Comparatively few Christians realize the importance of tract work. I had been
a Christian a good many years, and a minister of the Gospel several
years, before it ever entered my head that tracts were of much
value in Christian work. I had somehow grown up with the notion
that tracts were all rubbish, and therefore I did not take the
trouble to read them, and far less did I take the trouble to circulate
them, but I found out that I was entirely wrong. Tract work has
some great advantages over other forms of Christian work.
I. Importance and Advantages.
1. Any person can do it.
We cannot all preach; we cannot all conduct meetings; but we can
all select useful tracts and then hand them out to others.
Of course some of us can do it better than others. Even a blind
man or a [mute] man can do tract work. It is a line of work
in which every man, woman and child can engage.
2. A tract always sticks to the point.
I wish every worker did that, but how often we get to talking to
some one and he is smart enough to get us off on to a side
track.
3. A tract never loses its temper.
Perhaps you sometimes do. I have known Christian workers, even
workers of experience, who would sometimes get all stirred
up, but you cannot stir up a tract. It always remains as calm
as a June morning.
4. Oftentimes people who are too proud to be talked, will read
a tract when no one is looking.
There is many a man who would repulse you if you tried to speak
to him about his soul, who will read a tract if you leave it on
his table, or in some other place where he comes upon it accidentally,
and that tract may be used for his salvation.
5. A tract stays by one.
You talk to a man and then he goes away, but the tract stays with
him. Some years ago a man came into a mission in New York.
One of the workers tried to talk with him, but he would not
listen. As he was leaving, a card tract was placed in his hands
which read, "If I should die tonight I would go to _____.
Please fill out and sign." He put it in his pocket, went
to his steamer, for he was a sailor, and slipped it into the
edge of his bunk. The steamer started for Liverpool. On his
voyage he met with an accident, and slipped it into the edge
of his bunk. That card stared him in the face day and night.
Finally he said, "If I should die tonight I would go to
hell, but I will not go there, I will go to heaven, I will
take Christ right here and now." He went to Liverpool,
returned to New York, went to the mission, told his story,
and had the card, which was still in his pocket, filled out
and signed with his name. The conversation he had had in the
mission left him, but the card stayed by him.
6. Tracts lead many to accept Christ.
The author of one tract ("What is it to believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ?") received before his death upwards of sixteen
hundred letters from people who had been led to Christ by reading
it.
II. Purposes for Which to Use a Tract.
1. For the conversion of the unsaved.
A tract will often succeed in winning a man to Christ where a sermon
or a personal conversation has failed. There are a great many
people who, if you try to talk with them, will put you off;
but if you put a tract in their hands and ask God to bless
it, after they go away and are alone they will read the tract
and God will carry it home to their hearts by the power of
the Holy Ghost. One of our students wrote me in great joy of
how he had at last succeeded in winning a whole family for
Christ. He had been working for that family for a long time
but could not touch them. One day he left a tract with them,
and God used that tract for the conversion of four or five
members of the family. Another student held a cottage meeting
at a home, and by mistake left his Bible there. There was a
tract in the Bible. When he had gone, the woman of the house
saw the Bible, picked it up, opened it, saw the tract and read
it. The Spirit of God carried it home to her heart, and when
he went back after the Bible she told him she wanted to find
the Lord Jesus Christ. The tract had done what he could not
do in personal work. I once received a letter from a man saying, "There
is a man in this place whom I tried for a long time to reach
but could not. One day I handed him a tract, and I think it
was to the salvation of his whole family."
2. To lead Christians into a deeper and more earnest Christian
life.
It is a great mistake to limit the use of tracts to winning the
unsaved to Christ. A little tract on the Second Coming of Christ,
once sent me in a letter, made a change in my whole life. I do
not think the tract was altogether correct doctrinally, but it
had in it an important truth, and it did for me just the work that
needed to be done. There is a special class of people with whom
this form of ministry is particularly helpful, those who live where
they do not enjoy spiritual advantages. You may know some one who
is leading a very unsatisfactory life, and you long to have that
person know what the Christian life really means. His pastor may
not be a spiritual man, he may not know the deep things of God.
It is the simplest thing in the world to slip into a letter a tract
that will lead him into an entirely new Christian life.
3. To correct error.
This is a very necessary form of work in the day in which we live.
The air is full of error. In our personal work we have not
always time to lead a man out of his error, but oftentimes
we can give him a tract that can do the work better than we
can. If you tried to lead him out of his error by personal
work, you might get into a discussion, but the tract cannot.
