The Spirit of the Ministry
Travail for Souls—As the shepherd is to go after the lost sheep, he
is not to have merely a casual interest, but an earnest travail for souls.
This calls for most earnest heart searching, most earnest prayerful
seeking for God, in order that we may know Him and the power of His
grace, “that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches
of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”—
Letter
8, 1895
.
Compassion for the Unsaved—But how few of us regard the
salvation of sinners in the light in which it is viewed by the heavenly
universe,—as a plan devised from eternity in the mind of God! How
few of us are heart to heart with the Redeemer in this solemn, closing
work! There is scarcely a tithe of the compassion that there should
be for souls unsaved. There are so many to be warned, and yet how
few sympathize with God sufficiently to be anything or nothing if only
they can see souls won to Christ!—
Gospel Workers, 116
(1915).
Consecration, Love, and Self-Sacrifice—The worker for God
should put forth the highest mental and moral energies with which
nature, cultivation, and the grace of God have endowed him; but his
success will be proportionate to the degree of consecration and self-
sacrifice in which his work is done, rather than to either natural or
[629]
acquired endowments.... Divine grace is the great element of saving
power; without it all human effort is unavailing.—
Counsels to Parents,
Teachers, and Students, 537, 538
(1913).
Love and Compassion—The Lord wants men to forget them-
selves in the effort to save souls. Our life is worse than a failure if
we go through life without leaving waymarks of love and compas-
sion. God will not work with a harsh, stubborn, loveless man. Such a
man spoils the pattern that Christ desires His workers to reveal to the
world. God’s workers, in whatever line of service they are engaged,
are to bring into their efforts the goodness and benevolence and love
of Christ.
548