The second method is aptly stated by an editorial which appeared in the
_Sunday School Times_ during the year 1908: "It is a strange fact that,
notwithstanding the _explicitness_ and _uniformity_ of the New Testament
teachings on this subject, there is a widespread popular opinion that
the Holy Spirit's work is directly and immediately on or in the heart of
the unbeliever, without the intervention or agency of the Christian
whatever. To hear what is said in the sermons, or sung in the hymns, or
prayed in the prayers of many Christians, one might believe that the
Holy Spirit is sent directly to the unbelieving sinner, to strive with
him, to show him his sin, and to point him to, the Saviour; and that
therefore the Christian preacher or teacher has rather to wait the
results of this work of the Spirit, than to be the instrument or the
avenue of this work. Many a Christian seems to think that the Holy
Spirit's work is that of a _revival preacher_, in moving sinners to
repentance by a _direct appeal_ to their consciences and understandings,
instead of stirring up Christians to appeal, in the power of the Spirit,
to unbelievers to believe and turn to God. It is true that, in this
present dispensation of the Spirit, all power in the evangelizing of the
world, and in the swaying of the hearts of men toward Christ and in the
service of Christ, is primarily with the Holy Spirit.
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