The one in error cannot talk back to the tract. For example,
take people that are in error on the question of seventh day
observance. It might take some time to lead such a one out
of the darkness into the light, but a tract on that subject
can be secured that has been used of God to lead many out of
the bondage of legalism into the glorious liberty of the Gospel
of Christ.
4. To set Christians to work.
Our churches are full of members who are doing nothing. A well-chosen
tract may set such to work. I know of a young man who was working
in a factory in Massachusetts. He was a plain, uneducated sort
of fellow, but a little tract on personal work was placed in
his hands. He read it and re-read it, and said, "I am
not doing what I should for Christ." He went to work among
his companions in the factory, inviting them to the church,
and to hear his pastor preach. Not satisfied with this, he
went to doing personal work. This was not sufficient, so he
went to work holding meetings himself. Finally he brought a
convention to his city. Just that one plain factory man was
the means of getting a great convention and blessing to that
place, and all from reading that little tract. He was also
instrumental in organizing a society which was greatly blessed
of God. It would be possible to fill this country with literature
on Christian work that would stir up the dead and sleeping
professors of religion throughout the land, and send them out
to work for the Lord Jesus Christ.
III. Who Should Use Tracts.
1. Ministers of the Gospel should use them.
Many ministers do make constant use of them in their pastoral work,
leaving well chosen tracts where they make their pastoral calls,
handing out tracts along the line of the sermons that they
preach. It is said of Rev. Edward Judson of New York, that
he seldom makes a call without having in his pocket a selection
of tracts adapted to almost every member of the family, and
especially to the children. "At the close of the Sunday
evening preaching service, he has often put some good brother
in the chair, and while the meeting proceeds he goes down into
the audience and gives to each person a choice leaflet, at
the same time [taking] the opportunity to say a timely word.
In this way he comes into personal touch with the whole audience,
gives each stranger a cordial welcome, and leaves in his hand
some message from God. At least once a year he selects some
one tract that has in it the very core of the Gospel. On this
he prints the notices of the services, and selecting his church
as a center, he has this tract put in the hands of every person
living within half a mile in each direction, regardless of
creed or condition. He sometimes uses 10,000 tracts at one
distribution, and finds it very fruitful in results."
2. Sunday School teachers.
Every Sunday School teacher should be on the lookout for tracts
to give to his scholars. In this way he can do much to supplement
his hour's work on the Lord's Day.
3. Traveling men.
Traveling men have a rare opportunity for doing tract work. They
are constantly coming in contact with different men, and finding
out their needs. A Christian "drummer" with a well-assorted
selection of tracts can accomplish immeasurable good.
4. Business men.
Business men can use tracts to good advantage with the very men
with whom they have business engagements. They can also do
excellent work with their own employees. Many a business man
slips well chosen tracts into many of the letters which he
writes, and thus accomplishes an effective ministry for his
Master.
5. School teachers.
It is very difficult for school teachers in some cities and towns
to talk very much with their pupils in school. Oftentimes the
rules of the school board prevent it entirely, but a wise teacher
can learn all about her scholars and their home surroundings,
and can give them tracts just adapted to their needs.
6. Housekeepers.
Every Christian housekeeper should have a collection of well assorted
tracts. She can hand these out to the servant girls, the grocery
men, the market men, the butcher, to the tramps that come to
the door. They can be left upon the table in the parlor and
in bedrooms. Only eternity will disclose the good that is accomplished
in these ways.
IV. How to Use Tracts.
1. To begin a conversation.
One of the difficulties in Christian work is to begin. You see
a person with whom you wish to talk about the Lord Jesus Christ.
The great difficulty is in starting. It is easy enough to talk
after you have started, but how are you going to start a conversation
naturally and easily? One of the simplest and easiest ways
is by slipping a tract into the person's hand. After the tract
has been read, a conversation naturally follows. I was once
riding in a crowded car. I asked God for an opportunity to
lead some one to Christ. I was watching for the opportunity
for which I had asked, when two young ladies entered. I thought
I knew one of them as the daughter of a minister. She went
through the car looking for a seat, and then came back. As
she came back and sat down in the seat in front of me, she
bowed, and of course I knew I was right as to who she was.
I took out a little bundle of tracts, and selecting one that
seemed best adapted to her case, I handed it to her, having
first asked God to bless it. She at once began to read and
I began to pray. When she had read the tract, I asked her what
she thought about it. She almost burst into tears right there
in the car, and in a very few moments that minister's daughter
was rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ as her personal Saviour.
