Taking Men Alive

Charles G. Trumbull was a Civil War army chaplain, Sunday School teacher, editor, and writer. In this classic work on one-on-one evangelism, he writes, 


“General preaching has its place; but it is a preliminary only in this work; the harvest must be handpicked. A stationary fog-horn has its value on a reef, or a rocky shore, as a warning to those who approach the point of danger. We must not say that this mode of sounding an alarm has no value, but we cannot suppose that a fog-horn, however clear its sound or well worked its mechanism, can fill the place of a coast guard of trained life-savers, who are on the watch to put out with their well-manned life-boat to save endangered single souls.” 


This book contains the following chapters: 


Introduction 

I. The Work We Are Facing 

Individual Work the Greatest Work 

Individual Work Christ’s Preferred Method 

Its Effectiveness in Sunday-School Work 

Its Effectiveness in College 

Its Effectiveness in Politics 

Its Effectiveness in Every Field 

Individual Work the Hardest Work 

Will It Grow Easy? 


II. The Worker and His Equipment 

Whit Mistakes Shall We Fear? 

Our Feelings and Our Defects 


III. Need of a Life-Resolve 


IV. Winning at the Start 

The Other Man’s Interests as Bait 

The Bait of Honest Commendation 

Commending a Whiskey-Drinker 

Praising a Profane Sea-Captain 


V. Seeking Common Interests 

Making Salvation of Present Interest 

Ignoring Differences of Creed 

Going Where the Other Man Is 


VI. The Place of the Bible in This Work 

H. Clay Trumbull’s Habit 

When the Bible is Common Meeting-Ground 

The Principle Restated 


VII. Conviction Better Than Discussion Or Argument 

Resolute Refusal to Argue 


VIII. Encouragements and Incentives 

Rebuffs Almost Unknown 

What of the Mentally Deficient? 

Is Any Opportunity Too Slight? 

Individual Work Always Needed 

Pressing for an Immediate Decision 

Vital Importance of Follow-Up Work 


IX. How Our Lord Worked 

The Individual in First Place 

A Mission of Winning, Not of Opposing 

Beginning With Men’s Present Interests 

Other Principles of Our Lord’s Work 


The Principles Reviewed