was to join himself to each company
at the stage which it had reached and offer to become its conductor.
The Jew was more advanced, and he met him where he was; the Gentile
was further behind, and he had to go back and approach him also where
he stood, that he might win his confidence and be allowed to lead him
on.

This is the persuasion which gives a minister faith in his own work.
The souls of men are God's. His providence is a discipline intended to
lead them to Himself; there are none with whom His Spirit does not
strive. And it is only as our work co-operates with His that it is of
any effect. Where God has been working, opening and softening the
heart, very simple efforts, put forth at the right moment, may go a
long way, and the work of God be quickly done.

What situation could be more pathetic to a sensitive and sympathetic
mind than that of a minister when he stands up in the pulpit and looks
down on the congregation? What a variety of conditions are before him!
In one pew there is a man who during the week has been fighting a
losing battle with his business and sees himself on the verge of
bankruptcy; in the next may be a merchant into whose lap fortune has
been pouring her gifts in handfuls. Here is a mother who is thinking
of her son who has just left his home and is sailing on the sea; and
there a girl whose heart is rejoicing in the happy dreams of youth. On
the right may be a young man who is trembling on the brink of the
great temptation of his life, and on the left another who is reeking
from some orgy of secret sin. There is endless variety; yet none are
uninteresting; and probably there is no one but, if you could meet him
exactly where he stands, would respond to the influence which you
bring. It arrests men when you are able to show such a knowledge of
the human heart that they feel themselves discovered; and it disposes
a man to answer to your call if he sees that you are familiar with the
circumstances in which he will have to lead the life to which you are
inviting him, and that you appreciate the difficulties of the
situation. Therefore the more a minister knows of the variety of
actual life the better; and, if he is to do really effective work, he
must know how to come down from the pulpit and put himself alongside
of individuals.[59]

Here I might again recommend the work of visitation and the practice
of being accessible at home to the visits of those who come with
confidences to commu