As she afterwards passed out of the car, she said, "I
want to thank you for what you have done for me in leading
me to Christ."
2. Use a tract to close a conversation.
As a rule when you have finished talking with some one, you should
not leave him without something definite to take home to read.
If the person has accepted Christ, put some tract in his hands
that will show him how to succeed in the Christian life. If
the person has not accepted Christ, some other tract that is
especially adapted to his need should be left with him.
3. Use tracts where a conversation is impossible.
For example, one night at the close of a tent meeting in Chicago,
as I went down one of the aisles a man beckoned to me, and
intimated that his wife was interested. She was in tears, and
I tried to talk with her, but she stammered out in a broken
way, "We don't talk English." She had not understood
a word of the sermon, I suppose, but God had carried something
home to her heart. They were Norwegians, and I could not find
a Norwegian in the whole tent to act as interpreter, but I
could put a Norwegian tract in her hand, and that could do
the work. Time and time again I have met with men deeply interested
about their soul's salvation, but with whom I could not deal
because I did not talk the language that they understood.
One day as I came from dinner, I found a Swede waiting for me, and he said he had a man outside with whom he wished me to talk. I went outside and found an uncouth looking specimen, a Norwegian. The Swede had found him drunk in an alley and dragged him down to the Institute to talk with me. He was still full of whiskey, and spit tobacco juice over me as I tried to talk with him. I found he could not talk English, and I talked English to the Swede, and the Swede talked Swedish to the Norwegian, and the Norwegian got a little bit of it. I made it as clear as I could to our Swede interpreter, and he in his turn made it as clear as he could to the Norwegian. Then I put a Norwegian tract in his hands, and that could talk to him so that he understood perfectly.
Oftentimes a conversation is impossible because of the place where you meet people. For example, you may be on the street cars and wish to speak to a man, but in many instances it would not be wise if it were possible, but you can take the man's measure and then give him a tract that will fit him. You may be able to say just a few words to him and then put the tract in his hands and ask God to bless it.
4. Use tracts to send to people at a distance.
It does not cost a tract much to travel. You can send them to the
ends of the earth for a few cents. Especially use them to send
to people who live in out of the way places where there is
no preaching. There are thousands of people living in different
sections of this country where they do not hear preaching from
one year's end to another. It would be impossible to send an
evangelical preacher to them, but you can send a tract and
it will do the preaching for you.
V. Suggestions as to the Use of Tracts.
1. Always read the tracts yourself before giving them to others.
This is very necessary. Bad tracts abound today, tracts that contain
absolutely pernicious doctrine. They are being circulated free
by the million, and one needs to be on his guard, lest he be
doing harm rather than good in distributing tracts. Of course
we cannot read all the tracts in other languages, but we can
have them interpreted to us, and it is wise to do so. Besides
positively bad tracts, there are many tracts that are worthless.
2. Suit your tract to the person to whom you give it.
What is good for one person may not be good for another.
3. Carry a selection of tracts with you.
I do not say a collection, but a selection. Tracts
are countless in number, and a large share of them are worthless.
Select the best, and arrange them for the different classes of
people with whom you come in contact.
4. Seek the guidance of God.
This is of the very highest importance. If there is any place where
we need wisdom from above, it is in the selection of tracts,
and in their distribution after their selection.
5. Seek God's blessing upon the tract after you have given
it out.
Do not merely give out the tract and there let the matter rest,
but whenever you give out a tract ask God to bless it.
6. Oftentimes give a man a tract with words and sentences underscored.
Men are curious, and they will take particular notice of the underscoring.
It is oftentimes a good thing to have a tract put up in your
office. Men who come in will read it. I know a man who had
a few words put upon his paper weight. A great many who came
into his office saw it, and it made a deep impression upon
them.
7. Never be ashamed of distributing tracts.
Many people hand out tracts to others as if they were ashamed of
what they were doing. People are not likely to read tracts
if you hand them to them as if you were ashamed to do it; but
if you act as though you were conferring a favor upon them,
and giving them something worth reading, they will read your
tract. It is often well to say to a person, "Here is a
little leaflet out of which I have gotten a good deal of good.
I would like to have you read it."
From How to Work for Christ: A Compendium of Effective Methods by R. A. Torrey. New York: Fleming Revell, ©1901.
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