot go, and will speak when we are gone. Many have been brought to God through reading some gospel incident recording the conversion of others. Upon no subject should we be more awake. What a field we have in the home and among our neighbors to serve the Lord Jesus. These fields lay open everywhere. What are we doing in this respect?
What one tract did!
A woman whose name has been forgotten, dropped a tract in the way of a very wicked man. He picked up the tract and read it, and it was the means of his conversion, and through Him, multitudes were brought to Christ.
Who can measure the influence of one little tract put into the hands of an unconverted person?
An aged Christian came into a Tract Depot and bought a few dollars worth of tracts, and said, with tears coursing down his cheeks, that a neighbor living near by for nine years had just died, and that he had never so much as given him a tract or paper setting forth the Gospel before him, or warning him of his danger, and now he had died suddenly and he feared he was lost.
O, beloved, what are we doing? What a thought for us? One soul gone into eternity -lost forever-whom we knew on earth!
Often there are difficulties in the way of speaking to people about eternal realities, when one gospel tract, of but one or few pages, handed on with a kind word, or silently, or sent through the mail, could do the work. It can reach the mansion, it will enter the jail and prison, the home of the poor, and stay for weeks, months and years, and turn up in time, and deliver its message true and faithful just the same as it could the day it left the kind and thoughtful hand that passed it on.
Thousands upon thousands can rise up and testify that a tract was the means of their conversion. Thousands will tell us they have been restored from paths of sin and vice, to that of peace and righteousness by the truth carried by these silent messengers of God.
Others have been cherished, comforted and stimulated in their Christian lives by them: and, again, what light and truth they have carried to people and homes, making the Bible a New Book to them.
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." 1 Cor. 15:58.