4. THOSE WHO COMPLAIN OF CHRISTIANS. Very frequently when we try to persuade men to accept Christ as their Saviour, they reply; “_There are too many hypocrites in church_.” Romans xiv. 4 and 12, especially the latter verse, are exceedingly effective in dealing with such. Romans ii. 1, and Matt. vii. 1‒5, are also excellent. Jno. xxi. 21, 22 is useful in showing the objector that he is solely responsible for his own relation to Christ and that what others do is none of his affairs. Sometimes the inquirer will _complain of the way Christian people have treated him_. In such a case turn the attention of the inquirer from the way in which Christian people have treated him to the way in which God has treated him. For this purpose use Jer. ii. 5; Is. liii. 5; Romans v. 6‒8. Then ask him if the fact that Christians have treated him badly is any excuse for his treatment of a Heavenly Father who has treated him so well. One night turning to an aged man I asked him if he was a Christian. He replied that he was not, that he was a back–slider. I asked him why he back–slid. He replied that Christian people had treated him badly. I opened my Bible and read Jer. ii. 5, to him, “Thus saith the Lord, what iniquity have your fathers found in _me_, that they are gone far from _me_, and have walked after vanity and are become vain?” I said, “Did you find any iniquity in God? Did God not use you well?” With a good deal of feeling the man admitted that God had not treated him badly and I held him right to this point of God’s treatment of him, and not man’s treatment, and his treatment of God. Matt. xviii. 23‒35; Eph. iv. 30‒32; Matt. vi. 14‒15, are also useful as showing the absolute necessity of our forgiving men. CHAPTER X. DEALING WITH THOSE WHO WISH TO PUT OFF A DECISION UNTIL SOME OTHER TIME